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Jonas Bendikson: Artist Reference

October 17, 2015 Max Le Feuvre Leave a comment

Bio

Jonas Bendikson is another photographer who explores the theme of Community in this work. Like Soth, he is also a Magnum Photographer.

Bendiksen was born in Norway in 1977. Passionate about photography from a young age, Bendiksen gained a one year internship at Magnum Photos’ London Office. His tasked ranged from; mundane tasks such as making tea + coffee, and paging letters; to returning prints and slides to their right places in the archive. Enriched and inspired by this experience which he described as “the best education I could have asked for”, Bendikson decided from that point to dedicate the rest of his life to become a photographer.

After this experience, Bendiksen travelled to Russia, documenting the transition of the Russian people after the collapse of Communism and the USSR 10 years before. He ended up spending several years there, resulting in a body of work that went to make his first book, “Satellites – Photographers from the Fringes of the former Soviet Union”, published in 2006. This series brought Bendiksen extensive critical acclaim.

Bendiksen experiences in Russia profoundly influenced his style and identity as a photographer. The vast majority of work throughout Bendiksen’s career has been related the theme of community, both through the publication of photo-books, as well as through photo-journalistic assignment for organisations such as GEO magazine, Newsweek, Goldman Sach and National Geographic. Dedicated and passionate about mastering his work, Bendiksen explores the communities he photographs in great detail, getting to know the people he works with closely and personally, enabling him to gain trust and build up an extensive body of images which can then go to make his photo-books and assignments. This means that Bendikseen often will spend a number of years on a specific photographic project or assignment, visiting the place a number of times.

Bendisken is a Magnum Photographer, joining the organisation in 2004. Magnum is consdiered one of the most influential and pretistiious photographic agencies, and is run exsucisively by it’s members

Here is a list of awards and grants that Bendiksen has achieved over the course of his career.

This list has been copied directly from Jonas’ official website, www.jonasbendiksen.com/Biography/1/

Selected Awards & Grants

2014 NPPA Best of Photojournalism, 1st prize
2014 Pictures of the Year, Last of the First skiers 2013 Pictures of the Year, Russian Summer edit
2011 Norwegian State Artist’s Grant
2009 Fotografiprisen
2008 Telenor International Culture Prize
2008 National Geographic Photography Grant 2007 ASME National Magazine Award
2007 Freedom of Expression Foundation Grant
2007 Award of Excellence, Pictures of the Year International 2005 Open Society Institute, Distribution Grant
2005 Alicia Patterson Fellowship
2005 2nd Prize, Daily Life Stories, World Press Photo Competition
2005 Award of Excellence, Pictures of the Year International
2004 New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship
2004 Norwegian Art’s Council Grant
2003 Infinity Award, Young Photographer of the Year, International Center of Photography
2003 1st Prize, Picture of the Year International Awards 2001 World Press Photo Masterclass
2001 Nikon/Sunday Times Magazine Ian Parry Memorial Award 2001 Photo District News “30 under 30” Selected Exhibitions: 2014 Open for Business (Group show), National Media Museum,

Selected Exhibitions

2014 Open for Business (Group show), National Media Museum, UK
2013 Unintended Journeys (Group show), Smithsonian Natural History Museum Washington
2011 Bangladesh – On the Frontline of Climate Change, Perpignan, France
2008-12 The Places We Live Nobel Peace Center, Oslo; CO Berlin; National Building Museum, USA; CECZ, Amsterdam; Perspektivet Museum, Tromsø
2006-12 Satellites Jewish Historical Museum, Amsterdam; PM Gallery, London; Visa pour l’image, Perpignan; Fotoencuentros, Murcia
2008 Access to Life (Group show) The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington; Stenersenmuseet, Oslo; United Nations, New York, Asahi Mullion, Tokyo

Books

2008 The Places We Live, Aperture, USA (7 languages)
2006 Satellites, Aperture, USA (4 languages)

Analysis, Evaluation, Planning, Research

PHILLIP TOLEDANO – FAMILY STUDY

October 16, 2015 Jemma Hosegood Leave a comment

Attempting to learn more about Phillip Toledano online proved difficult, Toledano has little information on him specifically and what I found useful was a quote from his website –

“I was born in 1968 in London, to a French Moroccan mother and an American father.

I have a BA in English literature. My art education came from my father, who was a full time artist.

It would be fair to say that I learned by osmosis.

I consider myself a conceptual artist: Everything starts with an idea, and the idea determines the execution.

Consequently, my work varies in medium, from photography to installation, sculpture and painting. The themes of my work are primarily socio-political, although lately I’ve strayed into the deeply personal.”

