Final Reflective Essay – Beyond A Joke, Beyond A Genre – Harper Tabb
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Sketch 5 – Beyond A Joke, Beyond A Genre – Harper Tabb
My view of satire prior to this week’s classes, wasn’t too dissimilar to what I learnt. The main thing that I learnt was that primarily, satire aims to highlight or make a commentary on social conventions, comparative to parody, which highlights aesthetic ones. The two get mistaken for one-another a lot, primarily due to their similar nature of mocking and commentary. However, particularly in the point of satire, it’s distinction comes from its criticism or commentary on issues, which are often not directly expressed. Parody makes fun of itself and the conventions it highlights, satire uses those conventions to talk about something else entirely.
We were pretty eager to try and follow the conventions of finance programs (like those on Fox News with Jim Cramer as an example) to be able to highlight more the absurdity and culture of cryptocurrency and not detract from that. Following the conventions means the focus is primarily on the satire, and less parody (although some parodic elements did end up coming in the green screen to highlight comedic effect). More specifically, we wanted to highlight the hypebeast-esque culture of following a personality rather than following any level of financial understanding, the absurdity of constant new currencies, and to some extent, the deregulated mess of crypto as a whole.
I learnt it is fairly difficult to skirt between parody and satire without in some ways crossing over at parts, but satire is a lot more nuanced in the way it can make its commentary and can be quite powerful. Not to say parody isn’t, but it is perhaps less impactful in certain aspects due to its focus on aesthetics, not primarily social issues.
It also is important to discern conventions and stereotypes with satire. I think we did a good job to find the right balance with this, as satire can feel hypocritical at best and offensive at worst when it is taking pot shots at people or issues that have no relevance or impact on the creator. It’s important to decipher whether you want to just highlight an issue, or make a statement on it; and if you are going to make a statement on it, what are you trying to say?
A5 pt2 Studio Review – Harper Tabb
I was curious to see what others came up with for their final exhibits, and I really enjoyed seeing how some of their work came together knowing how much effort they put into them.
From my studio (Uses of Photography), I was really curious to see how Jinli’s “Melbourne’s Palette” would look considering I had discussed the idea with her a fair bit and I really enjoy that type of use of colour theory. Her photos are gorgeous, and she has a really good eye for what those colours look best in when it comes to environments. Her purples have a real regal quality to them, her yellow more late-afternoon sombreness, blue more clear sky type, etc. Even as street photography, each comes with a feeling or aesthetic that is difficult to explain in words but can so easily be captured through photography, and especially colours. Really proud friend over here, with how they came out.
I was also keen to see how Mia’s “Wallice” idea came out. She wanted to do a style akin to the Spotify small videos that play in the app with a song, but with her own photography of live acts. I have a good friend from back home in Perth who does this for a career, and knew how fun and cathartic she finds it.
And I think Mia nailed what she was going for. I really enjoyed these and she definitely got the type of feel she said she was going for. The small music player overlay was a nice touch to give it that similarity to the Spotify feature, and I enjoyed how the imagery also got more intense as the music did, whereas the smaller, slower parts had more gentle transitions. Above all, the photography itself was also just gorgeous, love how she uses stage lights to really help frame her images.
As for a studio that wasn’t mine, I really wanted to look at Uncomfortable Filmmaking. There was a myriad of reasons why I wanted to look at it, namely that I think it focused on a part of filmmaking that I (and realistically probably a fair amount of inexperienced filmmakers) probably feel I am not that well-versed in, or able to do as fluently as I may like, in that discomfort and tension that can be achieved so well in films. I think it also seems to have taught how to replicate these – and not just through narrative but through filmic conventions and the breaking of them – in a way that leaves the viewer feeling uneasy.
Another reason I wanted to look at this studio, is I also – without really knowing what I was doing for it – did the cinematography for Coco Italiano’s piece “Daydream”, and was curious to see how it would be used.
