Ffotogallery/Chapter gallery review (Visual Studies trip)

 Ffotogallery

The first exhibition we went to see was at Ffotogallery and featured Paul Gaffney, with a body of work called We make the path by walking, and Michal Lwanowski whose work was called Clear of people. I found the work all right I think I liked the work by Michal Lwaanowski more because of the concept behind the work, the idea of following the footsteps of his father who escaped a prisoner of war camp, made the work to me really interesting trying to put yourself in their place and experience the place as they would have, as well as that I feel that they were photographed in a way which help convey that idea, what was a little somewhat disappointing to hear was that there not in order of the route that he took, this detracts because you can’t follow them and it doesn't seem to work the same when you know that, as well the photographer apparently stayed in hotels between shooting and personally I would have walked that route camping so that I get as close to the original conditions as possible to help me connect to how they would have felt, but this could just be a personal view on this and the artist might have felt that this kind of process wasn't necessary.

Then with Gaffney’s work I found it interesting the idea of documenting the path that he’s walked and what he saw as he was going along, I all so liked the way he displayed it by placing images that he took of things on the floor lower down and images that were looking up, high up, placing you into the image more making them very personal, and some of the subject matter was interesting but I didn't particularly want to spend that much time looking at the work, it didn't grip me and make me want to explore it more, even though some of the images were particularly stunning I saw them more as works I’d place on a wall than pieces of work that I would by a book of so that I could see the hole set. 

Chapter

3AM: Wonder, Paranoia and the Restless Night

I really liked some of the work at Chapter gallery, there was a really interesting sound peace’s that lasted about 2 minuet and was really trans like and a little bit like a Buddhist chant and was really inspiring, as well as that there was a really interesting video peace which was an interview with a gay man, and the video was as best I can describe it is an eclectic light show that fitted with the video, and the mood of the interview and the video paused with the speech and it made for a really interesting thing to listen to, as well as that there was some really interesting photographic peace’s that where interesting and some small canvas painting that were incredibly detailed for things that were so small, there was also some really interesting floating knitted things that were really strange but were interesting to look at, and there was one really bad one that I didn’t like at all and was just some spinning tops on some cloth with things that were meant to be starts I think, but it didn’t really look that good or that interesting, but other than that I enjoyed the exhibition and generally I enjoyed the trip and looking at the art.

http://www.chapter.org/3am-wonder-paranoia-and-restless-night Image source

http://www.ffotogallery.org/forthcoming-exhibitions Image source

Niall McDiarmid (Artist Talks)

Niall McDiarmid is one of the best lectures we’ve had so far, he was interesting and presented himself and his work well, he also did what a lot of other photographers don’t do and talked about how he originally got into photography and how he started to make a name for himself which I feel is a really good insight and gives you a bit of perspective on how it’s possible and of ways in which it’s done, he also gave a good insight into how showing your work to all kinds of people is one of the best way to get your work out there into the market and get people knowing your name and it’s a way of making contacts.

As well as this he talked about how he had work for making money and paying the bills, which is his commercial work, and book covers, things that pay well but perhaps don’t allow quite as much creativity and personality as personal work can have, which he did in his spare time to start building up the body of work, this personal work was called Crossing Paths, and looked to document and recorded people from all over Brittan people of all shapes and sizes and style, people that are interesting and different, he also photographed them well placing people with particular colours next to walls that are the same or photographing groups with strange group dynamics, creating quite an interesting body of work.

                                                       




























http://crossing-paths.co.uk/work.php  (image sours)

500 Word book review, CXXXIX (Visual Studies)

 500 Word book review

The book I’m reviewing was produced by Bethan Laurence-McGaffie, and is called CXXXIX, I’ll start with the name, I’m unsure why it’s called this, but with the contents of the book having religious connotations, I get the feeling it’s a passage out the bible that was also use on some of the images. This works because the pages that the images were printed onto got me interested in the first place, but now I’d like to be able to spend more time looking at the book so I can figure things like this out, and explore the work more.

I particularly chose this book because I liked the work inside it, and that’s personally the most important thing, the work caught my attention and made me want the look at it more, and figure out what was going on, I started reading the text that was behind the images, to start trying to decipher why there were images on top of it, and whether those images had any connection to the text, which I’m still not sure about after looking at the book for a bit, and that’s making me want to look at it again which in my eyes makes it a successful book.

