YPA RESEARCH

ideas, thoughts and waffle

Inchcailloch shoot/ edit/ 3rd YPA meeting….

Mmmm interesting… Weather was flat and overcasted. the deep forest really needed high contrasts from the sun but was not to be. Got some images but continued shooting at different locations near Glasgow. Got a range of ideas that are possibilities… Was trying out making a landscape from water. i.e. the reflections of the forest in the loch. but this didn’t really work out how I was wanting. Got some interesting impressionist looking plant shots. Colours are really interesting but not working well with one another at the moment, and finally some sky shots which I was initially looking towards shooting for this project. Went to meeting last night. Looking for some guidance as to which route to follow. And to my surprise it was felt I should use all three and create a fourth line of images that could consist of the earth. To me personally each of these themes are separate projects. I went out shooting today trying to get earth, sand and some water shots. Light was too diffused for my liking. Still unsure about bringing together all these elements but I have the time to try them and play about with the idea. Whilst shooting some sky shots. I can’t help thinking about contextualising everything. Elaine and Claire said I need to have fun with it and stop worrying about this but to me the project is an image and text piece (probably a trait from uni but can’t help it). I am going to start working on my text asap. As I need time to develop it.

Hand in is fast approaching!

Inchcailloch Island

Trying to find out published information about the islands history online but I’m getting nowhere. The information on sites is too vague and also I need to use reputable sources for me to be able to use or quote the information at hand. Some library searching will be needed me thinks.

Yesterday’s shoot

Well… it wasn’t the best shoot I’ve ever had. Everything that could go wrong, went wrong. Tripod broke halfway up a huge hilltop, sky was so bright long exposures were not possible nor practical. Stayed out til late and came home feeling really deflated. Looking over the images this morning I was starting to panic but have since calmed down. Going to organise my trip to Inchcailloch island for next week for some camping over night and will hopefully get what I want from the location there. It wasn’t just down to the location yesterday, I wasn’t feeling it at all and digital is not giving me the same feel as film would. I think I will shoot some film before I go and then when on the island I will shoot both.

When researching places to go. I started my search up in Loch Lomond, a place close to my heart. Loch Lomond is a spectacular landscape with much to offer. I came across information about the Inchcailloch island. Although I have never been it sounds like the perfect place to photograph, some or all of this series (depending, of course). Part of the national trust, this island offers beautiful views of the Loch and woodlands. I came across some interesting information about the island too; “The island of the Old Woman”  Old Name: Inchcailleach, (The Island of Nuns) Lying close to the shore at Balmaha, this is one of the most accessible of Loch Lomond’s islands. once recognized as being sacred this mysterious island has a long association with Christianity. In 717AD, the missionary, St Kentigema arrived from Ireland and settled on Inchcailloch. In the 12th century a church was built dedicated to her memory and for the proceeding five centuries people from the mainland rowed across both for worship and to bury their dead. Although the church was abandoned in 1670, the graveyard was used until 1947. (extract from http://www.loch-lomond.net/theloch/inchcailloch.aspx) This seems important, as it feeds into what I want the images to embrace. i.e. the essence of another presence. The history of the island is something that appeals to me and this project. I will read up more and find out about possible camping out for a shoot. As we have to include text with the series of imagery, this find seems particularly important and valuable.

When researching places to go. I started my search up in Loch Lomond, a place close to my heart. Loch Lomond is a spectacular landscape with much to offer. I came across information about the Inchcailloch island. Although I have never been it sounds like the perfect place to photograph, some or all of this series (depending, of course). Part of the national trust, this island offers beautiful views of the Loch and woodlands. I came across some interesting information about the island too;

“The island of the Old Woman”

 Old Name: Inchcailleach, (The Island of Nuns)

Lying close to the shore at Balmaha, this is one of the most accessible of Loch Lomond’s islands. once recognized as being sacred this mysterious island has a long association with Christianity. In 717AD, the missionary, St Kentigema arrived from Ireland and settled on Inchcailloch. In the 12th century a church was built dedicated to her memory and for the proceeding five centuries people from the mainland rowed across both for worship and to bury their dead. Although the church was abandoned in 1670, the graveyard was used until 1947.

(extract from http://www.loch-lomond.net/theloch/inchcailloch.aspx)

This seems important, as it feeds into what I want the images to embrace. i.e. the essence of another presence. The history of the island is something that appeals to me and this project. I will read up more and find out about possible camping out for a shoot. As we have to include text with the series of imagery, this find seems particularly important and valuable.

