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

I heard from back from the women’s refuge in jersey and although there isn’t enough time to actually produce images from it, I still wanted to go and talk to someone about the work that goes on within this organisation.

These are some notes I made throughout my discussion with the chairman (Pat) of the organisation:

• it’s run by a management comity
• 11-12 people volunteer
• this organisation started about 30 years ago by a women who is still apart of this organisation today – Rosie Sutherland. Inspired by a group of women who decided that something should be done to aid women. That something should be done in order for there to be a place were women can  go and feel safe.
• 1 out of 4 women will be in an abusive relationship
•  the fact that getting over an abusive relationship is a long process that women go through  , and in some cases , they go back to the abusive relationship they were in… for many reasons, but mainly because of money problems, housing ect.
• this organisation allows the victim to be in control of their own lives and control the things they do and why.
• police are highly involved within this organisation.
• this refuge is highly confidential and their goal is to make this safe house a home and give women (and children) a safe and happy environment to live in.
• the organisation employs staff in order to help with day to day care and jobs, these people can look after the staff needs as well as the women’s needs.
• Volunteers can be anyone from lawyers to accountants and so on, the profession you are in isn’t important, what’s important is having a volunteer who is genuinely passionate about this cause and wants to help.
• over 1000 people reach out to this organisation every year
• conducting a training program is vital for each volunteer/staff member and it is all conducted here in Jersey by funding from the states and donations.
• this safe house contains 7 bedrooms , 2 sitting rooms which are occasionally transitioned into bedrooms if needed, amongst other rooms like laundry rooms, a kitchen ect.
• there are women who come back after a few years, or people that have previously been in a abusive relationship and want to talk about their past experiences.
• this organisation is available 24 hours a day (via landline) , having someone that is available during an emergency is vital within the  philosophy of the organisation.
• they accept anyone and everyone (from any nationality)
• this organisation / volunteers encourage women to create and form good relationship

-The chairman I met with was a lovely lady named Pat who had been within this organisation for around ten years and she actually became aware of this position because of a friend who had to leave the organisation, thus she took on this Job. She says she had always been involved in some sort of charitable organisation but settled within the women’s refuge in Jersey and is still there today.

-Pat was telling me about her daughters friend who was unfortunately involved in a domestic situation and she would always say she wanted to go back , her sadness was because of the fact that she made a house into a home, all of her memories were there, in that house, and that is is something really sad.”For any woman to leave the house she’s made a home , that is heartbreaking.”- Pat

-I was interested and asked her whether the organisation had ever thought about branching out (because of the fact that there is currently one safe house in jersey). To which she responded that because of our population, something would have to be very wrong for there to be so many people that feel as if they are not safe and need a place to go in order to feel safe. Therefore she doesn’t see it happening anytime to and hopes it doesn’t have to come to that.

-I talked about how the internet is a big part in supporting victims throughout these apps and when I asked about her opinion on this she commented on the fact that it all really depends on the stage that someone is at. In some cases, it may benefit the person in some way or another but from her point of view, she looks at the advantage of having someone there face to face, someone who can empathize and be there in person , and she says that it is a huge difference in comparison to a text or email.

-Because this organisation focuses more on women suffering in a domestic violence situation and less on other issues such as rape, it was interesting to hear that a collaboration of organisations is a possibility for the future.

Overall, this meeting was very insightful and Pat was so kind as to give me a back which held information booklets that they give out at talks and much more that discusses the organisation. She also made me aware of their website online and gave me her contact card if I had anything else to inquire about. Although it is too late to produce images and possible final outcomes, I am really pleased with the amount of information I was given just with one meeting.

Cindy Sherman is one of my favourite photographer and I have taken a lot of inspiration from her in my past projects. I wanted to look into her work again but not the famous film stills that she created in the 1980s but to look at some of the work that she created during her time as a student in the late 1970’s. One particular set of images is based on a Hollywood-inspired murder mystery story with a vast amount of characters waiting for the bus. Sherman becomes each of the characters and dresses in different clothes based on people that you would typically see in a 1930s movie. The story behind Sherman’s work entitled Murder Mystery People is an imagined crime movies that features 17 different characters inspired by stereotypical figures in 1930s Hollywood films.

Sherman’s early work: http://www.anothermag.com/art-photography/2451/cindy-sherman-early-works

“I feel I’m anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself. Sometimes I disappear” – Cindy Sherman

The quote above that I have extracted above really interests me as Sherman states that she doesn’t see herself in her images, which is what I feel in my images too. They aren’t self-portraits, Sherman becomes the character and creates a new persona in her work. I like that she creates new personalities and personas in her work becoming new people and changing who she is by her clothing, props, hairstyles and mannerisms and facial expressions. I find Sherman’s photographs really interesting and I like the way she makes her images as I use a similar method. In her images she tends to be in a studio on her own and have a shutter release to make her images, often we are able to see this in her images at the bottom of the image or to the side.

This is my favourite out of this series of Sherman’s. I like the composition of this image and how the subject is positioned in the bottom right. I find it interesting to look at how the subject is photographing and the camera with the flash attachment on top as this is what was often used back in the 60s when Sherman made these photographs. I like how Sherman literally becomes her characters and creates new and intriguing characters all the time, something that I like to do in my own work too. I like the added touch of sideburns and other details like the glasses and the hat in this image. I feel that the hat could have been an easy way to hide her hair without having to wear a wig like she often does. In my own images I took some inspiration and have made images wearing a hat and hidden all of my hair inside the hat. I like how Sherman shot all of her characters with the same background and in the same place, this makes it so much easier when shooting to just stick to one location in a studio, where often Sherman would photograph alone. I like that as a spectator you are able to see the shutter release at the foot of this image showing how Sherman would have made this photograph using her foot and I like that it isn’t perfect or that she hasn’t tried to hide it too much but it really manages to blend in well with this image and the character in this image.

I love this image! I just love how dedicated Sherman is to creating her characters and that she went to the extent of making herself a much darker skin tone than she actually is. I like that instead of leaving this character out, she went a step further and actually created this persona and made an effort to try to look like the woman she had imagined. I like how Sherman never seems to be limited with her work, whether a character is black or white, male or female she no character seems to be out of reach for her. I find Sherman becomes unrecognisable in her images and her characters look so distant from what Sherman herself looks like which I really love. I like the expression on the subjects face as she just stares into the camera. I like the simplicity of the composition and how the subject is just directly centred in the middle of the image. I also like that it isn’t perfect and the spectator is able to see in the background the plugs as well as the wire from the shutter release. Something about this image really intrigues me and I like the shadow in the background too as it just adds a little more dimension to the image. In the right hand corner there is a shoe which makes me think that she was possibly changing all of her clothes just off to the side of the camera and this shoe happened to make its way into the corner of the image.

With my project, I have created a documentary that focuses on the skateboarding culture in Jersey, and how this urban culture is looked at by other members of society. Because of this, I have researched different documentaries that look on urban culture. One of these films is ‘Exit Through The Gift Shop’ which looks at the career of famous graffiti artist Banksy, and how his work made an large impact on society in the UK and worldwide. The film follows Thierry Guetta, a french immigrant living in Los Angeles and his passion with street art and urban culture. Throughout the film Guetta encounters street artists such as his cousin Invader, but mainly on Shepard Fairey and Banksy. We see how Guetta begins to hear stories about Banksy, who is this mysterious and secretive street artist and how his art is impacting the world. When Banksy visits LA, Guetta becomes his guide of the city and the two start to become friends. Continually through the film we see their friendship grow stronger and how Banksy mentors Guetta and lets him see every aspect of how he creates his art. To many people, Banksy’s art is considered a disturbance as it persistently features on public property and he exhibits his art in the view of the public. This always causes the art to gain a reaction as the art is politically driven and sends a message some people do not agree with. An example of this in the film, is when Banksy goes to Disneyland and places a doll dressed up as a Guantanamo Bay detainee inside one of the rides. This caused so much attention that the ride had to be stopped so that the doll could be removed, and Guetta, who was filming at the time was arrested by security guards and taken into interrogation. 

Exit Through The Gift Shop and Banksy’s work in general relates to my project, as they both are representations of a form of expression that the general society doesn’t agree with. Where many of Banky’s pieces have been removed and skateboarders told to leave certain areas as they are not welcome. The urban cultures that exist in our society usually are controversial or challenging to normal life, but they persist in bringing diversity within the way people express themselves.

Within the documentary I have created about the skateboarding culture in Jersey, I have featured music that I have created to use as background music. The music I have created suits the style of the film as they are hip-hop style instrumentals, and this urban genre of music goes hand in hand with skateboarding, as they are both subcultures of our community. Ever since skateboarding first came around, music is something that has played a big part in all aspects of the sports. From featuring in skateboarding edits to skateboarders being in music videos. In many cases, musicians are also skateboarders themselves. One example of this is the rapper Tyler, The Creator.

