Tableau photography is also known as narrative photography. It’s a staged set of images that tell a story to the spectator. Famous photographers include Cindy Sherman and Gregory Crewdson. I really like the idea of tableau photographs as through this you are able to create photos that you made up in your head and be able to become a whole new persona. This really interests me and I really like the style and work of many tableau photographers as well as many surrealism photographers. Through tableau photography we are able to tell new and interesting stories, either ones that are already around like myths, films or fairy tales or we can create new worlds and bring new ideas to life. I like to focus my own staged photographic work on movements such as feminism and show the stereotypes that are faced with women. I feel that tableau really benefits movements and photographers are able to express political messages that they feel strongly about.

Cindy Sherman website: http://www.cindysherman.com

Gregory Crewdson website: http://www.gagosian.com/artists/gregory-crewdson

I love tableau photography and find it so interesting, especially from artists such as Cindy Sherman. Tableau photography allows photographers to generate a sense of narrative and gives them the opportunity to tell a story about anything they please. I feel that they are able to become new personas and create new and interesting tales. This style is very thought provoking and I feel that photographers are able to incorporate movements within their work. I want my work to provoke change and to change my spectators view on the world and make them want to make a difference. There is always opportunity within the photographic world to make something new and exciting. I feel that so many photographers are able to freely express themselves through their work and successfully stage their images to create unique and interesting images.

Documentary photography is what I see as true photography and is supposed to be series of images that tell a true tale about certain individuals lives. It is a way of putting aspects of different peoples lives on record and maintaining them in photographs. Documentary photography portrays real lives and brings to light some important issues that faces our society and those living in other countries. Journalists are some of the users of documentary photography as their work is seen as factual and there is also a code of conduct that journalists go through to ensure that they are telling the truth. I really enjoy seeing documentary photography as it speaks volumes to actually see how the rest of the world is and what people are going through and comparing it to my own life and privilege. I love the documentary work of so many photographers and have recently discovered the work of Andrea Bruce who makes some really interesting photographs. Much like the extraordinary work of James Nachtwey whose work is truly moving.

Andrea Bruce website: http://www.andreabruce.com

James Nachtwey website: http://www.jamesnachtwey.com

Documentary | My Thoughts

I feel that documentary photography is really important as it shows people in different parts of the world what is going on elsewhere. I find it so important in news and maintaining to true stories and sharing peoples extraordinary lives. I feel that documentary photography speaks volumes when done in the right way and shows the world hard-hitting issues of the world and allows spectators to make change and to think more openly. I think that I will take inspiration from the realm of documentary photography and the idea of truth telling. I want to use this in my own work and show my spectators the reality of what society is like and how it is effective everyone within it. I find that documentary photography can be so powerful and really make a difference in the world provoking change and making spectators want to find out more and to make a proper change to help those less in need and to change the way we work as societies, governments and policies.

After receiving the title for this exam project I decided it would be best to break down all three of these concepts into their basic definitions

These three can be defined as the following …….

TRUTH = something which can be considered true/in accordance with fact or reality

FANTASY = something which is described, but is made up and never happened, usually seen as something impossible or improbable

FICTION = something which is described, but is made up and never happened

My Initial Thoughts ….

The Exam Project Handout gives a few paragraphs outlining different ways these topics can be interpreted. Straight away I was drawn to the final paragraph ……

“Written propaganda has been used to influence and steer public opinion with many political and religious movements claiming to possess the only true path or philosophy. Each movement has commissioned artists to embellish texts and illustrate their beliefs for public consumption and maximum impact. The communist and fascist posters of the early 20th century exemplify the power of this form of communication”

I find the theme of propaganda to be very interesting because I enjoy history a lot and have studied a bit about the role propaganda has had in shaping the course of the 20th and 21st Century. For instance political Propaganda throughout the 20th Century has proven to be an extremely powerful and manipulative tool that various Governments, ranging from the brutal autocratic regimes of Soviet Russia + Nazi Germany to supposedly free democratic nations such as U.S.A (particularly during the cold war) have used to their advantage to incite feelings of patriotism, loyalty, hatred and fear, among many other powerful emotions.

In is not an exaggeration to claim that effective Propaganda programmes have been effective to the extent of brainwashing masses of people in buying into the ideology of evil and hateful regimes which oppose standard moral standards of morality.

Propaganda has not  just been used to aid political ideology. Companies large and small, have used manipulative propaganda techniques within advertisement – drawing consumers into buying/subscribing to a certain product through repetitive commercials, subliminal messages within advertising  and celebrity endorsement, among many other ploys to draw masses of consumers in.

I find the role of propaganda therefore to be extremely interesting. Exploring this theme will enable me to explore how ‘truth’ and ‘fiction’ overlap. I will investigate whether propaganda really is just a really effective way of emphasising the truth? or in itself a mechanism for twisting the truth? or both?

Because propaganda is so hard to define and pinpoint I believe it will be a really effective theme to explore in this exam theme. The excess of propaganda which exists everywhere – both historically as well as present day will allow for an extensive exploration into its important and often overlooked role in society.

To emphasise the importance of propaganda I will ask the following questions . Some of these questions are largely open for debate, but make one think quite how scary the concept of propaganda actually is ……..

• Is it really a coincidence MacDonalds is the largest restaurant chain in the world and has some of the most sophisticated methods of advertising within the last 50 years?
• Is advertising in any way moral, especially advertising aimed at children?
• Would the Cold War even have existed without propaganda to support the masses?
• To what extent did the likes of Moa, Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin use propaganda as a way of continuing their suppressive, murderous and terrifying regimes?
• Did millions of people who volunteered and then died in various wars of the last century go into war through their own free choice/or were they lied to and deceived by Government Propaganda?
• Should major religious organisation be held accountable for their use of propaganda to influence the minds of billions of people throughout the course of history ?
• How may the 20th Century have been different without advances in propaganda/advertisement?
• Is propaganda/advertising really that bad at all and in fact exaggerated by statistics + can it even be a force for good?
• How has propaganda changed overtime and how will it be different in the future?

Summary

I have decided to go along the lines of this paragraph because I believe propaganda is an incredibly important theme to look into. It has undoubtedly shaped the course of the last 100 years because of its ability to ‘steer public opinion’. I want to use this exam time to challenge and break down the fundamentals of propaganda, looking in particular at how photography has been used as part of this trend, and particular how captions and slogans alongside images have influenced how the image is views and thus the audience impression of the intended information.

I believe that marketing of propaganda is in itself was of the most significant and important art forms of the last 100 years. Propaganda MUST be credited as a legitimate form of art because it is a creative way of expressing an ideal and leaves a powerful impact on the viewer. It is also evidence of the power art has not just as a form of expression but as a ploy for commercial manipulation.

My aim is to both embrace the techniques of propaganda but at the same time challenge its ethical and moral standing.

Over the course of my research I will begin to gather ideas of how I can respond, photographically to this theme. I don’t want to commit to an idea straight-away but instead develop a few clear concepts before deciding for sure.

Malcom X talking about the power Governments have in using media to “propagandise the nation”

Truth:  the quality or state of being true.

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

Fiction:  something that is invented or untrue.

Key words:

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

Possible artist references:

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

Initial thoughts/ideas: 

Truth: The quality or state of being true. That which is true or in accordance with fact or reality. A fact or belief that is accepted as true. These were the dictionary definition when researching the word ‘truth’. These examples are good ways to define the word however I believe that this word can be interpreted in many other ways. Truth not only stands as an actual fact, but also stands as a representation of what we believe to be true. Our memories and opinions are very powerful and we all perceive things in different ways. Truth being one of them. Whether it be focusing on the truth of statistical facts or the truth we have heard or envisioned in our minds, both show the differentiation and associations we contemplate when representing the truth.

Fantasy: ‘The faculty or activity of imagining things, especially things that are impossible or improbable’. Imagination plays a huge part of representing fantasy. Using our imagination to create things that we could only dream of is an interesting way to explore this exam theme. Creating images that hold elements of a surreal yet authentic style could be visually aesthetic alongside representing a certain fantasy you would like to portray, whether it be a representation of re-occurring dreams/nightmares or a particular interesting (spiritual) figure.

Fiction: Invention or fabrication as opposed to fact. Literature in the form of prose, especially short stories and novels, that describes imaginary events and people. This theme could be a representation of a particular fantasy story you could portray, perhaps even in a twisted and revealing way. Fiction also is a theme in which imagination plays a big part of and.making things/objects seem bigger and brighter (and almost surreal) could be an interesting factor when approaching this title.

When getting a brief overview of this years exam themes, there were a few things In the exam booklet that I highlighted in which interested me. A few key points included:

-subconscious urge

-true representation of objects

-inner vision

-cultures … Aborigional, Inca, Aztec, Polynesian

-life, death

-discovery, astronomy, astrology

-mirrors, reflective surfaces, lights

-synagogues, churches, mosques, cathedrals

A few ideas that were branched out from these initial ideas included this idea of crime photography. The fact that the first thing that happens when you get arrested is that you get a mug shot taken of you and you have to get physical copies of fingerprints, which is done in order to clearly identify the suspect could be an interesting topic to investigate. Also focusing on generalised mugshots (like the ones in passports) could be interesting to look at because they are plain and boring. Focusing on the fact that if you create an image and deconstruct/erase specific elements within that image, at what point does it not become valid? It is still an image of a person, features are still noticeable. But is there/where is the truth in misrepresentation.

Another interesting idea to look further into is social media. How we create this sort of alter-ego and this exaggerated avatar ( insinuating positive connotations) to make us more lovable and popular, and the fact that social media creates identities/identities that  are controlled by us, suggesting the fact that this person we’ve created may or may not be completely true.

Furthermore, a possible aspect that I find fascination is the concept of childhood memories. Focusing particularly on the truth meanings (specifically focusing on the comparison of memories within different age groups). An example would be how we fabricate things when we are younger. We go into a building and see big things and bold colours, however, we grow up to discover that the building isn’t actually that big (we can touch the roof with our fingers) and the colours were just in fact plain and simple. Conducting a representation of this could be quite interesting to undertake.