Final Images and Poem

When I was given the brief I tried looking at several poems and songs but really wanted to challenge myself so decided to use a poem. I wanted to keep with the theme of dance and thought what ever poem I found I could use with dancers. I found this poem called "Holding On And Never Letting Go" (as seen below) I found the poem moving and deep. When I approached my friend I explained that I would like to use this poem for inspiration in one of her dances. Her and her dance partner David created this dance and performed it while I captured them. I wanted to capture them as they performed, that way I could capture the true emotion of the dance. 

My chosen poem

Holding On, And Never Letting Go!

For a moment,

A cursed moment,

I thought of life

Without you, love.

And darkness,

Was all I saw

As my heart gave up

On love;

My breath

On life;

My mind

on sanity.

I made a

Mountain

Out of a

Molehill.

I allowed peeking eyes

And misunderstood words

To cause me to flee.

I left my love

Behind,

Wondering,

Wondering

And longing…

And myself,

I was dying.

My feet

Followed

Illusions,

Not our hearts…

And I

Nearly lost you.

If there were no God

No heaven, no hell,

Then suicide

Would have been my way.

For life without you,

Seems worse than death.

And without you,

I don’t exist…

You are me…

I am you…

My smiles… you are!

My love,

My wife,

Thank you,

My grip on you is tighter

I’m holding onto you!

I would never let go.

I love you!

Copyright ©2010 Leslie Alexis

Leslie Alexis

The six images are inspired by the poem “Hold On, And Never Letting Go” by Leslie Alexis. The poem describes the loss of a loved one and the emotions. The two dancers performed a routine inspired by the poem and the movement symbolises what the metaphors within the poem are trying to say. I normally work in a studio environment but I wanted to have the freedom and space outside. I have performed a few times and have always been interested in dance that it why my images are based around dancers and there performance. Instead of asking the performers to pose for the camera I captured them as they performed there routine so I can get their emotions and movement without them looking to fake and posed, allowing the audience to feel the emotions from the dancers. The use of fabric was introduced because in a previous brief I worked with dancers and the use of fabric and wanted to continue this theme but wanted to branch more to capturing the performance than staged like the photographer Bruce Monk when capturing his images of dancers. 

Below are my chosen six images. 

As a visual, symbolic, illustration of the poem “Holding on and Never Letting GO” by Leslie Alexis, the image presented, captures the peace and pain associated with death. The poem tells the story of a woman and her partner learning that she will soon die, and furthermore, of the pain that they are experiencing with the thought of being separated. The image above is to symbolise when the male just finds out that his partner is dieing. She is facing away from him as she cannot tell him but then she begins to start fading and as she falls he grabs hold on to her. The image is slightly darker than the images below as this is to symbolise when the male find outs and his worlds starts to go dark from finding out the love of his life is dieing. 

The image creates the impression of her rising up towards the peaceful white sky, which is symbolic of heaven, however, her partner holding on and almost pulling her back down toward him. By capturing the image during their dance routine, it helped create the illusion of her rising up and the partner pulling her down, instead of him holding her weight up. With the momentum during their routine, the image exhibits a ‘lighter’ lift, as though she is rising, and reaching toward heaven, with him pulling her down; holding on to her and reluctant to let his love leave him.

The above image symbolically relates to Leslie Alexis’ poem, “Holding on and Never Letting Go”. The couple dancing represents the woman in the poem who has learnt that she is dying, and furthermore, her partner who is having difficulty with coming to terms with her inevitable death.  The image was taken whilst they were dancing so as to best capture the emotional tension between them. The light sky in the background, being symbolic of heaven, together with the open space in which the dancers have been photographed, helps to portray the intimacy that they are experiencing. This openness leads to the idea of an enormous world, but yet, that particular emotionally tense, intimate moment is theirs, and only theirs. Nothing except for the pure isolation of their love, and the special moment that they’re sharing as they are about to be separated, matters. The black clothing, whilst helping to create a focus point by contrasting with the light background, is also representative of the mourning of the relationship that’s about to be severed, in addition to emotional darkness that the partner may experience after her death.

Presented, is an image representative of the poem: “Holding on and Never Letting Go” by Leslie Alexis. With the light, wide open space, audiences are able to focus on the dancers, who dressed in black, both draw attention to themselves and exhibit a theme of mourning and distress. Although their black attire contributes to a ‘darker’ atmosphere, there is a subtle hint of peace as the female dancer seems almost at rest as she floats back in a restful manner. The calm wind creates the illusion of her drifting away, almost as though suspended in midair as she rises up to heaven, which is represented by the pure white sky. It appears as though her partner is reluctant to let her go, holding onto her even though she seems to be almost trying to ‘let go’; her partner is resisting her inevitable death. 

