Grundberg The crisis of the real

The opening of the book starts with a quote "Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, when in fact all of Los Angeles and the America surrounding it are no longer real, but of the order of the hyperreal and of simulation. it is no longer a question of a false representation of reality (ideology), but of consealing the fact that the real is no longer real"

The book starts by looking at, and explaining post modernism, and what it means for photography. Grundberg explains how there are many different interpretations as to what postmodernism actually is but his interpretation is "I would argue, in short, that postmodernism, in its art and its theory, is a reflection of the conditions of out time" he talks about how less is more in the artistic sense of post modernism. 

Grundberg touches on rephotography, which is the art of reusing a photograph to create a different meaning, with rephotography you dont go out ant take original photographs, you re use what is already available.

I would say that Grundberg does a good job of trying to clear up what post modernism is, and touches on various post modernism techniques how they are achieved, and often the reasoning behind them, or his interpretation at least. 

Technical skills.

I have been working on my technical skills and framing when taking images, I have been taking more time over my photographs. This extra time over my photographs makes the images look better and also in some cases can significantly reduce the post processing required as there is less work requires to make the images look as good as they can do.

I have take time to work in the photography studio photographing portraits of people, this is to help improve my abilities in this area. by the time i finish at uni, i want to be good at most types of mainstream commercial photography, so that i am confident being a freelance photographer.

Roland Barthes Camera Lucida

Roland Barthes was a French literary theorist. He looked at many schools of theory including semiotics, social theory and Marxism

the book Camera Lucida reflections on photography looks at interest in photography and still images, as opposed to the "moving images of cinema.
he talks about how a photograph mechanically records a moment in time which can never be repeated.

He looks at how the photograph can be the object of three practices or emotions
The operator as the Photographer
The spectator as Ourselves and anyone who chooses to look through the photographs
The person or object that is photographed is the Target

Barthes talks about observation both being the observer and the observed
He talks about how he can be observed without knowing it, but how more often he had been photographed, and how he knows he has been photographed. Barthes talks bout how once he knows he is being photographed he starts to pose, thus creating an image for the camera. He talks about how when he poses, he knows that he is posing, and wants you to know that he is posing.

Barths also talks about how a photograph shows  lot more about a person, period of time and place than a painted portrait does. as you see more photographs you start to understand a little bit about the subject you are looking at.

Organisation

So far one of the main things that i have been working on is my organisation. i have been taking special care to make sure that all of my events and projects get put into my planner / calendar on my computer. The main advantage to doing this, is that my events and deadlines are available for me to see both on the computer and my mobile phone.
It is my hope that that this will become normal practice for me and help me become more organised in the future when i have more work going on simultaneously.

being well organised also helps stop me worrying about the amount of work i have to do, as by having a schedule for the work i need to do it puts things into perspective, manageable chunks.

Better lighting.

In order to improve my skills with lighting, I have agreed to photograph the staff portraits for the university website and this will help by giving me invaluable studio time to practice and improve my skills and abilities in this photographic area. it is also my hope that from taking my time to do work for the university that It may provide opportunities for me to get some paid work in the future.

first edition of the personal development plan

What are my development objectives? [what skills, knowledge or experience am I missing?]	What activities do I need to undertake to achieve my objectives?	What support/resources do I need to achieve my objectives? [what can the course offer?]	Target date for achieving my objectives	Actual date of achieving my  objectives
Better lighting control (studio more then general	More practice shooting in the studio	Refresher session in the studio	01/06/2014
Become better with blogs.	More on them more often	Personal undertaking	01/11/2013
Better organisation. (not rushing at deadlines)	Keep on target	Personal Undertaking	12/12/2013
Better at researching	Using more sources More time in library	Personal undertaking	01/11/2013
Improving technical skills and framing of images	Take more time over my photos	Personal undertaking	01/01/2014

My targets

I have put together a presentation to show people what targets I have with a stock image to try and depict the target.

One thing I hope to get better at is my lighting control, as sometimes I feel I can be a little lapse with my technique. it is my aim to take more time over my shots, to get the best image i can, with the least post production.  

I feel that i would benefit from improving my blogs both with the quantity of work and the quality of what i put on, including, but not limited to adding research to them more often. 

being more organised will help in many ways, not least of which will be helping me stay less stressed around deadlines as all of my work will be done before then, and using calenders will help me know what i have on, and when, so i don't double book for things. 

Improving the quality of my research will not only help me with adding subject matter to my blogs, but it will also influence my work as a lens based practitioner, and with a more educated mind, my work should also improve, and have greater meaning. 

also with starting my dissertation improving my research is a must.