Week 1: Independent Reflection:

• What your current practice is?
• What you did during the week, feedback received and how you will respond to that?
• How you would describe your methodology?
• The forms your project/photographs could take moving forward?

Currently, my practice is looking at nature and macro photography, more pacifically flowers. I feel my methodology is of organic and natural form. The feedback I got from my last module was that it would be beneficial to look at botanical photographers which I did so. Karl Blossfeldt was a German photographer, sculptor, teacher and artist who worked in Berlin, Germany. He is best known for his close-up photographs of plants and living things. His work which is still appearing today is modern and naturally beautiful. Blossfeldt understanding of form was due to the fact he taught sculpture based on natural forms. The history of botanical photography become popular in the early and mid-nineteenth century for scientific and documentation. Blossfeldt designed a camera which helped him to enlarge his subject and see up close, his work was created to be a teaching aid and inspiration with architects, sculptures and artist. Blossfeldt had a strong belief that by studying the close up of natural form that contemporary art would find its true direction. I agree with this idea, we have learnt so much by studying nature, how to travel and move or how to design and build structures for beauty or for shelter. The nature blueprints which have evolved over millions of years to survive is such an amazing thing, its hard not to be inspired by that. I am inspired by the structures of flowers and how they make you feel.

While researching I have come across a photographer whose work I have fallen in love with is Kathleen Clemons.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKuKIpaZlIs

Kathleen Clemons is a professional photographer in New England. Her style of photography is best known for the use of natural light and unique compositions. She has a passion for making photographs and loves to teach others how to improve their photography skills. Her work is represented worldwide by Corbis and Getty Images. Clemons advice is to use soft light and think about the formal elements of photography, flowers are great for line, shape, colour and texture. Her technology is to find a flower which is uniquely different from the other flowers, for example, a petal which has a funky petal or an interesting curve. Its simple advice that really helps when it comes to creating the type of photography I take. I feel the same, I look for a flower which pulls me into how I feel and have a connection to.

 This image is by Kathleen Clemons. 

This image is by myself I have been inspired by her work and the equipment which is used too. I have purchased a Lensbaby Velvet 56.

Anther inspiration of my is Georgia O’Keeffe was an American Painter and probably best known for her oversized close-up paintings of flowers. She was inspired by Nature and was the true sources of her Art. She had a very strong emotional response to nature and was inspired by teachings of Arthur Dow and his radical teachings to art. His concept was filling a space in a beautiful way. Georgia O’Keeffe is known for her recognizable forms but she never moved too far away from her love of abstraction. She had the ability to take something really ordinary and transom it truly to something outstanding.

Week 2 Presentation 1: Appropriation:

Q: Within your own project, are you explicitly referencing your inspiration and visual materials, or purposely leaving them out? How do you think your images will be used, once you’ve gone, and how could you control or shape that?

Within my own project I do not feel I am referencing my inspiration in the fact I am using someone else’s work but I am using other floral photographers’ ideas for inspiration. My main focus is the flower itself and the appropriation to the hidden world that everyone can see. I am not sure if my images will be used once I am gone. I imagine other photographer and artist didn’t expect their work to be shared and appropriated once they had gone. We never know whose work right now will be the next big thing. I would be happy that my own children will look at my images and appropriate them and in some way, I have imprinted my passion and love for photography for at least my children to enjoy. You can’t control once you have gone how your work is then used, in some way once we create are images we are no longer have full ownership, isn’t this just like when we have children they are individuals and seek independence eventually.

Week 2 Presentation 2: Remixing:

Do you consider any of your work to be original?  Would you agree that you are remixing images and ideas that you have previously encountered, but can’t remember?  Do you think remixing is merely a means to complete a project, or is a form of remixing operating at a deeper level of your practice?

I believe that my subject is not original and I don’t think any work is. I believe to create rememberable art you need to have originality. What I do believe that creative people can remix am idea and tailored the idea to their own interpretation. Within my work the image itself are original, each flower is unique and how I respond is personal. When you look at my photography you can see who and what inspires me, I try to create my own style and put my own stamp on my work. I think remixing is an extension of a project and adds a new level of creativity.  I don’t think it’s a bad or a good form of communication but one that isn’t used within my own practice.

