To take a “fresh and experimental look” at my surroundings I began by considering what appear to me to be the characteristic aspects of my home town of Glossop.
I did this by brainstorming aspects of the ideas about the town that have importance to me. I had not used the technique of “mindmapping” before in other work, but found it helped to generate ideas and provide a visual reference of how they interlink.

 

Overall I came to the conclusion that the character of Glossop comes about because it sits as transitional in many ways

• Geologically it is on the boundary between the Pennines and the Cheshire Plain
• It sits between rural landscapes and urban landscape, on the edge of the Greater Manchester Conurbation
• Functionally it grew as a rural village, to an industrial town and is now undergoing post-industrial change and the industry base closes

An aspect of this is illustrated visually by the map showing it is encircled by the National Park, forming and industrial/post-industrial island in the Park.

 

 

One theme came over as important and seemed to link many aspects. These are the rivers flowing through the town. Rising in the peat on the moors, the rivers then flow down the valleys into the town and through it onto the plain eventually joining the Mersey.

Water has influenced

• the development of the peat and the scenery of the moors
• been used for agriculture
• for power for industry for both water power and steam
• created the climate suitable for cotton spinning

 

My initial plan is for my series of images to follow the rivers and use them to illustrate changes in Man’s relationship with them over time.

 

I  began this assignment by carefully reading the brief.

My interpretation of the brief is to produce a series of photographs in response to the concept of the “Square Mile”.

That concept is an area

• I know in detail
• May involve people and places
• Knowing is sensory experience “textures, smells”

 

Technical Aspects

• 6 – 12 images
• Form a series – linked in some way not individual images
• May have titles or captions
• P13 of notes “keep to basic image corrections without significantly changing the image as seen through the viewfinder”

Stylistic Aspects

• Fresh and experimental look at my surroundings
• Involve architecture, landscape and people
• Communicate about me, my:
  • interests
  • motivations
  • ambitions
• Novel (to me) subject matter

 

The Required Submission

Although this is the last stage of the assignment, I looked at this in some detail too, as I wanted to ensure that the work I produce will easily transform into a format ready for submission and that I will have completed along the way all the elements required.

Submission needs to include:

• Electronic images 1500 pixels on long edge, Adobe RGB jpegs
• Digital contact sheet of all the photographs shot for the assignment
• Written analysis to contextualise the project including
  • First impressions and response to the brief
  • Practitioners looked at for inspiration and influence
  • Technical approach
  • Self-assessment of strengths and weaknesses
  • Thoughts on improvement

 

The self-assessment and reflection needs to be against the assessment criteria in the course guide. These are:

• Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills
• Quality of the outcome, including presentation of work, conceptualisation of thoughts and communication of ideas
• Demonstration of creativity
• Context ie reflection, research and critical thinking

 

My Initial Response and thoughts about the brief

In terms of the practical skills needed to produce the actual submission, I am happy that I have the IT skills to produce the electronic outputs and submit the images in the required format.

I have not used digital contact sheets and will need to learn how to do that from my usual software (Lightroom).

The images must have only basic corrections, which is how I tend to work currently.

I am used to writing documents and providing a written submission should be well within my previous experience.

Reflection and self-assessment are skills I have to use in my professional work outside this course, and while I need to set up processes for capturing my reflections, this is not a new skill to me. Self-assessment in this context however will be more difficult as I an unsure about the standards needed.

This latter point also makes me unsure about my technical and visual skills and I will be looking for feedback as to how to improve these.

The major area where I feel I need to work hardest will be in the development of creativity and novel approaches to the subject. Linked to this is a lack of knowledge about the work of others so a major objective for me will be to research the work of others and analyse how this influences my own work.

Next Steps

• Check how to create contact sheet
• Set up blog/notebook/record keeping systems
• Research other practitioners’ work
• Consider how to approach this and what aspects to address