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musings on the photographic experiences of keith greenough
Lifting the Curtain…. Exhibition Photographs and Texts, printed, framed, labelled and packed
The photographs and texts for the Lifting the Curtain exhibition have now all been printed and framed and are ready to be shipped to Spitalfields for installation. 28 framed images/texts in total. I needed to get this done as from the third week of August I am away a lot on holiday… Each framed image […]
Blueprint or Capitalist Enclave
July 31, 2015
“London Docklands proved to be a highly controversial example of urban regeneration, polarising opinion between those who pointed to a blueprint for successful free market inner city regeneration…and those who viewed it as the architectural embodiment of Thatcherism including fortified capitalist enclaves.” Andrew Tallon (2013) Urban Regeneration in the UK (New York: Routledge) This […]
The Results are in…
July 29, 2015
I have been very busy on a course at Central St Martins – alternative processing. So busy that I missed the fact that the results for YOP are in. My mark was 72% which combined with the 80% for Advanced gives me a First Class Honours Degree. Truth is that I was secretly hoping for […]
Posted in: Assessment, OCA YOP
Lifting the Curtain Exhibition – Catalogue, Posters and Business Cards
July 14, 2015
I have been turning my mind to the production of supporting materials for the exhibition. The catalogue production is going well. I reviewed a draft printed version yesterday and was very pleased with the quality of reproduction. I am on course to be able to produce 100 copies which will be a limited signed edition. […]
New Work – Out of the Shadows
July 12, 2015
I have been developing an idea for new work which follows on from ‘Lifting the Curtain’. The project is code-named ‘Out of the Shadows’. The idea is to continue to explore how East London is changing through demographic shifts, its relationship with the rest of London and recent redevelopment (in term of both the physical infrastructure and its […]
Book Sales and Exhibition Catalogue
July 3, 2015
Sales of the book for Lifting the Curtain have been going very well. I have sold 35 out of the limited edition of 40 signed copies. As a result I will only have a few copies for sale at the exhibition. In view of this I have decided to produce a relatively high quality catalogue for the […]
Lifting the Curtain Website
June 19, 2015
I have had a bit of a break from photography following submission of work for assessment but I am now busy planning for my exhibition in October. I have organised the printing and framing of the images/texts, drafted the form of an exhibition catalogue and have now established a ‘Lifting the Curtain’ website. The intention […]
What next…
May 15, 2015
The dust has settled and the assessment submission is now in Barnsley. I have plenty to do over the next few months in preparing for my exhibition. It promises to keep me busy! But I have been turning my mind to what I might do next and in particular what I might focus on if […]
End of an Era…
May 13, 2015
After what seems like a very long, enjoyable and highly instructive time, I have reached the final hurdle. Tomorrow I deliver my final assessment submission for the Photography 3: Your Own Portfolio course to the Open College of Arts in Barnsley. Here is the A1 Plax folder standing by my front door waiting to be delivered… For those interested in […]
Memory Exhibition Installation
May 4, 2015
John Umney, Penny Watson, myself and Artspace curator Tom Cox completed the installation of the Memory Exhibition at the Oxford Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital on Saturday. The hospital is new and the gallery space is large and well set up with integrated hanging system….this made life a lot easier. John Umney took on the role of […]
Lifting the Curtain Book – Limited Edition nearly sold out…
May 1, 2015
30 out of the limited edition of 40 signed and numbered copies of my ‘Lifting the Curtain’ book are now sold. £25 with all the money going to East London charity Toynbee Hall. They are going fast so if you want a copy email me on keith.greenough@btinternet.com You can preview the book here https://photo-graph.org/umbra-summus/ The work […]
Memory Exhibition Oxford
April 27, 2015
Next week the Memory Exhibition will open at the Nuffield Orthopaedic Hospital Oxford. Seven of my image/text diptychs are on show along with work from six other OCA level three students. The exhibition is fully supported by the Open College of the Arts and my thanks to Gareth Dent and his team for their help and […]
Northumberland
April 25, 2015
I have just returned from a few days photographing the landscape of Northumberland. The focus was on its coast line. I must say I enjoyed the place a great deal. Northumberland’s coast line is steeped in the history of the many conflicts which have been enacted there. The many castles were defences against invading Vikings and […]
Lifting the Curtain Exhibition
April 15, 2015
I had some really good news this week. Town House Gallery in Fournier Street, Spitalfields has agreed to stage an exhibition of my Lifting the Curtain work. The event will run from 15th-24th October and will be part of the 2015 East London International Photography Festival.The venue is fantastic. It is a standalone gallery space set in […]
Memory Exhibition Oxford
March 23, 2015
With the Memories exhibition in Oxford fast approaching I thought I would re-post details of my work to be shown. Memories is a OCA level 3 student exhibition being curated by John Umney and Penny Watson. I am showing seven image/text panels from Lifting the Curtain along with an artist’s statement. The statement, which I have revised since my last post is as […]
Lifting the Curtain – Project Overview for Assessment Folder
February 20, 2015
This is the full text of my ‘Overview’ for Lifting the Curtain, which I plan to present in my Assessment Submission along with more detailed papers on the contextual framework and presentation strategy. OVERVIEW: MAJOR PROJECT LIFTING THE CURTAIN The idea for Lifting the Curtain grew out of my fascination with East London and how it […]
Assignment Five Tutor Feedback
February 12, 2015
The main thrust of my submission for this final Assignment was about presentation of my work. I submitted a detailed paper on this. Perhaps too detailed as my tutor found it a little confusing and was puzzled by the large number of options I discussed. She suggested that I make it very clear in my assessment […]
Critical Review Updated
February 11, 2015
In Assignment Two I presented my Critical Review text to my tutor for review. My chosen subject was ‘CONTEXT AND MEANING IN DOCUMENTARY PHOTOGRAPHY – A Comparative Study’. In her feedback my tutor suggested a number of changes to the text to improve the flow and to add more depth. I subsequently amended the text and […]
Oxford OCA Student Exhibition
February 9, 2015
I heard from John Umney and Penny Watson that they have decided to include some work from Lifting the Curtain in their forthcoming exhibition to take place in Oxford in May/June of this year. This is great news and my thanks to them both for their generosity. As I am away a lot over the coming […]
Assignment Five Submission
February 8, 2015
A few days ago I submitted my final assignment, #Five, to my tutor. This was a momentous event. My last assignment on my photography degree course with the OCA. The main thrust of this assignment was to set out my plans for presentation of Lifting the Curtain. I defined the scope of this work in a paper I […]
Document, Publicity, Commentary, Art
February 7, 2015
This post presents my thoughts on the recent CONSTRUCTING WORLDS Photography and Architecture in the Modern Age Exhibition at the Barbican London. This exhibition closed in early January 2015. I visited twice. There was much to take in at this blockbuster exhibition, which presented work by 18 photographers. I have struggled to get my mind around it all and […]
Tate Modern – Conflict-Time-Photography
February 6, 2015
I have been looking forward to this exhibition for some time. The concept of the exhibition has quite an overlap with my own work in East London. My own work does not deal with conflict, but does pose questions about what a photograph of a present day place can say, if anything, about what happened […]
Assignment Four Tutor Feedback
January 27, 2015
Somewhat belatedly I am posting the feedback from my tutor for assignment four. Sharon’s comments were largely positive and I got the sense that she felt I was on track and that ‘Lifting the Curtain’ is now working well. With regards to the book her key comment was that it would be stronger if I […]
‘Lifting the Curtain’ – staging the exhibition and book sales
January 19, 2015
As I stated in my previous post my plan is to use ‘Lifting the Curtain’ to raise funds for the East London charity Toynbee Hall through sales of prints and copies of my book. I will pay for the printing, framing and book production and any proceeds from sales will go to the charity. This post deals with […]
‘Lifting the Curtain’ presentation – Book Format
January 18, 2015
In my previous post on presentation strategy I indicated that a book and exhibition to be the most appropriate and effective means of presenting my work. This approach echoes that of Charles Booth when publishing his work and can be used to create a form of presentation that encourages the viewer/reader to engage in a dialogue with […]
Hiroshi Sugimoto – Still Life @ Pace Gallery, London
January 6, 2015
