FP8: Reflective Summary
At point 8 of unit 3.2, the time has come to make a small summary of my academic studies in photography at level 3.
I am just over halfway through this long study journey through the principles, contents, poetics and creative works of psychogeography, which began in unit 3.1 and will end at the beginning of next year, with the main project and completion of unit 3.3.
I am confident I have gained good knowledge of this vast, inter-functional, and multifaceted topic.
Psychogeography is so peculiar that it has been practised since 1700, well before being defined and codified more than 200 years later.
It is so evolving-oriented that it escaped the (distinctly political) control of its main promoter and theorist (Guy Debord). It was adopted by numerous artists, from writers to visual artists, directors to performers.
A legendary and timeless figure, such as the flâneur, flourished in its context.
It links performances ranging from drifting to my academic field of interest, from psychogeographic to street and snap photography.
It could have been a risk for me to get involved in such a vast topic that I could have lost the focus and an organic learning path to give an identity to myself as a photographer.
The decision to narrow down focus, guided by Tutors' advice, reflects a strategic approach to learning and recognising the potential pitfalls of tackling such a broad topic.
For this reason, I selected some specific topics. In unit 3.1, the flâneur. In 3.2, the individual's relationship with urban reality declined in walking, drifting and performing street photography.
Following my photographic practices, insights into some artists and external projects, I gradually focused my photographic inclination until I understood that I feel happy and creative wandering aimlessly in urban reality and on the street. In synthesis, acting as a street photographer.
My engagement with my photographic practices and my exploration through external projects and the works of other artists made me realize that I am ready for a deeper commitment to hands-on learning and a willingness to draw inspiration from various sources and practitioners.
 |
| Giorgio Colonna, "Night Crossing", 2023 |
I completed some in-depth studies on authors referring to the practice of walking and street photography and the draft of the critical review.
After all, a unit divided into 10 self-managed points/projects throughout almost a year requires planning skills and not losing focus on objectives that can change over such a long period.
I then updated the mind map, which was and is strategically useful for structuring ideas and documentation, planning and orchestrating activities and selecting themes, projects and creative works.
The mind map will also be useful for unit 3.3, containing further ideas and inspirations on numerous artists and psychogeographic themes.
Unit 3.2 encapsulates a stage in my academic progression and a journey of personal growth and artistic discovery.
It underscores the importance of focussing, planning, and adapting in navigating the intricate landscapes of creative exploration.
As I move forward, armed with newfound insights and inspirations, I am poised to continue pushing the boundaries of photography within the realm of psychogeography, forging my path amidst the urban labyrinth.
 |
| Giorgio Colonna, "The Path", 2023 |
Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
It's time to ask you for feedback for the last time in this unit. I wrote a Reflective Summary with links to research points and the complete draft of the critical review. I am not asking you to do all this reading work; therefore, any feedback, even minimal, will be welcome. Thank you all.
9 replies
Post by Richard Dalgleish12 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
Hi Giorgio,
I read your reflective summary and from there looked out your critical review.
I very much enjoyed reading the essay. Lovely piece of work. Your passion in subject came through and the essay was informative and easy to read, complimented by the images you used. There are some spelling mistakes but not enough to spoil my enjoyment. Maybe need to review this from spelling and grammar perspective or maybe your tutor will provide inline notes for you that will cover this. Loved the sensitivity of describing allowing your feet to build their own path while at same time describing the difficulties of aiming a camera and not having subjects react to your presence.
In your reflective summary I loved the two images you show. Something about the simplicity of the night appeals to me. Love the colours maybe of an oil spill in the path and implications of what passed this way before you. Your image of the bridge reminds me of the urban landscapes and photography in the style of the Bauhaus movement. I also wondered if you should include any of your own creative work in the critical review? Just an idea.
This brings me last of all to your summary. I found this the most difficult to read and to comprehend which is why I went off to read your critical review to try and make sense of the summary. The passion I found in your critical review was harder to find in the summary. Maybe this is down to me as I don't know your subject area as you clearly do. You describe your topic as, "vast, inter-functional and multifaceted topic". As such, in a summary how do you start to introduce terms such as flâneur or Psychogeography and start to speak of theorists? Could (or should) you simplify summary and make it more about your learning journey and allow the critical review to introduce your topic or do you start to explain your terms and theory in this summary? Again just a thought for you to consider.
Richard
1 reply
Parent of this post↑Reply to Richard Dalgleish from Giorgio Colonna11 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
Thank you Richard for your prompt and valuable feedback. I'm happy that you liked my critical review and even more so that it was easy for you to read because it means that I structured it in an orderly and understandable way. Given that, as you know, I am not a native speaker, I have to subject my texts to two more steps than you do: write in my native language, translate into English and subject the translation to a grammatical check. Since this is a draft, I haven't put it through the final grammar check yet, but I will. Reflective Summary: now I realize that the text is difficult to read: I had to condense a two-year research and practice activity into a small text and, probably, I couldn't summarize well. To put it briefly: in the last two units I tackled a comprehensive theme, I risked getting lost in the sub-themes and, also on the advice of my Tutor, I narrowed the field to one sub-theme per unit, and developed it. At the same time, I achieved a greater awareness of which photographer I want to be. I think I'll edit the text.
