Creative Writing: Initial Ideas and Research

 Today, we began by looking at the three week Creative Writing Brief.  The aim is to create a chapbook, this is a small cheap book that was popular through the 17th to 19th centuries.  These books could be poetry, prose, factual, manifestos, fairy stories and dark tales. The National Library of Scotland states; 'The subject matter of chapbooks was quite broad — sermons of covenanting ministers, prophecies, last words of murderers, songs and poems by Robert Burns and Allan Ramsay, and biographies of famous people such as Wallace, Napoleon and Nelson. There were romances and legends, not to mention manuals of instruction and almanacs.' (National Library of Scotland, 2025) They were popular with children and were passed around.  They tended to be made on cheap paper and were highly valued and enjoyed by those who read them and them passed them on. 

The Seaman's confidence: A Dialogue between Two Seaman after a Storm.

Published and sold by T Cheney (circa 1800)

National Library of Scotland (2025)

Chapbooks 'gradually disappeared from the 1860s onwards.This was not only because of the explosion in the amount of cheap printed matter available, but also due to strong competition from religious tract societies such as the Stirling Tract Enterprise which regarded many chapbook publications as 'ungodly'. (National Library of Scotland, 2025) However, there has been a revival in the 20th and 21st century and people now produce these small cheap books.  These are sold online and often are handmade and self-published.  There are also examples of online versions of these small books an e-book is a cheap book in our contemporary society. 

Initial Ideas: My Own Chapbook 

On my mind recently has been change.  Many years can go by and suddenly you realise you are in a kind of Groundhog Day. Things stay the same and they stagnate. Once you start thinking on this, often the reaction is to talk yourself out of change as it will be a real hassle, it will be hard work, it might change your financial situation, home situation, work situation. Change is basically fairly terrifying whereas staying in the comfort zone, the status quo everything can carry on and no boat has been rocked!  Change is hard and almost alarming, this is perhaps why I am drawn to writing a story with this kind of theme.  Many books use a sudden change as the catalyst for the story, so I wonder how I might do this and, be interesting and have an original story to tell?

I began thinking about other authors who use this technique and 'Yes Man' (2005) By Danny Wallace is a good example.  The story begins with Wallace saying no to everything, his girlfriend has left him, he is depressed, he doesn't want to do anything, go out with his friends and his job is unsatisfying - he just keeps saying 'No' to things.  Then one day, Wallace chooses to only say 'yes' and the rules are that he must say 'yes' to everything no matter what and he draws up a contract with his friends and there is some kind of forfeit if he breaks the rules.  The book is a bit silly, it is like a bunch of boys who think up silly challenges for each other however it is entirely positive, Zoe Williams writes of the book;  'you have a high tolerance for inanity, and that's where brilliant ideas happen, in a rainforest of daft ideas, not in a desert of someone saying things are daft and going back to bed. He [Wallace] once spent some time - entirely for his own amusement, he insists - making up the worst joke in the world, then sending it to comedians.' (Williams, 2005)

Yes Man (2005) By Danny Wallace

This book is a bit of silliness and was made into a film with Jim Carey, however, there is a bravery to it which I do think it easier when you are young, before you have a family/children/responsibilities.  It is a bravery though that admire and perhaps I should take something from this bravery...

This idea about positivity leads me to think of Maslow - they use Maslow in Teaching Training however they don't tell you his most interesting studies, these I found through the writing of Colin Wilson who was also an advocate for the positive for higher experience and for not spending your life sleeping (or as he called it the robot).   Geoff Ward states; 'Crucially, Wilson recognised ‘the robot’ – his term for how our consciousness operates on ‘auto-pilot’, narrowing our perception so as to enable us to handle everyday life – and the need to get beyond it in order to evolve.' (Ward, 2016) Below Maslow's 'Hierarchy of Needs' which shows that basic needs have to be fulfilled to reach higher levels psychologically and this brings love/belonging, esteem and then self-actualisation which is where it gets really interesting with Maslow as Maslow got sick of treating sick people and wanted to see what happened when he treated healthy people and he discovered that the more the healthy people talked and shared the more they started having 'moments of clarity' or even ecstasy; 'A moment of clarity is a powerful cognitive experience where someone suddenly gains deep understanding about themselves, their life, or a specific situation. These insights can range from recognizing personal capabilities to understanding life purpose, often feeling profound and meaningful to the individual experiencing them.' (Bridges-Ruiz, 2025)

Why I am writing about Maslow and Wilson is I began with change and with change can open the door to new experiences, a new understanding of the self and those around you and get you out of circular and perhaps in self-destructive thinking. So where do I go from here in terms of my ideas for writing my own chapbook?

