Neoteric Photography aims to explore photography in an age where the image is everywhere. The image has become prolific yet easily forgotten. Hoping to find something to hold onto, something that will survive longer that it takes for pixels to appear upon a screen.
The first half of this project was static with the doors where I waited patiently for the sun. This second half are the actions that go with this, to achieve the original concept.
Here I set my DSLR camera on a tripod and unfortunately, I had left my remote at work so it had to be just using 2 and 10 second self timer which was more time-consuming and a little more restrictive. The camera was set on 200 ISO as in most of my flat the light was good due to the sun and I have a wide open aperture F4 to begin. All images were in black and white and portrait.
I chose my Sunday morning actions as these are rituals and I stick to these religiously as one should on a Sunday!
I created the contact sheets in Photoshop and I just needed then to think about how I would place my images together.
Here are a few images from the shoot that I think will work
I liked this one with just my hands, the images in the kitchen were the worst lighting as it was mixed light and there is limited space.
I liked this one in the bedroom I think the light and the exposure are good and it may work well in the final work
I like this out of focus shot all the action fall to the background as it moved out of focus I may play with this shot and see how I might pair this.
I now have all the shots, I still would have probably shot all these again but limited time means I do need to complete this now so my next post will be finalising and adding these to the website.
After much rewriting and proofreading I have completed the final chapbook, 'The Pelican Case'. I changed the order of chapters and rewrote the original chapter two completely. I am still not convinced that I have told this story well and I do think it needs work, so for the moment it is compleet for this part but I will revisit later.
I have now uploaded as per the mock-up to FlipHTML5 and created a flipbook I then embedded this into my website just by clicking on the 'Add' tool and choosing 'Embed' I then aligned and used transform controls to put this in the correct place on the new page I had created on Wix.
I then added a title, an introduction and a back to portfolio button so this was easy to navigate. The book should full page however I was having a few issues with this so I will try to embed again to make sure this this works.
I then added the front image for the portfolio page and link with the button
This project is now complete and uploaded so I shall keep testing and just move my domain over to this site so I can publish...
As the flipbook was not opening on the desktop view when you clicked on the fullscreen I added a small note to ensure people knew to click on the arrow to get a fullscreen book
I also tested the mobile view, the fullscreen seems to work on this any way, everything else seemed to be correct I just needed to adjust the book container size and then adjust the footer on this page I saved this and published again
I checked everything on my mobile to ensure that everything worked and I made minor adjustments to the text as some of this was larger on my mobile than on mobile view and did not correctly fit the page.
Overall I think this now looks good on both mobile and desktop view and it should be just minor tweaks before the deadline for this term.
Today, finally, the sun was shining and I was ready to take the first half of my photography project. The idea here is that I wanted to take pictures of significant doors, these are doors that matter that I have walked through, sat in, lived through, doors that changed things, doors that live inside me. I needed the doors...
I set my camera at 200 ISO, on aperture priority as I was wandering about I needed to capture the doors without people or interference, some of the doors had changed, one was under construction (or perhaps deconstruction). I shot in both colour and black and white however in my mind I saw them in black and white.
Now my eyesight is not as good as it used to be I find the images hard to see once I have taken them on the screen so it is a bit like when I started I am unsure how well they have come out until I sit and process them.
On my sojourn this morning, in the sunlight, I spoke to two young men from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, talking about God and belief and they invited me to their church on Sunday, I then took some more photos and wandered to the health shop where he man in the shop when I was buying a bag for my healthy vegan treats said that the reason they are called handbags is because after battle the hands of men would be collected by women in the bags and this is how they knew the number of the dead. I checked this out and this is apparently true, they actually used to cut them off as it was easier to just carry the hands. I knew handbags were a little sinister!
I wandered home past the Hare Krishna people singing and the preacher, preaching and I was glad that I live somewhere so diverse, in a democracy where we can have the freedom that we have.
I then added my images to a file on my desktop and On Photoshop created contact sheets
I wanted them all to be portraits as the other half of this project is the self-portraits that I will complete shortly that go with the doors.
Here are some of the images that I think will work well
This first image, is now, my own place, I have a wide aperture, shutter is quite slow as it was in shade so I overexposed by +7 - this worked quite well and the image is sharp.
I have never been in this place but I know this door, it is a shadow of another image a very long time agon in this door, I was smoking a cigar and sitting in this doorway, it was night and the scrapes to wall were prominent and dark. This image is slightly soft and I will need to check for a sharper image, again slightly overexposed as it was in the shade and the shutter is slow which is why the slight blur, I will check other images however may reshoot this one.
