Mock Exhibition Layout

Below is a mock of a layout I made from my set of photographs, I have decided to use this layout because it works the best for my amount of images, 10. The viewer is made to read the images starting at the top left and going from left to right and then down, this looks professional enough.

Exhibition Layouts

I am interested in how I could layout my set of photographs in an exhibition space. I want to look at different layout and decide which layout would most suit my set of images.
I know that I have 10 final images, this is a major issue when choosing a layout for an exhibition space because odd numbers can often look out of place.
We have been given a number of examples of similar works which have been displayed in different ways, they are shown below.

Below is a photograph that I came across whilst researching into the photographer Eadweard Muybridge, an innovative photographer who looked into motion picture projection. It is a perfect example of a layout that suites the topic because the reader is led to read the images from left to right up then down. Muybridges layout being similar to the above example that we were given by our tutor.

  

Second Shoot Photographs

Below are the final chosen set of photographs, to be read first at the top. I am happy with the overall look of the photographs as a collective and the vintage look, the colours, decor and furniture makes for an old feel. The vintage look works with the idea that Alzheimers tends to affect older people.

I decided to reshoot all but one of the photographs that I took on the first shoot, as well as adding some new scenes. I have tried to show a flow throughout the photographs and have also made a scale of severity in the scenes. With the least life threatening scenes at the beginning, gradually getting worse to more life threatening and serious scenes towards the end.

  

First Shoot Photographs

Below are an edit of the 200 photographs that I took on the first shoot. This assignment has helped me to see how important the editing down process is because although two images may look similar, it can be little things which make one photograph more suitable than another. This is even more apparent to me when practising documentary photography because the viewer reads into each image.

After showing these initial images to the group, I took on their advice and criticism and am going to re-shoot some of the photographs.

Todorov Narrative

Todorov suggested that conventional narratives are structured in five stages:
1. a state of equilibrium at the outset; 
2. a disruption of the equilibrium by some action; 
3. a recognition that there has been a disruption; 
4. an attempt to repair the disruption; 
5. a reinstatement of the equilibrium 

This type of narrative structure is very familiar to us and can be applied to many 
‘mainstream’ film narratives.

Barthes' Five Codes

The Hermeneutic Code (HER)

The Hermeneutic code refers to any element of the story that is not fully explained and hence becomes a mystery to the reader.

The full truth is often avoided, for example in:

• Snares: deliberately avoiding the truth.
• Equivocations: partial or incomplete answers.
• Jammings: openly acknowledge that there is no answer to a problem.

The purpose of the author in this is typically to keep the audience guessing, arresting the enigma, until the final scenes when all is revealed and all loose ends are tied off and closure is achieved.

The Proairetic Code (ACT)

The Proairetic Code also builds tension, referring to any other action or event that indicates something else is going to happen, and which hence gets the reader guessing as to what will happen next.

The Hermeneutic and Proairetic Codes work as a pair to develop the story's tensions and keep the reader interested. 

The Semantic Code (SEM)

This code refers to connotation within the story that gives additional meaning over the basic denotative meaning of the word.

It is by the use of extended meaning that can be applied to words that authors can paint rich pictures with relatively limited text and the way they do this is a common indication of their writing skills.

The Symbolic Code (SYM)

This is very similar to the Semantic Code, but acts at a wider level, organizing semantic meanings into broader and deeper sets of meaning.

This is typically done in the use of antithesis, where new meaning arises out of opposing and conflict ideas.

The Cultural Code (REF)

This code refers to anything that is founded on some kind of canonical works that cannot be challenged and is assumed to be a foundation for truth.

Typically this involves either science or religion, although other canons such as magical truths may be used in fantasy stories. The Gnomic Code is a cultural code that particularly refers to sayings, proverbs, clichés and other common meaning-giving word sets.

The Use Of Storyboards

I have used storyboards throughout this assignment and it has been very worthwhile, I am able to visualise my idea through sketches which makes it easier to photograph.

Quote

Todd Papageorge- "If your pictures are not good enough, you aren’t reading enough.” 

Deterioration

In order to create more anticipation, I have decided to show the scale of deterioration in the disease, starting with the least life threatening then gradually getting worse as the images go on.

Quote

Robert Capa- " If your pictures aren't good enough, your not close enough"

The above quote says to me that, in terms of our circular narrative, it is acceptable to just photograph a specific thing close up inorder to put across your point as long as you are able to back it up.

