Tag Archives: documentary

Experimentation, Planning, Record / Photoshoot

My [Extra] Shoot: The ‘Perfect Life’… Is Staged

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For this I have taken some inspiration from the tableau photographer Cindy Sherman. Here I have taken on board the way in which our community views men and women. For this shoot I decided to challenge the way our community thinks and understands certain circumstances. I want to provoke thought, I want our society to open their minds and learn that there is so much more to life than the magazines we read and the ideal of having the ‘perfect life’, watching celebrities and thinking that these people lead the most glorious lives. Nowadays we have shows like Keeping Up With The Kardashians, award shows, news reports that glamourise celebrities and showing them in the perfect light. We sometimes forget that they too are people and they face the same difficulties that us ‘normal’ people do. There is no such thing as the perfect life, this is what I would like to express through my work. For this shoot I am going to stage everyday life to show how unrealistic this way of life would actually be.

To me community is sharing, whether that be an environment, ways of thinking and experience. As communities grow we are able to learn more and more about one another progressing those relationships. I chose to go with the element of community as this shoot is a message for our first world community to try and enlighten them of how a lot of young people think and the fact that none of it is actually true, it’s all fake. We are constantly bombarded with images of women on the front of magazine covers posing doing everyday things that a lot of young people take literally and think that these models constantly look the way they do in the magazines. This is completely wrong and staged for the cameras. I found my inspiration for this when I came across the 1960’s Estee Lauder Campaigns. I came across these images whilst watching a YouTube video and then decided to explore it further and find out more about these campaigns. This actually inspired me to create my own images.

YouTube video that first inspired me:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U0wm5HiQXuQ

Estee Lauder history:
https://www.esteelauder.co.uk/estee-edit-article-victor-skrebneski-interview

All of these images have helped to inspire me to create my own photographs. These models were photographed for these photos in the 1960s and to me seem very raw. I think this is because the cameras that were used were more like disposable cameras of today, they had film and that is how they operated. Images were developed in dark rooms rather than being edited and perfected on the computer with editing software. For my shoot I have decided to create all of my images in black and white to stay true to my style models as well as to maintain focus on the subject of the images rather than the colourful surroundings. I think that this shoot will challenge the way we as a community think about things and the way we see the celebrity world. I want people to understand that this idea of having the ‘perfect life’ is completely staged and people are just good at pretending. Celebrities are huge influences on our younger generations that I think we need to focus on and bring to light that this is not a realistic way of thinking. I really like a lot of the images above, most of which are from an Estee Lauder campaign in 1965.

These three images were my main inspirations as they were thought provoking. The two first images of the women looking in the mirror and doing their makeup interested me. I thought ‘why are these women leading over and doing their makeup?!’ that to me just looked ridiculous and kind of glamourised the way that women actually do their makeup, making young girls think that makeup is beautiful and that all women do it. The third image of the woman looking off into the distance all glammed up with a full face of makeup, hair beautifully done and wearing a glamorous gown while seemingly sat at home just makes no sense to me. I understand that these images are for a makeup brand and to advertise their makeup but I don’t like the way the women are glamourised making young girls and women think that this is the way to be and that this is what beauty is. I am excited to recreate some of these images and to try and make the staged aspect of the shoot as exaggerated as possible. I have also decided to do a more realistic everyday life shoot, photographing real people doing through their everyday routines and finding out a bit more about our community and the world that we live in.

A Staged Day in the Life

Here I asked my friend to pose in the position that I would be so I could test out the different angles for my ideas as well as lighting. I found that this shoot was more of a learning experience towards my actual main subject of Film Noir as I managed to work with a load of different lighting exposures with harsh light and soft light by only using natural lighting. I think that this did work out of the bed shots as the sun was setting when I made those images which brought in some good light into my images making them more interesting and mysterious. However, the images at the makeup table aren’t the best as I couldn’t seem to get the aperture completely right on the camera and so those particular ones didn’t come out as well as I had hoped as well as me being unable to actually properly pose for the photos as it was difficult to not get anything else in. If anything I would want to re shoot this in a bare room or something were there is very minimal surroundings with just the vanity dresser, the makeup and the model. I think that this would probably be best done in the studio where I can change the lighting and mess around with a few different things but other than that I think I’ve made a good start and am starting to really get the hang of what light looks good and what pose works well with the position of that lighting.

