Second year

HND2 will commence at 10.00am on Monday 1st September.

Class groups for HND2 haven't been decided yet - but in the meantime I can direct you to the new HND2 A & B blogs:

hnd2Ablog
hnd2Bblog

Graded Unit Results

I have everyone's Graded Unit Results.

Data protection law prohibits me from posting them here, so email me and I'll let you know in a reply.

A reminder - progression to HND2 is not automatic - you must have completed all first year units. If you're in doubt, speak to the relevant tutor.

Creative Industries assignments are fine - except for two missing - Anna Z and Jill S who must rectify this immediately

Class Reps meeting Monday 9th June

HND Class Reps and anyone else who wishes to attend a departmental annual course review meeting on Monday 9th at 9.15am in Room 187 are welcome to come along. There will be a free biscuit.

Areas that will be discussed:

Accommodation
Curriculum design
Assessment
Achievement
Retention
Recruitment

Monday 26th May

There is no lecture on Monday

(But unlike some other places, Monday is not a holiday)

The final (Creative Industries) written assignment deadline is Monday 2nd June - lecture theatre 2 @ 12noon.

Constructed Image deadline - 28.5.08

Weds 28th May in Studio 22 @ 9.30am

We will look at ALL the work for this unit (even if you showed some at the work-in-progress assessment last month):

Hotel food
Spring
City
Infra-red

You should submit your work in a folder along with your soup 35mm transparency and timelapse montage.

Studio 22 will be available on Weds 4th and 11th (some of you may have to remake images).

Graded Unit - Written Evaluation

Minimum 500 words - for Monday 19th @ 12noon - lecture theatre 2

An outline of the project
An overview of the planning and development stages - including any significant changes from the proposal
Positive aspects
Areas for improvement
Identification of knowledge and skills which have been gained or developed
Conclusions

There are fifteen marks available. Try to claim as many as you can.

Graded Unit - Monday 12th

Lecture theatre 2 @ 10.00am - final submissions and workbooks. Please clearly label your work with: NAME, STUDENT NUMBER, COURSE and COLLEGE.

SQA guidelines require me to tell them who did not submit their work on time. You lose marks for unathorised absence and significant lateness.

DO NOT try to give me your work before Monday. There's too much of it for me to keep track of - whereas you all only have your own project to look after.

You will present your work to the group, describing what you've done - how well it's gone and if there's anything you'd do differently. These discussions will be useful for compiling your written evaluation.

Details of the written evaluation criteria will be given out on Monday 12th. This is due on Monday 19th at noon. SQA will collect the work soon thereafter.

Creative Industries assignment

What areas of work are you considering when college finishes? Do you know what you will have to do to get there?

Apply for a 'staff' job? Launch yourself as a freelance? Take an assistant’s role? Buy a franchise? Move to another city or even another country?

Write 1000 words outlining your photographic career plans and the options you think are open to you.

Nothing is fixed, everything might change - and no-one will make any form of judgement about what you choose, but writing this will help you focus your thoughts.

Explain what you know and/or think you will have to do to get where you want to be. Can you identify the steps you will have to take?

Will you need funding or start-up capital? Further training? Will you seek advice, and if so who from? Is there are an area of business that particularly interests you? Have you seen a gap in the market? Do you have a USP (Unique Selling Point)?

Deadline Monday 2nd June - Lecture theatre 2: 12 noon

Graded Unit

Submission of final projects: Monday 12th May Lecture theatre 2 @ 10.00am

We will review all the work

Submission of written evaluation: Monday 19th May Lecture theatre 2 @ 12noon

All projects (proposal, research, pictures and evaluation) need to be package ready for collection. Please do not be late.

Tutorials Tues 6th May

9.15am

9.45am

10.15am Eva

11.00am

11.30am

12noon

Use the comment function to choose a time

Tues 29th April - Location Stock

That was a disappointing turnout on Tuesday. Thanks to the one person who turned up and to those who emailed me.

I have given you a lot of freedom on this module but I need to know what progress you are making. Otherwise I get in trouble with your class tutor and I don't like that.

To the rest... I really need you to turn up on Tuesday 29th April, between
1.15 and 3 to show me your work so far and/or discuss any problems or concerns you have.

If you can't make it in can you please drop me a note
(adam@scottishviewpoint.com) and let me know how you are getting on with the module.

Thanks,

Adam

Tutorials Tues 29th April

9.15am

9.45am

10.15am

11.00am

11.30am

12noon Jesus

Location Stock

Can everyone please come in between 1.15 and 3pm on Tuesday 22nd April to show me their Location work so far. If you can't come in can you email me a summary of work so far. (adam@scottishviewpoint.com)

Tutorials 22nd April

9.15am Vicky

9.45am

10.15am

11.00am

11.30am

12noon Mike

Leave a comment to sign up

Professional matters

When you arrive at the point where you can't face being a criminal any longer, try googling Scottish Enterprise or Business Gateway

They will give you advice on what to do.