Post by Jonathan Lamb10 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
Hi Giorgio
I enjoyed looking at the two images on this post. I've seen a number of books that print this type of work on heavy black paper with a silvered-ink, almost like a silk screen print. Richard Mosse did something like that for Incoming and I believe the Eamonn Doyle has used that technique for some prints from his series On. Also Jack Latham in his book Sugar Paper Theories.
I really enjoyed reading and learning from your critical review. I asked myself if there is actually an urban reality, or if that reality is created in our minds by the interpretation of the urban landscape through our subjective and cultural filters. Towards the end of Solnit's Wanderlust she makes a point that I thought could be useful for your essay about how walking can be anti-establishment, particularly in America, since the urban landscape (e.g. LA or expanding into suburbia) is not designed to be walked. And how that anti-establishment attitude is becoming established in more recent urban design.
I also found myself thinking about the conscious cultural act of walking which separates it from it being a way of life, an act as a cultural way of being such as going on a hunt. In other words a concious way of (re)engaging with an environment we have become unconsciously separated from? We sense and perhaps visualise a need for 3 dimensional engagement, and this visualisation can be recorded, with a photograph.
1 reply
Parent of this post↑Reply to Jonathan Lamb from Giorgio Colonna2 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
Hi Jonathan.
Thanks for the printing tips. Truly, black and white pushes you to print like nothing else, to obtain true black and contrast that is often missing in viewing due to the technical limits of video.
I think that nothing pushes the individual to react emotionally more than the urban environment through a comparison with the environment and himself in the environment. After all, what puts the legacy of the past (the artefacts), the present (the people/artefacts) and the future (the critical projection of yourself into the urban) directly in front of you, if not when walking around the city? Therefore, as Solnit, Thoreau, the Dadaists, the Situationists affirm, the act of walking, of freely navigating the urban environment, can be an anti-act, and an act of liberation from any constraint, an act of affirmation of one's identity. At the same time, wandering the urban and, even more, photographing it means accepting its existence and recording what is part of your life and your life with others in an urban community. These experiences made me understand that free from any pre-established and "spectacularized" path, my perception of what surrounds me is independent of the frantic search for beauty and has, in any case, a meaning for my life.
Post by Joanne Carter7 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
I think it’s fascinating how you have navigated the complexities of psychogeography while staying true to your own photographic identity. I can imagine it must have been challenging to narrow your focus, but you've done it thoughtfully, taking advice from your tutor and finding your path. I especially like how you've embraced the experiential aspect of learning, getting hands-on with your photography and drawing inspiration from different artists and projects.
1 reply
Parent of this post↑Reply to Joanne Carter from Giorgio Colonna2 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
Yes, the path of in-depth study of the psychogeographic theme put me to the test as a person and photographer. I can confirm that, despite being confronted with different experiences and ways of thinking, I was positively influenced by them because I was pushed to focus and identify my photographic style. Before this academic experience, I knew what I liked to photograph, but I didn't know the reason for this propensity. I think I am aware and have found my way as a photographer.
Post by Barry Rourke7 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
Hi Giorgio. As I would expect, this reflection shows a great deal of subject knowledge but, more importantly, self- knowledge. Near the beginning, you say, "In 3.2, the individual's relationship with urban reality declined in walking, drifting, and street photography. " An interesting observation, but is it a topic?
I would have been interested to read whether the various terms to describe walking and taking photographs make a difference to the end result, or are they a description of input rather than output?
2 replies
Parent of this post↑Reply to Barry Rourke from Giorgio Colonna2 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
Hi Barry, surely the sentence you quoted, taken out of a more in-depth analysis context, does not determine an argument and is a bit of an end in itself. As I wrote to Richard, a brief summary text of this long course of study forces me to take many concepts for granted and, in this sense, does not achieve the result of summarizing for the reader. From this point of view, the critical review is clearer and gives meaning to all this right from the title. “Deconstructing Urban Intimacy: A Critical Analysis of The Relationships of the Individual with the Urban Environment in Photography” is the topic. First of all, we are talking about photography. Having established this key theme, how photographers approached the relationship with the urban environment as individuals, artists, and photographers? Starting from here, I developed an in-depth study through examples of authors who represented artistic currents, fueling their poetics with multidisciplinary references and inspirations to thinkers and philosophers. I have recalled several times that the individual cannot develop a fruitful relationship with the urban environment if he does not wander through it first. The main tools that act as extraordinary catalysts of this creative alchemy are acts of walking and drifting. These acts supported the development of photographic currents whose culmination is street photography. Here emerges the paradox of a practice with noble conceptual roots which, today, is often considered a phenomenon of low artistic level, to the point of having been snubbed by some critics, who consider street photographers as "fishermen" of images and children of a lesser god or illegitimate children of authors of other times, such as Cartier Bresson, Doisneau, Ronis. My path at level 3 develops around these themes: they interest me and give meaning and a reason to who I am as a photographer today.
Parent of this post↑Reply to Barry Rourke from Giorgio Colonna2 days ago
Re: Feedback Request for 3.2 Point 8
I believe that a (positive) by-product of this forum is to make us reflect by responding to the various posts. I also believe my answers to your instances have better content than my reflective summary! I'll use them.