Form

If the theme is change, I now need to consider the form that my book will take.  For this project, I think I would like to write prose, a story - previously I have done this and written three chapters of a longer story and I could do the same here as I enjoy the fact that the story can go one and often I have various subplots at play for development. Or I could just stick to a short story and really contain this and be very precise in the story development to ensure that the story will work a short story/novella form.  I lean towards the three chapters of a larger book simply as I find the containment of the novella a little restrictive (not that boundaries are bad, boundaries do help to avoid getting lost out there!). I have just found one of my old books and I created this in diary form. I enjoyed this as it really gave an insight into the life of the character and his daily thoughts, anxieties and annoying everyday problems! I will see where this takes me once I have explored some story ideas on this theme. 

Story Ideas

Story of a woman, happy, alone but stuck in a rut.  Needs change and this comes in the form of finding a diary in a café.  The diary belongs to a professor of something important in a midlands university.  The story will take the woman out of her stasis and bring new opportunities that she never expected.

Story of an old man nearing the end of life who wants to take a last journey to fix something he did wrong a long time ago.  The journey will be across Canada and will take the old man on a road much less travelled and to unexpected places 

A series of letters between an artist and photographer creating a conversation between images and words 

These are just a few ideas I would like to meditate on, they all take different forms but stick with the theme of change.  I will choose one and see where it takes me...

References

Bridges-Ruiz, V. (2025). >> The Power of Moments of Clarity. [online] Unbreakable Bonds. Available at: https://unbreakablebonds101.wordpress.com/2025/01/03/the-power-of-moments-of-clarity/ [Accessed 4 Feb. 2025].

National Library of Scotland (2025). Chapbooks. [online] National Library of Scotland. Available at: https://www.nls.uk/collections/rare-books/collections/chapbooks/ [Accessed 4 Feb. 2025].

Ward, G. (2016). BEYOND THE ROBOT | colin-wilson-world. [online] colin-wilson-world. Available at: https://www.colinwilsonworld.net/beyond-the-robot [Accessed 4 Feb. 2025].

Williams, Z. (2005). The opposite of toxic. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2005/jul/02/biography.features [Accessed 4 Feb. 2025].

Creative Writing Exercise One: Timed Writing

 Emotion: Disgust

Jane watched him from across the time-worn cherry wood dining table, they both sat silently as they began their evening meal.  This now tired and repetitive scene had started to make Jane's head swoon with déjà vu and as she looked up to see her husband of twelve years, shovel inelegantly food into his mouth, she started to feel rather nauseous.  Her husband, John's mouth was very slightly open and she could see his rather uneven, wine stained teeth working the cooked vegetables into a rather vile spit-filled mush, he just kept moving the food round and round until she had to look away from fear of the digust showing on her face. Jane stared down onto her plate of food looking at the vegetables she had overcooked (again), the vegetarian chicken parts that were too greasy, and potatoes that she had accidently dropped onto the kitchen floor, so had just scooped them up with her hands and thrown them indecorously onto their plates.  Jane picked at the food wih her fork, but now could hear the squishy, slimy sound of his revolting chewing followed by loud repugnant swallowing which made her think of the filthy scene inside his mouth. 

Creating a Website: Homepage

 Today we started making our own website. I started by going to Wix and I chose a template that is in my subject area 'photography'.  This is the template I chose.

My next step was to check the homepage and it was visible, therefore I went to the left-hand tools menu and clicked on 'pages and menu', I then checked the pages and there was an eye crossed out which meant the page was hidden.  Therefore I went to the three dots at the end of the homepage and in the dropdown box, I made the page visible by clicking on 'show page'.  I then clicked on the text of the name of the site and changed it to my own name.  I then chose a font/typography that I intend to use throughout the site.

For my font, I chose Palantino Linotype, which was at 60pts for my name and at 22pts for the subject area which I also changed.  I then dragged both my name and subject to the header so that this was visible on all pages.  

I then went to 'pages and menu' in the left-hand tools menu and I deleted any pages I did not need by clicking on the three dots at the end of the page and then clicking on 'delete'. I then checked I had the four pages that I wanted which are: Home, About, Portfolio, and Contact.  I then checked that they were all visible and showing in my navigation bar. 

My next step was to check the header and design the navigation bar.  For the step I clicked on the navigation bar and the design icon (little paintbrush) I then customised the design of the menu.  I scrolled down and chose the design I liked.  I then clicked into menu items and 'background fils' I then changed the colour when I was on 'hover, 'current', and 'regular', I then changed the font to Palantino Linotype and size to 28pts.

