Vernacular photography is the creation of photographs, usually by amateur or unknown photographers both professional and amateur, who take everyday life and common things as subjects. This type of photography links to my project as I am focusing on capturing very natural everyday life images of my friends and different types of people. I like the idea of making my photographs very relate-able and realistic, I don’t like very staged photographs. These types of photographs relate to documentary photography as they document everyday life/what my life is like. I think it is important for the photographer to have that personal connection with their photographs, therefore, doing something that portrays your life with your friends/what type of people are in the society that you live in are like. Vernacular photography allows the photographer to spontaneously take photographs whenever they feel.
This also relates to the theme of family as family portraits can be categorized as Vernacular photography as they are pictures of people you generally with most of your time and love. They can be everyday images or just annual things. Vivian Maier is a photographer who did a project focusing on Vernacular photography, her images are all in black and white and are simplistic yet still effective. This has inspired me to experiment with black and white vernacular photography. I want to experiment with different types of photography to see which one best fits with my project.
A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.
A feeling of fellowship with others, as a result of sharing common attitudes, interests, and goals.
I think that community is a broad theme which incorporates a wide variety of people and both family and faith. Although it’s not as personal as family, community gives people a sense of belonging and identity. As well as community being a large group of people who share common interests it can also refer to shared values and beliefs for example: religion. The people whom you trust and rely on can also be you’re community, in a way you’re community can also be seen as almost like you’re second non blood related family.
John Divola is a contemporary visual artist, who works primarily in photography. I like his work because he takes a different approach to the theme of community. Instead of photographing portraits he has captured environments or settings. I think this idea is very clever and unique because it offers another perspective of community. I particularly like this photographer because he focuses on environments and settings opposed to people and landscapes. In my previous post I wrote about the idea of environments having an effort on our memory. Simple objects it being a sofa or the material of a curtain can bring back memories we once had forgotten. I think this is very powerful and influential, therefore the photographs Divola’s produces show a different and unique approach to the idea of community and memory. I like the rawness of the image it shows destruction and anger in the way it has been composed. But then the elegant and peaceful scenery of the sea makes it calm, which confuses the photographs with mixtures of emotions. This is very clever because it invites the viewer into seeing the image as a typical room but there is so much more going on then what appears making it intriguing.
The second image also has the same effect, it has graffitied walls yet in the centre of the image is a beautiful coloured sky. I think the colour of the sky contrasts with what looks like red shattered and broken glass. I think the environment and minor details are incredibly important for an image especially one which is a narrative.
What is communitarianism? What’s the origin of communitarianism? How do religions form communities?
Communitarianism is a philosophy that emphasises the connection between the individual and community and the importance this has on political life. It arose in the 1980s as a criticism of two philosophical schools. There are many strong communitarianism aspects in several modern and historical political and religious belief systems. For example, the Hebrew Bible, the Christian New Testament, Roman Catholic thoughts and social democracy. Religion involves the idea of community massively, religions become a community because they share common interest, thought or belief.
The Catholic religion has key aspects of community within it, it is about being a family and following the law of God. The foundation for Catholic social thought is the proper understanding the value of a person.
The Catholic community
Religious art
Religious art
I wanted to research into this particular study because I wanted to link the idea of community with religion. Family, community and faith are themes which can all be linked together fairly easily because all of them share qualities and similarities. Religion and in this example the Catholic faith, community is an extremely important aspect of the religion.
” He is gone. He has left orange peel in the wastebasket,the fresh eggs on the windowsill and the remains of a croissant which I polish off. I shall miss him.”
Sophie Calle who was born in 1953 is a French writer, photographer and conceptual artist. Her work often shows human vulnerability, identity and intimacy. She is well known for her ‘detective’ ability to follow strangers and investigate a photograph their private life. She is known to be strange in a good way.
One of Sophie Calle’s projects is called ‘The Hotel’, on Monday 16th February 1981 Sophie was hired for three weeks as a chambermaid in a Venetian Hotel she was assigned 12 bedrooms during this time she examined the personal belongings and observed through details the life’s of the people of who she didn’t know within the hotel rooms. She published photographs of what she found in room 26 and room 47 and what looks like a diary entry of everyday she was in the room in her book’ Sophie Calle’, she also included two smaller photographs of work being exposed in a New York museum and in a National photography center in Paris. In the book only the guests beds are in colour were as there belongings are in black and white, I think transmits their personality.
I chose to look at Sophie Calle’s project the Hotel because she incorporated work into her photography, which is linked to what I am going to do however in a different style, I am going to photograph my mum in her working environments and like Sophie Calle the belongings and surroundings within her workplace.
There are certain boundaries that define what photojournalism is. With documentary photography, the photographers have to be moral and stick to the ‘Code of Ethics’. Whilst not law, they are generally the rules people would abide by just going on moral instinct.
Documentary Photography is meant to be an honest representation of what is happening in the world, it’s meant to document it, and so dishonest photojournalism, whilst may be believed by some, is not proper photojournalism. They are meant to be impartial on situations, not showing a biased view, but the whole view of a situation.
In a way everyone sets the standards of Photojournalism, because we all have our own choices of what is and isn’t morally right or wrong.
The main, or most important points from this code of ethics for me are (to simplify the text below from NPPA):
Accuracy in representation;
Being complete and providing context;
Avoid Stereotyping;
Treating ALL subjects with respect;
Not manipulating images to alter the viewers perception of the image;
Not paying sources;
Not accepting compensation from sources;
Avoiding political involvements;
Being unobtrusive.
CODE OF ETHICS
(https://nppa.org/code_of_ethics)
Beaccurateand comprehensive in the representation of subjects.
Resist being manipulated by staged photo opportunities.
Be complete and provide context when photographing or recording subjects. Avoid stereotyping individuals and groups. Recognize and work to avoid presenting one’s own biases in the work.
Treat all subjects with respect and dignity. Give special consideration to vulnerable subjects and compassion to victims of crime or tragedy. Intrude on private moments of grief only when the public has an overriding and justifiable need to see.
While photographing subjects do not intentionally contribute to, alter, or seek to alter or influence events.
Editing should maintain the integrity of the photographic images’ content and context. Do not manipulate images or add or alter sound in any way that can mislead viewers or misrepresent subjects.
Do not pay sources or subjects or reward them materially for information or participation.
Do not accept gifts, favors, or compensation from those who might seek to influence coverage.
Do not intentionally sabotage the efforts of other journalists.
Ideally, visual journalists should:
Strive to ensure that the public’s business is conducted in public. Defend the rights of access for all journalists.
Think proactively, as a student of psychology, sociology, politics and art to develop a unique vision and presentation. Work with a voracious appetite for current events and contemporary visual media.
Strive for total and unrestricted access to subjects, recommend alternatives to shallow or rushed opportunities, seek a diversity of viewpoints, and work to show unpopular or unnoticed points of view.
Avoid political, civic and business involvements or other employment that compromise or give the appearance of compromising one’s own journalistic independence.
Strive to be unobtrusive and humble in dealing with subjects.
Respect the integrity of the photographic moment.
Strive by example and influence to maintain the spirit and high standards expressed in this code. When confronted with situations in which the proper action is not clear, seek the counsel of those who exhibit the highest standards of the profession. Visual journalists should continuously study their craft and the ethics that guide it.
One example of not abiding to the code of ethics is Giovanni Trioli.
Giovanni Trioli entered the World Press Photo awards, and won. However he was later revoked this award after controversy over some of the images.
One of the photographs that was part of a winning package at the World Press Photo awards. This image, and a few others came under scrutiny over whether they broke contest rules.
“The World Press Photo Contest must be based on trust in the photographers who enter their work and in their professional ethics,” Lars Boering, the managing director of World Press Photo, said in a statement on Wednesday. “We now have a clear case of misleading information and this changes the way the story is perceived. A rule has now been broken, and a line has been crossed.”
Some of the photos, for example the one above with the intimate scene within the car, were staged photos, (“staging is defined as something that would not have happened without the photographer’s involvement.”) which goes against the rules, as they are meant to be Contemporary Issues, photographed in a photojournalistic way, following the code of ethics etc.
“Mr. Troilo had photographed his cousin having sex with a woman in the back of a car, using a remote-control flash to illuminate the steamy back seat. By putting a flash in the car, critics had said, Mr. Troilo effectively staged the photo, violating the rules of the contest.”
It also went under scrutiny as to whether it violated the privacy of those in the images, but Trioli had said “This is not a stolen photo of a couple caught unawares” that he followed his cousin on a night when his cousin had planned to have sex and that he had his cousin’s consent.
“The decision to rescind the award came a day after a leading photojournalism festival, Visa Pour L’Image, said it would not show any World Press Photos this year to protest what it said were staged photos.”
“If they stand by what they say, that you cannot stage events in photojournalism, then this set of pictures should be disqualified.”Greg Marinovich, a Pulitzer Prize-winning photographer from South Africa who has served on the World Press Photo jury twice.
For this I am going to take inspiration from the research that I have carried out from Film Noir, Neo-Noir, Femme Fatale’s as well as take inspiration from various artists works including Claude Cahun, Barbara Kruger and Cindy Sherman. I think that this will interesting to do and I am also doing to incorporate some more documentary style images with real people on the streets of Jersey along with some mini interviews that I will ask them. I have a lot of ideas for this project and think that I will be able to produce a lot of work with this project. I have created some mood boards and brainstormed some new ideas into what I want to specifically focus in on with my individual study.
Yoko Ono is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer and peace activist also known for her avant-garde art, music and filmmaking. Ono was married to John Lennon until he died in 1980. She was born in 1933 and is now 82 years old. Ono brings feminism into a lot of her work by focusing on the way society perceives them and tends to challenge the way her spectators think and often does performances with audience interaction.
“This society is driven by neurotic speed and force accelerated by greed, and frustration of not being able to live up to the image of men and woman we have created for ourselves; the image has nothing to do with the reality of people.” – Yoko Ono
“We’re here on this earth to unravel the mystery of this planet. The planet is asking for it.” – Yoko Ono
I like the idea of Ono’s film where she asks audience members to one by one join her on stage and cut off a part of her clothing. Eventually she is sitting basically naked. To me this represents the way society picks at women and ends up leaving them with nothing. I find this a really great concept and brings in audience participation as well as bringing to light serious issues such as the way women are treated within our society. I think that this piece is very strong and really does speak volumes. I love that Ono got the audience involved really making it an event to remember. Ono has some really great work which would be interesting to respond to as means of public participation and performance photography. One thing in particular that I enjoy about the film ‘Cut Piece’ is that Ono just has a neutral facial expression, she isn’t sharing her inner emotions with any participants or with the audience. I like that as this allows the audience and spectators to make up their own mind of what is going on and their own personal opinions and views on what is going on. This project shows the vulnerability of women with the audience cutting up her clothing piece by piece. She is motionless throughout possibly showing passiveness and how women are expected to be that way and just allow others to use them and take things away from them, more mentally than physically. This is a really strong body of work and shows true vulnerability in a completely great and artistic way which is something that I really like about Ono.
“A dream you dream alone is only a dream, A dream you dream together is reality.” – Yoko Ono
Recently I have seen quite a few videos of women going into the streets wearing nothing but underwear and a sign, holding a pen in each hand. The signs invite the public to draw a heart anywhere on her body showing that all shapes and sizes of women are beautiful no matter what society tries to imply is right. I think that these videos are very moving and really does show how accepting we can be as a society and that we just need that little push with movements such as feminism and artistic movements in order to gain support and understanding of current social issues of the way men and women are expected to be. This reminds me of Ono’s work as she completely relies on public participation and cooperation within a lot of her work. I really love these kinds of videos as they make me happy and feel less self-conscious of my body knowing that people will accept you no matter what you look like. Through public acts like these we as a society realise that focusing on the way someone looks physically is wrong and can really damage a person mentally. It’s things like these that make me happy to be a part of this generation as we have come so far, with so far to go, and are constantly finding more creative ways to show people that everyone should be accepted and self love is not something to be ashamed of.
More recent work of Yoko Ono. This is mainly to do with music but has a creative meaning and concept behind it which is actually very interesting to watch. Some of the stuff that Ono has created seems very strange and random but then she turns it almost comical and funny, I really like that about her she doesn’t take herself too seriously but does come up with good meanings behind her work with good concepts.
As previously mentioned, I am constantly getting inspiration from the works of Cindy Sherman, specifically her set of Film Stills 1977-1980. Sherman has influenced many tableaux photographers and has become iconic in the movement of feminism. Sherman is an American photographer and film director, known for her conceptual portraits. She was born in 1954 finding her feet in photography in the 70s when she produced her first set of Film Stills. Sherman works in series, usually photographing herself in a wide range of different costumes and makeup changing her identity to create a new persona for each photograph. She will often shoot alone in her studio not knowing exactly what images she wants to produce, she will assume multiple roles and is the author, director, makeup artist, hairstylist, fashion designer and model.