Week 2: Independent Reflection

In this week, you were asked to think about whether a photograph can be considered finished. By referencing, borrowing, appropriating, stealing, adopting, copying, paying homage or remixing, it is possible to consider that images might have a life beyond what we imagine. In this sense, all images – not just digital ones – arguably have indeterminacy, or do they?

I teach Art and Photography and my students love unfinished work and myself actually. I have pictures which I have started and not finished, mainly because of time. One artist who works I love is Cristina Troufa.

https://www.saatchiart.com/CristinaTroufa

Ok, the subject matter is the human form but I just love how the unfinished work adds so much more. The use of negative space for the mind to fill in the blank information. Her work is filled with expressive emotions which explore the theme of identity and self. Cristina Troufa is a Portuguese artist whose work considers the spiritual, emotional and psychological inner self. The reason why her work is unfinished because she wants the viewer to guess what’s unfolding in front of them. My own practices I want the focus on the spiritual and emotional reaction of the viewer so I love her connection to this theme. No work is truly finished, I could spend hours working on a single image and even when I feel it’s finished I could come back days, weeks or years later and see ways of how I could improve the image.

Week 3: Independent Reflection

Tasks:

Think about:

• Whether you embrace inherent collaboration in your work or whether you consciously resist it.
• How you are learning from your subjects/collaborators/participants/respondents, or helping them, or both.
• How you might be taking advantage of your subjects/collaborators/participants/respondents.
• Any other ethical concerns you may have.

I work alone with my subject but use others for inspiration. When I visit my chosen locations I first walk around and get a feel for the place. I don’t pick the flowers I feel the flowers pick them myself. I have to wait until the subject matters jump out to me, not literary. I have been training my eye to look at different composition and angles. I have included an image which I call purple pride. The image was taken on the 28th of May 2019. I was actually visiting Bodiam Castle while attending a camping trip. I was walking into the castle grounds and growing up the fence was this stunning purple flower. I was automatically pulled to its beauty and colour. I wanted to Focus on the detail within the flower standing tall and proud.

Purple Pride May 2019

I have started to Constant on taking images that use only a selection of colours. Studying flowers has helped me to notice the structure of organic forms how they grow and develop. I don’t feel I’m helping the flowers but they help me and others who see them. I recently read this article about how cut flowers are having an impact on the environment. The floriculture industry thrives when special days come around and people express their emotions and to celebration by giving flowers. Days like Mother’s Day, Valentine’s Day and birthdays and just a few examples but this action are having a huge impact on the environment through water usage, pollution, land degradation, and fossil fuel transportation emissions. It’s is estimates just one hectare of a flower farm consumes over 900 cubic meters of water per month.

I love roses and yellow ones are my favourite due to the fact they remind me of my Nan who had many yellow roses growing in her front garden. Around 80% of all roses come from South America or Africa, which are grown under intense irrigation systems. Roses require a lot of water as need to sprayed with pesticides to protect them from pests. Roses, for example, are also shipped on planes to other parts of the world. Roses are fragile, they must be transported in refrigerated containers as soon as they are budding. That includes refrigerated trucks to transport them from airports to their final florist destinations. Flowerpetal.com reports that sending the roughly 100 million roses of a typical Valentine’s Day produces some 9,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions. Due to my chosen subject matter, I have to think of eternity methods when it’s the winter season and buy flowers from a florist. It’s not the same taking photographs of the flowers in their natural environment and I feel like I’m not fully connected to them.

Examples of my work which was taken indoors using window light.

7th June 2019 Red Rose in a vase.

Week 5: Independent Reflection

I do not necessarily consider my audience when taking my images but I do when selecting and editing my photography. My photography is a way for me to express how I feel. Photography to me is therapy, I have been looking into Art Therapy a lot recently.

