MA Photography – Page 4 – Rob Jones Photography Critical Research Journal

Week 8 – Responses & Responsibilities

“As objects of contemplation, images of the atrocious can answer to several different needs. To steel oneself against weakness. To make oneself more numb. To acknowledge the existence of the incorrigible” (Sontag, 2005: 77) Growing up I became fascinated by war photography. It fuelled my imagination. As I became older, it showed me the reality […]

by Rob Jones

Week 7 – Experimental

This weeks experimentation took me underwater! I have long been inspired by artists such as Tanja Deman and her works on Saltwater and Sunken Garden. I have spoken about her works before in my CRJ, and I have always found them to be an inspiration. Figure 1 I find such images to be tremendously calming and […]

by Rob Jones

Week 7 – Very far from fine!

This week I attended the Face to Face weekend at Falmouth. It proved to be a very transformational event for me and my practice. The group critique was one of the most productive sessions for my work. I had attended similar the year previous but found it very challenging to put my work on show […]

by Rob Jones

Week 6 – Reflexions

This week has been spent getting ready for the Face to Face event in Falmouth. As such I have not had time to focus on this week’s webinars. The F2F is a weekend I have been very much looking forward to, as it will allow me to show my work to lecturers and peers and […]

by Rob Jones

Week 6 – An Observation

This week, one of the most striking of these images I have observed has been Israel’s first moon mission spacecraft sending back a selfie of the earth. Figure 1 This image for me summarises some interesting debates within modern photography. Firstly it was taken by a machine, remotely controlled from the earth. Never a more […]

by Rob Jones

Week 6 – Experimental

This week I have decided to begin experimenting with different styles of imagery to see what strikes me as the most appealing. The theme for this week was sunset and the changing light. The river section I am most often found visiting runs parallel to the setting sun. This makes for some very different and […]

by Rob Jones

Week 5 – Just Giving?

“The camera has the power to catch so-called normal people in such a way as to make them look abnormal. The photographer chooses oddity, chases it, frames it, develops it, titles it” (Sontag, 2008: 27) The use of photography to tell the story of disability is a long and controversial one. Traditionally it championed the […]

by Rob Jones

Week 5 – The Ever Watchful Eye

Is photography voyeuristic? Alternatively, is the viewer themselves the voyeurist? To quote Swift: “When did it happen? That imperceptible inversion. As if the camera no longer recorded but conferred reality. As if the world were the lost property of the camera. As if the world wanted to be claimed and possessed by the camera. To […]

by Rob Jones

Week 4 – Reflections

As part of this weeks course work Week 4 Activity: Viewers Make Meaning, we were asked to submit one image that summarised our current practice and then our peers would: Evaluate the surface meaning, what you suspect is the intended meaning and the possible cultural meaning of these images. Reflect on your interpretation of the image. I […]

by Rob Jones

Week 4 – Signs

“The relation between what we see and what we know is never settled. Each evening we see the sunset. We know that the earth is turning away from it. The knowledge, the explanation, never quite fits the sight.” (Berger, 2008: 7) Images can be more than just two dimensional still frames from an ever moving […]

by Rob Jones

Week 4 – Into the Image World

“The Photograph is an extended, loaded evidence — as if it caricatured not the figure of what it represents (quite the converse) but its very existence … The Photograph then becomes a bizarre medium, a new form of hallucination: false on the level of perception, true on the level of time: a temporal hallucination, so […]

by Rob Jones

Week 3 – Reflections

This weeks work looked at a range of topics surrounding the reality, fiction and the faking of images. The ability for an image to be something else, other than what was shot and its ability to trick the observer was considered. This does resonate within the context of my practice. I see myself as a […]

by Rob Jones

Week 3 – Hunters & Farmers

Winogrand once said, “You have got to deal with how photographs look, what is there, not how they are made.” (Winogrand in Diamonstein and Callahan, 1982: 181) As already seen, my working practices are varied, and for a long time, I lacked identity as a photographer. During the duration of this MA, I am finding more […]

by Rob Jones

Week 3 – Constructed Realities

Within an average week, I look at many different photographs. Some intentionally, others I am exposed too through media, advertising and my work. The range of images varies wildly, but the percentage of those that stick with me is relatively small. For me, the images that carry gravitas are ones that showcase the living or […]