I’m exhausted and I really should be in bed already. The busy week ahead is fun. Photography for enjoyment, slowing down, mindfulness and switching off. Fingers crossed that I see and photograph Pufflings – I’ve not made that up, baby puffins are indeed called Pufflings.
There hasn’t been the time to catch up with everyone’s blogs today as I have been making photos for part thee of Foundations in Photography, which is now almost complete. I have one more shoot to do, which is the compliment to one of today’s shoots. Then I have to develop and upload everything.
I have a large collection of crystals and minerals. and I’ve been photographing them in different environments over the past week, for exercise 3.12 (2014 manual), Photography as Research.
In collaboration with a friend I have the photos ready for 3.7 A Significant Object.
Today I have undertaken a part of exercise 3.10 – A Formal Portrait. I’ve blogged before about how I need to make this shoot different from the brief, so I’m taking the time to follow my tutors advice from the conclusion of assignment two. For this I’m going to create a body of work which questions identity, and today I’ve been exploring gender. I’m pleased with today’s results, and I look forward to making the photos for the contrasting set. Gender and gender identity have been featured on the news and in journals a lot recently. Gender is such a broad field that I have narrowed my view down to gender identity. What is gender? Male, female, transgender, gender non binary, gender queer, asexual, third gender. Self identification has become a hot topic and it’s now possible, in some countries, to have your gender altered on your birth certificate and passport, and in more enlightened Nations it’s possible to tick a box for Non-Binary gender. The following is just a test shot and doesn’t include the props or staging.
A Staged Photo is one option for assignment three – A Narrative Photograph. At the start of part three I had an idea which I wanted to explore in relation to gambling. It’s been in the news a lot recently due to fixed odds betting terminals, and their impact upon individuals, families and communities. There has been some government intervention over the past couple of years, with the development of gambleaware.co.uk . On the one hand I think it’s a good idea to have a specific means of help for those who identify that they may have a gambling problem, but my main belief is that it’s a token gesture so the government looks like it’s tackling gambling addiction, when in reality it’s doing as little as it possibly can. The government has no intent on helping those with, nor preventing, gambling addiction. There’s far too much tax involved for the government to want to change the status quo.
My staged photo is an exploration of this. Here’s a taster from today’s shoot.
There isn’t going to be the chance to follow your blogs for around three days. Phone signal is poor where I’m going, so I’ll catch up on Thursday. Happy snapping.
I’m curious to see the photos of the stones. I have a few around the house. Great post! I know nothing about gender intricacies and didn’t know how complicated the subject could be until you posted this. I learned something new today! 😁
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It has become an important theme more recently. As society becomes more accepting, individuals feel more able to be who they are.
Hopefully I’ll get the crystals printed towards the end of the week. Do you have a favourite?
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Moonstone is one of my favorites. ☺️
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Mine too. I have some blue moonstone but saw some pink the other day. Have you seen it before?
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No I haven’t seen either of those. The one I have is kind of a milky whitish color with maybe a hint of gray… it looks similar to the moon 🌙. I’m excited to see what you have 😄.
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I’ll make sure that I photo the blue moonstone. It is a milky colour like yours, but when the light catches it it has a blue reflection inside the crystal, similar in effect as labradorite.
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Great photograph Richard and excellent accompanying piece as well. Enjoy the break and i hope you get to see and photograph the pufflings.
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Thankyou Sarah. Fingers crossed.
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Hey, Richard! Thanks for following my blog!
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My pleasure. I look forward to reading your posts.
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I’ve set my following you up so that I recieved e mail notifications of your posts, to ensure I can see how you make progress with this.
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Thanks for your concern! Uhh, I am new to WordPress, so can you let me know how to protect my articles from being plagiarised?
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The short answer is that you can’t. Anything that you write or image that you post can be copied or plagerised. However, as you are the intellectual property owner then the copyright is yours. So you can add a text widget in the customise section of your site, which declares your copyright status. Google “WordPress text widget” for instructions on how to do so, and if you get stuck then I’ll be home Friday so will assist you further with it then.
Copyright is such a difficult area, especially for independent writers/artists. If I copy a book and sell it as my own (commercial use) an author and publisher can sue me, and they probably have the funds to do so. If you download one of my photos and sell it (commercial use) then I could sue you for breach of copyright, but can I afford to do so?
I use a creative commons license that allows people to use my work for non commercial purposes as long as they name me and link back to my site. It doesn’t mean they will but evidence shows that they are more likely to because they have permission to do so.
Have a look at the creative commons website. You don’t have to pay anything to use a creative commons license and there are lots of types you can use. They just provide the wording and creative commons logo, which is the international standard for independent producers.
https://creativecommons.org
I hope this helps.
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Thank you so much for your time!
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My pleasure
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P.S. scroll to the bottom of the page to see how I’ve used the creative commons international 4 licence.
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Two very topical ideas and I’m sure you’ll do either of them justice.
Enjoy your break.
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Just Amazing ! i think you enjoy while writing such kind of staff .
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Thankyou.
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Thankyou Catherine.
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Have a great break Richard.
Gambling addiction needs to be taken more seriously & I get so annoyed seeing advertising encouraging people to gamble ! A great photo that succinctly makes a point.
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It’s such a devestating addiction. The blatant advertising is really annoying isn’t it.
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Have yourself a great break!❤
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Many thanks. It’s been so relaxing.
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