Tutorial with Ellen Nolan

Before going  in to today's tutorial I didn't really know how to start my printed publication side of this project. I knew I wanted to keep in the theme of journeys and perhaps carrying on using train journeys or maybe buses or travelling by car. I know I enjoy long exposure photography and wanted to add that to my narrative as well. During the tutorial Ellen helped me improve my thoughts in to solid ideas that I can now start getting on with. I had already started looking in to photographers who used train journeys within their work, I came across this artist who's work is on Flickr, Céline Ramoni. Its quite weird I came across her work because I just got a new laptop and I changed my screen saver to a image that was already on my laptop and it happened to be the work of Céline Ramoni. I also came across another artist Michael Zhang who is the editor on the website PetaPixel.  (I'll write separate posts with their images on)

I am still keeping within my theme of journeys and using trains. My time lapse video on the train with just the phone on the table was proved to be effective, I left it there because I just thought it looked good within the frame but other people have expanded their opinions on it, which is what I always like about photography people can create their on interpretations of what you've created. I am planning on having the time lapse images on their own on each page of a hard or soft back book. I am going down the route of incorporating my phone and looking in to the miscommunication of modern technology when using our phones. I will play around with different types of text that is used on mobile phones. At the beginning of my book I when writing my introduction I will use ordinary text you find in books.

Whilst discussing this idea I mentioned that I had recently got in contact with a friend from school who I haven't spoke to in 8 years. Obviously I found him over Facebook. He was a lovely friend whilst I was at school and I remember he was really quite when I spoke to him face to face but on MSN he would always be chatting away and always had a lot more to say. I want to base this story within the publication narrative and now that I am back in contact with him I want to use our text conversations to go with the still images on the train journey. I'm not going to tell him that he's apart of my project that will ruin the fun. When writing my preface for the start of my book I want to write something about him and the relationship we have via our phones.

Hollie xD

After the review

After my review on Friday I was told that the beginning of my experimental video with the train going passed was successful and that I should carry on with that but make it longer and cut the other video of me and Sammi out of it. To be honest I am totally fine with that I can use my experiments I've used on adobe premiere to slow parts of the train journey down and capture more of what happens when then train stops and use the fading techniques with my audio as well, just some tweaking and hopefully it will be a successful final piece. For me time lapse is something I do for fun that's why I wanted to add more to my video but perhaps the first and simple video is more effective then adding more and over complicating it. I was also told I need to do more research in to artists and photographers which I did with a project last year I just didn't want to add the same research in... but its will show where I got my ideas from as I did want to carry on from last year as I enjoyed it so much... Maybe its something I can develop in more depth when I reach my 3rd year, who knows!

Kindly someone was taking notes for me whilst I was getting my feed back -

My notes

• Tacita Dean
• John Smith (already in sketch book)
• Eadweard Muybridge
• Paul Fusco -JFK train
• Rene Magritte - Painter who does frames within frames
• Play more with transitions, more subtly would be good.

'The narrative structure in the first part of your test works well, its the strongest part' - Ellen Nolan 

Ellen Nolan - Previous Personality

When I was in a lecture with Ellen Nolan I found her work really fascinating. It was very personal to her and whilst she was telling us about why and how she created her body of work I was really drawn in to her story, the tone of her voice had meaning and a purpose to it making me really respect her work and sharing it with us. I am more of a personal person, it sounded like she was tell us a story from a book. Each word she would have a deep attachment and meaning to it. In other lectures it’s usually about other people’s work so there's obviously not the same attachment and something that is personal that you've achieved yourself.

‘Previous Personality’ explores my relationship to my mother as she recedes into dementia. I started photographing my mother and myself when she stopped recognizing me as her daughter. The documentation lasted for three years, exploring a journey of reversal and erosion. The title ‘Previous Personality’ is derived from a section in the form I had to fill out for my mother, upon admission to her institution.

There is a strangeness of being inherent in this condition, an altered state where the family member shifts into another being, whilst retaining the physical appearance of their former selves.

Photographically, I tried to reflect this state by creating images that are simultaneously uncomfortable and aesthetically pleasing. This mirrored the interior and exterior conflict of the illness.

My clothes were used as a visual reminder that whilst I had the freedom of personal expression, members of staff now chose my mother’s wardrobe, brought from a generic clothing company that visited the home on a monthly basis. I never got used to seeing my mother in these clothes, and together with her growing sense of alienation within her ‘home’, they came to visually represent her loss of self.

What remains when almost everything is stripped away? A silent negotiation took place through emotional and physical intimacy. Few words were exchanged, except repeated uttering’s of love and the remembering who I am and who she was.

Photography as a medium seemed to serve the situation well. It was a record to capture my dying mother, a means to examine our state, and perhaps to create an alternative family album.

Photography also seemed to fit the muteness of illness and ageing.

I felt that by joining the frame, I would challenge my position and safety as a photographer to explore my role as a daughter and my relationship with my mother at this time.

http://www.ellennolan.com/Art/Previous-Personality/previous-personality.html