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CONTEXTUAL STUDY: DOCUMENTARY VS TABLEAUX

September 12, 2017 Zoe Pannenborg Leave a comment

Documentary usually means that something is occurring naturally and is being captured purely for recording purposes.Documentary photography is one of the most popular forms of photography and occurs all over the world environmental, social and chronicle events which have a certain relevance to history.During the first world war when documentary photography properly emerged it was used purely for ‘gathering a creative education about actuality, life itself’ says David Bate in ‘documentary and storytelling’ . the photographer wanted the images they took to be records of everyday life.

There are many different views of what documentary photography really is and is you look at it from a now modern perspective and the opinion of Tate they describe documentary as ‘a style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events, and is often used in reportage’. However there was a very different view of this before the middle of the twentieth century were documentary photography was vital for capturing key events.

Greer and Robert on the bed, NYC 1982 Nan Goldin born 1953 Purchased 1997 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78044

Nowadays documentary photography follows the lines that it shows a story through a series of photographs in depth which can be seen as different to photojournalism which is more what is happening in reality ( similar to documentary photography when it was first set up). Documentary photography gives us a deeper understanding and sense of meaning to critical events, public connections, stories of political justices, and human rights issues which are all very relevant to the audience of the photographs.

Documentary photography is very important in today’s open society as they have the ability to highlight stories and are one of this generations best chances of making people understand that change does need to happen. I think that this is why i really like documentary photography because it has the power to maybe make a difference and change the society with live in today to a better more peaceful place, and this is the type of photography which i would like to achieve this year ( something with a bigger meaning.

former combat medic with the Us army and his grandmother – Eugene Richards, War is Personal

I think that documentary photography does have different meanings to it but what interpret it as is a way of showing social, political and environmental issues which are going on around the world that our society needs to know about and a photographer which i have found really influential when researching is Marcus Bleasdale who documents natural disasters in the Congo. He photographs show true stories of real life tragedies and although his work is spreading awareness of some issues going on around the world ‘Open society foundations’ “believe that photographers can be more effective when connecting to those who are already working towards change in an ongoing way.”

French for ‘Living picture’ Tableaux photography is what it means. it is a style of artist presentation which tends to ‘describe a group of suitably costumed actors, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.’ – wikipedia. The idea of Tableau has been around since before photography when people from the middle and lower class liked to recreate scenes from paintings of famous parties. Photographic experimentation began to appear more regularly during the 1970’s were it became more known of performance art and photography among women. Cindy Sherman is an example of woman photographers immerging in tableaux photography. Brighthub state that “Cindy Sherman’s “Film Stills” series dating from the late 1970’s to early 1980’s are all narrative tableau constructions that create archetypal women from B movies – posed, staged and lit to convey meaning and message. Sherman starred in every image, making herself into art.”

Susan brights opinion on what Tableaux and narrative photography is shows that she thinks that you can create exciting staged images which still tell a story but have been created in a specific. she states ” narrative is crucial to photography, as is artificial and contemporary artists realise this and use these as strategies to tell stories”. Similar to Documentary photography narrative/Tableaux images have a deeper meaning behind them and are often telling the story of a social situation or issue.

Therefore the difference between tableaux photography and documentary photography becomes clear as tableaux photography is staged, artificial photographs which act on the before of telling either fantasy or real life situations but are not actual in the real environment/ situation. Whereas documentary photography capture real life in the moment image which have been less staged or not staged at all however still tell a very relevant and real story/ message about current social situations.

Instruction, Practical Task

Childhood Memory: “Don’t go Dad”

September 12, 2017 Harrison Cummins Leave a comment

In response to the task set, I delved into my nostalgia in order to recollect memories from when I was a little tiddler. Initially, I thought of my trip to Disney Land Paris for my eighth birthday, or my first day of secondary school or some sporting highlights. However, as my reminiscence developed, I remembered one of my earliest childhood memories but it was a darker recollection than the others.

