The thing that most inspired me over the summer was the ocean. The best part of my summer was spent near or on the sea. I always love spending time on the ocean because it is the place which allows me to think the most and feel free the most. In my opinion, the ocean is the best place to be, and it inspired me because I did a lot of photo shoots near or in the sea. It allowed me to experiment more, and be more adventurous with my photography. Here is one of my favorite images that I took over the summer using the ocean as inspiration. My friend took the picture, however the framing, setting and form of the photo was my idea.
I wanted to experiment with abstract forms by creating different shapes with my body, mainly with my legs. The lighting was really good on this day, and it worked really well with the current. The horizontal line of the sea works as a contrast to the vertical lines of my legs coming out of the water. The reflection of the light off the water, makes the image much brighter, and much more interesting. Overall, I am really happy with the outcome of this image.
For my environmental Portraits, I used the Documentary Photographer Sian Davey as inspiration. I really liked Davey’s work because she has a spontaneous feel to the environmental portraits. She always focuses on one particular character within the set of images, and this is what I tried to create within my environmental portraits. I wanted to achieve a theme within my images, slimier to what Davey does. For my project I chose to focus on my friend, who is like family to me. I wanted to do something which links closely to what Davey does in her images. According to Davey, she likes to link Psychology with her Photography, so I decided to incorporate parts of my friends personality within the environmental portraits.
Shes a very creative character, who likes to explore nature and live closely with the environment. I aimed to capture a set of images that showed this clearly through the setting and framing of each image. She also enjoys photography like me, so I wanted to interpret this within the photos. I wanted to create a natural, old fashioned documentary feel to the set of images, so I decided to edit them into black and white. I am really pleased with my final outcome because each frame is completely different, with some close ups and some far away. The way the model is positioned in each frame is also very different, so I’ve managed to achieve a vast amount of individual images which work together well.
Out of all the images from the shoot, this is my favorite one because of the framing, what shes doing in the photo, and the setting of the image. At the time of the photo, she was simply messing around in the woods, and I managed to capture a series of images of her in her natural environment. This image though is my favorite from the set because of the playful atmosphere around it.
The origin of tableaux stemmed from the multiple translations from the French language meaning either picture, art board, board, slab, writing tablet, canvas or painting. The style of production originated from the again the French phrase ‘tableau vivant’, translating to ‘living picture’. Of course the early sources of tableaux were paintings, particularly of weddings or other holy celebrations.
A Burial At Ornans was a painting constructed by Guastve Corbet, which further came to present a change in nineteenth centruy art. The piece holds a certain level of irony as the style of the image is of course that of a tableau, however, the image itself portrays the funeral of the painters great-uncle
Jean – Francois Chevrier was the first to use the term tableau in relation to a form of art photography, which began in the 1970s and 1980s in an essay titled “The Adventures of the Picture Form in the History of Photography” in 1989.
Jeff Wall is a Canadian photographer renowned for his cibachrome approach to photography and his tableaux productions. Wall’s tableaux work has ranged from 1996 to 2013.
Although Jeff Wall’s tableaux work also has the same basis of topic, all of his images have their own theme as they consist of completely different composites and colours. This coincides with how each photograph has its own story to tell.
Following the production of the movie ‘Invisible Man’, Jeff Wall decided to construct a tableaux image as he attained inspiration from it. In the film, an African American man’s color renders him invisible and is forced to live recluse in an underground room wired with hundreds of electric lights, operated by power stolen from the city’s electric grid. The character reflects upon his social segregation flashbacks to his high school experience, depicting the racism still present in America despite moves to try counteract racial discrimination, for example the Civil Rights of 1964.
Jeff Wall’s image is a direct reference to Ralph Ellison’s production, meaning he has not much of a story to reveal for himself. A unique technique of using a story and meaning already invented and created and developing on it, almost acting as a sequel to the movie but in tableaux form.
In relation to the reenactment of a childhood memory in the form of tableaux, I thought it would be important to study the work of Hannah Starkey, a British photographer who specializes in staged settings of women in city environments.
