Words and Works

This is a compilation of work created during one class taken in the fall of 2009. This work is meant to be a record and a progression of the work as it was developed throughout the course.

As a person who is addicted to the sound of the shutter, I take photographs on a more regular basis than most.

This could be due to a less structured entry into the practice of photography than by going to school.

The course required two projects to be completed, each critiqued three times, each stage building off of the critique of the last stage. As an artist my work is concerned with how we use images and how the surrounding space defines how we percieve them.

My conceptual work in photography is less about coming up with an idea and generating the images, and more about taking the images and coming up with the idea.

Small images in a gallery space will generate different responses for viewing than large images in a storefront window or billboard.

For the first project I decided to try the concept first and building an archive of photographs from which I could develop the concept. It worked, and it didn’t work. It was a great springboard towards the next step in the process.

Project One: Representing Choice My first project was about trying to on a computer screen. This changes represent choices through the use the nature of the images as they become a record of a particular of the dual nature of stairwells. subject matter.

The artist statement mentioned the poem by Robert Frost called “The As a concept of choice, however, Road Not Taken” as an inspiration. the nature of stairwells in particular Unfortunately ‘inspiration’ is not implies you already know where easily interpreted by viewers, who you are going. There was also the assume you are replicating the item implication of disappointment as, as which inspired you, and I interpret one person put it “What if you have inspiration as a springboard to to go to the bathroom, but you make The choice here is meant to be more metaphorical. the wrong choice?” other ideas Choices made affect your entire life, even if they are as mundane as those The result was more inspiring for For myself, however, I believe the made at a stairway landing. I stayed away from the concept of a hallway myself as I got to see the images on idea is still there. Choice for this of doors because those imply you are making a concious choice. I believe the wall for the first time instead of project is not immediate gratification. the unconcious choices are more important for life.

Project Two: Re-Presenting Duality For this project my goal was to search for unconcious instances of duality. I made a trip to a random location in the city and walked up and down several alleys.

elements became difficult. In the end I decided to use some of the more interesting images.

The project became less about developing a specific goal and more Having never visited these locations about “look at these interesting I spent several hours photographing photographs I took!” elements in the landscape that were paired or intriguing.

The most interesting comment was about how much people ‘liked’ Like all visits to newly discovered the image of the two couches. communities with a camera the Surprisingly no one commented on trip devolved into myself taking the print quality nor color. While I interesting and random photographs would not consider it a successful of different items. Winnowing project based on the criteria through the photographs for paired of ‘choice’ it did push me in an alternative direction to examine how photographs are used and displayed.

Originally this was to have been similar to the Much Music Popup Videos of the early nineties, where during the video This was the first project developed while in Washington. you would have interesting tidbits of various elements. Under Unlike many of the other participants from Alberta for the each image was to have been a caption indicating some Solar Decathlon, I intended to photograph Washington itself as much as I piece of history about the location of interest that was being ignored. (In could as part of assignments for my classes. this case the Ford Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was shot)

Project Three: Ten in Ten

My assignments had to be more than just pretty pictures, a tendancy I had Instead I decied to experiment with the placement of the images themselves, noticed some of my other projects developing into. and their scale, both refering to the direction of the camera and the focal length.

For this project I determined to find a location of interest, ignore it almost completely, and take photographs of other elements in the area. I would This particular collection of images was not critiqued during class due to photograph at least ten items of interest without moving more than ten time, but I consider it the closure of the element of choice. We all have feet. In this particular case I did not take the camera off the tripod and the chance to see what we choose to see. Paying attention reinforces the only changed the lens and focal length as required. importance of the mundane.

Project Four: Exploring text and images For my second project I intended to learn more about how text and image work together. This was going to be a progression through how text is used with images, not just the slapping of text onto an image, but the relationship of the text and the image.

was constructed to only allow the viewer to see an image on one screen, and the reflection of the other screen over top of that. The other screen would carry only white text on a black background.

The random nature of this was an experiment to For the first step it was intended to be as random see how people would react to a specific image as possible, with six words being displayed when a textual bias was implied. over 32 different images. The images and words would cycle through a loop. The images The result of the experiment did not involve the were taken from my online collection from personal interaction of the images and text. A suggestion was that people fill out forms about 2007 and involved people on the street. each image and how they felt about it. Another The project was intended to be a private was that the transition for text and image not be viewing experience and a box was constructed as random or time-specifiic (an image would be using two digital photo frames. One had a displayed for five seconds, the text for three. I very glossy surface which acted as a mirror wanted people to see the transition) Still another where images were dark. The other was person waited to see the amount of the text larger and had a lower resolution. The box pieces involved.

My intentions of this piece were not as fully realized, yet the direction the audience took the piece was important. When presented with a puzzle, people want to see the trick. If your installation isn’t seemless enough, they will dig at the cracks until they understand what is underneath.

Project Five: Text under Images (book implied) The goal with this step of the project was to arrange the photographs in a way that lets people build a narrative with them. The goal was not to link the images except for their relationship to where they were taken (Washington DC).

Text was placed under the images, giving only their location of capture and the date. This text was included on the same sheet of paper as the photograph, implying they were pages from a book.

their own story from the images.

My assumption that when faced with images in a collection people would begin to question why they were in the collection together. In my error I thought all viewers were like myself.

