1w33 Response to Mid Point Review

Thanks again to all that participated in the Mid Point Review.  This post is a response to comments, alongside personal recognition of where my project is heading .

Christalla raised the concern that using the method of High Dynamic Range may not be effective in presenting the truth behind climate change and sustainability.  Great observation.  I do agree and feel that this aspect could both enhance and reduce the impact depending on the subject matter; for example, traffic and light pollution may be enhanced yet

Ethel suggested that the focus could be placed more thematically, not just geographical.  Although I did purposely seek out the wind farm and the solar village, their geographic location isn’t the important thing, I am more concerned with their juxtaposition against other subject matter.

Maya (and others) are concerned about the use of the database.  Originally this seemed to be the an ideal way to present the data, as I feel that if it was presented in a singular narrative, the outcome would be biased.  Yet if displayed randomly, the viewer would be challenged with more juxtaposition.  This could also be detrimental because if two sequences may not relate or contrast to each other and leave the viewer alienated.  Also, we are constantly bombarded with databases, such as youtube etc and I felt that the project would be allow me to explore and develop this part of the information culture in more detail.  It is about empowering the user to tailor the artwork to their own preferences and tastes, much like we do when we use youtube or iplayer etc.  Maya also wondered whether there will be captions to accompany the imagery to add context.

Is there a narrative between the images – no, hence the use of the database.  Pollution vs counteractions.

Use of keywords

Polluting the image:  is it more about the place or the subject.  although labelled on my blog, the location isn’t really the importnat bit – it’s more about the subject

Melanie commented that I am making a project about a political theme and most of the political art Melanie has normally seen, the artist is either very militant (as in they have a clear thesis or they are deliberately ambiguous/provocative.  She feels that my work is diplomatic or conciliatory towards the audience of the work.  Are you building your own opinion as you collect the data, rather than collect specific data to present a thesis you already have to the audience?

Chan is from Korea and is familiar with some of these locations and wonders what the connection to the place is.  He is commented that he has seen these areas with a different perspective having not seem them as polluted images before.

Matthew suggested, like Man with a Movie Camera, could the images be superimposed on top of one another?  Can there be multiple windows? MAybe juxtaposition can happen by showing images one after another/next to each other/ or by layering images on top of another.  Matthew also feels that I should bring my own voice into the work.

Things to explore include:

D:fuse work on sustainabilty and  work from China.  10×10 film from the 70′s.  Solaris.

Able Glances Napoleon

1w32 Mid Point Review

Big thanks to everybody for a very productive critique on Wednesday, here is a quick run-down of the conversation… this is copied straight from the chat session – I’m going to meditate on this for the weekend

