Yesterday and very early this morning I have been wrestling with the project and exactly how it will turn out. This past week's crit was useful even though it confirmed how far off the mark what I'd done to date was. Of course there were divergent opinions and ideas but it gave me an opportunity to distance myself from the pictures and the underlying impulses behind them. When I came back to considering the outcomes on Friday I was still troubled. However with a deal of cogitation over the day, a night sleeping on it and some conversation with my number one 'critical friend' (NOCF) early today I'm settled (for better or worse) on it.
I shall contrast desk bound shots with contextual images within the 'arena' that the subjects operate. This will follow on from the Dance Centre Director images - those I feel best about to date. I think that pushing the subject back into the context (wherever possible a 'clean' environment) gives me a clearer sense of articulation of the individual and their ambit and - importantly - my relation to it. In some ways (and as two people have pointed out) this pushes the pictures formally back into a place I'm emphathetic to, they even look a little like some of Edgar Martins photographs!
So I'm pushing on now with new subjects (more of those people who work in arts contexts) and with a defined idea of what the images must look like. Hopefully I can assemble enough to fulfill the project brief now in the time left. Whether it will totally hold together, conceptually or visually, will be for others to decide - at least I'll be prepared to stand behind the finished brief.
In the spirit of looking forward NOCF and I discussed the 'major' project as well...in part stimulated by reflection on the current process, in part by remarks of Nick Lockett's in his talk last semester that one should be planning now. I have an idea now of what it will be...more of that to come but the image here is a clue to the thinking.
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