top of page
Search

Week 1 – Introduction to Contemporary Photography

Updated: 22 hours ago

The first task was to respond photographically to Eno’s Oblique Cards, a set of cards used to help with any creative block. I chose the card ‘Water’ and went on a shoot following recent flooding. Some shots were planned, and some were unplanned, the unplanned shots I found were the best. One planned shot is not included as I couldn’t get the focus right for it.

Here are my favourites plus the one I submitted.




I showed my work in this week’s webinar. People said they liked the contrast between the cold and the sun’s brightness, and others said they liked the use of diagonal lines. Although these things weren’t intended, I shall look into this more in the future. We looked at the work of everyone who had something to show, and I learnt more about camera-less techniques from one student, and saw how effective colour (or lack thereof) can be from another. 

Another task was to choose a practitioner that inspired me. I chose Del Lagrace Volcano, who works mainly with the portraiture of transgender people. I found their work extremely interesting, and through some interviews, I read with them, I found how personal their work is to their personal life.

“My practice is informed by my life and the situations I find myself in, be that community or, as is presently the case, the unexpectedly joy of parenting.”

(Heroines, 2021)

During this week’s lecture, we looked at a lot of different photographers, 2 of which interested me. Firstly, Chris Shaw’s Night of a Life Porter.

Chris’ images tell a great story about what he would see whilst working in a hotel at night. His improvisation to take a photograph as he sees events happening is what makes the series so interesting because if this were staged the expressions would be entirely different, and you would miss that sense of urgency around the images.

I also looked at Chiro my love by Nobuyoshi Araki. I found a video of somebody turning through the book, in the images I see the use of improvisation. I liked how the text accompanies the images, it is written as though Chiro is writing it, using very plain language and bad grammar, just like how you would imagine a cat to write.

I looked at a guest lecture from the Falmouth archives with Michelle Sank. I found the work she was doing with children to be powerful . I felt she may have been able to change the minds of some stubborn adults who think ill of how children act and present themselves. 

I listened to a podcast with Jess Dugan, where they discussed how they got their career up and running. As a transgender artist looking at extreme issues, I can imagine how hard it would have been for them to have their work looked at, but they spoke about working in museums to get closer to the curators, who would look at their work. I found this very intriguing as I had never thought about museums as a place for modern art.

Finally, I read a recommended chapter from The Photograph as Contemporary Art by Charlotte Cotton.

Looking at his photograph, ‘To Raise The Water Level In A Fishpond’, there is a child on one man’s shoulders. I saw this as a symbol of the child being raised in this society to follow their elders outdated thoughts. There is one man in the back who is looking to the side. I saw this to mean that there are people that do not follow society. In these performances “the human body was tested to its limits, the artist’s enduring physical pain and psychological discomfort” (Cotton, 2005) which I believe can be what makes a piece of art more powerful.

(Huang, 1997)
(Huang, 1997)

I also liked how Sarah Lucas’ ‘Get off your horse and drink your milk’ takes nudity and creates something funny from it. Where nudity is usually linked with maturity and serious subjects, this set of images’ humour can lead to more inclusivity and being more open-minded about how different people’s bodies can be.

(Lucas, 1994)
(Lucas, 1994)

References:

Comments

bottom of page