Portfolio - C&C required

[salubrious_k]

Hi all,

Sorry I haven't been around much lately, I've got a new job, which has meant I've actually had to start working hard again

Anyway, I'm just almost at the point of printing out a portfolio (using blurb.com) possibly with the intention of taking it to a few private galleries to see how hard they laugh in my face. LOL

I'd be very interested in getting feedback on it.

You'll have to go to the following photo (the cover of the portfolio) and then click on the link there, as all the photos on Flickr are private (and I'm using some weird "set guestpass" thing).

Thanks in advance!

EDIT:

I've finished it, here's the finished portfolio:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jonbloc...7604725906224/

[inkinoo]

Photos are really good, this is ******** tho:

"At a microscopic level our vision is all about detecting various simple shapes and forms, whether it be lines, gradients or gratings; at the cognitive level our vision is concerned with processing these simple shapes into conceptual objects that we recognise and can then interpret on a semantic level. Photographs will have elements that come into play all along our visual pathways, from abstract effects formed by textures and repeating patterns to the cognitive processing that enables us to see movement, depth and perspective in a still image or to interpret emotion and personality from what is essentially a two dimensional pattern of colour and luminance."

Let your photos to the talking ...

[salubrious_k]

Thanks for the input.

I wrote the accompanying text as I've read online that it's good to include some sort of blurb about the theme of the portfolio. Do you think it doesn't make any sense? Or do you just think it's boring? Or overly pretentious?

Sorry I'd like to know as I want to include some text as advised, so if you think it needs a rework I'd be interested to hear in what way...

[icemanonline]

I think that set are great. Visually stunning some of them.....really! The 1 titled...."Leading Underground," is a real cracker and for me anyway, it brings back some scary thoughts of a scene in a film years back called "American Werewolf in London!" in which (Like your image) the guy is running and looks back and sees the werewolf! Its just like your photo. I like this portfolio mate.

I hope you do well and I think the though of them laughing is not going to happen, far from it..........good work.

icemanonline

[Liquid101]

Some great photography there Jon.

However, for me, it doesn't hang together as a body of work. There seems to be three distinct groups. Graphic architectural, contempory reportage, and for want of a better word 'nature'

Peronally, I'd drop 'Elevate' 'Green' 'Poised' 'Regents Canal' and 'Slide into blue' I just don't think they're anywhere near as strong as the rest, and add nothing to the collection. You've covered similar subject matter in a much more powerful way - and these feel a little like 'album tracks'

I'd then seperate into the groups, and describe them in a more specific and less pretentious way. Something that somebody with no understanding or care for seimotics is going to identify with.

I'd also print to at least 70x70cm on at least some of them, as well as the portfolio versions. I think they'll be much more poewerful at this kind of size.

[salubrious_k]

Thanks for the input Liquid, I'm interested by what you say about the description as this is obviously something that's putting some people off.

The reason for me talking about what I am is because I'm linking in some of my thoughts about my abstract photography with my thoughts about visual psychophysics (i did my degree in experimental psychology), and so although sounding pretentious, the contents of what I'm trying to get across, is still what I want to say. I just have to say it in a less off-putting way.

Do you think that it would benefit from an introductory paragraph about why I, as a photographer, am interested in visual psychophysics?

[Tobers]

Didn't read the blurb, just looked at the photos which are generally remarkable.

[salubrious_k]

Thanks Tobers, you made a very good point about the stairs - I hadn't noticed that! Hmmm...

(I must have a stair fetish!)

[pixelpixel]

I think you title covers it.....Visual Pathways

Sometimes you don't have to point out something in order for others to see it. In a way we say what we see, I am with liquid work it into groups and then group the groups with your text that would work for me.

OT: Regarding blurb do you know if you can get around a credit card as a method of payment ? I spent one Sunday doing a book only to find that it would only accept a credit card payment

[onefivenine]

It all works for me Jon. 'they' expect the arty-wordy bit too. So it works in a way. Like I appreciate some people drink diet coke as opposed to 'real' coke.
You do of course have to wear a smoking jacket and cravate at all times in public from now on.
the photography is exceptional.

[Bristol Pete]

Great photos. I concur however that the wording is very OTT.