Somehow, my three and a half year old self remembered the day my father left home. To this day, I remember exactly what he was wearing, the expression on his face and the dialogue exchanged. My then nineteen year old father was sobbing with tears running down his face as I clung on to his right leg and looked up to his face whilst my mother told him to go. He was wearing a blue Henry Lloyd fleece with a Nike tight fit beanie. I have a specific image in my head of me looking up to my father with tears streaming down his face and I said to him “Don’t go dad”. Following this argument, my father never lived with me and my mother again and has definitely changed my life, but not in a necessarily negative way. When I was seven years old, I had a birthday meal at Mano’s, a local restaurant in town in which I was surrounded by the young adults I had grown up with. After several years of conflict, my parents had finally agreed, for me, to both come to my birthday meal. It was great, I had all the lovely adults I had grown up with who had presents for me and good food (I had pasta), but most importantly my parents were in the same room after continuous phone call and text messaging arguments, they were both here, celebrating with me. The main meal passed by and out came my cake, I don’t remember the cake but I remember blowing out the candles shortly after my mum requested me to make a wish. Once all the candles were out and the applause had stopped, one of my mother’s friends asked me what I wished for. The room still silent, I raised my voice slightly higher than normal and said something along the lines of “I wish for my mum and dad to get back together”. Both my mother and father were stood with their new partners with my parents on the opposite ends of the table. A cloud of awkwardness shaded the room yet I was gleaming, it had felt liberating to release how I was feeling for so long. Of course they never got back together and the meal ended rather swiftly after that.

Fundamentally, I captured my dad wearing the exact same clothes he wore the day he left our perfect family trio. He is now in a comfortable and settled home with a new partner which contrasts with what happened the last time I saw him wearing that clothing combination.

Although the clothes are the same, my dad has changed in numerous ways, for example the beard, however, his life has changed to a more settled one but I don’t primarily live with my father.

Analysis, Artists References, Written Task

Sam Harris vs Sian Davey

September 12, 2017 Zoe Pannenborg Leave a comment

Sian Davey

Sian Davey is a photographer from Britain who focuses on taking documentary photographs of her family including her older daughter and her friends creating series of images as well as a series called ‘looking for Alice’ based on her youngest daughter who is diagnosed with down syndrome. the photos series shows her daughter experiencing and enjoying everyday life and was a huge success when it was released in 2015.

Sian spoke about in an interview with ‘Lensculture’ how she has always had an interest in photographer ever since a young age but really began taking documentary photos around four years ago and had her main inspiration from her daughter Martha which is the main theme which runs throughout the images above. she also intertwines her photography with her psychotherapy works which she feels helps her emphasise both her inside and outside worlds.

Website – Sian Davey

Michael Hoppen Gallery – Artist information

“…presents an idyllic scene that is layered with underlying tensions. It is named after the artist’s stepdaughter and grew as a response to the question ‘why don’t you photograph me anymore?” – https://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artists/211-sin-davey/overview/#/artworks/10509

Analysis

I chose this image from Sian Davey because i think the image is a clear reflection of family through documentary photography. If you know what Sian Daveys photographs or have research her works you know that this is an image of her daughter Martha and her friend. Daveys started photographing her stepdaughter as a project when the question came up in their family ‘why don’t you photograph me anymore?”. when researching this i interpreted this as a question asked by Martha because generally parents and family member take the most photographs of general family life or events when their children are at a young age and then less photographs are taken when they because teenagers because they don’t like there photograph being taken anymore. I think therefore Daveys ‘Martha’ project shows clear links of family because she is photographing her daughter growing up with her friends, which can also be seen as another form of family for many. I chose this image in particular to analyse showing links with family and documentary photograhy because of the background. You can see that they are in the family garden with their home in the background so the images is not only capturing Sian Daveys family members but also one of the biggest family momentum is the family home because it is usually where the most family memories are created and has a lot of family connotations.

The photograph shows Sian Daveys stepdaughter and her friend therefore they are the subject and the focal point of the image. they are stood outside there family home in the garden showing clear links to family and although documentary photography can been seen a lot of the time as spontaneous images of people in the moment it can also be staged and i think that this image was a mixture of both. The image is natural in the form it is their natural environment and a casual photograph of her and her friend but it has been slightly staged like family photograph would be when you decide to capture a photo of a family event and the photographer say stand over there. As i stated above i think that there has been some planning and staging for this photograph and that Daveys would have wanted the two girls to be stood central in the image breaking the rule of friends as the are in the center axis of the grid, although this works for the image as they have a balanced ratio of the girls and the background making it a symmetrical image as there is equal background to the proportion of the girls as it is taken as a long shot. that means that this image has some symmetry to it making it a nice/ aesthetically pleasing image to look at.

