Level 3 Photography Nicola Hampshire

A cloudy reshoot day.  After reviewing my images with the other couple of strands, I felt I had something which might work.  Over the next couple of weeks I wrote up I my assignment. During the West Midlands OCA student meet-up, I worked out the problem with my set of images. I didn't have the right images for the intended audience. I wrote mt Contextual Studies 1 assignment, relating my images to photographic theory to enable me to look closely at my images  and see how I could develop it.

It was really too sunny today to take assignment photographs so I cycled around the perimeter of the pit earmarking images that may work in different lighting. I quite like the idea of the boundary keeping people out and how the boundaries are pushed so that people can access the land. Some of the paths are disused railway lines and others are only marked as a path on the Ordnance Survey Map.  Some of these images made it into the final selection. Same boundary, different view The neighbouring colliery was landscaped into a council run country park. This too, has much history surrounding it, and although the winding towers are still standing (highest in Europe) their fate is being decided. I wasn't sure how large my area should be as these are back to back with a sandy road separating the to. As I wandered around the perimeter of mine, I explored a connecting railway which brought me to the next pit. The subject which caught my eye here seems to be loss and memo...

Today I went out with an assistant by bike to look at the effect of lighting trees on the colliery with bicycle lights. Inspired by Liza Dracup's Landmarks book which I read in the Impressions Gallery in Bradford, I waited until it was nearly dark before shooting. I liked the last image (above) and went back the next night to re-shoot, leaving a little colour in the sky. I noticed that as the nights were drawing out, it became more difficult to fit in night time photography into my working life. I have put it on hold until the nights are longer.

Today was the evening for a walk across the colliery as the light levels were falling in preparation for some night time photography work. I needed to know what time it would get dark and how dark it would become, and also how many people would be out and about. When I took these images (the same car on the disused colliery railway line  from my January shoot) I dismissed them as being too romantic with the sun setting on the old colliery. Having revisited them through photographic theory for Contextual Studies, they remind me of the painterly light which Keith Arnatt used in Miss Grace's Lane (1986-7). As a series, they suggest the land use of a colliery and I think they would probably work as postcards. At the time I wasn't happy with them and pursued some night time photography. I think the issue is that I don't know what I want to say yet. This darker, more gloomy image was taken on the same evening as the light faded. It reminded  me of a of dark, foreb...

I went for a walk to collect some spring plant specimens with the idea of looking at plants through the seasons to include in my work.  Now for how to photograph them? For my first attempt I set up a picnic table on the landing, covered it in black velvet (as I last did for The Art of Photography) and shined a light on it. I would have to control the light reflecting off the cloth or maybe change the black material. I changed the background to a white sheet and tried again.With the white sheet, I would have to control shadow and colour of the cloth because it looked very yellow. This was not what I was after either, so I rethought the idea. Using a north facing window, I taped some tracing paper to the window and taped cuttings to it to photograph them. The results were much more pleasing. I experimented with my macro lens too. This was something I felt I could start to develop by using pressed flowers, collecting specimens or photographing in si...

March 2019 With the OCA Crit session at Format Festival fast approaching, I revisited the colliery site to start thinking about ideas to develop as a plan for assignment 1. I decided on 3:2 images which I printed as square format as I was still undecided.  I selected a few to print to talk about where I thought I might be heading with my idea. Having revisited the work, they are much better in this format. The crit session went well and I had 3 themes of exploration to follow based on my initial ideas as well - see also link to Format write-up. Some of the comments surrounding my ideas: "Multiple strands, myths, narratives, histories, look at history, industrial history, distinct, hard to grapple with. Timeline - Robin Hood - past - industrial - now Tourism - industry,  literature Different format  Let research and interest determine path to take Someone inventing Robin Hood as in is it true / false? Bring in real artifacts Things fo...

In February 2019, Hazel (fellow OCA Photography Student) and myself went to the Impressions Gallery in Bradford to see Helen Sear’s Exhibition Prospect Refugee Hazard (2019). Helen’s two films were on display (Company of trees, 2015) and (Wahaha biota, 2018) and several images from “Forest Operations.” I was interested in the process of Helen’s moving images. Themes included chanting popular relevant words and making soundscapes of the working forest which enhanced the film. On reflection, there were elements I would consider as initial ideas for my work, but I would have to research and experiment with my camera and see what it could do. I took several short moving images with my DSLR. It didn't matter how windy it was, the built in microphone was pretty rubbish!. When the trees were completely still, it picked up some birdsong.  Points to consider: To make sound an option, I will need to research and buy a microphone for the camera. Practice! My ideas could be set ...

During my final tutorial at level 2, my tutor and I discussed experimenting with ideas before starting level 3. I took this opportunity to visit the local colliery to see if it would work as a space / place for level 3. During the archive assignment (Digital Image and Culture, Photography 2), I found several strands of possible ideas using the colliery land (buildings were dismantled in 1994-5). Having previously explored archived photographs in today's landscape, I started to document the area with my camera. I was aware that Format Festival in Derby was close (March 2019) and needed to take some images so that I could formulate some ideas for a direction for my Body of Work to discuss at the OCA critique session.  Square photographs are common in landscape exhibitions and I have a bridge camera that can take them. It was something I had considered in a previous course. I went for a weekday walk across the colliery. This experiment looked at what happens if I use this format...