Starkey’s lighting seems to an interesting variable in her photographs as although we can clearly see the model, there is elements of shadow that cover her face, which links back to the ambiguity of the plain facial expression in environmental portraits. Note the light is all natural, which is a unique and organic feature of her photographs. When recreating a childhood memory, I would try to use as much natural light as possible.
The reason I chose Larry Sultan is because I like the structure and form of his photos. He isn’t afraid to use color yet still display a brokenness or sadness. When looking at these photos I get a sense of a dis-functional couple, this is due to every time we see this couple together there is a barrier or a distance between them. Otherwise they have been photographed on their own looking distressed as we can see in the bottom left photo or we see them obsessed with a hobby as we see in the top left photo. The people in the photos are the photographers parents. Sultan is clearly showing his family in these photos. Showing how family isn’t always easy and can be difficult sometimes. Sultan’s work is very centered the main thing that he wants you to focus on is in the middle clearly showing wants he wants the viewer to look. It also gives the photos a sense of formality as most formal photos the main subject is placed in the middle of the frame which is something we can see here. Some of these photos look very staged however there are others look as if they have been captured in the moment such as the one with the Vacuum cleaner and one with the father practicing his golf swing.
Analysis
In this photo we see the photographers father on one side of the window and his mother on the other. The father is on the outside and mother in the inside. This looks like a photo captured in the moment as the lighting in this photo isn’t perfect, it’s very much improvised using natural lighting. However, I do not think this photo is celebrating how to create the perfect photo I think it is celebrating to capture the perfect at the right time. When looking at this photo I see multiple meanings behind it.
I find the when first looking at this photo I got a sense of a dis-functional relationship like I did from the other photos Sultan has taken. I see as there is a distance between them both, the window acts as a barrier almost like the american prisons where you go visit an inmate and there is security glass separating the visitor and the inmate. This could represent that maybe someone or both people feel imprisoned in their relationship as they are not happy. Also we see the father at the window coming back from gardening (or playing golf like we discovered he liked doing in other photos). However, the mother is in the kitchen. This in itself it reinforcing dominant ideologies that women should be inside preparing food and the man should be outside working or doing “Man things”. This ideology is very popular among the older generation which again shows off their subjects old age. It could also be a reason why the mother of the photography looks so sad and distressed as she does not have a life of her own to live. I like this photo as it talks for itself.
This photo may not be perfectly framed or lighting may not be perfect but it has captured something that tells its own story to each person. This is very important for a photo as it allows the viewer to connect to the photo and have their own meaning. I like the fact the fact that the photographer has captured the subjects in such a way that they look awkward to be around each other. I like how informal the photo is as it is almost like a window into what the photographers eyes.
This photo looks as if it could have been staged and to a certain extent I think it was. I think the photographer asked the subject to practice his golf stance and he photographed this. The carpet is green just like the grass he would be on if he was actually playing golf. The main subject is almost in the center of the photo. This can be seen almost all of Larry Sultans photos as the main thing he want you to focus on is in the middle of the frame. The photo is taken in very low key lighting giving it a isolated feeling. There isn’t much actually in the photo however the fact that the photo isn’t cluttered gives the photo a isolated feeling.
When I look at the photograph I feel like the photographer is trying to show his father isolating himself using his hobby (golf). I see this a lot in the older generation as my grandfather also plays golf as is often not in the house leaving my grandmother at home. This again links to other photos as it showing a dis-functional family however this time only showing one side to that family. Its showing a man so obsessed with this hobby that he is forgetting to spend time with his wife leading to a broken marriage. Most of the time the hobbies exist as a distraction for something that needs to be talked about. This is the meaning I get out of this photo.
I like this photo as it is strange as he is practicing his stance indoors in front of the TV rather than outside in the sun. I also like the way it has been framed as like his other photos it has a sense of formality to it yet it is still informal. I also like that the carpet is green as it is almost like grass and goes perfectly with the photo, its what makes the photo special. I like the fact that throughout his shoot he has a obvious theme that can be taken in different ways and viewed in a different way by each person that views this photo.
