Graduation! Results:

Well I have finally graduated!

My final score was a 2:1 (Second class upper division)

I now finally have a BA.

For information on how to get a copy of my dissertation click here.

For Any further work please go to my Other Blog. 

MEDI 236: Documentary Project: Results

Documentary - Credits: 20

Mark: 50%

This is the grade equivilant of a 2.2

MEDI 236: Critical Evaluation

Documenting Destiny - The Tarot This project originated from my desire to document Paganism. However this proved to be more complicated then I had first thought due to; high costs and no budget, travel needed to get to willing models and in part a lack of time to cover the vast subject properly. I also suffered a lack of model interest and availability to further complicate things. Although it would be a very interesting project to attempt in the future when I have more time, more models and access to better funds. The project itself then evolved to focus on Tarot cards. It still fits within the theme of Paganism since a lot of Pagans use the cards as a divination tool or a method to seek guidance. I think the project benefited greatly from actually having something less vast to home in on. Although there is still a lot of scope within the remit of the cards I found it prudent to focus on one aspect, this being the art of 'reading' the cards. I have a friend who kindly agreed to share this experience with a camera and a Dictaphone. I was originally planning to have a transcription of the reading next to my images but I decided against this as it is a very personal thing for the client being read for and in terms of ethics I wanted to be ethically responsible towards my models like KayLynn Deveney, who's methods I personally agree with. I have researched artists that deal with ethics and although the images are stunning I can't personally agree with Paul Kransler's lack of ethics with regard to 'the Land of Milk and Honey' series, the images may be wonderfully shocking and eye-popping in their composition but I feel we are obliged to our models as responsible photographers. Consequently I had both the 'reader' and the client sign release forms even though in the final images only their hands appear, I also gave them control of the image selection process to a degree. Therefore I can confidently say that my images are ethically responsible. Lots of artists have influenced me and been inspirational but Sophie Calle is one of the main photographers I keep coming back to time and time again. Her images, I feel, really bring objects to life and tell the story of and give personality to objects. I would hope I have achieved this with my images at least to a degree. In terms of research I feel I have been quite thorough since not only have I researched artists and documentary makers but also I have researched my subject (Tarot) to a high level, enabling me to do my shoots with a very solid grounding in the subject. I feel this was very beneficial since it let me explore my subject in an observational style of documentary with some actual knowledge of the objects and the etiquette surrounding them. I chose to adopt an observational style of documentary since it is one of the styles that most grabs me personally, the factual way that they are often presented and also the sense of the person documenting being taken on a journey of discovery themselves, I personally find very effective. The other style that I find most impacting is the participatory style with things like 'Super Size Me' and one of the most jarring documentaries 'Bowling for Columbine' I however opted against participatory as I thought an observational style would do the subject more justice. For the images I used a Nikon D40 as I like the camera, I tried in a lot of my images to have one strong focus point with the rest of the image fading to a soft focus so that it emulated the 'shrouded' and 'mysterious' nature of the Occult. A lot of the images came out well however some, I do think, could use tweaking or re-shooting. I also wanted to give them a good depth of field to reflect on the nature of the cards, they are not just paper with pictures on to those that read them but they have hidden depth and a wealth of meaning. I also chose to have one very strong focus point to try and convey what happens in a reading, focus shifts and occasionally cards have been said to 'pop' and make themselves forefront. I wanted my images to be as true to life as I could get them so editing is very minimal the biggest change I made was to crop the images to give a greater focal point in each frame. In all I did a total of three shoots, each with a different card 'spread' I would have liked to do a lot more and would do many more shoots possibly with different readers if I could do it again. However the very personal nature of 'reading' means that willing models are very few and I am lucky to have found one. I would also if I were to re-do the project focus solely on one aspect as opposed to trying to give a broad view since I feel this would add to the overall cohesion of my images as a set. I was pleased with the over-all reception that the audience had towards my images, as I asked my course mates for feedback, most of them liked my images and had a few constructive points of feedback, in particular they seemed to like the depth of field of some of the images which is pleasing. Also both of my models were very happy with the images which I feel is important. I do feel I should have employed better time and resource management and know that in the future I need and intend to improve on this, I have learnt a lot from this module and will take forward a greater understanding of documentary practise. The overall project went well, although it is hard to negotiate around a lack of willing models but I feel with this in mind I did do my best to compensate. If I could do it over I would love to have a much wider selection of shoots to choose from. Also I may not focus on just one shoot and instead have the best images from every shoot, so that my chosen angle is clear and the images more cohesive. I am however satisfied with how the project turned out and believe there is lots more room for scope should I wish to re-create or carry on the theme.

