MA Submissions

Work in Progress Portfolio

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MA in Photography, Falmouth University, Module 4, Sustainable Prospects.  Submission.

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From six shoots undertaken during the sustainable prospects module I have selected 18 images to submit as my work in progress portfolio.

The Pause Project is in full flow, currently in Birmingham; five new buildings in the pause state have been accessed, along with the underbelly of M6 junction 6, that is Spaghetti Junction and the gallery in Walsall.

 

Images 1 – 7

Reviewing this group, these collectively reflect not only a maturing of a consistent ‘visual language’ but also the period which most were created, as Autumn approached and, in the case of The Roundhouse, captured in the melancholic state and deep light from the sun onto and into spaces.

As is consistent with the Pause Project to date, the spaces were vacant, life was absent but the humanity was demonstrable in the perambulations, ruthlessly so within image 4 where only the trace of a multi-level stair case and landings remained as they had been removed, leaving the visible marks on the walls in what is a disconcerting view.  Abandoned chairs feature in image 1 and 17, perhaps not seen as precious and thus abandoned, they serve to provide scale to those two spaces.

 

Images 8, 9, 10, 12, 13, 17, 18

Of the many quotes on light in photography “Light makes photography. Embrace light. Admire it. Love it. But above all, know light. Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography” attributed to George Eastman, was on my mind in these shoots. The first seven images, in diverse ways, visually identify the source of light into the spaces and through the translucent panels, the latter group reflect light. All the images reveal the use of ‘found’ light, there is no supplementary lighting.  The image that has drawn more time from me is image 2, the Roundhouse window; this is the most ‘painterly’ in the group; I use this term as I believe this is the nearest image I have made to date that dwells on the cusp of the immediate ‘surface’ manifesting the image as if looking ‘at’ a painted asset.  It is its apparent translucency that reveals an actual or implied depth, seeing ‘though’ to a faint but bright, almost spectral form, or series of shapes.  It is this translucency that one adopts in viewing that evokes the nature of a photograph.

 

Images   11, 14, 15, 16

My amplified interest in concrete as a medium to form space but also as a method of fused image making is contemplated in this portfolio by the intimate quality of the surface, countered by the enormity of structure in images 11, 14, 15 and 16.

It is the surprising, the unpredictability of visual stimulus and the emotive response one holds when visiting much planned and anticipated shoots.  There has been a sharp variability in this autumn’s shoots, with the Roundhouse laying before me a plethora of textures, detritus, views and depth whereas the negotiated access to John Madin’s own office and studio, 123 Hagley Road, was little more than vacuous with a simplicity of, well almost everything, even uncovering a vacated radio station studio did not create the richness in practice that one may anticipate.  This in part explains that the Roundhouse holds the majority of this portfolio than other shoots.

The submitted package includes the index slide, thus;

Image Titles – shoots August to November 2017

Intro slide 1

Intro slide 2

1 Roundhouse – chair

2 Roundhouse – window

3 Herbert House – main space

4 Herbert House – stair trace

5 Roundhouse – mirror

6 Herbert House – window

7 Herbert House – roof light

8 Herbert House – basement

9 Roundhouse – carpet

10 Roundhouse – socket

11 M6 Junction 6 – concrete surface

12 Roundhouse – ember

13 Gilders Yard – sink

14 New Art Gallery Walsall – stair

15 M6 Junction 6 – soffit

16 M6 Junction 6 – pipe

17 123 Hagley Road – chair

18 Gilders Yard – 3 spaces

Concluding slide