LEARNING LOG STRUCTURE FOR FORMAL ASSESSMENT AND READING ISTRUCTIONS

I used Blogger platform and In order to make the structure of this learning log tidy and easy to consult, I abandoned the typical blog structure (post-driven) and switched to pages-driven structure, for the following reasons:

- Pages can be accessed directly and not only sequentially;

- Pages can be referred from other pages' content via link;

- Pages can be changed in position on the list, so that the hierarchy can fit the pathway of the Unit and of the learning book.

Once in the homepage at  http://giorgiocolonna.blogspot.it at your right there is a list called "Pages", where you can directly access each page of the learning log content.

At the end of the list there are some additional pages, where additional content can be found: this additional content was created as requested by Tutor feedback. (i.e. http://giorgiocolonna.blogspot.it/p/visiting.html  and http://giorgiocolonna.blogspot.it/p/book.html ).

Each Tutor Report is published after each Assignment.

After Tutor Report, there is a reflection and, eventually, a rework of the Assignment.

Each image can be enlarged by clicking on the image itself.

Street Photography : rights & duties

These are two useful links on this topic:


http://content.met.police.uk/Site/photographyadvice

 http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2012/04/14/photographers-rights-the-ultimate-guide/


Ultimate advice: always take the student card with you, be open and ....... smile.

Project 3 - Surface and dept - Research Point

David Campany, in his review “Aesthetic of the Pixel”,  ( http://davidcampany.com/thomas-ruff-the-aesthetics-of-the-pixel/ ) is inspired by Thomas Ruff’s “Jpeg” and affirms that mass production of images, all formally “correct”, has established a kind of “aesthetic regime” of image. The icon of this regime is the digitalization process, that nearly imposes the re-archiving and redistribution of every image, regardless of which media was originated from. 

Image from Thomas Ruff's "JPEG"

According to Campany, Ruff’s pixelation process arouses a new aesthetic sense, a renewed authenticity, similar to the reality of the analogue grain. In a certain way Campany writes about freedom and anarchy vs regime and formality of homogenous electronic continuum.

In another review on Ruff's work, Joerg Colberg ( http://jmcolberg.com/weblog/2009/04/review_jpegs_by_thomas_ruff/ ), defining Ruff ".... one of the most creative and certainly inventive photographers of our time ....", at the same time writes about the debate if this kind of work could be defined photography or not. According to Colberg, the answer to this debate will not get to the point and, regardless Ruff's opera being photography, graphic design or whatever, this opera works. On the other side Colberg asks himself if this deep use of technique in order to get free from technique could be a paradox but does find a clear answer, even if the doubt is that this technique could open a new aesthetic and a new medium specificity. 

Image from Thomas Ruff's "JPEG"

In my personal opinion, providing that the "pixelation" technique can be easily achieved on any image, exactly like the use of other techniques, I believe that in the outstanding work by Thomas Ruff's the pixelation is only a medium at that  is all about aesthetic.

My personal try of pixelation: Fraser Island, Australia, The lost ship

New Page on Books reading

In the "Pages" section (right side), under "Books Reading", I started critical reading and reflection on the first suggested book.

COMFORT ZONE

Surfing around the blogs and the importance of rules

I’ve been surfing some learning blogs of course mates: first of all, congratulations to everybody. 

My perception is that most of us students have the same trouble: how to give the right content to posts, expressing ideas, vision, reflection.

What is right or wrong, when we speak about content?

I got my graduation in classical subjects: this educational pathway is focused more on content than technics. Aesthetic sense and the classical prosody are oriented to order neatness and symmetry. However, part of Philosophy arises from mathematics.

Then I switched to computer science, that is on the opposite side of a humanistic approach to reality, and always based on the order of things.  

Weakness: I am more comfortable in composing and taking photos of what I like (= fine, nice, lovely, fair), following the general aesthetic sense. What about ugly things? What if I have to express a vision based on unattractive views?
 

 

 

Question: are the general composition’s rules the same for unattractive subjects? The rule of thirds, symmetry, golden section,  perspective, are they suitable guide lines? I believe yes, but I will look for confirmation.

During my web search I found an abstract from “Mastering Photographic Composition, Creativity, and Personal Style”  by Alain Briot , a French Photographer based in Arizona, USA.

http://www.beautiful-landscape.com/New%20Site.data/book%202/Briot-mastering%20Composition-Sampler.pdf

Unfortunately the book does not exist in electronic version, only on paper.

In this sampler  there are several considerations about exercising creativity and developing vision, keeping an eye on enhancing skill and, at the same time, not loosing the personal vision and, on the contrary, put it on photos.