Notes from 25th September

Below are a list of photographers/ artists who I have been advised to look at for inspiration and ideas as well as helping me to figure out each individuals techniques and style.

• Gregrory Crewdson
• Jeff Wall
• Jason Lock
• Carin Albbinson
• Neomi
• Colin Blakely
• Cindy Sherman
• Philip Lorca DeCorcia
• Sam Taylor Wood
• Wendy McMurdo
• Karen Knorr
• Nikki S Lee
• Erwin Wurm
• Red Saunders
• Peter Funch

Alzheimers

This video shows an elderly lady with alzheimers, inorder to remember some every day things she writes things down on a note pad. This is the sort of thing I want to look at/ photograph. 

Alzheimers

The term 'dementia' describes a set of symptoms that include loss of memory, mood changes, and problems with communication and reasoning. There are many types of dementia. The most common areAlzheimer's disease and vascular dementia. Dementia is progressive, which means the symptoms will gradually get worse.

The above text describes summarises what Alzheimers is about. Retrieved from the Alzheimer's website. In order to create a strong visual circular narrative story I have to know enough about the disease inroder to give an informed view to my audience.
The audience for my circular narrative is the general public and more specifically people who are interested in the disease. The story will portray a story which will show the everyday struggle and life of someone who suffers from Alzheimers.
Very briefly, I intend to produce a narrative that revoles around the use of post-it notes around the home that help a person suffering from Alzheimers to remember every day things.

15th October- Change Of Direction

From feedback with a tutor and from discussions with my peers, I have decided to use a different photograph than the orignal one I was given. 
I didn't want to resort to changing my image completely however after a lengthy session of brainstorming ideas/ scenarios I have decided that this would be best for me with the limited time that I have left.
My new image is of a table with a number of post-it notes on and nothing else. The post-it notes look as if they have been moved and put back onto the pile. In terms of the table within the image, it looks either like a corporate office style table or a sideboard in an average middle class home. The use of selective depth of field makes me thing that because only the post it notes are in focus that the surroundings dont mean a great deal. I have learnt from my previous photograph to look at the image in much more detail as each part of the image can change the unfolding story.
I have thought about a story with enough substance and theory behind it and I will continue to look into this and research around this idea. It involves the use of post-it notes inorder to help someone suffering from Alzheimers or memory loss to remember certain things.

Thought/ Change Of Idea

From the feedback I proposed to my fellow peers and tutors I gathered that I needed more meaning and concept behind the idea that I had. I wanted to do a set of images that mean something to me but still keep them relevant to me. This has lead to me changing my initial idea completely.

With a photograph like mine with so many different potential meanings the way that I see the image is through what I resemble and I remember from 'de ja vu'. By this I mean that the image can mean a million different things to a million different people and each person could have a flash back of a similar image in their head and therefor relate to the photograph.

To me, this photographs that I have been given reminds me of time that I have spent at my grandma's house during past autumn/ winter as a child sitting in a warm house gazing outside. I want to use this idea but with a different twist, I want to incorporate the full autumn season into the circular story. By this I mean that I will photograph my grandma's doings during the autumn period. I will photograph these things from inside the window, where I used to sit as a child looking out but now I will be photographing. I will not move the position of the camera and tripod to keep a certain amount of consistency within the photographs so that the difference in setting doesn't take away from what is actually happening in the photograph.

Some ideas of what I could photograph/ set up are as follows:

• Falling leaves
• Raking up the fallen leaves
• Halloween/ Pumpkins
• The change of clothes will be considered with the flow of the images
• Nana Pat!
• Tractor helping out around the farm
• Moving all the summer stuff
• Bare trees
• Bird nests/ boxes. Do they hibernate? (Ask Nana Pat)
• Her chickens roaming around
• Squirrels?
• Dogs? Coco?
• De-coring the pumpkin?
• KEEP THE SAME CAMERA POSTION (TRIPOD)
• Planting garlic? (Apparently what you do during this period)
• "Leaf Peeping?"
• Bonfire. Burning the fallen leaves. (Fire bucket?)

The Shawshank Redemption & Pulp Fiction

The Shawshank Redemption

As blogged previously, it was through watching films such as the shawshank redemption that made me realise and visualise what the circular narrative is about. 
The opening scene of the film starts with a man sitting infront of a pannel of prison authority and despite his plead for bail he is declined. The main part of the film shows a number of years in the prison that helps the man to realise his own wrong doings. The closing scene shows him going back infront of the judges and instead of pleading for bail he simply tells them what he has learnt and from that he was accepted bail. This is where the circular narrative re-loops back to the beginning, being it in the same situation in the same room in front of the same pannel of judges. Throughout the film there are parts which have a circular narrative within this main circular narrative, this is when the narrative style became apparent to me. 

