6. Assignment One – Two Sides of the Story

Assignment One – Two Sides of the Story – Reflection on Reworking

After the conversation and feedback from my tutor I set about reworking this assignment to make it a little more dynamic and add in some alternative images, particularly for the argument supporting a bypass.

I tried to put images together which would give some balance to the argument and think I managed this well. I found that some of the images naturally paired up with one from the opposing side of the argument whilst others were more difficult to match up and so I did edit some of the captions to help tie them together more.

I think by removing some of the images of traffic in the argument for the bypass it has made the assignment more interesting to look through as there is now some variety. I also feel that the images of the campaigners on the Valley Walk have strengthened the argument against a bypass and again added more interest to the project.

Assignment One – Two Sides of the Story – Reworked Submission

Sudbury Relief Road

There has been a long running debate in the market town of Sudbury regarding the large number of HGVs which are driving through the town causing damage to medieval buildings, pollution and congestion. The proposal to address this issue comes in the form of a Western Bypass which will cut across countryside, including the local water meadows and farmland, and skirt the outer edge of the town.

In March this year a report was published entitled Sudbury Relief Road: Strategic Outline Business Case which details the issues and arguments surrounding the debate. The photographs below, set out in pairs, have been taken to support both the arguments for and against the building of the new road.

1/125 F7.1 ISO 100 @45mm
“Cars have to mount the pavement when HGVs pass.”

1/60 F5 ISO 100 @47mm
“Narrow country lanes, such as this one near Belchamp Water, will be gone if a bypass is built.”

1/200 F5 ISO 100 @105mm
“HGVs make congestion worse on Sudbury’s narrow streets.”

1/250 F8 ISO 100 @70mm
“The main route taken by HGVs from the A131 has little or no traffic at weekends and so should not affect tourism.”

1/125 F5.6 ISO 100 @67mm
“HGVs exacerbate the congestion issues in the town centre.”

1/100 F7.1 ISO 100 @32mm
“Local traffic and roadworks on almost every road in and out of the town centre create the majority of congestion in Sudbury.”

1/80 F7.1 ISO 640 @47mm
“Pollution from heavy traffic leaves buildings covered in black grit and dust.”

1/250 F7.1 ISO 100 @90mm
“The water meadows are a flood plain and much of them, including this part, are underwater during parts of the winter. A bypass across this land would not just ruin the view but have a knock-on effect on local wildlife in this unique ecosystem.”

1/100 F5.6 ISO 100 @35mm
“A local newspaper reports on recent developments in the planning for a new Sudbury bypass and how it will benefit the town.”

1/80 F6.3 ISO 100 @32mm
“The town centre has already lost shops which have moved out to the retail park on the edge of town. The construction of a bypass would lead to less through traffic and more shops moving out of town or closing.”

1/100 F5.6 ISO 100 @24mm
“Local MP James Cartlidge sen a letter to all Sudbury residents requesting they sign a petition in favour of a bypass.”

1/160 F6.3 ISO 800 @85mm
“Campaigners went out to meet members of the public who use the Valley Walk and meadows and ask them to sign their petition against the bypass.”

1/100 F5 ISO 100 @24mm
“This Strategic Outline Business Case was released in March 2017 to look at the feasibility of building a bypass to ease Sudbury’s traffic issues.”

1/200 F5.6 ISO 800 @24mm
“Campaigners on the Valley Walk are sharing information with the public and collecting signatures for their petition against the construction of a bypass.”

Assignment 1 Reworking – Documents

For the flip side of the bypass argument story my tutor suggested that I take some photographs of documentation in support of it to replace some of the images of traffic I have already taken. I took inspiration in the way I approached these images from Ann Collier’s blunt style and I think it has worked well. Taken under flash lights against a plain background, they are quite stark images which go well with the practicalness of the ‘for’ side of the argument.

Document wise, I decided to take photographs of the letter send by our local MP to all Sudbury residents, a local newspaper with a front page on the subject of the bypass and the case study report which was issued in March 2017.

Of these three images of the newspaper I prefer the middle one where the paper is sat at an angle on a landscape background. This makes it seem as though it takes up a bit more of the frame than the third image does and has a little more dynamic to it than the first. I think a little colour correction needs to be done if I use any of these images as there is a slight red tone to the background. Saying that, all the other images in favour of the bypass are in black and white so I may convert to monochrome. With regards to whether I would use these or not, I will need to have a look through the photographs I have ‘against’ the bypass to see if there is one it would partner well with.

