Archive for March, 2009
Half-way there
Ha, no joke. Class will be in Temple Bar tomorrow.
First task will be to complete your powerpoint portfolio, using at least ten of your own images. I’ve done some preparation this week as expected and we can look at transitions and animations to liven things up a little.
Have a look at the CompLit-Selections group on Flickr. Decide if these are a representative sample, or if we need to fill in some gaps. We will spend the last 30 minutes or so looking through the selections and critiquing the quality of the images.
I plan to bring in two or three web designs after easter, so if you have any ideas or preferences, let me know.
So far we have looked at Word, Powerpoint, Image sizing and scanning. You should be able to plod your way through communication with these tools. If you are comfortable with these tools, hey! that is the goal.
Practice practice practice
Flickr Critiques
Okay folks, time to be more cranky. No, not cranky, but not so flipping nice. As you look through other peoples’ images, make your comments more specific than ‘wow-that’s great’. Positive response is fine, but follow it up with comments about contrast, framing, subject, composition and such. As you look at zillions of images, little qualities stick in your head about what works and what doesn’t. You need to be able to articulate those for your own work and for others.
We always want to be friendly and supportive, but believe it or not, everything you do is not fabulous. Wouldn’t it be helpful if someone says, ‘hey, maybe you should have moved in a couple steps and focused on the girl on the left.’ You won’t always agree, but seeing how other people read your images teaches you about what you are saying with your photographs. You have three or four opinions from your lecturers, but those other 25 opinions from your class members matter just as much. It is great when we disagree; then we can discuss what each of us sees in a particular image. These things can vary dramatically.
So, make your comments more specific, and more constructive. We are a community of viewers – make that community work for you.
St. Patrick’s Day
Huh, is the definition of civilization the ability to blog while laying in the hammock on an unusually sunny March day? Hard to complain, and not that I want to rub it in, but Patrick’s day wasn’t like this in your day…
Week 6
Okay, progress. Only 10 people have sent me abstracts of their academic work. Don’t skip it now; get that in to me. While photographic skills are essential, among photographers they are a given. What makes you a success or failure in photography are all the additional skills you need.
Next step on that trail is to add images to MS Word documents. So for tomorrow you need to bring in an essay as a Word file, plus two or three image files.
We will meet in Temple Bar tomorrow. We seem to have enough space so it works okay for now.
abstracts
I’ve already received a few abstracts, and a few questions about what they should be. Here is one from Tracy:
Photography as Evidence?
Tracy O’Brien
This essay discusses how photography was in the main perceived as evidence of the real since it’s introduction in 1839. Sontag’s claim that ‘Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we’re shown a photograph of it’ was deemed true, especially pre-digital technology. How culture and psychology influence what evidence actually is, photography as evidence, is investigated and time and place will be proven to be important factors in the investigation. Mizoeff states that ‘with the rise of computer imaging and the creation of digital means to manipulate the photograph, we can … say that photography is dead’, but this new technology is only one factor in how photography is used as evidence.
Due to the postmodern era evolving with the simulacrum and digital imagery and manipulation, photography is not as easily as accepted as evidence, as emphatically as it previously was, by the general public. Photo manipulation was always a tool available to the photographer and printer, but as it was not widely known about or widely exploited. Society in general accepted photography as representing the reality of a person, event or object. However, culture, the ruling classes, psychology, politics and semiotics, among others, all played and still play their role in the evidence that is available and accepted in a photographic image.
I would be a bit more explicit in the title: maybe ‘Postmodernism and Photograpy as Evidence’ or something like that.
And this is excellent from Ciaran:
Photography as Evidence
Ciaran Cooney
This essay examines the role that photography has played as a tool for gathering evidence, as well as the changes it has undertaken to adapt to such uses. The essay gathers together the various evidential practices where photography established itself in as outlined by a number of well known photographers and theorists, most notably John Tagg. The essay details the developments of photography from its earliest uses as evidence in the mid 19th century to digital age of the late 20th century, where its authenticity has been questioned, particularly relating to the manipulation of images and its credibility in the law.
The essay also outlines the importance of the recognition of photographs as evidence to 20th century histories, as explained by Peter Burke, as well as examining its uses in the various social institutions that spawned from the industrial revolution.
The essay concludes with the doubts and possible attitudes towards the authenticity of photography as ‘evidence’. Photography’s basic principals, as a tool that only records a ‘fraction of reality’ is also discussed, as well as the attempts to discredit its image in other commercial medias. There is no doubt however, that photographs have provided an enormous contribution to the purpose of providing evidence, which has occurred since photography’s invention a 160 years ago.
Scanning
In class wednesday we covered how to use the Nikon and Epson scanners. The controls look different, but work more or less the same. For those of you that missed it, you might cajole someone else to help you out, but my position is that everyone now can use the scanners.
Handle the scanners carefully. Remember, they cost more than your cameras do and in these times we won’t get replacements for anything damaged.
Check out this tiny slice from a colour neg scanned at 4000 dpi on the Nikon. It practically shows the molecules of the film…
snorkel close up
rather bloggy today…
Here it is, the bloggo up and running. I’ll try to keep all info up to date here, so should you miss an email or, heaven forbid, skip class, you can find out what you need to do.
Below is yesterday’s email. Besides that, your assignment for this week is to create an abstract of two pieces of your academic work. ‘Abstract’ is the academic world’s term for a short summary. If it is a book or thesis, the abstract might be 1000 words. For your projects, I’m looking for two paragraphs. You should write your abstract in a neutral tone, that is, don’t say “In this essay I chose to examine the documentary photography of Dorothea Lange…” Rather, write in the tone, “This essay examines the documentary photography of Dorothea Lange and compares it to her contemporaries Margaret Bourke-White and…” so on. Summarize what the project/essay is about and your conclusion, as if you were explaining it to your old school principal and wanted to impress them. But keep it short.
You must write an abstract of one of your individual essays, and one of your group projects. These will form the foundation for the academic section of the module project.
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Everyone with Flickr knicknames: there are four or five I can’t match
up with the real names. Send me your knickname and real name so I won’t
be so confused.
We are up to 20 members in compLitskills group, so we ar getting there.
Spend some time on research. Look at other peoples’ images. Make
comments and make notes for yourself so that when you have to pick the
best 10 or 20 images, you are ready. We need enough images so that we
can make a reasonable survey of what you talented people produce. We
haven’t figured out a way to vote on flickr, so next week we may form a
sub-committee to make the selections.
If you skipped class today, find out what the assignment is. (on the
board in the computer lab at the moment)
I’m checking off each of these tasks as we do them. If you missed our
little workshop on scanning and image sizing, you better get up to
speed.
that is it for the moment. I’m still trying to get this blog thing
working properly, so I’ll let you know.
uh, now which way?
yea, I know I use that too much, but getting the tools is just one part. Now we have to really make something good.
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