Family Photography: Alain Laboile

November 13, 2015 Shannon O'Donnell Leave a comment

Alain Laboile is a French family photographer born in Bordeaux, France 1968. He is a father of six and uses his family as his subjects when photographing. In 2004 Laboile put together a portfolio of his work as a sculptor, this is where he picked up a camera and developed a taste for photography. A while after this Laboile pointed his camera onto his large family becoming his major subject. This is now what Laboile is known for, creating strong images of his family as well as being able to be at the heart of the family and documenting his children growing up. I like the concept of this because as a father he would be expected to go out and work but instead he is able to make stronger bonds with his children and be there for them whenever they need him as well as Laboile being able to do his photographic work which he is now known for.

“I am totally self-taught. When I began, I had a very limited photographic culture, no technique.” – Alain Laboile

Laboile’s website: http://www.laboile.com/index.html

Lensculture ‘La Famille’ Archive:
https://www.lensculture.com/alain-laboile?modal=true&modal_type=project&modal_project_id=8491

Lensculture Interview: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/alain-laboile-video-interview-alain-laboile

“Through my photographic work I celebrate and document my family life:A life on the edge of the world” – Alain Laboile

Interview with Alain Laboile: http://www.all-about-photo.com/photographer.php?name=alain-laboile&id=528

I do like the work of Laboile as he simply makes images of his family when and wherever some good photo opportunities arrive. I think that his images look very professional and really capture some great family moments that can be quite similar to our own experiences and bring a sense of nostalgia to the spectators mind making them think more about the ups and downs of their own childhood as well as looking at Laboile’s photographs. I find these images very visually pleasing as each image is very crisp and clear allowing the spectator to see everything from a professional standard. These photos are really amazing with the composition and the entire mise-en-scene of the images especially from knowing that Laboile is a self-taught photographer and has only been photographing since 2004. He makes very strong and personal images showing not only the good side of being in a large family with lots of children but also the down side of having such a huge family where kids can fight etc. I do really like his work as it is so raw and real and is better than a usual family portrait kind of photo that spectators are used to seeing as he is an insider to the family and is part of the family so is able to use that to his advantage making images at times of the day and places that an outsider photographer wouldn’t be able to make.

I find this image really funny as the girls are all dressing up and messing around with what could be their mothers clothes. I think that this is a strong portrait as everything from the girl jumping in the air to the others standing and posing is so crisp and clear. I think the entire mise-en-scene of this image is perfect as the spectator is able to see their surrounding area and what kind of house they live in [seems like an old-fashioned house] as well as the facial expressions of the girls being really strong with the girl on the far left looking directly into the camera with a very serious facial expression while the girl in the back far right is posing similarly to her sister and looking off into the distance. I like the way that none of them are actually smiling or laughing as if they are very serious about dressing up in random outfits. It does look as though the girls were having a lot of fun dressing up and running round in their mums clothing. I do think that this image looks great and it being in black and white, for me, makes it a much stronger image as the spectator isn’t distracted by the colours of the light coming through or the colours of the clothes that those girls are wearing. Overall I think that this is a really strong image and is interesting to look at.

This is one of my favourite images because it is so simple. I like that Laboile caught one of his daughters walking along the patio of their house. I like that this photograph is taken from a more of a low angle as Laboile would most likely have been on his knees or leaning down low to make this image. This makes the patio balcony look a lot larger making the girl look smaller. The composition of this photograph is great as the spectator is directly drawn to the slight right of the image looking at the young girl. I also like what the little girl is wearing as her wellie boots suggest that she has been out in the muddy garden [shown in some of Laboile’s other images] as well as the back of her shirt looking wet as if she had been in a water/mud fight. I like that Laboile makes all of his images in black and white bringing across a theme as well as consistency of editing in the same style. This image is interesting and brings happy memories as it reminds the spectator of their youth and being younger with no cares or worries at all, we never even worried about getting our clothes muddy or dirty.

I love that in a lot of Laboile’s images his children look like they are having the time of their lives and seem like such free spirits. I chose this image as I think that it really does show how free and comfortable these children are. It brings some nostalgia to the spectator bringing back memories of when they were younger and never had any cares and would just run around naked. I like the moment that Laboile has captured in this image, he has caught them laughing and having fun while throwing water from their wellies at one another. It seems extremely muddy where they are as the spectator is able to see the bottom left corner where the child’s foot is slipping. I find it hilarious that we only see one of the children laughing and having a good time while the other is too busy trying to defend herself with the water right in her face as he wellie is lowered and the water is just tipping onto the muddy ground. It also looks as though there are more than just two of them having a water fight as in the right hand middle corner there is water about to catch the young girl on the back suggesting that there are more people involved. I think that this is a very strong image as it is very clear and easy to look at. It is more of a fun environmental image showing what ordinary children tend to get up to in their free time.