You are very lyrical, but stuff like this leaves me reeling as its so bombastic. You read it in the camera mags each month.

'I sat watching the bird as it gently swayed in the midday sun, its beak a glorious gold, like wet sand glistening. I waited for the decisive moment and when the said bird pulled the worm from the sod I managed to capture this wonderful image of nature and the law of the jungle'


Arrrggghhhh.

Just say you took these photos as you liked what you saw?

Pete.

[salubrious_k]

Originally Posted by Bristol Pete

Just say you took these photos as you liked what you saw?

LOL - I don't think that will go down well with galleries. They make their living from pretentions.

I think after getting everyone's feedback, I'm going to completely rework the text, probably into three sections (and moving images accordingly). One looking at simple patterns (and discussing the relationship to the way the retina works), one section looking at dynamism and one looking at coneptualisation and semantic processing

[salubrious_k]

I'm not sure if you're interested, but in the end I cut the portfolio down to just 18 images, and re-wrote the text about 100 times.

This is it now, hopefully it doesn't put people off too much. But I'm generally really pleased with it, it gets across the message I was trying to convey and I don't think it does it in too pretentious or confusing a way.

Thanks for everyone's help!

-----------------------------

"We find certain things about seeing puzzling, because we do not find the whole business of seeing puzzling enough."

Ludwig Wittgenstein
(Philosophical Investigations, part II xi)

Vision is the most complex and fundamental of the senses. It has evolved over the course of millennia and it has become inextricably linked to how we think and how we communicate, even going so far as to pervade our language and how we refer to thinking - "Do you see what I mean?"

The basic question about visual perception is how do people derive rich visual awareness of the world from what is essentially a two dimensional pattern of light falling on the photoreceptors of the eye?

We now know that visual processing starts at the retina where there are specialised cells which detect simple shapes and forms such as lines, gradients and contrast. But what is far less well understood is the cognitive processing by which these disparate features are bound together into complex objects such as buildings, people, clouds and shadows. People do not generally perceive the world around them in terms of lines and curves and colours; what we see is a rich world of objects with all their associated meanings and memories.

Abstract photography (and art) is an exception to this case. When appreciating abstract images people spend time analysing what is presented to them visually as well as what it means to them conceptually. It challenges us to think about the ways that our concepts and expectations can influence the very nature of our visual experiences by organising shapes and colours into defined units.

In the case of abstract art, the links with reality can be quite tenuous, but in the case of photography this contrast between the purely visual and the conceptual is particularly interesting as the image created is far closer to a true representation of what was being presented visually at the time it was taken. In other words an abstract photo strives to turn what is quintessentially representative into pure colour and shape, whereas an abstract painting or sculpture can avoid representation entirely and stick to the raw ingredients of colour, shape, volume and texture that all such art begins from.

Of course the definition of what is purely visual and what is conceptual is an interesting issue, and in fact abstract photography presents us with a puzzle. To what extent is our reaction to an image a response delivered by our sense of vision just by unthinkingly opening our eyes, and to what extent is it a response to how we cognitively process that sense (i.e. how we think and conceptualise what we see)? In this way, the abstract photographer is able to carefully control just how difficult this puzzle becomes; how easy it is to draw conceptual conclusions from the image and how powerful the raw sense of colour, shape and form become.

[ryart]

Missed this thread the first time round. Excellent images and the write up (rewrite) is quite thought provoking but takes a bit of thought to digest. It is the sort of thing, however, that appears at the beginning of the glossy catalogues that galleries send out to lure in the punters and accompany exhibitions. For your intended market it seems to be quite appropriate.

My cousin, who once owned a South London art gallery, told me that his clients liked to know what the pictures are about, liked a story with them so to speak. In that market it is not enough just to let people use their eyes, you need to give them some "helping" words to convince them that the pictures are worth paying money for.

Best of luck... let us know how it goes.

[Miko]

I missed this thread the first time around too - glad I caught it now.

The photos are interesting, well seen and taken, and I think you've chosen well to produce a cohesive portfolio. Your rewrite of the text also turned out quite nicely. The first draft you posted would've worked for a crowd with a background in psyc; I think the second seems accessible enough for the general population. Well done!

Good luck with the submissions!


Miko