'Salesman'

I am on a roll so I may as well keep posting... I just need to talk about these guys once more. Albert and David Maysles released the documentary 'Salesman' in 1969 and it follows the working lives of 4 bible salesman travelling across New England and Florida. It provides a fascinating insight into the stresses and struggles involved in this particular line of work.

I have loved watching documentaries since I was about 15/16. Some are better than others and it of course depends on the subject matter and how they are made, but the whole concept and idea behind documentaries themselves, fascinates me immensely.

At a time when cameras and video weren't as popular as they are now, watching these men behave and communicate amongst themselves and customers fills me with endless curiosity.
I feel comfort in hearing these men confide in each other and behave they way they do. The challenge and effort involved in negotiating with everyday people seems a task that requires the patience of a saint. These men sell bibles door to door all the while their boss is breathing down their neck wielding a no nonsense attitude and accepting no "excuses" or "alibis".

Personally, there's nothing I like more than spending hours sitting looking through piles of old photographs from my childhood and also members of my family's childhoods. Video footage of my mum and dads childhood doesn't exist due to lack of technology, but I find pleasure in viewing footage they both filmed during the 80s when they first met and up until their marriage. I love how I can experience life before I was born through these home videos.

I suppose this all ties in with my interest in documentaries. Especially documentaries as old as 'Salesman'. There are many factors about this particular documentary that I like: the fact it is in black and white, the mens clothes, the interaction between the men and potential customers, the ability to observe how life was like in that day and age (e.g. without advanced technology, TV, mobile phones etc.) and finally the connection the Maysles brothers have made with the salesmen and people on film.
Albert Maysles has a belief that whilst making a documentary, the person behind the camera, the person in charge of capturing moments on film - has this responsibility to record reality in it's purest form possible. As if the camera isn't even there. Trust has to be established. The bond between humans has to be there, otherwise the intent and purpose of the documentary begins to fade. The link I shared in my erstwhile post shows Albert Maysles explain why he makes documentaries, why he loves it and why his passion for it has remained since his first project in 1955, based around a mental institution in Russia. He talks of the trust and comforting energy he emits when meeting people he is going to later document. I spoke earlier of Maysles and his belief that the trust and bond between himself and his subject is the first step on the right path to a strong documentary.

I will post the link to 'Salesman' below.

Albert Maysles

I chose this guy as one of my six practitioners for my Location Photography unit. I love the attention to detail in his photography and the fact he takes the time to get to know his subjects, even though this connection is brief he creates a bond a certain level of trust that allows the people he meets to act natural and behave in an open way in front of Maysles' camera. 

I watched this clip of Maysles giving a talk on documentaries. This interested me and ignited a desire in me to explore the world of making documentaries and how they are made. 

My recent exposure to editing in iMovie with clips I have filmed on my camera is part of this ongoing interest in video.

Here is the link to Albert Maysles presentation!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJhH3jDFeOU

New Year in Amsterdam

We caught our 5.00pm flight out of Newcastle on Monday the 29th of December. Christmas was the warm up match, preparing us for the main event...
The prospect of spending 4 days over new year, in a beautiful city, with great company and a multitude of places to visit and things to do was an intense thought!

I had came equipped with my camera, sketchbook and notebook along with intentions of documenting our trip particularly with the two on-going units: Location photography and Observational Drawing still in the works.
I believed this holiday would prove a beneficial opportunity for me. This was definitely the case as we swiftly began our routine of a coffee and smoke at Rick's Cafe on our first morning. These few hours each morning allowed me to pull out my sketchbook, relax and take the world in as it passed by through the window in front of us.

Me on the left and Jake on the right. Photograph taken by Calum

I felt very productive and realised this ritual we had taken to each morning was essential if I were to emerge from the Netherlands with any observational material at all. I didn't take as many photographs as I thought I would. I felt as if seeing too much through the lens would affect how I saw things with my own eyes. Plus the camera I own is pretty poor in the dark and this was the time when Amsterdam looked its best, especially around this festive period.

I did record some footage of our trip. I'm starting to really enjoy working with video and capturing places people and areas on film. I have this belief that my mind subconsciously attaches emotions and memories to things that pass me by first time around. It's not until I review the footage later on then I recognise faces or objects that I thought I'd never noticed; but I really did. 

Noise and audio are things that attract me to video and editing. Our brains want to make sense of things, and when you are watching for example a short film with music, and background audio from the video you might find yourself piecing together what you see, with what you hear. I can't speak for everyone but this is definitely how I feel!

iMovie has allowed me to manipulate sounds and images to create a visually intriguing experience that questions the intent and reason for it's existence - this is what I want!

