Wendy Rose Context & Narrative
My OCA Learning Log for BA (Hons) Photography
The category containing all posts for assignment 2.
Following my tutors advice regarding my selections I have reconsidered the images I have chosen.
My re-worked set:
I thought about the lay-out and colours and the final image of the hands resting feels like a perfect full stop to the set.
Reflection
I think that I finally achieved a set of images which convey how deafness felt to me during my research. I researched the history of the Deaf as well as took inspiration from my own mother who has been deaf since birth. I also spent a number of days and evenings with ear defenders on so that I could experience the feelings and frustrations first hand.
I was surprised during my research that I could not find any Deaf photographers that have tried to show Deafness in an image? I had a blank canvas to work with.
The images I took used a variety of techniques which I am not familiar with, however I tried to explore different ways of expressing the unseen feeling rather than documenting the deaf world which is not strictly unseen. I do also have some ideas for developing this series further using physical manipulation of the images, crops of just hands signing alongside sounds experienced by the deaf.
I did feel as though I had hit a wall with this assignment but I think this was mostly due to the images being in an unfamiliar style. After printing them out and living with them as well peer review I am seeing them in a different light. I did use my mother in some of the images but this proved difficult as she did not fully grasp what I was trying to achieve. She was more worried about what she should say despite a reminder that a still image was not going to capture what she was saying in one frame! I then resorted to putting myself in the frame, something else that I am not used to, this meant I could try to be more experimental in capturing exactly what I wanted.
This is a subject that is personal to me so maybe some of my frustrations were about not being able to include everything that I wanted to express in 7-10 images. After re-looking at them I realised that I did not need to include it all to convey the feelings and in fact but reducing to the 8 images the set appears stronger and more coherent. I may not has said everything about the Deaf world in just 8 images but hopefully it leaves the viewer wanting to find out more.
What would I do differently?
Perhaps I would explore more physical manipulation if I had more time. I would also look at the solitude as well as the community of deaf culture. I had hoped I would be visiting the Hearing Dog School with my mother before this assignment was due in but sadly this has been postponed. This might however offer me some alternative images for a future re-work.
Yet again I was pleasantly surprised with my feedback it was on the whole very positive. On reflection and after my Skype tutorial with my tutor I agree that the set needs to be modified slightly.It does tend to focus on the anxiety of deafness that I felt during my experience but is perhaps not enough of a balanced view. I need to trust myself that the more subtle images will work successfully.
There is a lot of food for thought in returning to this subject and I need to consider the use of mind maps to help note down all the smaller more subtle experiences that I didn’t include.
Being Deaf is not as silent as we might imagine, there is a noise that cannot quite be explained, for each Deaf person this is different. The world becomes a difficult place although not insurmountable, crossing roads takes extra vision and care, watching the TV becomes a mammoth task as your eyes flick between faces and subtitles, add to this the time delay which makes the story hard to follow. It is headache inducing and frustrating in equal measure, watching lips that move too fast and following hands that become a blur, I find myself wanting to shout stop and return to the silence. The Deaf world is isolating yet you are part of an exclusive club, a community of other Deaf people, they have their own culture which includes a language of their own.
‘I’m Deaf not stupid’
A phrase so often encountered, this comes from an age when the Deaf were considered handicapped or inferior, placed in mental institutes or asylums, the term Deaf and Dumb was still in use until recently, in fact my own mother still uses this term to describe herself. The Deaf community do not consider themselves disabled, they liken it to sight impairments, if you or I wear prescription glasses it does not make us disabled therefore should hearing impairment class them as disabled?
My final images aim to show how it can feel being Deaf, The frustration, the blur, the confusion and the danger. To achieve this I used a mixture of slow shutter speed to capture the movement of sign language, camera motion to show the flicker between screen and subtitles as well as zooming during an image capture to show the focus of the street signs mixed with anxiety and the danger sometimes faced.
I think that I finally achieved a set of images which convey how deafness felt to me during my research. I researched the history of the Deaf as well as took inspiration from my own mother who has been deaf since birth. I also spent a number of days and evenings with ear defenders on so that I could experience the feelings and frustrations first hand.
I was surprised during my research that I could not find any Deaf photographers that have tried to show Deafness in an image? I had a blank canvas to work with.