MEDI 236: The Final Images

MEDI 236: About the Tarot deck used.

The Manga Tarot deck draws heavy inspiration from the east and keys into the "fantastic oriental imagination, particularly Japanese, as depicted in the artwork of the comics of the land of the rising sun, called manga." 

It is a very pictoral deck based on the waite deck but expanded with adding symbology and meaning. 

Taken from the deck's instruction booklet:

The Deck's Structure

"The deck has 22 Major Arcana and 56 Minor Arcana, divided into 40 numbered cards and 16 Court cards. The Minor Arcana are divided into four suits, Swords, Pentacles, Wands and Chalices. Each card has two sturctural characterisitcs a dominant colour and a glyph.

The dominant colour indicates a suit of the Minor Arcana and an aspect of human nature, of our surrounding world or the how "with what eyes" we veiw others ourselves and things. It therefore represents the card's internal theme. This brief summary can be of help

Blue = Swords, Air, interllect

Green = Pentacles, Earth, Nature

Red = Wands, Fire, Personality

Yellow = Chalices, Water, Feelings

Each glyph indicates a season: Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter. the four season's refer to the temporal and cyclic element of the cards.

Spring = Birth, Beginning, Sunrise, Adolescence

Summer = Growth, Culmination, Moon, Maturity

Autumn = Decline, Stagnation, Sunset, Old age

Winter = Death, Minimum, Night, Silence

Spring naturally follows Winter.

Some card's are an execption to this basic structure. The Fool does not have a dominant colour or a glyph ( the fool cannot be forced into a structure). The Wheel contains all four glyphs, representing the cyclic  passing of time. The World does not have a dominant colour because it represents completeness and therefore is the sum of all four of the elements. The Ace's contain all four of the season's (the ace represents potential and the potential for the entire journey is therefore within each Ace) The Ten's contain three glyph's. Attention must be placed on the missing glyph before those that are present. In this sense The ten's must be interpreted as the absence of the fourth gylph (for example the absence of Spring)

A final consideration regards the Type of the characters represnted. The traditional inconography was inverted in this deck, representing as men those normally appearing as women and as women those were depicted as men.   The names of the Court card's were therefore modified. The Queen changes places with The King, Whereas The Knight becomes The Princess and The Knave becomes The Prince. This is also useful for making the internal relationships of the Court card's more obvious and intuitive: Mother, Father, Daughter, Son."

Hopefully this explains a little more about the deck that the reader used in my photos.

MEDI 236: Tarot in the Media

Ironically at the same time as I am doing a project on Tarot the car company Volvo relase an ad which I think is a brilliant showcase of the media portrayal of Tarot.

The Advert:

It showcases the full extent of the 'myth and magic' attitude that the media has towards Tarot.

I also found a video reaction to the advert which was very insightful.

MEDI 236: Photographic Insperation

One artist that has always been inspirational in terms of photography is Sophie Calle. I love the way she displays her work in sequence and I like the composition of her photographs esspecially the way she brings objects to life. That is what I would like to achive, to bring the objects I am photographicing to life and let people see the personality of the objects. 


I also have an interest in the style of Ian Aitken, whom I found on the internet, I especially like the composition of his panoramic landscapes but also of his work with people and objects. While I can't say his style is especially applicable to my work it is defiantly inspirational. 