Jessica Hélène Greaves Recent photographic graduate of Blackpool and Fylde College. I found her work showcased online at perspectives.org.uk. Her work (specifically this image) caught my eye because it deals with similar ideals that I want this project to be about. I had been looking at different religions e.g. Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. Greaves took a similar approach to her environmental photography for A Land/An Odyssey. The image above is my favourite, the light is simply beautiful. In saying that however I am not as keen with the others in this series which use multiple exposures I don’t feel they are as successful as the above image is. Many of the images in your project A Land/An Odyssey comprise multiple exposures. What is the significance of this? It is the layering of memory and time that I wanted to imply within my photographs of the land, a ghost like past that is still visually accessible. The project for me was very personal, and comprised of my experiences in certain places and my own sentimentality, but I also wanted to extend these memories past my own. I became interested in how these places possibly held significance to others, and wanted to use multiple exposures and layering to trigger some form of cathartic effect on the viewer. (extract from http://www.perspectives.org.uk/pages/showcase/2011/jessicahelenegreaves/showcasejessicahelenegreaves.html)

Jessica Hélène Greaves

Recent photographic graduate of Blackpool and Fylde College. I found her work showcased online at perspectives.org.uk. Her work (specifically this image) caught my eye because it deals with similar ideals that I want this project to be about. I had been looking at different religions e.g. Buddhism, Sikhism, etc. Greaves took a similar approach to her environmental photography for A Land/An Odyssey. The image above is my favourite, the light is simply beautiful. In saying that however I am not as keen with the others in this series which use multiple exposures I don’t feel they are as successful as the above image is.

Many of the images in your project A Land/An Odyssey comprise multiple exposures. What is the significance of this?

It is the layering of memory and time that I wanted to imply within my photographs of the land, a ghost like past that is still visually accessible. The project for me was very personal, and comprised of my experiences in certain places and my own sentimentality, but I also wanted to extend these memories past my own. I became interested in how these places possibly held significance to others, and wanted to use multiple exposures and layering to trigger some form of cathartic effect on the viewer.

(extract from http://www.perspectives.org.uk/pages/showcase/2011/jessicahelenegreaves/showcasejessicahelenegreaves.html)

Aaron Gustafson

The first image (left) is from his series California dad. I just love it for the colours and memories it evokes. I have never been to California but let’s face it, a beach is…just a beach, no matter where it is. Similarly with the other images I have chosen in my research. There is a hidden presence of another energy, spiritual or otherwise and this is the type of thing I want to instill within the imagery I will be taking. 

The second image (right) at first glance looked like a seascape like those of Sugimoto. The colours made it look like it was a very stormy day. But when I got seascapes out of my brain I realised it was actually shot from the sky of the landscape below. What I had first believed to be tips of waves, turned out to be clouds. Gustafson took this on his 5x4 whilst skydiving. This is my favourite and I believe most interesting image of the freefall series. I think this is because the image could change for viewer dependent on what they may have been thinking. It plays tricks on the viewer and offers an array of possibilities as to what it could be.

DAVID EUSTACE SCOTTISH BALLET PORTRAITS I thought about possibly taking the project brief towards portraits. Instantly when I thought of portraits in relation to the brief – Energy. A specific image from Eustace’s Ballet series came into mind. The dancer is in mid spin, the fabric is in motion and time feels it has slowed right down. The image evokes the same high emotions that watching a ballet like Swan Lake can. Even though this is just a still photograph I start to feel and build the whole story and even hear the music on stage. I would love to do a project like this but I don’t think I could give it the same justice as Eustace has. Stunning, just stunning!

DAVID EUSTACE

SCOTTISH BALLET PORTRAITS

I thought about possibly taking the project brief towards portraits. Instantly when I thought of portraits in relation to the brief – Energy. A specific image from Eustace’s Ballet series came into mind. The dancer is in mid spin, the fabric is in motion and time feels it has slowed right down. The image evokes the same high emotions that watching a ballet like Swan Lake can. Even though this is just a still photograph I start to feel and build the whole story and even hear the music on stage. I would love to do a project like this but I don’t think I could give it the same justice as Eustace has. Stunning, just stunning!

MORE ON SUGIMOTO…

Recently I attended a talk held by the man himself. He spoke a lot of work he has done and work he is continuing to do. He was specifically in Edinburgh to introduce one of his most recent works, Lightening Fields. 

Using a Van der Graaff generator to induce electrical charges on photographic film, Lightning Fields is an extraordinary series of images that captures in minute detail the remarkable effects of light particles not visible to the human eye. The results evoke a fascinating range of interpretations, from powerful lightning strikes to strange primordial ‘life-forms’. 

(words by http://www.eif.co.uk/sugimoto)

I really loved the experimentation of this project and the outcome of his scientific approach. The results are surprising and unpredictable. The project felt very fitting towards our brief of energy and like his other works, I can’t help but be sucked into the spaces he creates. Now in saying that  I won’t be trying to do this for my project as I am a complete cluts! But I just had to put it up!

Seascapes

 Water and air. So very commonplace are these substances, they hardly attract 

attention ― and yet they vouchsafe our very existence.

The beginnings of life are shrouded in myth: Let there water and air. Living phenomena spontaneously generated from water and air in the presence of light, though that could just as easily suggest random coincidence as a Deity. Let’s just say that there happened to be a planet with water and air in our solar system, and moreover at precisely the right distance from the sun for the temperatures required to coax forth life. While hardly inconceivable that at least one such planet should exist in the vast reaches of universe, we search in vain for another similar example.

Mystery of mysteries, water and air are right there before us in the sea. Every time I view the sea, I feel a calming sense of security, as if visiting my ancestral home; I embark on a voyage of seeing.

                                                                                                Hiroshi Sugimoto

 

There is something so beautiful and surreal of Sugimoto’s work. I am drawn in to the frame by some sort of indescribable force, the image consumes the viewer in a place of limbo. Simple whilst simultaneously being exceptionally powerful. For me, this series of work encompasses the ideals of energy.