I really liked how it all came together, and really enjoyed the splicing of the clips to create progressively more unnerving imagery. I won’t say much about the cinematography, other than aside from considering I didn’t really know what I was doing and was given one camera and a lamp, I thought it came out pretty well!
I also really enjoyed that is was a minimal dialogue piece, because I definitely think if I was doing the studio I would have leant into dialogue a fair bit and I appreciate people trying to make them without it. I think it takes a lot of skill to make something that unnerving with realistically nothing but lighting changes. Her vision for it was evidently clear and I could tell that from her direction of what she wanted me to capture.
The other piece I watched from that studio was “Do Geese See God” by Phoebe Hewertson, Jaden Arendtsz, and Joey Barclay. I enjoyed the direction of discomfort in this one, being more akin to a Yorgos Lanthimos or Michel Gondry film, as it was more about human feelings and how we express them abstractly in film form. I thought some of the shots were really clever, particularly with the unnamed main character (portrayed by Jamie Miller), and his traversal through spaces. I definitely enjoyed also its ambiguity, as beyond feeling disconnected from the world, which is its primary theme, there is plenty of ways to interpret the story. It was a clearly big project and I’m impressed with how it came out (especially at the end of a university semester!), and having seen Jamie’s acting before in a previous studio, I am definitely glad they got someone who can perform as well as he can, as walking and moving backwards through everything and everyone, cannot have been an enviable task.
Assignment 4 links – Harper Tabb
Assignment 4 photos:
Reflections:
Uses of Photography – Week 12 Reflection: Assignment 4
One key thing I learnt this semester was I know more than I thought, but also know nothing at all.
I have some experience with photography prior to this class, and had even done gigs as a photographer before, but I think I just knew how a camera worked and the conventions of photography. I’m not necessarily certain I had control over these, though, just I was aware when the universe sort of aligned to give me them. This semester I have a greater appreciation for how to manipulate them, though I’m definitely still not perfect at it. But walking around the streets of Melbourne, I definitely found myself at times going “this should be a good photo, why isn’t it?” and being able to manipulate it more. It did, however, still make me want to buy a Sony A7, and getting to use one in class did not help stem that urge any further.
I think I’d like more time for the Assignment 4 project, but not for the reasons students might normally say that. I think for the nature of the assignment, I wanted to get good observations and really get a pulse for where and when to expect things to occur (and be brave enough to get close enough to photograph it). But I think, doing this over the course of a week or two (and particularly a post-AFL-grand-final week), meant the city wasn’t necessarily brimming with life like it had the weeks prior, but even more so, I think street photography collections are rarely caught in the space of a few outings. People spend weeks and weeks there to get acclimated and really try and find the small details, and I think I’d like to have done this assignment with maybe six or seven weeks to really properly immerse myself and get what I want (and as mentioned, be brave enough to get it). An element of that was almost guaranteed to be learnt for this assessment I think, but now knowing it, I’d definitely like to do it over a longer period (and hopefully catch some meaningful days, like the AFL Grand Final day when a Victorian team wins). I also have a tendency to want to experience those moments myself and not through the lens of a camera, so there is an element of balance to that too which having done this assignment I now believe I have a greater understanding of.
I think my view of photography as a medium as a whole shifted this semester. Between expanded photography, AI, studio and street photography, I found myself a lot more engaged with diversifying from my strengths, and even if my subject matter was comfortable, in my methods I was deliberately challenging myself to go further than what I may have previously. And I think I enjoyed that experience more than I was expecting, even if I was perhaps a little disappointed I didn’t get more “I’d hang this up”-type of photos than I hoped. I definitely feel more confident with a camera, and even though my assessments this semester may not entirely reflect it in my view, I think I am a better photographer than from when I started, and that is largely due to my expanded view of the medium and its capabilities, and the tools I have at my disposal to create them.
Uses of Photography – Week 11 Reflection: Assignment 4
Seriously beginning to hate controlled, box lighting.
Not for what it actually creates, it can be gorgeous, it’s just finnicky. I spent an earlier week trying to plug away at it and the reason it wasn’t working was more or less “sucks to suck, Harper.”
