I just popped in to check on my blog one last time before I shut down the computer and finish off the packing ready to go away this evening and I was … well … I think ‘gutted’ might not be too strong a word … when I read a comment made in response to my previous post. I’ll paste the comment and my reply just to make sure they don’t get overlooked.

Your pictures are very very good. Loved the waves crashing on the stones, especially. But what I really want to say is, that I’m very glad I happened upon your blog, because I did consider doing T189, but now I’m really pleased I didn’t, because I’d be so embarrassed by the inadequacy of my photos, if your standard is anything to go by!

Comment by nomdeplume — July 7, 2007 @ 10:00 am

Oh No! nomdeplume, I’m writing this blog in the hope that people will be inspired to take the course, so it’s really upsetting and disappointing to read that you’re PLEASED you didn’t do T189 because you feel your photos are inadequate

Surely the whole point of taking a course like this is to improve your photography and creative skills? If you start from a high point, where do you go from there? Better to start from not-so-good photographs and end up with brilliant photographs.

I don’t think I would have managed to produce the ten ECA images if I hadn’t done the course. Part of T189 is learning how to correct and enhance your images using Elements 5 – it’s astonishing what you can do to rescue a so-so image. If you saw my ten images before I edited them, you wouldn’t be quite so embarassed – trust me!

It’s a striking fact that lots of students are now posting delighted comments on our conferences about how much they have improved and how much the standard of photography has rocketed between weeks 1 and 9. That’s what we all hoped for when we signed up for the course!

Please think again and consider signing up for T189 – I PROMISE you won’t regret it …

Having been treated to breakfast in bed this morning by The Artist (since the weather was horrid outside and he couldn’t go out painting), I tentatively brought up the subject of T189 and the concept of ‘comfort zones’ which we discussed for some time over mugs of tea.

I explained that I had come to the conclusion that photographing people was definitely outside my photography comfort zone. Apart from immediate family, where I tend to use photography as a sort of visual diary, I very rarely point my camera at people unless they are a reasonable distance away. The complications and implications of photographing people, especially children, has been discussed in the T189 conferences. It was felt that female photographers were more accepted when it specifically came to photographing children whereas male photographers found themselves subject to considerable suspicion. This is sad because children are fantastically photogenic.

Personally, I dislike having my photograph taken and I know The Artist feels the same way. This is despite me having taken quite a few photographs of him painting ‘en plein air’ with his easel, small adjustable sun brolly, Tilley hat and rucksack. He hates the ones that show his face and much prefers the ones taken at oblique angles that cast his face into shadow or obscure it completely. (This is not to say that he is ugly – on the contrary, he is handsome and distinguished with strong features, pepper-and-salt hair and beard, and ready smile ….)

Not that I’m going to be photographing people today because the weather is wet – in fact, it’s just started pouring down again – and there are very few people out and about anyway. So it’s a morning for getting on with Gallery tasks while The Artist is restocking a local outlet that sells his giclee prints and our range of cards.

I feel a cup of coffee calling me ….

I’m finding this one quite challenging because it requires me to step outside my ‘comfort zone’ and approach photography from directions I’ve never taken or even considered before. There are three activities included in Week 7 and the Assignment comprises six images but not all from the same activity.

So the first activity is:

Composing images in the frame to alter their meaning

Spend up to 2 hours taking photos using composition conventions such as framing, anchorage, juxtaposition and mis-en-scène. Can you create an impression of a false reality for the viewer? For example, can you make something look like it is happening when it isn’t? Or can you, for example, make one person look much taller than another? Remember that in this activity you should not use the digital darkroom to manipulate your images!

How much control over the representation of truth do you have with your camera? 

The second activity is:

Visual narrative

Spend up to one hour taking three images which, when displayed consecutively, tell a story. It could be a simple one such as people waiting at a bus stop, people getting on the bus, then the bus departing, or it could be something far more subtle or complex. What is important is to succinctly frame the key elements of the narrative. The aim of this task is to enable you to develop an awareness of the communicative aspect of your images [...]

The third activity is:

Exploiting conventions                                                                                                                                                               Consumer magazines use photography very powerfully to make us desire things. If you spend time looking at different types of magazine (for example travel, fashion, food, cars, wildlife, outdoors, hairdressing and beauty) you may notice that each category has its own conventions of the genre such as framing, angle, lighting, mis-en-scène, etc. Look through some different types of magazine and note the conventions of genre that you see. Spend up to 2 hours taking some photos that consciously exploit the aesthetic conventions you have observed.

I need to sit down with a big mug of tea, a notebook, and mull this one over, I think …