Lack of posts..

the lack of posts is a result of panicing with my other project and trying to get it up to the standard of this blog, ive found it rather difficult in the last few weeks to juggle both projects for time wise, expesh after i was used to having one module a week which gave me a structure for which module im doing when, now it kinda feels like i have to do both at the same time which makes me panic. However i think now im getting back into the swing of things and really need to push forward with my ideas for this project, so far ive done alot of reserch and not alot of photos which i feel i need to get out there again and start to take more images and experimenting with my different ideas for more superstitions rather then just the two ive focused on alot so far.

James C Christensen- superstitions

While looking for different superstitons i came across the work of James C Christensen. Most of his work is not really that specific for my work he focuses alot around the idea of fables, tho one of his peices is entitled superstitions. Inspired by the world's myths, fables and tales of imagination, James C. Christensen wants his work to add up to more than a beautiful - if sometimes "curious" looking work of art. The image is a large scale print with so many superstitions and explinations, everything has a reason for being in the image. 

"I don't consider myself a superstitious person, but, knock wood, I've never had to deal with a lot of the problems these characters do. Their town is built over the ocean on crumbling pillars, so they can't afford to do anything to incur any kind of bad luck.

And, although our own houses may not be built on sand or stilts, life in the modern day age, in its own way, is nearly as precarious as the one I've pictured. They get rampant pestilence and we get power spikes which ruin our RAMs and ROMs.

Life is precarious. Who hasn't worried about walking under ladders or seeing that black cat cross our path? It was really fun to see to what extremes we will go, as a human family, to avoid bad luck. Best of luck, everyone! "

-James Christensen

Rather a similar stance to which ive taken with my imagery, hes created a story of a mythical town based around the idea of superstitions. In total there are 72 superstitions in the one image, and the image comes with its own key:

1.  Moon Luck

 2.  Falling Stars

 3.  Wishing Stars

 4.  Red Sky at Night

 5.  Candle in the Window

 6.  Stork's Nest

 7.  Chimney Sweep

 8.  Relic Bones in Walls

 9.  Swallow and Nest

 10. Don't Stomp That Spider

 11. Widow's Peak

 12. Tossing Burnt Toast

 13. Poor Little Number Thirteen

 14. Leaving Fruit in the Tree

 15. Hanging Eggs Outside

 16. The King's Healing Touch

 17. Catching Leaves

 18. Oranges

 19. A Frog in the Mouth

 20. Lizard-Licking

 21. Sneezing

 22. Four-Leafed Clover

 23. Knocking on Wood

 24. Two Crows

 25. Horseshoe

 26. Beware the Black Cat...Maybe    

 27. Protected by  

     the Cross

 28. Tossing Salt over

     Your Shoulder

 29. Spitting for Luck

 30. Broken Mirror

     Syndrome         

 31. Butterflies

 32. Three Magpies Means

     a Wedding

 33.  A Kiss for Luck

 34.  Mistletoe

 35.  Holly

 36.  Ivy's Lucky for

      the Groom

 37.  Roses for Luck in Love

 38.  Something Old,

      Something New

  39. Something Borrowed

  40. Something Blue

  41. Rice Thrown for Luck

  42. Long Hair

  43. Throwing Wedding

       Cake

  44. Throwing the Bride's

      Bouquet

  45. Third Finger for the

      Ring

  46. Dropping a Spoon

  47. Robin Redbreast

  48. Walking under a Ladder

  49. Crossing One's

      Fingers

  50. Garlic Protection

  51. Opening an

      Umbrella Indoors

  52. Wishbone

  53. Feather for Luck

  54. Rub a Hunchback's

      Hump

  55. Don't Scare That Toad

  56. Beetle Work

  57. Six Fingers Are Lucky

  58. Different Socks

  59. Itchy Foot

  60. King of Mackerel

  61. Put a Knife in a Mast

  62. Always Enter a Boat

      from the Right

  63. Whistling on a Ship

  64. Throwing a Broom

  65. Women on a Ship

      Are Unlucky

  66. Cats Are Lucky on

      a Ship

  67. A Peg Leg is Lucky

  68. Porpoise Protection

  69. Seagulls Ashore

  70. The Kingfisher

      Weathervane

  71. Swans' Spirits

  72. The Hare's or

      Rabbit's Foot

I actually admire being able to fit 72 different superstitions into one painting. I also really like the use of the key, maybe there would be a way in which i could fit in some sort of key into my book? something to look into at a later date. 