So it was definitely cathartic watching Brian also struggle with these as it meant I wasn’t stupid and it does, in fact, just sometimes not work.
The actual photographs were nice though. I am curious to try experimenting with reflective light more, because seeing light reflect and bounce back towards the subject produced more light than I was expecting. Also would like to get more controlled lighting (particularly softbox lighting) experience, as I think it created some really gorgeous photos and it’s probably something I’m a bit more inexperienced in.
Was also interesting seeing how people stylised headshots. I definitely had an aesthetic in mind when approaching taking photos, but honestly didn’t really consider how one might approach it differently until other people started doing theirs. This seems obvious, and maybe I am just running out of steam creatively this semester (I definitely am), but was nice to sort of think even the simplest of photos can have such variety in creative choices.
I also enjoyed seeing how everyone else was going, and providing feedback to one another. Really enjoyed my chat with Mia in particular as her focus on music photography happened to be something I knew someone back home does professionally, and was able to give each other some inspiration (or at least she gave me some). In the last few weeks of semester, those kinds of suggestions are a lot more valuable than perhaps we give credit for, because it definitely gave me a bit more of a thought on how stylistically I can do some things, and just generally speaking getting engaged with the assignment to a point of wanting to share and see how others are doing.
Uses of Photography – Week 10 Reflection: Assignment 4
I wasn’t here for this week, so as a result I don’t have a lot to say about classes.
As a result I mainly focused on myself, but even then, I found myself weirdly demotivated.
Well, I suppose not weird. It is week 10 of second semester, it’s not like this is a time that is conducive to being fully energetic and balls-to-the-wall creative. But I feel a bit flat, to be honest. Not entirely uni’s fault, lots going on, but I thought I’d actually talk about it, considering I wasn’t in class for whatever did happen in class this week.
To discuss further on what I said in a previous reflection, I think a large part of this assignment I would feel a lot more comfortable naturally getting the photos through observations that occur over months, not a week or two. Though I did miss an opportunity after Collingwood won the premiership to get photos there, I think that could have been quite good but perhaps if it was too many of them, would have overridden my theme. But generally thinking, I almost wish the assignments were done in reverse, because I think my motivation and ideas at the beginning of semester would be a lot more consistent before it is crushed by the reality that is life in your student twenties. Obviously this is all impractical at a minimum because it means people would expect to be good at a subject from the get-go rather than giving them 10 weeks to learn it, but that’s not the point, the point is my feelings.
What does give me inspiration though was Vivian Maier and looking through some of her photos. I understand they were taken over a lifetime, so my point very much stands, but it does open my eyes just how many gorgeous photos she took and how they she saw the world. Creativity comes from inspiration, and maybe I need to rethink my inspirations?
Who knows, but here’s what I do know: I’m a bit tired now, keen to have it all done.
Uses of Photography – Week 9 Reflection: Assignment 4
So, I decided to pitch something akin to street photography after all. I wasn’t necessarily attached to the idea, but it was the one I kept coming back to prior to it.
I think my pitch went pretty well. My idea is doing a street photography shoot of sorts but with a bit of a twist in it being heavily influenced by my observations of when I first moved to Melbourne; particularly those alien parts of the Melburnian subculture that seem to go unquestioned.
My biggest worry is that I will have a difficult time demonstrating some of these in photographical form, but I got some good feedback to address it.
I’m not necessarily sold on the idea being heavily engaging despite the good feedback from the class, but if I am to be honest with myself for a moment, balancing uni with the other parts of my life is already difficult enough as it is, so I doubt I will want to adjust my idea unless it is more streamlined and controlled (like I mentioned in an earlier reflection).
I definitely enjoyed some of the other presentations. Some of the ideas were quite cool. I used to live in Coburg until quite recently, and Maggie’s planned photo series on it seemed quite fun and interesting and got me thinking about what mine might be missing. I also really enjoyed Jinli’s as a fan of using colour theory, and how she plans on complimenting a lot of it and making a gradual shift. I’ve been trying to mess with colour all semester (for a lot of failures across a few successes), so I liked the whole project’s idea and I definitely want to see how hers turns out.
