The End of Oil...

In 1956 M. King Hubbert formulated a model for Peak Oil- the point at which the world is producing the maximum amount of oil, after which it enters terminal decline. He used this model to accurately predict the peaking of oil production in the United States. There are varying predictions of when peak oil will occur, from pessimistic predictions citing that it has already happened and global oil production is declining while optimistic predictions state that the decline may not occur until 2020. The Hirsch Report, published in February 2005, focussed on peak oil and came to the blunt conclusion that peak oil is going to happen. It asserted that twenty years of mitigation is needed to avoid global fuel deficit.

Michael Ruppert, an ex-LAPD officer, was interviewed for the motion picture Collapse in 2009. This film discusses the ramifications involved with peak oil. One of the examples Ruppert uses to emphasise his point is that Saudi Arabia, the worlds most oil rich country (with a 25% share in global proven petroleum reserves under their land) are now drilling offshore. He discusses the extent to which modern society relies on oil using it for fuel for transport as well as being a key ingredient for production, at it’s very base level we rely heavily on oil and other fossil fuels for powering plants which provide electricity for everything from laptops to cameras. Without electricity there can be no digitized media, and there would be incredible disruption to communication.


Ruppert dismisses the idea of alternatives such as wave, wind and ethanol as a substitute fuel source stating that demand would far outweigh supply in any circumstance. The extent to which we are dependent on oil becomes clear throughout the film and with anything that is depended on, when it disappears there are withdrawal symptoms.

A strike by 600 drivers delivering fuel to Shell petrol stations around the country in 2008 caused major queues at forecourts as people panic-bought petrol in the fear it would run out. This small-scale example is a terrifying glimpse of the future if the situation is not acted on. Our society revolves around energy and is desperately dependent upon it, in this case oil.

Other energy transitions in human history, from wood to coal to oil, have been slow and gradual. A viable replacement for oil has not yet been found and therefore this issue needs to be at the forefront of human development, and efforts have to be made to avert a Malthusian Catastrophe, which would force subsistence living for the vast majority, if not all of the human population.

The sun is setting on the age of oil, and what the night holds is unclear.

Twentysix Gasoline Stations (Around Sunset)...

So I'm coming to the end of my last project of second year. I'm really happy with the concept, but given more time i think the work would be a lot stronger... but then again that's probably my fault for not getting stuck in earlier. I'm producing a book with twenty six gasoline stations around sunset, and also a select few images from the book will be printed up larger as 'exhibition'-esque prints.


I felt that I needed to get away from my, what some people would term as, 'overcomplicated' symbology narratives so I decided to simplify it so it was more accessible. This meant that rather than having an intricately formulated set of symbols which are all equally important to understand and equally important in working out the narrative, I submitted somewhat to what I like to call the 'cult of the aesthetic.' By this I mean the images outweigh the concept, in many cases forfeiting a concept altogether. On reflection though I think I have struck a nice balance. 


The 'Twentysix Gasoline Stations' is obviously a reference to Ed Ruscha's book published in 1963. I used this because my project focuses on oil depletion, and gasoline/petrol stations are  an everyday connection with oil (and it's price) that people take a lot of notice of, because we've become so dependant no doubt. The 'around sunset' aspect that I added is a fairly transparent metaphor when put in context, symbolising the end of the era of oil. The varied times that the photographs were taken (which will be included in the titles) can also be related to the multiple and incredibly varied predictions about when peak oil will occur. And that's it symbology-wise... cracking, let's just see how things turn out.


Here's a few photographs that I may be including in the final work:




Shell Service Station, Horley Road (20:29 27/05/11)



Esso Service Station, Reigate Road (21:09 26/05/11)



Murco Service Station, Shelvers Hill (21:32 26/05/11)

Final Term of Penultimate Year...

First off, apologies, I have been awful at updating my blog but I've had a few bits and pieces to sort out in the real world, however these things have been sorted out and I shall be updating regularly again.


So, I wasn't too pleased with my work for last term, least of all with the comments I recieved from my tutor but that's another story for another day. As a consequence I have promised myself to make this project as kick-ass as i can to get a good mark and go back to the success I had in the first term of this year.


I was looking for topics with which I could occupy myself for a term when I hit a block and decided to go out for a bit. I ended up buying the new Rise Against album 'Endgame'. Upon opening it and having a flick through the booklet I came across a section with recommendations of films to watch and books to read. One of these was a movie called 'Collapse'. (Trailer Here) This movie scared the SHIT out of me. It is a true horror story, one from which none of us can escape. Michael C. Ruppert (Collapsenet) discusses the ideas, theories and reality behind Peak Oil.


