The Unknown Snapper

So, this is a rather self indulgent rambling ‘what’s going on’ post, to get me back into the blogging thing, so lets get on with it and get it out of the way!

I’ve now been a smelly sightly and old mature student* for one full academic year.  It seems to have flown by at a rate of knots!

With the course not living up to my expectations in content and the location being far from ideal I am now no longer a student at Newtown University, instead I have transferred to the university in London where I wanted to be last year.
Obviously this didn’t go down well with the course director at Newtown who became rather derogatory during a chat about my intentions.**

But really that’s quite enough on Newtown Uni, it would be quite easy for me to go further, but I shall resist the urge.  As a whole it’s been a quite pleasant experience and a gentle easing in to the ways of higher education***; as such I present to you a quick list of nonsensical drivel that I’ve picked up over the year:

• Ethics, although a hot topic, is not always understood, some students on the course felt that staging a picture (Capa’s Fallen Soldier was used as an example) to signify something that happened is viable as photojournalism.
• Before I went to university I didn’t understand the significance of the word ‘procrastination’ I now realise that most students can, and will, procrastinate at levels that may yet see it introduced as an Olympic sport.
• Students prefer the Unknown Snapper to smoke. The Unknown Snapper is apparently very grumpy when giving up smoking and his sense of humour becomes even more irreverent.
• Burning out the capacitor on Elinchrome lighting when continually shooting bursts of images and will mean that the technician in the stores refuses to speak to you for at least two weeks.
• Nothing of any newsworthy value happens in the area around Newtown. Ever.
• When something is referred to as ‘sick’ does not mean that it is unwell, and suggesting that someone should get well soon will be met with smirks.
• Students will leave everything to the last minute and will expect Photobox to process their order, print and deliver the results ready for a hand in on a Monday morning; even though they only finished editing their images at 12pm on a Saturday afternoon.
• The day you get a call asking you to trot to somewhere to take some pictures will be the day you have a module hand-in.
• Some students can and will try to spend a whole year taking photo stories, essays and projects that involve nothing more than family and close friends.

Stoodents; there's always one...

• When someone asks you, “What’s Normal Exposure? It’s f8 right?” I should hold my tongue and walk away, quickly.
• In the same vein, I should also walk away when a student asks, “Does this printer print landscape pictures too?”****
• The glasses needed to watch Avatar in 3D only have two purposes a) to give you a raging headache over the duration of the movie and b) to make everyone look like Joe 90.
• Some photography students really don’t know who Don McCullin is.
• When asked for an opinion on an image of Hilary Clinton, and not really paying attention to a lesson, it is a faux pas for me to suggest that she is a MILF to deflect the question, no matter how bad I think the picture is.
• Students will moan about having no money, but will then say that they don’t need/want to get a job.
• Saying, “Your mum.” will instantly win any argument.  Knowing how to say it in another language is, apparently, even better.

Next!

Right now I’m back in ‘good old’ Pantsville, I’ve a few weeks of preparation (and some shoots) to get on with before I can move down to London and start university take 2.  I’ll spare you the details, but, please, stay tuned!

*Honestly, not only was I tagged on facebook in pictures as ‘a pensioner at uni’, but I was also mistaken for a tutor on several occasions.  Including once, when I was talking a few students through workflow in the library, where someone thought I was taking a lecture…

**Apparently I have never taken a good picture.  Ever.  This was said despite him not actually interviewing me for my place on the course and not actually seeing any of my work from outside the course (apart from six images in a presentation that he praised).

***Yup, my first essay in 15 years was a shocking piece of work – just as this post is!

****I’d forgotten about this one, but had my memory jogged by someone during a recent conversation (many thanks Lego Head!)

Even though I’ve been doing my best to become a recluse and hide away from the world in my shoebox type room in Newtown, somehow I’ve managed to get out and about for once!

The other week I jumped on a coach full of (mostly) not so eager uni students making their way to the Imperial War Museum North in Manchester to visit the eagerly awaited (by me anyway) Don McCullin exhibition*.

It was my first time visiting IWMN and as we pulled up I was surprised at the architecture of the building**. For some reason someone seems to have decided that a museum dedicated to allowing present and future generations the chance to understand war and it’s ramifications within an avant-garde monstrosity! Listening to a quick introduction from a museum representative, she explained that the architect had taken his inspiration from a broken teapot, that the ‘shards’ were there to represent conflict in the air, on the ground and at sea. It was also mentioned that the space inside of the museum was designed to disorientate and confuse the visitor, making them understand more about the ‘chaos of war etc etc etc’.

