Tag Archives: Reflection

Ongoing Development

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PH0701 – Oral Presentation reflection

The assorted very helpful online instructions and guides to this work highlighted one area that it seemed foolhardy to include: sound recordings.  Such an option was crossed firmly off my list.  However, I did dabble, even to the extent of committing several hours to re-editing some soundbites, but then I revisited the advice section and decided not to make such an inclusion: wrong choice, since feedback suggested that this might have benefitted my presentation!  This area I shall revisit in future oral presentations and time will also be given to ‘other artefacts’ – although I am currently unsure what they could/might be!

Ongoing Development

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PH0701 – Research Project Proposal reflection

With a suggested ‘indicative length of 1500 words’, I was more than a little anxious as I raced past the 3000 words and battled hard to cut out comment that I considered less relevant in order to keep the word-count down.  The feedback on this work suggested numerous other paths off investigation and observation that I could have made – some of which I had already covered, but then deleted as I felt that more than a 110%+ over-submission would not be well received.  Perhaps it would be more helpful if there was not a suggestion of length, as this does not appear to influence the grading.

With a proposed project title ‘The Stained Glass windows of Oxford Chapels’, I was keen to tie-in a themed layout to the paper.  Oxford’s famous skyline, punctuated as it is by the college chapel spires, seemed so utterly appropriate so to that end, I created a horizontal line that evolved into the Oxford skyline:

Oxford Skyline (Oxford Blue)

To avoid any ambiguity or confusion, my opening comment reflected upon this: ‘Matthew Arnold’s poem ‘Thyrsis’ called Oxford ‘the city of dreaming spires’ for good reason: the large number of University Colleges and private schools resulted in an extraordinary wealth of chapels, with more than 40 located in the city, painting a stunning skyline of towers and spires.’

The feedback upon this decision was more than a little surprising… ‘Interesting use of a header throughout the submission which brings some impression of professionalism. Curiously, the image refers more to Oxford than to the stained glass windows, which could be read as slightly confusing.’  On this point, we will have to differ.

My use of Oxford Blue as the colour of this line was far too subtle, but typical of the attention to detail that has always interposed my professional design, publishing and reprographic work.

Pantone 282Oxford Blue is the official colour of the University of Oxford.  The official Oxford blue visual identity guidelines set the definition of Oxford Blue as Pantone 282, equivalent to the following colour coordinates:

  • Hex triplet: #002147
  • sRGBB (r, g, b): (0, 33, 71)
  • CMYKH (c, m, y, k): (100, 80, 0, 60)
  • HSV (h, s, v): (212°, 100%, 28%)

Ongoing Development

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PH0701 – Work in Progress Portfolio reflection

The concise and well thought-through guidance was much appreciated.  I had never considered reproducing the stained glass windows at 1:1 scale, but like the idea.  With some of them 6m+ tall and 6m+ wide, image resolution and inevitable high costs might preclude such plans.  I also wonder who would have the space and desire for such a large image.  Notwithstanding, this is a route worth pursuing.

I had not thought through of the potential limiting factor of submitting a PDF portfolio – I almost always view PDF’s onscreen and imagined that that would be the case during the assessment off the portfolio.  It is very true that the images lend themselves better to a screen (although it is quite possible that the portrait A3 printed PDF I supplied would reveal more detail than when viewed on a screen).  I do wonder how best a portfolio can be displayed online… something I will need to address in future.

Ongoing Development

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PH0703 – Critical Research Journal reflection

Throughout the course, it is very difficult to gauge just how much time one should commit to each facet.  I can safely say that I give insufficient time, as I am definitely unable to maintain a blog; fulfil every weekly expectation; make multiple weekly postings on the course hub; elaborate upon and appraise the work of others; react to their observations on my work; develop a portfolio, and maintain a full-time job.  Sacrifices and compromises have to made – sadly my full-time job has to remain, as without it I cannot afford the course, but while working, I believe that I can only give one or two facets of the course the appropriate attention they deserve.  Consequently, the maintenance of a blog, which is a completely novel pastime, has been somewhat undermanaged during PH0703.  Added to which, as someone who has spent a lifetime keeping opinions to himself, making a public statement about everything does not come naturally.  That said, I am a schoolmaster, well used to marking books and exams as well as writing termly reports on progress, and I grimace every time the BBC spits an infinitive… critiquing is in fact a significant part of my life.