I lived here when I was a student, herthe light was good and very slight over exposure but I wanted the deepness of the door , the damage the battered heart
Here again the light was good, I underexposed to add more depth. This door is contentious as I was unsure which was the original door on this street, it was to my solicitors when I got divorced - they are not there now - but neither am I.
This door to The Rutland and Derby has many connotations, for me, but now it is under construction - I think all the doors are consistent and will work together but I will work through these carefully to ensure I choose the best shot for each.
This the first half - soon I will complete the second and I will see if my idea will work.....
Today we are just updating the website, I will add all my updates here. I will also be adding a new portfolio page for my project in Art Portfolio One.
I began by updating the copyright from 2024 to 2025. I did this by clicking on copyright text and just adjusting the number. I then saved and republished
I then checked all my social links were working and did not need updating - I need to remove X from my site which I will do.
I then checked my Home, Portfolio, About and Contact page. I was happy with these and they all work well and I have buttons to navigate back home and back to portfolio, I also checked these in the mobile view and everything is working including back to top button.
I the needed to add a new image to front portfolio page. To do this on Wix, I clicked on the add button in the tools menu. I then clicked on upload image. Once this was uploaded, I clicked on 'add to page' and then I positioned this carefully using gridlines and the tranform controls
I then added a new page for my project for this term. Therefore I clicked 'pages and menu' and then clciked on 'new page'. I then clciked into teh box and changed the name to my project title. I made sure the box was underneath the portfolio page. I then clicked on the three dots at the end of the box and clicked on 'subpage' in the dropdown box. Next I went back to my main portfolio page. I went to the 'add' button in the tools menu and then to 'button', I then customsed the button to match the others on the page and used the same font which was 'Playfair Display Bold' . Lastly, I clicked on button and using the link icon, a dialog box opens and I chose the page (my new page) that I wanted it to link to.
I then saved all my changed, I republished. Then I checked that the button worked live.
I then went to my blank page that I just created and I am going to add a title, introduction and back to portfolio button and I will add a box for film
I began by ading the title I did this by clicking on the 'add' button and the text and choosing 'Heading 1'. I then ensured the the text was in the same font 'Playfair display' I changed the size to fit the page appropriately to 64pts. I then aligned the text to the centre using the gridlines.
I then repeated this process abvove and just added a 'paragraph' to the page - this will be where I add the introduction to my project.
The last things I need to do were to add the 'gallery' and a 'back to portfolio' button. I clicked on the 'add' button tools menu and I chose 'Music and video' I then chose the youtube box which I dragged into my page. I then added my video from YouTube by using the embed/share link. I then added another button by clicking on 'Add' and then 'Button', I chned the text to 'Back to Portfolio' and I clicked n the link and in the dialog box chose the page I wanted it link to which was 'Portfolio'.
I then saved all my changes and republished. I then previewed andchecked everything work. I was happy with these changes - this is now ready for final work.
I was going to complete further research on Hermann Nitsch however I felt he was perhaps too controversial and some may have had issues with the blood and rituals. Therefore I thought about a work by Carolee Schneemann, I went to the exhibition at the Barbican that is discussed in the film below.
As with all performance art it is difficult to discuss as the live performance is now over and we just have the films of these performances, so the visceral quality, the response will be different when viewing on a screen.
Schneemann was feminist and worked as the film stated for 50 years exploring body politics, women's rights and sexual desire. One of her pieces was a record of sexual parameters from the viewpoint of a woman and this recorded - this record or survey as Schneemann wrote; 'This survey does not meet strict scientific standards, it is subjective and impressionistic information presents a range of sexual experience to establish a basis for exemplary erotic expression' (Schneemann, 2003) This is a free expression by women of their sexual experience and response to it, this work was made in 1971 where women still did not have equality and certainly not sexual equality. A woman's body is still today objectified however the strides made by feminism are being reversed as although now women talk very openly about women's issues and their bodies, the rise of technology once again, has made their bodies into a battleground as the selfie and perfect image of themselves has become, for some, an obsession to now quiet unattainable standards. Also, social media and campaigns like the #metoo campaign has turned many younger men off feminism, Ethic magazine online states; 'Many social scientists agree that an increasing number of young men are mired in discomfort, in a crisis that challenges their identity, self-esteem and the value of their interpersonal relationships.' (Perez, 2024) Some now believe that women's rights has gone too far and that now men are becoming victims or being actively discriminated against. All of this is a serious concern as in fact women are still losing rights and the reversal of Roe vs Wade (1973) was a great victory for women and rights over their bodies this has now been reversed.