When Phil Toledano was six, his sister died. His family never talked of her again. But when his parents died, they left a box of her belongings. He therefore made a photography book called “When i was 6” – he was 6 when she died and he tried to remember memories of her he has and also things he was interested in in that period of his life. When his parents died, Toledano discovered a case in the back of their wardrobe. It was full of Claudia’s belongings, and of pictures they had taken of her.

“When I saw the pictures, she seemed so grown up, and that was so shocking to me,” he says. “She was a real person. I guess it’s easy to think you’ve lost a baby than you’ve lost a person.”

A year elapsed between his discovery of Claudia’s belongings and finding the strength to begin When I Was Six. “It was almost hilariously miserable,” he says. “I’d take a picture, then I’d start crying. I’d go to sleep and then wake up, take some more pictures, and start crying again. It was just so exhausting, on a molecular level.”

Some of the images i find extremely interesting, also the idea that these belongings of a sister toledano has very little rememberance of intrigues me. Finding this box caused him to make a photo book of her belongings, here are some of the images from the book thati find the most interesting.

I love the way these images have been taken and presented aswell. A typical presentation would be just flat on a table and taken from a birds eye view. Toledano changed this and made the images of the objects interesting aswell, by using natural lights to create contrasting shadows and propping the objects up aswell as piling things up to increased perceived quantity but letting the eye only see the most interesting one. However the contrasting and strong natural light with created shadows makes the images look moody and mysterious, this I feel sets a great theme for the book.

Planning, Research

Community

October 16, 2015 Sian Cumming 1 Comment

What is a community?

A community is a social unit of any size that shares common values. Although embodied or face-to-face communities are usually small, larger or more extended communities such as a national community, international community and virtual community are also studied. The main realistic meaning of a community is a group of people who connect well together socially, mentally or sometimes economically. Examples of communities are: clubs, such as swimming, hockey, religious community, friendship etc.

This topic interests me the most as I feel like I can relate to this theme as I am part of two communities, one with my dancing and one with my close group of friends. I do everything with my friends and I put my full trust in them as I tell them everything, so to capture beautiful images of them is exciting, and I want to base my project around them. I am going to take my disposable camera with me when we go out together just in case a good opportunities comes up, I have my camera to take a picture. This continuous shooting relates to documentary photography as the photos will be over a long period of time, summer to winter, recording specific events etc. I am going to base mostly all my projects around using a disposable camera as I love the effect they have when printed and it makes it more unique to me as they aren’t used often. They present past tense with the vintage type style that they are printed with but then represent present tense as the document is in present tense. I also have a vintage camera which is similar to a disposable camera as it requires film, I love the old fashioned tinge it has the photographs, so I am going to experiment with both cameras and see which result is better. However, I do want to have some well focused photographs so when I go to England at Christmas with all my family I will take some with a professional camera and some with a disposable. I feel like not every photograph can be taken with a disposable as some need definition with clear focused parts and blurred backgrounds to make an effective picture.

Research

Community- Artist reference

October 16, 2015 Holly Benning 1 Comment

Janet Delaney- South of Market

Janet Delaney documented San Francisco during the 70’s and 80’s time period. It captures the evolving city, a pivotal time in San Francisco when hundreds of homes were being replaced into more modern constructions. The entire city was changing, communities and neighborhoods were forced to adapt. Delaney says living in South Market crucial to the success of the project. She said she wanted to ‘keep a close eye on things as they were changing.’ But also because she wanted to feel a sense of ownership. The photographs Delaney took of the neighbourhood are barely recognisable compared to the landscape of it today with it’s chain stores and fancy apartments.

This is an interesting article on South Market: http://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/south-of-market

Lauren Greenfield- Fast Forward- growing up in the shadow of Hollywood

Lauren Greenfield created a project focused on the youth culture of Los Angeles, it looks at the themes of money, appearances, celebrities and materialistic possessions. It compared the lives of children from the Westside private schools and the graffiti gangs and party crews of East L.A. I particularly like the electric colours featured in these images also the angles at which they have been taken. They appear as though they are casual which makes you feel as though the photographer is apart of the community. It feels like Greenfield is part of both of the groups because she is able to get so close amongst the action. When photographing communities I think it’s important to become part of one. Without that connection or insider’s knowledge and perspective you cannot fully explore the life style, values and happenings of a specific community.

