Further Perambulating Thoughts (Which might be becoming circular)

About halfway in to my perambulation project I was still considering ways to show this project. Back then I was unsure how it would turn out and struggling to think of unique and innovative ways to show the results. While I like many of the photos a lot there are just as many that I am indifferent to or I don't think are really very good. There are also not in everyone's eyes Fine Art, In fact I would say that in my mind without the context of my postcard work and reasons for undertaking the project in the first place they would not be Fine Art. However this could be said of many things and is in fact a completely different, huge and highly contentious issue.

Back when I started I didn't think I wanted to show the entire project on gallery walls. There are a lot of images to show! I can't even think about the price in framing them all (and I would have to show them all), let alone find a space that could show all 300 odd. Maybe I could just show a few of the better ones but that then impinges on the truth I have created of these works and project and that upsets me.

Obviously I needed some way to be able to show them all. I've considered film or AV and I may indeed do this but with both I control the speed at which people view them. So with uniform speed images I only ever glance at are lingered on more than I would and images I would want to examine more closely are sped over. I could make the decision which images you should look at for longer and since it's my truth of this area I have that right, I just don't want it. Again it's a manipulation of the truth of the place and that truth is distorted enough.

However why not make a book? The viewer chooses how long to look (granted still messing with the truth of the place but at least it's not me this time), there is something nice in owning it on paper, I can write and contextualise the works. There is one stumbling block, keeping costs down. To keep costs down I will have to make the printed images small, maybe even putting four on a page. For some of the images this wouldn't bother me but there are some that I really feel need more size and space. 

Maybe the above arguments are rubbish and I won't be able to avoid imposing my own will on what photos should be viewed differently from the rest. I will also be removing the images from further afield taken because I was on holiday, Strictly looking back on them now I have to say they are not part of this project. Maybe this is also the wrong decision and I should include all images, make a point of the distortions in the “truth” and go on from there.

Frankly until I start designing it I have no idea how it will turn out. I get the feeling that strict date ordering is going to be difficult as a mix of portrait landscape is always hard. Staying within the 80 page limit is also going to be tricky, even with the removals, 4 on a page will use up 75 pages. And I will need a page/half a page for text. I have to say I am still unsure about this, even just by writing this entry I keep finding holes in my decisions, however I'm at the point where none of these questions can be answered by postulating here. Only by starting the work and seeing how it goes will I get more the information I need.

This entries pictures are 7 of MY favourite landscape orientation images from the past year.

Perambulating my thoughts on Perambulation

It has been a couple of weeks since my final photograph for my Perambulation Project and I have been reflecting on a years worth of imagery.

6th October 2010

Looking back through the blog posts I made about this project and the goals I set myself way back in my first post on this project (http://noblueskies.blogspot.com/2009/12/well-since-cardiff-i-have-hardly-gone.html). I have come to a number of conclusions.

1. Doing this as a way to improve my fitness.
   Well yes, I would say that was a success. While I won't be running any marathons I did extend the length of my walks on occasion to over 2 hours (walking from Crowthorne to Wokingham) and while on my recent holiday to Southwold walked almost non stop for many of the days, covering over 6 miles a day, 4 days in a row with no worse symptoms than stiff and achy muscles. You might say that's not much, but for me it is what I wanted and what I expected from 9 months of nothing more than short relaxed walks each day.
   
   
2. Exploring my local area.
   Well I've certainly done that, I know more about the fields and woods and other nature spots and footpaths around my area than I ever did before. I've learnt more about flora and fauna, especially with regards to butterflies and dragonflies so I can identify them for posting to Flickr. I have however left out a huge chunk with regards to the urban and suburban areas, with the simple reason being that nature interested me more and I found more things to photograph.
   
   
3. Creating a truthful representation of a place
   Now that is a tricky one. To answer that question I have to go back to my blog post of (http://noblueskies.blogspot.com/2010/02/truth-is-out-thereunder-bush-or.html). I came to the conclusion that it was impossible to give a entirely truthful representation of a place because the photographs taken and chosen are taken and chosen through the lens of my own personal experiences, knowledge and interests. They can only create my truth of an area or subject. Many of the rules I set myself were useful to maintain a truthful representation but they were still too broad, leaving me a huge range of places to visit and images to capture. I didn't realise that this broadness would harm the initial idea at first, in fact it was really only after I had spent all autumn and winter doing it and started moving to new areas because I was finding it hard and a little boring to make the same few walks every week. I also didn't want to photograph the same things day after day, the change would not be obvious and the photos become monotonous.
   
   
   On one hand I am right with that last statement and on the other I am wrong. I do think that the same image day after day would have been monotonous but as a project trying to show the truth to a place I think it would have been well, more truthful.
   
   I think what I have done is create a representation of a place. I don't think photography can ever give a truthful representation of a place no matter how many rules and restrictions you set yourself. I think the next project as I have outlined below will give a representation of a view, I think it will be more truthful of that view than the Perambulation project was of it's place and it seems right to push the idea in that direction and see what conclusions I make from this experience.

4th October 2010

Other things I've learnt are that it is really difficult to keep these things going and find the time to go for a walk everyday. Especially when I was really busy with the elephant and most recently with my internship. Being busy has led me to have to taken walks outside of my directly local (to my home) area and have taken them nearer to work. I have also often had to shorten them to save time.

22nd October 2010

So what about the future of this and the next project.

Well I would like to create a book with the original series. I need to investigate more and see when it would cost me money to do so. But if it happens I'll let you know. Even with it's flaws in the end the Perambulation Project is still showing MY truth of the place and I do want to share that with people.

21st October 2010

I will also not be entirely giving up with my walks. I will still take them when I feel like and when I have time and I will still be taking my camera with me. One thing I have learnt is that it's really improved my photography skills just doing this project and I want to continue to get better and better. What will happen is that photographs will go up when I have them to show you, it will no longer be regular and I may not mention it. You will need to follow me on Flickr to be sure to see new ones :). I also have a few ideas for further alternative photographic and otherwise projects that will require a few walks of testing before I reveal all.

17th October 2010

Finally, as I was saying, I don't think that the idea of trying to find the truth of a place has entirely run it's course yet, as such I propose a new photographic journey!
But this time with more rules.

1. As before I will not edit the photographs in post production apart to crop and resize them for the internet.
   
2. I will have the camera set to Scenery Mode every time. I will use either cloudy or sunny white balance settings, whichever is appropriate for the weather conditions.
   
3. I will go out no matter the weather.
   
4. I will go to the same place every week and take a photograph of the same view.
   
5. I will go out weekly. I decided to make it weekly as daily seemed just unfeasible from a life point of view, especially with the increased restrictions. I also don't feel that the area I am thinking of using will change too much over the course of a week. There would certainly be things I would miss but that is still true if I went out daily.
   
6. I will go out on Saturdays at 12pm. I can bend this rule only if life conspires to upset me. If so then I must go on a walk as near to Saturday as I can and It must be at 12pm.
   
7. I will attempt to do this for a year

Additionally I may take extra midweek photos, as I can foresee interesting weather and events may occur but not hang around long enough to catch on a Saturday. But they might not end up in the project officially, at best they may act as added extra, appendix or special feature or something.

10th October 2010

Well that's it really, last thing to mention is that the photographs in this entry all come from the last few weeks of Perambulation. Including a very fluky shot of a double rainbow with caught lightning bolt.

Anyone got any questions?

19th October 2010