Week 5

The look of my images are simple in content but very complex in process. There is always a very strong contextual language within my images; the images are there to be explored artistically and intellectually. The images are in the form of high key studio still life photography or darkroom processes such as photograms. This type of way of image making gives me more creative control when creating an image as I am able to physically control the light and subject.

I am working with the medium of photography, but I see myself more of a image maker than simply a photographer,( a person who takes photographs, especially as a job). For me as a creative image-maker I don’t see myself merely taking photographs, the idea of “taking” something isn’t what my work is about. My work is about giving, giving knowledge and emotive connection with the viewer. My work can be interoperated in my different ways; I feel the subjective and ambiguous nature of my images resonates meaning within the fields of wildlife, documentary, still life, creative and many more photographic practices. The more I work on and elaborate on this project the more by ideas of me as a photographer are changing, I have been exploring my work (through contextual and artist research) in ways I haven’t before, I am looking and taking interest in areas of photography I haven’t been interested in before and its adding to my images.

This exploration of context is making me aware of other practices such as; psychology, painting, clay making is directly influencing my work. Whilst looking at these new areas of creative practice I have looked at ways of recreating techniques (for example the texture of a Van Gogh painting). This has also come with its own set of challenges, recreating a technique with is easily created in its own medium (texture for example), once applied to my work doesn’t always work. I have had many fail attempts at recreating techniques that have distracted and changed my work. I find that sometimes the barrier that I’m pushing between photography (as its widely seen as an objective documentation of truth) and image making doesn’t allow a direct translation of skills. This has been interesting especially in this project, as I have had to look into processes and techniques that I haven’t come across and also that hasn’t been used before (as from my own research findings) So I have had to be very methodical in my practice, creating new techniques such as honey glazing my images and pesticide and developer mixtures. But this also has strengthened where I see myself as a photographer; the use of scientific knowledge to create and shape my images is something that I have always done. I have aloud mold to create images, water create image, I believe as a practitioner I have a symbiotic relationship with nature and the artistic potential it has.