Pulp Fiction

I have watched Pulp fiction again because I thought that it had a relevant storyline/ scene. The opening scene is of the characters sat in an american diner, the ending scene is also similar because it ends in the diner, this is an example of a circular narrative.

There are also links during the film and separate storys that are unlike any other film that I have watched. The story line is very hard to follow however after watching the film over and over, you start to realise the different plots.

Circular Narrative Description Update

At first the circular narrative idea was some what hard to get my head around, how it was that each set of images had to start and end with the initial photograph. After research into artists who practice in and around the field of circular narrative I have begun to realise what a useful and interesting way of producing work it is. I have also come to realise that it always needs to be under pinned by a conceptual thought/ idea inorder to make it stand out from the many simple story like circular narrative photo-storys. 
Circular narratives have to basically start and end in the same place and have a meaning behind each image which ties the next image into it. Although hard to describe in words, it is seen in many well known films both new and old. It was watching films such as The Shawshank Redemption which helped me to become familiar with the way that the circular narrative works.

Jem Southam & William Eggleston

Jem Southam is one of the most respected British photographers of the last twenty-five years. Inspired partly by the colour work of William Eggleston, Southam began in the 1970s to document the British countryside particularly the South West where he lives and works.

My overall artistic intentions are to make work that explores how our history, our memory, and our systems of knowledge combine to influence our responses to the places we inhabit, visit, create, and dream of.Combining natural observation with influences from literature, science and history, Southam's work oscillates between the epic and the everyday: I eschew grandeur for the sake of it preferring to revel in a subtler scale and history.

Southhams work shows me that you dont necessarily need to involve people into your photographic story inorder to create an interesting visual. Her connection with wildlife is obvious through the photographs/ stories she creates.

William Eggleston

William Eggleston, an American documentary photographer whose work looks almost too perfect to be documentary photographs whilst having a fashion twist sometimes. 

He is widely credited with securing recognition for color photography as a legitimate artistic medium to display in art galleries.

Cindy Sherman & Eadweard Muybridge

By turning the camera on herself, Cindy Sherman has built a name as one of the most respected photographers of the late twentieth century. Although, the majority of her photographs are pictures of her, however, these photographs are most definitely not self-portraits. Rather, Sherman uses herself as a vehicle for commentary on a variety of issues of the modern world: the role of the woman, the role of the artist and many more. It is through these ambiguous and eclectic photographs that Sherman has developed a distinct signature style. Through a number of different series of works, Sherman has raised challenging and important questions about the role and representation of women in society, the media and the nature of the creation of art. - www.cindysherman.com

Shermans style is unlike a normal self portrait photographer, she chooses to photograph herself in a set that helps to portray a meaningful message, mostly about the role of women in the modern world. This to me seems like a feminist style however she does not class her work as feminism.

Some examples of her work can be seen below...

Eadweard Muybridge

Muybridge was the man who famously proved a horse can fly. Adapting the very latest technology to his ends, he proved his theory by getting a galloping horse to trigger the shutters of a bank of cameras. This experiment proved indisputably for the first time what no eye had previously seen – that a horse lifts all four hooves off the ground at one point in the action of running. Seeking a means of sharing his ground-breaking work, he invented the zoopraxiscope, a method of projecting animated versions of his photographs as short moving sequences, which anticipated subsequent developments in the history of cinema.

A prolific photographer who changed the history of photography and the moving image.

This photograph also makes me think about the layout of my set of images, I could set my story out like this, long and thin with two rows so that it will be read left to right. Very nice layout!

Nina Katchadourian

Nina Katchadourian is an American photographer who uses a mixture of photography, video, sculpture and sound in her works. Her work is different from most photography that I have seen and from her works I come to realise that she has a very different way of looking at things than me and most other people. The interesting subject matter is what draws people into her work, something different than the normal.

One of her pieces of work that interested me, which although not primarily photography based, Natural Car Alarms interested me right from the beginning. The concept and idea behind the piece of work was the result of a misunderstanding when she was walking through the jungles of Trinidad and heard what she thought was a car alarm but what turned out to be a birds call. Below is an hour long video of a lecture that she gave to a university class in America, it shows her workings and ideas behind a hand full of her works. It was an interesting watch and she is a very inspirational photographer.