What a bunch of balls! The majority of the visitors will not bother to check why the building was deigned the was it was, nor will they understand about the building’s chaotic nature and the parallels supposedly drawn with chaotic nature of war… If anything the way the building is set out and the non-linear nature if the main exhibition hall will put people off and detract from the museum’s intentions. I can understand the concept, but it goes way over the head of most (including a lot of the students)***.

The exhibition itself was absolutely brilliant; each section had a filmed piece with Don McCullin talking about that relevant period in his life and enough text to keep even the most avid bookworm’s attention. Visually the exhibition consisted of intricately printed black and white images, punctuated every so often by large light box lit images. Also present were the paraphernalia associated with such a long career in photography, showing his helmet, boots, passports and the Nikon F that caught a bullet in Cambodia.

Though in mostly chronological order, the museum really doesn’t lend itself to displaying imagery of this type****. It felt as if the earlier years (The Guvnors, Vietnam, el Salvador etc) languished with room to spare, whilst the photographers later work (including his landscapes and still life imagery) were packed in at the end, this led to the feeling that the museum was only really interested in his formative years, packing the newer work in on a whim. Obviously this should definitely not be the case, all of Don McCullin’s work is important, it shows the path he has taken through life as well as the way he tries to deal with his demons; surely every aspect of the exhibition is important?

That aside, the exhibition was absolutely brilliant, to be able to view McCullin prints at length and at that size was such an amazing opportunity; well worth the trip ‘oop north’ and I urge anyone with an interest within photojournalism to get their arses up there.

*To set the scene, before the trip various videos and bits of documentary footage had been presented to the class, to allow them to know a little bit more about one of my favourite photojournalists. Before playing the first documentary, one of the tutors asked who hadn’t heard of Don McCullin, his jaw dropped when two students put their hands up (they may not have been the only ones, the class can be a bit hesitant to express anything approaching an opinion at times).

**Someone said it looked like one of the alien ships from Independence Day; I have to say I agree!

***OK apologies for this rather long piece of procrastination. I have to admit that after smoking for many years I’m doing my damnest to give up… unfortunately this has the effect that it makes me rather odd(er than normal) and prone to going off on more tangents than usual…

****Point to note, low lighting, lightbox images and reflective glass in frames are NOT a good combination… bit of an amateur mistake!

Few interesting links:
More on the show from the Guardian
Don McCullin talking about his photography (also from the Guardian)
Interview with Don McCullin on the BBC website
Audio-Visual show (again BBC) with images and the photographer talking about his work

I’ve bedded in nicely at university here in Newtown and after bypassing much of the Fresher’s Week mayhem (being rather older than a vast majority of the students and mostly more responsible) studying has started in earnest.
The course itself has kicked off with a module that is to be shot in film, allowing me to do something I’ve yet had a chance to; process and develop my own black and white film!

As I knew last week would start with everyone on the course developing their own films, I’d used some of my (out of date film stocks) taking odds and sods around the university and in town and walked into the developing room with my pockets brimming with exposed film (two 35mm and four 120). The onus was on 35mm so I pulled out a roll of FP4 (that old it’s not even FP4 Plus), loaded it into the cassette, popped it into the dev tank and busied myself with the various steps…

An hour or so later, after washing the film, and with a great deal of anticipation, I took a peek at the fruits of my labour… only to find a blank film, frame after frame of nothingness*, frustration turned into unknownsnapper position #1**.
What could have gone wrong? Instantly I and others around me decided to blame the age of the film***,it was either that or my inexperienced bumbling and fumbling in the darkroom had just plain mucked it up.

With this in mind, the next day with two other students I wandered back into university to process some my other 35mm and 120 film. The 35mm was in date Ilford Delta 100, so I was expecting some nice results (quite a few frames of street photography taken around town), the 120 rolls were made up of random images taken as I learn to use the Bronica I’ve borrowed (again using out of date FP4 – so not much was expected).

