Exercise 4.6 Proposal for the self-directed project

This is my proposal for Assignment 5 self directed project.

I have made much of  integrating walking Long Distance Trails with photography generally and this course specifically. Assignment Two set out a walk from Porthcawl to Port Talbot on the Wales Coast Path, highlighting the variety and the uncertain future (then) of the steelworks. 

For Assignment Five, I wish to explore the inland edge of Wales: The Offa's Dyke Path ('ODP'). ODP is a Trail that follows for part at least the ancient dyke built to keep the Welsh from invading Mercia. It was an incredible feat of engineering and manpower. The Trail now follows the Dyke for only about half of its 177 miles, the Dyke having all but disappeared in North Wales and for a substantial section north of Monmouth. 

The inspiration for this project is threefold:

• In pure photographic terms, the work of the likes of Gaffney (2013) and Sinclair (2003) who journeyed and documented their route photographically;
• An interest in how the commonplace and the unusual, the ordinary and the spectacular in the landscape, coexist in close juxtaposition. This was an underlying concept behind Assignments 2 & 3. I recently saw Paterson, a movie written by Jim Jarmusch that follows a week in the life of Paterson, who lives and works as a bus driver in the under-appreciated town of the same name in New Jersey. The plot, such as it is, follows a week in Paterson's life. We see him rise at a similar time every day. follow the same route to and from work, go home for a meal with Laura, his girlfriend.  He visits the same bar while taking the dog for walk every night. In his spare time he writes poetry (the poems were written by Ron Padgett) about everyday subjects. The week is interspersed with the odd unusual action, such as when the bus breaks down and the passengers offloaded, or when he tackles a man in a bar brandishing a gun (a toy as it transpires). It seems an allegory for what I hope to demonstrate, and set out by Jarmusch in answer to an interview question:

 "....I love variation and repetition in poetry, in music and in art. So I love repeated things, variations, whether it’s in Bach or Andy Warhol. In the film I wanted to make this little structure to be a metaphor for life, that every day is a variation on the day before or the day coming up. They’re just variations." (Jim Jarmusch in response to question by Rory O'Connor, 2016)

•  The human and historical geography that underlies much of the landscape, alongside the physical beauty.

The presentation will be a slideshow - it is easy enough to add music but somehow I do not think that works for what is meant to be a quasi academic view of the Landscape. Having explored working in monchrome in the blog, I am tempted to present a monochrome portfolio, and await Tutor's comments on this. 

Narrative will be an important of the presentation - the theme of land use variety needs explanation that is not evident from images, and some research on the Dyke and its environs will be necessary.

References:

Gaffney, Paul (2013) We Make the Path by Walking

O'Connor, Rory (2016) Jim Jarmusch Talks Paterson. Available from https://thefilmstage.com/features/jim-jarmusch-talks-paterson-his-love-for-poetry-hip-hop-tilda-swinton-and-being-grateful/. Accessed on 20 December 2016.
 
Sinclair, Ian (2003) London Orbital. London: Penguin