Assignment 3 - Tutor feedback & reflection
I had positive feedback for 'The decisive moment' from my tutor. His first comments were 'thoughtful' and 'attractive' and that I had met the brief.
We spoke in detail about the lighting set up and how I needed to make sure that my write up stated that this was accidental and not set up on purpose for the shots. We also spoke about how I have successfully safe guarded the children involved in the series by not showing their faces and by thinking outside the box of how I did this.
I researched Martin Parr for this assignment after going to an exhibition of his in London and finding his use of bright colours in his photos appealing. My tutor thought I had represented Parr's use of colour well but thought that my series was more relatable to other photographers who I will look into below.
One pertinent question my tutor asked was; "Children are under represented, and when represented are often portrayed in controlled situations. The examples above buck that trend. Where do you think yours fit?"
This is an interesting question, I agree that children are under represented, more so, children with special needs and autism are extremely under represented. If I think about where my series of photos sit, I think they do definitely 'buck the trend'. I wouldn't say that the situation was controlled but I would say that it was a safe environment for those children to be in and enjoy themselves. It was a situation where anything could happen, much like every day when you work with children with special needs and I think that I have successfully captured moments through use of the 'decisive moment' that represent these children in a way they deserve, always learning, always exploring and always surprising the people around them.
Wendy McMurdo
Edinburgh born photographer and film maker Wendy McMurdo creates much of her work in schools with a focus around children. She is interested in how technology influences the early learning of young children and is aware of how technology has re-shaped our ever changing world with children growing ever more aware of social media and networking online.
The use of digital manipulation in much of her work has allowed McMurdo to raise questions about how technology is effecting the developing minds of children.
McMurdo's subjects are brightly lit with what looks like quite a flat source of light but she uses shadowing around those subjects to bring some contrast to her photos. This is similar to my own series, where my photos have all been lit by theatre lights. Her photos are posed, which differs from my own series which were all natural shots and the children's faces are all visible whereas I chose to conceal faces due to safe guarding.
I enjoyed looking at Wendy McMurdo's work and think that if I had discovered her earlier it may have shaped my assignment differently and made me think more about other underlying issues with schools.
McMurdo, W., (2008) The Boat. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://wendymcmurdo.com/photography/drama-music-projects/ [Accessed 10 January 2021].
McMurdo, W., (2012) The Robot Workshop. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://wendymcmurdo.com/photography/robot-workshop/ [Accessed 10 January 2021].
McMurdo, W. (2013) Algorithmic Girl. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://wendymcmurdo.com/photography/the-landing/ [Accessed 10 January 2021].
The image on left was made to represent the introduction of tablets into schools and learning. Children were, for the first time, able to move around the classroom and school freely with the world at their fingertips. Wireless tablets beforehand were more of a novelty for free time at home. There was no longer device free time.
Annelies Strba
Annalies Strba is best known for photos of her own family. Shots of her children and Gran children span the course of four decades. The Swiss photographer captured moments of every day life, including; playing, sleeping, travelling and intimate moments and wanted to appeal to viewers own associations with their own family lives.
Her best known work is the series for her 'Shades of time' exhibition which included 240 photographs. The exhibition captured personal memories and shows how her family grows and gets older over the course of years it was shot.
Compared to McMurdo's work, Strba's photos seem much more natural and really do portray a families every day life. They are not staged and seem to not have any artificial light. I have to say that I prefer the work of McMurdo. For me it is much more pleasing to the eye and artistic with the way lighting ha been used. Strba's photos look like they could be from any family photo album, which I'm sure is how she wanted them to look but this does not really appeal to me.
Strba, A. (1970-1997) Shades of time. [ONLINE]. Available at: https://dergreif-online.de/artist-blog/favorite-book-times-shades-times-annelies-strba/#content-slider [Accessed 10 January 2021].
Bibliography
National Galleries Scotland. 2021. Wendy McMurdo. [ONLINE] Available at: https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/artists/wendy-mcmurdo. [Accessed 10 January 2021].
The Photographers Gallery. Annelies Štrba: Shades of Time. [ONLINE] Available at: https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/whats-on/annelies-strba-shades-time. [Accessed 10 January 2021].