Assessment criteria : Context

reflection, research, critical thinking…

‘Mutable, capable of change or being changed‘.
(Merrimack Webster online dictionary)

Some take this mutability (ability to mutate) so far as to say that photographs are essentially empty. Allan Sekula, for instance, say that photographs are a fragment of the world with just ‘the possibility of meaning’ (1982, in bull, 2010, p.41). The meaning depends on the context – where the photograph is published or displayed, the caption or other text with it, the sequence of images around it. As she continued to take photographs on the OCA photography program, you’ll also be developing a context for them, shifting the emphasis from formal and aesthetic concerns to include what you feel about it and what it means. This is the focus of the next course in the program, Photography 1 context and narrative.

Assessment Criteria in Context.

The assessment criteria discusses the importance of context. Why is context such an important part of the assessment criteria? I feel it necessary for a photograph to have significance and be creative. Viewers can then make their own personal responses to visual narration and can perhaps connect or could be impacted by the visual experience making the image important for many reasons. It could be that a image connects us to the world. Images with visual narrative are powerful ways to be informative. Educational, about findings such as natural disasters, famine and war. Documenting events keep us to be emotionally focused and invested. Or draws ones attention to a product, or reminders of past events.

The background and setting for taking photographs are all important for the narrative. Several elements contribute towards the whole frame.
The arrangement of images can differ considerably and it depends upon the way the person behind the camera wishes it to be interpreted to their personal response to a brief or moment in time. The conceptual process is a response to an idea which I appreciative on this course. The process when working through the OCA is designed to cover everything from getting to know your instrument to fundamental genres. So it is necessary to explore conceptual ideas and develop techniques in doing so.

The fully authored images allow us to be influenced by photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson. Fully authored in photography means one is granted to take photographs of a person or place, in respect to private property and privacy laws. We in the UK are lucky to be able to capture images in public places and therefore, can produce candid photographs. I personally prefer this way of working as I love street photography and capturing the decisive moment. I am completely comfortable to work in this fashion and feel inspired and encouaged to be creative.

The images below were taken from my FiP experience and I intend to continue to capture and develop this genre in photography once the lockdown guidelines have eased.