In the past I have gained a lot of inspiration from Sherman’s Film Stills and am still finding inspiration from these images. I like the idea that Sherman looks different in every image and she becomes a new persona each time. I want to use this for my own experimentation and be able to tell a story myself by becoming each character and looking different in each image. I think that her work is very strong and there is always something going on. Sherman tends to find humour in types of people and she will mimic them within her work and exaggerate certain traits that they have. I find this very interesting as Sherman does not care if she offends people and will just do to make for some good images. A theme that I’ve noticed with Sherman’s work is that she uses a lot of makeup and props to change the shape of her body as well as many wigs. I really like this as she is able to tell so many different stories within her work as a tableau photographer.
“Cindy Sherman represents everything that is wrong with the contemporary art world.” – Bloomberg Business review
I think that Sherman really stands out in the photography world and has really furthered public knowledge of the unfair advantages and disadvantages faced with men and women. Sherman tends to focus in on the stereotypes of women and she likes to recreate a persona of a person she has possibly seen and exaggerates them to make for more impact and to stand out against other photographs. I really like this concept as she is showing spectators the problems within our own society of how we treat women and how we expect them to be. I think that it is so wrong that women have one set of rules while men have another, it is unfair for both parties as we are all human we all share the same kind of emotions and yet our gender seems to have an effect on the way we show those emotions and the way we treat others. Sherman’s work is very strong and bold, she doesn’t tend to hold back at all and has many over the top nude photographs where she creates a new persona and she makes her own props of different parts of the female anatomy to make for a more interesting photograph. I believe Sherman uses nudes within her work as a way of showing what society expects of women and I can also link this to many painting where women are used as objects to be seen and painted as sexual figures.
This image really shows the cliches faced with women perfectly. The subject is looking glamorous wearing a pretty skirt and makeup while picking up the grocery shopping showing how women are, within society, expected to do all of the cooking, cleaning and household chores while still looking good. I think that this is a strong images as Sherman’s facial expression doesn’t look pleased at all, she looks very miserable as if she doesn’t want to be doing all of the household work. This image shows how society has treated women in the past and how it still treats them to this day. Spectators are able to see how women are represented unfairly and what are expected of women yet not expected of men. I really like this image as it is very strong and shows the strain put on women within our society. I just really like this image and the way it looks with all of the props and the position of the subject is really interesting to me. I love Sherman’s work showing the cliches women faced in the 70s and it shows just how many of those that women still face today. It is interesting to see how little has changed since the 70s and how women are still perceived in the same way and still face the same unfair expectations.
Another image that I find very interesting is the one above. I really like this image as Sherman is posing almost like a Femme Fatale from film Noir films. She looks like a damsel in distress and needs a man to come and save her. Sherman shows the spectator the expectation of women having to look glamorous all of the time and ready to do anything that her man wants her to. This image is very interesting as it shows the cliches faced by women, like all of Sherman’s photographs. I really like this image because it is obviously staged and something that you would expect to see when someone is mocking another person as a damsel in distress. This photograph interests me as the subject is wearing somewhat provocative clothing and posing in such a way that the spectator would think that she ‘was asking for it’ even though no matter what the woman looks like or is wearing she is never asking for it. I think that this is a strong image and interesting to look at.
I love this image. There is something about this photograph that really draws me in and makes me want to analyse it further to learn more about it. The lights in the background of this image draw me in as you would usually expect those kind of lights to be behind the camera not in front of it. I like that the subject is looking directly into the camera with only her head as the rest of her body is facing away from it, this seems as if she was possibly sitting on the floor with those big lights doing her makeup and then turned around to look because she was being disturbed. I know that Sherman makes all of her photographs without a clear plan as to what she wants but only a clear plan on who she wants to be. Sherman makes her images alone in her studio yet it doesn’t look that way and every photo is different and unique in itself. I like the subjects outfit, it looks as though she is getting ready for a night out or possibly to do a performance. One of my favourite photos from Sherman’s film stills, there is nothing specific about it I just really find it interesting to look at and I enjoy looking at it. Something that I also noticed about Sherman’s Film Stills is that they are all in black and white, much to do with the time she had a film camera in the 70s where colour hadn’t been introduced yet but they look really awesome and it just adds more atmosphere and effect to the image. The spectator is able to focus in on the subject and what she is doing rather than getting distracted by all of the lights and colours surrounding her.
Barbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist born in 1945. Much of her work is done in black and white overlaid with declarative captions. These captions are written in white on red backgrounds with phrases in her works often including pronouns such as ‘you’, ‘your’, ‘I’, ‘we’ and ‘they’ really personalising her messages towards the spectators. Her messages address cultural constructions of power, identity and sexuality. I like the concept of Kruger’s work as she brings clear messages to the spectator and tells them what they should see in the image. Kruger is a conceptual and feminist artist.
I think that I will take inspiration from Kruger in my own work and add this kind of Dada style written text and imagery in my own photographs. This style also reminds me of propaganda and really sends out clear messages. It mainly reminds me of the Second World War when they would try to get women into the factories to help in the war effort and how they would influence people to become soldiers. I find this a very interesting concept and can be highly influential and effective if it is actually done well.
“one of the best artists of the 1980’s without actually doing much that is new.” – Roberta Smith review
Conceptual art
Conceptual art is an influential movement that first emerged in the mid 1960s. It brought up ideas over the formal or visual components of traditional works of art. Conceptual artists will often challenge old concepts of things such as beauty, they question the conventional means by which the public consume art. Artists will often reject the conventional arts and use ranges of medias including maps, diagrams, texts and videos. Kruger is constantly making new images, she will find old archive images of something and stick a text in front of it with a clear meaning.
Feminist art
Feminist art emerged around the same time as conceptual art in the 1960s and 1970s. This came about so artists could explore questions of sex, power, the body and how gender categories seem to structure the way we see and understand the world. This art also frequently involves text and performance elements. Kruger will often use staged photographs as backgrounds for her text and manages to find great photographs to make her images stand out even more.
Whose Values? project by Kruger and 400 students:
I do enjoy looking at Kruger’s work as a lot of it holds strong social messages. She tends to make her messages very clear and easy for anyone to understand as she has blatantly written them in found photographs. I think that I will use the idea of this within my work and incorporate it into my own work as well as experimenting with other works too. I want to be able to broaden my skills within photography and be able to make more artistic links within different forms of art and not just in the photographic sense. I think that I will be able to make quite a few different responses to Kruger’s work as I find this very interesting and unique in the photography world yet it seems so simple. Kruger took inspiration from magazines and made it her own, she believed that if they could do it and hold so much influence then she could do exactly the same thing. I am excited to respond to this body of work.
This image particularly interests me as the background image is a woman looking through a magnifying glass. The text fits with the photograph as it states that the world isn’t small if ‘you have to clean it’. I think that this is really effective as the woman seems as if she is looking for dirt to clean and that she has to look closely to actually clean up and that there is so much to clean in this massive world. I like the bold font with ‘It’s a small world’ and the rest of the text much smaller ‘but not if you have to clean it’. For some reason this stands out to me and kind of seems like Kruger was saying ‘It’s a small world’ quite loudly and proudly while saying the part in the smaller text under her breath as if making a sly comment. I think that this is a strong image and shows how women are expected to do the cleaning and look after the house etc. There isn’t much to this image as the text is very plain and simple. It is obvious and to the point, it doesn’t just suggest things allowing the spectator to make their own perception it literally tells them exactly what she was thinking and what she wanted the spectator to get from the image. These images aren’t her own but she uses old images to make new ones with her own original text in front of them.
Another image that stood out for me was this one above. I think that this is the perfect image to go with Kruger’s text as it is very bold in itself and stands out to me. I like that one half of the image is in black and white with the other half in negative. This shows two sides to the subject, one pretty and good while the other looks more scary and a little bit sinister. The message that Kruger brought across was ‘Your body is a battleground’, this really interests me as it is in front of a woman’s face and how possibly the struggles that women face every month with having periods and going through cramps and constant bleeding. This could be what Kruger means by ‘battleground’. It could also be through pregnancy and how women often go through the struggle of being pregnant and then having children and being expected to carry on with everyday life almost straight away. I like this image as it is bold and is open for spectators interpretation.
One other image that I like is this one above because it seems as if a little boy is being told that he doesn’t need to grow muscle as his mother pushes him down. The text really works with this image and is effective as it says ‘We don’t need another hero’. This could possibly be a message to young boys that they don’t need to feel that they have to fight in wars to be seen as masculine and they don’t need to conform to societies expectations of having big muscles and being strong and independent. It is almost as if his mother doesn’t want him to be another ‘hero’ because she loves him and doesn’t want to lose him like many other mother’s did during World War II. I think this is one of my favourite images as it is quite powerful and stands out to me. I think that the image and the text blend well together and almost look as though the image was made for the text and that is the way it was broadcast.