My uses of the Critical Research Journal is as a notebook, recording areas of interest, detailing that which I have done and annotating locational visits with sufficient appropriate information that will form the bones of a guide book to accompany an exhibition.  This of course fails to take account of the passive onlooker.  I realise now that the CRJ should be rather more like an American documentary, with wealth of interlinking data that is explained from all angles and précised routinely.  However, such levels of detail will continue to be a struggle to achieve…

The feedback on my CRJ was concise and welcome.  I must commit more time to elaborating on my thoughts and expanding upon my interests, by relating them to my current practice.

M3 Wk1: From here to there

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Week 1: Reflection

Module 2 presented a number of difficulties for me largely as a result of the heavy work load and extracurricular commitments that surround the summer months.  My hope for Module 3 is that I will have the time to tackle the weekly assignments, webinars and course trappings on time – not least because I do not have the advantage of any holiday period in which to play catch-up.  Sadly, a newly introduced, restructured working day seems to overlook the need for any breaks in the day.  This would not be a significant problem if weekends were time off, but unfortunately in boarding education, the weekends are normal working days.

‘Alarmed’ does not come close to describing my feelings when I realised that the entirety of this university term and all the various deadlines, fall within the Michaelmas academic term of the school in which I teach.  Looking towards the end of the course and term, while writing 240+ end of term reports in the slack time around teaching, supervising and planning (a task clearly designed to test ones ability to work unhindered through prolonged sleep deprivation), I will also be fretting about the Oral Presentation – something that has thus far occupied me for more than a week of holiday each time I have produced one.  More worryingly, it looks as though the Sustainable Prospects course does not even allow a slight pause to accommodate assignments!

However, it is Monday of week 1, and I am in the process of completing much of the weekly expectations… just a day or two late.

I have enjoyed the opportunity this week to visit three of Oxford’s chapels, housed within New College; Mansfield College and Harris Manchester College.  This has provided me with many tens of hours worth of editing – in fact well over 150 hours worth, if I edit all of the stained glass windows that I have photographed.  The time it takes to produce just one edited image is a source for concern.  I do invest heavily into selecting, where possible, windows that require less complicated editing, and that editing is becoming ever more efficient, but one completed stained glass window still represents 20+ hours of editing.  Clearly time-management is of vital importance, but difficult to achieve when salaried work commitments in term time weigh in at around 60 hours per week.

Week 1 has been an interesting journey through the ideas of photographic employment.  I have no doubt that many will have listened to and read about the wealth of varied jobs that fall into the umbrella of photography, and realised that they currently do most of them unaided!  I have been described as a ‘control freak’ and a ‘perfectionist’ by those who routinely experience my photographic, reprographic and design work: I struggle to step away from any aspect of a project.  Clearly if I am to move into full time photography, it seems clear that I have to accept that I will only be one part of a process.  Perhaps it is time to rationalise what I currently do… difficult… I love the freedom of composition and image capturing; I enjoy the ‘chase’ of image editing and the satisfaction of a completed image; I quietly enjoy the appreciation by others of my work, and just occasionally I have the gratification of payment!

Time to Play:

Retrospectively, I thoroughly enjoyed the challenge of taking a photograph each day.  There were a couple days when I rather forgot, but the results seem fine and the annotations resulted in a narrative that painted a rough picture of my working life.

Looking Back:

I suspect that there is little by way of reflection that I can add to the a piece that is in itself a reflection, although I am rather sorry and surprised that a piece of work from the ‘break’ cannot be included in the Module 3 Work in Progress Portfolio.