Lastly I changed the background image, this was in section so I changed the section by right clicking in the background and then in dialog box I chose 'image' and upload image to my 'site files' , I clicked on the image and to page.  I then made adjustments and changed the background colour on header and footer by again tight clicking and change header/footer background an then in the dialog box choosing the colour.  I then previewed and then clicked on save. This is my first draft of my website homepage.

After consideration, I updated the page and design and added my own image - I may still change this 

I tried backgrounds in Black and grey, I think I prefer the grey below as in my original design

I will keep this post updated with any adjustments and changes I make..

I am now going to check the mobile view and make adjustments as necessary.  This is how my mobile view looks at present.

On te mobile view I began by adding a 'back to top' button' I clicked on 'Tools' in the left hand menu and then 'back to top'.  I then click on the button and tehn clicked on 'change icon', I chose an icon I liked and then I dragged this into a position that I thought worked well, just above the footer. 

At the top of the page I changed the size of the social media icons as they were too big.  I changed the size of these by clicking on the icons and then clicking on 'layout' I then changed the size here to 40pts.

I also changed the text size and positioning so I just clicked on these and used the move tool and the transform controls. I used gridlines to ensure correct positioning. 

I also changed the image so that is was portrait in orientation and long and thin so that this was more impactful on my homepage on my mobile. 

Lastly I changed the footer design and background.  The background on the whole page I ensured was the same grey as the header.  The footer was in black which I kept however I made this smaller by dragging the arrow at the botttom of the footer upwards.  I then changed the copyright notice text colour to white so it was visible. 

I have saved and previewed the mobile view and everything looks good however my back to top button still needs work. 

Creative Media: Quality Control and Adjustments on Photoshop

 Today we were looking at quality control on Photoshop and so I chose and image to practice with.  To begin I checked the actual pixels by zooming in and visually checking how sharp and clear my image was.  I went over the whole image to check for dust and spots and blemishes.  

I then opened the clone stamp tool by right clicking on the clone stam icon and  then 'clone stamp' tool.  My menu for this tool then appeared at the top my workspace 

I then chose a blemish I wanted to remove the models face, I then clicked on ALT - and clicked on my mouse in area very close to the blemish to get the tight skin colour to clone.  I then clicked gently over blemish in 'normal' blend mode.  If that had not worked or it was too light or too dark I would have changed the blend mode for this blemish.

I continued using the clone stamp tool and did this for other areas with spots and blemishes and changed the blend mode accordingly.  I can also changed the shape and size of the brush in the top menu depending on the area.  I will always use a soft brush on portrait images.  Opacity was 100% as we were removing errors in the image.

I then went on to look at the other adjustments so I went to 'image' in the top menu and then 'adjustments'.  I went to 'curves' and the dialog box popped up.

I then gently moved the line to make the image very slightly lighter so that it popped a little when I added the to my website.  I just clicked 'ok' when I was happy with the adjustment.

I also looked at sharpness so I went to 'Filter' in the top menu then I opened 'unsharp mask' in teh drop down box and the dialog box opened. 

My image was fairly sharp but had a little softness so I very gently moved the sharpness amount from 50% to 73%.  I then looked at the radius and this the radius of pixels to 3.0 pixels and then I changed the threshold to 8 levels.

Threshold means: 'Threshold in Photoshop is an essential feature that enables users to transform images into high-contrast, black-and-white versions. By selecting a specific level as a threshold, the tool converts pixels lighter than the threshold to white and those darker to black. This powerful image adjustment can be used to enhance artistic effects, improve image clarity, or determine the lightest and darkest areas of an image.' (Martin, 2023)

I then chose another image and completed the same visual checks and used the clone stamp tool again to remove spots and blemishes.  

I then went to 'image' in the top menu and then 'adjustments' I chose to adjust the vibrance of this image as I thought I could make this pop a little more.  Therefore I clicked on 'vibrance' and in the dialog box and moved the slider until I was happy with the vibrance level at +23. I thne clicked on 'OK'

I also looked at the image in black and white as often images may look better in black and white and sometimes it is nice to see the difference particularly when thinking about images for final project.

Therefore, I clicked on 'image' and then 'adjustments' and then 'black and white'.  A dialog box then opened with range of colours that make up the black and white. I slightly adjusted tried as this will make the image slightly warmer as a black and white image. Once I was happy with the image I clicked on 'OK' to apply the changes.  The results can be seen below. 

