Mark Power in an English photographer born in Harpenden, England 1959. He is a Professor of Photography in The Faculty of Arts and Architecture at the University of Brighton. Power embarked on creating The Shipping Forecast between the years of 1992 and 1996. This project involved travelling to and photographing all 31 areas covered by the Shipping Forecast broadcast on BBC Radio 4. I like that this work is very specific and structured so Power knows exactly where he is going to be making his photographs. This particular project was published as a book and was a touring exhibition across the UK and France. Power drove around in a car for the entire project taking inspiration of works from Tony Ray-Jones.
Mark Power [1959 – present]Tony Ray-Jones
Tony Ray-Jones was an English photographer who inspired Power. He died in 1972 at only age 30. Ray-Jones was a documentary photographer who took interest in photographing the way of the British and wanted to delve into this more in depth. He wanted to look at his own society in a new way by using irony, compassion, nostalgia and humour. He became hugely influential on the development of British documentary photography from the 1970s through to the present.
“My aim is to communicate something of the spirit and the mentality of the English, their habits and their way of life, the ironies that exist in the way they do things, partly through their traditions and partly through the nature of their environment and their mentality.” – Tony Ray-Jones
I particularly like this photograph with the small boy lung down on the beach seemingly tired. It looks as if he is fiddling with the sand instead of playing with the digger toy next to him. The spectator is able to see that this young boy is getting tired and just wants to chill out so he decided to lye on the sand and just wait for his parents to come and get him to go home. I like this image because it is simple. The subject is what the spectators eyes will be drawn to straight away as he is the only object around other than the sand and the background beach houses. This image is from the series The Shipping Forecast and mainly based on the beaches of each weather forecast location covered by BBC Radio 4.
Another image that I like is the one above because it really is a candid action shot. It brings in some nostalgia for me of when I was younger and when my parents used to have to lift me up from the waves coming for me when I was too small to stand against them myself. I really like this image as it does bring back some funny memories with my family. It is an image that I think a lot, if not everyone, can relate to at some point or other in their lives. It is such a simple image but holds so many memories and good times. The subjects in this image don’t necessarily matter, it is more about what they are doing and what the image is bringing to the spectator. The wave looks so huge compared to the little boy who would defiantly been taken under by it yet it in comparison to the woman holding him the wave doesn’t seem so big, it looks a lot smaller and less intimidating. The wave does look very powerful in this image and that it could knock the both of them down. I also like the woman in the background who doesn’t look phased at all by the wave as she just seems to be walking straight through it. This image shows many different emotions with the small boy looking scared/worried and the woman in the background looking chilled out and not bothered. This image reminds me of all the times as a young child that I would overdramatise everything and that most things seemed like a big deal whereas now they become meaningless and are not to be dwelled on. That comes with age and maturity but I love that this image shows that, in a way. This is a great documentation of families on the beach and how usually people are. The woman doesn’t have her bikini strap on obviously she has been trying to tan and not get a paler line along her back from the straps when her son/possibly brother asked her to play in the water with him. The young boy is wearing armbands, learning how to swim and he also has goggles. This images makes me think of how when you were young you didn’t really care about anything, in the way you looked or the way people saw you but as you get older you tend to care a whole lot more about your image. I do really like this image as there is a lot going on and the spectator is able to access memories just by looking at this particular image.
Tom Wood is a British community photographer. He was worked on photographing the working class in Liverpool for many years. Originally Wood was trained as a painter at the conceptually orientated Leicester Polytechic from 1973-1976. He first explored lens-based media through extensive viewing of experimental films. Wood’s approach to photography is more fluid than other current conventions of post-Conceptual photography and photojournalism. Wood works will colour negative film and has done so since 1976, using bother black and white and colour in different locations. This is interesting as a lot more photographers are going back to using film cameras instead of digital ones, especially documentary photographers in order to make the more real and raw images possible. Wood is currently working as a part time lecturer in photography at Coleg Llandrillo in north Wales and is 64 years old.
I find the Men/Women series very interesting as it is a collaboration of all of Wood’s work and simply separated into two books, one filled with the images of men and the other of women. I find this concept interesting as to why he would separate the two by gender as a way of possibly showing the difference and the divisions within the two genders. I think that this would have been the easiest division for Wood to make as he made his photographs in the UK back when there weren’t many different people in cultures or religions etc. He basically made photographs of British people getting on with their everyday lives. I think that this is a really good way to document different communities and by going round photographing in the same place a lot of the time he is getting familiar with the people that live around there making them a lot more comfortable with him being around them and making candid and staged photographs with him.