I collated clips I had recorded over the 4 days including - Calum reading from Jack Kerouac's 'On The Road', footage of passing foot traffic, Jake rolling a joint, Calum writing, and various others. I was struggling with whether to keep the film instrumental or add a track with lyrics. I saw a film 'Wish I was Here' a couple of months ago and a short song by Aaron Embry 'Raven's Song' was featured on the soundtrack. After much deliberation I realised that this song was a good fit!
So, below is a link to what I came up with. I tried to pay attention to Embry's lyrics and kept in mind what images were visible at the times where he was singing. 

This took me a solid hour. There are things about it I feel should be changed, the length is perfect I think, not too long and the amount of clips used are suitable regarding the different verses in the song.

I bought him a coffee for posing

I mentioned that I took along my sketchbook and pencils on the trip, this was a great decision! Whenever we fancied a coffee or were tired from exploring, I grabbed my sketchbook form my rucksack and begun. I adopted a technique of loosely sketching figures, street signs, coffee cups, faces, railings, electronic signs, trams, pavements, backs of heads, hands, beards, hairlines, lips, and anything that caught my eye or looked even a little interesting.

Doing this was therapeutic. I knew whilst drawing I was contributing to my Observational Drawing unit and this made me happy, but it was more than that, each time I drew a line accurately or glanced up then back down and realised that my drawing actually does look a little bit like what I'm drawing was great! I thought "Huh, maybe I am getting the hang of this drawing thing.."

Unfortunately, due to lack of planning and huge queues we were unable to get into the Van Gogh Museum. This was disappointing, but I am planning a solo trip to Amsterdam in the summer and so with a little forward thinking I should be able to book tickets for a tour and nose about.

I have found that a change of environment works wonders for productivity. I felt I had freedom, as if there were no shackles or irrational social boundaries to contend with.

With more drawings to add to my Observational Unit, I can power ahead with others I have half finished, and polish off annotation etc. Also, photographs I have taken may be eligible for submission regarding my Location Photography unit.

Progress with iMovie

Over the last few months since we began our Location Photography and Narrative Image Making units, I have been randomly filming people in and around our class. I had no idea what I would use these short clips for in the beginning, but after getting to grips with iMovie I discovered a whole number of possibilities regarding editing.

My first initial attempt at a short movie was put the music of Pink Floyd and their song 'Us and Them' I realised an immediate connection with the lyrics and the people in the clips I had recorded.
With no plan or any idea what was my beginning, middle and end I just began sifting through the material I had recorded.

Listening to the lyrics closely I tried to arrange certain clips that may look or sound relative to the words being sang and sort of worked from there.

Below is a link to the video!

Learning a lot from this experience with iMovie I discovered the amount of layering that was possible in the editing process.

I had another look at all of my clips and decided to have another shot. Last night I spent 2 hours finishing off another movie with some of the same clips as my first. I found a lot of sound clips and transitions within iMovie I wanted to use, but this meant straying from the dramatic atmosphere I was wanting to create! So I decided not to take it too seriously and start playing around more!

This is what I came up with!

The Truth Booth

I discovered an interactive, travelling exhibition named 'The Truth Booth' whilst reading about Art Basel in the Guardian. The annual art fair is held in Miami Beach and it's 13th year kicked off on the 3rd of December. I followed live updates from the US Guardians' two art critics - Jason Fargo and Alex Needham. They had access to all of the exhibits dotted around Miami Beach and had the opportunity to speak briefly to artists whose work was on display. Art Basel is comprised primarily of modern and contemporary art, boasting interactive installations varying from sleeping experiments to make-shift walls where visitors are encouraged to contribute their own creative mark (below)

The Truth Booth is an intimate exploration into everyday peoples take on 'the truth'. The exterior is a cartoon speech bubble that invites exhibit go-ers inside where they sit down, fit a microphone and express themselves. 

Their image is captured via video recording along with their account of 'the truth' and compiled for their website - http://www.insearchofthetruth.net/wp-insearchofthetruth/the-artists/

The whole concept of this travelling exhibit had my complete attention as soon as I discovered it. I love the idea of allowing people to interact with art exhibits. Instillations are something I would like to pursue within my own work and it's finding out about things like the Truth Booth that encourage me to explore my own ideas further.

Here is a short video I found on YouTube documenting the Miami Beach art fair - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QWbjTLffSys

What struck me was, that even though Art Basel is over a couple of days, the amount of art pieces even in this 5 minute video is quite a lot. Events like Art Basel fuel my desire to visit such places, but I can't help but feel I wouldn't have enough time to experience them all in the short space of time they are there.

Either way I'm loving reading about all the contributors and their work. Plus the whole thing has given me bits of inspiration as to how my own future projects may go!

Life Drawing

Here is a great video of painter and life drawing teacher Jake Spicer talking about drawing in general and his passion and views on how it is a positive exercise. I found the link on Artist and Illustrators Facebook page.

