Camera choices and justifications

My initial project proposal saw images of domestic spaces being made by myself and the participant using the same pinhole camera. The more testing I have done, the more I have come to realise that this is not a practical methodology. It would require me to spend a long time in the houses to get a number of images as to maintain sharp focus a small pinhole is required resulting in long exposure times. Hours, possibly 9 or 10.

First shoot, first images and initial edit

The first shoot for Homelight: The Participants was a few weeks ago. The shoot itself went well. I arrived at the participant’s home and we had a cup of tea and discussed how the image making would work.

Size matters?

Hellen van Meene is quoted as saying

“Photos don’t get better when they’re bigger.” (Meene in Carroll 2018 p.19)

My project works on the same premise, never copying or enlarging the 5×4 images that are produced.

Alec Soth’s interior work

Alec Soth’s latest work, I Know How Furiously Your Heart is Beating, is a collection of portraits and interior shots he made in other people’s homes. His subjects are photographed at home, and occasionally he includes interior shots without people. An interview with the photographer for the British Journal of Photography raised a number of interesting ideas that can be viewed in relation to my own project.

Building cameras

The beginning of this project has largely been about building the boxes that will be used as pinhole cameras by the participants. This is an important stage of the project as it is my chance to add a form of performance to the work. By building the boxes, working with the wood, and ensuring that they are both technically accurate and aesthetically pleasing, I am bringing the cameras to life.

Diane Arbus: in the beginning

The thing I found most interesting when viewing London’s latest Diane Arbus exhibition in the beginning, which focussed largely on the first 7 years of her working life, was how she clearly had an idea of what she wanted to photograph but that it took her time to narrow it down to a concrete subject.

Proposal feedback and thoughts

My project proposal fared well overall, and feedback about the project in general has been very positive, from tutors and peers both online and at the recent Falmouth Face-2-Face event group critiques.

FMP Proposal

Final Major Project Proposal Jo SalomonDownload

Imaging Time Talk

A few weeks ago I attended Imaging Time: Understanding Photography as Time-based Media at the Photographer’s Gallery in London. An interesting talk, it tackled the subject of time and its relationship to photography, and vice versa. The artists who presented their work with specific reference to time were not what might traditionally be thought of as photographers, but they all used photography within their art. 

FMP Intro Presentation

A presentation using the Pecha Kucha technique to introduce my ideas for my Final Major Project.