Assignment 1

June 2019

This assignment is diagnostic and won’t count towards your final grade.

Part 1: Begin your project by going out on a shoot. Submit it to your tutor with a few images selected as a potential starting point for how you can move the project forward. Without being too prescriptive you may wish to set a goal of taking say 30 photographs for this assignment, or one roll of film, to limit yourself to one shoot. Don’t spend too much time considering what you’ll do – get started as soon as possible after starting the course.

Part 2: Accompany the images with a reflection on how or why the images you’ve selected may help you take the work forward. Detail how you plan to relate your practice to a particular photographic genre or which genre you took inspiration from.

Background

Rufford Colliery (1911-1993) is located to the east of the Nottinghamshire coalmines, managed by the Harworth Group PLC, responsible for coal fine recovery and stocking, blending and dispatching this byproduct of coal mining. The group work closely with Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust, returning the area back to the once native heathland of Sherwood Forest to encourage birds, mammals and insects present before the coalmines to reappear. Land on one side is a dedicated SSSI (Site of Special Scientific Interest) and the other is a working forest, owned managed by the Forestry Commission.

I became interested in the colliery site whilst studying archives in the Digital Image and Culture Module (Photography 2). I explored the site a lot, trying to piece together where the coal mine was, its access points, railways and the pit tip and returned with archived images to hold against the landscape to ensure it was the right place, which I photo-shopped into today’s landscape taking inspiration from Nicky Bird’s (Beneath the Surface / Hidden Place 2007-2010).

There is a bridleway which runs through this site, connecting the 3 different spaces together. Because of the workings it can be difficult to follow, creating several tracks through the space. What interests me about the site is the exploration and land use by local people and how it becomes an adventure playground for them. This is a working site, but not 24/7. When a play area is discovered, the authority(?) go to great lengths to stop the “fun” but another one soon appears. On the northern boundary, a sandy, uneven road runs between the former colliery site and the adjoining disused colliery (decommissioned) with a country park managed by Newark and Sherwood District Council. This is used in the same manner, although interestingly is on some Sat-Nav’s as a navigable route to Center Parcs. The site has an abundance of plant life (weeds) that are typically found in edgelands.

Images and reflection

Idea 1: My Experience

I am interested in the effect of social activities on the landscape which take place during times when no-one is around. This includes fly-tipping, desire lines and graffiti/art. I developed this idea in response to the Modern Nature Symposium (The Hepworth, Wakefield, April 2019) whose theme was green spaces and gardens. During the talks, I began to think about my space as a corridor linking two established areas of managed planting. I had explored the area several times and had an idea of the types of images I wanted to make. I experimented with shooting at different times of day. By photographing in the daylight, no-one was around, and I felt reasonably safe, although I did use a bike as a means of travel and escape.  For evening and night shoots I took an assistant as I am unsure how much the CCTV covers. I was reminded of photographers such as John Davies and James Morris’s postindustrial exploration.

My images

The first 3 images were taken as the light levels were falling, showing activity from fires, 4x4 and a mountain bike Strava segment called “Pit Side North”. These were places where people had not been stopped from carrying out their pastimes.

In the following images, activities had been prevented or bypassed by digging pits or placing large rocks in the way. Steep sided embankments with loose rocks and stones do not deter off road motorbikes.

Barriers, burnt out cars and burnt beds. 

 A couple of bridges which is all that is left behind from the railway. 

A trench full of waste.

My Reflection

Reading John Fiske’s (1989:43-76) essay “Reading the beach” confirmed that I saw this site as one where people explored “antisocial behaviour” in an area where they were undiscovered.  The colliery site becomes a wilderness and fits in with my view of an edgeland. The theme of nature versus culture interests me; however, I was concerned by the amount of visible fly tipping. I started to think into the future about audiences and presentation; maybe displayed in postcard form (link with urban tourism) and put on a pop-up event to gather responses on the back of the postcards which I could display at the exhibition.

