 |
Open
College of the Arts
|
Tutor
report
|
Student name
|
Nick Beck
|
Student number
|
504014
|
Course/Module
|
DPP
|
Assignment number
|
3
|
Overall Comments
I’m
pleased that you’re back on track. It isn’t easy I’m aware of that.
You’ve
had a long break between assignments and as such there has been little by way
of continuity for you in the learning process. While you’ve completed the
exercises for this part of the course, and you demonstrate a good working
knowledge of the black and white conversion process and the impact of colour
into tone etc, you don’t offer much by way of detail in your reflective notes
for the assignment work. For example, no description of how you went about it,
and only a vague indication of what you were trying to achieve aesthetically
One
way that you could improve this is through dedicated research, and there is no
evidence of any for this assignment or in general in your approach to the
course. This is a good time for me to
bring this up and to ensure that you can complete some dedicated contextual
research for your next assignment; this might include any form of reading,
general or specific, a commentary about influential practitioners, exhibition
visits or any kind of engagement with fellow practitioners.
Certainly
for the assignment work, you could make reference to influential practitioners
and the way that they have used monochrome – in the film as well as the digital
era – Ansel Adams or Edward Weston for example – and evidence of some reading
about the use of monochrome that has informed your work.
Between
your second and third assignments, OCA have changed the feedback template for
students to indicate a ‘readiness for assessment’, and I’ve added this to a
copy of your last feedback sheet to give you an idea of what it indicates.
Feedback on
assignment
You
mention in your notes that you found yourself overstretched when considering
too many locations for your work and decided to be more selective and focused
in your approach for this assignment, and I think that’s a very good idea. It gives you the opportunity to study your
subject matter in more depth and to return in different (weather) conditions or
time of day to study the impact on the subject (I don’t think you were able to
do that for this set of nine images.
You
don’t comment on what your specific aim was for this set, a given theme, apart
from exploring transition fro colour to monochrome, and I think it’s important
to provide some information about that, and about each shot – including the
camera data and notes on how you processed the images.
For
example you say, ‘For this assignment I
spent several weeks attempting different types of black and white photography
shots before I decided on a theme’, and I think you need to provide more detail and insight
into this.
In
terms of black and white photography, the nine images work quite well, although
you might have considered alternative and more varied subject matter at that
location both to explore the graphic and atmospheric impact of working in
monochrome as well as providing a more considered set of representative images.
You
chose a day where the sky had good cloud detail against a clear blue sky, and
this, with the sand and pebble beach; offer much opportunity for creating tonal
variations and subsequently generating different types of compositional effect
and ambience.
The
opening shot captures the textural detail of the pebble dash post very well,
and as an exercise in conversion explores the range of tones available in this
scene, but as a stand alone shot it feels a bit odd with the weight of the post
dominating the frame and the soft focus landscape in the background.
The
two young people running across the frame in the following image captures the
sense of season and an impending storm brewing on the horizon. The tonal range
is problematic here, with the subjects’ clothing very dark when you might have
wanted to lift the contrast in the cloud further.
Similarly
with the youngster skipping stones, his clothing lacks any detail – in the
image I can see. The scene looks a little grey and flat.
The
following wide shot of the beach and cliffs works very well with a full range
of tonal detail and good use of wide angle for extensive depth of field.
Shot
five feels more like a holiday snap to me, and again there is a problem with
the tonal range and the deep shadow and lack of detail on the figures. The next
shot is better, but similar to a previous image.
Again
you capture a god range of detail, especially the sky and clouds in the cliff
top shot, perhaps some more interesting foreground detail would provide a
better sense of scale.
The
cliff and the chalets works well in monochrome and provides a unifying
composition for the disparate detail in the scene, The final shot is again a
little similar to previous shots, and again the cloud detain is interesting and
you make good use of some of the lines in the terrain.
Learning
Logs/Critical essays
As
mentioned earlier, you completed the course exercise in the blog well and this
demonstrates an understanding of the principals of monochrome conversion.
Suggested reading/viewing
Even
though you have completed this assignment, I would recommend that you spend
some time reading about the subject and looking at the images of renowned
photographers who work in this area.
As
mentioned earlier, looking at the work of both analogue and digital
photographer, Ansel Adams or Sebastiao Salgado, Bill Brandt and this
photographer: http://www.michaelkenna.net/, well worth looking at his
work.
Pointers for
the next assignment
Assignment
4 is ‘Real or Fake’, and this is where research will be essential.
You
can find plenty of material online both scholarly and popular, ranging from
purists who stand against any form of manipulation to those less concerned
about morality and ethics who free to exercise ‘artistic license’ and change
what they wish. It is a highly contentious
issue, and one determined (inside the law) by personal choice. Here’s a general
link.
Tutor
name:
|
Russell
Murray
|
Date
|
March
22 2014
|
Next
assignment due
|
May
22 2014
|
No comments:
Post a Comment