MEDI 236: Documentary Reasearch

There are a lot of inspiring documentaries, the ones that most appeal to me are on total opposite ends of the scales this being participatory and observational.

The most notable documentary of the participatory style that has influenced me has been 'Bowling for Columbine'


While I really love this style and think it is hard hitting and impacting I do not personally think it is suited to Tarot.

So I chose to be observational in my documentation and let myself be taken along with the experience. To merely capture its essence in everyday life.

MEDI 236: Ethics

Where ethics are concerned I wanted to be absolutely sure that I was ethically sound. I know there are a lot of photographers that have achieved this and thus I have drawn my inspiration from them.

Mainly I have looked at the work of KayLynn Deveney who actually asked her subject to participate. While I have asked neither of my subjects to write on the pictures I have at every stage consulted with them and ensured that they actually felt they had some control over the project as well.

I got both of my subjects to sign consent forms so that everything was all above board.

I have also looked into the work of Susan Meiselas but since I am working more with objects than humans her methods are only applicable in the sense that I too wish to tell the story that happens outside of the frame. I do however very much like her style.

At the opposite end of the scale for ethics would be someone like Paul Kransler with 'Land of Milk and Honey' in which his subjects had no recompense or ownership over the photos he took. Although his images are both beautiful and jarring I fundamentally object to the lack of ethics displayed. It is for this reason that I have chosen to be eithically responsible to my subjects and have offered them some control over the images.

I do not think this is bad documentary just good and just practice.

MEDI 236: The Art of Tarot

The ‘Manga’ Tarot deck used by the reader in the reading I am documenting was created by Riccardo Minetti and Anna Lazzarini who is a well-known comic artist in Italy. While the basic foundation of the cards is following the Rider-Waite deck the symbolism and the art are much more individual and portray the eastern style of Manga/Anime. It is a very human-centered deck with most of the cards having people depicted on them. It is also a very female centered deck with most of the cards typically having men on are now women and vice versa.

Anna Lazzarini who was born in Italy in 1969 is now part of the Bonelli staff of 'Legs Weaver' pictured above.

One of the most interesting new additions are in fact the Japanese season glyphs on the cards, drawing in another layer of symbolism from a totally different culture.

Artistically the deck is very subtle and stunning with a painterly feel to it.

• A revue of the deck. 

MEDI 236: Modern Interpretations of Tarot

Ok so as part of my research (and an odd social experiment to see how the modern media portrayal of Tarot has influenced people) I decided to send out a questionnaire via Facebook to best gauge the modern opinions of Tarot. I took a random selection of people that I know so that the results would be reflective of general opinion. I used a sample size of 20 people between the ages of 19 and 64 years. Of these 12 were female and 8 males. I received 9 responses of these 6 were female and 3 were male.

Questionnaire: 
Q1; Do you believe that they can tell the future? 
Q2a; If no explain why not? 
Q2b; If yes what leads you to believe they do? 
Q3; When or how do you think Tarot originally started? 
Q4; Would you consider what you believe to fall under the blanket term of Pagan? 
Q5; Do you know someone that owns a tarot deck? 
Q6; Do you personally own a Deck? 

I decided to split the replies into male and female responses so that I am able to draw comparisons on this and yet have the responses remain anonymous.

Female Responses:

Q1; I'm not sure... Yes and no!!

Q2a; I've never really tried it, or had my future told or anything so I would say not since I believe things once I've seen them...

Q2b; However, I like to believe that some things are magical and mysterious!! I've had other things like Horoscopes and dreams and things like that come true before, so I don't see why Tarot would be any different!! Perhaps more so if it was a proper Tarot reader rather than someone who was just starting out?

Q3; I know it's clichéd to say so, but I always think of gypsies when I think of Tarot haha!! You know, the reading the future for money etc... Also, gypsies were chased and killed etc in early periods of time because people thought of them as witches, right? So if that's true, then maybe that means that Tarot can tell the future!!