I had a chance to make a brief visit to the Sugimoto ‘Still Life’ exhibition at the Pace Gallery in London today. It was most impressive. I have seen three Sugimoto exhibitions now—his landscapes/seascapes in Arles last year, his Architecture photographs at the recent ‘Constructing Worlds’ exhibition at the Barbican and now his Dioramas at […]
Presentation Strategy ‘Lifting the Curtain’
January 2, 2015
I am in the process of documenting my ideas for presenting ‘Lifting the Curtain’. My aim is to present my proposals to my tutor as Assignment Five for the Your Own Portfolio course. My submission for the assignment will be a document, structured as follows: Overview Strategy for Presentation Exhibition Format Book Format Promotion In this post I […]
Photo Competition: Visual artist Lucia Pizzani and filmmaker David Jackson win Hotshoe Photofusion Award 2014
December 19, 2014
Now in its fifth year, I was delighted to announce the winners of the Hotshoe Photofusion Award 2014 at the gallery last week (11 December) with a short comment on the work, which I have reproduced below. The winners are: Lucia Pizzani for her Impronta series 2013 of ink-jet prints derived from the wet-plate collodion…
Quo Vadis — germ of an idea for life after YOP
December 17, 2014
I am getting close to the end of my degree course at the Open College of the Arts. One more assignment to submit and preparation for assessment and it is all over. It has been a hugely enjoyable and enlightening experience and I must admit I will be quite lost when it is all over. […]
Karen Knorr Exhibition Tate Britain – December 2014
December 17, 2014
I have studied Karen Knorr’s work, particularly her Belgravia 1979-1981 and Gentlemen 1981-1983 series and have cited her as one of my influences see here. It is very fortuitous that she currently has a retrospective exhibition showing just these two series at Tate Britain. I went along yesterday to see her work in the flesh as it […]
Back from my travels
December 15, 2014
I am now back in the UK after my trip to Australia and Hong Kong. The Australia piece was very much about racing triathlons with not so much time for photography. In Hong Kong however I managed to put my Leica rangefinder to use. During our stay in Hong Kong we spent a lot of […]
OCA Thames Valley Meeting 22nd November
November 23, 2014
Yesterday I attended an OCA Thames Valley meeting. It was a very worthwhile event. Sharon Boothroyd, my tutor, was there providing help and advice. The meeting largely concentrated on reviewing work by the students present – a form of critique. This is extremely useful and motivational as it can be very lonely on a distance learning […]
Elina Brotherus
November 23, 2014
On the 12th of November I attended a Study Group meeting in London to listen to an artist’s talk by Elina Brotherus. The talk was held at a gallery in Mayfair – quite a prestigious location! The group was quite small around 20 and in giving her talk Elina moved around the gallery space talking […]
LIfting the Curtain – print sizing and organisation of image and text
November 18, 2014
In my previous post here I indicated that the principle forms of presentation that I will use are a book and an exhibition of prints. This post discusses questions about the nature of prints I would use in an exhibition. It is concerned with the sizing of prints and the spatial organisation of the image and […]
PhotoMonth Open – private view
November 7, 2014
Last night was the opening of the PhotoMonth Open. I spent a couple of hours their, looking at the work and looking and talking with people looking at my work. The image/text panels were all printed by the organisers. This was the same for everyone and created a level playing field for all exhibitors. It helped […]
Lifting the Curtain Book – Version Five
November 7, 2014
The latest version of a possible book format for ‘Lifting the Curtain’ is attached to this post. Just click on the cover image or underlined below to see the book in pdf format. It is best viewed in Preview (Mac) two pages at a time. The images should be on the left hand page and […]
Study Visit – Brighton Biennial
November 5, 2014
I attended an OCA Study Visit to the Brighton Biennial Festival recently. Other priorities meant that I could only attend for one day, but it was a full and excellent day. It is difficult with events such as this festival to get one’s mind around the sheer volume of work on show. I have therefore been […]
Lifting the Curtain – maps and references for book
November 2, 2014
The Booth archive at London School of Economics have given me permission to publish copies of their maps in my book and to use the maps for exhibitions (with a suitable credit of course). I have been mapping out (excuse the pun) how this would look in book format. Here are sample pages from a […]
