In order to explore the theme of family, I decided to take some pictures of my extended family. I went to my aunt and uncle’s house to do so. Since they were at home, I was able to capture more natural moments due to their familiarity and comfort in that environment. I took most of images in an amateur manner. It didn’t really matter whether the composition was perfect. I wanted to photograph with a casual approach, just like Richard Billingham did for instance. I made sure to experiment with different zoom lenses and angles. I also took staged and un-staged images, meaning my family didn’t have to pose.
I visited them on two different occasions. The first time I went, I mainly captured them outside, whilst we were having a BBQ. My parents were also there that day and the atmosphere was very different.
The second day, I shot them inside, in the lounge and dining room. They were doing ordinary things, for example my cousin was playing games and my aunty was doing house chores. I also caught some social interactions, like when my uncle played with my cousin.
“I hope we continue to remember Chris by living our lives with the compassion and thoughtfulness that he expressed to so many of us during his brief time here on earth”
Inge Hondros, Chris’ Mother: tribute the her son after his untimely death
Chris Hondros was an American photojournalist and war photographer known for his frequent documentation of warfare in the middle-east. Hondros became highly credited as a photojournalist, becoming a twice Pultizer Prize finalist for ‘Breaking News Photography’. His career in photography lasted for 21 years, cut tragically short by his death in 2011 in the hand of pro-Government forces whilst covering the Libyan Civil War.
Early Career
Born in New York City in 1970 to Greek and German immigrant parents, the family moved to North Carolina where Hondros spent the majority of his childhood, graduating from Terry Sandford High School in 1988. A talented writer, Hondros studied English Literature at North Carolina State University,working for his campus newspaper. Hondros developed an interest for photography during this period and in 1991, he submitted a portfolio of his photography work, gaining a place at the Eddie Adams Workshop. Hondros then studied a Master’s degree at Ohio University School of Visual Communications, before working in New York for as a photojournalist for different Newspapers and Publications.
Break-through
When working as a photojournalist, Hondros developed an interest for War Photography. He started putting himself forward for war assignments in the late 90s, covering a range of European, North African and Middle-Eastern wars including Kosovo, Angola, Sierra Leone, Iraq, and Liberia. He became extremely well known for his work, appearing on the covers of magazines such as Newsweek and The Economist, and on the front pages of most major American newspapers, including The New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Los Angeles Times. Hondros was awarded the U.S. Agency for International development in 1999, and in 2001 was selected for the Johns Hopkins University Pew Fellowship for International Reporting.
A young Palestine boy looks through the hole left by the bullet that killed his mother.
Rise to prominence
Hondros’ big breakthroughs as a photograph came firstly through his series covering the aftermath of thhe 9/11 terrorist attacks. Hondros photographed the wreckage of ground zero, a theme he then returned to in 2010. His second breakthrough was his covering of the Iraq War 2005, in particular a picture series detailing the shooting of an Iraqi Family by U.S. troops, whom they mistook for suicide bombers, resulting in the death of both parents and paralysing one of the five children. This series won him numerous awards, including the Robert Capa Gold Medal, war photography’s highest honor, helping to make his name as one of the leading figures in the world of War Photograhy.
Death
Hondros was killed on April 20th 2011 in Misrata, Libya. He was covering the Libyan Civil War, along with fellow photojournalist Tim Hetherington. Both men were killed by Pro-Gadaffi Libyan Forces, by shrapnel from a mortar shell.
Legacy
Four years after his death, Hondros is considered to be one of the most successful and influential war photographers of the 21st Century. Hondros captivated the problems facing middle-eastern areas in the world, during a rapidly changing political, social and demographic time for Arab and Muslim populations. Hondros’ work showed a sympathetic viewpoint towards the innocent people caught up in the midst of suppressive regimes, civil war, and the rise of Islamic Extremism. Hondros was very much concerned with the devastating consequences these changes had on the people caught up in the cross-fire of war. Hondros strongly opposed the idea of war and attempted through his photography to document an honest representation of the devastations of war. He mad no attempt to glorify war, nor exaggerate it the other way to misrepresent it as demonic. Fundamentally he attempted to show those who viewed his images the truth. He was a true photojournalist, who showed the humanity caught in the cross-fire of war.
In this post I’ll be exploring at least two photographers, that explore the theme of family. I’ll also be analysing some of their best images and commenting on compositional elements, the aesthetical components and others.
The first artist that I’ll look at is Larry Clark and seconds Sally Mann. Both of these photographers were mentioned in my previous post ‘film notes on family’. They both have very different styles, which can be seen in their work.
