Work on the Video of My Work

As part of my exhibition I am considering a video of the work.  The reasoning behind this is that when I am out walking in woodland it is an immersive, reflective experience and I want to go some way to reproducing this in the exhibition.  In an ideal world I would use a separate darkened viewing room with surround sound.  As this is not possible I intend to show the video on a laptop using headphones, although someone at my portfolio group suggested that I use a virtual reality headset.  First though I have to get the video right.    I have worked on various prototypes, but the one that I sent out for feedback as part of assignment 1 and to my tutor is here  https://vimeo.com/216371001 .  As part of the feedback from assignment 1 it was suggested that I change the black background to one that was sympathetic to the colours in the images.  My tutor suggested that a white background would be safe.  He also suggested that I try to make a sound recording of my own to go with the work.  I had downloaded some a free sound effect of someone walking from the internet, but Robert felt that using my own recording would add a lot of value to the work.  I had already tried recording my own footsteps in an even earlier prototype, but I had made the mistake of wearing overtrousers and all that could be heard was the swishing noise emanating from them.  I had also had an older smartphone then and the technolology has since improved.  

Changing the background to white was fairly straightforward so I then set out to experiment with my own recording.  I used my current smartphone and having research in the internet downloaded an app called RecforgeII which allegedly does a better job than the built in voice recorder that came with the phone.  On advice from a colleague in my peer hangout group I also down loaded Audacity onto my PC to edit the sound tracks.  I was delighted with this and not only did enable me to edit out poor quality sections it also allows me to blend tracks together.  In this way I have been able to use my footsteps as the main sound with the sound of rooks and jackdaws calling in the background.  Having got to this stage I saved this version to Vimeo.  The link to it is here: http://www.vimeo.com/243641946

I am relatively pleased with what I have done in that I have made some improvements.  It was easy to change the background and I have proved to myself that it is possible to record my own soundtrack.  I was pleased with the recording of the rooks and jackdaws and the way that they come through in the video and I am delighted with the ease with which Audacity works as an editing tool.  However, I am less pleased with the quality of the footsteps track.  Although I had the volume adjusted OK for my PC and the level I have my volume set on it, when I used headphones the sound was far too loud and harsh and there was a background rumble/hum on parts of it.

At this stage I shared the work at our fortnightly peer group Google Hangout and later that evening I also shared it with a local portfolio group that I have been invited to join.  I asked the two groups if they would consider the background suitability, the sound quality, the text and the time for which the images were displayed.

All felt that the video was an excellent alternative way of presenting the work and it could provide the immersive experience for which I was seeking.  One member of the OCA group felt that the white background worked OK, but generally there was a feeling that the black would be preferable as it keeps the viewer in the experience more whereas the white takes one out of it.  White is too much like a gallery wall.  Another member pointed out that the white background only worked with a 16x9 monitor and if it was viewed on an older style 4x3 there is a black region beyond the white anyway.  People also agreed that it would be better to have the background above and below the images as well as to the sides in order to frame them better.  In the evening the portfolio group who seem to have an RPS/camera club background definitely felt that black would be better.

It was generally felt that the text was too large and in some instances lines tended to merge into each other top and bottom.  It was also felt that I needed to look at the line breaks and perhaps left justify rather than centre the text.  It was also felt that I only needed to fully reference Rebecca Solnit in the body of the text and didn't need the date of the quote in the credits.  The Arial font worked well. One interesting point made for the text would be to begin with the word Shul as that is the most important. i.e Shul is the Tibetan word for track rather that The Tibetan word for track is Shul.  I agree with this.

Some felt that the sound was fine but two agreed with me, especially when listened to through earphones.  One person thought it would be a good idea to employ a sound recordist (if I could find one).  Alternatively try a separate sound recorder rather than the phone.  One person recommended an Olympus digital sound recorder and a member of the Portfolio Group has offered to lend me a broadcast quality machine with which to do the work - a fantastic offer which I shall take up.

The length of time for which the images were displayed was felt to be fine.

All in all the general opinion was very positive and the project was well worth persevering with.  I have lots of great ideas to ponder and alterations to make and, hopefully, some better equipment with which to record the sound.

Assignment 2: Response to Tutor Feedback

I was delighted with the feedback from my tutor for this assignment.  It took the form of both a Google Hangout and a follow-up written report.  I thoroughly enjoyed the hangout conversation with Robert where we could explore avenues that, perhaps wouldn't have been covered in just a written feedback.  

In both the written and verbal feedback Robert felt that the proposal was thorough.  In the hangout we discussed the various ways of displaying the images.  We both agreed that printing on aluminium and acrylic would be prohibitively expensive.  Robert also felt that mounting on foam board would need to be professionally done for the size of my images.  Hanging using bulldog clips would give the impression that it was a work in progress.  We both agreed that having the images framed would be the preferred option and we also discussed how presentation is also part of the signification of the work.

Robert thought that developing the work by producing a hand-made book was going to work and the idea of considering a wooden cover indicated that every part of the work was being considered.

Developing the work through a video was also a good idea.  Robert had seen my prototype and I discussed with him the suggestion made by Emma Roberts, gallery owner and curator at Steel Rooms Gallery, that I should use a background colour for the show that was sympathetic to the colour of the images.  Robert made the suggestion that white would be safe.  He also suggested making my own sound recording as this would add a lot of value to the work.  The video is something that I have been working on since this feedback and I shall be producing a blog to deal with it.

It was pointed out that an exhibition of framed prints could be an end point in one way, but it would be good not to be too solidified.  A sense of play and freshness would be generated by considering new images and experimenting with a book and video.

I am in the process of developing a website which Robert had looked at.  He liked the text/image balance on the front page although he agrees with me that it needs quite a bit of tweaking overall.  He pointed me in the direction of Cargo Collective who he has his site with and recommended the site of OCA tutor Andrew Langford.  My website is still a work in progress and something waiting to reach the top of my 'to do' list.

Robert also mentioned the work of Mat Hennek which might interest me.  It is on woodland, although he said that my work is less of a typology than Hennek's which pleased him.  I agree with this point.  Although both of our work features trees and Hennek says that his is the result of numerous hikes in the USA and Europe, his work is more about portraits of trees whereas mine is as much, if not more, about walking itself.  I happen to be walking in woodland for this body of work, but I have left it open to develop the work as walks in other types of terrain.  In fact I have photographed my walks along the Viking Way, Wolds Way and Cleveland Way long distance footpaths as well as walks in the mountains of The Lake District and Scotland.  That said I find his work pleasing.  The link to his work is:  http://mathennek.com/works/woodlands/

 All in all a very satisfactory feedback and I feel well-placed to work towards my exhibition next March.

Assignment 2

Photography 3 – Sustaining Your Practice, Assignment 2.

Publication Proposal

This proposal aims to explain how I intend to publish my project titled ‘Shul’ which began in Body of Work.  I have already begun work on my plans and I expect them to be resolved by mid March 2018.  The main aspects of this plan are itemised below:

·         An exhibition of the work in a local gallery.  To this end the gallery space in Cleethorpes Library has been booked from 19^th March 2018 – Saturday 24^th March 2018.  I have chosen this location partly because it is local and I have a lot of contacts through my networking with the area’s artist community and also friends, therefore I hope that I could generate a pleasing footfall.  I also have experience of mounting exhibitions here through contact with the post-graduate fine art group, East Coast 7 to which my wife belongs.

·         I plan to have a preview on Monday afternoon/evening.

·         The exhibition would comprise my body of work either mounted and framed, mounted/printed on aluminium or acrylic, printed and mounted on foam board or prints on high quality matt finish paper hung using bulldog clips.  Although this decision is yet to be made I favour mounting and framing. 

·         I also hope to make, in collaboration with a local bookbinder, a hand-made book (see details later) which would form part of the exhibition and also a video installation on a laptop.  I intend to be a presence at the show all the time; in this way I can monitor the use of the laptop and the book and organise sales as well as keeping a record of footfall and talking to people about the work .

·         It is intended to produce business cards

·         I intend to publicise the event through word of mouth (already underway), social media, flyers and posters, advertising in the local press and camera shop both of which I have good contacts and the redevelopment of my website.

·         At the moment I intend to self finance the event and offset the cost to a large extent through the sale of cards and prints, both during the exhibition and during my regular talks to a wide range of organisations.