This was just a practice.  When I have completed my final shoot I will curate my images and then I will use these quality control techniques before I complete the presentation process ready for my website. 

References

Martin, G. (2023). What Is Threshold In Photoshop? [online] PRO EDU. Available at: https://proedu.com/blogs/photoshop-skills/what-is-threshold-in-photoshop? [Accessed 29 Jan. 2025].

Project Sign Off: Silent Scream

 Please find my project sign-off here for this term.  My project will be a short performance art film that is my response to the Trump Inauguration.  I will be looking at other performance artists such as Yoko Ono, the Vienna Actionists and Pippi Lotti Rist to inform my project work.

Yoko Ono performing Cut Piece, 1964, filmed by the Maysles Brothers, at Carnegie Recital Hall, March 21, 1965. Image © Yoko Ono. Courtesy of the artist and Galerie Lelong.

Diane Arbus - Reading the Photograph

 I will begin my research on portrits by loooking at a photograph by Diane Arbus.  I have chosen this image of Child with a toy hand grenade (1962).  I chose this image as the boy drew me into the image, he looks strange and wild with hands clenched.  Is this boy posing?  Is the photographer directing this boy to strike this pose, pull this face or is this what the boy looks like?  He is at the forefront of the image with background of the park dropping out behind him, it is a sunny day in New York City. The boy is slightly off centre and light of the tree creates a pattern of light and he is standing on a path and the leading line is disappearing into the park where we see others strolling in the sun in the background. looking closely at the boy with the wild look in his eyes and the hand grenade, I feel that this boy was directed, he looks directly into the camera, challenging the viewer.  His dirty knees and wrinkled socks, his clothes with the dungaree strap falling off his shoulder emphasise that perhaps all is not well.

Diane Arbus (American, 1923-1971)

Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park, N.Y.C. 1962

The boy in this image was called Colin Wood and, at this time in America, the Vietnam War (1955-1975) was at its height and the boy understood this Bree Hughes from the auction house stated; 'Arbus captures a boy on the cusp of adolescence yet still playing with toys—but the object is a plastic grenade, an object of war' (Cascone, 2017).  The boy, Colin Wood was looked after by nannies and his parents were divorcing so he was quite angry and frustrated, 'years later he [Colin Wood] said of Arbus, ‘She saw in me the frustration, the anger at my surroundings, the kid wanting to explode but can’t because he’s constrained by his background’.' (Saatchi, 2021) This may be the context to the image and the boys' background but as a shoot the whole contact sheet tells more of a story.  In most these images the child looks happy, contented, relaxed, smiling and even posing for th camera. This is not what Arbus was after nad in the final photo the one that was to become a seminal image in the art world, Bree Hughes states; 'In this photo, his patience has worn thin, as if to say ‘take my photo already!' (Cascone, 2017).  I would argue that Arbus deliberately frustrated the boy to get the picture she really wanted.  Arbus on this occasion had;  'spent almost eight hours shooting the family, deliberately employing her ‘truth-by-exhaustion’ technique' (Saatchi, 2021).

Contact Sheet of Child with a toy hand grenade (1962) by Diane Arbus

This image was taken with a square format Rolliflex camera and around this time; 'Arbus stopped using her 35mm cameras in favor of a 2 ¼ twin-lens Rolleiflex.'  (Sothebys, 2016).  The square format became her style and suited the portrait images she wanted to take.  In the Sothebys catalogue the blurb states of this image; 'Arbus’s best images demonstrate the photographer’s uncanny ability to interact and empathize with her sitters, and in this photograph Arbus has entered the complex and brilliant world of the child with a vengeance.' (Sothebys, 2016) Again, I would argue that this is not entirely true, I do think that Arbus considered herself an outsider in society however, I don't think she always empathised with her subjects, as evidenced here she basically exhaused the boy till she got the image she wanted. Nick Tauro argues in a similar manner; 'this photo of a young boy playing with a toy looks positively unsettling. Perhaps that was her agenda all along. Possibly she knew full well that she could manipulate the viewer’s response.' (Tauro, 2017). This is interesting, as now we can start thinking about viewer response, so moving forward from photographer and sitter, we will examine the third person in the photograph the viewer. 