You must keep a record of all your purchases - receipts and ideally a separate bank account. (Purchases made prior to you going 'legal' can be used to lower your first year's tax bill.)

Information on Income Tax and National Insurance contributions is here

Tax is calculated on PROFIT not turnover, so get an accountant to look at your books. He or she will save you whatever fee they charge - and more.

Insurances are up to you - equipment, public liability, illness, pension, etc

A good resource for news, jobs, insurers, lawyers (and an annual review of the professional photo vest market) is the printed version of the British Journal of Photography, available in the college library - and also online

Monday 14th April

Lecture theatre 2 at 10.00am

Professional issues: Income Tax, VAT, Banks, Accountants and Pensions

Please think about a tutorial time in the next couple of weeks - I need to see you all individually at some point.

Tutorials - Tuesday 15th: Room 187

Please bring along your Graded unit work-in-progress and workbooks

9.15am Vicky

9.45am

10.15am Eilidh

11.00am Esti

11.30am

12noon

Post a comment through the link below to book a slot. I need to see all of you, and will have to dictate times if we can't negotiate.

Monday 7th April

Lecture theatre 2 @ 10.00am - we will look at 'The Bus' by Daniel Meadows


Don't laugh - people still look like this in Australia

Here's Daniel Meadows' official 'Bus project' website. Please take a look - there's a huge amount of information and some great ideas. The project is still very much alive.

French Philosopher Roland Barthes uses two terms to describe photographs:

Studium - is the surface impression of an image - it's technical quality or 'competence'
(Whether the image is ok - not bad - alright)

Punctum - is the wounding, personally touching detail which establishes a direct relationship with the image
(The bit that grabs us)

These concepts first appeared in Barthes's Camera Lucida (published in 1980)

Barthes's influence is greater than you might think, even in commercial design and photography circles

There's even a Punctum group on flickr

So anyway, back to these two muppets... it's the 1970s - they're wearing tartan - they must be Bay City Roller fans...
WRONG!

See the records he's carrying

Well, the top one is Deep Purple (manly Heavy Metal to you) - not cissy pop music for girls.

Before iPods and walkmans, young men used to take records round to their friends' houses to listen to - protected from the weather in a polythene bag.

And the scarf:

...is a Manchester United scarf. One of the few bits of merchandising fans could buy in an age before the commercialism of football started to fleece fans for replica shirts and official socks, underpants, bed linen and matching curtains...

These two young men are wearing tartan jackets to associate themselves with Manchester United and their Scottish manager (at the time...) - Tommy "The Doc" Docherty.

"The 'punctum' for me in this picture (and many of Daniel Meadows 1970s Bus portraits) is how I feel when I see the jackets, and haircuts, and imagine the smell of two young men who only bathed once a fortnight (if that).

I never had a jacket like that - my Mum wouldn't let me - and I would have been frightened if I walked down the street towards 'big kids' like them. They were the sort of lawless hooligans who would "kick yer 'ed in".

Now I see them and smile at how harmless, innocent, naive and comical they really were.

I also feel touched at the sight of the records - and remember that I often used to listen to music intently with friends. We would sit in each others' bedrooms and pore over every inch of the gatefold sleeves, devouring the lyrics and looking for mysterious messages scratched into the run-out groove.

People don't do that anymore.
I don't do that anymore.

But this picture transports me - like falling through a hole in the fabric of time and space, back to an age when things were simple - people ate meat and two veg everyday and knew their neighbours.

The punctum isn't necessarily a flaw, or a hole or a specific item - it best describes our emotional response to images (and perhaps people, music, places, tastes) - not something that everyone shares or understands - but matters indvidually to us.

Monday 17th CTS

We will look at what is known as the 'Directorial Mode'.

Photographers construct what they want to show - not record what is there. This is a fundamental concept that we looked at right back at the beginning of the course in 'Proof or Fiction' and we have returned to time and again, through the painterly aspirations of 19th century amateurs:
the fakery of Robert Capa's falling soldier:

the utopia of The Family of Man:

the incisiveness of Robert Frank's Leica:

the hyper-reality of Martin Parr's fill-in flash:

- and Chris Killip's imaginative painter on the beach:

Monday's presentation will include Gregory Crewdson, Phillip Lorca di Corcia, David Hilliard, NIcholas Nixon and Sally Mann.