Onto the finer details, The font they used for the title and the way they set it into the cover so it’s an indent works really well, keeping the front cover simple, and I think them not putting an image on there was the right choice. It’s also a hard back which works well, and I feel that it works better than if it had a paper back, because the hard back makes it feel more precious, more important, like it’s something that needs looking after, and also makes it look more professionally done. As well as that I feel the size of the book is about right, it wasn’t to small that you couldn’t handle it, and it wasn’t so big that you felt like you’re holding a kids book, and the shape of it felt right as well.

With the inside of it, they must have planned it a lot because the images inside it flowed and work well in the lay out they used, it didn’t have any points where you felt like the images were jumping around, but they also managed to play around with the size of the images and the positioning of them, but so it still flowed, they also left some blank spaces, a couple of pages that were just black, which even though these may not seem important, they help break up the book so it’s not image after image, it gives you time to think and consider things before putting you back into the work.

They also used black paper which is something that can work really well, in this case it helped to frame the images, and made them stand out where as if they had used white paper the images would have just dissolved into it, they also used glossy or pearl paper, which worked well because it made the black shine, then the white reflected less making it stand out more by putting the images forward again, and finally the thickness of the paper was about right, it didn’t feel flimsy but wasn’t to thick making it feel strange to turn the pages.

Film Noir (Independent Resarch)

 These are some images I found in a Noir style, because it's an amazing style of images and a style that I've worked in a little bit before university, and is something that I'd consider doing again.                                                        I was reminded of this because an old lecture sent me a link to a list of the 25 film Noir films that will stand the test of time, as they put it, which I plan on watching some if not all of in the near future, so they'll also be something I'll  add to this blog. (http://www.openculture.com/2014/02/25-noir-films-that-will-stand-the-test-of-time.html)






http://www.openculture.com/2014/02/25-noir-films-that-will-stand-the-test-of-time.html

Spider web set up (Visual Studies)

This is the set up for the web that I used, with my tripod acting as the structure for the wool, then I added extra wool to the corner because I felt that they were showing up to much and it helped break up some of the lines from where I wrapped it round. Then I flipped it upside down, and used my jacket to black out part of the side to make it a bit darker, then added a lamp under it so there was contrast and made the lines stand out more, then I added the bits of paper, just dotted around, then videoing it was tricky because I had very little control over the camera because it was hanging on the end of a bit of wool, so it took me a couple of attempts to get it right.

My inspiration behind this piece from the mission gallery, was a piece of figure hanging up from string and wrapped in sting, this to me made me think of a spiders web which I made, but I flipped it round and put what’s on the inside, inside a web then worked the camera to make it so it was confusing and a little disorientating, but so there was little bit’s that were focused and legible.

Editing wise I’ll put another post up with a quick view of that to show what I’ve done and how I’ve edited it.

Visual Responce (Visual Studies)

This is my response to the work that I saw an the Mission gallery, the work I saw that I decided to base my response around was the figure of a person suspended and wrapped in string, this reminded me of a spiders web, so I took it from there to see what I could create, I started by making a web which is a lot harder than it sounds, and took me a good 2 hours, after that I had to decided what I was going to put in the web, so I revered what the artist at the mission gallery did and instead of putting a person I put the feeling and thoughts of a person in the web, I did this by placing pieces of paper in there doted around much like fly’s stuck in the web with key words written on them to represent how I feel at times, and things that worry me or make me happy, then I lowered my phone into the web using string, it took me a couple of attempts to get this right and so I was happy with the overall footage, then once I’d done that I just downloaded the files put them the a trial version of adobe premiere, got some none copyrighted music and put it together, I also altered the footage a bit to make it a bit better but overall it was all right and didn’t require any cutting, I added in some fades here and there, and a few black screens, and over all I’m fairly happy with the way it’s turned out, considering it’s shot on a phone camera, that was hanging from a piece of string, and put together by someone who hasn’t used premiere much it’s all right. I also think concept wise it’s all right and considering the amount of time I had to make it in I feel I’ve done all right.

 (link to video)  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KneXoHKWClE

Jeff Wayne's War of the Worlds (Independent Research)

  This is the first part of Jeff Wayne's war of the world’s series, it’s something that I’ve all ways liked and even though its sounds based and not images of any kind it’s still something that has the ability to conjure up images because of how it’s written and the music that goes with it works extremely well to influence the listener to experience more though the piece. I’m putting it up because it a personal favourite piece of work it’s something that I remember hearing a long time ago and brings up vivid memories and images of what I think Wayne was thinking of when he wrote this piece of work, and in general it’s just an amazing piece of art which I find interesting, and even though I don’t think it’ll ever relate to my work but it’s still something that inspires me to make work so I feel it’s worth putting up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSifCF8k27A