• Expressing yourself in a creative way helps you to build on your confidence that you will not be a judge you.
• Art helps you to make sense of things and understand yourself better by exploring your thoughts.
• Art also helps you to resolve complicated feelings you may be having and helps you to find a way to live with them.
• I am dyslexic and personally, I find being creative help met communicate and express myself. I know its sometimes hard to put your emotions into words.

My option on curators…….

Curators are needed when there is a collection of work that is going to be displayed in a gallery. They have the knowledge of what works together and how to tell a story. Recently I went to Tate Britain to view the Van Gough exhibition.

The exhibition is held at Tate Britain which is a showcase about Vincent van Gogh mainly explores the artist relationship with Britain. It explores both how Van Gogh was inspired by British art, literature and culture throughout his career and how he, in turn, inspired British artists, from Vanessa Bell to Francis Bacon.

What I love about his work is the energetic brushstrokes and colours within these paintings. I am inspired by his flowers paintings mainly the sunflowers. There are three sunflowers painting but some say only two are actually painted by Van Gogh. Sunflower is a symbol of happiness. The sunflowers paintings are very popular and we’ll know and was also the picture that Van Gogh was most proud of.

while staying in the yellow house Van Gogh. Painted the sunflowers as welcome to Paul Gauguin visiting. It was painted during a rare period of excited optimism and the yellow represents his emotions of joy. When looking at these paintings you begin to notice aspects that seem to flow from one piece to another. The colours are vibrant and express emotions typically associated with the life of sunflowers. The bright yellows of the full bloom. The Sunflowers showing signs of wilting which is associated with death. This is why I love about the sunflowers paintings they show all stages of life and how all living things are tied together.

 My own interpretation of sunflowers.

This image was taken when I visited the Standen House and Garden to create this image I had to take several then photo stack them together. Then in photoshop I made the petals seems to be soft and flowing inwards to the face of the sunflowers. The spiral inside Hypnotises you and you’re eyes move around the image.

Week 6: Some Considerations:

I actually want to display my images in a gallery but this is something that I am finding hard to organise. I want my images to be on the large size because I believe this adds to the connection of subject and viewer. I want the viewer to feel like that have entered a new world and just like an insect surrounded by new structures. I want the surrounding environment to be white and the colours to be one of the main features.

The surround images need to work together and compliment each other either by texture, form and colour. I want the exhibition to flow and increase emotional awareness. I have a few images which are red and are overwhelming and wouldn’t work well next to my more gentle prices.

I don’t expect my viewers to be literate of photography but more of a passion for colour and floral art. I imagine my viewers would be people with a similar interest or have a Curiosity for macro or science.

I have designed a virtual Exhibition and there are two rooms which showcase my work. You start in the natural room which holds the whites and green collection. I have displayed each piece to help the movement around the room and build up tension and energy. You then enter the second room which is the collection of yellows, pinks, orange and reds. These colours represent entertaining, passion, life and warmth. The whole vibe of the room has changed and hopefully the views emotional response.

The viewer is able to engage with the work by selecting directly on the image. You can move closer or move back to see the relationship with the other photographs. To fully appreciate my work you need to look at close to see the detail you wouldn’t see far away.

Of course, the thoughts and options of the viewer would be valuable it would be great if those who visit the virtual Exhibition leave feedback.

I have found a location where I could possibly hold my Exhibition in the future. The location is local and is a cafe gallery and the Maidstone Museum. At the moment my work is mainly being shared on social media sites. To be able to get more exposure I have been using hashtags which help to feature your work. One of my images was featured but accidentally not with my name connected to it. Luckily the situation has been corrected but it made me think about the issues we first addressed about own-ship of our work. I know for this project I have produced an online exhibition but I am still going to continue organising a physical none digital exhibition. It’s important to me and my practice that the viewers actually participate in my work. I was thinking about leaving a comment book and asking how do they feel when they view my work. As the concept of a relaxing environment to display my work but equally and large open space would also be appropriate. I have started to print some of my work out. Was exciting to see my work printed and to be able to touch and see up close.