There will be some discussion, so you might want to check them out in advance.

Darkroom deadline

Tuesday 18th March - Lecture theatre 2 at 10.00am

Please bring your mounted BW prints - we will look at all the work and share knowledge.

If you have booked Studio 22 to shoot, please come along for ten minutes or so.

Tuesday 11th March

Mount cutting demonstration in Room 187 at 9.30am.

We will also discuss the allocation of individual tutorials - half hour slots on Tuesday mornings.

This week

Tuesday morning Graded Unit sessions in Studio 22 are bookable - there will be no taught class tomorrow morning.

Weds 9.30am Large Format demo - part 2

Weds afternoon: Studio 22 is bookable

Scheimpflug

This is what happens if a 5x4 camera is set up in parallel:
Focused 1/3rd of the way in (the front of the white plate) and exposed at f11 - focus falls away towards the back


This is what happens when the scheimpflug principle is applied:
Focused on the front of the plate (again) and exposed at f11

There is much more depth of field, because the new line of focus runs through the new subject plane: from the front of the book up to the top of the bottle. Like this:


The camera will allow many other movements - one which is particularly useful is a reverse tilt - away from the subject, instead of sympathetic to it. The opposite of scheimpflug. Focused on the edge of the gilt bookbinding and exposed (once again at f11)

You will notice that in all the diagrams - the back of the camera is not upright. This causes the bottle and glass to lean outwards a little. This can be corrected by keeping the back vertical - as in the diagram below.

See the full misery of a technical explanation of the Scheimpflug principle for yourself

Sinar have useful info on their website

Digital Infra-red

This is a minefield. Some digital cameras are more sensitive than others to IR frequencies. Chips are different, and so are the IR absorbing (protective) filters infront of the chip.

There are differences even between Canon models - and obviously the same goes for Nikon.

American nutters MaxMax will customise your camera for you by permanently removing the filter.

I suspect they look like this man...

...and I wouldn't let them near me. However...

There are lots of very helpful in-depth Digital infra-red tutorials on the web, written by men who spend every spare minute thinking about photography. They love to tinker with gadgets and techniques - and many of them run their own websites where they give all this knowledge and experience away - free - in exchange for a little love and affection in the form of a few kind words of thanks from complete strangers posted on their blogs and forums. Most of these men are married to women like these:


So, be kind and make someone happy today with an email.

Testing:
Here's a very crude test of IR sensitivity for digital cameras:

Put your camera in auto mode at ISO 100 with a wide aperture - no filter required at this point.

Point your IR telly remote into the lens from no more than 12" away.

Press any button on the remote while making the sound of a Star Wars light sabre and make an auto exposure.

Review the image on your camera screen:

If you see anything like this - you're doing really well:

If you see something like this - all is still not lost:

You need to do some work with levels and curves...

Infra-red

Recipe:

Kodak HIE 35mm - infra-red film (sensitive to 900nm)
Load (and unload) in total darkness
Wratten 25 (red) filter
ISO 400
Meter through the lens (i.e. NOT with a separate handmeter)
Bracket: +2 stops and -2 stops (infra-red is unpredictable)

Develop for 11mins in neat (undiluted) D76 at 20c (agitate normally)
Stop and Fix as usual
Print on Grade 4 or 5 paper


This is a starting point for your own experiments. Full IR filters give different effects.

Focus:
With wide angle lenses, shooting distant subjects with a small aperture, (such as landscape) focus will not be difficult.

With telephoto lenses, with closer subjects and a wider aperture (such as portraits) focus may need adjustment.

This lens has a white 'dot' next to the number '11' on the left of the barrel:


On this lens 'Normal' focus is 2.5m - but if you're shooting in IR you need to manually over-ride the focus to place 2.5m above the little white dot. Simple.

Older cameras are often better for these unusual processes - they don't have electronic film counters that can fog IR film, and have useful 'extras' like 'IR focus dots' - that disappeared in the 1990s when manufacturers began to cut costs on amateur cameras.

Constructed Image assignments

Research exisiting photographs of these subjects in your workbook.

Location: One image – minimum print size 10”x8”
Using a table-top set-up make an image to iIllustrate the word ‘Spring’ – for the front cover of The House of Fraser seasonal promotions catalogue. Do not add any words or logos

Natural light and/or artificial lighting can be used. Keep production notes in your workbook.

Studio: Two images required
5”x4” colour transparencies mounted in presentation sleeves

A prestigious hotel chain requires images to illustrate the following items:

Continental breakfast
Morning coffee
Light lunch
Afternoon tea
Pre-dinner drinks

Choose one from this list and make an image using 5x4 colour transparency film with deep depth of field - complete sharpness - running through the composition.

Choose another from this list and make an image using 5x4 colour transparency film with selectively placed, shallow depth of field drawing attention to a specific part of the composition.

Each picture MUST contain at least one translucent and/or reflective object within the composition. No people or hands.

Studio: One image – Exact print size A3
Make an image to represent the ‘city’

Location: Eight images – minimum print size 10”x8”
Using both infra-red film and digital cameras – make four infra-red images. Shoot four control shots of your IR subjects on conventional film/digital to illustrate the aesthetic differences between IR and panchromatic sensitivity

Assessments: One image to be presented on Wednesday 23rd April

All remaining images to be submitted on Wednesday 28th May

Bookmaking

Your first attempt will be messy, sticky and probably a bit of a disappointment - like everyones' first time - except this won't be over as quickly. So have a practice. Make a small book to familiarise yourself with the cutting, scoring, folding and glueing issues that you'll encounter.

Cut your paper to size, and factor-in an extra centimeter to score and fold over (we'll call this bit the 'tang')

Japanese folding book:

The idea is that the tangs allow the pages to be joined, and provide a 'spacer' to help the book sit flat when the photographs are added. The book can be anchored together at one side with ribbon or tape to form a spine, allowing the book to open conventionally. The tapes or ribbons can be released to allow the book to extend as a long 'concertina', showing all the images at once.

PVA 'School' glue is ideal for sticking the book together, but use sparingly.


Conventional book:

This method fixes the spine of the book on one side, but (again) the 'tangs' provide spacers to let the book lie flat when the photographs are added.

For those who didn't grow up with Blue Peter or don't have an adult to help you, Photobox.co.uk will make a book for you from your uploaded images - similar to how flickr works


As with anything cheap, easy and quick, everyone and his dog is likely to start doing it, so remember that hand-made means unique.

Silverprint portfolio boxes and actetate sleeves are easily found through the link on the right.

Graded Unit

10.00am start Studio 22

Proposal review and Portfolio/book-making demo

The work of Art in the age of mechanical reproduction

Please download "The work of Art in the age of mechanical reproduction" by Walter Benjamin

In 1936, Benjamin wrote with alarming foresight of an age where reproductions are more common - and sometimes, more acceptable to us - than the original.

The essay has become a hugely significant piece of writing, for everyone connected with image making. It has taken on even greater importance with the advent of digital imaging and the age of the internet, where the concept of 'the original' becomes clouded.

For instance, I'm writing this blog post on my computer, but it looks exactly the same on yours - and on the computers of anyone else who chooses to look. Is there an original?

Take the time to read through Benjamin's essay - twice


Assignment
Choose an iconic image* that you are familiar with - through a reproduction (*Photograph, drawing, painting, sculpture, maybe even a building, but if you choose a person, please refer to a specific image of them.)

Research contextual biographical details of the work and author. With a minimum of 1000 words in mind, explain through which form of reproduction and in what context you can first recall seeing that image*.

Have you ever seen the original? If you have - did it surprise you, reassure you, or disappoint you? If you haven’t seen it - do you want to?

Do you think that reproduction of your chosen image diminishes the original? (Bad?)
Do you think that the reproduction of your chosen image democratises it and enables more people to see it? (Good?)

Make reference and use quotes from Benjamin's essay (and other texts you may already be aware of) where appropriate.

Conclude with an overview of the different forms the image now takes - through mechanical reproduction. And where is the ‘original’?

Submission: Monday 3rd March - Lecture theatre at 10.00am.


Walter Benjamin leads into ideas about simulation (simulacra) and Hyper-reality - best described by Umberto Eco

Here's a link to a Guardian article about tourists' disappointment with famous landmarks and tourist attractions.

This link will take you to Martin Parr's pictures of modern tourism

Graded Unit tutorials - Studio 22

9.30am
Donaldson Lucy
Rodriguez Jesus
Granadero Perez Eva
Gregory Michael

10.10am
Fokinther Amy
Harkins Eilidh
Steven Jill
Irvine Siobhan

10.50am
Schiefler Anja
McMillan Vicky
Moreno Maria
Mugueta Estibaliz

11.30am
Madsen Louise
Zatonow Anna
Kavanagh Stephen
Kozak Anna

Interesting

Robert Capa

Darkroom project

Photograph a fruit or vegetable in the style of Edward Weston



Make a 'guide' print to the best of your ability using resin coated paper, processed through the machine in the college darkroom.

Select two different types of silver halide-based photographic paper.

Make a ‘fine print’ using each of the papers, processed by hand through dishes. The college provides Dektol developer. Others are available. You may wish to try an alternative.