3:10:05 pm] Satbinder Kooner (skooner): Well having read David’s MPR his idea is very clear to me
[3:10:31 pm] Satbinder Kooner (skooner): and his presentation has some very good images which reflect his idea very well
[3:15:25 pm] Christalla Kyriacou (ckyriacou2): After reading your MPR I have some suggestions, concerns , comments i guess all rolled into one …My concern on the method of HDR, that often even the ugliest of content looks amazing when HDR is used , so i am only concern if this method will be effective in presenting the truth of climate change and its sustainablitly ,,, on the  other hand i think if its great that you are implementing a new technique that u havent used ,,, and the other suggestion or comment is what about showing  at times the “ideal” situation
[3:15:29 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): ok, I will summarise the comments of the face to face students here in the studio, so if you see what I have written, the words are NOT mine they are the words of the students here
[3:17:13 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): comment from Ethel – maybe you should focus on one area, not just geographical, maybe thematic, otherwise it could feel too disperate
[3:17:23 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): to start, David’s photos are of superior quality, really good photographer, my comment would be, I wouldn’t use the difficulty to create a single narrative as a reason why you would present the data as a database for the viewer.
[3:18:13 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): using the inalbility to create a single linear narrative could weaken your solid ground
[3:18:37 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): Maya, several people here are also asking why the database, they are not clear
[3:19:37 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): if you use a database does that mean the images need to be as wide as possible, so possible opposite to an earlier comment, about maybe being more specific
[3:20:09 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): I was wondering whether there will be captions clarifying what type of scenery we are looking at?
[3:20:25 pm] Matthew Richard David Lee (mattlee): I wonder if there is room for metaphor or manipulation? I think that these parameters that David talks about are essential. What are these parameters? And how can this effect the messages/ juxtapositions created (pollution Vs counteractions)? Can this be where your critical voice comes through – in the parameters that you offer?
[3:21:02 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): the images look very interesting but several people here are wondering what the connection between them is, is there a narrative connection?
[3:21:09 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): and if David’s using Database, Will he be using keywords like they do in getty images for instance or other photo search engines?
[3:21:24 pm] Christalla Kyriacou (ckyriacou2): maybe final output could take the back burner for a while , maybe it could be focused on at a later date , when all the content of the project are in place
[3:21:39 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): Will David allow the viewer to download and use the images? Royalty Free or Rights Managed? If it’s for a good cause, campaigning against abuse of planet systems?
[3:22:39 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): one sugestion here is to take a forensic connection to the images, ie, all the images with blue sky in, using keywords to connect them, so they are categorised in detailed ways, but others here said, would that really show anything about sutainability
[3:23:26 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): that’s an awesome idea
[3:23:43 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): maybe this falls under david’s parameters?
[3:24:12 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): someone mentioned the group dfuse who did some film work on sustainability etc, also the 10×10 film from the 70s
[3:25:05 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): dfuse alos did a piece from Shanghai using a huge montage of still images that were connected and then moved around in After Effects
[3:25:27 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): ‘solaris’ by steve soderbergh based Stanislaw Lem’s novel
[3:26:10 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): Jonathan’s comment, you MUST watch the origianl Solaris – - MUCH MUCH better than soderbergh’s remake
[3:26:28 pm] Andrew Stiff (astiff): maya tut tut solaris by trakovsky please….
[3:26:44 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): it wasn’t a remake, he just got inspired by the novel, not the original film by tarkovsky!
[3:27:28 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): Ina, here was talking about ‘poluting the image’. do they then become more about light polution rather then about place, or ‘tourist’ type pics
[3:27:30 pm] Melanie Menard (m_menard): the thing I’m a bit confused about is: David is making a project about a political theme. And most political art I’ve seen, either the artist is very militant (they have a clear thesis) or on the contrary they are deliberately ambiguous/provocative. Or I have the feeling that David’s tone is very, I don’t know the word, maybe diplomatic or conciliatory (towards the audience of his work).  I don’t really have a comment about it, but it’s unusual. so is it a unusual tone on purpose, to do something new differetnly, or are you using the project to get a deeper opinion about climate change for yourself as well ?
[3:27:51 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): (sorry Maya, remake is the wrong word, you are right)
[3:28:43 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): Chan, who is from Korea is very familar with some fo these images and was wondering what the connection to the place is
[3:31:22 pm] Melanie Menard (m_menard): to clarify: are you building your own opinion as you collect your data, rather than collect specific data to present a thesis you already have to the audience ? I hope this makes sense.
[3:31:31 pm] Jonathan Kearney (jkearney): Chan is also interested in the fact that David you are showing images that he is familar with but he has not seen them before as poluted images, they are so familar to him but you images have opened a different to perspective to him because normally he just lives with it
[3:31:40 pm] Andrew Stiff (astiff): OK times up
[3:31:45 pm] Matthew Richard David Lee (mattlee): I wonder if something like Able Glances Napoleon would be a good source of inspiration for David as well as Vertov’s Man with a movie camera. Can images be superimposed on top of one another? Can there be multiple windows? Maybe Juxtapositions can happen by displaying one image after another/ one (or more) next to another/ or by layering images on top of another. I also feel David should bring his voice/ opinions more into the work.
[3:31:54 pm] Andrew Stiff (astiff): sorry this was a great converstaion
[3:31:55 pm] Maya Chami (mayachami): Melanie: David’s point of view/tone was once discussed in a chat session, he was pro trying to dimish the planetary damage starting from personal initiatives, this is when we discussed that the factories polluting the universe are much more damaging

1w31 Mid Point Review

The initial design of my project was to explore the social agenda of climate change and sustainability through time-lapse photography, by presenting visual representations of Man’s existence on the planet and his continued development of the environment, and juxtaposing them against natural environmental phenomena, such as celestial motion and cloud formations, to highlight the issue of global warming and ways that we as a race, could tackle this.

One of the main challenges of the proposal is how to present the data to the user.  After much deliberation, I decided to present it as an example of database cinema (presenting the data through a database) because although there is a definite visual link/contrast between the images, it would be hard to construct a singular linear narrative.

Through early practical experiments, I found it easier to start shoot subjects and then reflect, thinking about the implications of the visual data and how this could be counter-balanced.  I started in the city of Seoul and looked at pollution from two angles: transport (one of the main contributors to global warming) and light pollution.  Then thinking about other obvious forms of pollution such as industry.  I shot one scene at an industrial complex in South Korea to record the waste being expelled from the factories and felt that this is an area that could be explored in much more detail.  This led me to locate bigger scale factories to illustrate their contribution to global warming.  This in turn led me to question how we try to counteract this and forced me to research forms of renewable energy such as solar power and wind farms.

Although fairly familiar with the practice of time-lapse photography, I will expand my current practice by processing the data in High Dynamic Range (a technique I have yet to experiment with fully).  The main challenge will be the design and construction of a working database using Adobe Flash or programming languages such as mySQL and PHP, as I have never worked in this arena before. The design of the interface will also present it’s own challenges, as I wish to empower the user to define parameters to their own specification from a list.

Study plans under consideration:

• Interaction with the work I have produced
• Reflection
• Identify artists that are also studying climate change
• Explore the philosophy of the database
• Expand on why I chose climate change
• Detailed research on climate change and sustainability
• Master High Dynamic Range

For the presentation I have decided to present a slideshow of single, still frames taken from the sequences.  The database currently contains just over sixty images.  The ‘animation’ was created using slide at http://www.slide.com/.  The images are shuffled to project the desired effect of a database.