Analysis, Evaluation

Moises – Evaluation

November 13, 2015 Max Le Feuvre Leave a comment

Background

‘Moises’ is a book produced by Argentinian photographer Mariela Sancari. In 1980, when Sancari was 14 years old, her father Moises Sancari committed suicide. Sancari and her twin sister went through traumatic periods of grief, and have suffered from episodes of anxiety and depression.

After her father passed away, Sancari tried to fill the loss of her father through her imagination. She would stare at any stranger who bore resemblance to Moises, a habit which soon became an obsession. Sancari went through a stage of grief known as denial and effectively created a fantasy that her father was still alive somewhere, and seeing men that would of been her father’s agitated this obsession.

Sancari, who trained as a photographer worked for eights for a large Mexican newspaper. See soon however became disillusioned with this and starting to work to her own, personal photographic projects. In 2011 she gained a photographer in residence place at the Centro de la Imagen, and during this time she worked on a project entitled ‘Moises’.

Evaluation

‘Moises’ is a very personal and unique project. Sancari put out a newspaper ad asking for men in their 70s that bore resemblance to her father, (the age Moises would have been if he was still alive) to pose for portraits.She dressed the men up in old clothes of her father, getting them to complete similar activities she remembered her father doing, such as shaving and brushing Sancari’s hair. Sancari described the process as a “very strong, intense situation”. The outcomes of this photo-book, displayed in an unusual pop-style display are very raw, original and authentic. The images are effectively a retrospect of what her father may have been like, had he have lived.

I find that the concept of this series to be very effective and powerful. Sancari uses memories of her father, as she describes, “my memories of him are very childlike. I’ve built a shrine.”. The images included in the photo-book are very simplistic, classically composed portrait styled photographs with a plain blue background. The subjects in the book stare camera into the camera, conveying a plain, neutral expression. I find that this simplicity is very effective makes the story very raw and grounded solely in the theme of Sanceri father. The impression I gain about Moises through her retrospective representation of him is that he was a very normal, loving family man. A theme that Sanceri subtly explores through the photographs is intimacy, convey most clearly through close ups of one of the men saving.

Overall I enjoyed this book. The handmade, pop-up style makes the book very personal and the story Sancrini tells is very subtle, poetic whilst at the same time being heartfelt and consistent to the difficult but fascinating theme of Sanceri attachment to her deceased father. It tells a personal story

I like how Sanceri has used men her father’s age to fill the gap as obviously she can’t photograph Moises. This might be an interesting theme to explore within my own project, the use of other subject to retrospectively image what my granddad may have looked like had he still been alive today. The image composition is very basic and simplistic, whilst at the same time being strong and striking. This simplicity is something I want to emulate more when I take my images. Is emphasis of mood over how an image looks is interesting and my exploration into vernacular photography is a good starting point to reflect within this.

Research

Picture story

November 12, 2015 Jessica Freire Leave a comment

A picture story usually include 6 or 7 pictures, the pictures are visually strong and informative and together they should be able to tell you a visual story.

Establishing shot – this photograph could show where and when the photo took place, and can include other elements such as mood, other people and weather.
Environmental shot – emphasizes the location of where the photograph is being taken,
Relationship shot – this photograph should be able to show you what is taking place and the relationship between the people.
Detail shot – concentrates on a place or a subject in particular.
Formal portrait – where you are in control of the photograph.
Observed portrait – more natural, the subject usually isn’t aware that the photograph is being taken.
Person at work – this photograph should be able to show you who the person is, what they are doing and what context they are doing it in.

Research

Picture Stories

November 12, 2015 Sammie 1 Comment

Picture stories are often used for photojournalism and documentary photography as they allow pictures and words to be mixed together to make the story more visually interesting to make people want to read the article.

The most common images used in picture stories are:
– Person at Work, quite literally, a person at work, showing context of the work they’re doing

People_at_Work-221

– Relationship Shot, normally showing the relationship between a couple of people or a person and a thing.

lange-8b29525 — Photo by Dorothea Lange on Migrant Farm Families

– Establishing Shot, shows context and establishes the setting or what is happening in the story.

