Live Forum Google Hangout – 20 May, 2018

We had a lively discussion session today. Attending were
Kate Aston, Context & Narrative Level 1 Photography, UK; Peter, Context & Narrative, Level 1 Photography, Switzerland; Nuala, Landscape, Level 2 Photography, Ireland; Alan Fletcher, Context & Narrative Level 1 Photography, UK; Michael M, Level 2 Documentary UK; Karen on Textiles; myself in Canada and of course, tutor Clive White.

While we were waiting for the stragglers to sign in Kate gave the groups some feedback on the bookmaking course she had attended at TVG. Karen also reported on the SW group’s bookmaking course offered by the same instructor. Kate’s big takeaway was that a book can be seen as a device for receiving as well as transmitting ideas.

We had a look at Peter’s unseen images for Context & Narrative’s Assignment 2. He had created interesting double exposures of images taken forty years ago in Nepal which he showed in colour and his recent trip there which were superimposed in black and white. This use of colour for the forty year old images was quite intriguing and added a layer of ambiguity and possibly some confusion too. Peter briefly explained he was trying to reference the three stages of man (according to Siddartha) and wanted to know at what stage did anchor text become relay text. There was some discussion about what his “unseen” was exactly. Was it time or was it change? Clive gave him some pointers on bringing forward the conceptual idea.

My question regarding essay writing/getting inspiration for the essay/framing the initial argument was dealt with next. Clive suggested that I start with a question – reverse engineer it. Use bullet points in the introductory paragraph to indicate where the essay/train of thought is going. Then use the bullet points as subsequent section headings. (Apparently there is not time during assessment to read the entire essay so highlighting the sections is crucial). Don’t quote from too many sources, make sure to include personal opinions, keep it concise and above all remember it is about form. The assessors want to see that you can write a proper essay. Michael suggested keeping a list of quotes that you come across in course work or research as possible springboards for inspirational topics, which I think is a great idea. I’m definitely going to try this and hopefully will come up with a good topic which I can flesh out into an interesting essay.

Nuala’s question was about linimal spaces and what we understood about linimal. We had an interesting discussion around this and offered some suggestions to her regarding her assignment. Some of the work by others suggested to Nuala was: James Russell Cant – Take a look at Divided by the Ocean http://www.jamesrussellcant.com/, Rineke Dijkstra’s beach portraits and student Emma’s WIP for Expressing your Vision: https://emmieeyv.wordpress.com/2018/05/03/a5-for-peer-review/ and Elina Brotherus’ post divorce self portraits.

Michael wanted to get feedback to the question “Can photography elicit social change?” as he was considering this topic for his critical essay. After quite a bit of discussion it was suggested that he might want to choose one or two images to discuss as the topic was extremely broad.

The next live forum will be on 3rd June at 11:00 am GMT which is 3:00 am my time so I’ll be skipping that one, but will join in for 17th June at 6:00 pm GMT which is a more civilized time for me (10:00 am).