Analysis, Planning, Research

FAMILY / COMMUNITY / FAITH SPECIFICATION IDEAS

October 16, 2015 Jemma Hosegood Leave a comment

FAMILY IDEAS –

For my Family study i have decided on an idea called ‘The Box’, This idea comes from a ‘special box’ that i was given when i was born. My sister was also given an identical one also. Throughout our lives, my mother has collected things from our childhood that have been of significant memory and has put them in the box. These things range from baby scans of us inside my mother, hospital bands from he day we were born, our first shoes, presents we were given as children and much much more. These objects in these boxes have become very special to us, and are restricted and hidden in chosen places in our bedrooms. My parents, imparticularlly my mother doesn’t like anyone who is not family looking at these boxes, I’m unsure of the reason why but i assume privacy reasons. I would like to study thing as my “Family” area of work as i feel firstly it is a very family related idea and very few people could tell this story as all of the objects in the box have sentimental value and memories related to them that nobody would understand apart from me.

COMMUNITY IDEAS –

My community study i feel is going to be the most interesting and intriguing to conduct. This is because the idea and plan of the study is based on unexpected behaviour and events. My community idea is based around my community of friends. Your friendship community are the people you surround yourself with and tend to do everything with, bad and good. I would like to therefore document my community of friends to study and capture the behaviours and events that happen when you are in company with each other. Typically at this age alcohol is a bit part of social occasions, due to 18th birthdays and social party events. Behaviour that is present at these events and gatherings depends on the company and degree of comfort you feel when you are around them. You therefore allow behaviour that is not accepted or performed in front of others e.g: Family. My idea for this area of work is capturing and photographing these events and to catch this behaviour and intoxication on camera swell as memory.

FAITH –

I have no ideas for Faith so far, however will update this post when I do.

Research

Niagara

October 16, 2015 Max Le Feuvre Leave a comment

Intro

In 2006, Alec Soth came up with another series, Niagara. The concept behind this series was that after studying the context of Niagara falls, Soth discovered that what Niagara Falls symbolised has very ambiguous meanings, on one hand in is connected with love, marriage and family memories, whereas it can also have more painful connection; death, suffering and suicide. Soth decided therefore to explore this ambiguity in a poetic gesture, with love as the dominant theme

What Niagara Explores?

Niagara is a community based Project by Soth that explores the people that live and visit Niagara Falls and the community around it. Specifically the focus of this project is based on love and relationships. Soth photographs various young couples presumably in their twenties and thirties, who have come to Niagara Falls either on holiday or to get married, or a based in the area permanently. Soth’s photographs focus on; portraits of the young couple’s together; photos of letters the couples have sent to one another; photos; landscape shots of Niagara Fall; still lifes; and landscape shots of the urban environment surrounding Niagara Falls. Effectively ‘NIAGARA’ documents the ups and downs of relationships. The images reflect many different emotions in vary in context.

Gus's Pawn Shop 2004

Narrative

The narrative starts off very positive and upbeat. This mood is achieved through the way Soth presents the opening few pages of the photo-book, full of outdoor landscape images with soft lighting and well spaced out compositions, as well as a playful scrapbook layout. This careful layout and presentation introduces the subjects, in particular exploring the theme of marriage; in an manner glamorising the prospect as joyous and exciting. The narrative is also very raw and intimate, with Soth photographing nude subjects, a very brave and daring aspect to explore.

Over time as more is revealed about the subjects, and about the location of Niagara, Soth begin to show another side to the place and the subjects. Cracks in the relationships of the subjects start to show, illustated through the letters included. In addition, the landscape is conveyed as less joyful and positive through photographing at night-time, a poetic metaphor connecting the location, as well as the overall structure of the narrative as darker and more sinister then previously shown. This progression is important because it shows a rounded perspective of the Location and the subjects.

Style of Photography

The style of photography in ‘NIAGARA’ is very traditional and Soth pays close attention to composition and detail. Soth carefully considers the surrounding environment before taking a photograph, and composition is a deliberate process that Soth attempts to create a well formed and balanced photograph that helps to convey the contexts of the narrative, as well as developing and structures the narrative in a manner which is subtle, reflective and poetic. Soth uses a combination of portraits, still-lifes and landscapes to create his story. What I found was quite clever is Soth’s inclusion of the letters that some of the couples sent to each other. Such a concept is a very clever way of both; providing breaks within the narrative; as well as helping the viewer to gain a deeper insight into the lives of the couples, in a manner which reveals more about them then perhaps a photograph on its own can, but is still personal at the same.

Well what can I say? 2005

Summary

Three things I like about ‘NIAGARA’

Use of many different photographic style
Strong, well composed images
Strong Development of Narrative

What I didn’t like

Text could have made the story easier to follow
The jump in layout made the narrative difficult to follow sometimes

Analysis, Research

Sam Harris:

October 15, 2015 2873 Claudia Viveiros Leave a comment

I have chosen an artist from the Guernsey Photography Festival, from 2014. This is the link to the website: http://guernseyphotographyfestival.com/

Sam Harris is a self-taught, London born photographer. Harris has a very precise style of working. He photographs in a documentary style and captures every-day moments, sort of like a diary.