I think this is my favourite of this set as I like the composition with the letter taking centre stage but the hand holding it giving it some human context. I have deliberately blanked out the name and address on the letter to give anonymity to it and make it seem even less personal. If I use the image then I will probably pair it with the photograph of the lady with her clipboard taken on the Valley Walk.

This image has a very similar composition to the one above though I don’t like it as much in portrait and am not keen on the envelope on the floor below. This could be easily cropped or cloned out though if I wanted to use this photograph.

This image would come a close second, I like the way the focus is all on the official heading of the paper and although the text of the letter is not in focus it is still readable.

This image is my least favourite of the document images I took although I feel with a little tweaking of levels and shadows it could work quite well to pair with the images of the petition against the bypass taken on the pasting table.

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Assignment 1 Reworking – Bypass Petition

Just before Christmas I saw a post on Facebook urging people who may not have signed the petition against the proposed bypass to come down to the Valley Walk (one of the areas which will be affected by construction) and put their name to it so I decided to take a wander down there and see if I could take any photographs which would be good for the reworking of my assignment.

When I arrived there were 3 people standing around a wallpaper pasting table with clipboards and their petition, they were approaching and chatting to the Sunday morning dog walkers and cyclists who were coming along the valley path. They were slightly suspicious of me with my camera to begin with but after asking a few questions and chatting to me about my motives they were happy for me to photograph what they were doing.

What struck me whilst I was talking to them was the difference in their approach to the issue in comparison to that of our local MP. They were warm, friendly and informative and were going out of their way to put their message across. If people weren’t interested in stopping then they were not pushy and when they came across people who were pro-bypass they listened politely to their views and discussed the issue rationally. Their personal approach is in almost direct contrast to that of the local MP who send out a standard letter to all Sudbury residents – on expensive House of Commons stationery – but has not been seen out and about answering questions. In fact, even in newspaper articles which he is quoted in, he does not seem to see the debate from both sides.

Unfortunately my usual camera was out of battery so I took my smaller and older Canon with me – I am a little out of practice at how to get the best out of it in manual mode and its auto mode has faults (generally that it wants to use the pop up flash but this doesn’t always work – besides, I am not keen on flash in photographs and I would rather use a higher ISO and keep the natural light quality). The autofocus was also playing up a little so I used manual focus – not always remembering this before I released the shutter! I did managed to take a few images I was happy with though and one in particular that I would like to use in my assignment rework.

Although I like the composition of this image I do not feel it has enough clarity to be used for my assignment. I have lightened the shadows on the image but daren’t take them up any further as then the photograph starts to lose quality. Also, in terms of the assignment, it doesn’t really tell its own story – it could just be a group of people stood around in the countryside if it were not for the table.

I like this pair of images too, the clipboard in the campaigner’s hands and her stance, particularly in the first image, implies that she is trying to inform the man she’s speaking to of something.

I really like this pair of images, they show the campaigner and what she is about – through the badge on her jacket and the clipboard and pen in her hands – whilst still giving her anonymity. I like the composition of the first image best although you can’t see the whole badge. In the second image the badge is completely visible and is a bright pop of colour against the dark coat. I may well make a composite image using these two in order to use the composition I like and the badge in its entirety.

The first of these two images has very poor colour tone due to shadows being cast over the petition and the information which the campaigners were showing to the public. A slight change of angle though and bright sunlight shines over the table giving a much nicer image. Though this image would undoubtably have looked better shot in landscape showing all 3 clipboards, I wanted to preserve the privacy of those who had signed the petition already feeling that it was not prudent to show their names and email addresses without their permission.

This image is very natural looking and I like the lens flare but without showing who the lady is talking to and with her badge being out of focus I don’t feel that it puts across anything about the debate.

Frustration

Today I made a trip to town in order to see if the Library or local newspaper offices had any archive information concerning the Western Bypass which I could photograph for my assignment reworking.

My first stop was to be the East Anglian Daily Times offices but when I arrived I found that they have now been turned into a gift shop/tea room! So I trotted down to the offices of the Suffolk Free Press only to find that they are no longer open to the public…

Next, I went to the library to see what information they might have, upstairs there is a research section with local information, microfiche machines and a computer on which you can research ancestry. The microfiche files looked promising, they were all from the Suffolk and Essex Free Press, but a quick glance at the indexing system showed that the files ranged from the mid 1800’s to early 1900’s so there would be no information there for me.