After 2 months of attending life drawing lessons myself I can appreciate what he is saying and completely agree with his take on it all.


http://www.artistsandillustrators.co.uk/news/unknown/1273/video-why-i-love-drawing-by-jake-spicer

The Mermaid

I recently drew up some small, rough sketches depicting the story given as part of our Narrative Image Making unit. After being drawn to storyboards whilst researching and developing ideas for my final piece, I managed to condense the short story down to 9 scenes following the plot and the various characters.
The idea was to enlarge each scene up to A4. By doing this I was able to adjust lines and essentially make each image clearer and much more distinct.

Nearly all scenes are unfinished, except for the first one and although these are more detailed than my smaller studies, they still need a lot of work! I plan to add colour, additional objects and general detail on Photoshop. I'll need to scan them all in and just continue adding the characters who are absent from these drawings. I figured I'll be able to do a better job creating them digitally rather than with my own hand! You might notice scene 3 being re-used for scene 6, the reason for this is I quite like the perspective it has on the end of the boat and leaves room for me to add waves and the mermaid on Photoshop. Plus scene 3 is when the skipper decided to throw a herring at the mermaid, and scene 6 is when Donald witnesses the mermaid disappear under the water once he had thrown his herring in, I felt it made sense to retain that perspective and angle especially when both scenes are focused on the mermaid. Again I must stress that these drawings are very rough! Every time I look at them I can see them evolving into the final stages and this excites me, I am pleased that at this stage I'm maintaining momentum and continuing to develop this specific piece(s) of work.

Displaying the pieces for my presentation is the next part of the process, I'll figure that out when I need to. I'm enjoying developing these pen drawings at the moment.

Oh and I haven't created a drawing for scene 9 as I plan to create the final scene in a different vein. Since the story ends rather abruptly and mysteriously, I may look into using different materials to emphasise the scene. Then again... maybe not. It may end up too ambitious and unachievable in the time frame we have!

Light Trails on the A7

I ventured outside tonight and took advantage of the fog that had descended upon Hawick to see if I was able to photograph any passing vehicles. Having only little experience with adjusting the settings on my camera I was worried about how I would fair, but I think the images I came away with were promising.

This one was taken on the way

The first photograph I took was out of focus but I'm happy with the composition and the headlight trail this particular car left behind. I carried on to the hill opposite the A7 just down from Homebase and sat for about 45 minutes, essentially waiting for cars to pass by. The traffic was by no means heavy but plenty opportunities arose for me to snap away!  

The streetlights interfered quite a lot

I played around with the exposure, shutter speed and ISO between most shots, this gave me an indication of what combinations worked the best. Again, most of these ones are blurry and out of focus. I succumbed to the reality that at this stage of my learning, I wasn't going to be able to achieve the level of quality I wanted to.

In this case the streetlights were less overbearing

 I included this one because I like the red brake lights disappearing behind the hill as the car drove down the road out of shot.

My first full length light trail!

I tried to include the tree branches in the foreground that hovered above me where I sat

A lot darker which I wanted, but very out of focus

Adjusting the exposure and lowering the amount of light that was getting into the lens, really drew more attention to the light trails themselves, rather than the streetlights or other objects in the image.

A more focused version of the photograph above

 I was getting into a rhythm and getting used to the time it took to focus as I pushed down to capture until the photograph was taken.

I must have slipped on the wet grass during this one...

The next couple of images I like a lot better. Only the lights of the cars, lampposts and houses in the background are visible.

The last few I took are completely different to the rest in that a lot more is illuminated. I managed to position myself in such a location where I had a foreground (the tree branches) to compliment the background (the road and cars).

The very last photograph I took is probably my favourite! I deliberately and slowly moved the camera downwards as I took the image. Looks pretty cool.

This collection of photographs were an experiment into how well I can operate my camera at a different time of day. Capturing these light trails proved a great opportunity for me to get used to adjusting things like exposure and shutter time. I must mention that I have yet to edit these images, actually I may just include them in my unit entirely un-edited to accurately display my findings.

Light Trails

Here's a few shots I took earlier tonight with my camera. I've always wanted to tinker around the settings and see if I could capture light trails successfully. Adjusting the exposure allowed me enough time to draw words and shapes in the space in front of me where I stood in my bedroom. I was surprised to see it had actually worked first time, I think I was under the impression that it required more time to set up or something.

After Googling 'light trails' I was hit by a huge amount of photographs of highways and the lights of passing vehicles being captured. They inspired me to perhaps take my experiments outside and see what I can produce once the sun has set and vehicles are illuminated by their headlights.

Photo Editing with 'Afterlight'

Sat adding some graphics to photographs taken on my new phone just to play around with some features and I came up with these. It was fun working with the different colours and being able to choose the positions of the various shapes.
They're not based on any idea I had or on other photographers work, I just wanted to see what I could do with photographs I never had any initial plans for.