Some comments included that people needed more coaching in the artist statement for how the images went together. The idea was born from reading about notable photo essay projects, like Robert Franks The artist statement for this step in “The Americans�. This led to more there are no courses in ACAD that teach the editting needed to complete the project invited people to draw research and the realization that these kind of projects.

Dialogues Love Company Project Six: Text as Image (gallery implied) This step in the project was built around an image I took while in Washington. One of those crimes of oportunity that you notice out of the corner of your eye and snap a photograph of but have no idea how you will use it later.

The photograph was of a woman’s clothing store in which the reflection of the word ‘open’ from a store across the street was over the crotch of a mannequin.

This was one of those photographs that you come back to over and over to understand why it was so intriguing. My interpretation was that the discussion of feminism

should be an open dialogue, but A lot of discussion was generated is rarely more than a one sided on the nature of this project, monologue. This was ‘Dialogue’. both from the amount of work put into it (three images does This was long before this step in the not mean ten hours of work) and second project. For the piece, since the meaning of the sculpture and it had a very specfic thing to say, I restaurant views. only put up three images and the text “Dialogue Loves Company”.

In short this project needed more of a silver platter to hand the The response included the fact there meaning to people. Somethign were only three images, not ten. I am loathe to do. If you, the It also required more information photographer, have soemthing about the way the images were to to say in photographs, then you be read together, and the specific have to accept the fact that some images themselves (‘Loves’ was a people may not understand the sculpture of a rose, but an extreme subject and message. closeup. ‘Company’ was an empty abandoned restaurant).

That lack of understanding may foster more discussion than being overly clear about the message. It also has the potential of making the message more personal because you discover or interpret it yourself.

Project Seven: Still Movie - Wide Format (school) This is what I would consider my third project for the class. If the text that accompanies an image does not offer more information to the image, either in it’s inclusion, allusion or implication, how can you bring an image to have more meaning?

of a location as a scene. Instead of a ‘movie still’ I wanted to explore space as a ‘still movie’.

The main comment about this project seemed to be that I chose the school to work with. My goal was not to search out and photograph the final location, but to test the theories At this time I was spending a great about how to photograph a location deal of time researching various in the manner of a still movie. movies, trying to determine the cinematography of the building of a For this project the use of the wide scene. For some of the classes I have format for photographing spaces, been more interested in building the potential of depth of field, the setting through lighting before distances and implied ‘action to be’ was more important than the placing people in the shot.

For the first part of this project it location photographed. The method was about examining the potential of display was also discussed,

primarily that a printed image that would take place in the scene. (mine were rather small) would be This was the impetus to begin showing my work to people who different than a displayed image. are not specifically looking for I resolved to find an alternative photography related explanations location of interest and use some of work. I need to show to people other means of sharing it with the who can explain how they feel class. Not the direction I was going about an image, not only how they i since I was more interested in interpret it. building an implied action with a An extension of this work may be static scene. to work with still camera capable of Ironically non-photographers I taking moving pictures and adjusting showed this work to immediately the depth of field or recording sound were drawn to the potential action and shadows on the static subjects.

Project Eight: Still Movies 2 - 4:3 (Buds) This was the last set of images The images were not as much about displayed for class, but not the last the exploration of the wide screen format as a location test of a space. part of the third project.

As such they were a record of the Some of the suggestions from the location for future use. previous critique included different ways of displaying the photographs. With only one image being A still image presented as a business displayed at a single time I set card sized photograph will have a them up in a slide show. Another different impact on a person than suggestion had been to utilize an old projector grain over the image an image presented on a screen. to enhance the theatrical feel of it.

These images were captured with the generous permission of someone None of these alterations were owning a busness in Calgary. I was the direction I wanted to take the unable to secure a television monitor project, they were matching the and was forced to use the projector requests of the audience.

With the slide show format I chose to try to narrate a story within the images. You glimpse a progression of an entity from a dark location upwards to a decaying world and back down towards solace and peace.

Comments included the amount of time spent on each image reducing the anticipation that had been a target in the first part of the project.

As well the use of a narrower format separated the images from the concept of exploring the wide format screen. The choice of transitioning using a dissolve to the

next image also removed the image and made it more of a slideshow.

The collection was also described as being a record of an old building.

Granted there was only one viewing in the rushed amount of time, but the comments did reinforce the fact that this was not the direction this particular project should go.

I continued portions of it into the holidays.

More work was done within the spaces to evoke a mood or feeling.

The format of the photograph would be less of a consideration.

What I gained from this course was the progression of ideas to finished concepts. Some of these projects are not complete, others have been modified or have progressed further. Another has been developed into a magazine idea.

I did have difficulties with some of the constraints of the projects. For one, I don’t think ten images should be forced if the concept is told in three. Granted, perhaps I missed the invitation to display the working images alongside the completed project, but in the case of photographs more is not always better when it comes to displaying them.

My second difficuly is that there was no prescribed method for the artist statements. I may have missed that particular class, but since they were to be included with every project the creation of them should have been a primary focus of the first classes.

Other than that the goal of creating two projects and taking them to completion is somethign I strive to do already in my personal work. I take a lot of photographs, and the editing of them into a usable form is something which I struggle with all the time. Sometimes you must have a photo printed and staring you in the face for a considerable amount of time before it tells you what it wants to be. Even then, it may not carry the same meaning to every person who sees it.

What is important is the sharing of the image for consideration, otherwise it’s just a photograph.