Larry Clark.
Larry Clark has got a very specific style in which he photographs family. His photography is described as Confessional. Confessional work is very personal and shows honesty. It’s also referred to as a diary. Clarke’s an insider and not an outsider, which gives him a great opportunity. The audience truly gets a feel for what it’s like to be in his family.
Growing up in a very poor environment, his mannerisms and behaviour were affected by this. He was always surrounded by junkies, hustlers and alcohol users. He quoted: Once the needle goes in, it never comes out’. Clark displayed a risky and shocking exhibition called ‘Tulsa’, which is where I got these images from. Some may say that it’s an exploitation. Most of these pictures were black and white, so this gives it a different ambience.
Larry Clark – Tulsa.
I think that this picture above is very deep. I believe that there is a lot of meaning to it. Clark’s captures a very chaotic and busy family scene. The trio in the bathroom seem to have chill expressions, yet their body language says differently. Also, the small child leaning against the wall, seems very stressed. The way she’s crutching the doll or baby shows that she might be scared. There seems to be a very good contrast here. The bright white wall separates the outer shadows in this image. There is also a man smoking a cigarette. For me this picture communicates a very distraught and bad environment. It may be unstable to have a child there, and it appears that they are party-goers that like to have fun.
Larry Clark – Tulsa.
Moving on, I’ve selected this image from the ‘Tulsa’ series again. This is a particularly famous example of Larry’s many photographs. For me, this whole-body portrait has a certain vibe to it. When looking at this, people could stereotypically assume the following keywords: gang affiliation, danger, self-protection, etc. The black and white tones give this picture a very soft look. Also the face that the man is played perfectly in the middle of the frame is aesthetically good. The rule of thirds are quite well aligned. The mans pose doesn’t necessarily look natural. It’s possible that Clark assigned the man this certain position. Nevertheless, the expression on the males face looks sincere. I think that Larry was trying to show the type of lifestyle that he lives in. The fact that he has a gun says quite a lot, so it may show his struggles and what lead him to that point.
Sally Mann.
Sally Mann, photographs on a very different way. She photographed in a Collaborative manner. Her and her three children would help her to make these pictures so compositionally beautiful. The people which she collaborated with, had to hold a certain expression, they themselves, had to make the effort. Mann lived on a farm and spent her whole life there. She produced a great variation of family pictures whilst she was there. Sally quoted: “it’s always been my philosophy to try to make art out of the everyday and ordinary…it never occurred to me to leave home to make art.”
Series ‘Immediate Family’ – Shot in 1984 – 1991. – Sally Mann.
In this first image, I can begin to analyse some common features. Mann always seems to photograph in black and white. She includes many sharp and soft contrasts which may have been created with natural light, since they’re outside.
To me, her photographs look very natural, yet also well planned out. Her family portraits have a professional look to them. The expressions on the members faces are distinct and look honest. Sally said: “Every image is in some way a ‘portrait’, not in the way that it would reproduce the traits of a person, but in that it pulls and draws, in that it extracts something, an intimacy, a force.”
Aesthetically, and this applies to both images, I think that Mann captures the true essence of natural moments. She manages to catch beautiful snippets, which are taken just at the right time. Her family has quite symmetrical faces. This is seen as attractive, on an international level, therefore her images work well. Although these pictures have been taken outside, there seems to be a very soft bounce of highlights. All of these elements add up to create an aesthetically pleasing image. Mann stated: “ If I could be said to have any kind of aesthetic, it’s sort of a magpie aesthetic—I just go and pick up whatever is around. If you think about it, the children were there, so I took pictures of my children. It’s not that I’m interested in children that much or photographing them—it’s just that they were there…”.
Sally Mann – ‘Immediate Family’ – Shot in 1984 – 1991.
In the second image, a small child is seen laying on a man. She seems to be fast asleep, and the fact that she’s asleep gives her relaxed appearance. The holding of the hands represents love. The angle this is taken from, is quite high up, and it cuts of at her waist. I think that the photographer was trying to show a common situation, which normally happens on summer days, maybe that the child has had so much fun and is now tired, for example. Sally Mann quoted: “Some of my pictures are poem-like in the sense that they are very condensed, haiku-lik. There are others that, if they were poetry, would be more like Ezra Pound. There is a lot of information in most of my pictures, but not the kind of information you see in documentary photography. There is emotional information in my photographs.”