The poem describes a situation in which a woman, who is represented in the image, is dying and her partner, being unable to come to terms with the reality of her death in the near future, leads to her inability to find peace to move on. Ultimately, she feels bounded by him and their love, which, in the current image, is represented by the flowing fabric. The fabric, as positioned, whilst being representative of her partner’s love, also creates the flowing image of her leaving her partner behind and moving up into heaven, which is represented by the pure white sky.  The fabric and positioning of her body is intended to take the focus away from her facial expressions and the emotions she may be feeling, but lead audiences to focus more on the symbolic nature of the fabric.



The image above is the final of the series. The image symbolises that her partner has comes to terms with her dieing and she feels that she can now let go and move towards the light and rest in peace. The camera angle is lower and her hands are behind her back so that it makes her look bigger and more confident and ready to move towards the light.

Overall I am happy with the shoot. I decided to use a series of images from the shoot as I feel I captured the emotion as they performed and fits well with the poem I have chosen. I only used four images in my exhibition as I felt they were the strongest images an explained the story of the poem best.

Junior dance festival

I exhibited some of my dance images in the Winter Gardens and in return I captured some images from the dance destival.

The organiser wanted shots of the dancers and wide angle lens of the ballroom. Overall, the images look a like too orange because I had my camera set on auto white balance. I have managed to edit a few and send them to the organiser so if she would like to use them she can do

Below are contact sheet from the Junior Dance Festival

ACE Centre, Nelson

I had emailed several different companies and organisations about whether I could exhibit my work in there building. A week before I was exhibiting at the Mill in Burnley Kirsty from the ACE Centre emailed me saying she may be able to find an area where I could exhibit my work.

I went along and met up with her and she like my work of the couple and she liked the story behind it and said that I could exhibit my work in the entrance area and she would find boards she could make so I was able to exhibit my images and have a collage piece about myself.

As I was exhibiting in Burnley to use towards my brief I said that there was no specific date I had to have as this was an additional exhibition.

Below is a link to the ACE Centres website
http://www.acecentre.co.uk/

Poems and Songs

I looked at several pieces of poems and songs.

Below are some of the songs I looked into. I decided not to use songs as I wanted to look more into poems and challenge myself more.

Songs
Ed Sheeran- A Team
Alice Cooper- Poison
The Beatles- Blackbird
John Lennon- Imagine
Emeli Sande- Suitcase
Goyte- Somebody That I Used Yo Know
Jason Mraz- I Won't Give up
And much more.....


I decided not to use songs as I felt that every time I came up with an idea it would be too much like song and would be obvious.

I also looked at several poems such as:

Fiery Love
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/fiery-love-2/
Earth Surface
http://www.poetryinnature.com/nature/poetry.asp?poem=1745
Dance of Terror
http://www.netpoets.com/poems/sad/1505001.htm
And much more....


One of my colleagues from work lent me her GCSE English book which was full of different poems for me to look through.

Below is an exam of one of the poems in the book

The Little Boy Lost (Scared of being abandoned)


'Father, father, where are you going?
Oh do not walk so fast!
Speak, father, speak to your little boy (simple statement, love and emotion)
Or else I shall be lost.'

The night was dark, no father was there,
The child was wet with dew;
The mire (mud) was deep, and the child did weep,
And away the vapour flew.

The poem is a metaphor for abandonment and religion and being saved by God


The Little Boy Found


The little boy lost in the lonely fen,
Led by the wand'ring light
Began to cry, but God, ever nigh,
Appeared like his father in white (God found the boy- he died)


He kissed the child, and by the hand led,
And to his mother brought,
Who in sorrow pale, through the lonely dale
Her little boy weeping sought

William Blake
1789

The poem is a metaphor about the love of God. He wouldn't let the boy be lost on his own so reunited him with his mother in heaven


I felt that the poems I found were lovely but I did no connect with them and therefore, continued to look for alternatives poem I could use and find inspiration from.

Exhibition in Burnley

My tutor Katy informed me that Sophie Skellern from Fine Art had managed to get hold of a mill in Burnley and was wanting to exhibit there alongside some other Fine Art students and photography students. As Katy and I were discussing this, Sophie came in and she was able to tell me about me more about the venue and asked to go along to the viewing of the venue as she had not seen it before.