Q4;  I don't know... I'm not too knowledgeable on religion and whatnot, so probably not lol!! Although I did look into Wicca a little because I love the idea of magic and, after reading a book that had lots of references to Wicca, I was really interested... After looking at that I would say it kind of ties in with aspects of Pagan belief (don't hate me if it doesn't - I literally don't know anything haha) which, in my mind, also links to witches, then to gypsies and back to Tarot... So maybe!!

Q5; Yes ^.^ one of my friends' mum (back home) has lots of Tarot decks and took a couple of classes in... *forgotten what it's called... begins with 'S' I think?*... erm some sort of thing to do with healing by using decks/scented candles/massage/etc!! It was really interesting!!

Q6;  No, but I've been meaning to buy some for a while haha just waiting for a bit of spare cash!!

~~~

Q1; Undecided.
Q2a; Fate is in ones own hands.
Q3; By Readers back in time.
Q4; Paganism covers lots of sources but not necessarily.
Q5; Yes.
Q6; No but members of my family have them and Runes.

~~~

Q1; No.

Q2a; Our destiny is already mapped for us, i think they just make us think about what we are doing.
Q3; It was a parlor game.

Q4; Yes.

Q5; Many people.

Q6; Yes 3 but only i only really use one of them.

~~~

Q1; No.

Q2a; I don't believe anything has the ability to tell the future.

Q3; Ancient times, maybe in royal courts, may have been used as entertainment or to influence decisions.

Q4; No, I wouldn't pigeon-hole it to just Pagan.

Q5; Nope.

Q6; Nope.

~~~

Q1; I believe that tarot card can offer an archetype to try and live by (or avoid living by) at any given point in time, or can offer certain forms of advice which can be followed, but I don't believe that Tarot cards necessarily tell the future, no.

Q2a; As above, I feel they more offer archetypal guidance, which can allow a person to go down certain paths in their future, rather then indicate a set-in-stone future.

Q3; Probably a long time ago, and probably as more of a novelty or nuance.

Q4;  More Neo-pagan. 

Q5;  More then one person, yes.

Q6; I own more than one deck, but never use them I prefer cards based around animal totems.

~~~

Q1; Yes.

Q2b; I don’t no why i just do.

Q3; Many, many years ago.

Q4; Yes. 

Q5; Yes lots of people.

Q6; No.

Only one female believed that the cards tell the future. This actually surprised me because the media these days represent them as cards that can tell the future. The more popular opionin is that they merely offer guidance, with the only person that believed they could tell the future not really knowing why they believed so.

Interestingly enough the women all agree that they are a very old invention with a few prescribing to the myths and a surprising number actually drawing very close to what is believed to have been historically accurate.

I am actually shocked that of the 6 responding half the women considered themselves Pagan or Neo-Pagan with the rest not giving an outright no...

Over half the women knew one or many people that owned a Deck, this shows just how widespread they are. Compared to this however over half do not have a deck of their own.  

Male Responses:

Q1; Not really, but never had a reading... 

Q2a; I don't believe in fate as such, and how else will a desk of cards reliably tell the future? 

Q3; Probably as a concentration technique for the naturally gifted, or a distracting pastime for rich women. 

Q4; Not reliably 

Q5; At least one 

Q6; Nope... I own Runes though... 

~~~

Q1; No. 

Q2a; Their pieces of card. Nothing can tell the future. 

Q3; Ancient Egypt, maybe. 

Q4; No. 

Q5; No. 

