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End of Term

It is a big relief to hand in my work book that I have been working on for 5 months. It contains many different projects; exposure control, depth of field, movement, lighting effects, film and lens research, black and white print, exhibition plans etc. These exercises are very good and useful for developing my camera skills practice.

Exploring at Kew garden

Yesterday I prepared what I would wear today, as I thought the weather would be good, so I matched short socks and blue shorts. having made my preparartions, the weather forecast said it would be wet and cloudy, so I decided not wear them, wearing long trousers instead.

The weather changed to warm sunshine around 12 noon, so I rolled up the trouser legs to my knees, making them look like shorts, and the fresh air was able to circulate around my legs to keep me cool. I hope the sight of my legs didn’t scare away too many visitors!

My English friends tell me this is typical English weather, changing all the time, but there were many people at Kew Gardens today, prepared for any weather conditions, as it is a very popular place for locals and tourists.

Our tutor took us to see the exhibition of “imagine yesterday ...today“ and asked us to write about the exhibition layout, answering questions such as “is it effective?”, ‘analyse images in terms of technical factors’, and “what is your favourite image and why?”. Then we looked at their photo works in the exhibition and entered into a discussion with my classmates and the tutor.

After spending one hour looking at the art work, we sat outside for a picnic, sharing our food. I made banana cakes and it was nice weather for a picnic. Our tutor said to me “your face smiled all time, I can see you are very happy!”, i said “yes, because of the lovely weather and sweet air everywhere here.”

After lunch, we began our discussion about the three questions. It was good to take part in the discussion group.

After the discussion it was time to start taking photographs, but, before beginning this, the tutor wrote ‘red, ‘yellow’, ‘blue’, ‘purple’ ‘black’, 'brown', 'white' and ‘pink’ on small pieces of paper which we could not see. Each of us then chose two pieces of paper and the colours chosen were those for our individual assignment, based on the colours to be found in the gardens.

The two colours I chose were black and red, but because black would be difficult to find amongst the flowers, I chose another piece of paper which gave me purple. I was able to photograph different flowers displaying those colours, and whilst doing so I learnt the names of flowers I had not seen before, so it was very enjoyable.

We got back together at 3:15pm, and had a nice discussion about my photo shoot trying to capture the colours I was assigned; it was good. The tutor had to leave at 3:30pm, so I spent more time exploring around the garden, because I loved the weather today and the surroundings looked perfect.

I knew a nice new bridge had just opened there, and I walked to find it. It is called ‘The Sackler Crossing’, opened as recently 17 May 2006, so a very new bridge, just a few weeks old. The smooth, curved shape makes it interesting, and the construction and use of timber makes it look very smart.

I was at Kew Gardens from 10 to 7pm, so a very busy and enjoyable day.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Howard Hodgkin at the Tate Britain, 18 June 2006

Howard Hodgkin -In the Bay of Naples

When I went to the Tate Britain to see Howard Hodgkin’s exhibitions, and I entered the room, I could feel visual rhythm, colours jumped and danced in my eyes, when I look at his artwork it makes me feel happy, it has a feeling of good factor.

Tate Britain前的雕塑花園

Tate Britain in Pimlico is right next to the river Thames and has one of the most envied art collections in the world.

storm rain

We had some rain storm but still very warm, it was blue sky, but the rain arrived quickly and passed quickly. I was pleased, because we have a water shortage, we need lots of rain, but wish it would rain all night and then be nice all day, that's better.

fever football fan - kai's helmet

England 1-0 Paraguay

The result was good but they didn't play well, will have to improve! They can play better than that and when they don't play so good I get frustrated.

I love David Beckham, he is beautiful, he has a great face--sexy lean body and beautiful hair--I like his different hairstyles, and his voice is like a girl - beckham looks very manly but his voice is light and soft ( most my friends told me, as I cannot difference voice between man and woman), and he is gay friendly. H shaves his pubic hair--kinky!!

I am supporting England, because i live in London!

Fever Crazy England flag

The English flags on cars and buildings are because of the Football World Cup. The flags always appear like that when there are major sporting events which their country is competing in.

People don't bother to fly them at other times though!! I am interested in World cup football so I am flying England flags.

The flag is called the 'cross of St. George'. The red cross represents the flag that St. George, England's patron saint, carried into battle hundreds of years ago. In Scotland they have a white flag with a blue cross going from corner to corner. This is the flag of St. Andrew, Scotland's patron saint and is called the 'saltire', but I don't know why!

