Last thursday my class and I had our exam of period 1 in our second year. For me it was a big flashback to period 1 of year 1 at the Fotoacademie… Right down to the tl;dr;…
tl;dr;: I passed with no extra tasks.
Feedback for me remains largely the same. Pointers to take away from this exam:
- I am still fairly negative about my photography (and myself in general). It doesn’t help. Be positive.
- I reside too much in my head. Need to be more intuitive. “Let it happen.” “Surprise yourself by what you make.”
- Still not a successful marriage between content and form.
- Translation of the concept in the image fairly wonky (related to 3 I think).
Next to “individuality” I marked doubtful on my self-evaluation. Guido de Heer, our teacher this year, also marked doubtful on his evaluation of me. Maybe a unique personal style depends on developing a more appropriate way of photographing where I “let it happen” rather than conceive every image to death beforehand. Maybe not. Maybe I should learn to translate the concept better? Other great photographers seem to be able to. Not every great photographer is working intuitively. Or is it largely a question of subject?
Sidenote: I think it is important to build a universe, a world, with physics and psychology that is imaginable but not necessarily as we know, and make your art in that world or universe. Trust your instincts about it. That way your work will be unique and consistent. I think Gregory Crewdson has said something along these lines. It rings true to me.
Guido and I had different markings notably for ability to reflect and develop, I marked demonstrated and Guido marked partly demonstrated (a low mark considering the options imho). Now that I am reflecting on the exam I think Guido was right: why am I hitting my head against the same wall if I have had so many pointers in other directions?
Don’t be afraid to spin out of control.
Maybe I am going in another direction from here. What if I try to shoot an entire period with only a Mamiya 7 II and an Epson scanner? Or with a small digital camera of some kind?