Surprisingly this time again the 35mm was completely clear (further inspection of the ancient**** SLR I use has shown that it or I have some not previously encountered issues with loading film), but the 120 rolls all yielded results; I spent the next half hour or so hopping from leg to leg like a child needing a pee until yet more peeking could take place as the film was transferred to the drying cabinet. Apart from the the dubious subject matter, the only real problem found was with, what I now know to be, reticulation which only occurred on the roll at that was at the top of the dev tank (see image at the bottom of this post).

Unfortunately the only equipment I could scan with was a rather poorly maintained flatbed (I didn’t know, until yesterday, that we have a dedicated scanning suite here at Newtown Uni), but the results are still good enough for the web and this blog.

I know I’ve only touched on the world of developing, but there’s something about it I really like, knowing that generations before me only worked this way; a heritage if you like. It’s hard to describe the elation I felt as I realised that I could create an image from shutter to negative without a memory card or the even the opportunity to chimp at a screen – a pure process if you will. The future for me must, and will, be digital, but bloody hell this felt good!

*This is obviously quite dull and not the breathtaking demonstration of my photographic skills I had hoped for.
**The intensive head scratch – imagine a macaques monkey, absent mindedly scratching it’s balls, but move the scratching hand up to the top of the head and you’re about there.
***The majority of the other students were around 4 years old when it went out of date.
****Manufactured the year I was born.

Reticulation – possibly adds to the image.

Blogging amongst many, many boxes at the moment* as packing for my descent into studentdom continues! Due to the fact I’m taking my bike along it would seem that two trips to the new digs will be needed, so trying to prioritise what should be taken on the first (quite epic) journey.

Surrounded by an air of calm at the moment, possibly due to a recent bout of illness (which has annoyingly even stopped me training on my bike for the last few days), I know as soon as I get 50 miles away from Pantsville, the inevitable will happen; I shall slap my forehead and burble about some piece of equipment I’ve forgotten.**

On another note, thanks to the generosity of a friend I now have loaned sound recorder with which I intend to record a short interview for the fishing story. Only drawback is that I have just three days to secure the interview before I leave and I know how busy they are. Despite the compliments from those that have seen them, I view the images I took as useless without the audio to overlay in a slideshow. Don’t get me wrong I feel as if I could easily write enough text to go with it, maybe I’m just too fixated on making my first AV show… Just have to see what happens.

Back to the boxes…

*Not actually that different to my normal situation; I’ve been living out of boxes for the last six months, packing is just a case of shifting bits from one box to another!

**For some strange reason I always seem to forget towels…

Bear with me, even before I begin I can tell that this is going to be a self indulgent and rambling post as I’m tired and really need to get out more!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, the denizens of Pantsville are revolting… honestly one bit of sun and the overweight are out wearing unfortunately skin tight clothing (or in some cases just no clothing) and pushing veritable armadas of little Shazney-Jane’s and Dwayne’s around the shopping area as they puff away at the obligatory Lambert and Butler, hanging limply from the corner of their collective mouths.

The fact that I’m still talking about the inhabitants of this rather unfortunate and still anonymous town is that frustratingly the summer challenge is on hold… On a slightly different note, three of you have now guessed at the location of this dingy hole of mediocrity and although not a thousand miles out, I am as yet unable to hand out T-shirts or monogrammed paper bags…

As all great generals know, no plan survives contact with the enemy (Helmuth von Moltke) – though I’m fighting a different kind of enemy, namely the Forces of Bureaucracy (aka FoB – the dastardly swine), who have a habit of taking no prisoners.
The FoB are waging, what I like to term ‘a pain in the arse campaign‘ (they’re that underhanded, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were also responsible for my lack of reception when using 3mobile dongles and third world debt*), which means I am currently surrounded by teetering piles of distasteful paperwork needing my attention and stuck here till the beginning of August.

*I’m not really sure if I can hold them accountable for third world debt.

Sadly this means that the amount of photographic work I’m doing has also slowed to a snails pace for now. My two main projects (and a third at research stage) are also on hold as a result (two are London based and one is local but waiting for the subject to find an appropriate couple of days), so I have a couple of weeks to spend in the purgatory that is Pantsville before I can even think of setting sail for London for what probably be a large amount of flying visits in August.