The Work

The work is based on my major project from Assignment 5 in Body of Work.  I used this work as the basis for Assignment 1 in Sustaining Your Practice and asked a range of professional, practicing photographers, artists and curators for their views and suggestions.  I was delighted with the feedback which can be found on my blog.  Not only did this encourage me in my endeavours, but constructive feedback was provided which will help me develop the work further.  I found this experience, showing the work at a local artists Peer Group review organised by Arts Meridian and showing it and talking about it during Insight, North Lincolnshire’s Open Studio event (our garden studio was open for two weekends for the public to view both my work and my wife’s rope sculpture and textile work) invaluable.  It is by talking about our work and explaining it to others that we really get to know it. One of my Level 3 degree colleagues who lives in Lincoln visited during Insight and wrote the work up on her blog (Link here).  We were also fortunate enough to have an article written about us in the Lincolnshire ‘glossy magazine’ The Journal.

Proposed Exhibition, Hand-Made Book and Video Installation

The proposed exhibition will take place in the gallery space in Cleethorpes situated on the popular and busy sea front.  Below are photographs of the space taken during the hanging of Landmarks by East Coast 7.

The room measures 9m square with two doors and one corner occupied by a window which has blinds that can be adjusted to cut down any glare.  There are adjustable spotlights set in the ceiling and the walls are white and repainted and holes filled following each exhibition.  It is at the rear of the single story library with internal access from the internet cafe.  A plan of the room is included below.

As my favoured method of presentation is currently to mount and frame and I have agreed a price with a local framer for 60 cm square frames in black, my current calculations are based on this.  With these measurements I would need 20 images.  This would allow for the body of work as it stands with 5 more to allow for further developments.  Initially I planned to present the images in much the same order as for my body of work, but one feedback suggested that as I have alluded to choice of broad, well-defined paths or more ephemeral ones and posed the question of what to do when the path ends, I could present pairs of images to show the different extremes.  Hanging unmounted prints on their own would be a significantly cheaper option as would mounting on foam board which I have yet to experiment with.  Printing/mounting on aluminium/acrylic, although an attractive option, would be  significantly more expensive at £170.00 per image for Aluminium and £140.00 for acrylic.  This would be prohibitive without applying for funding.

As part of the exhibition I hope to produce a hand-made book working in collaboration with a local bookbinder, Mags Bradley.  I have shied away from the blurb type book, but, having known the bookbinder for some time, I have had the idea of a hand-made book for a while.  Partly it came to me during my meditations during my walks through the Lincolnshire woodlands when I pondered on the possibility of a book with covers made from the wood of the trees through which I was walking, or at least the same species.  Mags says this would be eminently possible and showed me an example of one she had already made.  As well as materials we have discussed the practicalities of making such a book such as the use of a ‘guard’ to allow for the thickness of the print.  The pages of the book would be 200gm/m² Somerset paper interleaved with printable translucent dividing sheets to both protect the images and take the text.  The title page would have the title Shul embossed in the shape of a pathway.  I would print the images on a suitable permajet paper.

Finally, I am considering having an audiovisual installation of the project which could be played on a laptop with earphones.  This would be a further development of the video I experimented with for Assignments 4 and 5 of Body of Work which up until now I had intended to leave as a web presence on my blog.  However, I decided to include it in the work that I sent out for feedback and Emma Roberts, owner of the Steel Room Gallery in Brigg, responded very positively to it: The video also brings the photography to another level.  A docu-photography piece, I could see it working as an installation in a gallery or space.  Lee Gilby also commented that: the accompanying video work, for me, takes the concept further and the sound of footsteps is almost hypnotic adding a level of isolation and immersion for the viewer that the print wouldn’t.  As this would only require a laptop and earphones, it would be easy to set up.

Budgets

Exhibition

A3+ prints on permajet paper 20 x £2.50	£50
Mountboard 10 x £1.50	£15.00
Framing 20 x £13.00	£260
Gallery hire	£35.00
Total	£360

Although expensive I feel that the cost of framing is offset somewhat by the very inexpensive gallery space.  I also intend to add my print and card sales and talk fees towards the cost.

