14 november 2018
Off I go again on a new journey. Sent my new tutor, Andrea Norrington, a message. Starting to read first chapters of Digital Image and Culture.
19 november 2018
Have met my tutor Andrea Norrington on Skype. So now we are almost ready to take this journey together. I am due to receive my OCA package today but in good French tradition there is a road block about petrol price increases. So the courier may not get through.
I have started to work on my blog and get it set up. I am reading my way into the first assignment exercise work. I will have to await the Fontecuberta book in my pack.
I am thinking a lot about layering and overlaying. I have read the links and really love the work of Idris Kahn. I love the way he marries his photography with sculpture. I also like that he does not want to flood the world with even more images but tries to reuse material. Having said that I just put a new image up on Instagram this morning…
21 november 2018
The box arrived on Monday after all. Very exciting to be starting a new road. I read and reviewed my Fontcuberta’s chapter which was easy and enjoyable to review. I then started on the chapter in Martin Lister’s Photographic Image and Culture. OMG it is difficult for the sake of being difficult…. Why do authors do this? I attended a talk last night, given by a very young researcher from Marseille University, on Artificial Intelligence (SUFIMI-IA). It was totally comprehendible, despite the subject being difficult and the language being French.
I will re-read the chapter and see what I can make of it. What I find with these difficult works is that I have to review paragraph by paragraph rather than taking an overall view from the piece.
30 November 2018
Been in UK for a week. Took advantage of London to visit two exhibitions. (reviewed). Stayed with artist friend for couple of days – brilliant. Then stressful visit to relations. Old age sucks…
Hoped to get more images for layered work but did not get too many opportunities. Did get one ‘successful’ one. Now it is back to work. Finished the critique on Jeff Wall and Wendy McMurdo. Watched interesting Martha Rosler interview on one of our forums (or should that be fora???).
5 December 2018
Went for a great walk, up the Luberon, with my friends from Vaugines. This helped to clear my head. I am thinking about photomontage and collage. I woke up during the night and was composing my images in my head for the plight of refugees in the world. For Europe I wanted to have underwater of the Mediterranean blue sea with a pile of bodies at the bottom of the sea. and a beach running alongside above the water level with people sunning themselves. I hope I can find images for this. I don’t take magazines so don’t have a lot of material. For Trump I bought from Alamy a couple of images. I wanted to make a collage of him and the Honduran caravan. For a third collage I want to take the Spanish place in North Africa where the Africans try to cross into Gibraltar. Then maybe something on Libya if I can find proper images.
6 December 2018
Working on my collages. Two done (or sort of done) third still a WIP and fourth still in planning stage.
Stacked my market day images – not good enough. I now think the background has to be clear or light coloured for ghost images to show up. Will need to look out for opportunities with this sort of background and check it out.
Reading my “Photography: A Cultural History.”
7 december 2018
Now not sure what I should be doing vis a vis Ex 3 should they be physical collage or PS type collage. I have done one of each so far – I see the next project is Photomontage on the Internet – does that mean this will be an exercise of PS photomontage – must read ahead again.
Have time – work horse printer ran out of ink cartridges…. ordered but have to wait what with Christmas deliveries. My poor post lady who deliveries with a hand trolly in the village was totally snowed under with parcels the other day…
9 december 2018
Reading about Stephen Gill’s work. I love it am trying to think about ideas for assignment while completing Ex.3 at the same time…
12 december 2018
Today is my birthday… I managed to make the video of My Village for introductory exercise. I uploaded it to Vimeo. As usual I am not satisfied but that’s nothing unusual. I am now researching for Assignment 1. Hisaji Hara does not inspire me. Let’s hope some of the others do!!!
13 december 2018
Went to Aix to do some shopping and wanted to finish my ex 1.1 images. Unfortunately it was raining cats and dogs. I managed to get to the square where I wanted to make the set of images. Hope they work in a stack. I also took another set from the window of the bus before it moved off. Not sure this will work as the window is always a little dirty…
15 december 2018
Had a totally non working day yesterday. Lovely lunch with friends. But I woke up in the night thinking about the assignment 1. I think I will use the Etang here as a mock of an Olympic swimming pool. I’ll stick on the flags of a couple of countries and a swimmer in each lane. Should look fun on the sepia image of the pond.
I will also use another of these Didyer images of the tower and cut it from its original frame and make it lean. I’ll then see if I can make a collage of the “Leaning Tower of Cucuron”!!
That will make three cut and paste collages. I am thinking about using maybe some of my Japanese images for the digital collages. But that is still a little way off.
18 december 2018
My Christmas cards, ordered on 6th December arrived today… Almost too late for Christmas posting. I usually make my own and this year I used a new printer in the UK, Bonusprint. The quality is Ok but the delivery is by pony and trap!!!!
Have been thinking about and working on my stick and paste collages. I am on the third image which is taking shape,
I now want to think about my digital collages. have some ideas. Would like to explore 3D – too ambitious???
Finished my third stick and paste collage – not too happy with it… Now to research about cutting up images and 3D. No rest….
21 december 2019
A 13km walk in the morning and an afternoon of shopping and other household tasks yesterday left me no time to work. But it did give me space to think while I was engaged in the awful isle searching in the big supermarket that I frequent once a year. Everything had changed and although the shelves were groaning under the weight of produce the range and quality had deteriorated since my last visit. I will stick to my local family run Spar even if they do not provide everything but they are ably supported by my local butcher and the weekly street market where I can buy vegetable, cheese and fish from lovely friendly people.
I wrote my two reviews of the two films I saw this week in our local cinema. How lucky are we to have such a wonderful cinema within a few paces form my home. Both were good but Last Days of Shibati upset me somewhat as I found it voyeuristic. Hendrick the camera guy who made it was relentless in pursuing the people of Shibati. What did we gain from this voyeuristic film? We sympathised with the people but then what?…
Now it is back to cutting up images for my three (depending on whether it is a total of 4 or 6 in Part 1 and 2).
This exercise has made me look at my archive and realise how I need to do some really serious work on it… Like destroy about half of the images in it!!!
22 december 2018
I spent yesterday making my fireworks digital collage. It was an interesting experience. it will be interesting to look at it today after some time away from it. I will get on with the others today. Then I need to re-read the whole of this part of the work.
23 december 2018
I will write my reflection on my work today if I get time after I have read through the whole section and uploaded what remains to be uploaded.
Digital Image & Culture 