Over the course of the summer, I took multiple photographs in a multitude of settings and places. I thoroughly enjoyed this freelance approach, photographing what I liked, espeically as each photograph withholds a personal and sentimental meaning.
Reinforcing this sense of inspiration and linking to the topic of environment, I thought I would post this collection of images in order to demonstrate and give a visual representation of the environments I get inspired by.
Throughout the process of this coming year in photography, I am going to be looking at a variety of different style of photography that will be paramount for me to present my personal study in a creative and new narrative style that I have not attempted before. I have already looked at one of the threes styles, being archival imagery. I have achieved this through looking briefly at my own personal family archive and visiting the archive of Jersey and it’s history at the Societe Jersiaise museum. This was a really enjoyable experience and it has set me up for the year to come because I aim to use these new skills learnt to help me analyse the background context of photographs deeper and I will be able to explain my now photographs better because of this. The other two style of photography will interlink with archival works and the pieces I produce from each aspect will hopefully come together to complement each other in the end result.
I have set myself a personal target this year to explore lots of new techniques and photography styles. Last year I focused solely on what was set and I feel this limited my ability to explore and expand my creativity further outside of the boundaries and therefore my outcomes were often basic and they weren’t always what I wanted in order to differentiate myself from others because I didn’t know what to do in order to make myself unique. Furthermore, my maturity as an artist has develop and artists mind has also advancement, therefore, I feel as if I am eager to try lots of new things and challenge myself in terms of exploring outside my comfort zone to help me understand what I want to be as an artist, the style I feel most attached to and so on. I hope to discover a particular look to my work and I think that looking at new techniques will aid this; this is why my ability to be experimental in photoshoots for documentary, tableaux and archival purposes will be vital for my own success. I see this year as a time for trial and error in an effort to discover myself.
Documentary
Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to record events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.
Documentary imagery drew on the idea of information as a creative education of life itself and it has been used by a range of photographers to show everyday life of ordinary people – which is what I will be attempting to achieve in the near future.
Documentary photography wished to, when first introduced, pave the way for social change as people often photographed controversial subjects very subtly to get the idea of documenting a particular event as if they shouldn’t be because the subject is seen to be a taboo such as alcoholism, much like Richard Billingham did in his series Ray’s A Laugh.
Tate says that Until the mid-twentieth century, documentary photography was a vital way of bearing witness to world events: from shoot-from-the-hip photographs of the Spanish Civil War by Robert Capa to the considered portraits of poor farmers by Dorothea Lange.
For me, documentary photography is a very powerful tool to use in order to get across a message creatively and artistically through the use a camera – a snap shot to allow us to compensate for the resistance that media has when serious topics such as mental illness or suicide are not addressed and are not put in the face of the public due to such topics being regarded as taboo. I am not saying I will be addressing such topics and issues but I believe that documentary is a perfect way to compensate for the lack of publicity it gets and artists such as Richard Billingham or journalists as early as 1880’s who documented the slums in Manhattan shows this in their work. Also, an artist, I am particularly fond of addresses less serious topics but in a humorous way – French illustrator, Cecile Dormeau tells the hidden story of women and the other side to women that society don’t regard as lady-like through her colourful and cartoon-esque illustrations and gifs. She shows women eating junk food in lounge-wear and shows curvy women in strappy tops through the characters she creates in each of her drawings. It is a form of documentary work because it is publicising something that wouldn’t get addressed in other media because it is typical to have a petite models in the public eye through brand advertising.
Tableaux
Tableaux photography is a type of art in which the subjects of image are staged. Tableaux is used to describe a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the viewer.
‘Tableau’ derived from the French term ‘Tableau Vivant’ meaning ‘living picture’. The term is relevant to many art forms including painting, where it first stemmed from and it has since gone on to become popular in photography and sculpture for visual and aesthetic representations. In the theatrical context, the actors/models do not speak or move throughout the duration of the display they are presenting during a play or show etc.
When I think of tableaux photography, bearing in mind I have never performed it myself or photographed due to the prospect of being motivated to due to my lack of interest in it, I personally do intend to concentrate my time too much on it because I feel like it wont suit my artistic style. However, I am definitely up for experimenting with the historical technique which is still in use now, mainly for theatrical reasons however but I feel like I could enjoy this style once I have planned a shoot for it. This is because I enjoy photographing people and faces. I feel like I can definitely envisage what I want to achieve once I have the subjects inf front of me , and, from what I have learnt of tableaux photography so far, it looks like it needs a lot of patience in order to make the position being performed.
An example of tableau photography can be seen when looking at the worm of Ryan Schude. He photographs set up scenes as if they have just come from a movie and I love his work. I cam across him by chance and I was instantly attracted to the images due to the mayhem that is often occurring in each image and it is always at a particular location and the subjects are all performing something different to each other which is what makes it so interesting because there is always something to look at. I also love the colours that are present in the images andf they almost look vintage which is what I presume Schude has attempted to give the idea of original tableau vivants – the costumes of each character aids this effect and the mise-en-scene.
Tableaux photography, to me is different to documentary because it is not known as much to document serious issues and its aim is not to pave a pathway for social change. This is because of where it derives from, being theatrical purposes.
His artist statement explains his work in a sentence and is revolved around documentary combine with tableaux and how he can create a snap shot moment with his camera to get an insight in ordinary peoples lives.
“My work seeks to express the surreal and the unexpected found in ordinary everyday moments. I draw inspiration from cinema and the traditions of tableaux painting as well as from direct observations of life. I am interested in combining elements of documentary and the snapshot aesthetic.”
Documentary Photography
Some artists explore family using a documentary approach to storytelling, others construct or stage images that may reflect on their childhood, memories, or significant events drawing inspiration from family archives/ photo albums and often incorporating vernacular images into the narrative and presenting the work as a photobook.
Documentary is storytelling through a series of images of people involved in real events to provide a factual report on a particular subject. It also aims to show, in an informal way, the everyday lives of ordinary people.
Documentary photography can be looked through both a objectively and subjective lens. This means the photographer can use a camera to simply record objects, people and events, however a photographer can also document objects, people and events with some sort of purpose or theme in mind. This can be to tell people’s stories and explore their lifestyles or to document more unconventional events that are not covered in the same way by the news or media. Documentary photography that is approached subjectively I personally would like to investigate.
Artist Reference – Larry Sultan Vs Richard Billingham
These are artists who photograph their parents, either using straight photography or a snapshot aesthetics, in both an informal or formal setting.
Larry Sultan
He grew up in California’s San Fernando Valley, which became a source of inspiration for a number of his projects. His work blends documentary and staged photography to create images of the psychological as well as physical landscape of suburban family life.
Sultan’s pioneering book and exhibition Pictures From Home (1992) was a decade long project that features his own mother and father as its primary subjects, exploring photography’s role in creating familial mythologies, which are myths that are constructed to deny the reality or idealise an aspect of family situations.
Sultan’s images negotiate between reality and fantasy, domesticity and desire, as the mundane qualities of the domestic surroundings become loaded cultural symbols.
In these series of photographs called ‘Pictures from home’ he attempted to preserve the memory of their home, his mother and his father. He clearly felt a lot of love and admired his parents, which is clear from the photographs he produces. When I researched Sultan’s work I came across a quote that supported this:
“These are my parents. From that simple fact, everything follows. I realize that beyond the rolls of film and the few good pictures, the demands of my project and my confusion about its meaning, is the wish to take photography literally. To stop time. I want my parents to live forever.”
The photos taken of his parents show a lot about them as individuals and the family as a collective. It also says a lot about their personalities, interests and what Sultan as the photographer, felt it was important to capture on film. It tells us a lot about his parents as a married couple, who are clearly now retired and would be now spending a lot of time in each other’s company. You can also tell by his photographs that his parents are wealth and well to do, you can tell this by their clothing as they look sophisticated and stylish for their time and also their ‘show’ like house.
His mother, I assume is fond of the colour green as photographs are taken in many different rooms of their house and there is a clear theme of green. His father is presented as a man who has been in profession that required a suit and earned a fair amount of money as in varies photographs he is dressed in a suit or at least smartly dressed, he is also shown engaging in many activities in the photos as he now has time for some well earned leisure.
As I did more research into the meaning behind Larry Sultan’s photography I learnt that his father was an orphan and worked his way up to be a vice president within a company. His father was not happy he became an artist. He started taking images to rediscover his childhood and his family, which helped him and his family ‘bound together’
ANALYSIS
This image is called ‘My Mother Posing For Me’
His mother is leaning against the wall, facing the camera, making eye-contact. His father is in the bottom left of the image watching baseball on the television. His mother is clearly the main subject of this particular image, I feel this image is showing that although they are both living together and spend most of their time together they also have different interests and things that they want to do without the other. But they will also be in each others lives. The couple wear similar outfits throughout the series of photographs, which could be to do with the fashion of the time, but also can be seen as a strong connection between the couple. They are both wearing off white trousers and collared long shirt with a purple or lilac undertone. I find this element of “matching” rather charming as this often occurs with my grandparents which results in my grandmother forcing my grandfather to change. This reminds me of my grandparents, as they often match when going to family events or when they go out together. The image is quite a square shaped photograph and the image is well framed.
Sultan’s photos have a sense of warm despite their often cool colour palette because the people he is photographing are happy in their environment. They are photographed cooking, cleaning, swimming and just generally doing what they do everyday in their retirement; which is doing the things they love and enjoying each other’s company. Sultan’s father can be seen to be a hardworking and traditional man and his mother is shown as eccentric, stylish and glamorous and yet still very caring and warm.
Richard Billingham
He is an English photographer, artist, film maker and art teacher. His work has mostly concerned his family, the place he grew up in the West Midlands, but also landscapes elsewhere.
He is best known for Ray’s A Laugh which documents the life of his alcoholic father Ray, and obese, heavily tattooed mother, Liz. I personally, looked through this book, I found it interesting to learn about a family and their story through images instead of through written research. Within the photobook there are varies photos of where he lives, the first image you see inside the book is of the area he lives in.
As you get further into the book you see varies images of the couple arguing or physically fighting. The images appear to show the mother Liz acting aggressively, while the father has a look of almost fear on his face. There are also images of his dad falling over or sat next to a toilet, where he had previously been sick into. This shows how his father was an extreme alcoholic as the images were taken as if this was the norm in their household. There are images of both his mother and his father sat on the couch eating, what looks like their dinner. Both have spilt food down their clothes and round their mouth. This is a different sight to what we seen in Sultan’s photography.
His book contains a quote by Robert Frank about his book saying ‘Flash into the face of Mom and Dad. A british family-album so cool that i can see and hear what goes on between the frames. No room for judgement or morality… Reality and no pretence. Richard Billingham is the son and he knows- his family.’
Richard Billingham describes the book to be about ‘my close family. My father Raymond is a chronic alcoholic. He doesn’t like going outside and mostly drinks homebrew. My mother Elizabeth hardly drinks but she does smoke a lot. She likes pets and things that are decorative. They married in 1070 and i was born soon after. My younger brother Jason was taken into care when he was 11 but is now back with Ray and Liz again. Recently he became a father. Ray says Jason is unruly. Jason says Ray’s a laugh but doesnt want to be like him.’
I feel like it is a chronicle of everything that hurts him. He admits that his family originally lived in a terraced house, but they blew all the redundancy money and, in desperation sold the house. After this they moved into a council tower block and this is where Ray sat and drunk all day, everyday. I think it’s endearing that Richard felt comfortable, showing both his parents at probably their worse and shine a light on how they were living for multiple years. It is not the family life we as a society are used to seeing, not because this doesn’t happen but we are not drawn attention to it. So, it shocked me that he decided to draw our attention to this and clearly doesn’t feel hate or angry towards his family as he describes them as ‘close’.
ANALYSIS:
This is an image of Richard’s dad who is standing on the right and Richard’s brother standing on the left. I found this fascinating as this is a father and son stood side by side. Normally you would be able to see some resemblance between father and son, which I find hard to recognise. His father is extremely skinny and old looking which, could be partly because of the amount of alcohol he consumes daily. It almost can be seen as a before and after image from before Ray became an alcoholic and was healthy. Also a son feeling some kind of aspiration to be alike his father is the social norm. However, this image has a different meaning as Jason admits that Ray, his dad is a laugh but he doesn’t want to be anything like him, which is not a common response you would get when taking about your father.
Comparison:
By Larry Sultan
By Richard Billingham
Both these photographs are of a couple eating a meal, they are both doing the same activity but individually. In the first photograph they are both reading a newspaper, while sitting at a table. In the second photograph I assume they are both watching television or simply sitting on the couch. So, both images are of the same thing, however they both have different meanings and show completely different things.
In the first image they are clearly middle/upper class people, who take pride in their appearance, they will be the type of couple who religiously have dinner at the table as a formal meal every night and will eat home cooked meals for every meal. This is completely different to the second image as they clearly don’t take as much pride in the way they look as they have spilt food on their clothes and round their mouth, with cats sat next to them while they eat, which is not so hygienic.
Both photographers are trying to portray a different style of life, both keeping to the theme of family. Comparing these two artists show that every family is different in their own unique ways and all families contrast with the ways they do things.
Photo-Assignment
“Make one environmental portrait using a family member/members”
I took this image of my three younger cousins, who are from Scotland, they are all brothers and are fairly similar in age. I asked the boys to all wear the same t-shirt and shorts but in different colours, this was to represent the fact they are very similar in many aspects and all have the same view on things as they were all brought up in the same piece by the same parents. However, the different colours show the differences in their personalities, their interests and hobbies. I chose to photograph the image by the sea as they all enjoy the waves whenever they arrive in Jersey and spend most of their time down at St. Ouens, where I conducted this shoot. I decided not take the image in a house because they haven’t grown up in a specific household, this would then mean it would not be sentimental like it would have been for these two artists I have studied. The photograph shows how close they are to each other as a family, they are all laughing and smiling with one another, which is a normal thing to see in their household. The overall theme of this photo is similarity between family members but also that they are all slightly different in their own unique way. The 3 brothers have a strong connection and I feel it was shown in the image. This is similar to the two artists I have conducted research on as they photographed to show some sort of connection between family members, this is what inspired my image. I also feel like there was a connection between the 3 boys and the camera as me and my cousins are close and have a strong bond with one another, which I feel was portrayed through this image. We also scattered our granddad’s ashes there when he pasted away, which makes St. Ouens a very special place for us as a family. The smiles on their make the image bright and happy, which is how our granddad made us feel and still makes us feel in his memory.