My conceptualization

As a land user, I was concerned by the amount of fly-tipping and measures taken by authorities to try and prevent it. Should I report it all to the council? Along with the current awareness of modern plastics, there is a national problem with waste. Should I become an Eco-warrior in the fight against it? And if I felt passionate about the waste, how would people who worked all their life on the site feel if they saw it had been trashed by a few. The turning point came when listening to photographer Stephen Burke (West Bromwich, June 2019) talk about his latest exhibition, “The Lord’s my Shepherd”. If I exhibited my work in my village or locally, I think I would meet hostility and confrontation. Ex-miners are a proud community. My work in its current form would raise people’s awareness of what’s going on, but I am too close to it.

Plan

If I continue along this route, there are several things I could do:

• Contact the local councils to report the fly-tip waste. Correspondence would show prospective viewers that I was actively trying to manage the found situation.
• Separate out the waste and photograph it to promote awareness. My suspicion is that unscrupulous businesses dump it.
• Continue to work with my postcard idea and take positive postcard images showing the area and mix them with the burnt-out car, rubbish etc. It may be possible to re-shoot the car (if it’s still there) with passengers inside to add a touch of humour.
• The waste could be separated so it didn’t look like an ugly pile. There is a lot to choose from!
• When photographing the flowers under the bridge I noticed the blue flowers echoed the blue graffiti. I considered whether the graffiti on the bridges could provide a backdrop to the images, even if manipulated in Photoshop.
• It may be possible to combine the two (rubbish and plants) – including waste that blows into the area and becomes stuck.

Idea 2

My Experience

Wildflowers and trees which have pollinated the old industrial site are beginning to take over along with help from the land managers in returning the area to a former heath. I collected plant specimens and set up a still life studio on a window/sill to photograph them. It was important to find catkins as these symbolize spring and are not visible for long. I revisited Chris Shaw’s Weeds of Wallasey (1961) after seeing his work in The Hyman Gallery, The Hepworth, Wakefield at the conference. I think Chris’s images work because of the juxtaposition with the industrial buildings although this would not translate to my work because there are no buildings left. The flowers with graffiti are the closest I got to this. I like the idea of adding photographed plants into a book (such as in work published by Overlapse Books)

My images

My work developed from shooting on black velvet to taping tracing paper to a north facing window and sticking the flowers on to photograph. (See blog post) Using a macro lens enabled me to show more detail in the image.

My Reflection

These are different (better) than the set of images on a black background. I like them as a starting point. Botanical photography is an area which I have not really practiced but interests me. I follow Fleur Olby’s work, some of which reminds me of Victorian plant photographs and reminds me of hours spent in natural history museums looking at specimens. Fleur Olby and Al Brydon’s photo walk shows a different approach to landscape photography. I am keen to join a walking tour in the future.

Conceptualisation

Thinking back to my first course with the OCA (The Art of Photography) I made a couple of flower photographs which I exhibited at an art exhibition locally and sold. I probably need to explore this line of enquiry as a more commercial aspect of my work. I’m not sure yet how I would incorporate it with text. I need to experiment with this type of photography using plants from the colliery.

Plan

• Research botanical photographers
• Visit RHS London Art and Photography Show (July 2019)
• Experiment with different techniques
• Revisit Nick Knight’s “Flora” (dried flower photographs)
• Experiment with different techniques
• Time of year will influence seed pods and new growth – winter will see dieback so need to plan my time carefully.
• Exhibition would work, ties in with mindfulness and wellbeing, collecting photographs and ideas for tactile books.
• Experiment with combining waste and rubbish.

Idea 3

My experience

The third area of exploration was night photography as there are no buildings left and the dark links with the idea illicit activity. My night-time exploration involved using bicycle lights which I asked an assistant to hold. I spent the winter night riding across the area but not taking photographs and researched Lisa Dracup’s work after reading her book in Impressions Gallery, Bradford whilst viewing Helen Sear’s “Prospect Refugee Hazard” (February 2019). Most colliery photographs I have seen are taken during the daylight.

My images

My Reflection

The time of year is a little limiting as the nights have been drawing out, so what started out as an idea is now on hold until the darker nights. I think there is value in pursuing this exploration. I think the only link to the coalmine becomes the land the images are taken on as the area could become unrecognizable and like other night photography.

My Conceptualisation

The emphasis shifts from the original idea of peoples’ use of the land to the land being dark and perilous, more suggestive of fairy tales and stories. I’m not sure yet how I would combine text as I’ve not done enough work around the subject.

