At this stage of the module I am entering the final stages and working towards the PK presentation in addition to finalising the WIPP. Having been unwell for much of last week I feel that I am slightly behind schedule and I felt that this was reflected in my one to one with Cemre who at the time of writing this post must be concerned with my lack of knowledge of sequencing. However I’ve decided not to panic but act positively as although I have things to consider regarding sequencing. I have five days to broaden my understanding in order to inform my WIPP. 

In acting positively, I took myself to the supermarket this morning to print the images I have shot since the exhibition so that I can now visualise my work on the bedroom wall. The starting point this time was to place images in pairs in order to begin to see what type of dialogue this creates on a small scale with the intention of building a broader theme throughout the book. Colberg comments on the importance of sequencing, commenting that ‘each picture exists within a context not only with the facing picture, but also the following page and every picture in the book’. I have found it useful to think about my WIPP in this way and by visualising my images in a physical sense, on the wall, i have found it easier to begin to consider photographs which share a dialogue as a pair, then considering them in a broader context. At his stage an idea I have been pondering for some time is becoming clearer. Soth in Franklin “I see poetry as the medium most similar to photography… Or at least the photography I pursue. Like poetry, photography, is rarely successful with narrative. What is essential is the ‘voice’ (or eye) and the way this voice pieces together fragments to make something tenuously whole and beautiful” (2016: pp 167). Understanding that comparing photobooks and photographic sequencing with narrative or poetry is a difficult task although both elements have merits. From sequencing my own photographs I continue pontificate Soth’s comments and Colberg offers ideas which have assisted in this task when the idea of visual clues is discussed. With reference to my own work, I am now looking in a very different fashion. Moving away from trying to produce a linear narrative in favour of sequencing images which share a visual clue in addition to considering the form of the photographs as opposed to the subject matter alone (2017). 

As a result, I am considering my photographs in a much broader sense than a linear narrative. In favor of looking for visual rhymes created by use of formal elements such as colour, shape and textures. Understanding this has served to open up the possibilities for a more sophisticated approach to sequencing. Hoping to trigger recognition in other ways than narrative alone (2017). 

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The images above may exemplify a development in my approach to sequencing. Having made both images earlier in the module, until now I wouldn’t have considered putting these images together. They may carry connotations of parent and child and thus entering into a type of narrative. However in consideration of the formal elements, visual rhymes are created with reference to colour in respect of the packets of crisps in figure 1 and the red, green and blue bibs worn by the football players in figure 2. The circular shapes sharing broader similarities with the footballs whilst maintaining the the idea of a stereotypical matriarch figure. A sense of safety is created by overarching themes relating to the family. The homes in the background in figure 2 furthering the idea of a safe community.

The example I consider above is no doubt driven by the vibrant colours, and those colours form one element which drives towards a logical conclusion whilst moving away from a linear narrative. Offering further opportunities for a viewer to recognise where thy are beyond the obvious. Culler highlights the idea of Rifaterre regarding the poetic in photography as is a quest for semiotic union which furthers Soth’s ideas of photographic voice that pieces together fragments to create something beautiful.

Colberg, J (2017) Understanding Photo Books, The form and Content of the Photographic Book. London, Routledge. 

Culler, J (1982) Culler, The Persuit of Signs, Routledge, London.

Franklin, S. (2016) The Documentary Impulse, Phaidon, New York.