Handmade Book

Wood for cover	£33.00
Somerset paper	£50.00
Additional materials	£20.00
Labour	£120.00
Total	£223.00

Again expensive, but I would hope to offset some of the cost from card and print sales and talk fees between now and next March.  I already have 5 talks in the diary which equates to approximately £250.00. 

Website Development

I currently have a website hosted by Clickpic at a cost of £40.00 a year and the domain name of Mike Pickwell Wild Images.  I originally set this up to display my wildlife and landscape photography.  I am currently in the process of bringing it in line with my OCA and future work.  I may decide eventually to start a new website from scratch which, perhaps, better reflects my current work. The website in its current form is here.

Obtaining Feedback

As the exhibition is only on for 5 days I have blocked this in my calendar and intend to invigilate it for most of the time.  This is partly for security purposes for laptop and book, but also because I have paid an extra £10 to be able to sell prints and cards.  It will also mean that I will be available to talk to people about the work and record their reactions.  I will have a visitor’s book with a comments column so that I can monitor footfall as well as reactions to the work.  There will also be a preview event on the Monday afternoon/evening to which I will personally invite a wide audience through email, messaging, and social media.

Conclusion

I have spent a long time thinking and planning for this event.  Although I am greatly excited, it is a new venture for me and it will take me out of my comfort zone.  I do feel though that it is a good way to bring my work to a wide audience and being local I feel that I can tap into more people than if I had travelled further afield.  Many people are used to seeing my photography when I do talks as far afield as Lincoln, Scunthorpe and Gainsborough, but this is both a different aspect of my work and a different way of viewing it.  I shall use these talks as a way of personally inviting people.

Although I am going to incur a not inconsiderable expense to put on this show, as I have mentioned, I hope to recoup a large amount both during the exhibition itself and at various events during the next seven months.  I also feel the culmination of my studies warrants the expense.

Further Progress on Publishing My Work; Visit to a Local Bookbinder.

Visit to The Bindery, Home of Local Bookbinder, Mags Bradley

As well as publishing my work next March through the vehicle of an exhibition, I have long harboured thoughts of publishing it in a book form alongside the exhibition, but not in the ubiquitous Blurb format.  Having known Mags as a bespoke bookbinder for sometime through my wife's involvement with our local art scene I decided to approach her about the possibility of a made to order book.

As the work, Shul, is about walking woodland footpaths, I have thought for some time that a cover made from thin sheets of wood would be appropriate, but I wasn't sure if this would be possible.  To my delight she thought that it was an excellent idea.  The perfect thing would be to use small-leaved lime wood, as my woodland walking began in the Lincolnshire Lime Woods.Not only did Mags think that a wooden cover was a good idea she was able to point me in the direction of a possible supplier and a quick online search revealed other sources.

There are two possibilities for producing a book.  One would be a made to order leather binding photograph album with acid free pages, although at £300 this would be more expensive than I had anticipated.  The second option was more feasible on cost, but would also allow for the wooden covers.  This would be approximately £120 plus materials which I would supply.  An online price for the wood would be in the region of £20.  The leaves would be Somerset Paper and would cost approximately £30.  Interleaving pages would protect the images and would also allow for printing of text and the cost would be approximately £10.

Mags would also be able to make a velvet lined clamshell box for the book to fit in for about £20.

All told the second option would be under £200.  Not cheap but, as the exhibition space I have booked is only £35, which allows me to sell my work the whole thing becomes more viable.

All food for thought.

Publishing My BOW; Progress

Yesterday was somewhat of a milestone for me.  I still have all of the options open to me to publish my work, but if I intend to have an exhibition of my work (which I do, whatever else I do) then I had to think ahead.  With this in mind I have booked the exhibition room/gallery at Cleethorpes library for a week from Monday 19th March 2018.  This was the earliest available date, but as it happens, the timing suits me perfectly.  Although there was a current exhibition running I was able to take some photographs which I include below.  The library is a busy place and the room will be used for other occasional events during the week so, hopefully, there will be a good footfall.  I took measurements of the room while I was there so that I shall be able to draw plans to see how the work will fit.

I also visited a local picture framer yesterday to discuss arrangements for having the work framed and came to an agreement on price for a bulk order.