MA Photography

Progression

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This week, there is an assignment to complete. The deliverable is a 7-minute (maximum) Pecha Kucha-style reflective presentation. The slides and commentary must take the audience on my photographic journey.

I started photography by taking record shots of various birds I saw on my travels. Some birds might be very common, while others might be unusual or in an unusual location. And for these, the powers that be like to see a record shot. I wouldn’t need it for my gull, but I might for an American Robin in London. As you can imagine, these shots are often snatched glimpses of a moving target. Composition and lighting aren’t priorities.

So I had many (thousands) images (snapshots) of various birds and actually other wildlife captured over many years.

As I have become more interested in photography, so the range of subjects I have approached has expanded.

I have become experimental at times, looking at colour and shadows. This umbrella caught my eye in Montreal.

And I have picked up on themes; one project photographing alleys in Boston (above) and other major cities.

My approach has evolved. My photography has become more thoughtful, and I now make far fewer images. This is partly because I ask whether the scene adds value to a potential audience, and partly because each image takes longer to compose now. This is a very good thing. I still have a long way to go – but I have some idea of the road ahead.

Now…..onto that slide deck.

Volunteers

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Filippo Bacci (Image sourced Getty Images)

This week’s task calls for some research. I’ll share more details about my chosen project in a future post, but a central theme will be volunteers. Before creating images, the course requires research to establish how other photographers may have covered the subject of my project. This week, I will access the online library and other sources to see previously published work covering volunteers. There are many images in a style similar to the one above by Filippo Bacci. The picture is very literal; it leaves little to the imagination. The volunteers are signified by a uniform; one wears a lanyard. The packages are being passed from left to right. The recipients’ dignity is protected by minimizing their presence in the frame. There is enough to show the recipients are happy.

I want to work a different angle. The viewer will be able to appreciate the theme, but in the context of staff supporting customers ot patrons. My volunteers will be covering a variety of jobs, including some that are technically demanding. I have no fixed idea of where the project will end. Instead, I will look for inspiration as I begin to build the collection of images.

The university provides access to academic journals as well as seminal texts that sit on an extensive reading list. This both provides a large target set to base the research on and requires discipline. It would be easy to go too wide and lose focus. Falmouth promotes a research/practice model. Once I have a research baseline, I will make images, and then the process repeats. My own images themselves become research material.