The result of my final Assessment.

512659 Shaun Mullins PH4CAN Results Letter

512659 Shaun Mullins PH4CAN Marksheet

I have received my marks and confirmation that I have passed!  Which is great!

I am however, a little disappointed at the marks I got as I did my very best and read as many books as I could lay my hands on to fully understand the theory and concepts behind this course and put them in to practical practice.

I found my photographic assignments very challenging, and I spent a great deal of time reading for research and brainstorming for ideas which my blogs illustrate with my handwritten notes, sketched ideas.  I was disappointed that as a result of all that my images are criticized as being ‘stock-photography’.  It is also very ironic because at one point when I really couldn’t come up with any ideas I tried looking for stock-photos for inspiration but found nothing of any use.  So clearly their is a great stock-photography web-site I don’t know about, or maybe I’m just not good at asking the right questions to find them.  Anyway, these images came out of my head not anyone else’s but as I keep reading in every book OCA lists, “There is no such thing as a new idea” (unless you are an Assessor of cause)  Maybe, my ideas were cliche; I don’t know, I haven’t seen enough photos like mine to know, but I guess the assessors have.  I bow to their experience.  My images were considered too obvious,  hopefully in time my experience will teach my imagination to be more sophisticated and in turn more subtle.  My new course is also helping with ideas of motifs and the rule-of-three which I can use in photo essays to be able to put over an idea in subtler ways as they do in Hollywood.  Art like science works best with cross-fertilization of ideas, theories and practices.  For example, Geologist and Paleontologists have a better understanding of their work by being aware of the others sciences.

With regards to my essay, I was congratulated on producing a good essay.  I was criticized for reading too diverse range of books and authors; but at this stage of my course I am still trying to learn as much as I can whilst looking for something that can inspire me enough to confidently specialize in.  I prefer portraiture work and the Film-Noir images I did with Nikon really gave me a buzz; so I think that style of work is my forte.  I love using all kinds of lighting to create interesting / stunning images and just using natural-light I find boring.  This is where I think I will start drilling.

Anyway, I passed and I now need 40 points to reach my 120 which I hope I can achieve for my next course which was a new challenge, film-making.

If anyone other than myself bothers to read this, please wish me luck!

About Looking by John Berger

John Berger, About Looking (1980) London: Bloomsbury. ISBN: 978-0-7475-9957-9

Among my pile of books yet to read as part of my studies I had ‘About Looking’ by John Berger.  I have only recently been introduced to this author through my Context and Narrative Course, I read his book ‘Ways of Seeing’ and watched the accompanying BBC TV program on YouTube which I found very interesting. I then went onto read ‘Understanding a Photograph’, in preparation for my fourth assignment.  The recent sad news of John Berger’s death prompted me to read this book, ‘About Looking’.

This book is made up of a selection of essays, Berger wrote from the mid 1960’s up to the late 1970’s.

His first essay examines how man looks and sees himself; how he regards animals and his world around him and compares this to how other animals regards themselves, man and the world through their eyes.

His next essay looks at pictures by August Sander the famous farm hands going to a dance photo, Young Farmers (1914) and another image of a local musical band posing for their photograph and he discusses how their suits give away their status in society despite their smart attire.

Also included is an essay on the works of Paul Strand.  The rest of the book moves away from photography and looks at works by other artists from the 17th century such as Hals through to Artist’s such as Francis Bacon and Giacometti of the 20th century.

An interesting read, Berger had his own style of writing and if you have heard him speak you can almost hear his voice coming through the pages of the book.

He was clearly very passionate about art and I am sure a nice guy to have met.  I am sure all who were fortunate enough to have met him will miss him.

Photography: A Cultural History, 4th Edition by Mary Warner Marien

Photography: A Cultural History, 4th Edition by Mary Warner Marien, published by Laurence King Publishing, ISBN:978-1-7806-332-5.

A good book that tells a good comprehensive history of photography from conception to present day.   This book explains the influences from art, politics and national cultures that has shaped photographic practices throughout the world from the 1830’s to present day with details on photographers / artist with examples of their work that have been of influence.  The book is made up of six parts with sections called Focus that looks at specific subjects in photography such as race and slavery of the 19th century or making an icon of revolution in the 20th century (Che Guevara) and Portraits about the works of famous photographers that influenced photography and the artistic practices from the 19th century through to the 21st.

Certainly a must read book for any photography student and I do now have a better understanding of Surrealism, Modernism, Postmodernism, etc. than I did before.

The art of mosaics

I have just completed a one day mosaic course with an artist called Jane Visick based in Hitchin in Hertfordshire.

It was a great experience and something I believe that I can incorporate with my photography.  Jane works with all kinds of materials, glass, ceramic, stone, metal, gems, plastics, resins practically anything you can cut up and glue down.  She mosaics floors pots,  walls anything and anywhere.  I want to use my photography to inspire ideas for images to mosaic.

The course consists of a practical workshop in which the student will have made a small mosaic to take home the course is for 1-3 and I was in fact her only student for my day with her.  During my initial conversation I suggested that I send her some ideas for my mosaic and for her to advise which if any was suitable to be completed in a day.  I looked through my photo library and offered up these images.

Jane suggested that all the fish and the flowers were possible and I decided upon a fish image and this was the chosen image to use for my mosaic.

This was a blown up section of a larger picture.  All the fish pictures were taken using my Nikon D-800e 24-120 f/4 with an attached polarizing filter and the aid of a speedlite.  I chose this image for its movement colour and shape made by the water.

On arriving Jane briefed me on the tools and materials she used and books to read an in fact by coincidence her best book to recommend that I obtain, I had already placed on order through Amazon.

We began by deciding on the materials to use and glass was the decision and she then showed me the Technics of cutting glass to shape.  We then took my printed photo and laid it with a layer of carbon-paper on to the chip-board base to wish I was going to mosaic and using a pencil I drew around my fish and areas of different colours pressing so that the carbon paper below marked the chip-board with my desired design.  Removing the photo and paper I now had my design to mosaic.  We then selected the coloured glass and I began cutting up the glass until I had about a dozen small pieces to start choosing and gluing.

I was surprised to get the mosaic finished by the end of the day with only the grouting left to do and Jane provided me with a bag of grout to take home and this is the final result of my labors.

For a first effort I am very pleased and encouraged.  The mosaic was photographed on the floor inside a homemade light-tent of tracing-paper rolled in to a cone shape with the camera mounted on a tripod above and illuminated by three speedlights operated by infrared controller mounted to the camera.  the green glass is a stain-glass and is a mix of green and a white opaque which was perfect to represent the water of a pond. I chose to use a light-tent to create an even lighting without any annoying reflections.  I am pleased with the result as it is a good reproduction of the actual mosaic.