I did find a promising looking folder labelled ‘Historical Protests’ which started off with lots of newspaper cuttings and photographs detailing the protests which surrounded the proposed construction of a bypass across the water meadows in nearby town Bury St Edmunds by brewery giant Greene King. There were various protests and legal battles and and one point it looked as though the bypass would go ahead, the land was even marked out ready for construction to start! A last minute appeal was made by the protesters stating that it’s construction broke environmental laws and the planning permission was withdrawn. It was interesting to look through and should actual plans ever be submitted for Sudbury’s Western Bypass I imagine similar protests will occur.

Sadly the folder got less interesting and relevant from that point forward with the only other piece of vaguely local information in there regarding a Strawberry Fayre to be held in Cambridge (some 50+ miles away). It is fairly quiet, farmer’s country around here so it doesn’t surprise me that there were so few protests but I had hoped to find a little about the ongoing debate about whether Sudbury should have a new bypass or not.

With nothing relevant to my assignment to photograph today, I decided to take an image of the ‘Protests’ folder and its bypass victory article. I attempted to take the photograph in a style similar to that of Anne Collier but would have liked a little more of the table to make the background larger, something I could not achieve without standing on a chair (unadvisable in a public Library!). I like the blunt composition of the image though and the wonky plastic pocket at the top with its jumbled images – the reverse side of the newspaper stories which are important to the subject. This, I feel, helps draw attention to the important part of the image, the bottom article.

As I have managed to find so little in town and online, my next step is to contact the local newspapers by email and see if they can give me any further information. If I am unable to source anything from them then I will need to work with the information which I have already found online, eg the Case Report, Facebook discussions, etc.

On the plus side, I did manage to source a copy of a letter sent to all Sudbury residents of voting age from our local MP which I am intending on photographing, unfortunately I had thrown both copies which came to my address away!

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Assignment 1 – Formative Feedback

Overall Comments

A good start with lots to develop (as discussed) over the coming months!

Feedback on assignment

Rebecca Bain – 512434 Assignment 1 Context and Narrative

It is now mandatory for each OCA course to have its own learning log. I notice on your submission that you have several courses tabulated on your current site. I think your first job will be to rework you leaning log to contain only one course and all of the related exercises and research and reflection, etc.

Also, your horizontal menu bar at the top of the first page of your homepage must have some extra headings added or redesigned for better access to all of your material. Look at this example of a student LL and use similar headings for your next assignment submission: https://ocasjf.wordpress.com/ and https://dorakazmierakblog.wordpress.com/

You have chosen for this assignment to look at the two sides of a story which involves the proposed running of a bypass through your home town. This is obviously a potent subject, with feelings running very high on both sides and with high stakes regarding quality of life etc. for many involved. So, it’s a promising subject to pick.

There are several approaches that you could have taken. You have as you say ‘focused on the appearance or ‘look’ of the images’. You say ‘I think the photographs have good composition and are attractive to look at despite the dull subject matter’. My question to you would be why have you chosen this self-described ‘dull’ subject matter? As mentioned, this subject is one that clearly provoked much debate, with lobbying groups, demonstration, placards and signs all evidencing the feeling felt by the subject.

Did you consider including any of this material in your final assignment – or even in the supporting material? Remember that you can photograph pages of sketchbooks, log books and or diaries and include these in support of your ongoing research into your assignment subject.

As you move through this course, we will have regular skype discussions to go over your work and importantly to discuss potential ideas for any given assignment. It is very important before you begin any piece of work, that you consider and evaluate a number of different approaches and decide which one might work best. (You mention that you put one of your ideas out to the OCA photo students for discussion. Did you get helpful feedback?

Engaging with OCA forums is an excellent way to develop links, strengthen your own work and build up a useful support network. You should also begin to attend study days/visits when you can. Writing these up in the research and reflection section of your LL is an important way of showing that you can engage critically with the word of contemporary photography. These posts should be 500-100 words long and illustrated, where appropriate. If they are reviews of an artist’s work (as for example, is the case of your piece on British photographer Sarah Pickering, these should show that you have read around the artist’s work, (looking at writing by others on her work for example and Harvard referencing your sources) rather than solely proving your own personal opinion.

