Status Update

Jayumcooper is: Drinking coffee and contemplating this project

So where are we at?

My interest lies here:

Artificial Nurture
Re creating the wonders of nature mechanically, within the computer, binary, man made

Tracking nature
Natural movement being harnessed to produce artificial movement. Animation controlled by an external natural force.

Studying the natural movement and converting it into mathematical data. Tracking the movement of leaves in the wind, the flight paths of birds.

Projection
Love the idea of projection as a delivery method. A concave projection screen sucking the viewer in, immersing them in visuals.

The possibilities that arise from projecting onto different surfaces. Bodies as canvas, walls, objects, plants and natural forms.

3D projection, where the canvas is taken into consideration when preparing the visuals, the interaction between artificial light (visuals) with a physical object.

Wabi Sabi
The Japanese concept of natural beauty. Seen in the places most never look. The discarded and disregarded natural formations found in everyday life.

Capturing nature in transition. On it's way to becoming, on it's way to nothingness.



What's happened so far:

2 projection photoshoots, where the body is the canvas. A continuation on an undergraduate project started 10 years ago. The work then wasn't really informed in any way, and neither were these 2 recent shoots. I'm glad I have tried this path, and I have produced a few pleasing images as a result. I'm not however in anyway satisfied with this as a solid grounding to proceed. It's a stepping stone, and a way of getting me taking images, but where to take this I'm unsure of at present.

Reading up on Wabi Sabi has left me confused and unclear about the process. I need to read the key text again as it is a fairly simple yet incredibly complex notion that I really want and feel I need to get my head around. As I was reading the text my mind was wandering every other page as to how I could relate these ideas to my practice, and at times I felt that my way of working is the complete opposite to it's principles. How can you plan and organise a project based on the ideas of natural occurrences and hidden beauty. Create it, capture it, the subtle beauty is gone, tarnished by the act of recording it and then bragging about it.

An unintentional and chance set of images vie produced over the past few months are the water sculptures. The idea of capturing a natural form in the state of flux, in a fraction of a second, freezing it in time. The images seem to me made of plastic or glass, objects that have been painstakingly crafted by an individual far more talented than I. Yet they are not. Natural movement recorded in the process of creation and decline. I will try and set this moment up again, this time with the outcome in mind. Try and control and plan the setup. At least have a better background and lighting setup.

Ive also been taking a lot of macro shots, traveling out and about searching for the Wabi Sabi beauty. It's not something I find challenging. I think I've always had an eye for the obscure beauty most ignore. The amount of time I'll have been out with g and I'll see something and stop, take out my camera and shoot. "why the he'll are you taking a picture of that padlock?" "I thought it looked beautiful" g is now very good at not questioning, just letting out a sigh and walking away.


The last big thing that I'm questioning at present is that of whether I can take a photograph or series of photographs I can truely be pleased with, and unashamed of hanging on a wall. I've never been a photographer, (but what does that mean exactly?) As I've studied the practice over the years, and even more these days, I am so aware that it's the idea as well as technique that makes a good image. It's all about preparation and planning, but at the same time having the eye and the balls to just get in there and shoot. Not to panic, to be patient, but also to be ready.

I still lack the confidence to shoot in a lot of situations, and my technical abilities could and should be more progressed than they are. I lack the patience too. I'm too easy with my shutter finger. This is why with project 1 it ended up as a screen based piece. That is my comfort zone. I can be patient there, because you have to be due to the nature of the workflow.

I want to push myself with this project to get away from where I feel safe. Something I think the new MA students are being forced to do. I like this idea, and I wanna see what happens.