For the photoshoot I carried, I looked at the role of the women of the house in my own circumstance – being my mum. I looked at this through documenting in a staged style, almost tableaux and it also has environmental aspects within it because the shoot is executed in the subjects usual environment and this either the home or the workplace, however, for my mum, it is both as she works from home so it is often you find her slaving away in the kitchen or her workroom and I aimed to encapsulate this lifestyle which can get quite repetitive as she said when I was photographing her by staging different scenes in which she is posing doing different household jobs. In each shot she is also looking directly at the camera – making the viewer feel quite intimidated or uncomfortable. I wanted to show her as though she stating her authority within her own home – with pride and confidence but I also wanted her to look quite vulnerable to the audience as she could be looking into the camera as to say “help, look at me, look at what I do”.
Evaluation of the Shoot
I found that the shoot and its end products turned out to be very successful and I think I will use this experience as a learning curve in order for me to improve for next time. I treated the photoshoot as an experiment of to try out different ways of photographing documentary images and it is evident in this first attempt that I focused on low angles, body positioning, facial expressions and a different camera aspect ratio to the usual 4:3 – the square for,at is not achieved through cropping on Photoshop – I achieved this through altering the settings on my camera to shoot in 1:1 in order to achieve a more vintage effect. This limited the amount of the surroundings I was able to include in each shot but I attempted to focus on the main objects in the frame, being my mum and the event she is doing and the object needed for this – for example, the sink, the work unit, the stair case and the armchair.
The first room in which I photographed my mum was the kitchen. I already had the idea for the action being performed to be her washing the dishes.
Before the shoot, I took some reccee shots to decipher and terminate which position I wished to have my camera in for the best results. I was aware that I wanted a low angle shot but this was difficult to achieve due to the small sized of the room. I found a spot where I could get a good frame which included the main areas of the kitchen, including my mum in the middle. I first started out using a tripod as I thought this would be easier to capture good quality shots at a low angle – which is quite awkward to photograph hand-held, however, this is the technique that prevailed in the end. As the shoot went on, I found that mounting my camera on a tripod in a tight corner was quite difficult especially when I had to direct my subject to change her position. Therefore, for the most part, I ended up not using a tripod and instead myself. I would lie on the ground on my front and point my camera up to the subject manually. This proved to be much more effective to achieve the drastic low angle I wanted.
However, what I found most difficult during the shoot was being able to focus the subjects face as I was in a rather awkward position in order rot get a full clear view of the camera’s screen as I could not use the viewfinder feature in this instance.
As well, I struggled to choose a pose which my mum would attempt to act out for me as I did not know what would look best nut I already had this image in my mind of how I wanted ach shot to look – vey serious, quite uncomfortable for the viewer but telling a story of a mum who rarely leaves which rarely leaves the house during the day and has the work-load of providing for the other occupants within the house. I wanted to get this across through the documentary style I took.
For example, the image above was the first image I took during the shoot and it was mainly an experimental sot to see whether I liked the look of this style. However, I opted not to proceed with this style of the rest of the shot because for me, the image looked to overloaded and it did not have the clean and polished affect I wanted due to the foregrounded object obstructing most of the frame. Even though this was intended, I did not like it at all.
The look I wished to achieve form the image above was a fly-on-the-wall effect; as if the viewer is discreetly watching the subjects movements through a peep hole. I placed the camera within the washing basket which has holes in and I pointed the lens through one of the gaps and focused on the subject to allow the basket to become out of focus, in order to make my mum the focal point. I realised that the image would look something like this but when I reviewed my efforts, I was not attracted to the way it looked and I decided it would be in my best interests to continue with a more traditional approach to photographing but with my own personal touches. I don’t feel like you ca et the same feeling towards the image when there is foregrounded objects obstructing the view because I feel as though you, as the audience are not connected with the subject and are not building that relationship enough with them because of the fly-on-the-wall effect. However, with the tableaux style, the audience can really begin to build a relationship with the subject within, especially as she is looking directly at the camera – breaking the normal conventions of documentary photography where the subject is seemingly unaware of the presence of the photographer. However, I wanted my mum to attempt to represent her role in the house and for her to do this in a way which shows her as vulnerable and this is aided by the style I adopted.
In David Bates book, Art Photography, in chapter three which cover the topic of Documentary and Story-Telling, he writes “documentary drew on the idea of information as a creative education”. The way I interpret this is that: providing a visual story or visual element to physically view is another way, if photographed in the right way, to educate people and inform people of relevant issues, just form that ne image or “photo essay”. I do believe that a photograph has the contextual and technical power to achieve this education – a creative education and this is what I am aiming to do in the shoot and edits which follow.