The images I took used a variety of techniques which I am not familiar with, however I tried to explore different ways of expressing the unseen feeling rather than documenting the deaf world which is not strictly unseen. I do also have some ideas for developing this series further using physical manipulation of the images, crops of just hands signing alongside sounds experienced by the deaf.
I did feel as though I had hit a wall with this assignment but I think this was mostly due to the images being in an unfamiliar style. After printing them out and living with them as well peer review I am seeing them in a different light. I did use my mother in some of the images but this proved difficult as she did not fully grasp what I was trying to achieve. She was more worried about what she should say despite a reminder that a still image was not going to capture what she was saying in one frame! I then resorted to putting myself in the frame, something else that I am not used to, this meant I could try to be more experimental in capturing exactly what I wanted.
This is a subject that is personal to me so maybe some of my frustrations were about not being able to include everything that I wanted to express in 7-10 images. After re-looking at them I realised that I did not need to include it all to convey the feelings and in fact but reducing to the 8 images the set appears stronger and more coherent. I may not has said everything about the Deaf world in just 8 images but hopefully it leaves the viewer wanting to find out more.
What would I do differently?
Perhaps I would explore more physical manipulation if I had more time. I would also look at the solitude as well as the community of deaf culture. I had hoped I would be visiting the Hearing Dog School with my mother before this assignment was due in but sadly this has been postponed. This might however offer me some alternative images for a future re-work.
In deciding on my final set and direction I choose to share my post for peer review. This can be seen here:
https://discuss.oca-student.com/t/c-n-assignment-2/6144
The overall consensus was that the first set of ‘Feeling’ images were stronger which is what I am leaning towards after looking at them for a few days. However they need tightening as a set to make them stronger.
One comment I received which was interesting is that the first set also conveyed feelings about age and dementia, so it connects on another level which I had not considered.
A few other ideas came out of the discussion which might be useful for the re-work of this assignment. I like the idea of focusing on the hands signing and presenting them as some kind of slide show with subtitles so that the viewer is put in a similar place to a deaf person. Maybe adding white noise, tinnitus to the experience, not quite sure how I can achieve this, I might need to look into adding sound, maybe it would need to be created in power point.
In an effort to make selections today for assignment two I printed around 35 images which I favoured from around 200 that I had taken and laid these out in various groupings. I then decided to try cropping them square and laying them out, aesthetically I preferred this square crop and layout. The images feel more confined.
My next issue is do I choose more of the ‘feeling’ of being deaf which drastically limits my choices of images or deafness in general.
Feeling:
The ones of deafness in general offer an insight into a deaf world although far too obvious, nether the less important to a deaf person.
Deaf world:
I have lost my mojo during this assignment and as much as I have tried I seem unable to restore it before the deadline. Therefore I have decided to select from the images I have taken so far and then brace myself for a major rework!
I think my biggest stumbling block was trying to show what is actually ‘unseen’ . It was too easy / obvious to keep taking images that show signs of deafness but these in reality can be seen. Perhaps some are less obvious but I am concerned that it takes me away from the point of the exercise. I have tried to use slow shutter speed and zoom to experiment with showing how deafness felt to me during my research but it is really out of my comfort zone and I cannot say that I like the images but perhaps this is because it is a style I am unfamiliar with. I had wanted to experiment with cutting, sewing and doing something to the images but again this is not in my comfort zone but I am looking to explore this following on from my initial submission.
Well I never! I was trying to shoot something by pausing the subtitles on the TV and guess what? Subtitles do not pause with the screen! That has scuppered another plan as slow shutter speed and panning are not getting my desired effect with the screen in movement!
Back to the drawing Board.
I still have more to take but I was keen to see how they might look and what they might convey.
The first image shows the confusion my mum often displays when she doesn’t understand, yet she always just nods and continues.
The second shows the facial expressions and exaggeration used in sign.
Third and fourth show sign
Fifth shows the reflection of the tv with the subtitles on
Sixth , hands are resting
Seventh, a bit too obvious but I included the book I found on the school and ‘Deaf News’
The last one is my mum feeling the music to see how loud it is, a trick often used as I was growing up.
Similar but all cropped to the same orientation and a few image changes
This one shows more dialect between others and the frustration at the end of trying to simultaneously read eyes, lips and hands of multiple people to stay in the loop (so to speak)
This focuses only on the frustration of following conversation without sound. The flurry of hands, the blurring of lips and the constant movement alongside the sounds already in your head which is tiresome and feels like too much to take at times.
Wendy Rose Context & Narrative 