For example, I was interested in the work of Gillian Wearing who encourages participation through the submission of short videos or still photographs. Her 2013 work Your Views asked for images of views from people’s windows (both rural and suburban) starting the video with the blinds or curtains drawn and then revealing their view.
An earlier work in 1992/3 Signs that Say What you Want Them To Say involved subjects in writing what they wanted to say (rather than signs that say what someone else wants you to say) on a piece of paper and then be photographed with their message.
The concept of crowdsourcing was new to me usually involving an open call for volunteers to a large undefined group of people to participate in a directed photo shoot of some kind such as the work of Spencer Turnick.
I was also interested in examples of participant made video clips used for various purposes. For example, Ellie Goulding used fans video clips to accompany her song Anything Can Happen. Similarly, fifteen second remakes of pre-defined video clips of the Star Wars films were submitted and made into Star Wars Uncut (2014).
Photography is very often a solitary occupation or hobby and many of us have chosen it for that reason. In terms of my recent landscape work it enables me to “get lost” in where I am, lost in my own world and hopefully this leads me to learn about myself and gives me a sense of fulfilment and achievement. My hope is that as part of that experience I capture an image that reflects my thoughts, feelings and emotions.
Having said that I enjoyed working with others on the production of the zine and can see ways in which this might form part of my Research Project (see coursework blog). My project may also involve mounting an exhibition with a local artist on the Isle of Skye. As far as crowdsourcing is concerned I do not see its relevance to what is a personal journey on The Road to Elgol. However, I am now aware of another strategy that might be useful to me in the future.