That being said, both between the presentations and my own conversations with Jinli, I definitely feel like my photography is more based on stimulus of my environments than necessarily hunting them (whereas some people were clearly inspired to be given an excuse to take photos and had a plan in mind even before the assignment), and I wonder if that will affect my inspiration, motivation or end result.
Uses of Photography – Week 8 Reflection: Assignment 4
I felt like one of the only people in this class that sort of engaged with this week’s subject matter, to be honest. That isn’t necessarily the fault of anyone, just the stigma of AI photography and the nature and debate of authenticity.
But I think it is disingenuous to not believe that AI is here to stay, especially considering we have been projecting towards this future across science fiction for decades as “the future” of technology. You don’t need to be a fan of it (I certainly have my skepticisms), but to not be mindful of both its capabilities and its flaws will only be to your own detriment.
I thought the discussion of Amber Terranova’s ‘How AI Imagery is Shaking Photojournalism’ article quite interesting. I thought the term of promptography was quite an apt way to explain it while giving a difference between photography and AI-generated photography. Although a decent part of the discussion was whether or not we should view it as photography, not whether or not the form should exist, which I thought perhaps missed the point of AI capabilities and authenticity. Technology and traditions evolve, and photography shouldn’t be exempt, even if it becomes a sub-category.
My group had an interesting discussion to add to that regarding authorship and creativity. In Terranova’s article, she references Michael Christopher Brown’s AI photoseries that depicts the Cuban exodus that occurred in 2022. He highlights that actually taking photos of the exodus could have caused safety and logistical issues for people trying to emigrate from Cuba. This got me thinking about whether if the technology was invented earlier, how it could contribute to better information in eras such as the cold war (or conversely, lead to easier propaganda?).
My experimentations with it showed me it isn’t as straightforward as one would expect to get coherent, striking pieces like Michael C. Brown achieved, and whether or not you believe it to be photography (I think promptography is very much the way it should be spoken about, more like being a DJ to music than a songwriter is), I think it definitely requires a skillset that is more than meets the eye, and I definitely want to experiment with it more, whether as an editing process or as a canvas.
References:
Amber Terranova, ‘How AI Imagery is Shaking Photojournalism‘, Blind [online magazine], 26 April 2023.
Uses of Photography – Week 7 Reflection: Assignment 4
I am struggling to determine an idea for this assignment. It is incredibly open-ended in terms of what you can do, but ironically that is feeling like my biggest hurdle in the early phase of development. It doesn’t give me any real inspiration on what to do. I’m also a big fan of street photography, and while that is something I’m leaning towards doing, I am somewhat at the mercy of my environment in some respects if I do, and I wonder if a controlled setting would be better for this assignment. But I love photographers like Vivian Maier and James Nachtwey and their incredible capture of the human element, and I want to get that sort of effect with the stylisation of an Arnaud Moro-esque type (like I’ve been experimenting with all semester – man every time I take photos I realise how talented he is). Now whether all those come together or not both conceptually and practically is a whole other discussion – my mantra this semester has been try doing things that you don’t think will work for the sake of experimentation, and push yourself in the form of trying what you find uncomfortable – so I definitely am not opposed to this going terribly, especially as my usual form of photography is just finding when inspiration strikes. I definitely do not usually “pre-plan” my shoots to this effect (more so just have a readiness to take them), so I am definitely curious if I end up happy or not with my product and find it authentic to myself creatively (as in, whether I am creatively satisfied or if it feels like a criteria list I am getting through).
With all that being said, if my environment ends up being poor and I go with street photography, I will endeavour to get something of substance; but truthfully, I think I definitely find it a bit of a weakness of mine when I try to take landscape photos that aren’t heavily stylised or lack a subject, so that too will be a learning experience.
Hopefully, this doesn’t end terribly!