Here are the images that I have made so far and will be adding to as the course goes on. I experimented with a load of different angles and positions of the subject to see what looked best and which one managed to capture the story the best. This is only the beginning of the characters morning and I will be adding to this to create a more in depth story. I like the lighting in a lot of the bedroom shot images as the sun was actually setting when they were being taken and looked really great with there being more harsh lighting on the subjects face as well as in the background of the image.

IMG_8994blogThis is one of my favourite images as it portrays exactly what I want to get across. This image represents how women are expected to get up and enjoy the morning and simply gazing out of the window but in this image my character looks almost concerned as if she does not know what to do. I like the position of the camera and the composition of my character. Here I set up my camera on a tripod, positioned it and asked my friend to click the button, this worked well. I do find it so much easier just to be behind the camera making the photographs of someone else but I wanted to give a more personal response to the works of Cindy Sherman and Claude Cahun as they are always the main subjects in their photographs. I also like the way my character is looking and that the hand almost covers some of the face giving more of a mysterious way to her as if the spectator cannot completely see who she is but all they know is that she is in deep thought. I do like this image as the strong lighting makes for a more interesting black and white image. I think that this image is most effective in black and white and wouldn’t work in colour as the spectator would get too distracted by the orange coming through the window of the sunset and the contrasting colours of the stripped night gown and the stripped bed sheets. This also makes my character more of an enigma and will make the spectator want to look at the rest of the story to possibly find out a little more about this woman, who she is and what is troubling her. For these images I wanted to create an almost robotic character that is just doing what is expected of her and how society thinks she is really does drain a person and that other people do have problems and do have troubles that they feel that they can only face alone.

IMG_9236blogI also really like this image as the spectator is unable to see the identity of the subject bringing more of a sense of mystery to her and again making the spectator want to look at more images to find out more about who she and what she is going. I like the way that the camera has captured the sunlight coming through as a lens flare and I also like that is kind of cuts of the subjects hand a little so that the spectator focuses more on the pan with nothing in it. I like this image as it reminds me of one of Cindy Sherman’s images where a young woman [herself] is cooking something and is just passively staring into nothingness which I have taken inspiration from with my own photographs. I do like the composition of this photograph and how the hand on the far left looks a lot bigger than the hand on the right as well as making the body look a lot smaller as if she is possibly wasting away or can’t be bothered to come closer to the pan and actually make a nice breakfast. I also like the light coming off of the subjects shirt as it just gives more layers to the image and makes it stand out a bit more which is really interesting to me. I think that I will stick to having all of my images in black and white as it makes for more interesting images and allows the spectator to focus on what I as the photographer want them to focus on rather than all of the black and red that surrounds my family kitchen. I really like the way the light hits off the counter top as the spectator is able to see the window in it as it shines, it just makes the image that more interesting as well as it giving more shades for the black and white.

IMG_9125blogI chose this image because I like the angle and position of the camera making it look as though the spectator is looking down on the subject and that she is less powerful than them. I wanted this image to represent how women feel pressured and expected to dress up and always look pretty when in reality not a lot of women want to be constantly made up and when they do it is for themselves and not to impress anyone else. I also like the entire mise-en-scene of this shot as the spectator is able to see the makeup products she has sprawled across the dressing table as well as being able to see her reflection in the mirror. I like the angle that the camera is at and find that it looks really interesting as well as the position of the subject being exactly where I want it. I really like this image as a whole as it is the perfect position of where I want everything to be and how I want the image to be portrayed. I think that the most interesting part of this image is the reflection of my character in the mirror as it is just an interesting angle and everything within that little frame within the photograph looks very staged and put together, this shows how we often only see a part of someones life, the perfect part, and are often taken in by the aesthetics and how everything in that one frame actually fits and looks pretty when in reality the subject isnt so happy when faced with the pressures of having to constantly be ‘perfect’ for the rest of the world.