Before I started my Masters I produced a portfolio of my work. I remember how I was too focused to select only the images I felt add value. I had to carefully selected how the images were going to work well together and the impact they had when turning the pages.

I have included a video of my old portfolio. I remember spending hours putting this together. I have come such a long way and passion and directed has become clear. My long term goal is to produce a book which I could sell on Amazon. My strong point isn’t writing but I would love to include more information which could help the reader with Macro Floral. One book which I have purchased is by Harold Davis.

I really enjoyed producing my own Zine and then advertised this on my Instagram page.

I actually liked the 6 by 6 inches size. I did have to change the composition of each picture. This time with my book I have made a decision that I will stick to a black background and there is a clear theme without the book. This is just a first draft which I have orders my long term goal would be to produce a fully detailed information book which could educate people on macro floral photography.

My role as a photographer is to explore the world around me and help others to see what I see. Not everyone can experience the world I see I feel blessed I have developed this craft. As a teacher, I love to see how my passion helps others to start a passion for photography. Within the school, I work they didn’t have photography as a subject. I have been honoured to start the subject back up and actually get a group of students at KS4 to select photography as an option. I have been teaching photography to KS3 students and students studying their A-Levels in Art but to actually have a group of students who want to focus primarily on photography is so exciting. The students have been helping me and I found the outcomes they come up with inspirational. I held a lesson which looked at shadows and black and white photography and I loved the outcomes of some of my students work.

Image 1 Envy:

This image is very important to me in my collection. It was one that I feel I had really developed my style. I have been producing images that have this small depth of field and only focused on one small area. I learnt how to use photo stacking better and I love the result achieved. To me, the colour green is connected to nature and growth. We automatic connect green with vegetation. In the accident, Egypt green represented the regeneration of paradise. The Romans connected green to the embodiment of Venus the gods were of gardens. Green is a colour which has a meaning to the environment. Also, green is connected to our own health and to eat foods which are rich is green is natural and organic. Green is nature’s most plentiful colour and gives a balance between warmth and coolness. Within my image I have focused on a range of different tones of green, the main focus is green as the background. I feel when you look at this image you’re pulled within its spiral texture. I have called this image Envy because of the famous saying green with Envy.

Image 2 illusion

This image I have produced is one that I leant how to combined the soft out of focus effect with the stacking of layers. I accidentally produced this 3D effect. To me, the buds feel like they are reaching out. I have kept the colour palette simple and used greens and purple. The background isn’t simple and warm tone has been used. When I take my photographs I am very aware of what is in the background. The cloudy used together create this soothing effect with had a calming effect on the viewer. When I look at this photograph I feel peaceful and relaxed I think this works well because the colours are based on the more cooler side on the colour-wheel.

image 3 Bleeding Heart

This image is completely different from the other two, this one is more connected to my own emotions. At the time I was facing a difficult time in my life and I overwhelmed with emotions. I saw this Dahila and was pulled towards its colour. I felt connected and need to take the image. I have been inspired by the photographer Kathleen Clemans and her concept of looking for curves. The shapes which have been created are stunning and I can’t help but look out for such specimens. The colour red is a powerful source of energy. The human’s mind is hardwired it’s acting or reacts to the colour red, I definitely acted when I saw this flower.

I have been visiting many different locations over the last three weeks.

28th July 2019 Penshurst Place and gardens.

Scotney Castle 2nd August

Deal Walmer Castle and Gardens

16th August 2019

Today I have visited Batman’s House and gardens, National trust.

This stunning house uses to be the home of Rudyard Kipling and his wife, Carrie. The house is surrounded by the wooded landscape of the Sussex Weald, this 17th-century house, with its mullioned windows and oak beams, provided a much-needed sanctuary to this world-famous writer.

The rooms, described by him as ‘untouched and unfaked’, remain much as he left them, with oriental rugs and artefacts reflecting his strong association with the East. Kim was his first major piece of writing that he wrote from his study at Bateman’s which links him and his fond childhood memories to India with real clarity and devotion, truly a masterpiece of descriptive writing. Kipling was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907.