Reflections on Chapter 2

The chapter was a mix of reading and exercises ranging around the themes of discovery; exploration, and journey; the photographer on the move, observing and commenting on what he or she sees.

The first exercise was to read Joel Snyder's essay Territorial Photography. I contrasted the approach of Watkins - positive, harmonious, believing on the Manifest Destiny - with that of O'Sullivan - large scale 'raw' landscapes, man as insignificant. Yet both more than capable photographers in the technical sense as the analysis of a photograph from each shows.

As a complete contrast, I used exercise 2.2 Explore a Road to view a topic in contemporary  suburbia. It was a test of observation; how could I conjure up a series of images on what is by any means a very commonplace scene: a suburban road. The answer seemed to be to accept the inevitability of the norm in the sense of the subject, but to view it in different ways using a range of angles in the camera; and a contrast in terms of time of day and of weather. The road was treated as a static object rather than a route to anywhere simply because it actually doesn't lead anywhere in particular. It joins the dots.

The film The Road was, in my view, essentially about the personal relationship between man and son; the journey was subservient. How they got to the sea (and indeed, why) was not the point. It was a journey of emotion rather than of physicality.

Typology photography was the subject for Exercise 2.3. I am unsure of the motives of so called typology photographers. It is rather like a lot of modern art, there to tease the viewer as much as say something (or perhaps teasing the viewer is what it is saying!). The Bechers were more interested in form, almost a categorisation of industrial structures and hence sought to exclude any extraneous detail. Dull skies only would do for them. The work of others like Baltz seemed to be the antidote to the picturesque, a sort of reminder that the world most of us occupy on a day to day basis is humdrum, boring and lacking visual stimulation. There is a link here with the Explore a Road project except that my focus was to accept the essential uniformity of the subject-matter and tease out some differentiation whereas Baltz et al. sought to emphasise the bland nature of their subjects.

Appropriation was discussed in Exercise 2.4. This confounded two distinct topics:

• The concept of using Google Street View  and similar to create a piece of work;
• Actual copies of other artists' work.

The first, I argue, is not really appropriation as the images are sought, chosen and presented from a vast public store of imagery. It is no different in context to taking a camera, choosing a subject, and deciding how to present that subject. Artists who practise the second would probably argue that they are doing the same and, arguably, some such as Glenn Brown are. It is difficult to see that this applies to the likes of Sturtevant who aim to reproduce exactly the original. 

This exercise provided an opportunity to explore some concepts covered in an Assignment covered in Understanding Visual Culture.

Exercise 2.5 provided a stimulus for the Assignment. The brief observations of Richard Long struck a chord with my observations on a section of Wales Coast Path. This was furthered by reading and writing on Edgelands in Exercise 2.6. This led me to consider whether the steelworks at Port Talbot can be viewed as Edgelands, and to enjoin on the contemporary story of the future of a town and how it contrasts with the surrounding landscape. I used the walk between Porthcawl and Port Talbot to observe some of the contradictions in the Assignment.