Julia Peck

Julia peck is a photographer i decovered while looking at my other project. Her images based heavily around nature. Using different cameras and technique Peck managed to create these dream like worlds inside images of plants and other folliage.  I really started to look into her work in relation to my project on he loves me he loves me not, and how i was portraying nature and the use of depth of feild.  Her play with light and movement is apparent, as well as a play on depth of feild. the colour in these images are not bright but have a mellowed out vibrancy that reminds me almost of the 70's

Presentation of work?

While i know its a long time before i have to present my work, ive been thinking of how i will present my work.

Originally the idea for this project came from a competition which required images to be printed out. However after some development within the ideas of my project and the idea now that it is to be a book full of images collected together. The scale of this project is very important to the images and the meaning behind it. Superstitions used to be a huge thing in the lives of many and now it has disintergrated to a scale which is nothing on what it used to be. 

The use of grids, multiple images and repetion of ideas allows me to create the scale of the images that i would  would want to achieve the feel of the vastness of the subject and how it used to effect the masses.


This project now kinda feels like it has expressed itself as a collection of mini projects then one solid project, however i feel by collecting the different superstitions in one book and working making the book fluid and work in such a way as to achieve the astetics i want. I want it to be random, yet coherient like the book 'exquist pain' by sophie calle.

Sophy Rickett

Sophy Rickett is a visual artist using a mixture of photography and sound. Her photography explores the narrative tendicies and the abstract possiblitiys of photographs. Her images, visually stunning, portray a sence of place and location. Often atmospheric, they play with the idea of dark and light, uncertancy and drama. The locations are lit in a way in which creates tension and feelings for the auidence.

I started to look at her work due to her use with grids and multiple images. Some of her images are diptics. She seems to use two different techniques with her use of imagery and multiples. Some images the photos look like one image spread over two or three pannels, such as if the images were pushed together they would be one image, the other is the normal two different images, however while they are different theyre is strong resemblance between them, often only one thing has changed.  These images are visually stunning. she uses long exposures, and different techniques to achieve interesting colours in her colour images, and very high contrasts in her black and white images. Her use of multiples are fantastic.

 

This work seems both relivent for my 'crack/back' images as well my he loves me/loves me not. 

Love/Not images, what next?

I've been comptemplating, where to go next with the idea of 'he loves me' 'he loves me not'  images that i wasnt really feeling infusiastic about the images i had taken before for the idea.
It got me thinking about where to head next with my images. I started to think about the comparison between living and dead flowers i made in my first shoot of images. 
The idea of the comparison of living and dead images made me think about the contrast between deciduous and coniferous and the comparison in winter, from the colours, green and brown, to the structural implication of trees and plants, the skeletal structure of deciduous trees in comparison to the more fullness of the coniferous trees that remain the same through out winter. 
This in turn lead me to the idea of a comparison of seasons and the changes to plants and nature that we achieve through the year.
The comparison to the:
dead and rebirth.
colour and less colour
shape and texture comparisons.
and even to some extent the weather.

I decided to use images i took over the summer period with images from winter (image ive taken now) to see how these images look and compaire together.

 

Helen Sear

Helen Sear originally begun her photographic practice from a fine art background.She explores ideas of vision, touch, and the re-presentation of the nature of experience, combining drawing, lens based media and digital technologies. Her work based around nature is very interesting for my he loves me he loves me not ideas. She has a very unusual way of looking at nature and connections between humans and nature. By using mix media she creates a look of almost like a painting with the use of superimposing different

From a series of landscapes and figures, two separate photographs are superimposed, the image behind appearing to float as a net or veil on the surface by a process of hand drawing/erasing in the computer. One photograph depicts the back of a head, the other a landscape both taken in different locations, the partial erasure of one reveals an incomplete picture of the other.

 

 

 relationships between nature and culture, mythology and technology have been at the forefront of Helen’s art practice, as has the representation of landscape as a gendered experience. 

 

'I have developed this approach of a double time of image making, drawing parallels between the speed and instant of the photograph/digital image and the economy of information technology. The reconstruction of these images through touch and the labour of the hand, signals the return to a more primitive and bodily experience.'

