My first assignment for PWDP was a small portfolio of photographs about my locality, a Somerset hamlet called Ford Street. I decided to put this into a book.
There were various reasons for this. Firstly, it is a way to consider the images as a whole as well as individually as well as responding to a request by local residents who seem interested in having a record for themselves. Funding might also be available for a copy to be given to the Somerset Records Office where much of the research was done into the history of the locality which in turn influenced the way I made the photographs. A copy for the Wellington Museum also seems appropriate.
The book is also a response to my tutor’s comments. There was also criticism from a fellow student who thought the colours were too saturated giving a “chocolate box” effect; another tutor however, suggested that this was acceptable (he referenced the work of Peter Dench among others) and mentioned that my use of strong colour might even be considered satirical. While making the initial prints, I had deliberately tried to mute them a little mainly because saturation tends to blot out detail; here I have gone for a fairly straight forward image, processed using the same Action that aims to maximise the tonal range of the digital sensor. Tweaks are administered to make sure the images are similar in luminosity to each other and to tailor the individual views. My aim is to present images with colours that are true to life; this is not easy as we all tend to see colours differently or prefer different palettes. Getting bogged down in questions of aesthetics however, does not seem to help in photography.
There are some changes to the original selection. For instance, instead of the bird photographs, a photograph has been added to show someone erecting a bird box; this is a direct response to Jose Navarro’s comments. Some images have been slightly changed such as that of Neil Dalton striding out across Ford Street; in the former image, he was further back while here he is close up and slightly distorted, an indication perhaps of the satirical element in this group of pictures. Some images have been added such as the murmuration over Ford House and Barbara Tracy picking daffodils in front of Ford House.
What is this group of photographs actually about? The simple answer is a documentary and hence historical record of a relatively small space and the ordinary individuals who inhabit it. While there may be humour, satire is not intended and maybe only in the eye of the slightly cynical beholder who can’t see that this is how many people actually live. Ordinary people often do get passed over in a culture where there needs to be something that will help sell the work; hence it is fine to record an ordinary individual but they at least need to be doing something extraordinary. Not true of this body of work but I am conscious that documentary considerations have outweighed artistic ones; for instance, the sequence of images is a result largely of the way places are situated in Ford Street rather than being tied together because of composition.
I don’t see anything exceptional about this book of photographs.; it does however fulfil the brief of the assignment and creates a potentially interesting time capsule. Reflecting over it makes the learning process more worthwhile.
Progressing With Digital Photography 