Crit and Feedback

I was undecided about which image to use as my final choice to show to Joe Cornish. I was still struggling with whether to print black and white or colour.

I decided on colour. I decided that the landscape soldiers image was not good enough and chose to process the portrait one.

Joe spent the whole afternoon with us - and after chatting to us about his camera and his work and putting up with posing for photographs for Burton Mail and the Burton College website - he reviewed the work we had prepared for him.

His feedback is shown under each image:

"This image makes the hairs on my arms stand up.
It should be on the front cover of a newspaper or magazine.
It is perfect."



"This is an intriguing image but does not work as well on its own as the other does.
It needs some words to go with it.
I want to know what they are all straining to look at."



I was stunned with his feedback. This was a wonderful thing to say to me. I was humbled. The image is now in my portfolio.

I know that most people I have shown this image to think it is lovely. I have yet to convince Chris - he does not think it was the correct one to show. I would like to catch up with about this and to see what his thoughts are. 

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Final image - or not

My response to this brief is to connect with the talk about War Photography and how that made me feel. I needed to create an image that said something that showed the humility and pride people feel for the people that are fighting for us and keeping us safe.

This new recruit is overwhelmed and dwarfed by the oppressive wall of the 16,000 names of soldiers that have died in conflicts. This was an emotional event to witness as the impact of their career choice comes home to them.

Whilst I was visiting the National Memorial Arboretum a group of soldiers stood at attention under the obelisk and I photographed them hemmed in and almost squashed by the surrounding walls.

I am now torn on which to choose to present to Joe Cornish on 8th December.

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Location Location Location

Hardy Tree, London

Initially I considered going and photographing the Hardy Tree in St Pancras North Cemetery - but after investigating the trains for tomorrow I will not have enough time in the afternoon to get to London before I lose the sunlight.

Madingley, Cambridge

My next idea was to photograph a war cemetery where there will be seried ranks of headstones lined up and creating geometric patterns. I know there is one just outside Cambridge. However I do not want to have to make such an epic journey (approx 2 hours) and once again the light would be fading by the time I arrived.

Arboretum, Alrewas

After a search locally for war cemeteries I discovered the Cannock Chase German War Cemetery, Beecroft Road, Cannock and the National Memorial Arboretum, Croxall Road, Alrewas. I have decided to go the the Arboretum as, although I have never been, I know there are some good photographs to be had there. As it is close to Remembrance Sunday there should still be lots of Poppy Wreaths adorning the memorial. My plan is to go in the afternoon and I hope to stay until the sun begins to fade and see if I cannot capture some stunning shadows.

Paper

My plan is to photograph in black and white and get the resulting images produced on the Hahnemuhle Photorag matt A3, a heavy art paper with a fibrous finish (Giclee) or the Kodak Metallic A3 paper this would give it a 3-dimensional feel (C-type) - my choice of paper will be made once I have final image.

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Struggling with Connections

I need to think more about the image I need to produce in response to the brief 'Connections". 

I had an idea which requires permissions to be obtained and palms to be crossed with silver - this has not happened to date and as I am running out of time I will put that onto a back burner. It is a personal project that I will get to in my own time I think. I had a Plan B - but the more I thought about it the more contrived it seemed and I did not feel the passion for it. 

After the talk on War Photography on Thursday I watched the 'Genius of British Art' programme on BBC Four. This week it was John Snow looking at the work of War Artists. This programme brought tears to my eyes and did everything the images I saw on Thursday did not.

Queen and Country 

Steve McQueen has produced an art installation - a set of stamps showing the face of every life that has been lost in the current conflict in Iraq. There has been a petition to allow these stamps to be issued but they have been held back. Is this because we do not want to confront the fatalities at our breakfast table? To see those that have died for us on envelopes sitting on our breakfast table? 

www.artfund.org

The piece is stunningly simple and breathtakingly emotional. It shows us the dutiful soldier, the individual, the loved person - not the broad brush sweeping words or images that we are used to about war. It is personal, it is in your face. It shows the people as individuals not as numbers. Perhaps it was held back because it is too personal, too intimate, too tangible. Do we think that war is better in stone? Are we happier dealing with it when it is a monument, when it does not have a face?

Hardy's Tree

Thomas Hardy, apprentice architect in Convent Garden was sent to tidy up St Pancras North Cemetery as the northern railway line was going straight through it. He arrived, stacked all the headstones against a tree, tapped a number onto each headstone and then went off to write poetry. 100 years later the tree has wrapped itself around the headstones - protecting and caressing them. It may not show the horrors of war - but it is full of emotion.  

www.victorianweb.org

Connection

I now feel fired up to photograph something that shows war from this side of the equation. The love, the caring, the compassion, the need to grieve, the grief, the tenderness, the pride.

The Connection will be between the talk and my response to it.

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Connection

New Assignment - the brief is CONNECTION set by Joe Cornish - just the word - nothing else. We need to provide something to show to him when he comes to give a lecture on 8th December.

Had some thoughts as this can be as long, wide, short or tight as we want. It can be one image or a book. (Fingers begin tingling at the thought of another book). We are at Print Space in London on 18th November and we can print out our images for this assignment there if we wish.

Initial (rather random) thoughts include:

• Glimpses
• Something not connected
• Holding hands
• Telephone
• Running to catch the train
• Chains
• Connection with earth/land
• Bricks

Not sure where the bricks thing came from but it has really got me thinking. We are down in London soon and my train will take me into St Pancras Station - the new extension of which was built using Ibstock Bricks. I play Crib with someone who works at Ibstock Brick - perhaps my connection can be between the quarry and the station?

Rebuilding of West Elevation of St Pancras Station

Then when the idea of another book came into my head I thought about what other things could connect in the area that I am interested and these ideas sprang up:

• Power Stations ... rivers ... coal ... pit heads ... connect nature/land to power  
• Scrap heaps ... old car ... old white goods ... disconnection from products
• Landfills ... rubbish ... recycling ... are we connected with the decisions we make

I can see a book rising out of this.

Another idea that I like for this is to show how our guest lecturers have inspired us. Show how we have interpreted their work and taken it somewhere else in our own work. This shall be Plan B.

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