Q6; No. 

~~~

Q1; Yes but more than just that, they can open up your past and define your present. 

Q2b; From both having and doing readings in the past.

Q3; Back gods knows when. As for why that is not so easy to say, I would like to think it was a way to show some one else what the reader was seeing in their head but I also think it was a way for shady people to scam money out of people.

Q4; More Wiccan then Pagan.

Q5; Yes.

Q6; Yes.

Two of the three male respondents do not believe that Tarot tell the future. Their reasoning's on why differed greatly but only one of them thought that they were nothing but cards.  

The men also tended to follow the myths about their creation but also came close the historical theory.

Only one of the men even remotely considered themselves Pagan.

Two of the men knew people that owned Decks and one himself owned a Deck, however interestingly another owned a set of Rune Stones. (Widely considered a similar tool for divination).

It is interesting that the participant with no experience of the Tarot cards had absolutely no belief in them. This is however what I would expect as these things can be cause and effect. If you don't see something you don't tend to believe in or likewise if you don't believe in something you don't go out of your way to own it or seek it.
That being said maybe its a statement on how the cards work? Perhaps for them to actually be effective you need to have a little faith or at least believe in something.  

One of the most interesting responses I received was from a friend of mine who is a Druid.

“Cards don't tell the future.

Tarot images have been found from medieval times - rumored earlier but none have survived. They originally appealed to the French romantic courtly class, with their popularity growing throughout the West. Last century theorists such as Jung have suggested their enduring appeal is due to the images tapping into enduring human archetypes, inspiring 'messages' from the subconscious to apply to life situations.

I am Pagan in belief and practice. I know many readers and myself have several sets, but do not rely on them! Fascinating to see them used well, however. If they inspire and help people, that's positive, but like anything, but be respected for what they are/do (including potential for misuse).” -Cat Treadwell a Druid

MEDI 236: History of Tarot

There are a lot of myths and legends surrounding Tarot. One of the most common myths is that Gypsies invented them, some others still site their place of inception to be Morocco or Egypt. However no one knows for definite where they came from or how they came to be.  The first mentions of the cards are under a slightly different name in the 14th century however these were used in games and as educational tools for the rich and not as the divination tools they are known as today.

Historically its widely believed that the cards first developed in Italy as playing cards based on grand parades and were then adopted as a divination tool in France. This theory was proposed and most prolifically written about by Decker, Dummett et al, 1996, "A Wicked Pack of Cards: The Origins of the Occult Tarot" There is then no mention of the cards for around three hundred years, until the late 1700's. At this point it is believed that Antoine Court de Gébelin a reported Occultist and Freemason saw the card game of 'Tarocchi' being played, he was said to see great symbolism in the cards that he attributed to the Ancient  Egyptians. 

Very soon the idea of the cards being symbolic and having great meaning spread, hence Tarot as a divination tool is born!  It was also then linked to the Gypsies who absorbed parts from different cultures, which were then amalgamated and the new over-culture then disseminated wherever they went (Like a pre-internet, internet like communication system), furthering the spread of Tarots popularity and also the spread of its myths.

The popularity of Tarot steadily grew into the 19th century when another Occultist by the pseudonym of  Eliphas Levi linked the cards to the Hebrew Mystic faith of Kabalah and the 'Tree of Life'. Earlier De Gébelin had linked the cards to Kabalah since there are 22 major or 'trump' cards and also 22 letters in the Hebrew alphabet but it was Eliphas Levi that expanded on this.

The next set of people to champion the Tarot Deck were the 'Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn' in the late 1800's; these along with Aleister Crowley and Arthur Edward Waite are notable for having the most influence on modern Tarot Decks and practices. Crowley is considered an important part in the Neo-Pagan movement.  Thus we are, in modern times left with most Tarot Decks being copies of either Waite's or Crowley's. However nowadays there are so many Decks with such a wide variety of artwork that they seem to have a life of their own and are now being constantly reinvented and linked to new symbols or spiritualism and used by a wider range of people from a wider range of belief.

To summarise, although Tarot has constantly evolved over the ages it is still in a state of flux especially as Paganism is thrust more and more into the public eye and cultures merge through use of the melting pot that is the internet. Therefore Tarot is and will continue to develop and grow as a divination tool for the foreseeable future.

