Reconnaissance trip

I'm following a part of the route of the X53 Jurassic Coast bus which travels from Poole to Exeter along the south coast. Yesterday I went from Lyme Regis to Weymouth charting the bus stops along the way and looking for views that would show how remote it gets along the way.

Traffic was minimal except when we got near to Weymouth as there were several areas undergoing road surfacing works. These road works made the 12 noon bus at least 20 minutes late as it got caught up in one section. 

It was strange hoe you can get fixated on one thing, ie, the view along the coast and miss a hulking great bus, the X53, go right past you as you walk along!  

Bus stops in this part of the world all look very much the same and are surrounded by the same kind of countryside. It's going to be hard to differentiate between them. My tutor, Katrina, suggested that I research other photographers, and in particular a photographer called Ed Rusha who photographed a series of 26 gasoline stations in the USA.  I've looked at his portfolio of images and it must have got very difficult to come up with a new viewpoint. 

Here's a picture of the elusive X53 bus as it passed through a village called Portesham on its way to Weymouth yesterday.

I've found that when you take pictures of buses with illuminated front / back signs you have to make sure you take a couple as the signs flash on and off (too fast for the human eye to see) but the camera catches it.

Assignment two: Finding your voice

Assignment Outline

 

Intent is a major factor in arts practice. There needs to be motivation to research, experiment and develop your ideas.

Consider a subject close to your heart – something you feel passionate about. A subject that you feel people don’t understand or appreciate sufficiently.

Choose a photographically based form of communication or storytelling that uses devices like metaphor, allegory, collage, graphs, montage or a mixture of media.

You need an idea, a way of interpreting what you’re concerned with, and you’ll need to develop your visualization through testing and experimentation. You may initially have no idea what your images will look like or how they will be formed. This is normal. More and more answers are revealed and the pathway becomes clear through research and experimentation. You may go down a particular path, hate the result and step back – that’s fine. Testing, experimenting and communicating with your tutor will get you there in the end.

Discuss your ideas with your tutor by phone or email then produce a statement of intent of no less than 250 words. Email to your tutor for their comment (not approval – this is your work and it’s your voice that matters). Produce a specific research book for this work and send it with your assignment -- or start a new page or tab on your blog.

Remember that you’ll be assessed against your statement of intent which should state your academic and practical intentions – what you’re going to do and why. It’s important to stick to this once you’ve agreed it with your tutor – but you can develop it further past what you set out to do.

Justify everything you do – even printing on paper as opposed to fabric or metal.

Your work should reveal the development of your ideas, your experimentation to make visual decisions and the intellectual basis of your decision-making. Your work should communicate effectively and produce the feeling or response you’re aiming for.

Produce a series of 10 images of minimum size 16x12”.

Finding my Voice

I had to hold off working on this part of the module as my husband has been ill and needed my attention.  He's well now and I can get back to Project 2/Assignment 2 which is about finding a local issue and illustrating it.

I live in Lyme Regis which is tucked at the far west end of Dorset.  In fact, part of the town is in East Devon so it gets fairly complicated with postal addresses, etc.  The local and county public transport system seems set up to accommodate the bus companies rather than serve the local people and tourists.  There are three services - the X53 which is known as the Jurassic coast bus as it runs along the south coast from Poole to Exeter; the X31 which runs from Dorchester to Axminster and the local town bus known as the No 71. 

The X53 bus as it passes my cottage in Lyme Regis

Using my camera I plan to illustrate where the main bus stops are, how they help or hinder people moving around the south coast and how they help the social aspect of the town.