Ongoing Development

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PH0703 – Oral Presentation reflection

I remain a little confused as to the anticipated content of an Oral Presentation – something reflected well in each recording.  The Oral Presentation feedback builds upon this, but in doing so does paint a much clearer picture of the expectations

Because such a high percentage of my photographic time in the summer months was spent carrying out my more normal practice: sports photography, it seemed utterly appropriate to feature this in part of my presentation – it is an area of continued investigation, investment and evolution.  No such chance of such inclusions within Module PH0704, as to the dismay of many on site, I have been unable to commit any time to photography within the school since July, besides the creation of a photographic gallery, which is currently a retrospective of my work:

Gallery lr

One thing that is very clear is that I assume too much understanding around the subject matter and do not provide sufficient background information – this I hope to redress in PH0704.

Ongoing Development

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PH0703 – Work in Progress Portfolio reflection

Time for clarification…

‘Whilst the work itself reveals a high level of execution technically, the conceptual ideas behind are not so clear; what is the overall intention of this project for the viewer?’

My Research Project Proposal went some way towards answering this, albeit 200+ days ago and spread across some 5000+ words.  To précis… with no existing publication dedicated to the chapels of Oxford (indeed, prior to me creating it, there was not even a definitive list of the chapels), it is my intention to bring together those establishments, photographically.  While I could have chosen to assemble a portfolio of architectural images,  I wanted to build upon the challenging photography of stained glass with which I had experimented some five years earlier.

At its most fundamental, this could be seen as no more than a catalogue.  Yet my hope and intention is to engage the viewer into wanting to explore further the hidden gems that lie within Oxford’s chapels by portraying a single stained glass windows from each chapel: I hope to better popularise the stained glass windows and chapels of Oxford, only more so… by removing the windows from the context of the chapel, it will help break down the significant barrier of the chapel itself.  Too often, visitors will walk past a chapel without giving it a second thought and in Oxford, visitors are tripping over them without even realising it.

I suppose that I am simply using the stained glass as tourist bait.  Seeing the images of stained glass as a collection (be it in an exhibition, guide book, or perhaps an interactive guide) might be just the temptation required to draw a visitor into a chapel… or perhaps to follow a tour of several chapels.  An interactive guide could produce a tour specific to a particular stained glass artist, time period, or location, at the whim of the user.  This may seem rather shallow, but ultimately, interpretation of an image (or collection) is in the eye of the beholder.   Should they see this as a showcase the religious symbolism, iconography or read into it the ritualistic aspect of stained-glass window tradition, then that is wonderful – an added bonus for them.

Thinking entirely selfishly, I would hope that through this portfolio I might be seen as a go-to figure for such niche work.  It has been reassuring to hear from a couple of the Oxford Colleges that they would like me to do some more specific work for them… interestingly, in both instances they wish to use stained glass window images for greetings cards.

‘Towards the end of the WIP portfolio, there are two sets of images from St. John the Baptist Chapel, that are the “Floor Tiles” followed by the “Contemporary Tiles” from Chapel of St. Nichols. It appears that this is the type of imagery that you are aspiring to create…’

Oh no – very definitely not!  These images were no more than whimsical imaginings: manifestations of tangential, conceptual ideas.  While I quite liked the results, I remain a stalwart of classical art, but was drawn to this work following some investigative work as a result of feedback on my initial Work in Progress Portfolio :

‘it may be worth exploring the possibility of showing details or fragments in order to communicate other aspects of their importance.’

My response to this was to examine the detail and structure of the stained glass (HERE) and from there I wondered what else I could do at a more abstract level.

I have very little interest in developing further such musings – this is bordering on the sort of artwork that I actively avoid.  Under duress I have once visited Modern Art Oxford, a location full of the things I least like in the world of art – a veritable Pandora’s box.  I have no intention of creating items that could sit there.

‘Elsewhere, you had spoken about the weather and daylight affecting the colour dramatically, and there is scope here for producing tripod-mounted looped films of the experience as actual pieces of work. Subtle changes in movement can lend a power of attention to images that are matter of fact, and such experiences may be more akin to the window designs.’

This I do like, and have carried out some experimentation.  Twice I captured a time-lapse sequence hoping to reveal the impact of weather conditions on the lighting.  On each occasion the conditions remained unbelievably static!  This is definitely an area I will revisit.