Here’s a link to his website: http://samharrisphoto.com

Before, Sam produced portraits and sleeve art for various companies in the music world. However, he soon came to realize that he wanted to start something different and new. His desire to photograph his family began on a family trip. Instead of photographing exterior subjects, Harris began to document his close family. With this, he learnt a lot about himself and found his calling.

The way that he forms the pictures is amazing. The images almost have an artistic quality to them. Here’s a very famous example:

It almost looks as if this picture was produced in a professional studio. The rule of thirds is aligned adequately as his daughters eyes and hand are positioned against the hot-spots of the grid. The orangery-red background gives the frame warmth and interest. There’s also a lot of depth here. The girl in foreground contrasts with the bright green bird in the middle-ground. In effect, the picture has a sort of three-dimensional essence to it. The focus is mostly placed on the right hand side, leaving the girls face a bit blurry. This is probably because Harris doesn’t believe in ‘over-exposing’ his children to the world.

Here’s some examples of four of his photograph’s from the collection ‘The Middle Of Somewhere’:

b522cf8201a9585d68c8fbdf70898c56-large — Sam Harris – The Middle Of Somewhere

Harris said that this image was taken because of pure chance. He was cooking one night and the window steamed up. His daughter then began drawing on the glass and creating amazing shapes. Harris took the opportunity to capture this moment with a single shot. It has a very magical essence to me and I think that it looks very mysterious.

d1bbf84a29add8b0ef5e1965d7b4fdc6-large — Sam Harris – The Middle Of Somewhere

This picture is great in my opinion. I think that Harris has framed this image very well. The dark blue material around the rabbit cage restricts me to look directly in the center of the picture, where the brightest light is shown. I also believe that the angle that he used is effective. It creates interest and gives us a similar view to what the little girl might be seeing. Also, the dark shadows, caused from the blockage of light, give the rabbits a black outline. Again, this picture is quite mysterious because you can’t really see any fine details, all you see is shapes. Additionally, the girl looks very mesmerized by what she’s seeing. She looks relaxed and eager to learn.

ed86e9a685203f7d18f872e219b81100-large — Sam Harris – The Middle Of Somewhere

This picture captures Harris’s daughter and wife trying to get the water off the plastic roof with brooms. In my view, this picture is quite amateur and doesn’t really follow any compositional rules, however it works. The yellow hints and hue’s in the background add a golden and warm feeling to it. The color yellow is significant of hope and happiness. I think that the contrast between the yellow light translucently shining on the ground and the water is great. There’s an aspect of freshness to it, the bright colors throughout exude positive vibes. You can tell the sheer energy and probably excitement that they are feeling whilst pushing the roof up. It seems as if they are having lots of fun as they’re both smiling and their body languages show signs of joy. Likewise, the green and calm field in the background adds serenity. Green is significant of power and growth. You can also see a bit of a blur in between the girl and the mother’s bodies that was created through their movement. On the whole, this image has a summer feel to it and is great in capturing a fun family moment.

98b4a109724d82f4d0f13b1ea16c67e9-large — Sam Harris – The Middle Of Somewhere

Lastly, here’s a picture of Harris’s wife doing the laundry. Sam says that she hates taking pictures, so she always try’s to get her face covered in some way or another. You can see that her arm is up in an unnatural manner. It’s these moments that make the picture so intriguing. I’d like to find out more about this scene. Like the previous image, this is cropped in a rather different matter. I think that the tree on the left takes my focus to the left side, whilst the leaves on the right also divert my attention. This is because there is not much alignment or hot-spots from the rule of thirds. Nevertheless, I think that the sense of surprise and ambiguity is greater than if the shot is perfectly framed or not. I like how it’s been taken in such a way, that it doesn’t follow the perfect compositional rules or techniques. It’s just simple, refreshing and shows an engaging moment in family life.

Planning, Research

What is community?

October 14, 2015 Holly Benning 1 Comment

What is community?

The definition of a community is a group of people living in the same place or having a particular characteristic in common. I think this explanation is some what vague, in my opinion a community is also a sense of togetherness, it is a support network. When looking at the theme of community it is important to point out community can be approached as a value. It brings together several elements for example, trust, commitment and mutuality. Socialists for example William Morris tend to relate the term community to fellowship. ‘Fellowship is heaven, and lack of fellowship is hell.’ I think when considering the theme of community it is vital to focus on the reliance people feel or the need of community that is lacked in certain societies. To begin I shall research the idea of place, geographical elements may form territorial or place community. Secondly, the idea of interest communities is when individuals share a similar characteristic. They can be linked together by religious belief, ethnic origin, occupation, interests or sexual orientation.