Tyler, The Creator is a rapper who grew up in California, USA, and has been skating and creating music from a young age. He has featured sound effects from skateboarding within his music, and regularly skates in the California and LA area. As a way of bridging the gap between music and skateboarders, Tyler’s music has been a way for different subcultures to connect as they all have things that they can relate to when listening to his music or watching him skate. As well as making music and skateboarding, he also designs his own clothing line that musicians and skateboarders alike wear. I feel the reason why he has been able to connect with all these different groups is that they feel he is a voice for the youth and is saying things that are considered quite controversial. As he has said in interviews, he doesn’t care if people become offended by the things he says as they are just words, and if someone was to use derogatory terms agains him he wouldn’t be offended. 

With the music I created, I took inspiration for the style of music that Tyler makes as it is something that really reflects the urban society in today’s world. I also wanted to create my own music as its something that came from Jersey, and my whole documentary is about Jersey and its effect on young people.

I created the music for the film using the program Logic Pro X. I started out by using a synthesizer and playing in a chord sequence. I then edited the synthesizer sound until I got something that I was happy with and suited the genre. The next thing I did was write in midi drums to create a beat to go with the chords. I then experimented with dropping the drums in and out for effect. I kept the instrumentals I created quite simple, as the type of hip hop I was going for is usually like this. 

 

 

Allan Kaprow, was a photographer who pioneered in establishing the concepts of performance art. In this performance art, he also developed the Environment and Happening in the 1950s and 1960S.  Kaprow coined the term ‘Happening’ in 1957 at an art picnic at George Segal’s farm in a way of describing the pieces that were going on. The pieces usually consist of artists performing their art in public spaces, where these performances may be considered out of the ordinary. The performances challenge the normality and regulations of society, by being an unconventional form of expression, which goes against what people believe to be normal. Happenings also regularly involve audience participation as the artists want their art to be something the audience can engage in, which breaks down the boundaries between the artwork and its viewer. The happenings first started out as scripted events, where the audience and performers followed cues to experience the art. Kaprow describes the happenings as “A game, an adventure, a number of activities engaged in by participants for the sake of playing.” The happenings represent what is now called New Media Art, which is participatory and interactive, with the goal of breaking the fourth wall, where the audience becomes part of the art. One of the works by Kaprow was titled “Eighteen Happenings in Six Parts”, which involved an audience moving together to experience elements such as a woman squeezing an orange and a band playing toy instruments. From this, Kaprow’s work evolved and became less scripted, and began to involve more everyday activities. Another happening, was where he brought a number of people into a room containing a large quantity of ice cubes, which the people had to touch, causing the ice cubes to melt.

Kaprow’s work has inspired many performance photographers such as Tom Pope to challenge the normality of society and what people believe to be the truth of what life should be like.  Kaprow’s work directly links with my project as skateboarding is a type of happening, where a group of young people meet up to go and skate. The way they skate the streets challenges what the community believe to be acceptable, so many people such as the police, usually tell the group of skateboarders to stop skating as its not the ‘right’ thing to be doing. Skateboarding and Kaprow’s work are very similar in these instances as they both are a subculture of society, that take their art into the public world, and actively connect with the environment and people around them

For my project, I am looking at portraying the youth culture in Jersey, and how in particular skateboarding is an area of society that many people look down upon and don’t see it as a good use of time. I am showing how the government don’t want to fund the sport but are willing to fund other sports heavily such as Football etc. For this I am going to create a documentary that shows how the youth culture in Jersey, especially the skateboarding community live, and speak with people that are a part of this. To research for my documentary, I am looking at a documentary produced by VICE called ‘Skate World:England’.

The documentary looks into the skate culture of England as they speak to numerous members and affiliates of the community. They first look at London and speak to skater Winstan Whitter, who talks about Southbank along the River Thames. He tells us how the park used to be a lot bigger and extended, but since then parts have been taken up with offices and other buildings, which means the park is now only a fraction of what it used to be. He also takes us to parks that have been specially funded by the governemnt and community, but even though they have been building a few parks, the culture is still looked down upon as something negative. We also meet Ben Nordberg, who is a skateboarder from Bath, who talks about how he started out skating the mini ramp, then went on top develop his flat ground skills. Nordberg and his friend Kris Vile tell us that they had to skate street as the skatepark that was built charged a lot of money to enter. This made them more dedicated to skateboarding as it gave them motivation to adapt to the environment around them, and improve their skills. Doing this meant they both gained sponsors, where they would receive free stuff such as skateboard decks, trucks, clothes etc.

From this documentary, the main influence on my project is that it focuses on the same topic. This means I have been able to look at the things that Vice have done in this documentary and take it into my own piece. For example, in the documentary they use a lot of archived footage of people skateboarding, as it adds more background to the story. I will be doing this as well by sourcing videos of Eddie from Youtube, and cutting up different sections to feature in the film. I also have taken the way in which they conduct their interviews, by getting the people to speak directly into the camera as it makes it a more direct conversation with the audience. I will be doing this as well, by interviewing Eddie as he looks and speaks directly into the camera.

 

I find it quite interesting how technology has played such a huge role within the last few years when concerning the issue of domestic violence. For example an online app was created in order to aid those victims who are either afraid or cannot leave to talk to someone. However, victims are able to access help through this online app  in order to alert authorities if they feel as if they are in grave danger, and they can do this without the suspicion of the abuser knowing . There are many perks to this app, one is the fact that there is a button in which you press it to divert the page to a random page, this is done as a precaution if the  abuser suddenly enters the same room or takes an interest of what the victims are doing, they wouldn’t be aware of what the victim would be trying to do. This app is also a help line and directs victims to particular helplines and help centers which are highly dependable. This allows them to talk to a professional and get proper help.

 

Whilst doing some more online research about online help, I found an article which explains how high school students were asked to create an app for their entrepreneurship class ,  and two students in particular decided to create an app which is called SafeHaven, and allocates a victim  of domestic violence anonymously with a councilor/mentor. This allows victims to receive coaching and support and whether you are the victim or you are a friend of one, this app helps these people to get through some tough times.

These students explained how they did some background research on the topic and this aspect stood as one of their main inspirations for why they wanted to produce an app like SafeHaven. The fact that South Carolina has one of the highest rates in the nation of deadly violence against women played a huge role within this project and they stated that “We wanted to start this because we know there are so many people suffering from domestic violence, and we knew we could do something through this contest.” said Gathings. “We wanted to help them out.”I can only imagine how any lives these app has helped and potentially saved, and it’s a great reinforcement to show people that things are being done and there is help out there for those who need it but are perhaps afraid to go out in person to receive it.

http://www.wyff4.com/news/upstate-students-create-app-to-help-domestic-violence-victims/37751338

 

I came across this video and this whisper app is quite popular on Facebook and youtube, but I found this one which shares what people have said about being in a domestic relationship, the fact that people are still strongly effected even when they are not currently in this situation really shows the extent of their feelings and fears.

Sarah Pucill is a filmmaker and photographer who explores a sense of self in her work. The main features of her work look into mortality and the conventional filmmaking process. Pucill makes a lot of her films in simple places/rooms where she creates and enters different and new realms. Her work explores the representation of the feminine, queer or the dead. Her work is very strange and is very much surrealist works but I think this is what makes her work so much more interesting and captivating. Pucill’s first feature length production Magic Mirror explores the work  of Claude Cahun through her images as well as her writing from Cahun’s book Aveux non avenus (Confessions Denied, 1930). I like the idea of this as Pucill has basically taken Cahun’s work, restaged it and added some more context to it from Cahun’s own words in her book. I feel that this is a really great way to learn more about Cahun and to really understand the meaning behind her work as well as possibly getting an insight into the style of Pucill and her methods of film and photography.

Magic Mirror trailer: http://www.sarahpucill.co.uk/films/magic-mirror/

As I didn’t have time to watch the entirety of Pucill’s film Magic Mirror, I just watched the trailer but still found it to be very helpful and intriguing. I also think that the entire film can only be seen in the many exhibitions that it has been shown at. Something about this film really interested me and I really like that Pucill has mixed film with photography, something that I have done in the past and am making a constant link between in my own photographic work. I think that this way of bringing Cahun’s images to life more with her own words has really given me a clearer understanding of the context of her work and her constant thoughts on mortality. I like how strange and surrealist the trailer is, it really captivates me and makes me want to watch on as well as the voiceover from Pucill reciting extracts from Cahun’s book Aveux non avenue. The thing that  I’m struggling with this is that at what point does this become Pucill’s original work as the re-staged positions and images that she has created were Cahun’s and the voiceover was also extracts from Cahun’s own book. I do really like the idea of taking inspiration from other artists work and bringing your own twist to it and Pucill’s work is great but it is just re-staged versions of Cahun’s own images. Obviously no ones images can be as good or as unique as Cahun’s and her work really does stand out to me but I do like Pucill’s interpretation and recreations of it. I like the way Pucill looks in her images and really gets into the characters that Cahun has created, something that I can take inspiration from and work on in my own images.

