Reflection pre-tutor feedback
Demonstration of technical and visual skills – Materials, technical, observational skills, visual awareness, design and compositional skills. (40%)
Apart from the difficulty of posing for my own camera and directing someone to use it, these pictures are not complex. Having cropped the individual shots in Lightroom I used the Notanizer App to achieve the consistent appearance required for such a typological presentation.
Quality of outcome – Content, Application of knowledge, presentation of work in a coherent manner, discernment, conceptualisation of thoughts, communication of ideas. (20%)
I am pleased with the conceptualisation of my thoughts and I believe the communication of my ideas is improving.
I believe the presentation of the work is coherent which is particularly necessary for a typological presentation such as this.
Demonstration of creativity – Imagination, experimentation, invention. (20%)
Having settled on two ideas, Gaslighting and Narcissism, I was pleased with the ideas that came forward.
I like the Notan hands 3×3 grid. It follows the idea of voicing unspoken topics. I like the dramatic Notan appearance. Although I acknowledge it may be too harsh – as Dow cautions.
Probably my favourite idea was the 3 x 3 lights grid. The subtlety of the idea is appealing. But the lack of authenticity meant I didn’t feel comfortable using it.
Context – reflection, research, critical thinking. (20%)
I’ve enjoyed Part 3. I’ve done a lot of research on Notan, Francesca Woodman and Gaslighting/Narcissism (I am interested to understand how my Tutor views Psychology research in the context of a photography degree).
Learning about Notan and Arthur Wesley Dow’s influence on Georgia O’Keefe was illuminating, particularly in the context of her marriage to Alfred Stieglitz. There are one or two Paul Strand images that have a distinctly Notan feel to them I wonder if there is any Dow at play? I’ll come back to that later I expect. I hadn’t previously understood my fascination (going back 20 years!) for such simple art.


As an accountant with friends whose kids are graduating from art school (in its broadest sense) I have an interest in how they move from student to professional artist. So the Francesca Woodman research was fascinating, particularly watching ‘The Woodmans’ which provides a useful background to the life and work of such a talented artist.
Having discovered Gaslighting, I read and saw the play. I read Craig Malkin’s book ‘Rethinking Narcissism’, and I did his Narcissism Test (thankfully I’m a healthy narcissist!). The work using DSM-5 proves that it’s not just accountants that like a list!


