The meaning of “Discourse” is explained well by Graham Clarke in his book “The Photograph”:
“That reading (any reading) involves a series of problematic, ambiguous, and often contradictory meanings and relationships between the reader and the image. The photograph achieves meaning through what has been called a ‘photographic discourse‘: a language of codes which involves its own grammar and syntax”.
Use keywords to describe the images you make for your assignments: How to critique a photograph and the language of the photograph is something I am still trying to get to grips with. Using the framework given to me by my tutor should help in my next assignment:
Photographic codes is something new to me, I now understand a little more about this concept, an example about how lighting creates codes, an uplight on a portrait creates a spooky feel to the character, backlight gives glamour and diffused light gives a flattering feel to a portrait.
I am still getting to grips with getting an effective workflow routine where cataloging of photographs so retrieval is possible many years down the line is done effectively.
Theory informs and enriches our practice: The two main writers who discuss the definition of context are Terry Barrett and John A Walker and Bate around the history of photography at three key times, the start in the early 1800’s, the 1920.30’s and the 60’s to 80s, these times in history created theory around the subject and some well known essays from these periods are referenced today by students.
Print out photos at the editing stage to select the best set: A step forward for me this time was to print several of my images and lay them out and re arrange them and see what fits together visually and as a narrative. I looked particularly at a common theme of form and colours in my chosen series. This is something I am just going to have to continue practicing. I re read relevant parts of Jorg Colberg’s book, Understanding Photobooks before starting this process to guide my thinking and refresh myself of the principles involved. I am hoping this becomes more natural to me with practice.
Useful website for photography teachers and students:
Jenny Stork: Photography 1: Context & Narrative 