There are some citations:

“When subject matter is forced to fit into preconceived patterns, there can be no

freshness of vision. Following rules of composition can only lead to a tedious

repetition of pictorial cliches.”

Edward Weston

Does it mean that we should avoid rules (should be the subject aesthetically good or bad) in order to maintain freshness of vision?

“Photography is more than a medium for factual communication of ideas.

It is a creative art.”

Ansel Adams

 

“You have to get away from relying only on the subject. Light is the imagination’s

main tool. It is something you work with in defining anything you want to, whether

subject or landscape.”

David Muench, Outdoor Photographer Magazine

In my third exit I had the chance to “play” and shoot with light and some objects I found on site: I will select one of those photos.

 

“The great thing about this thing we call art is that it has no rules.”

Kim Weston

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.”

Pablo Picasso

However, once I have decided to do my work trying to follow the general rules of composition and trying to be creative as well, the trouble is to express my idea in 12 photos.

 

 

Expressing Your Vision - The Square Mile and Vittorio Veneto

Sunday afternoon: I’ve convinced my wife that relaxing by Santa Croce lake is really a nice activity, but it is hot as well. 

So we come back home and, guess what, I pick my camera(s) and decide to go for a walk, south side of the square mile. There are 35 degrees  Celsius.

Vittorio Veneto is a bit unusual: many years ago there were 2 villages, Ceneda and Serravalle; the two were put together in order to be districts of one small city called Vittorio Veneto.

I live between the two districts, in the center of Vittorio, that is not Ceneda (south) nor Serravalle (north).

I am in Ceneda’s boundary now.

The single line railway lays down between the mountains and the city, all along the west side, just near buildings and houses. 

The big, historical, thermal & spa center is one of the old buildings beyond the railway, and is shut down since the 70s.

Once these steps were the access to the thermal center: now they go into the railway’s fence.

I look for compositions that will best express my idea: the fair Vittorio going nowhere.
 

 

 

 

 

 

Expressing Your Vision - Vittorio Veneto and The Square Mile

I live in the center of Vittorio Veneto, a small town in the province of Treviso.

Vittorio Veneto is situated along the edge between the plain and hills, a few kilometers from Venice (going south) and Dolomites (going North).

You should come here: the location is gorgeous: fields, lakes, hills, mountains are easily reached and the sea is not far.
Vittorio is scattered with historical places, most related to first and second world war.

Vittorio is slowly going to nowhere.

Paradoxically, the location is at the same time a gift and a curse from the sky, because Vittorio is always "on the way" to reach a definite location, but it is rarely "the location". It is not the location for tourism, it is not the location for industrial and/or agricultural operations.

Vittorio is always close to somebody or something that "is more and better".

I live in Vittorio since 2006: I got a job in one of the remaining companies, and my wife as well. We did love the place and living there: we still do.

Nevertheless, I look around and I see shops, business and industrial activities, hotels, restaurants, cultural events, young people, smiles, social life going elsewhere.
There were a big spa, a prestigious theater, some big companies, several glamorous places: where are they now.

I see myself picking the car each morning and getting out of Vittorio (my job is 90 km away now) and going back in the evening. I am not the only one.
My idea of Square Mile is to express the melancholy of living in a beautiful place and being witness of its slow decadence. For this reason I will make photo-sessions looking for examples of this decadence, hoping to be a bit provocative and stimulate a reaction. In the meanwhile I will, as advised, look at practitioners' works: Keith Arnatt  and his  "Area of outstanding natural beauty"  http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/arnatt-aonb-area-of-outstanding-natural-beauty-t13148 was a good inspiration for me; Jodie Taylor as well, with her "Memories of Childhood" http://weareoca.com/photography/photography-and-nostalgia/ .

Expressing Your Vision - The First 13 Pages

I've just gone through the first 13 pages of "Expressing your vision".

My first thought is "...well landed in UK academic world...".

In all my life I have studied in different levels, different discipline (humanistic, technical, artistic, professional, even sports). But always in Italy and a bit in the USA.

It was several years ago, so I cannot say if all the differences I find are related to the considerable lapse of time passed, communication & technology, or if the methods are really different from nation to nation.

I believe it is a bit all of these aspects: how I've seen the study methods applied to my children in the last years  confirms that.

In any case, my understanding is that:

• research and collection of different sources are a crucial point;
• nowadays, phisical books are just a small part of all sources (I should be well aware of it, since I work in ICT);
• Learning is not a serial process anymore and it is multi-source, but, at the same time, it needs a lot of self-control and discipline in order not to be diverted, surfacing  or go out of the edge. As we say in Italy "...knowing so little of many things ends up in knowing nothing of everything..."

 By now I am essentially: surprised, excited, worried, eager to go on.