Objective: Explore theme of Family in Documentary Photography
Blog: Produce a number of posts that show evidence of the following:
1. Contextual study: Describe the genre of documentary photography and illustrate with examples – make a moodboard. Try and elaborate on associated sub-genres such as photojournalism and street photography as well as comment on documentary’s central aesthetic, political and moral associations, such as depicting truth, recording life as it is and camera as a witness. See my blog post Standards and Ethics for more details.
American photographer Alec Soth on his approach in photography
Here is a link to Alec Soth website: http://alecsoth.com/photography/
Interview with Alec Soth in the British Journal of Photography
Photographer Rob Hornstra on documentary, story-telling and slow journalism
Rob Hornstra and writer Arnold van Bruggen spend five years working in the Sochi Region where the 2014 Winter Olympics where held. Here is a link to The Sochi Project
British documentary photographer Chloe Dewe-Matthews
Her website http://www.chloedewemathews.com
Magnum photographer Christopher Anderson on being a documentary photographer
Link to his work and profile on Magnum and his website
2. Artists references: Select at least two photographers who are exploring the theme of family in their work. Select body of works/ personal projects and analyse images in terms of style, form, approach, subject-matter, aesthetics, meaning and what story/message the photographer is trying to communicate.
For example look at the work of photographers such as: Richard Billingham (Ray’s a Laugh), Larry Sultan (Pictures from Home), Nan Goldin (The Ballad of Sexual Dependency), Sam Harris (The Middle of Somewhere), Yury Toroptsov (Deleted Scene, The House of Baba Yaga), Elinor Carucci, Jo Spence, Nick Waplington (Living Room) Wendy Evald (This is where we live), Inaki Domingo (Ser Sangre), Dragana Jurisic (YU: the Lost Country), Diana Markosian (Inventing My Father), Mitch Epstein (Family Business), Nicholas Nixon (the Brown Sisters), Stephen Gill (Hackney Kisses), David Spero (Tinkers Bubble), Tina Barney (Friends & Family), LaToya Ruby Frazier (The Notion of Family), Sian Davey (Looking for Alice), Jen Davis (Eleven Years), Corinne Day (Diary), Thomas Sauvin (Beijing Silvermine), Rachel Glass (The Domestic Aviary) Mariela Sancari (Moises), Ron Haviv (Blood and Honey: A Balkan War Journal) Jowhara Alsaud (Heir/Loom), Alexandra Davies, Arno Brignon, Mateusz Sarello (Swell), Sean Lee (Shauna), Maria Kapajeva, Alfonso Almendros (Family Reflections), Andrei Nacu, Laia Abril (The Epilogue), Rita Puig-Serra Costa (Where Mimosa Bloom), Philip Toledano (Days with my Father, When I was Six), Cyril Costilhes (Grand Circle Diego), Tiago Casanova (Pearl), Ahmet Unver (Far Away)
See this folder with artist that exhibited as part of Guernsey Photography Festival 2014
M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Documentary & Narrative\Research\GPF Open Call Submissions\FAMILY
Here are a few videos:
In this clip Sam Harris talking about his new book In the Middle of Somewhere which are following his family life over a 12 year period
http://samharrisphoto.com/610218/video-at-home-with-sam/
For the last 12 years, American photographer LaToya Ruby Frazier has photographed friends, neighbors and family in Braddock, Pennsylvania. But though the steel town has lately been hailed as a posterchild of “rustbelt revitalization,” Frazier’s pictures tell a different story, of the real impact of inequality and environmental toxicity. In this short, powerful talk, the TED Fellow shares a deeply personal glimpse of an often-unseen world.
Here Yury Toroptsov talks about the 3 storylines that are interweaved in his new work and book Deleted Scene. Link to his website
Link to his website
YU: the lost country by Dragana Jurisic https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=saArOK8bZEo
Link to the story on her website:
Review of her book by Sean O’Hagan, Photography Critic at the Guardian
Mateusz Sarello book about a broken relationship and lost love https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=83dlkxmoBoM
link to Cyril Costilhes website http://sikost-photography.com/index.php?/123451234/
https://vimeo.com/112548100
Richard Billingham interviewed about his seminal work Ray’s A Laugh
Interview with Richard Billingham in the Telegraph Newspaper
3. Photo-Assignment 1: Explore the theme of Family and make a set of 5 images/ or a 3 min film
You can explore your own family as an insiders point of view, or you can choose to photograph someone else’s family as an outsider. This could include extended family such as grandparents, uncle & aunties etc. Your photographs can show an everyday family event e.g. breakfast, dinner, watching TV, playing games, private moments, social interaction etc. You can also choose to follow one person and record their life in private and how they interact with other family members. Or, make a set of portraits of each member of your family. The rules are that you must make images within the confines of your family home, this can both inside and outside,. Think about making a number of different shots, portraits (formal/informal, environmental), still-life (interiors, personal objects), landscape (house, garden etc) Explore different ways of framing shots using wide-angle and standard lens, explore different angles and points of view (low, high, canted, straight on). Remember to adjust camera settings and exposure for different lighting conditions.
4. Editing/evaluation: Upload pictures from photo-shoot and process in Lightroom. Put contact sheets and edited best prints in your blog. Annotate and evaluate pictures.
- Presentation: Print out your set of 5 images and present in class for a group crit (Mon 14th Sept)