What Schneemann fought for her whole life was for women to have rights over their bodies and as she stated when asked 'Do you feel women are under siege?' she answered 'Constantly endlessly. Our 'siege' is privileged: we are under siege but able to observe, comment, criticize.' (Schneemann, 2003:202) this means as Western women, now there are many places where women do not have this privilege.
I realise I have not spoken of individual works in detail, as I said this is quite difficult to do as it is complex and I don't think I would fully do Schneemann justice here, I do think speaking of her overriding message in her works is the most important. I will discuss Eye Body: 36 Transformative Actions for Camera, 1963. This was like a living painting, I like this work as embodies performance, painting and photography and the materiality of these images interest me. Schneemann stated she wanted to work with her own body and 'I wanted my actual body to be combined with the work as an integral material - a further dimension of construction' (Schneemann, 2003:55).
Schneemann created this work 'as if in a trance' she wanted to experience; 'the flesh as material I chose to work with' (Schneemann, 2003:55). She stated that the only other artist who was making body art like this at this time that she knew was Yoko Ono. This work was to take back control of her body, her work. She did not want to be like a man but as she states that she wrote; 'my creative female will' (Schneemann, 2003:55) needed expression and these are transformative actions that she wanted to create to show her female will, her force, her work.
Through Schneemann's work, I still feel the force of her creative will and it always inspires me to remember that inside me I have my creative will and it should be bold and forceful and whenever voices tell you that it goes too far perhaps it hasn't gone far enough, art, now more than ever, needs to be forceful and to respond and reflect the times we find ourselves in.
References
Barbican Centre (2024). Carolee Schneemann: An Introduction. [online] Youtu.be. Available at: https://youtu.be/DZKYHeJYD7I?si=VqBF6GqY3R-hbQTJ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2025].
Carolee Schneemann Foundation (n.d.). Carolee Schneemann Foundation. [online] www.schneemannfoundation.org. Available at: https://www.schneemannfoundation.org/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2025].
Schneemann, C. (2003). Imaging Her Erotics : essays, interviews, Projects. First ed. Cambridge, Mass.: The Mit Press.
Perez, L. (2024). Why Antifeminism Is Spreading Among Gen Z - Ethic. [online] Ethic. Available at: https://ethic.es/english/why-antifeminism-is-spreading-among-gen-z/ [Accessed 23 Feb. 2025].
Today in this workshop I will be creating a concept board and front cover for my project this term, I will be doing this in Photoshop.
I have opened Photoshop, and I will start by making a canvas I did this by just clicking on 'File' in the top menu and 'New', I then clicked on Print in the top menu of the dialog box and then I chose A4/A3 in portrait orientation I checked it was 300 resolution and it had a white background. I then clicked 'create'
I then wanted to add an image as the background for my cover/concept board. I chose an image from imsplash, downloaded as teh largest size. I then went back to Photoshop and clicked on 'File' in the top menu and then 'Open' I then selected the image by clicking on 'Select' in the top menu and then 'Select All' I then clicked on 'Edit' in the top menu and 'Copy' and then I went back to my canvas and clicked 'Edit' and then 'Paste'. I then used transform controls to pull the image over my canvas and completed it by clicking on the move tool in the tools menu.
My next step was to add text so I clicked on the 'T' tool in the tools menu. I then clicked on the canvas and changed the font that suited my collection the case of the design board and a different font for the bookcover.
Design Board font was Georgia at 72pts for the title and 48pts for the subtitle.
The Book Cover was Bell MT 36pts for title and name
I used the move tool and gridlines to get these into the correct position.
I then added an image and began writing my concept for the collection using the same font and consistent text. I also could add a logo here.
Will add an image when back in the Digital Arts room!
With the book cover, I saved this as a PSD and jpeg file onto my desktop. I then opened Google Docs and opened a new file. I went to insert the image and uploaded it onto my first page. I then went to the second page, went to the bottom, and added the copyright. I added the copyright symbol by clicking on insert in the top menu and then special characters and then I searched for the copyright symbol.
I also added page numbers by going to format in the top menu and then in the box I unclicked show on the first page and chose the footer for the page numbers.
I then left a blank page and on the next page I added the text . On the last page, I added picture credits.
To finish I have completed a mock-up of my FlipBook