Grid experimentation crack/back photos 2

from the images i took the other day i have been experiementing with different sequencing and grid structures to see what creates an astetic effects. 
Of course it depends on how big a structure i would want to achieve, it also depends on how many images i wanted to include. 
I also have experimented using 'blank' images. photos of the ground without anyones feet in. 
Below are a few examples of experiments with grids using the images ive already taken. 

Here i created a 3x3 grid using equal devisions. But with double the space at the edges Here i alternated the direction of the people in the images. The top level i had to improvise as i didnt have enough images to complete another rung. 
this suggests that i need to increase the volume of images i take in the locations to achieve a large amount of images to choose from. i really like the repetition of the images here and this its very effective. 

i also like the idea of the 'empty' image between the top row so i thought id experiment with alternating that also to which i achieved this effect:

Here the images are more broken up which suggests a less heavy 'flow' of pedestians. I do like it as it adds more of a pattern to the images however i dont think it is as effective as the first grid i created. Maybe just by encorperating just one or two 'blank' squares it would add abit extra to the flow, and yet still capture that freeness of the first grid rather then the very formal structure on the second, with making sure that the padestrians are walking in the correct directions. Here i used equal devisions all around though in comparison i think i prefer the image above with the extra space around the outside of the overall square. 


I also experimented abit with the idea of more of a rectangular structured grid. While it is alright i think with the use of squared off images i think that the use of a square grid is more appropriate.

I like the fact that i managed to keep the framing almost the same for every image by keeping the camera in the same location. As for the structure of my grids, if they are to be printed on white paper the external width will not need to be worried about right now. I also showed my images to a a range of people to get there opinions on what works about the structure of the images in the grids. Many actually said they prefered the idea of a more random structure with the input of some blank squares, They also said that any more images may make the grid too complicated and take away from some of the detailing on the images.  I will take this into concideration when creating the next amount of grids.


It will be interesting to see how this would work out in comparison to more photos in different locations.  which is what i shall be experimenting with next.

'crack/back' photos 2

While waiting for a friend to meet me to go somewhere, i desided to experiement with the idea of the stepping on a crack idea. while the other approach was a good idea and i did like the effect i got with the left and right leg diptics, i wanted to experiment more with abit more of a documentry approach. This time using the camera on my ipod touch *better quality then the one on my phone* as well as having more variety with the techniques and ability to adjust the whitebalence, iso, ect then on my phone. It also allowed me to get images on the street without being noticed by the subjects, or without the reaction from people which is helpful for what i wanted to achieve. Here i took an image everytime someone walked past. in which i wanted to see what percentage actually stepped on a crack. i decided to use the 'hipstermatic app' which allows me to use different film types and lens filters on the images that im taking. i experimented abit with different lenses and films to achieve the effect that i think works best with the images. 
Below are the images that i got using the b/w black keys extra grainy film and the lucifer VI lens. 

an example of the larger images are here:

I really like the effect the lens and film has on the image itself. Its slightly grainy, but that is expected of of a camera phone style camera. The square cut of the images fit well with the idea of using these images in a grid style. The images are a highly contrasted black and white which is my personal preference when it comes to black and white. These images just have a very striking feel to them. I also like the fact that it was pretty easy for me to capture the same framing in multiple images without a tripod which is good as it stops me drawing attention to myself.  The lines are abit part of these images and it allows the audiences eye to focus in on the point at which the foot at the lines cross.  I also like the way to which movement is captured in the images with slight blurring. 


I want to experiment more with this process and get together a large collection of images, as well as experimenting with different grids to see what works best.

Wolfgang Tillman exhibition

While on a trip to the Nottingham contempory i saw the work of Wolfgang Tillman, While his work is not visually linked to my work it was interesting to see a person using a collection of sepourate, seemingly unrelated images in a collection of visually intreging images. His work seemed to have a  mockumentry feel, creating fake style newspaper clippings alongside a very large scale single conceptual image.The images were all laid out on glass covered tables and it had a very unusal feel to them. I really do need to look into more artists that uses this idea of a collection of different themes under one heading. I find ive taken on alot of work for myself but i feel in the long run ill be alright and manage to get a collection of interesting and visually intreguing images together.