Again, this image above was another experimentation that I attempted to do to give a different perspective however, it did not work. I also want the photoshoot to be consistent in the way each shot was photographed, just in different rooms of my house. However, I would not be able to do this in each room that we shot in so this would not be appropriate to show as part of the final images but was useful as an experimentation but the reflection of the window is too over-powering and it fades out the subject.
The Edits - Final Images
Image taken in the kitchen, mum doing the dishesImage taken in the dining room, mum sitting downImage taken on the landing, mum looking downImage taken in the lounge, mum relaxingImage taken on the staircase, mum polishingImage taken in the workroom, mum at the sewing machine
Theory
Something I found quite interesting came not from the post photoshoot stages but the post editing stages when I decided to actually show my mum the images I had produced form the shoot she had no idea about until I called upon her to help me out with it at the last minute – something I do often if I need some assistance with models.
During the shoot, I had given very little details to my mum about the aim of the photoshoot and what is what for, as well as what I wanted to achieve from it and way I was even doing it. I gave enough information to her in order for her to know what she needed to do however. As well, throughout the shoot, I had snapped about 55 images and not one of them did she see. I also do this with any other portraiture shoot I carry out due to the inner worry of being judged if I was to show the subject what I was actually producing. I only enjoy showing people my products once fully completed – which would usually be after the photoshoot, after I had gone through them and defined which ones I would work with and then the final stages of editing. Only then would I show others because I feel I would get satisfaction out of showing something I feel proud of as I know my family would appreciate this too and would recognise the hard work I have put in. Yet, there is something disconcerting and worrying to me about showing my subjects the images I have taken of them due to the potential inner damage it could cause to me if they don’t “get” it or understand it. However, I have previously experienced the issue where when showing the model the images I have taken halfway through the shoot, they begin to doubt themselves and their attractiveness in front of the camera – this mostly being females. For example, when I worked with my girlfriend on previous projects she would comment on how “ugly” she looked and I experienced this for the first time with my mum after the point which I had shown her the edits from the documentary shoot.
What I find interesting however, is that for this shoot, I was not particularly aiming to show glamour or beauty, I was concentring more so on the message I could present but as soon as I showed my mum the images, the first thing she comment on was the way she looked and her exact words, as I flicked through the images were “oh, no, I look so gross”, however laughing as she said in a comedic way. She then went on to state how from the low angle I had adopted, you could see her double chins. To me, she was more focused on how she looked and how herself was being presented, not the character I wanted to portray. This is what contributes to the worry I have of showing others my work because of the reaction I may get where the focus of their comments is leant more towards how they look for the camera and they are often not pleased with it. It is at this point where I begin to question my own work and whether it holds any quality to it.
From my own view and perspective on the outcomes of the photoshoot I have now named ‘This Is Your House, Mum’ for obvious reasons relating to authority, I am pleased with the results because I feel I have ben consistent in the way I approached each shot and this has paid off for the overall look of the final selection of images which I believe would work nicely as a selection of four or six together.
This is my favourite image out of the six because of the successful composition and framing. I feel my mum is positioned in a great way here in order for her to, through the image, connect with viewers through her looks and her body positioning as she stands vulnerably yet statefully on the stairs with her hand on the banister as she polishes it.
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.
“…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.
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.
After studying two artists which both focus on producing documentary images revolving around the theme of family, in particular, parents, I have realised that documentary photography is a great means of showing the lives of people as if you are a fly on the wall observing their every move. Documentary photography can also be a way of degrading the lives of ordinary people by capturing the often monotonous and repetitive routine thru go through, which is evident in Richard Billingham’s work on his parents who live in a council flat. However, in a way, documentary imagery can be a way of romanticizing the events which occur in the shots because if you look deeper into the photo’s context, the photographer could be representing the subject as privileged, like in Sultan’s work on his family.
