Exercise 1) The Brief

Write a short paragraph or around 5 bullet points identifying what you want and what you might need from this course unit.

 

What I want and need from this course

• To further my understanding of how the elements of a photograph create a meaning or affect the viewer’s perception
• To improve my creativity so that I move further away from my technical comfort zone.
• Ultimate ambition is to teach photography, so there is a general desire to broaden my view of it as an art form.
• To reduce the amount of procrastination I encountered in EYV. I want to pick up the pace, so need to try things out quickly to validate my ideas.
• To do more non-course research. I didn’t write up my experiences in my photography outside of EYV, which I intend to do more of in this unit.

 

Exercise 2) Setting up your learning log

I have a learning log that I intend to use for C&N.  However, as it forms part of my EYV submission, I want to wait until the assessment is complete in March before using it (to avoid any potential perceptions that I have modified that work.  For now, I will use word documents that are saved in the OCA cloud and will transfer them across to the blog at the end of March.

Exercise 3) Analysing and Reflecting

Choose one of the names from the list of creative practitioners given:

Elina Brotherus

Gideon Mendel

Hannah Starkey

Nigel Shafran

Choose one of their images and write about the elements in the image.  Then write a short piece about how I relate to the image.  Create a blog post for it.

Introduction

The image I selected is from Gideon Mendel’s series called Submerged Portraits.

Description

It shows a woman dressed in water waders, waist deep in flood water in her hallway.  She is looking straight at the camera with a bewildered and angry expression while the rest of the scene has everyday items you’d expect in a British home.  The calm water is almost glass.

What this image means to me

I relate to it firstly because of the topical subject of flooding, but secondly because to the contradictions within.  The glass-like water looks harmless but suggests complete devastation of the woman’s home.  Her expression is one of anger and “why me?” but distress is balanced by her being prepared for standing there.

The actual image