This photograph by Jeff Wall, shows four people battling against a ferocious gust of wind. Wall is attempting to highlight the power of nature, and represent humanity as helpless to its force. It is a very dramatic image with papers from one of the men’s briefcase flying everywhere, and and all other men attempting to shield themselves from the wind. This is a tableau photograph however there are clear elements of this image that were not staged and so affect the composition of the image to some degree. I find the composition to be very effective, and the photograph is very visually striking.
Natural Elements of the Image
Lighting
The overcast day is out of the photographers control. It helps to make the image very dramatic because it establishes a dark and sinister mood, which is a cold, dramatic theme. The greyness from the sky gives an overall image which is low in saturation. This provides the image with a sense of subtlety as all aspects of the image blend in and compliment each other. Although Wall had no actual control over the weather in this image, I do believe however that Wall deliberately waited for such weather conditions as the achieve the effect it does
Wind
The wind is an integral part of this image, again outside of the photographer’s control. Likewise to the overcast day, Wall has chosen to photograph at the moment when there is a gust of wind, an important selection because it completely defines the image, as the whole theme and composition is based on the effect the wind has.
Before the school summer holidays, I briefly looked over ‘Corinne Days Diary’. Over the summer, attending parties throughout the summer and Reading Festival at the very end of the summer. Over these events i captured some images that represented a more PG version of Corinnes images.
Here are the images –
All of the above images were taken on disposables, i took 6 disposable cameras to Reading festival as i love the style the cameras produce. They give a rough old look which i feel matches this topic perfectly. One of my favorite images is the two below. These were both taken at Reading and i love the informal feel in both.
This image was damaged by water. It rained nearly every day at Reading and water got into one of the cameras. However i feel it has benefited the image as it has given it texture and an even older look. The floor looks very worn and tired, similar to the picture and the subjects in the image. The girl photographed was heavily intoxicated, taking a surprise image turned out to be one of the best images taken.
The next image has also been damaged by water and shock. Over the course of the week i dropped the camera numerous times. This resulted in a two of the images being split and merged together. However i loved this affect as it makes the image look older again and more interesting as you have to work out what it actually is. The two subjects in the photograph are also unaware the image was being taken, sharing a hug they are unknowingly being photographed.
Photography has a variety of reasons to why it is produced; decorative, communicative, emotional etc. Humans have always used art as a forum to create images for political motives or social engagements. Imagining a society without the influences of photography, eliminates the social and educational essentials. In my opinion art can be an agent of world change and development. Through the changing of one opinion, several will change in effect, this then leads to social change. This social change is an uproar of emotion to the message the image portrays. Photography evokes a response for the viewer that being, excitement, boredom, confusion or curiosity etc. Documentary photography projects the truth to the front pages of newspapers, social media forums and news reports.
The Terror of War is an image photographed by Nick Ut. ‘When I pressed the button, I knew, this picture will stop the war.’ – Nick Ut
A Buddhist monk burned himself to death on June 11 1963. The monk was protesting the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese Government.
This selection of images are photographs that have changed opinion, challenged governments and societies and developed the way individuals view issues. For example the first image ‘The Terror of War’, is a powerful illustration of innocent civilians in danger and being terrified in their own country. The second photograph addresses a completely different topic and perhaps more philosophical. The image title is ‘Earth Rise’, it gives you perspective to how small our earth is in comparison to the universal, furthermore, how small our presence is in the world. However, I think it also represents even though we a little we can have influence and inspire others; we are capable of making a difference.
As the idea i’ve already come up with will focus more on places than people, I think I am also going to have a look at some old photos my family have. When we had the Archive competition, one thing I noticed was that there are a lot of similarities between me and my mum when she was younger, we both used to do dancing, and we both look quite similar. I also noticed that my Aunt, when she was younger, looks quite a bit like her son, and so I may to have a look at this.
I’m going to have a look at the old photo albums my Nan gave us and look at some old photos of me and see if there would be anything I would be able to do with them.
“I’ve always felt that good art has to reflect somehow on its own process of coming to be” – Jeff Wall
Jeff Wall is a Canadian photographer, conceptual artist and art historian. Wall has received high acclaim for tableau photography, seen as as a pioneer of the medium as a serious form of art. Born in Vancouver, Canada 1946, Wall develop a keen interest for photography from a young age. From 1967-1970 Wall studied Art at the University of British Columbia. He then spent numerous years as Assistant Professor at both Novia Scotia College of Art and Design, and Simon Fraiser University. Wall first came to prominence as a photographer in 1977 with his Solo Exbition entitled ‘Installation of Faking Death’, one natable piece of the series being a self portrait of him posed as if he was dead, made into a triptych. Sicne then he has had made prominent exhitibitions world-wide, icluding.
Wall’s work is very experimental and unusual, for example his technique in enlarging photographs to extreme scales in a process known as cibachrome development. Such practices have made him very influential in the world of contemporary photography and conceptual/post-conceptual art. Wall is celebrated greatly in his Native Vancouver, and throughout the rest of Canada and North America, winning accolades such as the Hasselblad Award (2002), and Audian Prize for life achievement (2008), and having many group and solo exhibitions across North America and Europe since the late 1970s.
I would consider Jeff Wall to be an experimental photographer. Rather than being simplify a tableau photographer, the range of his work is far more complicated and diverse than this.In the past he has experimented with painting, sculptures and written text as well as his photography Wall considers the act of staging photographs to have a very open-ended meaning. He stated that he like to work in the ‘grey area’ of tableau and documentary photography. He stages elements of his photograph as a means of enhancing drama and incorporating symbolism but does not control all aspects of his photograph. He states himself that, “I control some thing and other things I don’t even try to control”. This type of style, verging on the border of different genres, is an extremely subversive way of interpreting art because the individual is not conforming to the regulations of a particular style, but instead working outside of these boundaries, and gaining influence from different interpretations.
Wall takes influence from surrealist artist such as Salvador Dali, and the Pop-Art Movement of the 1960s
I would argue that Jeff Wall’s work in tableau photography is a form of protest against traditional views of photography. This is because his work is not purely tableau and instead incorporates influence from documentary and photojournalism Wall does not believe that photography can be truly spontaneous and therefore does not attempt to create images that would be termed ‘spontaneous’. He explores the relationship between naturalness and unnaturalness, a theory that derives from the ancient Chinese ‘Ying-Yang’ theory, which explores how apparently opposite or contrary forces are actually complementary to one another. Wall’s worked is defined by this theory as he constantly explores contradictory ideas to produce interesting and thought provoking work.
This photograph was planned beforehand, but appears to be spontaneous. It was not staged to be overly dramatic, bit instead to achieve a good composition
Here is a website to Jeff talking about tableau photography
After learning about the Jersey photo archive we were assigned the task of looking into our own family archives. I decided to look into my Dad’s photo timeline and trying to collect a selection of photographs showing him through his life. After looking through mine and my grandparents selection of photographs the earliest photograph I managed to find of my dad was a picture from 7 and a half months old.
I then found some more photographs of my dad’s childhood; School Photographs, when he first got his glasses, pictures of him and his brothers ect.
7 1/2 months old.11 months old.This is my dad at the age of three, and he is wearing black leather lederhosens.My dad considers his getting glasses at the age of 4 1/2 years a big moment in his life.This is my dad and his two brothers in their primary school photo at Trinity school. My was 10 years old.This is my dad when he first met my mum, he was in his young twenties.This is my dad during his travelling years. He often talks about his days when he was travelling the world and see’s it as one of his greatest adventures.This is my Dad when he first graduated.This is my dad and his side of the family on his wedding day. With his three brother, Parents and and grandmother.My Mum and Dad on their wedding day.Our first family photo.
Corinne Day flourished in the 90’s, her photographs brought to live the ‘look’ that was going around called ‘Heroin Chic’.
Heroin chic was a look popularized in mid-1990s fashion and characterized by pale skin, dark circles underneath the eyes and angular bone structure. The look, characterised by emaciated features and androgyny, was a reaction against the “healthy” and vibrant look of models such as Cindy Crawford and Claudia Schiffer. A 1996 article in the Los Angeles Times stated that the fashion industry had “a nihilistic vision of beauty” that was reflective of drug addiction and the U.S. News and World Report called the movement a “cynical trend”.
Corinne photographed people such as ‘Tara’ who is the inspiration for her book ‘Diary’, Abusing drugs over a two year period. Corinnes images are very explicit in some as they show drug prep and nudity. All of her images produced the same aesthetic of hard core party scene images.
The look ‘Heroin Chic’ was categorized for people with pale skin, dark circles underneath the eyes and angular bone structure, typically female models. Corinnes images replicated this look as she photographed ‘Tara’ throughout her sober live and her drug live.
The two images above from Days book ‘Diary’, are two of my favorite. This is because they are the two photographs that have shown ‘Tara’ is her happiest state and her worst state. These images also show clearly the ‘heroin Chic Look’ as ‘Tara’ appears skinny, defined bone structure and also has dark/red circles under her eyes.
7 1/2 months old.
