Week 8 & 9: Work In Progress

Laura Marsh, 2020, Lubitel 166 Test

A few weeks ago, I tested one of the film cameras I had recently bought. A Lubital 166. I wanted to see how the camera worked and the quality of any images that might come from it. I used Ilford HP5 Plus 120 roll film. I wanted to see how close to an object I could get and also how I compose the images, I tested this on a leaf laying on the pavement. Despite the foreground being out of focus slightly and over exposed, the focal point, the leaf, is in focus and it has given me the idea to try and use this medium within my project in future modules, to explore the practice and methods. I had this image processed at Harman Labs with digital images sent to me via email, I also had prints delivered. I find Harman Labs a wonderful resource and I plan to use them going forward.

Contact Sheets

I have decide to slow down and concentrate on looking closely at the details and forms of the objects I discover. My objective here, is to show the complexity in the items/objects and their surroundings, by composing them carefully within the camera frame, choosing how much of the items environment and surroundings are included. Joel Meyerowitz discusses a process similar when discussing the frame in 'Joel Meyerowitz - What You Put In The Frame Determines The Photograph'.

"...it's what you put in the frame and it's where you cut the rest of the 360 degrees...." (Phaidon, 2012)

There are similarities within my project work (below) and with that of Jane Lurie, in her series 'Lost and Found', isolating the subject against the emptiness of the ground or including the pavement structure of joins and lines crossing the image, when looking directly down, something I have also been doing, this almost divides the composition of the image up.

I have pinpointed themes regularly occurring in my work, mortality or a memento mori theme, abstraction, feathers and squashed and or rotten food/fruit, which in itself relates to mortality/memento mori. These themes or topics will likely run through my work over the course and I will be exploring each one to see how it could develop from this initial starting point.

"Adds to it that rather terrible thing which is there in every photograph: the return of the dead"

(Barthes and Howard, 2000)

Shadows and light have been strong influences within my photography recently, using the low autumnal light to highlight focal points and colours, I have also shot discarded or fallen food and the stages of it's decay, linking back to the themes of mortality and a reminder that everything ends, this is find symbolic and relevant to the time of year, the change of seasons and life cycles of the natural world. I find the relationship between the item/object and it's surroundings brings more interest and context to my images, a sense of loss and decay.

I have identified further practitioners /photographers that I would like to look into further such as; Oliva Parker, Fay Goodwin, Ernst Haas, Irving Penn and Paul Strand's nature studies. Also Stephen Shore, John Ruskin and I have discovered a short interview with Kimberley Witham discussing her photography and practice, which I will be watching.

I will also plan to explore psychogeography and Guy Debord along with Memento Mori within the arts and photography, as my project progresses.

Resources to look at:

Websites:

Ernst-haas.com. 2020. Ernst Haas. [online] Available at: <http://ernst-haas.com/> [Accessed 14 November 2020].

Warwick Arts Centre. n.d. Fay Godwin: Glassworks And Secret Lives - Warwick Arts Centre. [online] Available at: <https://www.warwickartscentre.co.uk/mead-gallery/previous-exhibitions/1995/fay-godwin-glassworks-and-secret-lives/> [Accessed 14 November 2020].

Parker, O., 2018. [online] Oliviaparker.com. Available at: <https://www.oliviaparker.com/signs-of-life-re-do> [Accessed 14 November 2020].

Online Videos:

Hasselblad, 2018. Hasselblad X1D, Stephen Shore. [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BplS1MmZXk&list=PLBvnX-1HEhfMzcu0a_YyaUaAkGBFxWQXo&index=1> [Accessed 22 November 2020].

National Geographic, 2016. Turning Roadkill Into Art | National Geographic. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c2Koi4Z-xZU&list=PLBvnX-1HEhfMzcu0a_YyaUaAkGBFxWQXo&index=34> [Accessed 22 November 2020].

The Highpoint Richmond, 2019. The Hardest Hue To Hold - An Artist Talk With Kimberly Witham. [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecFNwTPXWH0&list=PLBvnX-1HEhfMzcu0a_YyaUaAkGBFxWQXo&index=33> [Accessed 22 November 2020].

The Museum of Modern art, 2018. Stephen Shore | HOW TO SEE The Photographer With Stephen Shore. [image] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T029CTSO0IE&list=PLBvnX-1HEhfMzcu0a_YyaUaAkGBFxWQXo&index=2&t=5s> [Accessed 22 November 2020].

Bibliography:

Books:

Barthes, R. and Howard, R., 2000. Camera Lucida. London: Vintage Books, p.9.

Websites:

Lurie, J., 2018. Lost And Found. [online] Jane Lurie Photography. Available at: <https://janeluriephotography.wordpress.com/2018/07/23/lost-and-found-2/> [Accessed 22 November 2020].

Video:

Phaidon, 2012. Joel Meyerowitz - 'What You Put In The Frame Determines The Photograph. [video] Available at: <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xumo7_JUeMo&list=PLBvnX-1HEhfMzcu0a_YyaUaAkGBFxWQXo&index=20&t=13s> [Accessed 22 November 2020].