– Detail shot, shows a detail of a situation, like what someones holding, or a detail of the environment.

12080359_1103359546404811_2490694072046634138_o — Photo by Brandon Stanton from his work on Humans of New York

– Environmental Portrait, a shot of a person or a few people in the environment which hold the meaning for the story.

11201125_1071171226290310_2996945184437638022_o — Photo by Brandon Stanton from his work on Humans of New York

– Formal Portrait

– Observed Portrait, taking photos without the subject aware that you’re there.

12087147_1110255615715204_7153653803095384735_o — Photo by Brandon Stanton from his work on Humans of New York

To be able to understand how to make an effective photo story to display my photographs I am going to analyse some existing photo stories and see what I think does and doesn’t work well. First i’ll look at magazine photo stories.

From looking at and comparing these there photo stories, the first thing that I notice particularly is the type of font used for these articles is mainly san-serif.

The last two examples use serif fonts for their titles, but all three use sans serif fonts for the rest of their text. This is because it looks smart and modern and is easy to read, hardly any magazines use cursive fonts either because they’re difficult to read and look very messy and unprofessional.

As the first article is more of a timeline of events, theres no particular establishing shot, because theres no one location of the story they’re trying to get across. The second magazine’s establishing shot , whilst isn’t the biggest image, is still a pretty big photo, so although it isn’t the main focus of the story, it still gives across information to the viewer. The last article uses and environmental portrait as an establishing shot. It shows all the people involved and an idea of the location of this story.

All three of these articles have four images within a double page spread and quite a small portion of text to go along with them. Although these seem to be the most formal types of articles, others may have one main image as the background, and bigger, bolder text overlapping images etc, which is quite common within music magazines, which tend to have a sense of high energy, often to capture the energy of the artists of the concerts and festivals they’re reviewing and writing about.

Some quotes (if the subjects of the story have been interviewed) which represent what the story is about in a few words tend to be bolder and larger than the rest of the text, they’re sometimes quite unusual quotes, to make the viewer want to read the rest of the article so they can find out the context of which they said that sentence.

Evaluation, Research

TELLING A PICTURE STORY

November 12, 2015 Jemma Hosegood Leave a comment

There are 6 or 7 individual types of picture that should be both visually strong and informative in their own right but put together make a flowing dynamic narrative. Outlined below are these individual pictures:

Person at Work
Relationship Shot
Establishing Shot
Detail shot
Environmental Portrait
Formal Portrait
Observed Portrait

Picture stories are generally made up of between 3 and 15 pictures depending on the depth of the story but they will include most if not all of the individual pictures mentioned above. By looking at each of the picture elements individually we can discuss how they are best achieved.

Here are some mood board of some different picture stories –

PERSON AT WORK –

Self explanatory really but there are key elements and working practices that will help to make this picture work. Things to look for are:
Who the person is…we should be able to recognise them.
What is it they are doing….
How are they doing it…
In what context are they doing it…

RELATIONSHIP SHOT –

This means a relationship between two or more people. It could be one of love, hate, passion, or just simple affection, supportive or one of rejection, teaching and learning, superior or inferior etc. The key points here are that the photograph must show clearly:
What is taking place between them and
What the nature of the relationship is….

ESTABLISHING SHOT –

The Establishing Shot is an important element in the picture story because it serves to define the context in which the other pictures have been located. It describes where and sometimes when the event took place. It can also describe mood and other information such as how large the event is how many people were involved, the weather etc

DETAIL SHOT –

The detail shot is often overlooked but is very useful in many stories to emphasize a point or subject area. It also adds ‘pace’ to your story which will be discussed later. A detail shot doesn’t have to be a minute macro picture but just something that concentrates on something in particular to open up the story. They can be a good chance to shoot something in an abstract way that gets the viewer thinking about what he is looking at. It adds a new dimension to the story. Some very successful picture stories are made up solely of detail abstracts.

FORMAL SHOT –

The subject is totally under your control. You decide lighting, posture, distance
etc but in a way that still permits the personality of the subject to come through.
A good relationship with the subject is helpful here.

OBSERVED SHOT –

This when the subject is not as aware of having his picture taken. A more candid approach to get that natural relaxed feeling to the picture. There is a lot of crossover between the different portrait styles to you could have an observed/environmental portrait or even an observed/formal portrait taken during a moment when the subject maybe not aware your taking pictures. Again, there are no set rules in portraiture.

Analysis, Research