Concept + Development
For my final project, I wanted to focus on religion and its entropy within human culture and society. I wanted to create a narrative on how humanity has interacted and developed alongside their spiritual beliefs and how they have grown and evolved over time with humanity, but also highlight the negative impact that religion has had on humanity as a whole which would be more of a focus on division, however this is a secondary subject within my project so the overall narrative will be on entropy. At first, I wanted to focus on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Judaism. But after some research and rumination, I thought that such a specific and narrow way of thinking would not allow me to display the raw, initial idea that I had and so I have decided to take a broader approach to the project and shall now focus on simply building a narrative on the previously mentioned interactions of religion within humanity.
I’m sticking to the images that I used because I am using conceptual photography as my medium, however, I believe I will have to vastly change my narrative to encompass religion in humanity as a whole rather than my previous 4 specific points.
This is the raw form of one of the pictures I took. I liked the way the skylight looked and how it could be related to various forms of the Christian cross such as the Jerusalem Cross [1], The Ringed Cross [2] and the Saint Julian Cross [3].
[1]
[2]
[3]
Above is my edited form of the picture I took and my favorite amongst my final pieces. I tried to make the subject of my focus, that being the skylight, hold a darker and more unforgiving feeling by increasing the contrast and shadows of the image, as well as making the sky look colder to emphasise how I see the Christian God as akin to a cold face of stone that does not answer. I like that the subject for this is also a skylight because, just like despairing Christians after a hopeful prayer, you look up to see this. I will elaborate further on in my final project.
Research
For the research on conceptual photography, I visited two sites. One of which being part of the second seminar on photography that we did which was about understanding images, however, I think it can relate to conceptual photography as well. In the seminar, we looked at the photo (photo 1) and discussed what we thought of the people in the photograph. The photo is meant to provide insight into how people feel about photographs depending on the different stories that are attached to them. For instance, this photo makes it seem like the people in the photograph are enjoying their time, unaffected by the tragic events unfolding behind them. However, once you know the story behind those people, you begin to understand that they are not numb to the events happening and are in fact discussing the events sombrely and seriously.
I feel that the idea that a story can change how we see an image relates heavily to conceptual photography.
[1]
The second photograph is from a site called tate.org.uk, and is from an article on conceptual photography. There is no listed writer for the article, however, the article states that “Conceptual photography is photography that illustrates an idea”[2]. Building upon my earlier point, I feel like conceptual photography will allow me a lot of freedom of expression within this module so long as I can build a narrative around the images that I have produced.
[2]
Another photographer and work that drew my attention when researching photography was a photographer called Ishuichi Miyako and, in particular, her work titled “Yokosuka Story 1977″. “Taking up photography at the age of twenty-eight, Ishiuchi was mentored by, and then worked alongside, Shomei Tomatsu and Daido Moriyama. Like her contemporaries, Ishiuchi was concerned with capturing social conditions in a country haunted by the memories of the Second World War. Her work offers a radical vision of post-Hiroshima Japan, focusing on the alienation and disaffection characterizing urban life.” [4]. I feel like the work of Miyako could be said to hold the spirit of conceptual photography and the kind of idea I am trying to recreate with my photography.
[3]
[1. http://www.fototazo.com/2012/04/opinion-pantall-colberg-hoepker-and.html]
[2. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/conceptual-photography]
[3. https://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/exhibitions/66/overview/#/image_standalone/729]
[4. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/miyako-ishiuchi]
Reflection
In hindsight, I feel like I did not approach this project with the right mindset. I entered this project hoping to be able to do more than I really could accomplish. I think my research into my subject was ok, but I do not think I really knew where I was going with my subject. I wanted more than I could get and by doing that, I negatively impacted my project.
I feel my narrative was, whilst perhaps somewhat esoteric, was solid in its direction. But I think its obvious that I was stressed and felt pressure and that this affected me when I was working.
I think I did not leave myself enough time for this project. Whilst focusing on the other subjects and their respective deadlines and projects, I neglected going out and taking pictures with more time and less stress on my hands and, as such, I feel the stress and lack of sleep that I experienced during this project tainted my work with mediocrity.
I feel that I have learned a valuable lesson in experiencing what I have done during this project, and I shall carry this experience forward into the next semester of Uni with me.