This movie shook me so much that I had decided within an hour of watching the film that I wanted to focus on it for my project this term. At the moment I'm still in the early stages of secondary research and test work, but here's a couple of images that I have shot recently for this project.

A Sociopath With a Camera...

The private view for the afore mentioned 'Shift' exhibition where I am exhibiting work with 16 other photographers was last Friday. It went unbelievably well. The exhibition was busy from start to close, wine was a-flowing, and merriment was in the air. 

The highlight for me was that people genuinely engaged with my work. Exhibiting and watching people engage/not engage with my work is what i love most about photography. It gives me the chance to see how 'the other' views my work and therefore measure it's success. After all, my work is intentionally instrumental.

The abstract featured in the exhibition booklet explaining my work is as follows:

The driving force behind my work is always an issue that I feel strongly about and want to act upon in some way. Issues that I have worked on include: the illegality of war in the middle east; the 2010 United Kingdom general election; and also a few, more personal narratives. The views that I present are generally exaggerated and often quite obscure. For some, my use of symbolism isn’t always immediately obvious. Symbolism is one of the cornerstones in my work and coding images with symbolism is one of the things that I enjoy most about my practice.

The project ‘Mundane and Monumental’ is a response to the constant state of flux in which people find themselves. When taken out of context, any two events in a given persons life may seem unlinked from an objective observer. However the way in which people think is a complete mystery to anyone else and two events which, may seem unconnected, are in fact intimately connected.

I encouraged another photographer who was exhibiting (Callum Kirkwood) to deduce the intended/correct narrative which i had used to exemplify the subject matter of the work as explained in the abstract. He, amongst others, struggled to glean the exact narrative, guessing around and sometimes the exact reason for the elements included in the piece, but failing to compile it with other knowledge they had failed to gather.

Callum's induced interest in my work quickly caught on and soon, more people were asking me what the work was about. I replied 'I can't tell you that. You have to work it out for yourself.' I got mixed responses to this standpoint on my work.

It isn't that I don't like talking about my work. Quite the contrary, I could talk about my own work (the ego-central being that I am) for hours upon hours. However, from my point of view, if I explain the entire work then surely it is just me talking and the work has been produced as a jumped up conversation starter. 

The main aim of my work is to encourage engagement with the environment. In a way i suppose its trying to get people to view the world as I do. Everything has happened as a direct or indirect result of the action or inaction of something else. Therefore I include symbology in my work which must be deciphered entirely to be read correctly.

My symbology doesn't appear to follow any conventions, intentionally anyway. It's more a compilation of various social conventions and their connotations. (For example: In 'The Mundane and The Monumental' I use a fork and knife sat parallel atop a pile of pasta on a plate. This positioning of cutlery, to me, implies that the meal is finished. Yet setting this arrangement upon a pile of pasta somewhat confuses the meaning as the meal is clearly unfinished therefore transforming the reading to a subjects unwillingness to eat.)

The first conclusion I can draw from this is doubt. I am now having doubts at how effective my work will be after university. Maybe my symbology is more geared towards my understanding of these symbols rather than their wider context within society. I now realise that what i am trying to do is create a whole new visual language, no small feat, and if I want the work to be universally translatable I will need to work on this. I do not wish, however, to adjust my style of working as the symbology included in my work is an incredibly important tool. It allows and encourages an engagement between the viewer and the piece's message.

The second and final of my conclusions is that i am indeed, a sociopath with a camera. Saying what I have, it is more evident than ever now that my work purely manipulates people. It frustrates the viewer intentionally, and to be honest, I like it like that. If nothing else, it stirs some kind of response in viewers. I suppose.

Shift Exhibition...

I have an exhibition with 16 other NTU Photography Second Year students in Nottingham that is open for 3 more days. I realise that I should have posted this sooner but i've been busy so give me a break! The exhibition is at the Photographers' Hub on Lower Parliment Street in Nottingham. The website URL is:


www.shiftexhibition.co.uk


Have a look and a visit, I'll post some highlights after it's finished, probably this weekend sometime.

A Child with Parents of a Certain Religion...

I was walking the short journey from my front door to the tram stop this morning, a Wednesday and it must have been around 12 noon. Exactly in the middle of the week, I just realised that whilst typing it, that's pretty cool. Anyway, I was almost at the tram stop when i was approached by a leafleting child, who i would guess at being no older than twelve. I would usually pass on leaflet-ers but as it was a child i decided to accept, thinking it would give me something to read while i would no doubt be waiting around for Georg in the Student's Union Coffee bar.


The following images are scanned directly from the leaflet that I was handed earlier today in order that they were to be read. It was presented as a near A5 size four page booklet.