As a viewer of the image, I am looking at this through the lens of history, however in this particular image this could be a child playing inalmost anytime, the clothes and people give the time away somewhat.  This image now is considered a seminal image in the ouvre of Arbus however this was not always the case and Ingledew in his book 'Photography'; states 'One photographer interviewed for this book remembers Diane Arbus's prints - each now worth the value of a large house - being stuck up on a pinboard among the chaos of The Sunday Times art department for anyone to take home, so little were they valued.' (Ingledew, 2013) Our perception of what is valuable in artistic terms changes over time and at different times in history.  At the moment Arbus's work is considered very valuable as historical document, attitudes of the time and the mores of society in her time.  They are also valuable as they posit an ethical and moral argument about photgraphy.  Are we just the voyeaurs looking on, is Arbus making us voyeurs and these individuals are still essentially freaks to be looked at.  We now have reality TV whichis a modern voyeurism that is prolific.  Social media of course has made evryone into voyeurs of others lives and not always in a good way.  Did Arbus improve the lives of those she photographed or change people's attituse to those she photographed and to an extent she did by exposing people outside of society to those within it, she did make people think and consider their own attitudes.  I hope that it did contribute (whatever Arbus's intentions) make society more a more considerate, tolerent and diverse place for us to live in today.

References

Benson, L. (2023). What happens when an arts icon dies? [online] @FinancialTimes. Available at: https://www.ft.com/content/b932214a-4a2a-4acf-aa61-580c7d7d960e [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025].

Bunyan, D.M. (2012). Diane Arbus On Freaks. [online] Art Blart. Available at: https://artblart.com/tag/diane-arbus-on-freaks/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025].

Cascone, S. (2017). Revisiting Diane Arbus’s Most Famous Photo on Her 94th Birthday. [online] artnet News. Available at: https://news.artnet.com/market/diane-arbus-birthday-890000 [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025].

Ingledew, J. (2013). Photography Second Edition. London: Laurence King Publishing.

Saatchi, C. (2021). Child with a toy hand grenade in Central Park NYC, 1964. [online] Charles Saatchi. Available at: https://www.charlessaatchi.com/child-with-a-toy-hand-grenade-in-central-park-nyc-1964/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025].

Sothebys (2016). (#33) DIANE ARBUS | ‘Child with a Toy Hand Grenade in Central Park, N. Y. C.’ [online] Sothebys.com. Available at: https://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/a-beautiful-life-photographs-from-the-collection-of-leland-hirsch-n09835/lot.33.html [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025].

Tauro, N. (2017). Worth a Thousand Words: Diane Arbus. [online] Nick Tauro Jr. Available at: https://www.nicktaurojr.com/blog-1/2017/7/17/worth-a-thousand-words-diane-arbus [Accessed 28 Jan. 2025].

Creative Media: Test Shots and Planning

For my photography project, I had explored ideas and the one that I wanted to go forward with was similar to the Sunil Gupta images with the concept of a place and a portrait.  I was going to venture out to start photographing significant doorways as I had 5 in mind ready for this concept.  However, as it turned out Sunday was a rather miserable day in Leicester with high winds and rain! The rather gloomy shot below reminds me somewhat of Lowry with his industrial images!

Not to be too downhearted about this I did a few shots indoors as the portraits themselves would be domestic.  Here are my contact sheets below, I just did these on a 2 second timer and the settings were monochrome, F3.5, ISO 200, with no exposure compensation to begin. 

The shot of my own door was awkward as I was as far back as I could be in the very small corridor to my opposite neighbours.  My door will be in the as it is very important so this is the shot, but I will see if I can find a way to get the whole door...

The EXIF details for this shot were F3.5, ISO 800, Shutter Speed 1/60. Technically the shot is okay however I do need the whole door as stated.

The other shots were around medication, sleep and reading.  The reading shots did not work so I won't post any here - I wanted these to be at a different angle and closer up.  The sleeping is okay however again these will be reshot

The EXIF details for this shot were F3.5, ISO 1600, 1/20 shutter speed. My camera clearly was on auto ISO as it adjusted to a higher ISO as conditions were quite dull.  Therefore the shot is clear and sharp as it was on a tripod the shutter speed was unaffected by shake. I will reshoot in better light and with more consistent shots for the final images. 

The other shot I tried was the medication shot, This again is okay however I want to work on the angle and see if there is a better way to do this.  I chose this as the medication was in sharp focus - I had a choice between face or medication in focus..

The EXIF details on this image were ISO 1600, F3.5, 1/15.  Again, camera was on a  tripod so the image is sharp. The ISO adjusted to compensate for dull conditions.  I will now just mock up a final piece to see if this idea will work for the final images. 

This is a mock-up and here the door is safety, and the meds are stroke I like the concept and do think this will work - I will now start shooting the images I will use for the final images in the portfolio.  I liked the black canvas but I also tried this out on grey 

I will experiment further with final canvas and colour to see what will work best for final portfolio, I will also write out the concept to add to my website for presentation.