Whilst writing this I have realised the real reason I wanted lawn bowls to be my subject is because I wanted to do well on this assignment and I thought it would be an easy option - so shame on me! I should know by know that doing well does not always mean taking the safe option and I have to remember to keep pushing my boundaries and stepping outside of my comfort zone.
Anyway, the bowls thing never happened as the club's practice and match times never coincided with a time when I was able to get to the green - maybe higher beings were trying to tell me something?!
So......... it was back to the drawing board for me.
To help me decide on a subject matter I set about attending and photographing as many festivals, carnivals and club meetings as I could. None of the images seemed to give me what I was looking for though. I have included some here as examples. As you can see they seem to be lacking some essential ingredient but I just wasn't quite sure what it is.
THE NEWCASTLE FESTIVAL'S VAMOS CARNIVAL
THE CREATIVE CIRCLE MEETING AT A LOCAL STUDIO
Feeling a little dis-heartened I then received an email from the Royal Photographic Society (of which I am a member) asking for photographers to volunteer to attend a photography day with Durham Police Dog Training Team so without thinking too much about it (as thinking too much usually results in me talking myself out of things!) I applied for a place. There was only 30 photographers allowed to attend so I didn't really think I stood much of a chance but lo and behold I found myself lucky enough to be given a place. I was thrilled to bits - and also quite nervous as I had never done anything like this before and thought everyone else would be much more experienced than I am.
The day was to help raise money for and publicise the Paws Up charity for retired Durham police dogs and provide free photography for their promotional literature. Arriving on the day I soon discovered that the dog team had never organised anything like this before and a lot of the photographers had never attended a shoot like this before so I started to relax a little.
I felt very privileged to be part of the day and we all had an amazing time, the dogs were fabulous and I took home some some fantastic images. However, a lot of the most exaggerated expressions and telling moments came from the dogs and I found them so encapsulating that I had to keep reminding myself that I needed to capture and explain the activity of the photographers as well as the dog handlers demonstrations. There was over 1000 images captured on my memory card that day so it was quite a task choosing just 10 for this assignment but I managed it eventually after much deliberating. So here is my final 10...........
It is actually the introductory briefing at the beginning of the day and although for me, it does what it's intended to do which is explain a little about the purpose of the activity I think it would have been improved if I had been in a better position and able to capture the gentleman who was speaking.
In the first image K9-190-2 the officer is explaining the what is about to be demonstrated. The officer's and the dog's change of uniform tells the viewer a little about the story, as does the hand gesture of the policeman as it can be assumed that he is giving direction or explanation to the photographers in the foreground. I also like the fact that the reflection of the other photographers can be seen in the window above the dog.
The second shot K9-205-2 shows the dogs exiting the building and making eye contact with his handler. The reflection of the photographers can still be seen in the window.
Things become a little clearer in the next shot though (K9-68-2) as the sniffer dog comes into view and is included in the frame along with the photographer. The dog's police jacket gives some indication to his purpose.
I so wish I had moved back a little to enable me to include the police officer's body which is attached to that arm!! But then again, the image without the body could make the viewer's imagination work harder as it adds a degree of verisimilitude.
So, eventually I managed to find subject matter and make images I was reasonably happy with happy with. It was not an easy task though - those dogs moved like lightening! It was a fabulous day though and I enjoyed every second, there's talk of it becoming an annual event so if I'm lucky I might get another try :)
Also, as luck would have it, I will need to seek out and photograph the elusive bowlers after all too as I have been asked to provide some photography for a work project so watch this space.............
Just to finish off I would like to include a few of the images which didn't quite make it into the final ten - mainly due to lack of photographers in the frame which meant the true explanation of the day's activities was lost.
Assignment Two: Tutor Feedback
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Assignment Two: Post Feedback Reflection
However, it was also noted that my first image in this sequence is the weakest as it didn’t really explain the activity very well. I have to agree with him that stepping back to include the group of photographers would have improved this shot no end.
I was advised to look at the work of Martin Parr’s ‘Small World’ which I absolutely love. The way he gets so close to his subjects is fantastic. One day I may be brave enough!
Suggested research subjects are: Philip-Lorca diCorcia, Beat Streuli, Tom Wood, Chris Killip, John Kippin, Stephanie Duroy and Syrkka-Liisa Konttinen. The works of all of these are very interesting. John Kippin and Syrkka-Liisa Konttinen (who incidentally has just been immortalised in the form of a local heroes plaque embedded in the pavement of Newcastle Upon Tyne’s Quayside) were particularly interesting but Philip-Lorca diCorcia’s ‘Heads’ fascinated me. At first glance the images look like staged photo’s like those taken with models in a studio but as I read I learnt that they are in fact candid shots taken with a strobe light attached to scaffolding, the resulting lighting is fabulous, making the subjects jump out from their background beautifully capturing natural expressions but at the same time maintaining a degree of ambiguity. This man is a genius!
I have begun reading Liz Wells’ Photography: A Critical Introduction but I am finding it a very difficult task. I will persevere though and hopefully I will eventually get through it. I have also been reading Richard Salkeld’s: Reading Photographs which has been very interesting so far. For instance (Chapter Two: Reading the Signs: pages 66-67) the case study of Anthony Barrett’s image ‘Casting the gill net’ 2009 it is suggested that the photograph of the fisherman has religious connotations because of the way the cast rope has formed a halo shape above the man’s head which could link it to a passage in the Bible which reads “he saw Simon and Andrew casting a net into the sea for they were fishers. And Jesus said unto them, Come ye after me, and I will make you become fishers of men”. (St Mark, 1:12). Personally I think that this is a load of codswallop! (no pun intended) I am a believer in God but I’m not a big church goer and I’m certainly no Dot Cotton when it comes to quoting passages from the Bible. However, to a person who is very religious the fisherman and the shape of the rope could be read as relevant signifiers. This tells me once again that photographs rely entirely on the subjectivity of the viewer and one will see into them entirely what they want to see.