Tuesday 10 January 2012

Assignment 4 : further thoughts

As mentioned elsewhere the assignment 4, critical review, was not well received, largely due to my inability to follow the brief. I had written a biographical review and this needed a substantial re write prior to sending for assessment. My tutor had been kind enough to suggest that I send a new version with the assignment 5 and he would write some off the record comments by way of extra help. The second version is "better" which is a relief although still edging towards biographical and could do with more contextual analysis in the socioeconomic climate of the time. If I have time before I need to email the OCA the word doc for plagiarism checking I may change a few paragraphs to incorporate these issues. 

There is a wider lesson here. If I have some skill in photography this is not enough on its own to progress at level 2 (5) and beyond without some problems and I need to quite literally "learn" more with regard to essay writing.  Much of the chatter on the forums is about photographic technique and very little about the academic writing that must sit alongside it. Maybe I am alone on this and it is my technical writing from my day job that conditions me towards linear thought.

However, it its current guise it can be seen here.

8 comments:

  1. I agree. I did my essay on Fay Godwin, the research was enjoyable but getting it all down into something coherent and critical was hard. It seemed to take me a lot of hours and a lot of edits to complete it. In the end it was well received so not too bad I think.

    I am now on the new format PWDP and this tips the balance away from 'doing' photography and much more into analysis. I am just working on Assignment 3 so after that will be the next critical review epic to square up to.

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  2. I strongly suspect that the new PWDP looks as it does because many people find the change of gear into critical analysis a difficult one. Certainly earlier versions of level two material don't prepare you particularly well for this aspect of the course. I think you are not alone...

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  3. I've just reread Charis's "Weston's Nudes" and it provides an interesting insight into Weston's mind and how it was conditioned from a sociological perspective very early in his life, which was probably the reason why he photographed more nudes than any other genre. Those "daybooks" are a real treasure trove aren't they? Well done on the assignment.

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  4. I think what makes these essays so hard is the fact that as our subjects are often legends, there is a dearth of information and much debate, discussion and analysis out there already. So to contribute our own thoughts to that is very challenging. However, it sounds like you're there now Nigel...well done...

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  5. Interesting reading Nigel and instructive too to gain an insight into Weston's working practices.

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  6. I recognise the feeling. Thanks for putting it into words

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  8. It made for very interesting reading and your analysis was very thoughtful. It made me consider whether I should look for a sense of direction and meaning for my own photography instead of simply photographing whatever catches my eye. Do you think that Weston considered meaning in his photography or did he just 'do' it and leave the analysis to others?

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