Supervisor 1-2-1 Meeting 6 Nov 4th Wendy McMurdo

by LEN Final Major Project

Actions Agreed

  • Current edit works well except for image of me dancing and barbed wire.  Cliched and not strong enough for the work.
  • MA mark will be predominantly on the selected image set, evidence of a mock up exhibition and the write up.  Other activities will be taken in to consideration but sounds like very few marks available for them.  (Artistically this is disappointing for me but I should pay attention to it.)
  • Send in trial mock up’s for the exhibition and show thought through layout.  The work could work well playing with scale of the images.  Use the fact the images themselves play with scale moving close in and far out.
  • Work on the text elements of the PDF.  Suggestion to be diaristic photoessay style as fitting with the project.
  • Take feedback but ensure I express what I want to say.

Reflections

As an artist I am becoming clearer about what I want to say. This is developing well in creating a significant local Spanish exhibition, getting to 26,000 members of the MS Society and UK National Press coverage and a YouTube video with global reach. As an MA student I need to ensure I provide 20 images with a good write up and evidence of a mock up of the exhibition in Spain.

This is disappointing but I believe I can still achieve all three audiences in the time frame available. I need to keep front of mind that the majority of the MA marks will come from the 20 images and the gallery mock up.

Further Reflection 2 days later

I have thought a lot about taking out an image Wendy said she did not think was good enough. I have agonised over this as the images are important in the way the story has been told by me and has had stimulating reactions from many people. I have decided this is a moment of artistic integrity and at the moment will stick with my choice of image. It will hurt to lose marks by doing this but I believe integrity is important for my soul.

Further Reflection 6 days later

I am settling. Consider audience. If an audience doesn’t like it then there are two choices. Stick with it because I believe it is the story and it will work. Satisfy that audience and try again with the sequence on different audiences. Time to reflect further but as ever it is great to get input and to have this problem to work through.

Categories: Final Major Project, Project Development FMPTags:

LEN

I am a Photographer. As well as taking many photographs I am currently studying for an MA in Photography at Falmouth University. I will direct my attention through the lens of my camera for the next couple of years and see what shows up. I see a photograph as a little bit of magic capturing a moment in time. If successful it surprises and engages your emotions. It tells a story about the wonders of being alive or tells us what we need to change to make it a better world to live in. That is enough for me to get going and then like walking a 1000 miles, which I did across the UK in 2010, or walking 200 miles across Cyprus, which I did in November last year, it is one step at a time.

I was a writer. The title of my unpublished book was ‘You Would Have Done The Same.' It is about a successful guy in love with his wife who lets her die when he discovers her in the process of committing suicide. The title gives a clue as to what I think you would have done. The book is 200 pages long. I found it cathartic to write it but after two years of work and reviewing with agents decided it probably needed another 2000 hours to get the whole book up to the standard of some of the pages. Writing is great but it is a lot of sitting down so I decided to get out and walk, play tennis, play bridge, go birding, watch football at Nottingham Forest, Arsenal and Valencia and anywhere else if I can, meditate, cook and eat. I was a writer who has so far failed to become an author.
I was a young man who loved Mathematics and thoroughly enjoyed getting a BSc at Liverpool University. While there I went often to Anfield and the Philharmonic Hall. I was all set on doing a PhD until I went for interview practice at BP and got seduced by the excitement of an International business career. BP was a great adventure building trading teams and businesses in London, Antwerp, Cleveland Ohio and Singapore. Fabulous people and some great challenges and also very hard work, constant jet lag and lots of fun along the way. I married Karen, my stunning wife, and had the most amazing time with her and our three boys Alex, Tom and Dan. She has multiple sclerosis and we have taken on many challenges together but somehow keep creating a new normal against the horrors thrown our way. She is the love of my life.

After BP I decided to coach senior executives and quickly realized I had a lot to learn
about what makes people tick. I had a fantastic 18 months on the International Programme of the Cleveland Gestalt Institute. A great faculty and a
wonderful group of people on the programme. We studied and worked in Dingle, Singapore, Holland, Cape Town and
Lisbon. This also got me interested in the way we think and make decisions so I studied for an MSc in Psychology atUniversity College London in 2010. The
Masters was in Cognitive and Decision Sciences and I found it fascinating what
we do know but also how much we don’t know about how we think and make
decisions.

I loved coaching and making a difference. I got a number of people to hear themselves, remove some of their own chains and free up the way they thought about the world. I remain fascinated by how people react to and engage with the world. My Masters thesis was why do two people given the same information make different decisions? Put simply, it is because each of us are unique in the way we are constructed.

Since returning from Singapore I found English winters tough so moved to Spain where I now live. The people are lovely, the scenery amazing, food delicious and the sun shines all the time. Almost.

All of these experiences will feed in to my time now as a Photographer. Three motivations I am lucky to have are enthusiasm, curiosity and a continuous interest in learning. All the time I look forward to meeting old friends and making new friends and experiencing this wonderful life together.