Ray’s A Laugh

Richard Billingham is an English photographer who is well known for his book ‘Ray’s A Laugh’ which documents the life of his alcoholic father ray and his mother Liz. Born in Birmingham, he studied as a painter at the Bournville College of Art and at the University of Sunderland. He first came into ‘importance’ in the world of photography when he published his book about his family in 1996. The book shows the poverty and deprivation in which he grow up in. He took the photographs on the cheapest film he could find so that the photographs had a bad focus and had brash colours which adds to the authenticity of it. The book is very personal and shows Ray his alcoholic father in a very real way, I think he is portrayed as a vulnerable and troubled person.  In 1997, Billingham also won the Citigroup Photography Prize. He was shortlisted for the 2001 Turner Prize, for his solo show at the Ikon Gallery in Birmingham.  Critic Jillian Stallabrass describes the book as “what is in legend a particularly British stoicism and resilience, in the face of the tempest of modernity”.

After looking at Richard Billingham’s book I noticed that his dad Ray is trapped within the confined space of his home due to his addiction of alcohol. Looking at my photo book, I think that you also get the sense that my dad is trapped within my home although its for a very different reason due to his back problems. I also noticed that this has lead them to look like lonely and almost isolated characters. Both books are very personal, which I think makes it even harder to photograph because it allows you to observe through the lens of a camera which gives you a different perspective.  I think that Richards photographs allows the viewer to imagine what his life would be like, just by looking at a few of his photographs I can picture his home, the smell and the noise. I think he manged to capture a genuine truth in the photos.

“Billingham’s book of the photos Ray’s a Laugh was taken to have invented a squalid realism. His pictures, surreal, claustrophobic, gave meaning to the idea of “too close to home”.

Recently, Richard Billingham did a interview for The Guardian where he talked about growing up in a tower block in the west of Birmingham with his parents and making the book. Richard said that he had never taken a photograph until he was 19 years old, he was going to use the photographs he took to paint them however he never finished any of the paintings as he thought the photographs were more realistic. The article is below:

http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/mar/13/richard-billingham-tower-block-white-dee-rays-a-laugh-liz

Facts

• Twenty-five percent (25%) of young adults age 20-44 reported pain.
• 7% of people with acute back pain will eventually develop chronic back pain.
• Experts estimate that as much as 80% of the population will experience a back problem at some time in their lives.
• Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability worldwide.
• Almost two-thirds (59%) reported an impact on their overall enjoyment of life.
• More than half of respondents (51%) felt they had little or no control over their pain.
• An estimated 20% of adults report that pain or physical discomfort disrupts their sleep a few nights a week or more

Questioning the truth in documentary photography

During the recent terrorist attacks on Brussels, Fox News was reporting from Place de la Borse. Whilst recording the journalist the camera man  from Fox News also captured some footage of a photographer in the background staging a photograph of a young girl by directing her to show the young girl paying her respects to those who were killed in the attacks. This sparked a social media outrage and made the public question the ethics of photojournalists and how often these kinds of photographs are staged. This photograph was taken by the photographer called Khaled Al Sabbah and later posted on Instagram.

In serious events such as the ones of recent terrorist attacks the public expects the media to portray the events in a realistic way so that they can get a real understanding of what is going on. Photojournalists are often thought to be photographing events in a natural way to document what is going on rather than manipulating what the public sees and therefore after seeing the photographer stage this photograph, the public lost trust in the media and began to question if most photographs were staged meaning that they are ‘not real’. This also made us question the balance between getting a good headline photograph and the ethics involved in photographing such a vulnerable situation.

After the public outcry the young photographer Khaled Al Sabbah aged 21 made a public apology on Facebook where he said that he was not working for the press, however he was taking the photograph for ascetic reasons and would then post it to his own Instagram and Facebook page. Although he wasn’t working for the press some people still argue that the photograph is still deceiving to the people who will then go on to look at it.

In my opinion, I think it was wrong of the photographer to have staged the photograph although it does represent what was going on at time it decreses the authensity of the photograph, which is morally wrong and also goes against the reasons why documentary photography was created in the first place.

http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/mar/25/staged-photo-brussels-attack-memorial-ethical-debate-photographers

I’ve Lived in East London for 85 1/5 years 

http://martinusborne.com/ive-lived-in-east-london-for-85-12-years-signed/

The book ‘ I’ve Lived in East London for 851/2 years’ is about an old man called Joseph Markovitch who has lived in East London for the whole of this life and has barely left London. He has never had a girlfriend.  Yet Martin said Joseph’s life was colorful and strange. Martin spent 5 years getting to know and photographing Joseph. He dreamed of being a ballerina, he was fascinated by the life of Nicolas Cage and always wanted to live in the amazon. While researching Martin Osborne’s work I didn’t find much information about him apart from the one provided by his own website.

I am looking at Martin Osborne’s work because I think it has links to what I am currently doing. It also fits in with staged vs ‘natural’ documentary photography.  Martin was documenting Josephs life like I am doing with my dad, but in different circumstances. Martins photographs are staged however I think it works well. I am trying to keep my photographs as real as possible therefore I am going to avoid staging any photographs apart from portraits. . I like the use of graffiti in the photographs because its something you associate with younger people so it creates a contrast and make the photograph more visually attractive for the viewer. Martin also photographed objects which or just parts of Josephs body, I think this adds more detail to the story. I am going to try and experiment with this and take photographs of objects which something I haven’t done yet.

For this photoshoot I edited these photographs both in Lightroom and photoshop. I started in Lightroom by experimenting with different levels of exposure and contrast. I then cropped some photographs because there was too much background which distracted the viewer from the subject. I also used lens correction to make sure that the photographs are straight. I then transferred these photographs once they had been edited to Photoshop and used the patch tool to correct any ‘imperfections’. This goes back to the boundaries of what is and isn’t acceptable in documentary photography. Although I didn’t make many changes to the subject, I feel as if I can’t claim that the photograph portrays a true copy of what the subject looks at. Some photographs have a shadow in them, however overall I am happy with these outcomes.

Documentary photography

For my personal study I looked at Dorothea Lange who was a documentary photographer who worked for The Farm Security Administration (FSA) which was Initially created as the Resettlement Administration (RA) in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States, the Farm Security Administration (FSA) was an effort during the Depression to combat American rural poverty and make people aware of what was going on. I am going to look further into this by researching Walker Evans who also worked for the FCA.

Walker evens

I want my work to be – “literate, authoritative, transcendent”.

Walker Evans is a documentary photographer who is most well known for his work while at the FCA which was documenting the effects that The Great Depression had on people.  During 1935 Walker photographed in the South of America.  In 1936, he was sent by Fortune Magazine on a project to Hale County, Alabama where he stayed with three tenant white families photographing them during the depression. The photographs he took were not published by Fortune Magazine but later in 1941 these photographs were published and considered to be a ground breaking book called ‘Let Us Now Praise Famous Men’. This book included detailed accounts of the three farming families living in rural poverty. These photographs like the ones of Dorothea Lange were used as ‘ icons’ to represent poverty and the depression era in America. Walker Evans continued to work for the FCA until 1938, he then became an independent  photographer with his own first exhibition held later that year at The Museum of Modern Art.

https://lis471.wordpress.com/walker-evans/

I think that Walker Evans photographs particularly the photographs from the Alabama series achieve what most documentary photographer want. I think they look very raw and credible. As well as interesting.  Being used to seeing portraits of people in a very glamourous way, looking at some of Walker’s photographs make me feel a bit uncomfortable.  I think they portray the true likeliness of the person, although most of his photographs look as if they gave been staged I think they still manage to capture something genuine although I can not pin point what this is.

Examples of portraits from ‘Let Us Now Praise Famous Men’

Julian became interested in photography when he was at school, he went on to study it at the Royal College of Art in London. He published many books which include combinations of both his own photographs and family archive photographs. Julian believes in the value of of amateur photographs which is shown in one of his recent books called ‘ For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’ which was published in 2005.

Julian’s website – http://www.juliangermain.com/

‘For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness’

‘ He was my antidote to modern day living’ 

This book is about an elderly man names Charles Albert Lucien Snelling from Portsmouth who Julian photographed for 8 years. He met Charles through a coincidence in 1992 when he was on his way to photograph the Portsmouth V Nottingham Forest cup and was attracted to the house because of it’s bright yellow colour. Through out the photo book there is a substantial amount of photographs which include flowers this is because Charles sold flowers and plants outside his home. ‘ He loved flowers and the names of flowers’.  Which helps us to understand his personality a bit more. Julian included scans of pages from Charles personal archive which include his wife who had past away 2 years before, but is a big part of his life. He shows this by including various archival portraits of  Charles’ wife.  I think this is really important and gives us an understanding of what his life was like before and what it is like now. However i’m not sure how the title links to the story but I think it may be something to do with Charles’ wife.

I decided to do some research about Julian Germain because although he is a documentary photographer he takes a different approach to it than most other photographer for example Eugene Smith. This is because he photographs are staged, Julian manipulates the way the photographs look by telling his subjects what to do and planning what he wants the photographs to look like in advance. Where as Eugene Smith has a more traditional approach to documenting. He doesn’t interfere with the subject and uses the camera as more of an eye witness and ‘documents’ the situation. Therefore Julian Germain pushes the boundaries between what is real and what is not because he is staging the photograph it could be argued that the scene is not real which links in with the exam title truth and fiction.

“Most photographers seem to operate with a pane of glass between themselves and their subjects. They just can’t get inside and know the subject.” – W. Eugene Smith

Documentary photography 

I have chosen to do some more research on Eugene Smith because he is one of the most well known documentary photographers. He’s work  links in with the exam theme truth which is an area I am considering exploring  in my project.

Eugene smith is an American photojournalist photographer he is known for his dedication to projects and ethical standards. He developed photo essays into visual forms. His most famous work includes: World War II photographs were he was on the front line documenting the effects of war, the clinic of Dr Schweitzer in French Equatorial Africa and he joined the Magnum photo agency in 1995 where he began his project on the city of Pittsburgh. Smith began his career by taking photographs for local newspapers.

In January 1972 he was attacked by employees from Chisso Company in Japan near Tokyo in an attempt to stop him from publishing photographs of the effect of Minamata disease. Although he survived this attack his vision in one deteriorated which stopped him from working for a period of time. I think this shows a lot about Eugene’s work and how much he is willing to show the world the reality of some situations. Which could upset quite a few people. I think this links in to a quote from the exam book by TS Elliot which says ‘ Humankind can bear only so much reality…’  I think this situation puts the quote into context. This also brings back the ethics and standards of photography which questions where the line of photographing is and what should and shouldn’t be photographed.

Eugene Smith Magum photographs-  http://www.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL5347YF

Eugene Smith also produced a famous photo essay about the Country Doctor which is something I looked at for my personal study. From this I found that Eugene photographed the Dr’s  work life and personal life with his wife and children as well as his patients and surroundings therefore he spends a lot of time photographing his subjects and gets to know them well so he is able to produce photographs with an intimate perceptive which gives the viewer more of an incite and allows them to make a connection to them.

“Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle both significant and relevant to history and historical events and everyday life.”

Documentary photography is a form of storytelling, usually with one powerful photograph and deeper meaning which often moves people. This form of photography is used to ‘document’ events and people in everyday real life situations which in the past has been used to bring the attention of an audience to a particular subject, change their perspective and create a social change for example: a photograph taken by Nick Ut in Vietnam in 1972 of children running from a bomb explosion caused outraged protests in America and changed the outcome of the war. Views on documentary photography are controversial as some people believe that certain situations should not be documented which  also brings in social and political associations such as whether or not it is deemed ethical or moral to take these pictures and publish them.

Today many people are pushing the boundaries of what can be defined as documentary photography, and if photographer should still abide by the rules and ethic codes of documentary photography. Below is an example of an article about  the World Press panel discussing the rules of documentary.

http://www.worldpressphoto.org/news/2015-07-01/awards-days-discussion-recap-rules-documentary-photography

Photojournalism 

Documentary photography are  generally related to longer term projects with a more complex story line, whilst photojournalism concerns are more about breaking news stories.

Photojournalism is a particular form of journalism which involves collecting and editing news material for a news publication or a broad cast. Photojournalism uses photographs in order to tell a story, it’s different to other types of photography such as documentary and street photography because of it’s rigid ethics  which demands that the photos are honest and impartial and are only telling the story in journalistic terms. The objective of photojournalism is to have images which are a fair representation of events of situations. Illustrating news story’s with photographs began in the mid 19th century in The Times newspaper of Lord Horatio Nelson’s funeral. The first newspaper with weekly illustrations was the Illustrated London News.

Id, ego and superego 

The id is the most basic part of the personality, and wants instant gratification for our wants and needs. If these needs or wants are not met, a person becomes tense or anxious.

• Present from birth
• Unconscious
• Primary component of personality

The ego deals with reality, trying to meet the desires of the id in a way that is socially acceptable in the world. This may mean delaying gratification, and helping to get rid of the tension the id feels if a desire is not met right away. The ego recognizes that other people have needs and wants too, and that being selfish is not always good for us in the long run.

• Deals with reality
• Both conscious and unconscious
• Ensures impulses can be expressed in the right way

The superego develops last, and is based on morals and judgments about right and wrong. Even though the superego and the ego may reach the same decision about something, the superego’s reason for that decision is more based on moral values, while the ego’s decision is based more on what others will think or what the consequences of an action could be.

• Makes judgement’s
• Starts around the age of five
• Moral standards – right and wrong

Francesca Woodman 

Francesca Woodman is an American photographer who photographs a perception of herself. Many of her pieces of work include black and white photographs of herself or of other female role models. Many of the photographs are of her nude, in surrounding which she is merging herself into, the photographs are often blurry and her face is obscured. She started photographing at the age of 13. Her photographs are usually 8 by 10 inches which is designed to produce an ‘intimate’ experience between the viewer and the photograph itself. Many of her photographs are untitled and are known only by a location and date, after she killed herself at the age of 22 in 1981 and left behind a substantial amount of work.  Today Francesca’s work still creates a lot of critical attention.

I chose to research Francesca Woodman because her work links in with the theory of id, ego and superego and the idea of exploring different personalities and the perception you have of yourself and the perception that others have of you. Her work also includes elements of surrealism for example photographing unrealistic scenarios. The blurriness in the photographs make her have a ghostly presence in the photos both these things linking to the idea of fantasy.  I think this is an intriguing topic to luck at under the themes truth and fiction. However it is hard to portray through photography. Her work also includes elements of surrealism for example photographing unrealistic scenarios.

Rene Margritte is a Belgium surrealist artist who is well known for his thought provoking images often of normal objects in an unusual context, he gave familiar objects a new and different meaning .  Context defines the meaning of a work of art. Rene’s work influenced pop, minimal and conceptual art.

One of his most well known pieces of work is a painting of a pipe.  The painting is of a model pipe with a plain background that looks as though it is a model for a tobacco store advertisement. Bellow the pipe it says  “Ceci n’est pas une pipe” which literally translated means this is not a pipe.  Rene argued that it was not a pipe it was a painting of a pipe . When he  was once asked about this image, he replied that of course it was not a pipe, just try to fill it with tobacco. This links in with one of Picasso’s famous quotes, “we all know that Art is not truth. Art is a like that makes us realise the truth.” This quote and Rene’s work makes us question the difference between reality and representation.

Magritte painted The Treachery of Images when he was 30 years old. These images are still relevant today are currently on display at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art .They fit in with the exam title Truth, Fantasy or Fiction because they make us questions the reality of art and how much fiction is involved in the process of making a piece of work. The difference between a real pipe and a painting of a pipe and reality of them or any other object is something that I hadn’t thought about yet, however from researching this in more detail I have come to the conclusion that all Art including photography is a representation or an interpretation of something no matter how alike it looks compared to the real thing.

Allow the unconscious to express itself

Dictionary definition: Surrealism, n. Pure psychic automatism, by which one proposes to express, either verbally, in writing, or by any other manner, the real functioning of thought. Dictation of thought in the absence of all control exercised by reason, outside of all aesthetic and moral preoccupation.

Surrealism was a  revolutionary cultural art movement starting in the 1920’s. It is best know for it’s writing and artworks.The leader of surrealism was Andre Breton. The aim of surrealism was to  “resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality.”  The surrealist artists created paintings of everyday objects but turned them into strange creatures which allowed them to express there self’s. Surrealism was created out of Dada which was created in the first world war which originally started in Paris and in the 1920’s it became a global movement and affected literature, film and music. I think that surrealism has a really interesting concept. I like the idea of using photography to try and manipulate and push the boundaries of reality. This links in with the blurred lines between what is real and what is fiction. I like the idea of manipulating real photographs so that they become something of your own fiction/ fantasy.

Examination dates:  Tue 3rd – 6th May ~ 10 hrs controlled test over 2 days

The exam title this year is Truth, Fantasy or Fiction, I really like this title because they are in themselves broad topics which means that there are a wide variety of projects that could be done in response. I also think that it is a really interesting title because I think it will allow you to be much more creative, look deeper into the subject and use your imagination to a certain extent.

Truth:   the quality or state of being true.

Photography is known for being able to capture and represent an accurate likeness of the subject being photographed. Roland Barthes wrote that a photograph could be a ‘certificate of presence’. However this is not so much the case today, today photographers are able to manipulate photographs when they are taking them for example: only portraying one side of the story.  Photographs can also be manipulated after they have been taken through editing. Photographs are also used to record and keep evidence of events, however a photograph is only a second of what is going on at the moment in time which reduces it credibility. Today, I consider documentary photography to be the closest to ‘ true photography’ because it’s a form of photography that is used to ‘document’ events and people in everyday real life situations and documentary photographers follow a code of conduct to maintain the truth in their photographs and manipulation of documentary photography is frowned upon.

http://www.vivianmaier.com/ – documentary photographer

Fantasy: the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things.

Fantasy photography is the complete opposite of ‘truth photography’. Fantasy will allow you to be more creative and create photographs of things which many not be real and it would require more abstract thinking. When I think of fantasy photography I associate it to surrealism which is a subject I have researched before and found interesting. Surrealism allows you to experiment with different ideas and push the boundaries of reality.  I think that Fantasy also links in with the work that we did Tom Pope because he includes some elements of surrealism such as  the photograph of him standing in mid air. Surrealism was originally started to help “resolve the previously contradictory conditions of dream and reality.”   I like the concept of what is reality and dream and blurring these two worlds together could result in strong photographs.

http://www.manraytrust.com/ – surrealist photographer

Fiction:  something that is invented or untrue.

Fiction is often associated to a novel which is written based on imagination rather than history or facts.  Therefore I think that fiction is very similar to fantasy because they both incorporate the unreal. However I think Fiction relates more to fairy tales and myths although it does incorporates some elements of surrealism in it . For this part of the title I think that you could create something which doesn’t exist and again blur the lines between fiction and reality. I found a photographer who I think uses fiction in a subtle way. David Hilliard is an American photographer. He mainly works with panoramic photographs. He draws inspiration from his personal life and those around him for his subject matter. Many of the scenes are staged, evoking a performance and a middle ground between fact and fiction.

http://www.davidhilliard.com/ – David Hilliards website.

Truth:  the quality or state of being true.

Fantasy: the faculty or activity of imagining impossible or improbable things.

Fiction:  something that is invented or untrue.

Key words:

• True likeness
• Magical fascination
• Disturbing imagery
• True reality
• ‘ En plein air’
• Artists must be truly faithful to their own nature
• Depict spiritual qualities
• Steer public opinion
• Fascination for human anatomy
• Subconscious urge
• Inner vision

Possible artist references:

• May Ray
• John Stezaker
• Lewis Hine
• Bernd and Hilla Becher
• Irving Penn
• Agust Sander
• Edward Weston
• Ansel Adams
• Nick Knight

Initial thoughts/ideas: