Project 2 – Exercise 2

This exercise states to record a real conversation, either with or without that persons permission. Before listening back to the conversation, write my account of the conversation. Then listen to the recording and make note of any discrepancies. Then reflect upon believability of re-enacted narratives and how this can be applied to constructed photography.

Answer the question: What do you learn from the conversation recording process and how can you transfer what you learned into making pictures?

 

My account:

I decided to record a conversation when my grandfather visited. There were basically two conversations happening at once. One between my father and grandad about rugby, with my boyfriend occasionally saying something to me, I think about the cats.

As this conversation was a few weeks ago, I don’t remember much other than subject matter, especially as I know virtually nothing about rugby. No-one was aware of the recording, as then I know I’m recording a real conversation.

The actual conversation:

I was correct about the conversation matter between my father and grandfather. They were talking about rugby training for his club. My boyfriend was tidying a room, so was mentioning to me about where things are, and how much more tidying needed doing. It also included me checking on my cats, as they were very warm with the summer heat.

Reflection:

I think this exercise kind of shows that narratives aren’t always as we remember them. Even the smallest inconsistency can change the bigger picture. I think in terms of photography, these re-enacted narratives may not be entirely accurate, even if we believe them to be, as memories may falter slightly, or change completely. Our imaginations can take over with certain things.

I’m not too sure about what I have learned from this and how I can apply this to photography. I guess it teaches us to be careful with our narratives that we are trying to make accurate, as it’s unlikely they’ll be as spot on as we wish for them to be. It means that with photography, we can take some liberties with creativity when trying to create re-enacted narratives. Things may have changed or be exaggerated, but I like the idea of exaggerations in these photographic narratives, as they typically can make them more interesting.

Project 2 – Exercise 1

This exercise asks us to take a look at Questions for Seller by Nicky Bird and reflect upon the following:

• Does their presence on a gallery wall give these images an elevated status?
• Where does their meaning derive from?
• When they are sold again (either from the gallery directly or on eBay again), is their value increased by the fact that they are now ‘art’?

I want to start by saying that I think questions for seller is an interesting project, and has given me an idea for my final assignment in a way.

I don’t believe their presence on a gallery wall should in theory give them an elevated status, because they are just family photos at the end of the day, ones that people didn’t want anymore. But because of the gallery wall, now adding to them as an art piece, I guess they do have some sort of elevated status. They’re the ‘chosen’ photos from this project and from eBay. Something must have drawn Nicky Bird to them, other than the lack of bids. They had some sort of importance or interest to Nicky, so would be elevated.

I think their meaning should derive from their original context, but due to them being unwanted photos with various reasons for being sold, we may never know their original context, such as who these people are. Meaning can be made from their new context though, their gallery status, collected together by one person.

Technically, the photos value shouldn’t increase. In very simplified terms, the photos were sold, put on display and then either stored or sold again. Nothing new has been added to them other than them now being considered by many to be part of an ‘art piece’. But to those who are interested in art, photography etc, their value will most likely increase. The moment something is considered art, it’s value goes up, which is how some things that many may not call art, can be called it.