Overall Comments and Feed Forward
To progress you must engage with the academic aspects of the degree - this will also help develop your own photography. Far more critique is needed of contemporary and historical photographers and writings. When discussing Jeff Wall, for example, it is not enough to say 'he is not to my style', you need to research why he has 'exhibited all around the world', why are audiences, curators and the public minded to view his work - what do they see in it?
Once you understand why he (as an example) is an important figure it will unlock many other practitioners, themes and ideas around contemporary photography that will feed into how you see the world and how you make photographs. The key word is critical. You have touched on female photographers, glass ceilings, stereotypical views of women who work in charity shops etc but you need to develop arguments through the framework of feminism, return again to Martha Rosler's work, she would be a key driver for you. She is critical of the world that she was born into and continues to live in, her work critiques many aspects of what others take for granted.
Once you look at the world through her eyes it will be hard to make pictures in the same way. Challenge yourself to, perhaps, find a new photographic hero, exchange Jane Bown for Elina Brotherus, or Fay Godwin, or Jo Spence, or Rosy Martin etc. Start with what photography writers and critics have said about them and use that to then take a fresh look at your own work. Your abilities, and interest, in photographing people will stand you in good stead but the soft skills of working with people need to be harnessed to a rigour that can only come from contextualising your future work with contemporary photography.
I find contextualising to be the hardest part of this work. I accept that I am a practical, get up and go photographer and need to work much harder on this aspect if I want to get a decent mark for Level 3.
Hey, onwards and upwards, I'm 3 years away from my degree. Given that you should complete the whole course within 12 years, 2020 gets ever closer as I started in 2008 when I was working full time.
The home page web address of my Level 3 work is:
https://jenhollandsbahonsphotographylevel3.blogspot.co.uk/
To progress you must engage with the academic aspects of the degree - this will also help develop your own photography. Far more critique is needed of contemporary and historical photographers and writings. When discussing Jeff Wall, for example, it is not enough to say 'he is not to my style', you need to research why he has 'exhibited all around the world', why are audiences, curators and the public minded to view his work - what do they see in it?
Once you understand why he (as an example) is an important figure it will unlock many other practitioners, themes and ideas around contemporary photography that will feed into how you see the world and how you make photographs. The key word is critical. You have touched on female photographers, glass ceilings, stereotypical views of women who work in charity shops etc but you need to develop arguments through the framework of feminism, return again to Martha Rosler's work, she would be a key driver for you. She is critical of the world that she was born into and continues to live in, her work critiques many aspects of what others take for granted.
Once you look at the world through her eyes it will be hard to make pictures in the same way. Challenge yourself to, perhaps, find a new photographic hero, exchange Jane Bown for Elina Brotherus, or Fay Godwin, or Jo Spence, or Rosy Martin etc. Start with what photography writers and critics have said about them and use that to then take a fresh look at your own work. Your abilities, and interest, in photographing people will stand you in good stead but the soft skills of working with people need to be harnessed to a rigour that can only come from contextualising your future work with contemporary photography.
I find contextualising to be the hardest part of this work. I accept that I am a practical, get up and go photographer and need to work much harder on this aspect if I want to get a decent mark for Level 3.
Hey, onwards and upwards, I'm 3 years away from my degree. Given that you should complete the whole course within 12 years, 2020 gets ever closer as I started in 2008 when I was working full time.
The home page web address of my Level 3 work is:
https://jenhollandsbahonsphotographylevel3.blogspot.co.uk/
