hi hat & snare

i like easter.  it’s the first big formal holiday of the year and lasts for 4 days.  in recent years it’s often been the scene of an ambitious decorating project.  this year it’s been the scene of relaxation away from forest school portfolio and considerations of images for the photographic society.

i have joined the society.

i’m still coming to terms with the competitive nature of the society structure.  the good thing about this is it’s feeding my art and sport interest.  this has been dormant for sometime.  the society structure displays images in a competitive environment while giving feedback based upon the judges stare.  i am yet to fully understand how the full competition circuits works.

i have two current opportunities with society.  a gallery presence on their website and the final competition of the season.

quietly i talk to myself about competitive image making.

have you seen sook’s pop art documentary ?

i enjoyed the journey he took me on through the origination of pop art and smiled at those points where each individual involved claimed the origination as their own.  pop art seemed to evolve out of the time and feeling about the time.

i consider my own practice and the time i live in.  if i were to start making images in response to my time what might i be making?

i choose to steer away from consciously following the news.  despite this i am still kept up to date with what’s going on.  i’d prefer to live in a bubble of 19th century localism where news from another country takes days if not weeks to get to me.

am i starting to question why i should be aware of world current affairs and what if i am not?

i don’t really want to see images of world events.

i’d prefer to live in a world where there is post teenage government.

i’ve been taking part in the 7 day post a nature picture challenge on facebook.

my forest school portfolio needs to be handed in in late april.  i’ve been working hard on the theoretical module in the past few weeks, saving the practical module to finish with.

using forest school ethos as a basis i’ve submitted an idea to the school of social entrepreneurs scheme backed by lloyds banks and the lottery to help men experiencing under par well being.  i explained it better in the application – honest.

in thinking about the idea within context of the application i also necognise a possibility for research to be carried out and this has lead me back to an academic basis that i might explore but if i do i’ll need it to be on my terms as if not it’ll almost certainly become too overwhelming for me.  … leading to a well being issue.  ummm.

within the image collating for the society i’ve selected 3 images that are intentionally out of focus.  i’ve linked them to the idea of a lost something.  i think i might be considering entering 3 out of focus images to a society competition.  will they get past the initial selection process ?

the language of out of focus is one of wanting to disconnect from the world as it’s presented.  this is in terms of the public state of american politics and association triggered world events.

image contextualisation by title coming from a personal perspective.

it’s difficult being shy.  i feel i have grand ideas but when it comes to it i do err on the side of staying within myself.  the society membership is challenging me to step outside myself,  knowing that the images i have are different in their inception from what i’ve seen so far.  there being an importance set about technical capability over a creative vision.  there being a lot of images that are technically proficient …

being in the society is punctuating my image creation too.  images i’m looking to represent myself are from previous years.  in going forward, my challenge is to create new images.

might i use my stance on

• post capitalism
• possible futures
• politicisation of images
• consideration of energy and it’s consumption
• art and sport
• time
• my own well being

to arrive at something in which i can express myself in an aesthetic manner and that manner being able to catch the eye of the viewer.

a few hours after publishing this post i added the following.

in my list of things to consider i have made some forgottens.

i forgot that i like the concept of nature being wiggly and mans part of nature being described by lines.  i’ve considered this many times within the #leaves #lines images published to instagram.

if i am to rebuild my intellectual concerns, wiggly verses lines is something i need to bare in mind.

an additional aspect of the images i like to make feature a single aspect small within the overall space.  these images give me great joy.  for me they speak of meditative moments within the sometimes nonsense of the built environment around me.

i appear to have several threads of investigation and interest.

i’ve spoken about and considered the competitive nature of the society.  upon reflection i note this is delivered in a positive and supportive manner.  if an image is chosen to be in the  competition, those judging speak of their likes and preferences for the picture.

in those submissions made to opportunities in the past, very rarely did i receive feedback as to why it had failed to come up to what was being expected.   very rarely did i get an indication of why my idea was unexciting.

the journey into the society will at least include signposts along the way.

i went with the flow this afternoon.  throwing off shackles of thought my conscious dialogue explored the forthcoming possibility of making and showing work in a photographic society context.

in my moments of flow today i started to make new connections in the art and sport realm of interest.  the competitive nature of the photographic society providing a backdrop of unpredictability, something what attracts me to the sporting domain.

yet within that competitiveness, what is the game?

early demonstrations indicate an importance of technical competence, for this is in the most part how images are differentiated while in the competitive arena.  but what of titling.

the competitions show us the image and present us with a title.  judges speak of rules and excelling the opportunities to break them.  i spoke of an idea i have for titling an image taken a few years ago.  my interest in setting up a reactionary narrative within the viewer.  the reaction was favourable.

while i sat catching up my heckles were aroused and i could feel some potential fun exploring photography as an expressive medium, intentinally going beyond mere technical proficiency.

i’m begining to react and respond to what i’m seeing.   i’m starting to feel what i might do.  my mind is open to process and exploring what comes of that.

early indications are i’m exploring acceptance and context by risky blatant rule breaking within an unpredictable competitive environment.

i’m up for joining the society and making my voice heard.

“it’s only grass”

that’s been the conversation on and off today.

context time. in the front of the house there is a path with a stretch of grass before the kerb. occasionally it gets driven on and at this wet time of year the tyres of the vehicle dig in. a delivery van might rock in once and a while later the grass will recover.

so here’s my impact assessment and source of the angst that i need to share with Facebook so i’m not quite so tense about it.

our adjoined neighbours are moving stuff today. several times their van has mounted the grass. several times it’s left and come back.

i’ve spoken to the guy driving the van. sitting back down now i really didn’t say with confidence about how the repeated driving on the grass has had an impact that has taken me to outside my comfort zone and will now have to wait to see if the grass recovers.

it might only be grass but it’s a scaled down example of environmental impact imposed by man on our planet.

yes i know it’s only grass but at what point does a few tyre tracks become a damaging impact on the environment in which i live ?

i’m not sure the neighbours got where i was coming from and they agreed “it’s only grass” and this is now the completion of the days journeys.

i hated how they looked at me. i hated that i felt so uncomfortable at having to even think about speaking to them. i hated that i failed to eloquently say please consider the verge as we both live here and i personally want it to remain looking like it did before you plopped this long wheelbase van on the verge and used the section of grass in front of our house to mount and dismount the kerb.

i’m surprised at myself for having to take to Facebook to clear the inner tension this occcurance has generated in me.

at least i’ve remembered that the piece of grass i’ve become so passionate about is called a verge.

it has helped outing this event on Facebook. in reflection when i spoke to them i was scared and i really did fail to express myself in a manner that i would have done if i knew them a little better and felt relaxed about talking to them.

it is only a piece of grass but it’s grass in the community where i live and i want the community where i live to feel valued, looked after and cherished.

i think it’s my personal maslow base level in action.

i feel better and reassured for understanding that now.

it’s only grass but it’s grass where i live and it’s outside the house that i live in.

i thought i’d finished writing but the van has just reappeared and again gone on the verge. i’m smiling as i understand why it’s bothering me and our neighbours are now communicating their position by their actions. (i don’t know if the van is on or off the grass and having explored why i felt so uncomfortable and realising why i’m happy to be at one with the situation.) in time we’ll see if the verge recovers.

it’s ok.

it’s only grass.