Responses to Assignment 5

26th October 2020

For the final part of the course we are asked to spend time looking at other peoples blogs, comment and also ask for responses and comment to the final assignment.

I have put requests in the OCA Student Forum, in the OCA Photography Students Facebook page. Lowestoft Creatives Social Group’s Facebook page which I run and my own Facebook page. These are the responses from today 26th October 2020 from these outlets as well as though written directly on my blog post.

Hi Dawn, powerful images. Nicely convey emotional turmoil.

You’ve posted a lot of info. A good approach is to give the final images priority then make the text accessible for anyone who wants to read too…

Good luck with it.

Andrew Fitzgibbon OCA Student Forum

… I thought that the work was excellent as was the exhibition work on your link. My only comment is about the size of the image where there is mostly black background. I did wonder if the image should be bigger so that we see more of the image that you have created. Morris Gallagher

Enjoyed looking at and reflecting on the assignment (and rediscovering Jo Spence). I appreciated the use of lack of light as a border to highlight the level of emotion being portrayed. I’ve worked face to face with clients with mental health issues since 1982. When I first started, a comment made by a client has always stuck with me. She described her depression as being in a dark tunnel. She would see a bright light and rush towards it. Sometimes it would be the literal “light at the end of the tunnel” other times it would be, as she described it ” the light of a train ( the next stage of her episode) hurtling towards me”. Good luck with moving on to the next stage with your photography… Mark Newbury

OCA Photography Students Facebook page

Anxiety Spikes the Feeble Flesh is a really evocative piece. You truly feel drawn into the image and can experience what you go through during periods of anxiety Rachel Culham

It was great to read the background Dawn, which, gave me a much broader understanding of the subject matter. Simply well done, and a good expo into one‘s inner most feelings. Richard Dale

I love the way that all the pictures as a collective show both negative and positive images of how your feeling…..from someone that has had depression i find some of the pictures heartbreaking but some of the others a lot more positive……very well done Clare Burley

These excellent images really work. Hope you will soon be able to leave them behind and move on to the next stage. Hilary Walton

it’s nice to see the work you’ve been working on at home in a blog post! Sometimes it makes me sad when I remember how unwell you got.. Poppy Tomlin (my youngest daughter)

Lowestoft Creatives Social Group

Hi Dawn, Your work is very interesting and without reading your background brief, the concept of depression and anxiety definitely does come through. I found that the last two images – the very highly coloured ones don’t work as well with the other mainly monotones ones. I think the colour comes across as a little schizophrenic,  (for me at any rate). Take a look at your initial grid images. Quite a few of them, when you click to enlarge go the the Depressed in Bed image, or a completely different one. So do check that for consistency. Good luck with your exhibition! Sounds super exciting. lynda512863

I love your work, but as a viewer I find it heartbreaking. I understand the theme and why you feel you need to dispel your demons by creating such work, I only wish that you could flip your mindset and create positive versions of these images, rather than living in a perpetual winter. If their purpose is to make the audience feel your anxiety and desperation, then you have succeeded! They make me sad and uncomfortable. May I suggest you also do a series of ‘happy’ photos as a juxtaposition? spaxtonb

I really liked the images although for this purpose (ie university) think the highly coloured one stands out as too different – unless , of course, you put a clear argument as to why you have used it and why the colour. I think the idea of glitches being equated to mental health issues is good, Actually oddly positive as glitches can be fixed! scottishzoe

Assignment 5 Personal project – final edit feedback on post