For some reason this image stood out for me and I love the way it looks. The two women are posing for the camera as they sit on the bonnet of their car. The pair are covering in makeup, wearing fake tan and wearing heels and massive earrings. I don’t have a particular reason for liking these images accept for the fact that it interests me and that there is a lot going on in it. The position of the two women is perfect and the facial expression almost suggests that they have a sassy attitude, they seem to enjoy posing for the camera. I like this image as well because of the entire background, the fashion and the way people were back when this photo was taken is completely different to how people are now. I just find that there is a lot going on in this image and spectators will have plenty to look at and interpret for themselves what they think is going on and who the subjects are. I like that this images shows older people in the background sitting on benches just enjoying the view compared to nowadays where so many people are constantly on their phones and laptops that they forget to look outside and just take a moment to relax without having to worry about their electronic devices.
I like the collection of Wood’s work as it is just great documentation of life in Britain from years ago and the community surrounding those people. I like to see this to compare and contrast my own community and how it may differ from these ones and how things have changed and how people are a lot different now. Even though these photos aren’t from too long ago, so much has changed and developed that we have become different beings.
Another image that I really like is the one above of a group of teenage boys. I find it interesting to see the on trend fashion back when this image was taken and how nowadays people are bringing this back as more of a vintage or retro look. I enjoy seeing these documentary images as it shows the kind of people living in that community and I can relate this to people I see now in my own community. This photo also reminds me a lot of the film Stand By Me with a bunch of boys who look similar to these ones and go on an adventure. The subjects are unconventional in that they are unlikely models but they seem to all look very good in front of the camera in the way that they are conveying the story. They look like a bunch of boys who were just hanging out in their local community when Wood approached them and asked to make a photograph of them. They’re just normal young boys having fun within their community and hanging out together, sharing their experiences. I think that I would like to explore more in depth the different teenage communities within our society and what they actually do in local places instead of seeing the negative things that minorities of teenagers do broadcast on the news and in newspapers. I like Wood’s work and find it very interesting and just great documentation of Britain in the past.
Divola is a contemporary American photographer, born 1949. He often takes landscape photographs in different areas of community and looking at the edge between the abstract and the specific. Divola doesn’t tend to use people in his images and will make photographs of the landscape that surrounds them instead. I like the idea of this as it shows the environments that are surrounding us that we can often ignore or not notice but when it becomes the subject matter we are able to completely focus in on the environment around us and share that environment with others. I find Divola’s concept interesting as through is images spectators are able to see different communities environments and are able to compare the differences with their own environment. This would also make some interesting documentary photographs as it is showing how we leave within modern day society.
Something that I noticed in some of Divola’s photographs is that he makes images of the abandoned places within our community, the places that seem to have been forgotten and disregarded. I find this very interesting as it shows the more negative side of our community and how we are humans will just leave things to rot instead of actually trying to resurrect it and help make it better. I think that I will be able to respond these images in different locations around Jersey and think it will be a fun shoot to do as it is something we are all aware of but tend to ignore for no particular reason. I think that Divola’s work is quite unique for documentary photography in that he doesn’t use people to tell the story, the environment speaks for itself. His work is very abstract and to the point. I like that he doesn’t need to use any people to tell his story and that each of his images work as stand alone ones. They can come across as quite hard hitting with the state of the place he is in looks. Each images looks as if people have come in and destructively ruined this environment which shows the kind of people that are living within that community.
This particular image really interests me as it looks like a beach house with a beautiful view of the ocean and the sunset. I find that this image is beautifully lit as well as looking brutally destroyed. I enjoy looking at this image because of the background sunset. This photograph stood out to me initially because of the sunset but then I looked closer and saw all of the windows have been smashed with glass covering the floor and an old-fashioned suitcase sits open on the ground. This makes me intrigued as I wonder what went on in this environment and who could have possibly done this. One theory I have is that it was the ocean that thrashed against the glass breaking it as the glass is on the inside of the house. Another theory is that people came in and decided to wreck the place. I wonder why there is a suitcase there and that maybe someone living there just left it behind. There is so much going on in this image allowing the spectator to look around as if they are in the room and looking at the environment surrounding them. This image is part of the series called ‘Three Acts’. They are unique to any other documentary photos I’ve seen before and stand out to me as they the photos are not ones spectators would usually expect to see. This image is taken from the series photographed in a condemned neighbourhood bought by an airport to serve as a noise buffer for new runways. The buildings are all destroyed and Divola decided to make images as evidence of violent entries by vandals by shattering windows as well as doors torn from their hinges. After watching some videos of Divola I discovered that he was the one actually vandalising these houses and adding colour by using graffiti which is becoming a popular art nowadays.