Idea #1
Furthermore, it is so easy to document events yourself to produce a visual catalogue of different stories. We document things which are so simple on a day-today basis, using smart phones and tablets. We may not realise it but when we take out our phone to record a video or tale a picture of a moment in time, you are then recording that particular moment in order for it to have meaning and a special purpose when you look back at it. The endless photos you take which are stored on your phone in it’s own gallery is an example of a personal archive. Technology as simple as smart phones makes saving memories much more easier and it is hard to argue why this is a negative. However, people can begin to over use their technology and often abuse it’s purpose and you can end up not living in the moment which is what is most special but I believe there is something very satisfying about looking back at old memories, whether it be from two weeks ago, a few months ago or ten years ago. I have briefly covered this because I feel it is an important and relevant issue for us as consumers of media to understand and that to produce visual documents is as easy as snapping a perhaps blurred picture without much thought gone into the composition. I wish to incorporate this concept into my personal study at some point because I feel it could tell a very powerful story about the positives of technology but about how destructive it can be to out society and the ability to socialise traditionally. We can become so addicted to our phones. I came across a photographer who addresses this issue by photographing real-life situations of people of their phones, however, with the phones removed form the shots to show how addicted we’ve become.
American photographer Eric Pickersgill removed the smartphones and digital devices from his portraits of everyday life. The project “Removed” aims to show our addiction to technology and hyper-connectivity, and Pickersgill claims that he’s also amongst the addicted, and I too, can admit this.
The project was inspired by some observations the photographer made in a New York City cafe one morning:
“Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY is so disconnected from one another. Not much talking. Father and two daughters have their own phones out. Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family. Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online.”
He achieved the surreal effect in his photos by asking strangers and friends to remain in position, removing their cellphones, and then taking the shot. Here are some of the shots from his series:
The concept is very simple yet the context is very complex and I feel like it is a great series of images with powerful meaning behind it. This series by Pickersgill is a form of documentary photography and it addresses a very relative subject to our modern day with he ever-growing proliferation of technology and the need to be up to date with all the current affairs, whether it be news, fashion, music, celebrity gossip or to chat with your friends – we are always on our phones and the images above are a very clever way of showing this. You can see that mot much has gone into the editing or actual composition and framing of the photo because most of the quality lies in the context and concept.
In terms of my environmental documentary photoshoot, I feel it would be a good experiment to do a photoshoot similar to this using the people in my house when glued to their phones, smart watches, the TV, laptops or games consoles. I will aim to remove these items or I may photograph the person with the object also in the frame to reduce it to its most simplest form.
Idea #2
My second idea for a photoshoot to complete this week is also based in my home and it will focus on one particular occupant of the home – the one person who is in the house the most – my mum. I have an idea to photograph my mum in each room of the house, or at least the ones she uses most often to create a nice little series of images.
When I was given the task to produce a photoshoot based around the theme of documentary and environmental, and after looking at the works of Larry Sultan and Richard Billingham, I began thinking of different themes and different styles of photoshoot I could look into and began thinking about what I could produce relating to the themes family as well as environment and the relationship people have to different locations. I decided that a could starting point for me to develop my understanding of documentary photography would be to concentrate on my mum and her everyday routine in the house but stage each shot as though it was setup, almost like a tableux image. I would achieve this effect through the subject looking into the camera and I would not attempt to capture her when she is not expecting it, I would look more at the effect I can achieve if I ask my um to pose in a particular way or position her body in particular when doing different tasks around the house, such as hoovering, cooking, using her sewing machine or washing the dishes etc. I would like for the style to be quite serious to get the message across that she is taking pride in her home in the way she looks at the camera. I would edit the images and put a heavy focus on contrast and making the shadows pop out the photo.
A photographer who focus much more on tableaux photography is American artist Gregory Crewdson. He achieves a captivating look through the colour palettes and the locations he chooses which contribute to the overall feel of the image. They have very vintage looks to them due to the props used when photographing in houses and the scenes are very memorable. His photographs can be recognized very easily.
His series, Cathedral Of Pines was critically acclaimed for it’s tremendous efforts to achieve something very different. It took two and a half years to shoot and, typically for Crewdson, required the kind of preparation that usually attends a Hollywood film: months of casting, location hunting and storyboarding, with an extensive crew to oversee lighting, props, wardrobe, makeup and even some special effects involving artificial smoke and mist, as The Guardian Online writes.
This is only for me to look at to understand the style and look I intend to achieve if I was to do a shoot like the one I have just mentioned and it would definitely not be as professional slick-looking due to the limited time and budget I have! However, I love the work of Gregory Crewdson and think it is amazing how you can capture something so enthralling through an image.
The definition for Documentary Photography is: “Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.” The purpose of documentary photography can essentially vary among the individual purpose of the individual using documentary photography to achieve a desired objective. The spectrum of opportunities available are very wide in how documentary photography can be used to document a series of events and inform others, by exposing them to the historical context of the documentary and within this, the social, political and economic contexts. What stands out with documentary photography, its purpose was never although to inform, was to necessarily influence our view on something (like an advertisement) but more so to broaden our gaze what the wider world is really like. For the viewer this is particularly useful in understanding other people’s perception of the world in order to help us recognise where we stand on certain views. Examples of this throughout history have been to document the hardships of child labour and poverty. An example of another photographer’s work documenting child labor is Lewis Hine. Here he used documentary photography to show us and allow us to explore these suffering people’s worlds and day to day experience by documenting their living conditions.
Aside from this point, regarding to the idea of documentary photography documenting the realities of life. This style of photography can be used in a more fiction based style that show how the artist perceives the world around him and how this has affected him and his daily life. The collection of photographs building up to a certain point or issue that the photographer leads us to is essentially a story, which can be either more fiction based or factual. Either way the idea of a story allows us to comprehend the result of our actions as it leads us in a direction where we may not necessarily feel in control of. In respect of this we then have to live and accept with it unless we want to take action and change the wrongdoing of what the documentary photography is showing us. Therefore documentary photography can be a powerful tool in ensuring people are informed of the wider world. Evan today contemporary photographers show through the use of documentary photography that there is perhaps more child labor and poverty today than there was back in the 19th century. For example, photographer Chris Steele-Perkins documents the realities of the wider world that we in the sophisticated and western hemisphere are ignorant to.
On the other hand tableux photography shows a slightly different side of the coin but could have potential in using this style of photography for similar purposes for documentary photography. The definition for Tableux photography is “a style of photography where people are staged in a constructed environment and a pictorial narrative is conveyed through a single image.” This arguably makes it harder to achieve similar principles of telling a story as compared to documentary photography however I believe it can be achieved but through more levels of subtlety. For example, you could capture an event on camera but also showing possible reactions of those around allowing us to lead on and expect how a story might turn out with eventual consequences perhaps. It must be taken note of that to tell a story for the photographer to communicate an intended message through a story captured “accidentally” is rather difficulty and for that reason, Tableux photography is generally staged. With added subtleties, it can be harder for the viewer to understand the message of the photograph compared to documentary photography and so can be left more often than not to be interpreted by the viewer. Photographer Anna Gaskall uses the idea of staged and Tableux photography to construct images that perhaps reflect her view or opinion of the world and so, as that is very quite personal to her, she wishes to convey her feelings towards a particular feature of the world that can’t be expressed through documenting the reality, but only the fantasy which is where this is linked to both styles.
Because these photographs are more often staged there is a strong sense of control as to how each part of the photograph makes up a strong composition and therefore there is arguably more significance as to each individual part of the photograph in telling a story. For that reason, it is accepted that these photographs are often exaggerated to get the message across and so unlike documentary photography, these photograph’s purposes are less so to inform but more to persuade, influence or alter my opinion. Therefore alongside the fact that documenary photography may pose to show a certain reality of life, Tableux is essentially the opposite as it creates a more fiction based story to tell us. Fiction or not, both forms of photography are extremely effective if used in the correct way at communicating messages on very similar subjects.
This photograph fascinates me because of the use of documentary style photography but how also how elements of Tableaux photography are incorporated. For example this appears to be a quite a middle to upper class setting. Evidence to suggest this is the well lit environment, the high quality clothes, and the general objects in the photograph that appear of value. This is interesting because the objects, especially the women doesn’t necessarily appear happy which emphasizes the meaning of how money can’t buy you happiness. It is almost as if they are trying to impress us with all the objects in the photograph that they are trying to mask some of their own difficulties. In this sense this shows the documentary side of the photograph as it is documenting the daily life of these people and is expressing to us quite intimately their feelings. Interestingly, focusing on the woman she appears to reflect feelings of isolation. I can tell this because she is standing up against a wall, something that reminds me of a prison photograph, telling us how she feels trapped. She has a TV next to her where presumably her husband is watching that. This shows the fact she is stood next to a TV and brushed aside suggests that her husband is giving more affection and time to his TV than her and so she is subordinate to the TV. Clearly the couple are elderly and so this reflects the days where women are seen as objects. By how she is staring at us through the eye contact shows she is trusting us, a stranger and that perhaps explains how insecure she feels. However the fact, that this photograph appears slightly staged, giving reference to how well presented the environment is and so which appears quite fantasy like, it shows a more of the Tableaux side in how this composition is trying to tell us a story.
Richard Billingham, Ray’s A Laugh
This photograph is somewhat different to Larry Sultan’s work of documentary photography. I believe the subtleties in this compared with the previous photograph are much more refined and intricate, showing a much more accurate picture of most people’s lives. That is not to say the previous photograph, doesn’t show real life, it does, only just from that women’s perspective. Here however we see a man and woman who are despite both sitting and standing in a similar way as to the couple in the previous photograph, appear much more active, open and authentic in their relationship than before. For example the man and woman are facing each other in a more open manner but still look as if there is some sense of unhappiness or worry between the two. However where both artists strikingly differ is the fact that previously it displayed the problems of middle class issues, whereas Billingham’s parents show more of a lower class environment. Interestingly this photograph conveys the struggles of every day life from the perspective of a joint and collective struggle that somehow the issue of poverty concerns everyone within the household. Whereas before it showed the daily struggle form the perspective of the woman. On this idea of a collective struggle, this is particularly interesting because it makes us the viewer feel somewhat inclusive in the environment and it’s objects. I believe this is why the couple appear much more active together due to the fact that what is bringing them together is the struggles of daily life. Therefore this binding relationship is one that is so focused on economic principles, that it doesn’t have time to allow other principles such as social and family principles to grow. This is clearly a great shame and we can see the direct results from this in terms of the couple’s relationship. Therefore this communicates the problems money creates on a wide scale.
I have chosen these two artists, Larry Sultan and Ray Billingham because after looking at Billingham’s photobook, Ray’s A Laugh, I was instantly drawn to his work, in an emotional sense. I found his work very powerful and I think that it really told a story of his life and his background, consisting of his parents. In his book, he told a narrative of how his parents live and through the images, he depicted this is as very obstructive to the lives of the people around them – as if the way his parents live have affected him and his brother having to grow up with it. Both Billingham’s parents have an addiction of some sort – his father being a very heavy alcoholic and his mum being very reliant on cigarettes. He told a story through snap-shots of the conditions they live in on a daily basis in their council estate in a flat. The style of Billingham’s work really resonated with me and I found it very captivating to the see evident boundary that splits the two lives of Billingham’s parents and Larry Sultan’s parents who love, what seems like, very luxurious lives looking at the way they dress, eat and live within their home – Billingham’s family life looks very insignificant when put together with that of Sultan’s and the two contrast makes it very satisfying to notice differences and infer these differences to draw conclusions.
Cover of Ray Billingham’s book, Ray’s A Laugh
Both artists have taken a documentary approach in their series of works. They have both set out to document and produce a catalogue of images that depict their family lives in order for the audience to either sympathise with the photographer as they photograph a subject close to their heart that has a effected them, or to sympathise with the subjects of the images, in Billingham’s case. However, Sultan’s purpose out of his series, ‘Pictures from Home’ is to give the audience an insight into the lives his parents leads. He doesn’t wish to tell as much of a story for his viewers to question him about, like Billingham but a pendant for his parents. He says “it has more to do with love than sociology”. He used his photography to provide something that will last a life time for his parents.
Cover of Larry Sultan’s book, Pictures from Home
Larry Sultan
Larry Sultan was an American photographer from California and was a very influential photographer for many reasons and he definitely shaped photography for others who would follow, following his sudden death in 2009 at the age 63. During his active time as a photographer he carried out many series which were described as, like he was, very guarded, sincere and seductive. He was a great success and this was evident from his teaching career at the San Francisco Art Institute for 10 years. His dedication to photography earned him the Guggenheim Fellowship, an award dedicated to those “who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts”. and he also had his work exhibited in museums of the United States.