But what of plans A, B and C? I hear my only reader shout from the back of the internet? Well… Plan A (university) is in full swing, I am soon to become a member of the great student unwashed, digs are being prepared and there’s a pile of books outside my bedroom door that rivals the Leaning Tower of Piza. Come September I will be packing my bags and moving to another anonymous town (name for use on the blog yet to be decided) in a shire far far away. Although it’s not London and not the university I had originally banked on, the course seems great and there are plenty of big hills to thrash myself over and keep me occupied.

Plan B to take over the world head on is something I intend to continue with during during university, I definitely don’t intend to be idle when it comes to carrying on, even if it means I spend a lot of time visiting London via National Express coaches (very cheap and sofas ahoy!).

And finally we come to Plan C, a few people out there know of Plan C and what it entails. This option is still alive and slowly ticking over, running in conjunction with Plan A, and indeed will compliment my poor student lifestyle (after checking I was informed that working during term breaks would definitely be possible).

Reading back through this post with it’s oddball references, vague mentions of bits and bobs that only a few know and meandering style I think I may have lost the plot slightly… Regardless, things are moving forward and I know with all my conviction that I’m moving in the right direction (again).

At the moment, I’m considering taking the university mentioned below up on their offer of a place (even though they’re not London based etc).

Oddly – never having dealt with UCAS before – I found out today, that to move forward and even think about accepting I need to have definite answers from the other choices applied to. Not really a problem with two of my choices (one no and one unconditional yes). But, my last choice, the uni that sparked it all, that I’d been set on from the start hasn’t yet said anything.

I know they’re currently waiting to hear from people who applied on time, so until they know if they have any places left they can’t say anything, so it’s not a fault at their end. Thinking over the situation makes me wonder though. If someone who went for the uni I’m waiting on and was offered a place is waiting on another university to bung an answer their way then the whole system becomes like some convoluted bastardised housing chain!
Finding it quite hard to work out the benefits associated with this part of the system…

Despite that, I obviously have a choice to make. I think Plan A (university) is going to be the way to go, but I have now come to a bit of an impasse .

1. Kick the application for the university I really wanted to at least have an interview with and get things started with the offer I’ve just had.
2. Play a waiting game to see if I get the interview and then make a decision.
3. Say sod it all, call in my flying monkeys from their holiday in the Seychelles and make a concerted push to take over the world one country at a time.

Complications are a pain – just have to have a damn good think!
Written under the influence of Green Day – Basket Case – apt…

Although I’ve been quiet of late, despite that a few good things going on.

First off, after much encouragement from friends I submitted my portfolio to a freelance photographic agency. To my surprise I received a very positive reply and am now on some one’s books! Though this seems like an excuse, I feel a bit stuck at the moment, there really isn’t much going on in this part of the world – Pantsville is a notoriously dull place – and the only projects I can run here that will, hopefully, bear fruit are of the ilk that would be destined for features, couple that with not being able to get to Civilisation for at least another week and it all adds up to me being a very frustrated bunny! All in all I see it as a very good step toward achieving my goals!

The second good thing happened last week. My second university interview bore fruit! The feelings I had throughout my visit to this (unnamed) university were extremely positive. The course sounds great, the facilities spot on and tutors I met were extremely friendly; I found it extremely hard not to be completely enthused by everything I saw, a total contrast to the last uni.
The interview itself was great (and over ran), this time I had a really good feeling all the way through – although I was a bit stunned when at the end of the interview I was told that I had a place if I wanted it! Not what I expected, and until an email from UCAS arrived I suspected I had misheard him (though recently had my ears syringed so can now hear a pin drop!).

Last and not least, I made a call to the university I originally wanted as my first choice. I knew they had my application, but had heard absolutely nothing from them since corresponding with the course leader around a month ago; obviously I wanted to know where I stood. Speaking to the course director (who remembered me – not sure if that’s a good thing), he informed me that they were waiting for the on time applicants (I’m classed as late – story of my life!) to confirm if they will be accepting a place on the course of not and that I am still in with a chance for an interview.

So, Plan a & b are in play and working well (apart from not doing as much as I would like with plan b just now), some decisions will need to be made soon, obviously I need to see if the third and final interview will take place before I can head in whatever direction I end up choosing… The game is afoot!

Post sponsored by Creedence Clearwater Revival – Lookin’ Out My Back Door

Probably quite an obscure one and I’m definitely not a country music fan, but I had the Big Lebowski on as I spent the weekend trying to learn CSS (cheers for the help Jools!).