INDEPENDENT PRACTICE Claire Lowe

The title above is the name of a poem by Dylan Thomas. When reading the poem it seems to be mostly centred on the idea of cycles and creations. The task was to show the things that represent me and when relating this to the poem I came to the conclusion to show progress, interests and the cycle that my work has taken.

In my presentation I showed my love of photography. The first spread on the opposite page shows manual photographs and photo-manipulation. The second shows some examples of pinhole photography. The third is on the topic of lighting which is one of my favourite subjects to investigate. The fourth shows the experiments with rain and movement from a train window. I believe that these four spreads of work clearly show the progression of my work and ideas.

camera which meant that I had to ask someone to film for me and work in a team. These restrictions were sometimes hard to keep to but I found that limiting myself actually made me think more carefully about the each of the shots and the overall message.

3 MINUTES This short film shows the areas of my practice. I was somewhat apprehensive about film but I found that I really enjoyed it as the techniques from digital photography are transferable. I enjoyed experimenting with the lighting and angles of the shots. Using sound was also quite new to me but I found it interesting to work with. This film was made by following the dogme rules which included using the natural sounds of the surroundings, using a handheld gfggdfgdfgdgd

This is the entire video which is available to watch at the following link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=clp8D9IflVk

PSYCHOGEOGRAPHY

I decided to start a project on the topic of psychogeography and start my investigation around Woodmansterne, a small village in Surrey, where I live. I found these maps on a website called Francis Frith (http://www.francisfrith.com/woodmansterne/). They have a large collection of historic maps and photographs and also allow people to post memories of the area they grew up in.

GOOGLE MAPS

This map shows the route which I took from my

house to the locations of my first experimental photographs. I used

Google maps to get an aerial view of the area and to see where and

how far I travelled. It has also given me a good

overview of other places which I could visit as part

of this series of photographs.

DAN BELASCO ROGERS Dan Belasco Rogers made by these images by mapping everywhere he went in Berlin using a GPS. Dan Belasco Rogers said of this project ‘My intention is to develop a sense for the drawing I am making across the surface of the earth with my body every time I move.’

I believe that this is very relevant to my project at the moment as I am focusing on a similar topic and it is interesting to see how different artists and designers have approached this as all of the outcomes are so diverse.

He has also done similar projects to this. In one named Unfallen he mapped places that he has had accidents in London. A lot of his work follows a similar theme and to see the different ways in which he carries out each project is very interesting and inspiring.

RICHARD LONG

Richard Long is referred to as a land artist. He makes art by walking through landscapes and creating sculptures along the way often out of materials found in the relevant areas. These will often follow a trace of where he has walked – almost referencing lines of desire. He then photographs these and some have been placed in galleries for public viewing, for example, above shows his Tate Britain exhibition in 2009.

GEOGRAPH

Geograph is a website which aims to photograph every square kilometre of the UK and Ireland. It then puts together all of the uploaded photographs, maps and comments to create an overview of the area. The image to the right shows the South East London area, which every square kilometre represented by a small square image.

The website also has diagrams to show where the most photographs have been taken and uploaded from. The map to the left shows the area of Woodmansterne, where I live. The dots show where photographs have been taken and uploaded from. The dots are also colour coded yellow, orange and red, which represent the quantity of photographs taken in that area.

I think that this is relevant as it has made me aware of the importance of mapping where I have been. It is also interesting to see where the ‘photo-hotspots’ are around this particular area.

http://www.geograph.org.uk/

MAPPING

Following the idea from Geograph I have decided to map out where I will take photographs. I then want to create a photo-trail and connect the dots of where I take photographs.

I think that this will allow me to be more decisive about where I go to and what I take photographs of.

It will also make it clearer to the audience the area which I am exploring.

FOLLOWING THE TRACK

When I decided to experiment with doing a photo-walk I thought that I should set myself a clear area. I thought that it would be a good idea to follow the railway track as not to get lost and to keep the theme of travelling. These photographs were taken with a digital SLR camera; however, I would like to start photographing at a later date with a manual camera.

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Here I decided to experiment more with looking at the close up shots of the brick work and depth of field. Looking through the tunnel and the gate gives a really good view of the different angles which could be used.

I decided to make a miniature mock-up of the book which I would produce for this series of photographs. I didn’t include a title or text yet just to get a feel for the layout of the photographs.

I also made the decision to use the black and white photographs as I think that they are more dramatic and the detail shows up better, which is the main feature that I wanted to focus on.

On the opposite page, it shows the online Issuu book layout.

This shows all 18 pages of the layout of the book. Although I haven’t produced a final physical copy, this is what the book would look like when it is printed.

http://clairelowe.gdnm.org/2011/12/12/surroundings/

HOME

While looking at the idea of psychogeography and the unseen areas of where I live, I have decided to look at the idea of home. I started to look at where I can say that I live. It could cross a range of places such as the Solar System, Earth, Europe, United Kingdom, England, Surrey (shown in the diagram), Reigate and Banstead then Woodmansterne.

I also want to look at the word ‘home’ and what it means to people as I think that this could be a potentially interesting topic for my FMP.

SURREY

This shows the different boroughs of surrey. I live in the second from the right borough which is Reigate and Banstead. Here I have experimented with adding pictures of the area to the map. Collage is an art form which I could experiment with further especially in the task of collecting research, ephemera or my own photographs and drawings.

