The Aesthetics of Photographic Production by Andrea Jaeger

This exposition forms part of the research project exploring the often-overlooked sensory and material facets of photographic production, challenging the traditional focus solely on the visual aspect of photographs. The research questions the prevailing view that understanding photography is limited to analysing the final image, suggesting instead that the process of making a photograph—its production in real-world environments such as laboratories, factories, and manufacturing spaces—holds equal aesthetic significance. The aim is twofold: to redirect attention to processes of photographic making, exploring the aesthetic dimension beyond the photograph itself, and to examine how this shift influences the overall understanding of photographic practice. Employing practice-based research across diverse photographic settings, this study uncovers the aesthetic nuances of C-type printing processes, including the tensioning, fogging, and tearing of photosensitive paper. It adopts an event-centric viewpoint, moving beyond the visual to explore multisensory handlings—listening, touching, and feeling—that are integral to photographic production, and acknowledges the contributions of more-than-human agency in photographic making. This approach allows for a multi-modal presentation of findings, combining traditional written analysis with experiential expositions to highlight the importance of non-visual outputs in photographic making.

FIELDWORK DISCOVERIES

This exposition outlines discoveries made during fieldwork.

Practical guide to fieldwork in arts-related research

In preparation for my first fieldwork day at Bayeux, I looked for literature to advise on the do's and don'ts whilst being on-site as an artist with an open approach to research.

Gaining acess to the field

Multi-visit vs intensive course

This multi-visit layout allows for time in-between visits to step back and write up field notes, re-visit visual, audio, film material and collected artefacts, mainly by-products before you enter the scene again.

I want to propose dates at the very outset but if you work in the industry sector, timelines, deadlines, availability is to be taken into account and your presence is synced then in accordance to the flow of these. But what worked well was to agree on the next visit at the end of the day before you leave so you and everyone else knows when you will be back.

gaining trust/confidentiality

Open approach

*not-knowing awkwardness at the start

*still hunting

*sensuos ethnography

*Jaeger approach: still huting, play one's hunch, sit in waiting, enter the fray