I don’t consider this image to have leading lines either on purpose or accidental as there are no striking lines which lead your eyes around the image. The main technique which is focusing where you look in this image is the use of depth of field through adjusting her ISO settings which has had the effect on the image that the subject is in clear focus and the background is slightly blurred and out of focus which has helped to create a natural frame as if the background was purposely framing the two girls so Daveys daughter, the subject of the whole project stands out the most. The rest of the image almost comes across as simplistic in technical terms because it is a straight on viewpoint, however i think this has been purposely done as i said before because she is trying to capture image which all families would of their children. Therefore to make it realistic Daveys probably didn’t want too much technical aspects to the image apart from i clear, good quality, well thought out image.

The lighting in all of her images are similar to the image above where they all contain and dark green background making the images themselves dark, from the trees and woodland setting that they are usually taken in. i think that this could have a deeper meaning in that Daveys is portraying what family means to them and what kind of family they are as it seems like they are earthy people and out doors spending time together a lot.

Sam Harris

Sam Harris has been a photographer since around 1990 when he started his career in london taking photographs for recording artists and also photographing editorial portraits. Further into his photographic career he went onto photographing international assignments for leading Uk publications.

Around 2000 he decided to turn his career around from looking at images that didn’t really have much sentimental meaning to him to flipping the camera and looking inwards and began to focus his photography and his loved ones, family and friends. He now has an on-going project of photographing his family and doing workshops in southwestern Australia, where he has won numerous awards for his creative documentary work.

Website – Sam Harris

Wikipedia – Sam Harris

Analysis

The image above, photographed by Sam Harris, is an image of his daughter from his on-going project in southwestern Australia called ‘the middle of somewhere’. The image is a close up of his daughter and possibly their family pet along with a necklace which could have some kind of sentimental meaning to the family. I chose this image because i think that it shows links to the topic of family through the use of documentry photography. The first link is that it is a photograph of his daughter which is clearly a huge part of his family and everyday family life. I also see the image as being a close up because he sees himself close with his family. She may be holding a family heirloom in the image or a precious necklace which means something to the family which only those close to them would understand the real meaning of it. But i also find the inclusion of the bird a really interesting aspect because it not only tells you they have a family pet but it begins to tell you about the family and what kind of people they are. Therefore from this i get that the Sam Harris family love animals, family means a lot to them, and they are a close family.

The subject of the image is his daughter, but she is not necessarily the focal point of the image. i see the focal point of the image being the hand because this is the clearest most in focus section of the image which my eyes are immediately drawn to so i think this was the focal point that Sam Harris wanted to be focused on when looking at his image. The depth of field is a key aspect in this photograph due to it highlighting the areas of the photo that he wants to be focused on but also in my view makes this image a technically well thought out image and well photographed as the use of ISO and aperture settings have been successfully used to capture a creative image where both the foreground and background have been blurred and there is a main focal point. I think that the meaning that is trying to be portrayed in this image has been well worked into the image through the techniques used as well as the use of colour in the image. The image has a strong bold background colour of orange/red, which tends to have the effect of an images mood of making them feel warm and calm. This image definitely looks calm and peaceful in my eyes and i think this is down the the colour in the image as well as the soft, natural lighting being directed on the young girls face.

Everything in the image seems to have been thoroughly though out and as if everything has been placed in the specific position for a reason. For example the girls face runs throughout the left axis of the image following the rule of thirds keep the image balanced between portraiture and the background, however it begins to break the ordinary rules of photography when the bird and the hand are included making the image slightly abstract because the image now seems to be half full in a diagonal way which is not seen a lot in photography. i think that leading lines does occur in this photograph through the lines of Sam Harris daughter face. Framing can also be seen to be used in this image through the strong block coloured background which almost frames the face bird and hand making this aspects the subject and focal point of the image.