A Real Day in the Life

Shoot 1:
Here are images from a more realistic day in the life. This isn’t its full potential and I think that I will be redoing this with possibly the same subject or a few different ones to show a more realistic day in the life. This was interesting to shoot but I think just as a starting idea as I know that I can make better images.

Here the subject is working out and getting ready to go to the gym. This was interesting to do but I don’t really like it as a shoot as it is quite boring and doesn’t really have any meaning or anything behind it. As documentary photos they are average and don’t think that they are anything special or interesting. Something about it just makes me not really care too much.
I think that this work is pretty average as a documentary piece and I know that I can make better and more realistic images than this as I felt that this shoot was quite rushed and isn’t really good enough. I will be furthering this idea though and will be making it a lot better visually and a lot more realistic. I will also work on some more shoots with different subjects performing for the camera and I will stage their daily routine too. This will be an interesting way using female stereotypes as well as somewhat documentary by photographing them within their natural environments.

IMG_7593blogI actually quite like this image as it just shows a teenager doing exactly what you would expect a teen to do, sit with their headphones in listening to music and playing on their phone. I like the position of the subject as the spectator is able to see her reflection in the mirror and can see how dusty it is reflecting on how teenagers are stereo typically seen as lazy and messy. I also like the way my subject is sitting as she doesn’t allow the spectator to see too much of her face as if she is so engrossed in her phone but the spectator is able to see some of her face through the reflection in the mirror.

Planning

Tracking Sheet

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Week 1
12th Oct – 16th Oct

  • this week I will make photographs of my family based around my niece, research another family photographer. Develop responses to Lewis, compare and contrast and evaluate in depth.
  • I will also be making tableaux photographs in response to Cindy Sherman’s work and a personal study of adopting the idea of documentary in a completely staged and more dramatic way [this will just be an extra shoot done to explore staged photography more].
  • Do research on Film Noir and look more in depth at Femme Fatales and try and find a way to form a radical representation of this, either conforming to the genre of a femme fatale or opposing it and making my own juxtaposition.

Week 2 
19th Oct – 23rd

  • carry on making images of niece, go visit them at her home on Thursday 22nd to get some real images of life with a small child.
  • Start storyboarding and making images of film noir inspired femme fatales. Experiment with lighting, make images at night time to make for a more mysterious atmosphere as well as keeping subject as key focus.
  • edit images from previous week [will edit as I go]

Week 3 [Half Term]
26th – 30th

  • continue to make Film Noir inspired images and add in some more responses to the work of feminist photographers including Cindy Sherman.
  • make more artist references on tableaux photographers and generate own meaning and come up with an interesting response and interpretation.
  • do community shoot with different groups of friends to show differences in teenage life
  • stay with sister and make images of niece throughout the day and night, follow them around for the day and throughout the night to show what life is really like as a first time mother and father.
  • use other models to be a part of shoots on feminism, society and film noir
  • start to make short film on chosen subject; family, community, faith or tableaux

Week 4 
2nd Nov – 6th Nov

  • edit all images from previous weeks and create sets of favourite images
  • further explore ideas if they are unfinished including feminism shoots and film noir shoots.
  • evaluate work and pick out favourite shoots and then best images from each of the shoots

Tracking Sheet:

TRACKING-SHEET-H-TERM

 

Record / Photoshoot

My Shoot: A Day In Our Lives

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

Sets of emotions

joy/happiness

neutral 

 

bored/fed up

curiosity 

Record / Photoshoot

My Shoot: The Market Place

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For this shoot I decided to go out into our community and document those who work and wonder round the market. I think that markets are getting lost in our modern world and they seem to be getting lesser and lesser. I wanted to make my images as clear and real as possible. I like the vibrant colours showing that the market place is still very much alive with so much to see and explore. I feel like it is a world that often young people overlook and ignore.
During the summer I went round the market and made some images of those who were walking around, I also asked a couple of people that worked there if I could make images of them after explaining what it was for. Only a few people allowed me to make photos of them but the images that I was able to take I am happy with [all photos are my own].