Sophie and I met up with the Burnely council and the buildings who are developing the building to have a look at the venue. We had to wear hard hats for safety and we had to go through another building and up some steep stairs into the building. The building was going to be used by the Burnley council who had arranged an exhibition called "Open Weave". They were asking residents of Burnley for open submission so if any artists such as photographers, painters etc would like to exhibit they had to submit a piece of work and if chosen would be able to exhibit at the Mill. There were two separate rooms upstairs in the building. They had one and gave the other side to us.

Above is an image of me and Sophie after looking at the Mill in Burnley




Above is the space we had to work with. This image was taken on the day we went to look at the venue for the first time. Myself and Sophie think the image did not to do it any justice as the building was breathe taking.

After leaving the venue we decided that Sophie would email everyone on the Fine Art department asking if they would like to take place and if so would have to submit a short proposal as to what they will be exhibiting and why they would like to exhibit. I did the same and emailed the photography department

We said that we would have 15 Fine Art students and 15 photography students at the most who would be able to exhibit in the Mill. We sent an email out and I asked the photography students to email Sophie with their proposal. We had a few students from each year group who were interested in exhibiting their work.

Throughout the weeks building up to the exhibition I would be contact with Sophie trying to help out as much as I could for the Burnley exhibition. The name "ARTiculate" was Sophie's idea and the council said that their graphics designer would design the logo for us. Sophie arranged everyone to have postcards made so that everyone had separate postcards with an image of it and information behind it.

People who were exhibiting their work started to go down to the venue from the 23th April to set up their work ready for the opening night on the 26th April.

Above is an example of the leaflets for the Burnley exhibition. 

The open night was successful, a few people came and the organisation somewhereto_ who helped Sophie find the location were there to support the event and put on a selection of dancers, singers and rapers to entertain the guests as they walk around the venue giving the event a friendly, positive atmosphere. 

Below are some images from the opening evening.

Above is an image of my work. The four images on the wall are images I captured for my professional studies brief. The two photos that are printed on fabric are my one of my previous briefs, were we had to capture image using techniques. I wanted to print the images on fabric and I had picture them be big and stretched out so I thought the Mill would be an ideal place to try. I ordered the fabric prints from a place called Silk Bureau but the most width they could do was just over a metre so I had to go off the measurements that they were able to print. My idea was to hang them off a steel pole going across each wall support, but when it was hung up there it looked to high up form the ground, so with the help of one of my University colleagues we we hung string across the two poles at the top and the bottom and using spring clicks I clicked the fabric onto the string and stretched it out. The image above was before I stretch the fabric out.

The image above is of the four images I have chosen to use for my public forum brief. The images are going in the order in which the story is told that is loved one is dieing and he is unable to let go. 

Above is an image of me on the opening night standing next/near to my images. I had good feedback about both sets of images. The ones on the wall people say had say the same that I captured the emotion and the prints were professional and the fabric images people found it very effective and felt that is had the feel of the person in the fabric was actually coming out of the fabric itself. As it was hung up and the light shown through it you could see if from either side. 

The image above is off the two prints I had captured on fabric. I like the way they were stretched out but next time I would like to stretch them out by the sides as well so it had more of an impacted and so that the fabric was not loose. Other than that I am happy with the way they have turned out and will be exhibiting in London soon and will take on of them down with me. 

The two images above are of the exhibition on the opening night

Overall, I feel the work that was exhibited in the Mill was of a high standard and although it was not busy with people there was always people looking around.  I am happy with the work I exhibited, as I feel they were of a high standard. I did not put the poem up as I wanted people to make you there own mind and really look at the image to make their own story up but next time I will include the poem to see what effect it does to the viewers.

Exhibiting at Blackpool

I had emailed several people about whether I could exhibit in the building or not and David Gore from Winter Gardens emailed me back saying that the Junior Dance Festival was on and he may be able to find me a space I could exhibit some of my images. When I went and spoke to him he was unsure as to where I may be placed because the person who was organising the event was not in and he would have to confirm with her.

David mentioned I could be in the entrance are or he would place me in the horse shoe area which is where I was. I could not see the horse shoe area because the doors were locked so I did not know what the space I had was going to look like.

I spoke with David and he mentioned I could have about 1.5m/2m space where I could exhibit my images. Previously it was discussed that I would exhibit my work from the 12th April to the 15th April but it was extended so I could exhibit for the 8th April to the 15th April instead.

I knew that I could not hang my images on the wall so I had to come up with an alternative way of hanging my wall. I spoke with Kevin the technician at my University about how I could exhibit my work. I mentioned about the boards we used in lasts years exhibition but after discussion I found that the boards are too heavy to get there and they are a metre across and my frames are just under a metres width so the frames may not look properly. Kevin then recommended MDF board but again because of the size it would not look correct and I would have to get it to Blackpool and do not have the transport. I decided to then use easels to hold my work up and bought two easels.