Student feedback:

‘I was unaware that each OCA course now needed its own learning log and have therefore created one for C&N and transferred across the work I have already completed. I have had a look at the example blogs suggested and will endeavour to set out my log in a similar fashion – it is currently a work in progress. It can be found here rbainocacontextnarrative.wordpress.com

You asked why I chose to include subject matter which I described as dull. My reasoning for this was that I was trying to produce a set of images taken from the point of view of each side with the idea that they could be used in a court style setting (as suggested in the coursebook) to show evidence for both sides of the argument. I found when shooting that it was far more difficult to capture varied and interesting evidence in favour of the bypass than I imagined it would be and ended up with lots of pictures of HGVs turning corners or stuck in traffic. I was unable at the time to think of a better way to portray that side of the argument but agree with you that by changing my approach somewhat, I can include a wider variety of images.

When it comes to the emotive side of the argument, despite the debate having begun originally some 30 years ago, it has not been constant – more something that rears its head every few years – and there have not been any demonstrations, etc and I have found very little older information online. I shall certainly take your advice and visit the local newspaper offices and the library to see if I can find some older articles about it, I had not previously considered taking photographs of photographs, articles and even debates on local pages on Facebook (where most of the debate seems to take place) to add interest to the assignment.

Moving forward I am going to try and rework the assignment to make it flow in a more storytelling fashion rather than presenting it in a court-based evidence style. I particularly like the idea of presenting the images in pairs rather than as 2 separate sets. I always try to post about my thoughts on an assignment before beginning it, detailing any ideas I’ve had and my reasoning behind which I’ve chosen, but had not thought about different ways I could approach the idea once picked. I am hopeful that in future this could help me produce more effective assignments and, at the very least, give me ideas of reworking them if they don’t quite turn out as expected.

I did put my ideas for A1 out to the OCA C&N group for advice and several people replied, the advice from most of them was that the bypass story seemed a good plan to choose for the assignment and though I had already mostly decided on this, theirs and your feedback encouraged me and I felt I’d made the right decision. I also found that looking through other student’s blogs gives me lots of inspiration, it is always nice to see how other people are working and to be able to compare my work with theirs. I was not aware that there are Facebook groups also and will try to find and connect with them.

Unfortunately, due to the hours I work (as a teaching assistant in a school so unfortunately I am unable to take days off during term-time) and my own childcare commitments, attending study visits is not something I am currently able to do. What might be an idea for me, going forward, is to take note of exhibitions mentioned as study days and trying to view online or in books or maybe research the artists instead. This may not have the same impact as going to view the images in person but I should be able to still spend some time looking into the images and the people who take them’

RB.

Photographs of Photographs

As part of the reworking of assignment one, my tutor has suggested that I replace some of the images in the argument for the bypass (which are, in my own words, dull in subject matter) with some of the more emotive parts of the argument in the form of reports, screen grabs and other documentation. I confess that I had not considered this as an option when I first set out to photograph the assignment as I assumed that I should only take photographs of ‘real’ things.

However, once a photograph is taken and printed, a report or letter is in hand or a newspaper is printed, it becomes ‘real’ and therefore why should I not take photographs of such things? In the past, for photograph challenges where you follow prompts (such as FMSphotoaday), I have taken photographs of books, letters and photographs which I have been very happy with but they are generally a little too arty, and not informative enough, for this kind of project. When taking a photograph of something which could be seen as fairly mundane I usually try and use an interesting angle or arrangement to make the image attractive but I don’t think that would work with formal documents and for the context of this assignment, something more serious would work better.

My tutor suggested that I take a look at the work of Anne Collier to see how she photographs books and photographs for some inspiration on how to approach the new photographs I am aiming to take. Though I thought that the images would probably be fairly contemporary I was quite surprised how blunt they actually are! The first site I clicked on was that of the Anton Kern Gallery which features several artists’ work, of which Anne Collier’s is one. Her photographs are stark and simple but this gives them great impact. Some of the photographs of books (almost blank pages with titles such as “Things I Want to Accomplish“, for example) are centrally placed on a plain white background whereas others have hands holding them open or, in the case of photographs, at an angle in the frame. This is a very different approach to taking photographs of books than the one I usually employ but I feel that it would be a good place for me to start for the reworking of my assignment.

Collier’s photographs of ‘found’ objects are usually taken against flat studio backgrounds and her composition of these items – record covers, magazine pages, appointment calendars, postcards – is very precise and reveals her interest in the media and popular culture of the 1960s, 70s and 80s (MoMA.org). Her choice of material and the way she presents it makes for thought provoking images in a world which has moved forward from the times when the reproductions she photographed were relevant.