As I was raised a catholic child, I have very strong opinions on this kind of practice. What shocked me is that a child, in the middle of the day when they should have been in school was being used to publicise the church. I have been a strong believer for a while now that everyone is entitled to their own personal views when it impacts no one else's life. However, when beliefs start to encroach on beliefs of others around you, those effected are entitled to defend their opinions which may be in opposition to those they are being presented with. Therefore I feel that I can openly talk about my opinion of this.


I want to refer you at this point to the work of Prof. Richard Dawkins. Especially his documentary called: 'Faith School Menace' where Dawkins explores the issues and implications involved in growing numbers of faith schools in the UK. I won't reiterate everything that Dawkins said in the documentary because that would be pointless (I couldn't explain the topics half as well so i highly recommend that you see it for yourself.) 


I will however recite what i remember as being a very poignant point. "Some may say: 'Here we see a Christian child, over there a Muslim child, and there's a Jewish child.' It would be far more accurate to term these children as 'a child of Christian/Muslim/Jewish parents.' A child, for very good Darwinian reasons, is programmed to obey what he/she is told by their parents. No wonder the Jesuits said 'Give me the child for the first seven years, and I will give you the man." I will leave you with this thought to ponder upon.

The Human Condition...

I recently read a text for one of the critical practice seminars. It was the Exactitude chapter of Italo Calvino's 'Six Memos for the Next Millennium.' I wasn't a huge fan of the text (at first, I'm now unsure as to my stance on it. I want to read the entire book to see if, put in context, it makes more sense.) and at the moment i still believe that Calvino's writing made me come to the conclusion that he is a victim of what I would describe to be, The Human Condition.


The Human Condition, to me is a silent, but ever prevalent mental illness that everyone suffers from and therefore is treated as the norm. It was at the point where Calvino starts to talk about the intricate workings of the universe and the philosophy of science (which is a phrase i don't believe in. Science does not have philosophy, it is based on evidence and demonstrable experiments.) that I came to the realisation about The Human Condition. In my mind, we may never understand the universe, even if granted infinite time, because of one principle which is always overlooked. That to understand the universe we have to translate it into human terms and this is where the problem lies because in my opinion human communication, language, is a fundamentally flawed system. 


If you think about it, how many words does the english have that mean fundamentally the same thing. Conversely, there is at least one word that really doesn't mean anything, nice. Nice is a word I try never to call someone as it implies nothing apart from the user of the word not knowing anything about or having any persuasion emotionally where the person they are talking about is concerned. (Quick side-note: I've thought this since year 5 when Mr Davis mentioned it to us in class once and it's stuck with me ever since.) I also thought this was quite ironic considering the chapter was supposed to persuade you of the exactness of language and literature.


So, The Human Condition, explained in it's most simple form is thus: "The Human Condition is the lack of awareness that to understand the universe we have to translate it into language, an imperfect human construct, and some things may not be translatable." That, is the best way i can put it at the moment at least.


But my main concern has been that by using this imperfect human construct every day seems incredibly futile. To try and put the whole spectrum of human emotions, and the innumerable wonders of the universe into a limited set of predetermined terms with finite combinations, is statistically impossible. The only way out of this that i can see is the hope that as we steadily discover more of the universe, language will evolve to accommodate the evolution in our knowledge.

New Project...

A new term and a new project. This terms project will deal with my take on the combined topics of certainty and uncertainty. Obviously these are two quite close themes while at the same time being completely opposite. Below is the project proposal that i have put forward for this project, probably best to post that rather than a long rambling post that probably wouldn't do it twice as well:


"Everything around us is in a constant state of movement, shifting the environment we find ourselves in every second of every day, no matter how slight. Even the ground itself on which we stand is, in truth, moving up to speeds of 1,038 mph.  We find ourselves in a constant state of shift as well, changing clothes, hairstyles and the people we associate with. The point is nothing stays the same for longer than a moment. This constant state of flux occurs almost invisibly as most things pass by unnoticed, as insignificant events. However, some events, deemed as significant, are often relived a hundred times over. Whether this be birthdays and weddings captured on visual media like photographs or video, or events deemed significant to a larger portion of society such as the 11^th of September terrorist attacks that people on the other side of the world became aware of minutes later and were able to relive it thanks to technological advances in photographic practices.

It is these moments that I want to explore in my work along with the theme of certainty. Certainty, unlike these moments implies concrete parameters; it can either be one thing or the other, black or white, not both. But certainty also can be in a state of constant shift. A coin flip for example is only certain when it has stopped on a surface or the back of a hand. Yet, before this there is the moment of uncertainty. This example shows a small and definite shift from certainty to uncertainty however with the infinite possibilities that occur within any one persons day it seems that nothing can be certain.

