Photography 1 - Light - Project - The time of Day - Dawn to Dusk - Exercise, Light through the day

These images were captured from outside my new home office. We have finally settled into our new home, and I'm able to resume my course work.....

This first shot was taken at 10am and capture the warmth of the early sunlight. It has the most appealing colours but lacks the definition in the reflection of the trees that is apparent in the evening images.

At 11am the shadow cast by the dinghy are still clear but some of the morning warmth is lost. 

In the more overcast image taken at 2pm, the shadow detail of the boat on the jetty is lost, making the image lose a degree of contrast and definition.

In the later images there is a degree of flatness in the foreground but this is compensated to some degree to some degree by the extra definition of the reflected trees.

Futureland Now

Liz Wells conversation with John Kippen and Chris Wainwright regarding Futurenow.

LW - role of art in social investigation and commentary on today's issues?

JK - artists don't expect their work to have an immediate effect. They would choose another job if they wanted that.... More likely to be erosive that impactful (FAIR ENOUGH).
Art has no purpose if if it doesn't embody values (WHO'S VALUES? THE ARTIST? SOCIETY? THE ISSUE? WHAT?)

CW - broadly agree (CLEARLY HAS SIGNIFICANT OTHER VIEWS AS WELL).
Art and the artsist grow apart over time - the art can gain independent intentionality and and its reception can change and be different from the artist original intention (THIS MEANS THAT DESPITE WHAT THE ARTIST INTENDED, IT CAN COME TO MEAN SOMETHING ELSE - SO WHAT MAKES THIS ART IN THE FIRST PLACE IF THE INTENTION CHANGES WITH THE VIEWER - THIS MAKE ART SO SUBJECTIVE IT APPEARS ACCIDENTAL AND NOT PURPOSEFUL....).
The work appears different now because we think differently today. Artists have a responsibility to be a concerned witness but not necessarily illustrate social or concerns but that they significantly inform it..... Don't want the work to be overly illustrative of the issue. (I THINK HE IS SAYING THAT THE WORK SHOULDN'T BE TOO OBVIOUSLY ABOUT THE ISSUE; MORE COME AT IN A MORE OBLIQUE WAY)

LW - a criteria for art evaluation is the degree to which it makes you think about an issue.

JK - Yes and something that effects you in some way so that it changes some aspect of your life experientially in some way (FUTURELAND HASN'T EFFECTED, IN ANY WAY, ANY ASPECT OF MY LIFE EXPERIENTIALLY. SO DOES THIS REDUCE ITS ARTIST VALUE ONLY FOR ME? DOES IT REMAIN ART BECAUSE IT HAS EFFECTED OTHERS?)

JK - accepts that the art isn't going to change lives overnight or only very exceptionally.

CW - art can reaffirm or strengthen a view you already have. If its something that is unexplored the art can improve the understanding. It might not make you think differently but may affirm you are on the right track.

JK - It may just open up questions or ask how feel about something.

CW - we work working in the Thatcher era when the government were saying they were doing good changing the post industrial landscape and communities. "Of course we all knew it wasn't......". Look at how our scepticism turned out to be right. High levels of unemployment, social division, lack of sustainable investment. The work we did them allowed people to develop critical positional views "this ideological rhetoric about the future post industrial society is questionable" "The region will turn into consumer and leisure focussed society as a replacement for work...." (DID THE THATCHER GOVERNMENT PROMISE THIS? THIS IS A DELIBERATE MISINTERPRETATION OF THE EFFECT OF THE FREE MARKET CHANGES THAT WERE NECESSARY TO IMPROVE THE EFFECTIVENESS OF BRITISH INDUSTRY"

I HAVE TO STOP HERE FOR THE MOMENT WHILE I TRY TO WORK OUT HOW MUCH OF THE INTERVIEW RESPONSES ARE POST RATIONALISATION OF FACTS IN THE 25 YEARS THAT HAVE PASSED. WHEN I LOOK AT THE FASCINATING IMAGES IN THE COLLECTION I AM IMPRESSED BY WHAT THEY SHOW BUT I CAN IN NO WAY SEE A COMMENT ON THE FUTURE OF THE NORTH EAST AS A POST INDUSTRIAL SOCIETY.

Photography 1 - Light - Exercise, Judging colour temperature, part one

These four scenes were photographed at the same 3 times during a single day; morning, midday and evening.

The colour of the light is strikingly different in the morning, midday and evening shots. 

The morning shots have a bright yet cool light with the evening shots producing a much warmer tone.

Futureland Now

"So what did you particularly like about the exhibition?" asked the young lady on the till. "Erm..... I particularly the erm.... the contrast between the scale and the erm.... " The rest of the transaction was conducted in embarrassed silence amplified by my lack of art vocabulary.

Let's try again. I was try to describe my impression of the image 'HIDDEN'. There is a stark contrast between the abandoned jet aircraft and it's it's unlikely location on moorland under a dark and threatening sky.



It was the first image that caught my eye as I entered an exhibition that has returned to Newcastle upon Tyne, 20 years after it was first shown.

Futureland Now 'continues to question the post industrial photographic aesthetic and 'industrial sublime'...... (the photographers) photographic landscapes invoke the language of the sublime to explore the the current post-industrial period of uncertainty and, potentially, seismic change.

Some of the images I felt to be of monumental scale and clearly conveyed a sense of awe and granduer of things man made.



Whilst I understand the rationale behind semaphore images I thought the number of these made them repetitive. Ditto the men in red jackets....

Photography 1 - Light Project The intensity of light Exercise Higher and Lower sensitivity

Leeds railway station

All images captured at the largest aperture available of f4.5

iso 800 - 125th sec

iso 100 - 2.5 secs

iso 1000 - 20th sec

iso 800 - 20th sec

iso 800 - 30th sec

iso 1600 - 60th sec

iso 1000 - 60th sec

iso 100 - half sec

iso HI -1 - 125th

iso 100 - 25th sec

iso HI-1 - 100th sec

iso 800 - 20th sec

iso 800 - 25th sec

iso 100 - 3rd sec

iso 1600 - 50th sec

iso 100 - half sec

iso 200 - third sec

iso 400 - third sec

The use of a range of iso sensitivities were required to freeze motion in these images of the railway station late in the day. Examination of the images reveals higher granularity at higher iso speeds. This would have been easier to see if I had used a tripod to ensure crispness in detail at the slower shutter speeds.

What makes great photography

Nan and Brian in bed, Nan Goldin 1983

My reading - this is a self portrait carefully composed to explore the relationship between men and women. Nan looks upset as she looks at Brian enjoying a cigarette after having sex. She looks dissatisfied whilst he seems relaxed in the world.

Val Williams - almost as above...

What makes great photography

Cafe Lemitz, Anders Petersen 1978

My reading - This is part of a series of photographs telling the story of the lives of working class people in Sweden (?). The woman is one of only two in the bar and she stands defiantly aware that she is in an unusual place for a woman. She is tolerated by the male clientele who are also aware of that her presence is unexpected.

Val Williams - the Hamburg bar provided an enclosed space to portray the intimacy of the relationships. More of a family album.