Photograph selected for Photofusion Salon/14
October 31, 2014
I am really pleased that one of my photographs has been selected to be shown in the print show at Photofusion Salon/14. The exhibition will run from 12 December 2014 – 30 January 2015, with the Private View taking place on Thursday 11 December, 18.30 – 21.00. I was lucky enough last year to have my […]
Lifting the Curtain – Initial assessment of various forms of presentation
October 31, 2014
As a first step towards designing the form or forms of presentation I plan to use for Lifting the Curtain I have made a preliminary assessment of the options available to me (or rather those that I am aware of at the moment).I defined the scope of possibilities for presentation (see here) I indicated that This […]
‘Lifting the Curtain’ photographs selected—PHOTOMONTH EAST LONDON International Photography Festival 2014
October 28, 2014
Four of my image/text panels have been selected for the print show at the PHOTOMONTH EAST LONDON International Photography Festival 2014. Here’s the announcement of the event: These are the four images: The organisers are handling the printing….a bit nervous about that as not sure how the prints will turn out. I am expecting relatively […]
Assignment Four – Submission to Tutor
October 24, 2014
Today I have submitted my fourth assignment to my tutor….only one more to go now! I submitted the latest form of the image/text pairings for Lifting the Curtain in the form of a book. This may not be the final form but was a convenient way of showing the work at this stage. Click on the […]
Assignment Five: Presentation of ‘Lifting the Curtain’
October 23, 2014
I agreed with Sharon my tutor that I would prepare a scope of work for my final YOP assignment which will be about presentation of my work, Lifting the Curtain. On the subject of presentation, I was very taken by this observation by Angela Kelly in her essay Book, Exhibition, Lecture, Website – Revisiting Catharsis: Images of Post-Conflict […]
Lifting the Curtain – Photographic Influences
October 22, 2014
As a photographic work, ‘Lifting the Curtain’ is multilayered. At its heart it is essentially documentary. The photographs record the urban landscape of East London as it is today but also evoke as sense of the past, revealing remnants of older phases of urban development mixed in with present day architecture, signage and ‘street furniture’. It is also a […]
Umberto Eco – Opera Aperta (The Open Work)
October 20, 2014
I have been much influenced in my thinking about ‘Lifting the Curtain’ by Umberto Eco’s ideas of ‘openness’ in works of art as set out in his seminal work Opera Aperta (The Open Work). Eco’s work was first published in 1962. My analysis is based on a 1989 English translation published by Harvard University Press (1) […]
Barthes – Rhetoric of the Image
October 9, 2014
This is my second post discussing the relevance of Barthes writing on photographic meaning for my ‘Lifting the Curtain’ project. Once again my source is Barthes book ‘Image Music Text’ (1) and in this case his essay ‘Rhetoric of the Image’. (2) The essay concerns itself with the question ‘How does meaning get into the image?’ […]
Posted in: Uncategorized
Barthes – The Photographic Message
October 8, 2014
As I explained in my previous post, over the next few posts I plan to document the key influences on my ‘Lifting the Curtain’ work. I will look at this both in terms of the ideas of critical thinkers and the work of other photographers. Barthes book ‘Image Music Text’ has been of particular relevance. (1) […]
Posted in: Uncategorized
Nadav Kander – Dust
October 3, 2014
Yesterday I went along to Flowers Gallery on the Kingsland Road in Hackney to see an exhibition of Nadav Kander’s latest work, Dust. The title of the work comes from a T S Eliot quotation ‘I will show you fear in a handful of Dust’. Fear in this case relates to the nature of the places represented – three […]
Posted in: Dust, Exhibition, Nadav Kander, OCA YOP, Uncategorized, YOP Influences, YOP Wider Interests
East London Project – Bethnal Green Shoot
October 2, 2014
I am getting close to the end of shooting for the East London Project. Whilst I fully expect to keep making images right up until the end, from now on this will be directed at trying to improve existing images, rather than exploring completely new sites. Last night I visited what might prove to be my […]
East London Project – on to Assignment Four
September 29, 2014
Following the feedback for Assignment three (see my previous post here), I decided to take stock of where I had reached with my East End work. I had two questions to consider: Would the project work better by simply using the images without text? Sharon suggested that I look at the images themselves to see what they […]
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