Using the ‘decisive moment’ technique pioneered by Henri Cartier-Bresson I hope to explore the topic of certainty both through narrative and symbolism by interrupting the flow of uncertainty to certainty by photographing the last fraction of a moment before the transition is complete, perhaps offering an alternative conclusion to a created narrative. This conclusion may not be in line with the events leading up to it. This is because as much as photography can tell us about a moment, it often fails to impart knowledge about the moments before and after the photographed one, unless there is obvious impact from the past or nearing clues of the future.

Narratives are normal within my work so another project based around series’ would be fitting. My previous projects have all used multiple images to convey meaning effectively, the smallest series being a triptych and the largest comprising of fifty separate images, which created one large image. I find that series express narrative in a very basic way however and I aspire to tackle this and try to make them more interesting. This may involve chronology and creating a narrative that is also a palindrome or other similar ideas, mixing the realm of images with rules usually associated with language.

These are all possible elements to incorporate into my work and I may use one, or all of them. Equally I may use none of them as my work follows stages and each stages direction is determined by the success not only of the last step, but of the individual elements within this stage."

At first, i wasn't sure about the project and its longevity but I have come to realise that the relative limited nature of its potential should hopefully work in my favour due to the short time we have to produce work for this project as my group and I are going to be exhibiting all our work at the end of the term in Nottingham.

I've done a small amount of work for this project so far, as i've mainly been trying to sort out my ideas and make them as strong as possible before starting the physical process of manifesting them. Below is an example of the work i have produced so far. I will post more work as it progresses (hopefully at least one update a week) but, for now, enjoy.

Artists Wanted...

Today I entered my last term's work, titled 'Tube', into a competition called 'Artists Wanted.' You can see my  online portfolio here: 

Jonathan Murphy's Online Portfolio on Artists Wanted


It would mean a lot if all of you guys out there in cyberland would pay my humble portfolio a visit and rate it as high as you can, it could help me win a prize. Thanks in advance!

Foundation...

So, as promised, here's a post about my previous work. I thought the best place to start wouldn't actually be the beginning. I wanted to post something that I hadn't done at University but also something that i hadn't made when i was starting out in photography. Therefore Foundation is probably the perfect place to start.

Above is the final photograph from my Art and Design Foundation, Final Major Project. It was made from multiple exposures of the National Gallery in Trafalgar Square. The project title that I set for myself was 'What If Punk Never Happened?' The theme was inspired by a song by The King Blues of the same name. The first time I listened to it, the lyrics really hit home. It's well worth a listen (What if Punk Never Happened? on YouTube)

It was around this time that i started to develop a lot of what I would now identify as 'my style'. I wanted to make a statement, but one that was not immediately obvious, one that you would have to work to understand. A popular phrase from my tutor at this time was "Develop your own visual language." Because photography is a referent based medium, it's very difficult to develop a visual language in the same way you might with a style of painting, or drawing which lead me to develop a more symbolic visual language.


The image reflects an extreme version of what, in my opinion, would have happened if punk never happened. Punk was a movement focussed on change, and having your voice heard, even if that meant going against the norm. One word amongst the sea of lyrics in the song stuck with me and became a very strong element of the work. Apathy. This is one of the main things that Punk as a culture fought against, and therefore would, in my mind, be rife if punk never existed. This is why there are no people in my photograph. The reflections in the standing water on the ground outside signify that humans are still living, and it is not a view of a post apocalyptic world, but a post-unapposed Thatcher world. The birds are also included in the image for the same reason as the reflections. Finally the choice of scene was also premeditated. I chose the National Gallery for what it stands for as a symbol, a national centre for culture. Showing it deserted is a strong statement indeed considering how many people were present when i was photographing on a cold, wet, February morning.


I learnt a lot of things that i still carry with me today. The symbology in this piece has often been referred to as being obtuse and my work, to this day has retained that element. This is where that part of my work started and therefore will always be an important part of my practice. 

Last Term...

Happy New Year! A little late, but nonetheless due. I haven't posted recently due to an increase in workload and spending time with friends and family over the holidays.


So my work from last term went pretty well. I was really pleased with it as the (quite large) piece seemed to reflect my work over the course of the project rather than finals i submitted last year which were more of a final step in a journey than an overview of it.


So here's a link to the finished piece, it's a bit too big to put on this page.
(Remember to zoom in to see it properly.)


Link to Last Term's Work- Tube

This term at uni i have a brief with the buzzword "Shift." I have a few ideas but am yet to photograph any of them just yet. I will keep updates more regularly from now on (i promise)