My plan

• Research and explore different cameras for night photography
• Continue along this line; further research necessary
• Investigate using different and more powerful lights – e.g. headlamp, large torch, and painting with light
• Pinhole camera at dusk, inspired by Chrystel Lebas (GRAIN’s Landscape Symposium, Birmingham, November 2017)
• Explore Al Brydon’s solar work (Inside the Out, Out of the woods of Thought Exhibition, Argentea Gallery, Birmingham, November 2018) safety of can could be an issue, cost?
• Pop up books could work – fairy tales, myths

Genres

Initially, I thought my work loosely sat within psychogeography and could cross over into personal journeys and the archive. When I read Merlin Coverley’s “Psychogeography” a couple of years ago, I understood psychogeography was urban walking, developed by the Situationist International Movement to study the effect of the geographical environment on people’s emotions as they walked purposely through the landscape. Artists produced literature or photographs / images criticizing the spectacle of capitalist society. Reading around the subject, I found it was not as simplistic as this. Tina Richardson (2015:1) poses the question “What is psychogeography?” Psychogeography covers a multitude of factors, from urban to rural, day to night, the method used and the area of psychogeography studied. The subject can be political. “Psychogeographers want to see beyond this ideological effect [of naturalness being imposed] and challenge the conventional discourse of a particular space through their practice”. (Richardson, 2015: 18) Psychogeographers have an empathy of what has happened or what is to come within the land through emotion, history, memory, folklore, political folklore etc. My photographs need direction to make them fit within psychogeography. Waste belongs to the sublime landscape and I am reminded of the work of Chris Jordan and Keith Arnatt (Miss Grace’s Lane 1986-7 and Howler’s Hill 1987-88). However, 30 years ago, Keith Arnatt was considered a conceptual photographer because no-one else was taking photographs of waste. Idea 1 currently sits in the post-industrial landscape genre. Developing this work would include heritage and maybe memory.

Liz Wells suggests that photographers who focus on flora and fauna reflect “current ecological curiosities and concerns” (Wells, 2009:308). Within this example, she cites the nature work of Susan Derges. This genre of photographers, Wells states, are less concerned with sociopolitical issues. Currently, I would place my work within the Landscape and heritage genre.

References

Fiske, J. (1989) Reading the popular. London: Unwin Hyman Inc

Richardson, T. (2015) Walking Inside Out. Maryland: Rowman and Littlefield International Available at: http://4wcop.org/pdf/Walking_Inside_Out_Introduction.pdf last accessed June 2019

Wells, L. (2009) Photography A critical introduction. (4th edition) Abingdon: Routledge

Bibliography

Bate, D. (2016) The Key Concepts Photography. (2nd edition) London: Bloomsbury

Certeau, M. de (1988) The practice of everyday life. Translated by Steven. F. Rendall.  London: University of California Press

ENDS Environmental Data Services (2017) Coal recovery scheme at Rufford colliery to continue until 2020 Available at: https://www.mineralandwasteplanning.co.uk/coal-recovery-scheme-former-rufford-colliery-continue-until-2020/energy-minerals/article/1453123 last accessed June 2019

Harworth Group PLC (2019) Next phase of restoration of former colliery site begins. Available at: https://harworthgroup.com/next-phase-of-restoration-of-former-rufford-colliery-begins/ last accessed June 2019

Heron, L, and Williams, V. (1996). Illuminations women writing on photography from the 1850's to the present. [online] available at: https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=V9Rcln6HdCoC&pg=PA387&lpg=PA387&dq=keith+arnatt+miss+grace%27s+lane+genre&source=bl&ots=pgYbLR39L2&sig=ACfU3U3WLPkISbnLcLLyXG6TF18edMCsSQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiBtuSo0cHjAhXmA2MBHR3dCZUQ6AEwE3oECAkQAQ#v=onepage&q=keith%20arnatt%20miss%20grace's%20lane%20genre&f=false last accessed July 2019

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Kippin, J. (2017) Material memories, A conference presentation. Delivered at the University of Newcastle 2015. Some thoughts on photography, landscape and the Post -Industrial. Available at:  https://johnkippin.com/text/ last accessed June 2019

Self, W. (2007) Psychogeography. London: Bloomsbury

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Solarcan (2017) Solarcan. Available at: https://solarcan.co.uk/video last accessed June 2019