Unseen Adjustments 05.04

BA Photography Exhibition 2011 Leeds College of Art

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FOREWORD Adrian Davies, 2011

The medium of Photography is embedded within society and culture fulfilling a range of purposes from commercial, artistic, documentary to vernacular and snapshot photography. Cameras are used by a continuously increasing number of people and the number of images in the world is overwhelming with billions of images uploaded to the internet alone. The professional photographer now has competition from the amateur photographer and the sheer scale of images already in existence to produce engaging images. This has been encouraged through constant changes in camera technology as manufacturers are financially driven to make the process accessible for use by the public at large. With the possibilities of digital technology, we are fully immersed and bombarded by images. Not only are the general public more liberated with their use of the camera to record their personal lives, but they are also happy to place them in the public forum of internet sites for the world to see. Long gone are the fears of the camera stealing souls, replaced

by a knowing awareness of how the camera ‘sees’ and can project a persona of ones self into the public realm. The professional photographer has to work hard to find engaging subjects and make their images distinctive for them to have impact. As technology changes so does the role of the photographer. The documentary photographer has to find new ways to represent events when competing against public eyewitnesses who record events with their mobile phone camera and make dramatic images that are a common feature in news coverage of world events. As the world and our lives are recorded more frequently and covertly, the role of the photographer becomes even more important. CCTV cameras record mundane scenes continuously without consideration to composition and the ‘decisive moment’. Googles’ software Streetview uses photographs to create a virtual world where time is blurred and images are stitched together to create 360% views of locations, enabling us to explore areas we don’t have to

physically visit to get a sense of space. Yet to walk through this virtual world is still a complex and difficult experience. Streetview reiterates the important point that photography is all about ‘looking’ and the need to be selective in what is recorded and what the motives are for doing so. The still image can focus our ‘looking’ at the world and help us question or make sense of it. Looking, responding and communicating, has been central to the practice of the photographers within this publication. The photographers have followed their individual interests to make visual engaging and thought provoking images within a range of subjects and contexts. Sometimes the most obvious things around us can go ‘unseen’ without the help of a photographer to focus our thoughts and attention. The camera may still be the mechanical recorder of what it is pointed at, but the personal intention and vision of the photographer is crucial to creating images that will challenge us to examine our understanding of the world.

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ALEX POLL 05

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The Journeys In Between

Travelling alone through familiar and foreign landscapes, an infinite composition passes by. Nuances and poignancies are captured by the eye that please and evoke a sense of beauty and serenity. Only being alone can one fully feel and become enveloped by them.

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_ +44 (0) 7533 994 122 www.alexpoll.co.uk

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS _ A Special Thanks To

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Course Leader Adrian Davies

Leeds College of Art