IMG_79811The images that I found the most effective were the ones with the subjects looking into the camera. I like these images as I did have to go up to these people, explain what I was doing and hope that they would be willing to contribute and be in my images for me. These image stand out because the subject is actually looking into the camera, making it more personal for the spectator. I like these images as it shows the environment surrounding the people that work in the market and shows what they do for a living. I find these images interesting to look at as there is a lot going on and a lot of different colours for you to look at. I enjoyed making these photographs and think that they look good although I do not want to progress this shoot into anything more and like it how it is. I want to find something different to explore and go more in depth on.

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After venturing round the market a couple of times and making some interesting images I realised that I wasn’t that interested in this and do not want to further develop this through my study as I think it is very self explanatory and not something I feel passionate about. I think that these images tell the story however they do not provoke anything or ignite a spark. I am pleased with how these images turned out though.

More experimentation 

IMG_7977bwblogI think these images work well in black and white because there are so many colours going on in each image it makes it more effective. I think that these images look interesting and that the spectator will want to find out more and look at more images from the market. I really like these images and I find them a lot more interesting in black and white allowing the spectator to focus in on what is going on in the photographs rather than focusing in on the bright colours etc. I think that the reason the black and white worked so well was because there were so many different colours that stood out and made for a more interesting photo and different shades of grey and black.

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Research

Documentary Specification: Community

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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. Screen Shot 2015-10-06 at 19.02.46

Mr T instruction, Research

Standards and Ethics in Documentary Photography

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Photographers actually have a code of ethics when making documentary photos. This mostly consists of photographers not taking advantage of a staged photo opportunity. This is only for photojournalists as they are simply supposed to be bare witness and should not manipulate the scene to make for a more interesting and visually pleasing image. I think that this is the best concept for photojournalists as they shouldn’t manipulate the truth as it is news reporting and will be shown across the world as fact. I believe that this method of photojournalism is important to be followed and agreed upon in the photographic world. I think that this code of ethics does not apply to documentary photography in itself as I think that photographers are able to make stronger images if they are able to slightly manipulate and remould the way the photograph is going to turn out. Documentary photographers are able to collaborate with their subject in order to make great images, like asking them to look directly at the screen emotionless. Photographers are able to send out a message to the world and to challenge spectators views on different issues including, political, social and economic ones. For me tableaux photography has no limits and no rules, it is completely staged and the photographer has complete control. Here photographers are able to freely express themselves often with hidden meaning that includes the political, social and economic meanings behind them.

Agreement made by photojournalists:   https://nppa.org/code_of_ethics

I believe that there is a certain point in documentary photography where it can all become too real in that the photographer might be photographing during a war and suddenly they come across a soldier covered in blood. The question is should they make the photograph or should they try and help them? There has always been a lot of controversy with this topic but for me I believe that taking that one photograph can change the world. The photographer doesn’t need to make the photograph and walk away as if there is nothing going on, they have the opportunity to share the torment and the troubles that these individuals go through in order to reach a broader audience. It is one thing to hear someone say that a small child was washed up on the shore but it is another to actually see it. These kind of documentary photos really put your own life into perspective, they provoke change making more and more people want to go out and help whether that be raising money or changing who they vote for or even going out to that country and personally helping those in need. So yes I think that that photo should be taken because through that single image we as a society are able to provoke change in the way people think. Spectators will see these hard hitting images and want to make change. Without these images we wouldn’t be able to really visualise what others across the world are going through. These types of images may anger people and make them wonder why someone who make an image rather than help a person but ultimately they will be the ones getting the message out and getting more people to help.

The link below is from a photography competition. The photographer used a drone with a camera attached to this to make these images, they are supposed to represent the drones that the US send out intelligent airstrikes in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. These attacks have been going on since 2002 and have resulted in large numbers of fatalities, this includes hundreds of civilians. These images were made across the US that are usual airstrike locations and events abroad [funerals, groups of people exercising or praying and weddings]. This photographer made these images to get the message across to the US of what they are doing to average and innocent civilians in their own country doing their own thing. This reminds me of the image of the young girl with her clothing burned off by the acid bomb attack America made on Japan, but more this image reminds me of the Banksy version of that photograph.

Banksy’s image is world known and really sends out a message to the rest of the world as this young girl is crying and screaming as her clothes and skin are being burned she is holding hands with Mickey Mouse and Ronald Mcdonald who are known to the world as American ‘icons’ in that people would associate them with America. I think that this is a very strong image and makes the spectator rethink and understand that what the US was doing was affecting innocent civilians and not the people that it was actually aiming for. This is where Tomas Van Houtryve’s work ties in as he is showing that the places that he has photographed with a small drone and his camera attached to it is what the US is attacking in other countries. It doesn’t make sense and is constantly effecting innocent civilians lives. I think that these images are very strong as the shadows on a lot of the images are so huge and the people are so little, I like that it has a political meaning behind it in the hopes for change and for America to stop ruining innocent lives as the places the US has and is bombing are the places that many Americans enjoy everyday of their lives and do not know what it feels like to feel that they cannot express themselves or go to pray in the fear that they will be killed by US airstrikes.

Thomas Van Houtryve work: http://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/2015/contemporary-issues/tomas-van-houtryve

Research

Family photographer: Kristen Lewis

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I came across the work of Kristen Lewis when looking for family photographers. I looked into some of her work and found it very interesting. Lewis is a photographer from South Eastern Connecticut. Her mother was a photographer and her father a musician. Her work is the normal everyday, action shots. This work allows the spectator into the lives of another family, showing all of the different emotions that the family goes through together. I think that her images are very real and are good documentary photographs. It looks very real and as if she really did follow the family around while they were doing their thing. One particular set of images that stood out for me where her ‘Vacation Sessions’ shoot. This is where a family went on holiday and Lewis simply photographed the ups and the downs that they went through just like any other family.

Kristen Lewis Website: www.kristenlewisphoto.com

Vacation Sessions:  http://www.kirstenlewisphoto.com/vacation-sessions/

Lewis has a variety of different documentary shoots, with one being titled Vacation Sessions. Here she follows round families and just captures moments in their everyday lives. I think that these are interesting photos for the family to look back on as well as for the spectator to see into the lives of another famiy. It also shows the ups and downs of traveling with children and a lot of the shots seem very real and captured in the moment. Some of the shots I think Lewis has readjusted and asked for subjects to collaborate with her so that she can make a great photograph. I think that this shows off documentary photography well as this is what it is all about and I like the idea of showing normal families lives and what the kids and the parents go through on a daily basis.

I like Lewis’ work as it is very simplistic in that it is just documenting the vacations of different families, showing the ups and the downs. I think that the images with the children are strong as they show thier raw emotions and the spectator is able to tell straight away the mood and atmosphere within the shot. There are a lot of water based shots, the reason being because each family is on vacation and that is usually what families do, parents relax round the pool while the kids run around and play in the pool. I think it is interesting to document as most spectators are able to relate to this either in rememberance of when they were young and loved to run around making imaginary worlds and making friends or even relate to the adults just having a moment to themselves to sit back and relax while sunbathing and reading.

Vacation Sessions, Charleston, South Carolina
Vacation Sessions, Charleston, South Carolina

I chose to analyse this image as I think that there is a lot going on in it. The father has been blinded by his son sitting on his shoulders as the father reached out to hold his other son. The emotion in their faces, from left to right, are full of joy and laughter, to slight concern and confusion. I like this image because of the range of emotions within it as well as it simply being a captured moment of a family on vacation. I feel like we’ve all experienced a moment similar to the one captured in this image, either being dragged through the water by an older siblings or blinded/being blinded by another family member. This image is very positive and happy making the spectator happy too.

Research

Documentary Photography: Family

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Family photography isn’t necessarily your immediate family. It could be about a specific lifestyle or a group that you are involved in everyday. Family photography doesn’t limit you to only being able to explore your own family but as an insider the shots may come out more natural and real as the people in them will be more comfortable with you and won’t be phased by the snap of the camera. You have complete access to your own family all of the time and you are able to make images whenever you want, at an event or even when you are just hanging out with one another and sharing normal everyday experiences’.

A film: The Genius of Photography
Episode: We Are Your Family

– images are more raw and real to grab spectators reactions making them think more widely
– photographs in the 1930s were about making celebrities look ‘devine’. Here some photographers rebelled against this, it was becoming outdated. Tony Vaccaro, an American photographer, took photos to show his own opinions and not to express the thoughts or opinions of the celebrity or the model he photographs. 0
– photographs should be about the person’s personality and characteristics not the face or visual aspects of a person.
– photographs are made to tell a story, true to the person’s life

Tony Vaccaro

Vaccaro
Tony Vaccaro [born 1922 in Greensburg, Pennsylvania]
Vaccaro is an American war photographer during the Second World War and between the years of 1944 and 1945, shortly after becoming a renowned fashion and lifestyle photographer for US magazines. He spent the early years of his life living in Italy.
Vaccaro tended to take action shots while doing documentary photography as he saw them to be the most raw. He did not like when subjects would try to pose for him essentially staging who they actually are. Only when the wall has gone and the subject actually allows Vaccaro in to a piece of who they actually are will he make a photograph. All of his documentary images were made using a film camera as at the time of when he did documentary photography digital cameras had not been invented yet.

“I’m gonna buy a camera, learn how to use it, and show the world the real pictures of the war.” -Tony Vaccaro

Long Exposure Film:  http://tonyvaccarofilm.com/

This film is about what Vaccaro went through during the war. It is a documentary film with guest appearances who comment on what he went through. The film itself has not been released yet.

Larry Clark

Larry Clark [born 1943 in Tulsa, Oklahoma]
Clark is an American photographer. His photographs are natural. He does documentary photographer as an insider and is part of the community he is photographing and so has an insight to reality within their group of people and those in his images wouldn’t shy away from the camera or try to be anything other than themselves. His book ‘Tulsa’ was very personal and showed his community of friends and family as who they truly were and did not fabricate a lie of who they all wanted to be portrayed as.

“Once the needle goes in, it never comes out” – Larry Clark

Clark’s Website:  www.larryclark.com

Nan Goldin

Nan Goldin [born 1953 in Washington, D.C.]
Goldin is best known for her images of her friends and her self portraits. She would often make images with herself in them showing her life as a victim of physical harm from her partner as well as making images of a lot of her transvestite friends. Goldin only ever makes images of her dear friends as she knows them and allows them to pick which images they like and those that aren’t so good. Photography is very personal to her and having an insight to her friends lives, as well as her own,  is one of the best ways to make real images. Goldin does confession photography, photographing real people within her community of friends. She calls trans people the “third gender”, they are treated as outcasts in the way they are treated and by the way they act.

“You can only really photograph your own tribe” – Nan Goldin

Goldin Portfolio: http://www.moma.org/collection/artists/7532

Family photography becomes more like a diary and is very personal. Goldin was inspired by film with how she presents her work, which she does through slide shows of her images put together with music in the background. She believes in being “fully present in the moment” but at the same time to “be there and get lost at the same time”. She also used film cameras to make her photographs making the images raw and real to the time and the actual events.

[Nobuyoshi] Araki

Araki [born 1940 in Tokyo. Japan]
Araki is a Japanese photographer and contemporary artist. He has created over 350 books and is still going. Araki often created work of a very sexual nature with some even calling it pornography. He made a book called Sentimental Journey while on his honeymoon with his wife, this is now a very famous book.

“taking these photos does help me to remember” – Araki

Araki Portfolio: http://www.artnet.com/artists/nobuyoshi-araki/

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“The very private became the very public” – anonymous

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Sally Mann

Sally Mann [born 1951 in Lexington, Virginia, VA]
Sally Mann is a documentary photographer that focuses on her family and often collaborates with family members in order to make her images. Here they will pose for her and allow her to make images of them whenever she needs to.  She would large black and white photographs of her young children and then later making images of landscapes representing decay and death within the environment.

“unless you photograph what you love, you are not going to make good art.” – Sally Mann

Manns Website: www.sallymann.com

Larry Sultan

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Larry Sultan [born 1946 in Brooklyn, New York City]
Larry Sultan is an American photographer with exhibits of his work across the U.S. making images of his family. A lot of his work is very personal but is also staged as he would often ask the subject to dress in a certain way and look at the camera in a specific way to portray them in the way that he wants them to be portrayed.

” photography is instrumental in creating family” – Larry Sultan

Sultan’s Website: http://larrysultan.com

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Often images reflect the photographer rather than the person being photographed. It tells the spectator more of their own personal views and experiences allowing them into more of who the photographer actually is themselves. I like the idea of documentary photography as it brings more of a real experience to the spectator, as humans I think that we are naturally curious especially to see what everyone else is doing. I think that I would want to photograph  my sister and the life of being a new mum and working at the same time. I want to show the more difficult side of bringing up a small child rather than the glamorized perfect lifestyle people are let to believe mothers and fathers have shown of TV and films.

Research

Documentary Photographer: Bruno Barbey

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Bruno Barbey is a French documentary photographer, born 1941. He photographed many wars throughout his career as a documentary war photographer. Barbey has published many books over the years, about 23 published. He has also created some short films throughout his career, including contributions for a BBC production called Assignment in Morocco. 

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Website: http://www.brunobarbey.com
Photographic portfolio: http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53Z82A

Barbey has made a huge body of working in documentary photography. He often tends to go into the environment and asks the chosen subjects to look directly into the camera. It seems that he doesn’t tell them what to do or positions them differently to how they actually were. I think that his work is really good but none of it really stands out to me and I don’t really think that they effect me that much. I see these images but don’t really feel anything towards them, I am indifferent towards them. I feel that the images are necessary in the aspect of documentary photography and that they do document soon to be historical events but I just don’t really feel anything. None of the images are very hard hitting, they’re great images though. To me his work is more about the community and individuals living in the countries where these wars are going on. I feel like his work is aimed at communities within these places to show the effects that are going on in these wars rather than documenting the same war photographs that many war documentary photographers have. I like the idea of this and think that the images are effective and good but I am just not particularly interested in them all that much, there isn’t one image that really stands out for me as truly brilliant and amazing.

downloadI decided to go for this image as this one, for me, is the most natural and behind the scenes. This is an image of soldiers relaxing possibly getting ready in anticipation ready for battle or an after battle reward with a cigarette. I think that Barbey asked to make this image and the soldiers didn’t know how to react and so just smiled and carried on about their business. I do like this image as it shows more soldiers in the background as they sit, looking as if they are possibly preparing something. I like that this image is in black and white too, this was most likely taken on a film camera as that is what Barbey used, especially because of the time that this image would have been created [before the digital age]. I think making war images black and white really takes the spectator back to the time that it all happened and remembering it as a memory, which  black and white is often associated with in film etc. I think that this is one of Barbey’s better and more interesting photographs as it stood out for me among all of the rest of his images.

 

 

Research

Street Photography

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Street photography is simply photography featuring the human condition within public places. I think this kind of documentary photography is very raw and something that a lot of people enjoy doing nowadays. This is the movement in which the photographer isn’t trying to send out a message about one form of society that needs to be changed but is simply documenting the world around them, showing the rest of the world what their own personal world looks like. I think street photography is the documentation of the people. We often forget about ourselves as communities when looking at the news seeing famine and crisis in other parts of the world as well as being hypnotised by the celebrity world. Our regular lifestyles are going to be the ones that the people of generations to come are going to focus on and look into.
Street photography is all about the timing and capturing people and places in its greatest form. It is less news and more everyday average life. These photographers tend to capture elements of peoples days that we would often overlook or not even think about. I like this style of photography as it shows that normal people are just as interesting as those of the celebrity world and that sometimes they can be even more interesting than those who are constantly in the tabloids and always camera ready. Here photographers are able to capture the most raw images of real people, some not even noticing the camera as they go about their lives. They can capture a person unexpectedly, like when we wonder we come across new people often unexpectedly. I think that street photographers simply photograph the usual elements of life that we see everyday and ignore. Here many amazing images can be produced.

I like to take photos of public spaces and put them on my social media sights. I do this as a way of remembering how my world was at this point in my life. I like to capture different people in my shots and to reflect on them and see what kind of people I’ve captured in my images, business people, parents, teenagers, tourists, children etc. Here are some of my own images that I have taken for my social media.