Follow the permanent links on the right to Silverprint, Fotospeed, Kentmere, Kodak, Calumet and 7 day shop. Do a deal with your classmates and split the costs.

Keep all your test strips and work prints. Make notes on your observations about the quality and tonality of the print on resin-coated paper compared to the prints on fibre-based paper.

Deadline Tuesday 18th March Studio 22 @ 10.00am

Graded Unit

Proposal:
Between 500 and 1000 words
Deadline: Tues 26th Feb @ 10.00am in Studio 22
Counts for 15% of marks (late submissions marked out of 8%)

Identification of aims and objectives:
Introduction (2 marks)
Aims and objectives (3 marks)

Selection and justification of techniques/equipment/format
(4 marks)

Strategic planning:
Presentation format (1 mark)
Timescale (2 marks)

Identification of research required (3 marks)

Total = 15

Research, development and production
70% of marks

Evaluative report
15% of marks

FINAL DEADLINE: Monday 12th MAY

CTS - Monday lecture programme

Lecture Theatre 10.00am

4th Feb: The Medium is the Message
11th Feb: The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction
18th Feb: Group activity
25th Feb: Faking it - Fashion photography
3rd Mar: Group activity
10th Mar: Mass Communications and Consumerism

Tutorials

Tuesday 5th February (after Adam's Stock unit)

3.30pm Stephen Kavanagh
3.45pm Anna Zatanow
4.00pm Jill Stephen

Soup

Choose a soup with national characteristics:

French Onion, Minestrone, Scotch Broth, Miso, Won-Ton, Borscht, Gazpacho, etc

Construct an image in the studio with appropriate props - to deliver the connotations you want to convey to the viewer:

Freshness, Goodness, Exotic, Luxury, Basic, Traditional, Family, Nutritious, Healthy, Evening supper, Outdoor lunch, etc

Shoot one roll of 35mm daylight balanced 36exp colour transparency film: 100 ISO is ideal. Fuij Provia, Kodak E100G - you can check what characteristics different emulsions possess on the Kodak, Fuji and Silverprint sites in the Permanent Links section on the right.

If you're buying film from a shop - make sure it isn't "Process Paid" - this means it comes with an envelope for you to send it off for processing, having already paid for it in the price.

We will process the films at college, with NO COST TO YOU (Estimated four day turnaround)

Experiment with lighting - positioning, modulators, reflectors - and viewpoint


Remember: the journey is more important than the destination at this point
Collect research and plans in your workbook. Please work in pairs and keep a log of exposure details - it will help you decipher why your pictures look the way they do

Assessment:
Wednesday 27th February 9.00am
We'll look at your best and worst image. I'll provide slide mounts.

Timelapse

Make a time lapse sequence:

Choose your view and time parameters - minutes, hours, days
Arrange your exposures in sequential order - free to use photoshop or scalpel and glue
No limit on how many pictures you combine or the final dimensions

Assessment: Wednesday 27th February 9.00am Studio 22

Ideas and information:
Their circular life
More info on timelapse

Here are some simple instructions for those wanting to assemble their timelapse montage in Photoshop:

Make a new blank canvas big enough to frame your montage:
File – New (make sure the dpi resolution of the new canvas is the same as your timelapse images – ideally 300dpi)


Use the crop tool to cut a slice from each image and drag it into the new canvas

Use the Move tool to position each new slice on the new canvas


You can adjust the position of any layer by selecting from the one you wish to adjust from the layers palette


When you’re happy with the timelapse montage you can preserve all the layers – for future tweaking – by saving as a .psd (Photoshop file). If you’re bold enough to commit – you can merge all the layers and save as a .tif or .jpg

Advanced Photoshop users could stack all the images on top of one another and use the erase tool selectively on each layer to reveal and blend the layer underneath to create a merged version...

Stieglitz/Steichen - last chance

Don't panic!! However, for the remaining candidates who have yet to complete this essay: type Stieglitz or Steichen into the search window at the top left of the blog for details of what you are required to do.

Submission without exceptions: Tuesday 5th February Studio 22 10.00am

Theory Resit paper

Tuesday 5th February 9.30am in Studio 22.

Last chance to pass. Non-attendance is a straight fail.

Four candidates should attend. You know by now who you are.

In flagrante

You will struggle to find a copy, but here are some links that might help anyone curious:

Chris Killip where are you?

Thatcher 'no society' quote

Wikipedia on the 1984 Miners' strike

Get Carter: North East location tour

The image below (the first in the book) of the painter's blatant artistic licence clearly states Killip's intention - to create a fiction - one that serves his own truth. Objectivity gives way to subjectivity.


Your comments would be appreciated.