Event: Nikon Utara Photo Weekend 7-8th June 2014

Nikon held their first ever weekend workshop in Penang during the school holidays. A great excuse to go to Penang! We arrived 2 days before so that we could explore the city as the timetable for the 2 days seemed pretty packed. As we arrived, lugging my heavy suitcase, the head of Nikon Club appeared outside the hotel and came and chatted with us while we waited for our room to be ready.
The workshop itself was amazing. There were 4 talks (most done in English and the one that was in Malay I actually understood quite a bit). We learnt about HDR and infra-red and I am really keen to try infra red for myself. There were also various photo shoots where volunteers took us to some locations that were good for shooting. I went to Little India for one then the early morning sunrise shoot and a shoot of a new event where the streets were closed to allow pedestrians and cyclists to be safer. The whole event was a great chance to meet and talk to a lot of photographers. One of the participants asked a speaker who had studied in the UK why people study at university when there are so many online tutorials. The answer was comprehensive, describing the other aspects of photography and its effects on people, how important it is to know about the history of photography, It was great to hear and I realised how much I know about photography itself and how fascinating the development it. We also got given 2 tshirts, a Nikon magnet which we had a lot of fun with, a thumb drive in the shape of a Nikon 1 camera and a bag. The newspapers wrote about it too, one is here: http://www.nst.com.my/node/4834

Event: Nikon photo trails race 1st June 2014

This event was a race to find photos following a text. We had to find the words in the text and take photos of them from shop signs, road signs and any other places we saw on the route in a team of 3. We then had 2 clues to solve and had to take one photo to tell a story at the place when we found it. Our team opted to do the second part of the task first as it involved the most walking. We had to find members of the public to be included in the photos and tell a story in them. One involved some fish statues, and we decided to tell the story of the saying "Give a man a fish" - I was hugging a fish and one of the others was teaching a man to fish. The second one we had to pose with the garden - I was sunbathing at the back. Our photos can be seen at the link as we were the winning team! We won a Coolpix P330 camera and some other Nikon goodies, which will hopefully arrive at the KK Nikon Centre soon!

https://www.nikonclub.com.my/pages/Insight.aspx?id=606

Event: Nikon Club get together for Harvest Festival 31st May 2014

I had planned to attend the Harvest Festival for Assignment 5, and so finding out Nikon club were having an event meant it would be easy to find out about access and things before the event. I will post more details about the assignment later, but here are a few photos of the Nikon side.

Exercise: An essay on reviewing photographs

Words and Pictures: On reviewing photographs by Liz Wells

This essay was in the course reader.

What is the basic argument of Wells’s essay?

I felt that the basic argument was about using words to describe pictures, as the title suggests, and how difficult this can be. It is about finding words to describe artworks, although she mentions that words cannot describe the affective impact of images. She reminds us that catalogues will survive longer than exhibitions. She describes the history of photography and how Britain overlooked it until the 1980’s unlike other countries who welcomed it in the 1920’s as a medium. It was not given equal status with other art forms. 

There was also a description of how even now people want written coverage of their artwork. She mentioned the impact of critics on artists, the impact of what they write and the motivation behind it. How does a critic perceive what an artist or gallery wants or needs? 

Is the title a fair indication of the essay itself?

As mentioned, the title does give an idea of the main topic, although it is a little simple. This is especially important considering some of the difficult words and concepts contained in the essay, phrases such as ‘tacitly resisting the hegemony of the metropolitan.’ This was not easy and there were many parts of the essay that I had to re-read and try to make sense of. The title does not reflect all the key aspects of the essay, such as reviews written by dedicated critics. 

To what extent does the writer rely on Postmodernist doctrine? 

The essay begins with a description of why criticism is important, and how words are balanced with pictures. She mentions the remark from Magritte, ‘a painting of a pipe is not a pipe!’ 

We live in a  climate of postmodern thinking, and are moving away from the modernist era where a more uniform value system was applied. Current criticism is not neutral, and comes more from the writer’s viewpoint. The digital era has played a part in this. 

Towards the end, Wells mentions the restrictions of modernism and the fluidity of postmodernism. I feel that she has relied mainly on postmodernist doctrine throughout the essay. 

How important do you believe it is for a critic of photography to have deep knowledge of the practice of photography? 

I believe it is extremely important, so that they fully understand the challenges faced by the artist and how they may have been overcome to create the works. If they are aware of the whole process of image creation, from taking the image to processing it, I feel they are in a better position to pass judgement on the work of others. I am aware that there are critics around who do not practice photography, but I feel that I would be more likely to accept the view of another practitioner judging my work rather than a total outsider.  They may not need to be an actual working practitioner, rather someone who has studied the history and some practical aspects of the art being critiqued. 

Exhibition: Korea Photographer, gallery at Gwangwhamun Station, Seoul

This exhibition had lots of landscape images taken around Korea. They showed the beauty of the countryside, something I haven't seen yet.

http://koreaphotographer.com/xe/

I love the colours in the images; although many focus on just one colour this is beautiful and really emphasises the beauty. The flowers moving in some of the images show how the weather affects the flowers and gives added beauty. Many are not the average composition of a landscape photo which I like, not showing the top of a tree for example.

Exhibition: To see Life to see the world, Sejong Centre, Seoul

This exhibition was another popular one! There were many images taken from Life Magazine over the years.

The first image that struck me was of a man on the moon, which had a small amount of colour in it. This was near an image of the Yangtse river near Magic Mountain taken by Dmitri Kessel which was quite mystical.

The image of Koreans mourning the death of Kim Koo was interesting as this assassination happened in my neighbourhood. The image was taken in the garden of his mansion  by Carl Mydans in 1949. The bullet hole in the window is evident although not the main focus, it tells a story in itself.

Charlie Chaplin as clown in the dressing room on the set of Limelight taken byW. Eugene Smith 1952 was a different view of the comedian, a new perspective.

A portrait of Hitler taken in c.1932 is a very clear portrait by an unknown photographer. You can really look into his eyes but there is no sign of all the evil.

Actors and actresses are the main focus in the portraits, showing them in their place of work.

Muhammad Ali 1966 Gordon Parks close up with sweat - the lighting on this image was intense and I got the feeling of how hard he works.

Pablo Picasso then Henri Matisse painting with light pen taken Gjon Mili 1949. This showed artists creating more art in a photo where we can also see the artist, a totally new perspective.

Some images were very grainy, giving a different quality to them.

Exhibition: Robert Capa 100, Sejong Centre, Seoul

This exhibition was really popular and it took me a few visits to Sejong to actually get in as there were huge queues!

Once I was in, it was great seeing these iconic photos printed large on the walls. The first one that struck me was of a man greeting the first American troops. There were photos from 1943 with wounded people and American troops landing along with a bombed church in Normandy taken in 1944 which gave me an insight into the second world was and the devastation it caused.

There was then a series of American masters in love and war, including Ernest Hemingway holding a pheasant he shot, taken in 1940 or 41. There was an image of Pablo Picasso on the beach in France in 1948 and one of Truman Capote and his dog taken in Italy in 1953.

The last one I looked at was one depicting the death of a loyalist militia man taken in Cordoba in 1936. This image is the one I always remember being Capa's and it was captivating to see it printed so large.

Seeing all the images and remembering wars that took place close to home always gives new perspective and makes me think about the wars occurring around the world still.