The prints were done at University but when they were printed because I had edited them a bit they looked slightly pixelated when you got close to them but they still looked professional. The frame I bought was the perfect size for the image but the it was gold, so I painted the frames black, they looked like wood and did not look too obvious that they had been painted.

I was unable to hang detail of the images and myself and I tried to stick it on the easel but they did not look correct so I placed them on the floor. Below are images of where I had exhibited. 

Above is an example of the work I exhibited at Winter Garden, Blackpool just after I finished setting up. I tried to get the images level and I turned them in to each other as I only had a small amount of space to work with and to have them straight on meant that I went out the space I was allocated.

Above is an example of where abouts I was exhibiting my work. Just up the path from my work is the entrance were people come and there will be other stalls where people will be selling dance merchandise. 

Above it once all the stands had been up and people were looking around, this was on the last day, so some people had already packed up and left and a few people were just wondering around. I could not be there everyday but when I went back my work had been moved so I tried to straighten them up and spread them out a little. 

Overall, It was nice to say I had exhibited in Winter Gardens, Blackpool but I wish I had more time as I had ordered my images but unfortunately they could not have them done in time so I had to go with buying frames already made. I had feedback from several people saying they liked my images and one lady said I really captured the emotion within the dance. Next time I would like to exhibit more images that were professional printed and framed and somewhere people would talk past such as near the entrance but I am very grateful for them allowing me to exhibit some of my images. 

In return I went along and captured some images of the Junior Dance Festival for them to use if they wish to. 

Exhibition Areas

Below are a few places were I have written/emailed to, to see if I could exhibit but unfortunately was unsuccessful.

Howarth Gallery

Clitheroe Castle

Dance Force Studio

Fever Dance Company

Somewhereto_

Ascotstudios Gallery
ACE Centre, Nelson

I applied to 

I was successful at the Winter Gardens, Blackpool and DAPA, Blackburn were I will be exhibition at both places including the ARTIculate exhibition held at an old Burnley Mill at the end of the month.

Later ACE Centre, got in touch and said they would have somewhere available for me to exhibit. As I was exhibiting in Burnley I said I would be interested but there not specific time I needed to exhibit my work so I can work around them. Kirsty from the ACE Centre said she would be in touch with regards to me exhibiting my couple images in the near future. 

Exhibiting at DAPA

As the exhibition at Blackpool Winter Gardens were rushed as I only had a few days to plan I bought frames that were suitable but where gold so I painted it black but you could see the brush strokes and the prints were a bit pixelated so I was not too happy with the images I was exhibiting at Blackpool but got good feedback from the image.

I went to go pick my frames up from Paul Graham and even though he said they would be ready they weren't so I have to put up the frames I had until I had received my prints from Paul Graham. When I put them up they looked good from a distance and when you got up close you could see the quality of the image but Jayne was happy with them.

I went back with my final prints which were the same size print but the frames where different making it smaller. I replaced two and after looking at the I felt along with Jayne that they did not have the same impact as the ones in the black frames. I swapped them back and decided to leave the prints thats are already up. Jayne has another wall similar size and she said I could fill that as well with prints. I spoke with her and mentioned I had an exhibition in Burnley and once that was done could I come back fill the other side of the wall and she was more than happy for me to do this as said I could have my work up as long as I would like to or when decides to have a change.

Below is the wall with my images exhibited on it. I has set the frames like that so the wall does not too as bare and your eyes follow it across and the image goes up in person and the story continues through each image.

Overall I like the look of the images but would like to replace them with better frames and prints and would like to put more work up on the other side and have an official opening night once I have managed to hang more work up. I have happy that Jayne the owner is happy with the images and she has said that I have had a good feedback and people have been interested in purchasing my images.

DAPA Venue

I had emailed several dance schools asking if I could exhibit my work in their studios as my metaphoric images was based around dance and would fit well in their dance studios. After emailing a few venues DAPA came back to me wanting me to come in and show them some of my work.

I spoke with the lady in charge Jayne and she was captivated by my work and at first was not going to let me exhibit my work but after her seeing my images she could not resist not having my images up in her studio. I went and showed some of my images that I was thinking of exhibiting and she loved all of them and said she will leave it up to me as to what I want to exhibit and how I would like to exhibit it.

I measured her walls and there was a strip of white down the middle so I measure either side which came to about 240cm either side.

I went away and ordered my prints with Paul Graham, after speaking with him we decided to go for a box frame where the print was then stuck on the box frame so there was a small boarder, no mount and no glass on top. They should be ready in time

More details on how the DAPA venue went in a new post

Hannah- St Anne's

I went out with the same dancer I photographed with her dance partner so I could continue the theme of the poem and the story behind the images. I asked Hannah to perform her routine but on her own to see what effect it created and there is a part were she stands strong with her arms high and it reminded me of her lifting her arms to rise up linking it with her death.

Below are some examples of images I found appropriate and would maybe like to exhibit.

The image below is the image I have chosen to exhibit alongside my other pieces of work. I feel that the piece of work fits with the images and continues the story and how she is dying, as she raises her hands high ready to go to heaven the fabric symbolises how she is bound by her partner and not being able to let go but also how the important things are in the back and she can move on and up to heaven.

The image below is that same above but I have cropped it shorted so it is more narrow to fit with the other images and how you focus more of the model herself then the background

I decided not to use this one as I felt it did not have the same effect as the images above.

The two images below I liked because of the low camera angle and how she stands tall and she looks powerful but because of the close up and the crop of the dancer I feel that it stands out compared to the other images and portrays the images of how powerful and tall she is. Whereas, the other image with the fabric, it shows that she is still strong and is ready to move on.

Below are contact sheet from the shoot.

Over all I am happy with the image with the fabric, it has metaphoric meaning behind it and fits in with the other images making them link with the poem I have chosen.

Emily and Nikki at Formby Beach

I wanted to try and continue the group images and the use of fabric so I took 2 female dancers Emily and Nikki to Formby beach to capture their routine and to photograph them using fabric.

Unfortunately they are both gymnastics and Emily performs freestyle. So there movements was not as fluent as previous dancers and because of the fabric, you can tell even more that they were to stiff because they are gymnastics. I captured them both doing there jumps and flips but found then to have no emotion behind the image so I have not used them. There was one image (see below) I liked but it reminded me to much of a previous image and I don't like the lighting.

Below are contact sheet from the shoot that day

Unfortunately I found these images not to have the same atmosphere as the previous images so I have learnt from this such as to go on a day when the sun if not fully out as it was too bright and I felt the image didnt have the same feel/emotion as the pervious images and looks too different.

Le'Tasha Practice

Today I went out with Le'Tasha, another dancer to practise using fabric and to give her more of an understanding as to what I was trying to achieve. Below are some examples. I wanted to do something similar to what Rachael was trying to achieve so that the fabric was covering her face and the focus being on the fabric and her body. The fabric is meant to symbolise a lover and is telling a story.

The image below is to symbolise that the dancer is being abused. It was enspired by the poem below the image and how the fabric is her partner who is covering her and coming down on her and she is the fetale position and can't do anything as he is to be and over powering. The colours of the fabric sumbolised bruises as well and her lover.

A Mending To A Broken Heart

© Rhiannon

I Talk to him He talks to me. My heart, it swells And Begs to be Free. Does he know what's become of me? He hits and shoves Punches galore I know damn well, that it could hurt more. I try not to cry and not show the pain But deep down I know he's winning this 'game'. To me he's perfect but oh so very vain. I will never, ever over come this pain. I'm nothing but a punching bag, to quench his anger's thirst I grab my arm, and limp off to the nurse. She asks what's wrong I lie and say I fell. Why do I constantly go through with this hell? These tears are for him, and that I hope he knows. These emotions, this pain... why must it show? If I hide it away, I'd be lying to myself. He's abusive and cruel And my friends begin to worry They're afraid that he'll cause the death of me. It brings me to tears, because I know that they're right. They say "Step Up!" They tell me to fight! I tell them the truth "I can't" It would tear me apart. So I Walk off to my room, and try to mend my broken heart

The image below is the oppsite of the image above and the poem as it is showing she is breaking free and standing up to her lover and is more powerful than she thinks

Below are examples of images captured from that day that stood out to me but decided not too use

I feel her leg does not look correct because her legs look too white and needs to be stronger. Whereas she looks just standing I would like more strength and more performance

I like the use and movment of the fabric but not the movement of her hand it looks too blurry

Again I like the use of the fabric but not the colour of her legs

The movement of the fabric brings out the colour but I don't like the way the fabric looks squared and how it does look like a piece of fabric, I wanted it more to blend in

I tried a different technique of a wide angle images so you can see the tree but I feel that the dance disappears and does not stand out as much as I hoped.

Below are contact sheet from today photo shoot with Le'Tasha

Next time I will ask Le'Tasha to perform more with the fabric and to see what the outcome is.