Semester 3 - Images: Ways and means of approaching a well resolved photo projects

Thinking about what makes a well-resolved photographic project and what that looks like and what the approaches are that you can take to get to that point?

So let’s go back to the beginning, how do you approach a project, guess this is one that shows your personality and photOland has always respected the photographer as artists considering the great struggle when making images (look at the respect the great white hunters of photography get when making these huge considered aspects of nature or consequence as opposed to the chance image makers who get what they can from a scene (but don’t have the weight of self importance and pomposity behind them.)

I suppose there’s initially two ways of approaching ia photo project, you can wade in and randomly shoot what you can see and then process the results, 

see what you can get

or

you can sit down in front of texts and think, work round, read, research and meticulously plan. Plan everything that you want, where you want to go, what you want to see and what you want to have by the end of it

The flâneur versus the méthodique ?

Which ones better? Which one garners the best results?

Thinking back to my most successful images and the projects (that’s both commercially and artistically), there is no one above another, they seem like a melting pot of all of those approaches.

Maybe there can be a third way? One that is a combination of the two, yes?

I’m also strongly considering what makes an image or project a success?

How do we define this success?

·      Number of views, likes or yes’s

·      Most positive comments of strangers

·      Positive comments by peers

·      What we feel inside by the work

·      Whether someone wants to pay for it

·      The awards you winy (or pay for)

·      The mark sheet at the end

·      Quality of those people who think it’s good i.e photOland

etcetcetcectectetcetcetcectectetcetcetcectectetcetcetcectectetcetcetcectectetc

For the dual approach it seems that this project does seem like I’ve stumbled on it by accident while i was looking for a specific project but I’ve not just visited the sites once, I’m planning on revisiting them a number of times to see what can be achieved..

Interestingly there are subtexts starting to appear, so while the work is going to be about The New Topographical - spaces of the local, it’s also going to be about the power photography, the actuality of the local and the time we live in and the way we see spaces. These subtexts keep appearing in my thoughts coupled with the NT theme I’m exploring

1) The idea of photographing everyday spaces to see what they look like photographed and maybe they aren’t that everyday

2) The absolute power of photography to elevate bland subjects

3) Audiencing of the photographic image will be perceived differently

Interestingly in a slightly will you look at that way the subject areas I’ve listed in my sketchbook seem to be separating into 3 very distinct subject areas these are:

a) Random those quirky type things you see

b) Pubs and closed pubs

c) Petro-Aesthetics the way spaces are deigned to fit the car

Again is that because they are there or because I’m looking for them? How are we seeing this? Speaking of seeing to consider the audiencing angle again I’m exploring the wider issue of:

“How did we look at images previously?”

“How do we view images now?”

But I think I’ll cover that in a later blog…..thank you.

Dated after the last blog…..maybe 14th of July 2020