The book is immensely readable and draws
examples from a range of photographers covering different areas of
practice. The initial chapter sets the
scene with an overview of the essential processes from planning a project,
moving through the research phase and finally to delivery. The authors focus on several key areas which
I think are likely to get overlooked in the rush to take pictures, and these
are the actual title of the planned work and its intended audience, obviously
key factors but easy to pass by, and they also emphasise the benefit of a solid
research proposal in driving the structure of the final work. The first chapter concludes with a review of
the work done by Natasha Caruana in documenting the Aberfan mining tragedy and
emphasises the importance of building up a relationship with the people
involved in both the history and present of a project and pacing the
development of this relationship to eventually gain deeper access to their
lives and really start to understand and photograph the impact of the event. Record keeping and the potential value of
mind maps in developing ideas and project strategies are also covered, along
with some suggestions of how to utilise these.
Sourcing research materials and collating
their contents is covered at some length, although I found this personally less
useful as it is close to what I do in real life, as is the keeping of accurate
research records and records of personal ideas.
Another suggestion was to actually take photographs of yourself working
and record the process of the development of the project rather than just
shooting images as potential final copy.
I tried to adopt this idea when I was doing the Light and Illustration and Narrative
assignments and found it a really valuable way of retaining ideas and recording
personal progression.
There is an interesting section on street
photography which emphasises the need for research here too. Things can happen fast and Fox proposes
location visits to look for good angles, backgrounds, light direction and
situations that might arise, or indeed can be made to arise. I have yet to make any sort of serious effort
at street photography and it is good advice.
There is extensive coverage of
post-production and editing for different photographic genres from street to
fashion and again the emphasis is on exemplary record keeping, both of
practical aspects of the project and of ideas and thoughts as the project
progresses. One of the most interesting
aspects is around the taking of numerous ‘test’ photographs as an active part
of the research process, as a route to identifying the final images and as a
mechanism to attain continuous improvement.
This is less applicable to street photography than to work in a studio,
but I am personally aware that that I just don’t take enough images as I progress
through a project and try too hard to conjure up what I visualise as the final
image too soon in the process. The chapter on ‘Compiling your research’ is highly applicable to the OCA course as it covers workbooks, sketchbooks, blogging and storage of archive material. It even suggests starting your own blog, so at least I’ve got one thing right …
Overall, the book has an emphasis on the
understanding, evolution and recording of research process as a continuum which
allows later reflection and expansion in the light of developing
experience. It draws from some excellent
examples in terms of the specific real projects described (Aberfan was for me
the most poignant and meaningful of these, but then I’m old enough to remember
it) and how they were researched and executed.
The text is lively and easy to read and the layout and reproduction neat
and clean. Well worth a read to emphasise
some key pointers in getting project photography right from the outset, though
the £23 price tag is steep for what is on offer I thought.
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