HOME

Comfort Family/ friends

Relaxed

Familiar

Where you grew up

A place to be yourself Somewhere to

feel safe

Love

Personal

Belongings

Feelings

Sanctuary

WHAT DEFINES YOUR HOME? The opposite page shows a mind-map of ideas about the home and what it means to me. My home is an important part of my life and is probably important to a lot of people which is why I think that it is a good topic to focus on.

To get a good idea of where to start for my FMP I decided to look at where I live. In order to do this I have taken a photograph of my street, my house being the one on the far right. This gives me a good place to start and will let me collect research for my FMP.

THE GEFFRYE MUSEUM

I am planning to visit The Geffrye museum soon as it has collections of furniture, textiles, paintings and room set ups showing how the English living rooms have changed over time. I think that this will be very interesting and will provide a lot of inspiration for my final major project.

This museum and its exhibitions will link in well with my theme of ‘the home’. I am also looking forward to seeing the differences between the time periods and how this has affected the features and architecture homes.

DAVID CREEDON

In 2009 I visited a David Creedon exhibition at the Photofusion gallery in Brick Lane, London. The collection is called Ghosts of the Faithful Departed and it looks at the unoccupied houses in Ireland after people were forced to leave between 1949 and 1989. He took these photographs between 2005 and 2007 and each one has a feeling of abandonment and sadness. I really feel inspired by the way in which he is able to communicate such strong emotion and sense of eeriness as if the ghosts of the families were still there.

I think that this collection of photographs has been amazingly photographed and I like the fact that they are so emotive, which is something that I aim to achieve in my work. David Creedon’s work will give me ideas on how to convey a strong message to the viewers.

EVALUATION

I started my project by looking at what work I had done in the past to try and get a better idea of where I am heading. When reflecting upon this first part of my project I think it showed a good base of photography, manual and digital. I knew that photography was one of my strongest areas and I wanted to use it in my independent work. I also realised my strengths in working independently and in groups and found that this became very helpful during the filming task as I had to direct someone with the camera but edit alone. I choose to look at the subject of where I live and how little of it I see. For most of us where we live is just the place we return to at the end of a day but how much of it have we actually seen.

I believe that the photo-walk helped me to get a better understanding of the area and also helped me in realising that inspiration is everywhere and I find that it sometimes helps me to take a break from the computer.

During this project I have confirmed to myself that my main interest is photography. I feel more confident in my abilities and feel better in the fact that I am able to communicate a message through my work. I also am confident in the layout of my portfolio and my preparation for my FMP. I thought that the easiest way to start ideas for my FMP was to look at what this project and the idea of the home was to me. I think that I have found that

home isn’t necessarily a place it’s a feeling. My experimentations of the maps and narrowing down geographically where I live have made me realise a home is where you make it. I think that my overall message is an important one to look into and I will work more on making this clearer throughout the body of my work. If I was to do this project again I think that I wold have tried to focus on the feeling of the home more than the area and be quicker in my approach to pinpointing what it was that I wanted to focus on directly. For my final major project I will keep on the same track of looking at the home.

FMP PROPOSAL

As discussed previously I am planning to continue along the path of looking at the home. I have already identified a few places and people to research into and I think that these are good starting places. When thinking about my FMP I am strongly considering using photography as my main media as I think it is my strongest area. I have also considered using 3D and making things to represent my topic. I could also combine these two processes and experiment with different mediums.

This could be in the form of small books of photographs and findings, an installation piece about the home or collections of items found in certain rooms. It is a very open subject at the moment and I think that my investigations into the subject will help me to find smaller pieces of focused information to look into and explore throughout my FMP.

I believe that the topic has many different areas to it and I think it is a big enough subject to be worth investigating for my FMP. It will take a lot of planning for me to be completely confident in what I want to produce at the end, but researching the topic thoroughly and carrying on with the experimentations will lead me towards my final outcome. For my FMP I have narrowed down my topic and now have to think about what I am going to produce.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

WEBSITES Dan Belasco Rogers - Plan b mapping project. http://planbperformance.net/index.php?id=dan Last accessed 15th Nov 2011 David Creedon – Ghosts of the faithful departed. http://www.davidcreedon.com/house/index.html. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011 Enotes - The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower. http://www.enotes.com/force-through. Last accessed 30th Sept 2011 Francis Frith - Woodmansterne Photo’s. Available: http://www.francisfrith.com/woodmansterne Last accessed 10th Nov 2011 The Geffrye Museum – Museum of the home. http://www.geffrye-museum.org.uk/. Last accessed 12th Dec 2011 Geograph – Woodmansterne. http://www.geograph.org.uk/search.php?i=27281824. Last accessed 1st Dec 2011 Google Maps - Woodmansterne. http://maps.google.co.uk/ (searched Woodmansterne). Last accessed 20th Nov 2011 Movie Mail - A Beginner's Guide to Dogme 95. http://www.moviemail-online.co.uk/scripts/collection.pl?collID=509. Last accessed 30th Sept 2011 Richard Long - Richard Long. www.richardlong.org Last accessed 20th Nov 2011 BOOKS Barns, Martin. (2006) Twilight: Photography in the magic hour. London: Merrell Barrett, Terry. (2005) Criticizing Photographs. London: McGraw-Hill Cullen, Kristin (2005) Layout workbook : A real-world guide to creating powerful pieces. Gloucester, MA: Rockport Publishers Heller, Steven. (2008) Icons of Graphic Design. London: Thames and Hudson Poyner, Rick. (2003) No more rules: Graphic Design and Postmodernism. London: Laurence King Sadler, Simon (2005) Archigram: Architecture without Architecture. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Wells, Liz. (2000) Photography: A critical introduction. London: Routledge.