I am not certain this very straight way of photographing images and documents is completely the approach I will use but the idea of photographing very simply, and also perhaps including hands in the frame holding something, appeals to me greatly. I think that by simplifying composition I can take images of the reports and newspapers linked to the bypass debate which will be more effective than if I concentrate more on adding props and making ‘beautiful’ images.

References

https://www.antonkerngallery.com/artists/anne_collier

https://www.moma.org/interactives/exhibitions/2012/newphotography/anne-collier/

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Assignment One – Two Sides of the Story – Reflection

I tried to approach this assignment with an impartiality to the subject that I did not necessarily feel and I think this has come across well in my photographs. Whilst researching the issues relating to the traffic in Sudbury I learned a great deal about both sides of the argument and had the opportunity to explore which of these were valid whilst I was out and about taking photographs.

I think the photographs have good composition and are attractive to look at despite the sometimes dull subject matter and only a couple of them required straightening or cropping to make them look as I wished. I applied a little editing to each, mainly in the form of haze removal and contrast adjustment, which I feel has made the images more striking to look at. Whilst it is not necessary for documentary photography to be attractive to look at, I feel that images which draw people in will be more effective when used as part of an argument.

To help make each set of images as convincing for its side of the debate as possible I presented them differently. I converted the photographs supporting the argument in favour of the bypass in monochrome. This was mainly to give the images a more gritty appearance, which I felt would help make the situation with the HGVs look more dire, but also to make them look more documentary-like and help viewers to focus on the positioning of the vehicles on the road and in relation to the buildings rather than on the buildings themselves. I chose to leave the photographs supporting the argument against the bypass in colour in order to show the landscape which will be affected to its best advantage. I think that this choice has worked well for both sets of images and makes them stand apart from each other whilst gelling the sets together.

As there is already a detailed report about the issues surrounding Sudbury’s traffic, and these photographs are presented as supporting information, I didn’t feel they needed lengthy descriptions and so just I gave each one a short caption. Whilst with some photographs it is more interesting to let the photographs speak for themselves, when a photograph is being presented to inform, a little information helps give it context.

There were some images I would have liked to include – a shot of the land which has been proposed as a site for the new road for example – which I was unable to capture, mainly because I am not tall enough! The countryside in Suffolk is very flat and whilst this looks beautiful to the eye, the camera condenses it all into a narrow band in the centre of the frame and doesn’t show it to its best advantage. There were also some parts of the argument – tourism, for instance, which was mentioned by both sides of the debate – which were difficult to represent, particularly in the set arguing against the new bypass, and so I chose not to include them. Despite these challenges I am happy with the images I have submitted and think that, in the main, I have achieved what I set out to with the photographs.

The links below will take you to the posts I made whilst working through the assignment:

Assignment One – Two Sides of the Story – Original Submission

Sudbury Relief Road

In March this year a report was published entitled Sudbury Relief Road: Strategic Outline Business Case which details the issues and arguments surrounding the debate. The photographs below have been taken to support both the arguments for and against the building of the new road.

For:

1/125 F7.1 ISO 100 @47mm
“HGVs passing too close to overhanging buildings cause damage.”

1/200 F7.1 ISO 100 @73mm
“HGVs will often take up the entire road in narrower places.”

1/200 F5 ISO 100 @105mm
“HGVs pass too close to old buildings causing much damage.”

Against:

1/250 F7.1 ISO 100 @90mm
“The water meadows are a flood plain and much of them, including this part, are underwater during parts of the winter.”

1/250 F11 ISO 100 @24mm
“A bypass across this land would not just ruin the view but have a knock-on effect on local wildlife in this unique ecosystem.”

1/50 F4 ISO 100 @60mm
“Whichever route the new bypass was to take, it would need to cross The Valley Walk thus spoiling a popular attraction and recreation area.”

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Assignment One – Contact Sheets

After getting out and shooting over the course of 3 days (a weekday afternoon, a weekday rush-hour and a Saturday afternoon) I weeded out the unfocussed images and those which I didn’t feel worked in any way at all and I was left with these. By putting the images on these contact sheets I found it much easier to look through and compare them to see which images work well and which don’t. This is the first time I have sorted through my images in this way and I found it particularly useful to put notes on some of the photographs and to be able to group them together depending which side of the argument they were taken to portray.

Against:

For: