Assignment 4: Languages of Light

Research (including any references) and thoughts on this assignment can be found here.

Assignment 4 is a series of Rocks that I have found whilst out walking in the fields of suffolk. I have tried to convey in the images and words the thoughts, the textures and the beauty of found objects, something so innocuous that it would normally sit unnoticed in a ploughed field.

I have decided to submit this assignment as a PDF ‘book’. Strictly speaking it’s more of a pamphlet really but I strongly felt that the images for this assignment needed to be experienced together rather than a gallery on wordpress. I have also included a poem to go with the images which hopefully conveys my experience and thoughts whilst working on this assignment. Luckily my poetry skills are not marked – or at least I hope not!

I have taken a small liberty in so much as there are 16 images in this assignment but viewed in the format of the PDF it’s effectively 9 pages.

I had a lot of issues with getting the format of the book to display correctly – but overall I am happy with how it has come out (barring some minor formatting issues which may work better on different authoring software).

Note: If possible this PDF is best viewed in a two page side by side format as it contains a double spread.

For completeness the individual images are available to view below but this is for reference and is not part of my submission of the assignment.

Reflection

I’m proud of this assignment. Ever since I saw the first image of Jean-Baptiste Huyhn I knew that the images of stones/rocks was what I wanted to do. I initially took photos for the Egg or Stone exercise but realised that what I was doing was actually more suitable for the assignment, this then evolved over many walks and shooting sessions.

The idea of words (which then became a poem – sort of, haven’t done anything like this for 40 years roughly!) came at the end when I was working out how to present them. I wanted to get across my connection to the stones and I knew the images alone wouldn’t convey that – I really enjoyed writing it and I do think that it adds to the images. It’s weird that because of my connection to these rocks I am having trouble letting them go!

I do wish I had more time to work on the presentation with the pdf. I am conscious that the end of the year is approaching and having just had my second reminder about the course ending as the beginning of Jan I have decided that it’s better to submit now being 90% happy rather than spending extra effort for little gain.

Although the use of flash for this was pretty much essential I don’t think I have improved my technique using flash by much – it was more trial and error and I would like to spend some more time actually learning about how it works and how to set up better for it – still, I’m getting there.

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