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

In this blog post I am going to direct my focus into a slightly different artistic medium – music. I am going to look into the song ‘Shakermaker’ by Oasis and pick out the various references to advertising included within it. It will be interesting to see how song lyrics have been used to ridicule and satirize advertising in comparison to the visual language of the photography. From this study I hope to be able to better access the effectiveness of photographs in terms of being a mechanism to tackle an idea, and judge whether an idea is clearer if it is shown visually, or expressed through written language.

This study will also be useful in the sense that I am looking into the decade of the 1990s, when Parr’s ‘Common Sense’ was published. It will be interesting to compare Parr’s artistic intentions with that of Oasis, both now seen as legendary cult figuires in the world of British music and photography respectively.

‘Shakermaker’ is a 1994 single from British rock band Oasis from their debut album ‘Definately Maybe’. This song is directly references various commercials which existed in the 1970s, when Noel Gallagher (who wrote the song) was a child. The band have been very open about ripping off the names of these old brands.

The 1990s

The context of the time this song was written, the 1990s, was a time when advertising was going through major developments; commercials were becoming more frequent; photographs were becoming sharper and more vivid; the rise of the internet led to increased networks of advertising; and the general availability of advertising was really taking off. From a modern perspective, the 90s is seen as the benchmark for the expansion of technology and the effects this had on commercial ventures; the birth of ….

• digital photography (c.1998)
• the internet (c.1995)
• the SIM Card (1991)
• email (1993)
• DVD (1995)
• Apple iMac (1998)

Such technology changed the way advertising not only was, but how it was percieved. Some embraced it, whereas others fear such a rapid rise. Oasis formed in 1994, just at the point when advertising changed rapidly.

The song is in many ways a response to the madness and hysteria of advertising.

 

Examples

“I’d like to build myself a house out of plasticine”

The title ‘Shakermaker’ and this quote is a direct reference to the popular toy Shaker Maker made in the early 19700s by the ‘Ideal Toy Company’. It was a mouldable plasticine/clay used to make toy figures, which Gallagher recalls as being “a toy that I used to have in the 70s”.

 

“I’ve been driving in my car with my friend Mr. Soft”

Mr Soft is a reference to the the character of “Mr Soft” was taken from a Trebor Soft Mints commercial, which featured Cockney Rebel’s song “Mr. Soft”. This advert was critised for being extremely cheesy and annoying.

“Mr. Clean and Mr. Ben are living in my loft”

“Mr. Clean” is a 1978 song by The Jam, one of Gallagher’s favourite bands.

Mr Benn was a British children’s cartoon which was aired by the BBC between 1971-72

“Mister Sifter sold me songs when I was just sixteen”

“Sifters” is a record shop in Manchester, where Galllagher used to visit regulary to buy records when he was younger.

 

One theme that links all of these references together is the 1970s. This is because Gallagher (born in 1967), remembers these adverts clearly as a part of his childhood. Arguably, they are nostalgic reminders to a past when advertising was a bit simpler and there was less scrutiny over the fact that the quality was often shocking and terrible (at least from a modern perspective!). Oasis as a band stood for the expression off ideas simply and directly. Therefore it can be agued that the reference of these adverts is perhaps a celebration of how advertising in the past was much simpler, with its cheesy nature is almost accepting in a satirical way, the acknowledgement of its sole purpose, to manipulate and exploit. Gallagher never took this song very seriously and is not afraid to criticise its tacky and absurb nature. Furthermore, the melody of song in itself ripped off a verse of the Coca-Cola song  “I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing (In Perfect Harmony)”, something which Gallagher shamelessly admits to. The Band was later sued for its uncanny likeness. Interestingly, this was yet another reference to the 1970s.

 

How does the message of this song compare to the message in Parr’s ‘Common Sense’?

Similarities

• The purpose of this song is to show how tacky advertising really is. In many ways Parr’s images are similar in this sense because they too express advertising, through copying the visual language, in a way which makes the resulting images appear gimmicy, tacky and at times grotesque.

• Both are similar in the sense they are very raw – Parr through his Vernacular style and Oasis through a very blunt song, sung by Liam Gallagher with his discintive coarse vocals

• Both satirise popular advertising brands and produce comical pieces of work

• Both send out a bright and powerful message.  Gallagher brings his abstract daydreams to life whilst Parr shows products and items in their greatest detail. As a result it can be argued that both serve to represent a positive message.

• Both represent the surreal; ‘Shakermaker’ through Gallagher’s imagination of building a “house out of plasticine”, and Parr through highly saturated colours and use of flash photography to distort a sense of how the image really looks

• Both were made in the 1990s, a time when advertising was rapidly changing

 

Differences

• Parr’s photographs are a document of what he sees, whereas ‘Shakermaker’ represents more of a mindset. As an assesment, this makes Parr’s work in a sense  more credible because their is a direct and central theme. ‘Shakermaker’ on the other hand goes off on a tagent

• Parr’s photographs were taken of a course of many years and are extensively pieced together, whereas ‘Shakermaker’ is a 5 minute song which Noel Gallagher claims took a matter of minutes to put together

• ‘Shaker maker’ is more of a look into the past, whereas  ‘Common Sense’ is a look into the present and a hint into the future of advertising

• Whilst ‘Shakermaker’ celebrates advertising, ‘Common Sense’ hints at it vulgarity and deceptiveness. Gallagher celebrates flaws whereas Parr seeks to exploit them

 

Conclusion

It is clear therefore that despite expressing their ideas in different ways, Gallagher and Parr both mock and satirize the role of advertising. Both are entertaining in the same way that they paint a picture in the mind of the viewer, both of the viewpoint that advertising is cheesy and tacky, done through the act of re-construction to emphasize such an agenda.

However it is apparent that Parr’s images are stronger than the song in the sense they express an actual document the viewer can see with their own eyes. Furthermore Parr is allowed more to play with in the sense that he has the means to create a 100+ page photo-book and sell commercially. Gallagher on the other can only produce a short song which hints a just a handful of ideas. Photography as a medium therefore arguably allows the artistic to express more, along with the additional advantage of being already there for the viewer to appreciate, whilst in music the listener must carefully study the limits and extract an interpretation.

Overall both are incredibly successfully in what they achieve are are equally intriguing and unique in their take on 1990s society.

 

 

Duane Michals in an American photographer who often uses his photographic sequences incorporating text to examine emotion and philosophy. He usually makes sequences of images as if they are action shots or documentary photographs. He developed this style in the 1960s when photojournalism first became really popular and he adopted this method and used it to create his own narrative. In the 60s his work was not well received as critics rejected his work. When in the 1970s Cindy Sherman adopted this style and it started to become increasingly popular with more and more photographers taking on this style of creating narrative and not actually photographing documentary or photojournalist methods. He staged images and got people to act and pretend, his images touch upon life after death and what happens to those that die. He makes stories/narrative and creates a new concept.

“I never went to a photography school, which was my saving grace. I didn’t know that you weren’t supposed to write on a photograph, and I didn’t have to unlearn all the rules that schools teach you.” – Duane Michals

A Duane Michals gallery: http://www.dcmooregallery.com/artists/duane-michals#1

I find Duane Michals methods of photography really interesting. I like the idea of it looking like stills from a film and that the characters are interacting with one another. The titles are on the pages with the images and some have writing underneath them bringing in more depth and context to what Michal’s was thinking or possibly what the characters where doing. I do really like this style and think it is a great way to tell a story just through images, the sequences of images are simple yet they are really intriguing. I feel that they interest me more because of the time they were made and how different the world looked and how different people looked in the 60s. Some of his sequences are really simple but are interesting to look at while others have more layers and depth to them. I like that some of his images are quite light and easy to follow while others are random and some others have deeper meaning making the spectator actively think about what they are looking at.

I chose to analyse this sequence of images as it stood out to me. I find that Michals way of sequencing interesting as usually in a set of film stills there are 12 frames per second but Michals has only used 8. I feel that this backs up the quote from above that he had no prior knowledge of photography or anything and so just made images that he wanted to make without having any influence from the photographic world being put onto him. I found the sequence to be unusual but my interpretation of it is that the main subject was an angel and by the clue in the title had fallen from heaven to see his lover one last time. He then kissed her and lay on top of her and seemed to loose his wings and had to run away. I feel that maybe he could have lost his wings because he wasn’t supposed to go back down to earth and disrupt the living but he still went against that and did it anyway. This image is really interesting and the spectator could take away a number of interpretations from it. I like that the images are in black and white, even though that would have been the  only option in the 60s, it looks a lot better and allows the spectator to focus in on the angel instead of being distracted by anything else. The intensity of the light coming in from the window just adds more to the effect that the subject is an angel but also eliminates any other distractions from the outside buildings. The images would have been made on a film camera and a long exposure would have been put on to give the slightly blurred effect making the subject more angel-like and is they are a ghost.

I had to choose this photograph as it is so odd. I do think that this is a great image as it does, in a way, reflect how many people think about God. For example, both men are sat naked while talking and many people belonging to Christian and Catholic religion say that they will stand naked before God at their time of death to see whether they will make it into heaven. Obviously they don’t quite mean literally but in this instance it works, making the image stronger and more hard-hitting for the spectator to look at. I feel that the piece of paper over the man on the rights face symbolises how possibly anyone can be a God or that your beliefs can be in anyone and you can confide in whoever you want without actually having to physically see any God. I like the style that this photo has been made with the caption as it makes it more personal and is more intriguing to me. I also find the way the man on the right is positioned is interesting as he looks as though he is teaching the other man a lesson or telling him about something and the man on the left is taking it all in and following the other mans lead. The image looks good in black and white again so there are no distractions from the main message of the image making it stand out even more.

This image really stood out to me when looking through Michals photographs as at first glance it looks very odd. I feel that this image is similar to the style that Francesca Woodman follows with using a slow shutter speed and getting the subject to move so that some of the image is blurred or distorted. I like this image as it makes it seem as though this man, Joseph Cornell, is a ghost and is looking in the mirror to see if he can see himself clearly. The subject is centered right in the middle of the photograph and the back lighting is over exposed and draws the spectators attention right over to it. The bright white light coming from the window attracts my attention immediately followed by the distorted figure of the man. I do really like this image as it is strange but also intriguing to look at at the same time. I also think that this image is more effective in black and white as the spectator is more attracted to the bright light rather than being distracted by any colours in the room. I find that this image represents a ghost or that the story/narrative of this person is that they have died. When researching about Michals I found that he makes his images largely based around life after death and his interpretation of what that would be like. He steers away from the mainstream photography of the 1960s which was largely documentary photography and creates staged images that are unique and a narrative has been created instead of simply bare witnessing.

For my attempt at studio style images I am taking inspiration from the series ‘No Seconds’ by Henry Hargreaves. In this series Hargreaves photographs the last meals as requested by death row inmates. The images are all taken in the same composition: a flat, birds-eye perspective.

What does this project shows and highlight?

In this series the photographer Henry Hargreaves re-creates notable last meals of death row inmates; past and present. The meals shown in this series are visually gripping and powerful, showing the meal, a small description of what is included and a brief description of the subject and the crime they were convicted off.

The sense of repetition of the way the image have been framed makes for a common link within all of the images, the most obvious link is that they are all a representation of a person’s last meal. Regardless  of how obscure, mad or even simple the meal may be, the viewer is forced to recognize by this pattern that the meals are all ‘last meals’ and that all of the images therefore represent a certain sense of finality. The title ‘No Seconds’ serves to re-establish this idea in a very clear way. In many ways this breaks the complication and chaos of such a controversial topic, examining its key principles and raw details.

Suspense is a key aspect in what makes this series effective. Every one of the images leaves a sense of impending death, especially through the use of notes which clarify the context of the situation and an insight into the method of the execution. This small amount of contextual information, combined with the image is very effective in affirming a mini-narrative within the viewers’ mind.

I find this series to be extremely power because it captures a very serious and controversial subject, the death penalty. Many photographers and documentary makers in the past have touched upon this subject, whether pro and against the idea. Work in this field in often very similar, looking at the facilities of the place, perhaps the subject and few of the staff and the general theme of the impending execution. What Hargreaves has touched on however is a little bit different to what is expected. He has simplified this theme greatly by concentrating on one particular aspects alone – the last meal.

I believe that this simple focus is extremely powerful because it is open to many different interpretations….

• On one hand the topic can be interpreted as a simply the crying personality of the inmates, usually crying out in eccentricity and tortured self-expression as they face their last ever meal on earth.
• On the other hand it perhaps serves as a debate of what rights a death -row inmate has – if they have commit horrific and barbaric crimes should they indeed even have the luxury of choosing, an at times simply absurd and totally chaotic meal.
• Another interpolation may even extend to a poetic look into a ethics of the death penalty, the flip side of the prior argument through which the finite and finality of a  last meal is simply an example of humanities cruelty to put to death an individual, regardless  of their crimes and what they have done.

In many cases, because of the simplicity of the project, the Hargreaves leaves ideas concerning to the intent behind the project open to the interpretation of the viewer. Regardless of the conclusions the viewer draws from studying this series, the important consideration is that the series invites the viewer to consider and perhaps re-examine their own views of the death penalty.

How might this series help my own work?

Studying this project has been useful because I have gained a greater understanding of the steps and methods to take in order to create a ‘controlled photograph’. Furthermore I have gained a sense of understanding about how simplicity is key to making such images appear powerful because they show the food its rawest detail, thus   representing a sens of vulnerability for whatever purpose this may serve, in my case stripping back the hype and glittering nature associated with classic ‘promotional images’ which so often appear in advertising.

Furthermore, this particular series has given me the inspiration to juxtapose my ‘raw’ images on uncooked and freshly sourced Jersey produce done in a Martin Parr style manner, which slightly more attractive an appealing images of cooked and well presented food on a plate, done in exactly the same way as Henry Hargreaves. In such images I will like Hargreaves, include basic background context of the product, supplier, amount and cost. In my photo-book I will include a section by which my Parr like images on the left directly contrast with the style of Hargreaves, thus showing a contrast of interpretation and furthermore highlighting my ability to experiment and alternate with different styles. I hope that this will add an extra dimension to my project and visually will be of interest to the viewer.

Francesca Woodman was an American photographer best known for her self-portraits. Many of her images obscure the face by blurring and moving with long exposure times or are merging with surroundings. Woodman killed herself at the age of 22 before her work was discovered. She had been battling depression for much of her life and her experimentations with photography explored different ideas including angels. Her work is very moving and intriguing to look at. Whenever I look at her work I wish I knew more and want to find out the meaning behind her images. I love her photographic work as I really do love black and white images. Something that I also really like about Woodman’s work is that she uses herself as the subject, which is something I have been exploring through my own work. Woodman often poses naked in her images and has many images of naked women within her images.

“A defining voice of her generation.” – British Journal of Photography

Woodman created a series of images entitled On Being an Angel. In the images Woodman becomes the subject and uses the photographic world as a very personal means of expression. Her work explores gender, representation and sexuality. Her work contains juxtaposition perspectives, some images show her completely naked while the others show her as trying to hide and distort her body. She shows through her photography her conflicted views and thoughts. This work really stands out to me and is so interesting in the way that she photographs showing two complete opposites possibly expressing the conflicted views inside her head. After researching more of her work I noticed that a few of her images are Untitled and most of her images are black and white. This also reminds me of Cindy Sherman and her method of allowing the spectator to think for themselves and come up with their own interpretations. What I like most about Woodman’s work is that it is so unusual and brings an element of surrealism to it, making her images stand out more to me. I feel that the fact that Woodman killed herself at the age of 22 due to suffering with depression shouldn’t be a factor of her work, I feel that her work is brilliant regardless of her mental state. I feel that her work would have eventually been discovered naturally as it did after she killed herself.

Exhibition of Woodman’s work: http://www.foam.org/museum/programme/francesca-woodman

This image really stood out to me when looking through Woodman’s work titled On Being an Angel. I  really love the whole composition and miss-en-scene of this image, it really interests me. I find it odd that she is hanging off of the door and holding on to it while hiding her face from the camera behind her arm. I love that she is wearing an oversized shirt that almost looks like pyjamas or something. At first I wondered how she managed to get herself up there and saw that the chair was near so she would have most likely positioned herself from there. I don’t quite understand this image but that doesn’t really matter as it is so intriguing to me and leaves room for me to make a variety of different interpretations. Knowing that Woodman was suffering from depression I see that this could be a less intense way of showing someone hanging themselves, she wants to end her life but needs to see how elevated she must be off of the ground before doing so. The way she is covering her face as if shying away from the camera also interests me as I feel that she has a conflicted view of photographing herself. She wants to make these amazing images and use herself as the subject but at the same time conceals her identity. I like the room as there are so many little details all around that I am able to interpret and see her environment. I really do not know what to interpret this image as, it is so unusual but it looks so great and really did stand out to me. I like how she is slightly off centre in this image but your eyes are still immediately drawn to her followed by the chair giving the spectator the assumption that she used the chair to get herself up there.

This is another image that really stood out to me in Woodman’s work. I like that she uses slow shutter speeds to make her images blurred and the end results are so intriguing to me. In the 70s/80s there would not have been any kind of editing software for Woodman to make surrealist images with effects added in afterwards so she had to improvise and actually make images that she envisioned there and then in front of the camera. I love that her work is so simple, she would have made this image on a black and white film camera most likely and that would be it. There would be no re-touching or changing in editing. I like this style and think that I could possibly create some images in this format too. The use of a white dress/ cloth is really interesting as typically people see a white cloth as a symbol of a ghost, which has now become an unrealistic joke kind of halloween costume. I like that this image is blurred and that the spectator is unable to see Woodman’s face or her expression  as it brings more mystery to her work. She does look like a ghost in this image as the slow shutter speed has created an almost ghost-like complexion with Woodman’s legs looking see-through as well as part of her dress and her arms. I really like this image and think that it is simple yet brilliantly done. Looking at the background of this image looks as though she is in some dirty car park somewhere which is really interesting that she chose to photograph in a darker room/space as to not over expose the entire image with there being a slow shutter speed to capture in more light. I like her method of work and find it really interesting to see and learn more about.

This image probably gives spectators the best look at Woodman’s face without it being blurred or distorted. I really wonder what is going on in this image. She is kneeling down in a dirty old room with decaying walls and pieces of wood covering the floor as she stares blankly into the camera with her hand half covering her face. I find it strange that her dress is unzipped and it looks almost as if she is holding her breast or possibly keeping the dress from falling down. I do really like this image as we are able to actually get a glimpse of what Woodman looked like. The composition of the image is again with Woodman more to the right side of the image and not centred. I find Woodman’s work intriguing as it is so unusual and does have an element of more gothic style images with the expressionless look on her face and the way she makes ghostly self-portraits. I think her photographic work is extremely strong and does stand out to me as unique and bold.

Roger Ballen is an American photographer, now living in South Africa. He began work as a documentary photographer but soon ventured into fictional methods and staging images. One particular body of work that I am interested in is one of his books entitled Shadow Chamber. This work looks into lunacy and in his images he uses poor people who pose in cell-like rooms that occupy the grey area between fact and fiction. His images are intriguing and hard-hitting. The spectator wants to venture further into the world that he is created and try to make sense out of his peculiar images. The rooms in his images are strange and unsettling; their walls are grey and the room is always dirty. His images are unique and the figures within them always seem to be hiding away or are curled up on the floor with motionless expressions on their faces. Shadow Chamber was published in 2005. His work is very unique and stands out in the photographic world.

“I don’t think things that are nightmarish are actually dark. Sometimes nightmares give you a lot of insight.” – Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen’s website: http://www.rogerballen.com/

I find Ballen’s work really interesting and different. It leaves a lot of questions open and allows the spectator to think outside the box. I find his work quite strange as he uses animals, objects and people in obscure ways. Within Ballen’s images he creates an environment that is dull, dirty and very much staged. There is something about Ballen’s images that make me kind of uncomfortable as they are so bizarre and the subjects in the images always seem to be in another world or they are despondent to the camera, which is most likely the desired effect. Some of his images really intrigue me and make me want to know more about them but there are some that are really quite disturbing and uncomfortable to look at.

When looking through the book entitled Shadow Chambers I came across this image and found it really intriguing. My attention was captured by the doll hanging on a cross made of twigs with a piece of paper attached to it with ‘GOD’ written on it. Something about this image is almost sinister, it really makes me wonder what Ballen’s message was behind it. My initial interpretation is that this person may not have enough money to be able to get an actual wooden plaque of Jesus on the cross but in some way wanted to show their religion and so made one out of things that they have found. When researching more into Ballen’s work I found that everything in the rooms is a performance, staged. I like how the baby is in the middle of the shot, it just makes it more visually pleasing with the boy lying directly underneath it, almost as if it is protecting him. I like the little puppy in this image looking directly into the camera and with its paw resting on the boy as if he is being cared for by the puppy in some way, a comfort to him. The image is kind of creepy when you look at it for a while as the baby doll looks almost decapitated and one of its eyes looks as if there has been dirt rubbed into it. Also the boy’s feet are extremely dirty and it looks as though he has been unable to wash them for a while, this also matches the dirt of the cover adding to the effect of how grim and dirty the entire room is. I also just noticed that written on the wall is ‘Christ + Me’ as if the subject in the image is looking for some sort of saviour and is going by based purely on their faith in God and Christ.

Another image that stood out to me while looking through Shadow Chambers was this one. Something about it is really odd, maybe it’s just everything in the image itself. At first glance I thought that the subject was being tied to something through the chair but when I look closer I realised that it is actually a snake. Ballen’s images are so strange. When you first glance his images don’t look like much but when you really focus in on the image and see all of the little details i that small space you really get a sense of the efforts that were made to create and stage his images. I really wonder why there is a snake just going around the room and how odd the position of the subject is slightly crouched over. My attention is then drawn over to the reflect on the floor of the subject making the floor seem wet. This makes so much sense when I think of how the subject is wearing a rain jacket, as if it has been raining inside.

This video really interested me as it gave me more of an insight to the thinking behind Ballen’ s work and how he creates images so that people remember them and keep them in their mind. His images are so out of the ordinary and call for deeper thinking to really understand what is going on in the images. I find his work to be more about a deeper meaning rather than just what you can see in the images. This video has actually inspired me in a way to create content that will stand out and that is stranger and more hard-hitting. I want my images to impact my spectators and leave them wanting to find out more, images that are really unusual and almost uncomfortable to look at just like Ballen’s images. Ballen illustrates his art through photography, it is just another way for him to be able to express his art freely and share it more broadly around the world.

For this project I have decided to look more into the way our island treats those that are seen to have mental illnesses and the historical views of people who were on the island. I am using the Archisle to get help from this as they have many images there that I could work from. Interestingly it turns out that the Archisle doesn’t have much in terms of outcasts or those that aren’t in social circles as back in the early years of photography it was only the rich elites that were photographed and especially in Jersey it was all about getting the richer people on the island photographed. This isn’t something that I see as a setback because it just goes to show how our island treats those that are in need of help or are deemed insane. We tend to forget about them or try to ignore them and hope that they will sort themselves out when in actual fact they need help for a reason. I chose to look at local history as it is something I have access to. I want to make a series of staged images going more in depth on different cases within Jersey of lunacy and really embody and show how those people were treated. When reading more about this topic I have found that, especially in the late 1800s, residents really do not treat people with mental illness well at all. They usually tie them up or completely disown them which is awful.
I wanted to do further and more in depth research to really get a clear understanding and feel of those suffering with mental illness on the island and to see whether or not my theory will be proven that those within our society who are slightly different or misunderstood are outcast and neglected even when they are the ones in need of support and care the most. I also want to be able to make well informed images as a response to this research and wouldn’t want to create a false image of how people suffering with mental illness were treated on the island. It is something that I have a genuine interest in and want to search further in to and find out as much as possible to create clear and strong images.

When looking at an article, Lunacy and the ‘Islands in the British Seas’ I found out a lot about how the mentally ill were treated in Jersey in the late 1800s leading up to the creation of the Jersey mental asylum. There were so many cases in the island were islanders leave and neglect them. All cases of domestic issues were determined by the island Parliament, Bailiwick of Jersey. In 1859 Jersey was still using the general hospital, in part, to hold pauper (poor) lunatics without any form of medical help. Eventually a separate building was built near the Town Hospital. This held 70 people and was open to pauper lunatics from the town. It was only in 1868 that a permanent public asylum was opened.
When reading more about local lunacy and how those that were seen as mentally ill on the island I was really able to see how society cast them away and just how much my point has been proven that those that are slightly different or are in need of any kind of help that is not physical they are completely shunned and left to rot on their own. It is actually really sad to read and shows the kind of neglect that people give just because they can’t fully understand someone. One case that I looked at in particular was that of Jane Le Maistre were basically she was confined in an out-building without clothing expect and woollen cloth thrown over her. It was written that she would sit in the attitude of a monkey and was in this position for so long that she was unable to use the lower part of her body, it was motionless. After a while Le Maistre became a public issue with more and more people finding out about her wellbeing. the Royal Court soon convened but local inhabitants became defensive claiming her to be well cared for and being cleaned regularly. Inhabitants were supported by local professionals, two doctors whose visit was clearly anticipated found Le Maistre wrapped in two warm blankets, hair short, clean with no appearance of filth or vermin. This just shows the manipulation and stirring of the truth that the people of Jersey did in order to avoid others being judgemental or disapproving of them. It’s also sad as Jane Le Maistre would have been unable to defend herself or tell the truth as she was deemed insane and no one would fully understand or believe her.
Another case that I looked at was that of Dr Lowe, a neighbour of a Jersey lunatic. Dr Lowe locked away this mental patient after he attacked him and left him there for twelve years as he thought an asylum would cost too much, especially as the island was already faced with debt. The Hospital Committee of the States Parliament concluded that a lunatic asylum was not needed after hearing from Dr Lowe. There was known to be less than fifty cases that needed confinement which would lead to isolation and as stated, in most cases of lunacy, it would only increase their insanity. It was concluded by the committee that it would be better for lunatics to stay at home for their families to care and look after them. In 1847, the Hospital housed 38 lunatics. When reading further I found out that in most parishes there were those living with mental illness and they would be confined and chained into a room in the dark, filthy and in solitary cells. They were seen to have had incurable madness. There is a story of Castletown that a lunatic was being confined in a room with food being given to him through a window. Many were held down with chains or rope. Lunatics were often kept/left in inhumane conditions as they were neglected by society. It was seen as a misfortune to have a lunatic person within your family. A final case that I looked at really intrigued and astonished me. It was that of a lunatic called Waterson who was frightened out of his wits by an apprentice who jumped in front of him in a white sheet. He never recovered and was confined in a filthy outhouse, damp walls. He was barred in and had very little light, here in this prison he existed for 17 years.

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

Jerry Uelsmann is a surrealism photographer, he tends to use Photoshop and other editing software to transform his pictures into creations of art. He usually mixes humans and inanimate objects together which creates a surrealistic feel. His photos are questionable and some may find them weird but that it is his aim, in an interview Uelsmann said ‘People ask me, “What does this image mean?” I really like the fact that the viewer completes the image, that they find some personal basis that they can either pass over or they can relate to it’

Colin Pantall’s Sofa Portrait are a series of images of his daughter watching TV on their sofa.

“My Sofa Portraits are about the physical and psychological absorption of Isabel’s childhood” Colin Pantall, Source

I find these images really honest because of the way they have been taken, he hasn’t made her pose and hasn’t dressed her up in any particular clothes, he has just taken photographs of times when his daughter is engaged with whats on the TV, and its interesting to see the way she sits and her facial expressions.

Although I am not so certain about including images of this type, I was considering taking photos of my families reactions to seeing the images and such and include them in the book as well, instead I decided to video them viewing the images, so I could remember their reactions to certain images and record them telling old stories that they were reminded of in the images.

To continue researching online-dating, I thought it was necessary to focus mainly on debates on Appropriation, as this is something I will focus on during the production of my photo-book and videos during the creation of my final pieces. This video (below) I thought was very helpful within the discussions of ethical boundaries of uses of library collections online and in physical spaces. What is given online within the public domain is discussed to show how people manipulate, copy, and appropriate images to trademark it for themselves.

To mark Fair Use Week 2015, a community celebration of fair use coordinated by the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for Digital Research and Scholarship’s Scholarly Communication Program and the Copyright Advisory Office hosted a panel discussion around freedom of expression in art and photography as it relates to fair use. Panelists discussed fair use from different perspectives in librarianship, copyright law, photojournalism, and copyright activism, and explored the opportunities and impediments that fair use in art and photography presents.
Panelists:

• Greg Cram, Associate Director of Copyright and Information Policy at The New York Public Library
• Rachelle Browne, Associate General Counsel, Smithsonian Institution and Adjunct Lecturer at Goucher College’s Masters in Arts Administration program
• Mickey H. Osterreicher, General Counsel for the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA); Parker Higgins Director of Copyright Activism, Electronic Frontier Foundation. Moderated by Rina Elster Pantalony, Director of Columbia University’s Copyright Advisory Office.

For more about the event and the Research Without Borders series:

www. scholcomm.columbia.edu/events

Tinder has matched more than 11 billion potential couples since it was founded in 2013, so the dating app has a tremendous amount of data about what works and what doesn’t.

Tinder’s CEO Sean Rad states:

“one of the most surprising things I have learnt from looking at an aggregate of all the data is how we underestimate how much information humans pick up from a simple photo.”

–   “So what makes the perfect photo?”

Rad was asked on stage at Advertising Week Europe in London on Wednesday by Cosmopolitan UK editor Farrah Storr.

“The data shows this: When your photo expresses something about your interests — like a skier skiing — or something about your personality, you do better”

Rad says.

“You do better as in you get more matches. I always tell people to be yourself.”

This argument shows that Rad encourages people to become their own individuals, and not those that ‘follow the crowd‘. The suggestion that matches purely come from your interests is controversial, as the first thing people see on your profile is your profile image – does this suggest people fall in love purely by the sight of someone else. Tinder is then put in the light of a dating website more for the looks of someone rather than personality based – its the immediate decision for people to either ‘swipe right‘ or ‘swipe left‘.

“The model-y poses never work”

Rad, who uses the app for both work and dating, said. He said also he didn’t understand why people put up photos of themselves with a lot of their friends. Eventually, users swipe through the initial image and work out who people really are. Head-shots apparently don’t work either.

“Shots that display what you look like but the environment you live in, and your interests — they work,”

according to Rad.

Tinder’s algorithm 

Rad reveals that Tinder’s algorithm gives unpopular users “a little boost“. An algorithm can be defined as: a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations: “a process or set of rules to be followed in calculations or other problem-solving operations“. Rad gave away how the Tinder algorithm, which attempts to surface people that users would like to meet in the real world, actually works. There are plenty of eligible singles on Tinder who pick up dozens of matches every time they log in to the app. But some find it a little harder. Those users get an extra “boost” and find themselves presented in front of some of the most popular users on Tinder.

Rad said:

“About 89% of our users, just through normal behavior, find matches and have meaningful connections. But there are a group of users that despite swiping, I think, can’t find a match. We give them a little boost to get extra love and attention and hopefully they end up meeting someone.”

It’s initially the “meeting someone” that is Tinder’s ultimate success metric.

– “Success is ultimately defined by how much real-world interaction we can created” 

Definition

“Online dating or Internet dating is a personal introductory system where individuals can find and contact each other over the Internet to arrange a date, usually with the objective of developing a personal, romantic, or sexual relationship.”

Online dating services usually provide unmoderated matchmaking over the Internet, through the use of personal computers or mobile phones. Users of an online dating service would usually provide personal information, to enable them to search the service provider’s database for other individuals, using filters in order to find their ‘perfect match‘. Members use criteria other members set, such as age range, gender and location.

“Online dating sites use market metaphors to match people. Match metaphors are conceptual frameworks that allow individuals to make sense of new concepts by drawing upon familiar experiences and frame-works. This metaphor of the marketplace – a place where people go to “shop” for potential romantic partners and to “sell” themselves in hopes of creating a successful romantic relationship – is highlighted by the layout and functionality of online dating websites. The marketplace metaphor may also resonate with participants’ conceptual orientation towards the process of finding a romantic partner.”

Heino, R.; N. Ellison; J. Gibbs (2010). “Relationshopping: Investigating the market metaphor in online dating.” The Journal of Social and Personal Relationships

Deferences between the preference of online website:

• Most sites allow members to upload photos or videos of themselves and browse the photos and videos of others.
• Sites may offer additional services, such as webcasts, online chat, telephone chat (VOIP), and message boards.
• Some sites provide free registration, but may offer services which require a monthly fee.
• Other sites depend on advertising for their revenue.
• Some sites such as “OkCupid.com“, “POF.com” and “Badoo.com” are free and offer additional paid services in a freemium revenue model.

Online Dating Downfalls

Online dating however, makes it easier for people who have less confidence and can end up putting people in the position of having a relationship purely online. This can be cause to many people who are self-conscious about their sexuality or have trouble communicating this across to people because they are scared of what they might think and will end up being put off by them. These videos bellow show how online dating in this context has effected a group of men and women who call themselves transgender.

Reference: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (USA)

A study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences revealed that around 35% of the couples who got married between 2005 and 2012 met online. This data surely reveals how important social media has become in the field of relationships and love.

The  Internet, social networking, and online dating has affected how people meet future spouses, but little is known about the prevalence or outcomes of these marriages or the demographics of those involved. We addressed these questions in a nationally representative sample of 19,131 respondents who married between 2005 and 2012. Results indicate that more than one-third of marriages in America now begin online. In addition, marriages that began on-line, when compared with those that began through traditional off-line venues, were slightly less likely to result in a marital break-up (separation or divorce) and were associated with slightly higher marital satisfaction among those respondents who remained married. Demographic differences were identified between respondents who met their spouse through on-line vs. traditional off-line venues, but the findings for marital break-up and marital satisfaction remained significant after statistically controlling for these differences. These data suggest that the Internet may be altering the dynamics and outcomes of marriage itself.

The rise in the Internet has transformed how Americans work, play, search, shop, study, and communicate. Facebook has grown from its inception in 2004 to over a billion users, and Twitter has grown from its start in 2006 to more than 500 million users. The 2011 American Time Use Survey indicates that, on average, men now spend 9.65% and women spend 6.81% of their leisure time on-line. The Internet has also changed how Americans meet their spouse. Meeting a marital partner in traditional off-line venues has declined over the past several decades but meeting online has grown dramatically, with on-line dating now a billion-dollar industry with many markets people invest in. Experiments in which strangers are randomly assigned to interact using computer-mediated communications versus face-to-face communications show that the more anonymous online meetings produce greater self-disclosure and liking as long as the interaction is not under strong time constraints. Consistent with these experimental studies, research of online users suggests that authentic online self-disclosures are associated with more enduring face-to-face friendships. 

The demographic characteristics of the respondents who married between 2005 and 2012 as well as US Census data for married individuals indicated that the weighted sample of 19,131 respondents was generally representative. For each marriage, participants were asked the month and year of the marriage and, if the most recent marriage ended in divorce, the month and year of the divorce. As summarised, 92.01% of the sample reported being currently married, 4.94% reported being divorced, 2.50% reported being separated from their spouse, and 0.55% reported being widowed. As in prior research, marital break-ups were defined as separated or divorced and constituted 7.44% of the sample.

Online Dating has been critically acclaimed however that it is more of a ‘Taboo‘ subject rather than a serious matter. Ellen De Generes was discussing on her show the major online mobile and internet site ‘Tinder‘ in conjunction with a viral video claiming that Queen Elizabeth was using the site. This video shows a parody towards the Queens masked reaction when a person asks her opinions towards the app, this is all however, a false claim made by Elizabeth herself.

Case Study: Tinder

Tinder is a location-based dating and social discovery service application (using Facebook) that facilitates communication between mutually interested users, allowing matched users to chat. The app was launched in 2012, and by 2014 it was registering about one billion “swipes” per day. Tinder is among the first “swiping apps”, where the user uses a swiping motion to choose between the photos of other users: swiping right for potentially good matches and swiping left on a photo to move to the next one.

As seen above, the image shows the company’s slogan:

“Its how people meet”

The confidence and boldness of that statement shows a considerable amount of change within the dating game since online dating became a well-known, popular way of going about romance. VFMagazine, on 6th August 2015 published an article explaining: “Tinder and the Dawn of the “Dating Apocalypse”. Vanity Fair explains that in a typical night of the suburban downtown area of Manhattan’s ‘Stout Sports Bar‘ –

“Everyone is drinking, peering into their screens and swiping on the faces of strangers they may have sex with later that evening. Or not. “Ew, this guy has Dad bod,” a young woman says of a potential match, swiping left. Her friends smirk, not looking up.”

 

“Guys view everything as a competition,”with his deep, reassuring voice. “Who’s slept with the best, hottest girls?” With these dating apps, he says, “you’re always sort of prowling. You could talk to two or three girls at a bar and pick the best one, or you can swipe a couple hundred people a day—the sample size is so much larger. It’s setting up two or three Tinder dates a week and, chances are, sleeping with all of them, so you could rack up 100 girls you’ve slept with in a year.”

Alex,  Tinder user.

“SEX HAS BECOME SO EASY”

“I call it the Dating Apocalypse,”

says a woman in New York, aged 29.

“Hookup culture”, which has been percolating for about a hundred years, has collided with dating apps, which have acted like a wayward meteor on the now rare rituals of courtship.

“We are in uncharted territory” when it comes to Tinder.

 Justin Garcia, a research scientist at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender, and Reproduction.

There have been two major ‘transitions‘ in heterosexual mating in the last four million years, Garcia says. The first was around 10,000 to 15,000 years ago, in the agricultural revolution, when we became less migratory and more settled, leading to the establishment of marriage as a cultural contract. The second major transition being the rise of the Internet. People used to meet their partners through proximity, through family and friends, but now Internet meeting is surpassing every other form.

“It’s changing so much about the way we act both romantically and sexually,”

Garcia says.

“It is unprecedented from an evolutionary standpoint.”

As soon as people could go online they were using it as a way to find partners to date and have sex with. “In the 90s it was Craigslist and AOL chat rooms, then Match.com and Kiss.com”. But the lengthy, heartfelt e-mails exchanged by the main characters in You’ve Got Mail (1998) seem positively Victorian in comparison to the messages sent on the average dating app today, showing that in a space of ten years people’s attitudes have changed towards the way we go about the contexts of love.

Mobile dating went mainstream; by 2012 it was overtaking online dating. In February, one study reported there were nearly 100 million people—perhaps 50 million on Tinder alone—using their phones as a sort of all-day, every-day, handheld singles club, where they might find a taboo sex partner as easily as they’d find a cheap flight to Florida.

“It’s like ordering Seamless,”

says Dan, the investment banker, referring to the online food-delivery service.

“But you’re ordering a person.”

This lends the comparison between movie dating and online shopping as it seems Dating apps are the free-market economy come to sex. The innovation of Tinder was the swipe—the flick of a finger on a picture, no more elaborate profiles necessary and no more fear of rejection; users only know whether they’ve been approved, never when they’ve been discarded. OkCupid soon adopted the function. Hinge, which allows for more information about a match’s circle of friends through Facebook, and Happn, which enables G.P.S. tracking to show whether matches have recently “crossed paths,” use it too. It’s telling that swiping has been jocularly incorporated into advertisements for various products, a nod to the notion that, online, the act of choosing consumer brands and sex partners has become interchangeable.

Has Social Media changed the ‘Face of Love‘?

Social media is everywhere in our contemporary lifestyles and millions of people around the world have their profiles on these platforms. According to a study by the statistics portal Statista, the number of social media users has been on the rise globally since the last few years. And in 2014, it is expected to reach a whopping 1.82 billion. According also to the data of January 2014, as many as 74% of the global population have their active presence on social media. This immense presence and the resultant activities are reason enough for these platforms to have their influence on a wide range of events. And these include the most intricate things of human civilizations as well – relationships.

Reference: The Cut Magazine: ‘An Instagram Proposal‘

The story of the Instagram proposal for marriage is now visible almost all over the internet. But this is not unique to Instagram only. Social media has made it easier for people to get connected with one another. And this is visible across a wide range of platforms, such as Facebook, Twitter, and so on.

The account unfolds like a metaphorical slideshow of their relationship, ending with a note to look up as Parris proposed verbally, in person. Just as Diddy used Instagram to ask his long-time girlfriend if she liked a picture of an enormous diamond ring that he posted to his 3 million followers, couples are increasingly using social media as part of their marriage proposals. If Instagram and Facebook are the backbone of their social lives, it’s fitting that couples turn to these networks as a way to realise important life milestones.

Number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2019 (in billions)

This statistic shows the number of social network users worldwide from 2010 to 2015 with projections until 2019. In 2018, it is estimated that there will be around 2.55 billion social network users around the globe, up from 1.87 billion in 2014.

The Guardian have released a statement following the allegations of Video footage showing a young photographer posing a woman in front of a makeshift memorial. The question has arisen whether if its bad journalism ethics, or just the way it’s done?

A young photojournalist caught on video posing a girl in mourning after the Brussels terror attacks has sparked a furious debate among internationally renowned news photographers about how often news photographs are staged. In the footage, captured by Fox News during a live cross to Belgium on Wednesday morning, photographer Khaled Al Sabbah can be seen moving the arm of a young girl and directing her in front of the makeshift memorial, while he snaps away with his camera. Photojournalist ethics – outlined by media organizations, industry associations and major competitions – state that news photos cannot be posed.

“It’s one more example of a photographer doing something that destroys public trust in the media”

Michael Kamber, a former staff photographer at the New York Times and founder of the Bronx Documentary Center, after viewing the video.

Al Sabbah is a 21-year-old Palestinian photographer who lives in Brussels; his work often focuses on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. His photo last year of a father mourning his son during a funeral parade in Gaza won first prize in the Hamdan international photography awards and was republished by international outlets, including National Geographic.  Social Media has shown a major impact of the choices people make when supporting the ethics of photography. Controversially, social media can be a source of a ‘diary’ form, where opinion opinion can be shared not with the promise of critical debate or expectance. In an apology posted to Facebook, he said he was not working for a press agency and had taken the photo purely for aesthetic reasons, to practice and post to his own Instagram and Facebook. A picture from the event was then uploaded to his personal Instagram – where he identifies himself as a photojournalist – but was removed after commenters accused him of posing it.

“My main ultimate goal is to take an aesthetic photo in solidarity with children no more, no less, a photo that shows the humanitarian side … Fix my mistakes instead of criticising me”

Sabbah wrote in his Facebook apology.

However, the video of Al Sabbah directing the child, posted on Facebook by photographer and artist James Pomerantz, prompted a wide debate by photographers about how common posed pictures have become.

“I see it everywhere, sadly. Congo, CAR [Central African Republic] by very well-known photographers who are seemingly respected in their field,”

wrote by renowned documentary photographer Marcus Bleasdale – winner of last year’s Robert Capa Gold Medal from the Overseas Press Club of America and two-time winner in the World Press Photo competition.

Kamber covered Iraq for the New York Times between 2003 and 2012, and said posed photographs were “fairly routine” by local photographers, particularly because so many Iraqi publications were owned by political parties. “That’s what they’d been trained to do: take a picture of everyone shaking their fists,” he said. And if someone wasn’t shaking their fist, says Kamber, the photographer would tell them to do it. When covering the war in Liberia, Kamber said he saw a French photographer directing child soldiers to make it look like they were fighting. “These were famous photos on front pages all over the world,” he said. “You think it was taken in the middle of combat, it was a totally quiet day there with no fighting going on at all.” Another day, a different European news photographer in Monrovia, Liberia, led a chant with protesters, recalled Kamber. Once the crowd was worked up and shouting, the photographer grabbed his camera and starting shooting.

Iranian-American photojournalist Ramin Talaie, who also works as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism, says he has encountered many local photographers in the Middle East who don’t see posed news photos as a ‘problem‘.

“I’ve been in situations like … a political rally, where the politician did something and suddenly someone missed the shot and they yell to do it again,”

– Talaie

When he was in Tehran for Iran’s 2005 elections “this one guy literally was giving people instructions on how to do it again and moving them around to get a better light on their faces,” recalled Talaie.

Posed photos aren’t new: in response Yevgeny Khaldei posed one of the most famous photos to emerge of the Second World War, known as Raising a Flag over the Reichstag, which shows a Soviet flag being waved over Berlin. Yet in juxtaposition with problems today, as Al Sabbah points out that he is self-taught – is purely a lack of training.

“We have a lot of great photographers in places such as Palestine and Iraq. They learn photography … but they didn’t learn ethics,” said Talaie. “A lot of times, editors sitting in New York or London don’t see what these guys do to get shots.”

As media organizations close down or tighten photography budgets, staff photographers have been cut. Kamber points out that 15 years ago most news photographers would be on staff, in union jobs, and if they had a quiet day with no great pictures, they still got paid.

 

Martin Parr is a very successful and internationally renowned photographer. His work has sold in millions and he has been very commercially successful.

Parr has a very unique style of photographing and has produced images now considered classic in terms of British contemporary photographs. Parr achieves this style through his unique eye, opting to take the majority of images very close up, in addition the uses ring flash to make his images highly colourful. This style has brought Parr acclaim and has made him one of the most distinct photographers of his generation. But this same style has also made Parr one of the most controversial photographers.

Arguments that Parr’s images do not represent truth

Firstly some critics argue that Martin Parr’s work simply is too colourful and energetic to be taken seriously as a from of documentary photography. Parr’s satirical and playful approach  is potentially an argument for a lack of objectivity because he goes in which an idea to draw something from a situation, not just record what he sees. For example Parr’s distinctive style of photographing close up, such as the below image, highlights a sense  of deceit because the image is taken in this way is more of a representation of advertising language, than is it nessecary showing anything with a degree of truth.

Secondly it can be argued that Parr’s outcomes do not reflect reality as they are prone to sensationalize objects and reflect images very much in the same way to how they would be represented in advertising. This can be considered true in some of the images in his photo-book ‘Common Sense’ – and a general impression I would draw from this book is that Parr seems to evoke a deliberate ‘advertising language’, full of colour and rich in detail.  The main criticism that of this that can be drawn is that it makes Parr’s work deliberately deceptive as they are sensationalized,to show a representation of something in a way which isn’t entirely truthful, showing something for artistic  effect, not its value as a form of documentation.

For example the above image of a plate of bread is immediately made more interesting through the way Parr has staged the image; appearing on a colourful, bright table-cloth to draw intensity and emphasis to it. Furthermore the shadows draw more emphasis and presence to the image, making the subject matter appear more intense and exciting than perhaps would be expected.

A third criticism of Parr’s work is that it is exploitative of certain ideas and situations, and therefore is automatically biased and thus difficult to trust the integrity of. Perhaps one of his most successful photo-books, ‘The Last  Resort’ gave a raw depiction of life in the north of England in the mid-1980s. Many of the images featured in this series appear to show working class people in a very bad way, suffering due their improvised circumstances. There  is scope to argue that Parr’s intentions are genuine and sympathetic to the working classes, a protest against Thatcherite Britain. On the other hand this series can be considered largely exploitative because the nature of the images arguably reflect aspects of Northern life in a mocking way , implying the working classes are tasteless and have a lack of style. Parr’s role as a middle-class photographer going to the north and taking these raw and highly uncomplimentary images drew this suspicion in the press.This type of controversy has in many cases tarnished Parr’s credibility as a documentary photographer because it has questioned the integrity and general motives of his work – is he seeking to photograph truth, or is he creating a sort visual freak-show so that he is commercially successful?

 

Arguments that Parr’s work is truthful

One argument in favour of Martin Parr being truthful in what he presents in his photographs is the suggestion his photographs are just as honest as any other form of documentary work, it is just that this truth is not expressed in exactly the same way. This view is true if it is recognised that all documentary photography is a way of responding to an idea. Whilst a lot of photographers, nonetheless Henk Wildschut are drawn to photographing key ideas and features, Parr on the other hand is more concerned with photographing though out aspects of a place. For example in the below photograph taken at an English seaside resort, the most obvious things to photograph would be the masses of people enjoying being on the beach or playing in the sea. However Parr has completely reversed this idea, stead opting to photograph from the perspective of the  beach goer, with his foot the main aspect of focus and the other more usually associated aspects of the beach serving simply as a blur in the background. Therefore what Parr has done in this instance is to change the context – he is still truthfully documenting what goes on at a beach, but not what the viewer what traditionally expect to see nor associate with.

Another argument in favour of Martin Parr’s work which supports his integrity as a documentary photographer is his desire and obsession to literally document and photograph anything he sees. In the documentary ‘The World According to Martin Parr’, he admits that he is a somewhat obsessional individual who will go out of his way to photograph anything he sees, declaring that “nothing is not worth photographing”. This commitment to attempt to hold as little barrier to the degree of his photographic exploration highlights that Parr is not limited by what he perceives to be relevant. In many ways therefore it can in fact be argued that Parr is in fact more truthful than most photographers, because he does not limit himself to what he sees as truthful. Instead what the viewer sees is simply more unusual, but referring to the last paragraph, not in anyway less truthful.

A third argument to this is a direct challenge to the idea that Parr seeks to exploit people in is work, for example the controversy surrounding whether he sought to exploit the working class in ‘The Last Resort’. In his own defence, Parr refers to the fact that all photography effectively is exploitation. Furthermore, rather than actually denying he was exploitative in this series, Parr says how he “looks to exploit all classes”. If this attitude in recognised than it would bee very difficult to refer to Martin Parr as anything other than honest an truthful in what he seeks to represent in his work, because instead of using exploitation to create a fabricated picture, he is claiming than he is simply exploiting the truth and reality of an event in its fullest detail. For example the below image may be argued in two ways; either that it is exploitative because it shows working class children are rude and have no manners by getting ice-cream everywhere. Perhaps a more sympathetic argument instead would be that it shows children can make a mess of ice-cream, taking the political connotations completely out of the picture. This is a matter of interpretation.

Conclusion

Overall it is clear that Martin Parr’s work is simply too complex to define as simply truthful or untruthful, and there are arguments for both sides. I am of the position that although I recognise some of Parrr’s work is in many cases surrealist or partly illusional, I am nevertheless of the opinion that he seeks to show truth in a slightly different ways, using unconventional features such as advertising language. Therefore Parr very much balances truthful expression with his own ideas and satirical elements. Thus balancing these themes together creates work which may not appear truth but in many cases is, because of the simple fact it is a documentation of what Parr sees and experiences.