“Once seen, the work of John Divola is not easily forgotten.” – David Campany
After watching the video above I had a closer look at Divola’s photographic art work and found that a lot of it I could relate to performance photography and the work of Tom Pope and John Baldessari capturing something midair and throwing things around and just capturing it. I also found out that Divola could only shoot those images at certain times of the day so that he could get the right lighting and that he would always revisit the same places and keep on going back to them adding different works of graffiti each time as well as noticing other vandals workings. I found this video very useful and interesting to find out more about Divola’s personal opinion and the message he was trying to get across. I enjoy looking at his work and think that if I was to respond to this I would more likely just visit certain places and photograph them every so often and not touch them to make it more authentic and not to vandalise any of these places any further.
For this shoot I got a few of my friends together and asked if I could simply follow them around throughout their day. This was successful and I got a lot of photographs. I liked this shoot as I was able to capture different elements of our daily lives that we would maybe ignore or overlook. I wanted to do this photo shoot as I wanted our community to have a look into the lifestyle of teenagers and to get rid of any stigma that us teenagers are faced with. This shows a side of teenagers that is more real and shows how we actually are and what we really get up to instead of what a lot of adults presume we do. I feel that this shoot tells more of a story and allows the spectator to get to know its own community in more of a personal way.
I enjoyed doing this shoot as I was able to just hang out with friends for the day as well as making some interesting photographs. One of the most important parts, to me, is the facial expressions on each of my friends faces within different situations. I like that they were comfortable enough to allow me to make images of them without them posing, fixing their hair or having to see each photo after it had been taken. This was an enjoyable task for me. I really wanted to show what teenagers really get up to in a day and that they don’t run around being destructive and obnoxious. I have also thought of maybe following around this particular group of friends one evening time to see what they get up to at different times of the day. This will be an interesting experiment to try out.
I don’t think that any of these images are stand alone ones as I think that each individual shot comes together to create more of a story and brings more depth into the images themselves. I would put them in sets to create various little stories and then bring each of these little stories together to create the bigger picture. The different facial expressions of my friends make the images more interesting and gives spectators more to look. Something that I have noticed with this particular group of friends is that we are always finding somewhere to sit down and chill out. This group of friends tends to just like to sit around, chill out with one another and chat about anything and everything.
I like these images as I find it interesting to see a teenagers perspective of life and what teens do on a normal day just hanging out. I wanted to show the ups and downs of friendships and having groups of friends that we hang out with on a regular basis. I found that the subjects of these images worked well with not looking to the camera and ignoring it as I am an insider in this group and so they can feel more relaxed and at ease with me making photos of them. I enjoyed this shoot and may do some more shoots in the future of different friendship groups and how they act with one another.
This is one of my favourite images as it shows different emotions within it. This image was an action shot of reactions to making a decision on where to go for food. Obviously it took some time to decide as a lot of the group look bored and fed up. I like the contrast of different emotions, with one person looking so fed up and annoyed [far right] with another subject [far left] enjoying herself and laughing at how annoyed everyone is getting. I think that there is a lot going on in this image and it is interesting to look which I think that the spectator will enjoy to look at and interpret. I feel like the positioning of the subjects is, obviously, very natural and does look like a proper documentary photograph to me. I think that, although this is a part of a series of images, this image could stand alone and make sense to the spectator. However, I would keep this in its set of images as I don’t find this image as interesting when taken out of context. I want to put images from throughout the day together into different emotional states, for example, bored facial expressions would be one set of images. I think this will be interesting for the spectator to see and I want to show different ups and downs that teenagers experience throughout their day.
Another one of my favourite images is this one of my friend, Jamie-Lee. The facial expression gives the spectator a clear indication of what is going on and how she is feeling along with her body language. I really like this image because of its simplicity and how obvious it is. I wanted to capture real emotions on the subjects faces to make it as honest as possible in the terms of documentary photography. I didn’t do anything to change these photographs and don’t think that the subjects acted any different to how they usually would which is exactly what I wanted them to be like.
We are constantly surrounded by our communities and we are always sharing experiences with others. Through making photographs of our communities we are able to share with the world different aspects of other people’s lives and we are able to give them an insight on what is going on in different parts of the world and how people act with one another. I think we have many different communities everywhere and they are yet to be explored. This will be challenging to go out and find and be able to make photographs as an insider. I think that you have more opportunity as an insider on what’s going on within your group and you already know those personalities rather than being an outsider, not knowing much and just coming into a new community and possibly representing them in a different light to how they would actually like to be represented. People are often a lot more comfortable with you and in the photographs if they know you. Spectators are able to different communities around them and across the globe.
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