MEDI 236: Change of Plan...

Ok so going with the Pagan idea that I orriginally had is not feasable as all of my models have droped out or not been able to make it or lived to far away. So I have been thwarted in my original idea because of cost and time and the fact that mostly Pagans are a private bunch.

The new idea then is to focus on Tarot. Speciffically one reading between two reliable friends of mine. This is still along the same lines as the Reader is Pagan herself.

I will be photographing the reading and also I will record it for transcription purposes. I would like to include a very brief text with my photos so that a veiwer can understand the general idea of what is happening a lot better.

MEDI 236: Documentary Proposal Two

For my documentary project I am going to focus on paganism sadly my research isn’t going as well as I had hoped due the overwhelming amount of hate, prejudice and general misinformation out there. I have come to the conclusion that I am going to have really dig around to actually find some real and valid facts and figures. I am more than likely going to have stills with either a text accompaniment or an audio track. It has worried me at the moment that this may be quite a flippant subject. I have taken some investigative shots of pagan objects and also a cat (being the traditional familiar) and I am pleased with how they turned out even though one might consider them to look stereotypical.

Definition of paganism: A blanket term used to define earth based and polytheistic religions or belief systems. Central to most if not all is a reverence of nature, which may or may not be represented through Gods or Goddesses. Included in the term pagan most commonly one would think of Wicca, Druidism and Shamanism etc. However even in these subsets individuals differ greatly.

Since paganism is in itself an umbrella term for a LOT of different beliefs so I may eventually just focus in on one aspect or one ‘path’ or one Holiday so that it minimizes confusion and my documentary doesn’t feel to cluttered.  

I would like to approach this from a pro-pagan stance and would like to be able to show that pagans are normal people, not to be feared.  

I have emailed and contacted some pagan groups via the internet to try and gather data and participants so I am waiting to hear back from the various groups.  

I would like ideally like to have my documentary with stills and voiceover in a kind of style of the film ‘La Jetee’ to reflect the subtle and gentle almost artistic feel to most earth based religions. I intend to record the interviews on a Marantz since the sound quality is good.   

I am still wondering if I need to include some video or not as ideally I want something hitting and effective without it but am worried I may need it to link things up if I do have the stills making a movie.

I would like to include images of the natural world and pagan objects as well as maybe people and also animals. I want a wide range of images that explain and showcase paganism in a positive light.

I think I would really like to fade on some kind of sunset shot since that is a very natural close and paganism is all about the natural world.

I am hoping overall to have an artistically beautiful piece as well as to make my statement (that being that pagans are just people too) and I hope it flows coherently.

MEDI 236: Pagan Objects Photoshoot

MEDI 236: Pagan Reasearch

I have found an video by amateurs that is actually fairly informative here

The BBC actually has a very unbiased and factual account of us here

I also found this 10 facts of pagans here

Interestingly enough I have found a pagan police association website that shows they are normal people too here

This is the link to a spot the BBC did on Druids being recognised as a religion in its own right. It features an interview with my friend Cat Treadwell who may feature in my documentary.     

Important things about Pagans:

• Pagans do not believe in, or indeed worship, the ‘Devil’. In fact Pagans do not even believe in such a concept.

• Pagans do not perform sacrifices.

• Wicca is a form of neo-paganism.

• The divine is present everywhere. 

The Pagan Federation Website

MEDI 236: Documentary Project- Original Proposal

My initial ideas were to do a photo journalism piece about winter in London  since I go there for winter break. I was thinking however that a few pictures would lack any real entertainment value and not be very gripping or go anywhere. It was then I thought of 'La jetée' the film that '12 Monkeys' was based on and thought that it would be interesting to make a documentary in this style. The main idea would still be to try and capture winter in the suburbs around London but maybe in a more whimsical light or with a holiday feel. I would like to have some voices and a sound track with the images to flesh it out a little. I may choose to include a very small amount of filmed footage like in 'La jetée' to better blend it but I would like to approach it from a fairly artistic standpoint. The main crux of this is I am hoping for snow and a lot of it. It is something I find breathtaking and would hope it is fairly interesting subject matter. So in essence the film would consist of mainly stills and a sound track.