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

Deaf Visions Planning Meeting – 5 June 2006

Deaf Visions Planning Meeting – 5 June 2006

Today we discussed the “A-B-C of Porcelain” for 2nd Deaf visions on 29 July 2006 Attendees: Padraigin NiRaghillig (Interpreter) Emma Bryant (Wallace Collection) Tomato Lichy (Lecture Theatre talk) Sheng-Kai Chou (Practical art workshop) John Wilson (Gallery talk)

Before the start of our discussion, we made coffee and tea or drank water. Feedback from the previous event – Emma said my first workshop was great, and then we began the discussion about the content and subject of each part of the day. Gallery trail (Emma) – Re-use ‘Going for Gold’ for adults and include a new children’s trail. Lecture Theatre talk – This would involve talking about contemporary porcelain. Gallery talk – This would look at both the contemporary and the 18th century Sevres. Art workshop – Using air-drying clay (Kai). When I told my colleagues what I want to do for the workshop, I had to explain my idea in detail. Emma said that, in the first workshop, the plasticine was hard and this made it difficult for the children to change it from hard to soft. It was lucky that some adults were there to help, so it might be better to use clay. I said that was a good idea, but it won’t dry fast enough. I would get some clay from the workshop and take it home to practice, and would then give my final decision as to whether it was suitable for use by the children later.

Tate Modern, 04 June 06

Josef Albers Rhenish Legend 1921

I had a wonderful experience today. I visited one of the most popular art galleries in the world - the Tate Modern. It is showing an exhibition of Albers and Moholy-Nagy and is entitled 'From the Bauhaus to the New World'. I was lucky as it was the last day of the exhibition.

There were crowds there but I managed to see most of the exhibits. The main theme of the exhibition was art through glass and it was inspiring just to see how the artists portrayed all sights and sounds in this art form. I was mesmerised as I stood and stared at the glass art showing such style and colour. The light reflecting on the various pieces of glass was truly amazing.

In one of the rooms, a special five minute video film was showing. This showed how one of the artists, Moholy, displayed light on reflective surfaces, with beams of light casting dramatic shadows - something like a moving painting.

The exhibition was about light and colour. When you look at things in a different light it means you look at things in a different way.

http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/albersmoholy/

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006

photo trip 03,June, 06

Arrived in Welwyn North staion, started in Digswell, walked up through the woods to Burnham Green, then down to Tewin and eventually Welwyn Garden City.

Two train crash -- between welwyn North station and Knebworth, a coal train from Newcastle coming down hit a mail train going north, middle of the night. those big brick things are air vents , when trains go through they push the air up, so they are just a hole to let the air out,

The place was where the accident was, and it was so bad it actually knocked a hole in the side of the tunnel , and what you was was all the earth that got moved, Like having a hole in the lid of a saucepan.

I was taking photo of landscape when some inquisitive horses arrived. They came quite near .. I was very happy....I wanted them to come over..... you see... they run around....my outstretched hand beckoning them to approach.

disagree...about .....

I just chatted with my sister Nico who runs a cafe and she suggested that I should show all my paintings. She thought that if i showed my paintings and photography it will make people confused about my main subject. I told her that photography is relative with painting, and also with video and sculpture, but she thought it was better to show all my paintings when I am ready. I was feeling a bit down because I want my parents to see my shows in Taiwan.

FALLOUT

Robert Knoth

I went to the Oxo Gallery to see the photography exhibition, Fallout: The Human Cost of Nuclear Catastrophe by Dutch photographer Robert Knoth.

It presented good information about the accident and it’s aftermath. From my viewpoint the photographs depicted nothing new, many similar ones have been published by others reporting from Chernobyl e.g. Chernobyl Legacy by Paul Fusco (1999, Magnum Photos ).

It was more like a newspaper report than art photographs. Certainly black and white photographs are more suitable than colour to show this kind of disaster. However, the presentation was not very impressive: too many photos crowded in a small space. It's a bit tiring to see them particularly if there are many people in the viewing room! For showing such a disaster fewer pictures would leave a deeper message!

It would have been more interesting and effective to have reduced the number of photos displayed and bring them in context with today’s events ( i.e. Iran’s nuclear activities ) by some short, concise critical writings beside the exhibits to show the power of destruction in the hand of human beings for instance.

© Sheng-Kai Chou 2006