Coursework
Topic 1: Mirrors and Windows
The analogy or comparison between myself as a photographer and windows and mirrors in one way seems strange to me. I am a living being and not an inanimate object. Windows are gaps or holes in some sort of barrier that allow me to see through the barrier and give a me glimpse of the world beyond. What I can see will depend on the size, if the gap has a covering like glass or a curtain, if it is clean, and if the window is open or closed. Maybe my window has no covering. A mirror reflects things but how accurately it does so will depend on how flat the surface of the glass or reflective surface is. My body is neither flat, smooth nor reflective. I suppose that in one way if I must be one or the other, at first glance, I am more like a window. Eyes have long been thought to be “windows to the soul” (origin unknown). Why, because a person’s eyes can reveal a great deal about how someone is feeling. My eyes are encased in my skull, just as windows are surrounded by a barrier. But people can fake emotions, hide them, or distort them. In the same way, mirrors that are not perfectly flat can distort a scene. Windows can have opaque glass so that what is on the other side is hidden. Mirrors can help me to see things that I might otherwise not see. They can also help me to see things that I want to and should see. So maybe the difference between windows and mirrors is not so great. Even though I am the one holding the camera and I decide what I am going to shoot, the camera, just like my eyes, reduces the size of the scene, turns it upside down, and flattens it. My eyes though do not freeze the image, the moment in time. Is that what our memories are, frozen moments to be replayed? What draws me to certain genres of photography and not others? Is this predetermined or have my life experiences changed the way I see the world? We are all born to have certain characteristics, but culture and life experiences change people, I and the viewers are no exception. The way I look out through the lens and how I choose to photograph is, I believe, unique to me. What the viewer of my photographs understands or thinks about me by looking at them I cannot say.
Topic 5: Interdisciplinary Practice
This year I have been trying to document the work of a woman called Stephanie, as she walks some of the streets in my area of Brussels, feeding pigeons corn. She is trying to persuade the communes to increase the number of big metal feed containers and to fill them with corn doctored with bird anti-parasitic medicine. The secondary effect of this is to act as a pigeon contraceptive, and where this approach has been followed the pigeon population has, over a couple of years, dropped by 50%. (https://www.brussels.be/pigeons#:~:text=The%20City%20of%20Brussels%20is,adapt%20well%20to%20city%20lifeLinks to an external site.
So, my examples of other disciplines are above:
Stephanie – the lone volunteer,
A representative pigeon trying to break up food dropped by humans.
Alderman Iammarino – Amongst many other roles, he is in charge of animal well-being in the commune of St Gilles, Brussels.
The story is also on the web and has made the news.
Walking the streets with Stephanie (she walks 11km every morning to feed the pigeons), has changed my opinion of these birds, sometimes called ‘rats with wings’, these birds are, at least in cities not well-liked. Yet looking around, I see mostly human mess, bottle tops, broken glass, paper, crisp packets, and cigarette stubs, to name but a few. Whereas the mess that pigeons leave can be cleaned away, human mess dropped on the ground cannot be. Pigeons are left the food we drop to eat, as we have tarmacked and paved over much of the ground that might provide them with the food they should actually be eating, - seeds, nuts, occasional insects, and worms. I wonder why humans find it so difficult to share with the other creatures around us. My faith is restored by the number of re-wilding projects both in Belgium and much of Europe. As I wander around the streets where I live nature finds its way into our lives despite our attempts to contain it, it manages to find its way into unexpected places.
Topic 3: Authorship and Collaboration
The theme was blue so I, of course, chose the simple blue police box that is the TARDIS(time and relative dimensions in space).
Little did I know that Felicity would choose a blue-faced timepiece, a watch.
Blue was the theme, so it seems was time.
Synchronicity or mere coincidence, I leave it up to you to decide.
Kind regards,
Richard Tippett LSWPP
When I saw Richard's photograph of his Tardis, I must admit I smiled, I had not thought of photographing my watch but his photograph got me thinking. So I changed my image choice and something that properly links the two images came about. I am much happier with the result than I would have been with two random blue objects.
Felicity Handford
Topic 7 : Words and Pictures
This image was one of a series of photographs of these buildings published by the Guardian newspaper 2 days ago. I assume that this was taken by a drone and shows a long thin building connected with others, in a very snowy landscape, surrounded by trees. Without the words, there is no clue where these buildings are, what they might used for, or how old they are. The image below, with the words, is what was published in the newspaper. The ‘parasitic words changed my understanding of this place. 'A delirious deco dream': former TB sanatorium is now Finland's most unusual holiday let. The building is surrounded by forest.
