Merry Alperns project 'Dirty Windows' and her voyeuristic vigil perched just out of sight above a toilet window from a sex club raises a multitude of questions on the gaze and where are the limits, if there are any limits at all on intruding on others. The grainy black and white shots capture personal moments … Continue reading Week 5 – Gazing at photographs

This was an insightful and productive exercise, post an image with no supporting text or context and see how your peers interpret it. I chose an image from a long-term series I have been building of cats I see standing in the middle of large open spaces. The theme of the series is 'Solitary Hunters' … Continue reading Week 4 – Viewers make meaning

I have spent the last couple of weeks reading further into the encoding/decoding of visual messages and how text is used to orientate or strengthen the dominant reading. Something I keep coming back to is the idea of unstorys. The only definition which seems to come close to describing this is 'a story which lacks the … Continue reading Week 4 – Into the image World

I first saw the work of Ana Barrado illustrating a book of quotes from J. G. Ballard published by Re/Search. Unfortunately, I have been unable to track down much about her work or intent other than a few blog posts and references to a photobook published in the 90s. Memories of the Future Rockets, Vintage … Continue reading Week 3 -Reflection

The concept of hunters and farmers made me think about how I come up with ideas and to what extent they lean towards constructed or simply capturing moments as they occur. Within the context of my current work it's a bit of both, I have to go out and search for the base images I … Continue reading Week 3 – False Indexes

Photographer and video artist Miwa Yanagi is known for staging elaborate shoots while her work focuses on stereotypes of Japanese women in contemporary society. Elevator Girl is one of her best known projects and depicts the female staff that operate the elevators in department stores. I don't think I would go to this level of … Continue reading Week 3 – Constructed Realities

Although much is written on what does or does not make a photograph authentic, it is by no means a settled question. Snyder posits 'If our vision worked like photography, then we would see things as a camera does.' (Snyder and Allen 1975, p. 152) This implies that there must always be some element of … Continue reading Week 2 – The index and the icon

Context and re-contextualizing, redirecting the narrative, provoking a response other than intended. In the forum discussion it was suggested I consider accompanying notes or captions for my work and using them to lead the viewer into the image to explain the concept and meaning. I am in two minds on this and how to go … Continue reading Encoding/decoding and context

Pre module reading is by Nathan Jurgenson, The Social Photo: On Photography & Social Media, with the task to post a critical response on any specific ideas or quotes that were of interest. Overall, the book is useful and insightful; I have always found social photographs difficult to place, but lacked any informed arguments on … Continue reading The Social Photo: On Photography & Social Media

Prior to starting on the MA program, I had not spent a great deal of time reflecting on the intent of my practice. Mostly I have been looking at the work of others, increasing my knowledge of photography theory and experimenting with what I want to photograph and why. I am interested in place and … Continue reading Human choices