Reflections on Chapter 3

There is a wide variety of content in this chapter, with some challenging exercises offering opportunity to explore personal views verbally and pictorially. In Exercise 3.1 I extended the discussion about what is picturesque to creating a picturesque: extending a point made in an Assignment in a previous course of how  photographic manipulation can be used to create an entirely different reality. The following quote by David Hockney has resonated:

"If you really think about it, the single photograph cannot be seen as the ultimate realist picture. Well, not now. Digital photography can free us from a chemically imposed perspective that has lasted for 180 years." (The Times 21 April 2015)

Hockney is not specifically referring to digital manipulation but his intention is evident: use the technology to free ourselves from the constraints of the film. I may be overstating but I sense (and it has come up in different guises in this and previous modules) a sort of disquiet among photographic academics about the use of digital software; a tweak here and there is fine but using imaging software that radically alters the in camera image is not really what we are about. We are not Scott Kelby. Presets are not for us. Yet basically all the filters and other manipulations represent merely easier, faster and much wider ways of altering our images that were used before in the dark room. Is it simply that using dark room techniques were 'difficult' whereas clicking on 'Landscape: Boost Contrast & Colour' is easy and (critically) accessible that makes the difference? Is there a fear that digital software resigns photography to being a Middle-Brow Art, as presciently set out by Bourdieu over fifty years ago? (Bourdieu, 1965). 

Photography as a serious study does of course have to set itself apart from Snapchat and selfies and even (in a Landscape context) the 'calendar image'. Doubtless that is why observation has become more important: take the notes from this course that encourage us to 'incorporate [our] current location and situation within [our] practice'. (p 19 course notes) We move from an objective view to a more subjective, reflective, observational and interpretative view. We use what's there. It encumbers us as photographers to create interesting subject-matter from what might be viewed as more mundane, sublime even (as with the subject-matter of my Assignment). However, that approach may not always chime with producing images that pass muster technically. As I pointed out in the last exercise, there is no guarantee when walking a photographic journey of arriving at a point of observational interest when the light is perfect, or even satisfactory. It is not practical to carry a tripod. Existing conditions are to be used in the same way as the subject-matter: use what you have where you are at that point in time.

Postcards were the subject of Exercise 3.2. Perhaps the main point here is how they have almost disappeared. For those of us who can remember them, there was something rather exciting about choosing a postcard to send to a relative - shall we send one of those multi thumbnail ones or one that has a nice bigger view? - but now they are superseded by social media. Why bother sending postcard when you can tell your loved ones all about it on Facetime, or place a few images on Instagram? The impact of Sherry Turkle's 'always on' society on photography is one I am considering for Assignment 4.

'Late photography' was the subject of Exercise 3.3. There is something about photography that makes the sublimeness of disaster scenery somehow picturesque. Perhaps it is the antidote to the ghastly drama of what preceded, the sense of peace and stillness and of control after what would have been a noisy and uncontrollable event whether that be natural or man-made. 

Exercise 3.4 presented a different challenge: design an image. I have no illusions about my lack of skill as a graphic artist; perhaps that is why I appreciate the covers of  The Economist. The effect is none too convincing but it tells a contemporary story that interests me: the rise of populism in Europe. 

Taking on board the point above about incorporating our current location into our work, Exercise 3.5 (extended into the Assignment) explores the history and site of William Champion's brassworks. It is a story of ambition, boldness, and invention on the one hand; and of naivety, self aggrandisement and incompetence on the other. The site is largely built on now, and, as a secondary aim, the Assignment endeavours to portray the consequent incongruity.

Exercise 3.6 was a deeper review of quite a difficult article. I reviewed it and considered as a possible lead in to Assignment 4.

Overall, this chapter an enjoyable and thought-provoking set of Exercises/Assignment.

Reference:

Bourdieu, Pierre (1965) Photography as Middle-Brow Art. Reproduced in part in Visual Culture: the Reader (1999) Evans, Jessica and Hall, Stuart (eds.). SAGE. London.