Documentary Photography 2012/13

Over the Easter Holidays, I was on holiday, so I made sure I made some notes, which I could include on this blog. They're fairly basic notes, but it's very important, to me, to include every last little bit I have done. I would also like to point out that a number of the Castles I wanted to visit were not opening until the end of March, which was very problematic.  I've considered many things in these notes, including some work towards how I might show my final images. 

After visiting some Castle in South West Wales, around Carmathenshire, I decided to visit the Castles of the Gower, Swansea. I am very aware of the Castles that scatter the coast of the Gower, as I've essentially grown up on the Gower. I know of around three or four, but on my first visit, and after noticing that some of the Castles were closed, I only visited Weobley Castle and Pennard Castle. Pennard Castle I had been warned by my mother that there wasn't much to see at Pennard Castle, but none the less I wanted to visit it to document as many castles as I could.  Pennard Castle overlooks Three Cliffs Bay, which is a stunning place so I didn't mind the trip. There was more there than I'd first imagined, but again not much which I could use for my final piece, I have a number of Castles which are fairly grand, with large towers and similar features, so I know that I want to keep to photographing Castles which do have quite substantial remains. Even tho...

Last weekend, after looking through various leaflets, I decided to make my first trip to a Castle. I decided to go to my most local Castle at the time, being in Llanelli meant that my nearest Castle was Kidwelly! Kidwelly Castle This was my very first photo shoot, so there wasn't really a very precise idea as to what kind of images I should be taking. I was fairly eager to start, so I set out on my first shoot and knew that then, after taking my first shoot, that I would have some idea as to what kind of approach I should be taking. Just by taking some images, I immediately saw some potential in some images, and knew I had some where to start. For example, I took a photograph looking down a narrow stair well in Kidwelly, and when looking back through my images, I knew that I wanted to use this image. I also really liked the photograph I took of the towers of the castle, there's my research on the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher coming in useful. I was also ...

Immediately, from my own interest and also from the root I'm going down, I know I want to be looking at the New Topographics, for research and for any inspiration. As I'm looking at man made buildings in the natural landscape, I feel that the New Topographics would be very suitable for me to research. Their photographs focused on Man-Altered Landscapes, and I feel that 'Castles' could very much, be a part of this theme Bernd and Hilla Becher The Bechers are the most recognised New Topographic Photographers, to me personally in any case. I know, from previous research that the Bechers would document the same features of various factories and industrial sites, that they believed were slowly fading and being demolished. From the MoMA Website: "The German artists Bernd and Hilla Becher, who began working together in 1959 and married in 1961, are best known for their "typologies"—grids of black-and-white photographs of variant examples of a singl...

Over the weekend me and my Mother set out to photograph the castles in our area. My mother, knowing I was planning on doing a project on Castles, managed to grab a small leaflet about the Castles in Carmarthenshire, which was ridiculously handy because it even contained a map which showed you where the castles were! Here I have scanned in the leaflets, just to show what they are. I've also scanned in several pages which I found useful. As you can see they are simple Visitor Guides, made, probably, for tourism purposes, highlighting various things to do in the Carmarthenshire area. The image on the right hand side was a small hand-out which noted the Gardens and Castles of Carmarthenshire for people to visit.  I thought the last image (above) of the leaflet was very useful,  giving some basic information about the Castles, if it charged admission and their location, which was all very useful to me.  I also thought the images helped, it gave me a sense o...

Begin Research. To begin my research, I started at the very basics. I began with Welsh Heritage, and as shown below, castles are a very large part of Wales' Heritage. The screen shot below is from the 'Visit Wales' website, so it is clear that CAstles are even a part of the Welsh Tourism Industry. http://www.visitwales.co.uk/things-to-do-in-wales/welsh-culture-and-heritage/ I found a large amount of information on this 'Visit Wales' website, yes, granted, the majority of the information is used for tourism purposes, but it is a place to start.  The website has a a small 'recommendation' page of which castles to visit. Top Picks For the Family - One of Britain's largest medieval fortresses, Caerphilly Castle has a big events programme to match. The annual Big Cheese Festival is a favourite - a free weekend of entertainment for all the family that's staged in the castle grounds. For a Fright - Strange things happen at Bodelwyddan Cast...

Answering the questions with regards to 'Filtering My Thoughts'. What sort of photography do you enjoy looking at? I enjoy viewing a range and variety of photography, mostly landscape, but when it comes to Documentary Photography I am mostly intrigued by the works of the New Topographics, including Ed Ruscha and the Bechers. I enjoying viewing the work of the New Topographics because the work encourages thought when looking at the images.  How do you view photography? - As a social tool - As a personal creative tool for self expression - As s money making profession - As a Science - As an art.  When given to choose from these particular words of description, I would say I view photography, mainly, as a science but I would also say, in terms of Documentary Photography, that it would be viewed with an educational purpose. This is something I would very much like to achive as part of my Documentary Photography Project, an educational purpose. I also feel that photogr...

Final Project! After completing our three small assignments, Bed to Uni, Street Portraits and 24/7 (due in 22nd March), it is now time to begin the Major, Final Project for our Documentary Photography course! We can essentially document anything, as long as it makes a good project. It's a problem for me, just because I work better with a more restricted project, but this is a good chance to photograph different things and maybe broaden my photography skills.  Obviously our tutor has given us some tips, just some ideas how to get to our final idea. Filter Your Thoughts/Ideas What sort of photography do you enjoy looking at? How do you view photography? - As a social tool - as a personal creative tool for self expression - as a money making profession - as a science - as an art. Which of your own photographs gives you the greatest satisfaction and why? Do you enjoy working with other people or on your own? Why is photography important to you? What sort of environme...