With regards to his series, ‘Pictures from Home’, this was something he worked on for nearly 10 decades. ‘Time’website writes, it is, in some sense, an aggregate of mini-collections: Sultan’s aging parents, stills from old home movies, transcribed interviews with his parents, and family snapshots appear side by side, creating a quiet but profoundly stirring portrait of familial intimacy. What makes Sultan’s family photobook different from the countless other artists who attempts it is the such intimacy that is delivered through the pages which touch the reader. He alternates between past and present in the book and puts together a collective that holds personal meanings through the use images and text which engages with class, memory and physical and emotional beings.
A Collection of Images from the Book
Sultan captures moments as far as his parents in bed together enjoying a time together as a couple -something which would be quite intimate but he depicts their life to the fullest as the pair look completely oblivious in order to get the fullest effect of it being a snap-shot.My Father Sleeping, 1984Other accounts within the series shows his parents looking directly into the camera, a technique I like in order for the audience to feel with the subject is feeling
One thing I admire about Sultan’s images is the colours he captures from each image. I believe this in mainly due to the décor that his parents house possessed. It is obvious from the colours, bright and eccentric, that his parents house was luxurious for the them. An image that is evident of this is the image where his mother and father are both in the lounge/dining room together and they have bright green walls surrounding them as well bright green carpet underneath them.
Artist Analysis
This sort of image reminds you of the retro rooms you see in houses of vintage films. It is very 70s but to the luxury we see here in comparison to Ray Billingham’s council flat was a novelty to them.
Relating this image to documentary and the functions and features of documentary photography, it is very clear to see that this particular (above) plays the role of a source of imagery that simply documents what goes on the household of the Sultan’s during the time taken. From looking at the image, I get the sense that Larry Sultan has simply held his camera to his eye in this position he found himself in what seems to be the lounge and, like the style suggests, snaps this one second in time which features his mother and father conversing with each other. The composition is very basic and Sultan would have intended to frame both his parents in the shot in order for the audience to get a sense of their day-to-day lives which consists of relaxing at home and enjoying the company of one another. You can see that the image is slightly slanted and is not completely straight but this adds a likable amateur look to the photograph.
I would imagine that his parents would not have been expecting Sultan to take this image at the time; they would have been going about their evening normally and it is very unlikely that this scene is staged, like a tableau because the whole point of documentary imagery is to capture the lives of ordinary people, most of the time, when they are not watching or expecting it. This is what makes the image above so captivating because you, as the viewer feel as though you are a fly on the wall and are supposed to be viewing inside these strangers lives – documentary photography, in some ways is a means of being nosy and intrusive of other lives – something I find very enthralling when I come to producing my own.
Something I have noticed about the photo, which I really enjoy and think is perhaps an unintentional addition to the photo is the way Sultan’s parents are sat apart from each but there is a empty chair in the middle of them. His mother is on the sofa and his father is at the dining table with his wine glass, seeming as though they have just finished their evening meal and the lady of the house has gone for a sit down. Sultan has captured the scene from his point of view where on one side is his mum and the other his dad, but in the middle of the two is a lonesome chair with no one occupying it. The chair is facing the camera and for someone who would be sitting in it, they would be looking straight at the camera, however, his mother is looking towards her husband and this empty space in the middle seems quite disconcerting and unnerving for the viewer. It’s as though they are waiting for a presence to come along or there is this invisible presence splitting the two. Looking at the facial expressions of the subjects. they are looking quite dull with no emotion, perhaps they have just had a row.
Sultan on hs website in his statement about the series comments on how the works are more about love and it is about showing this familiarity of love in families and the members within them and the relationships which are held. He says he wants his parents to live forever and this is a dedication to them. This is has allowed him to construct his series very thoughtfully in order for it to be a time-travelling tool to relive history that would have passed.
In the series, the boundary between documentary and the staged is blurred as Sultan includes efforts to position his mum and dad in positions and poses fro the camera at times but at other points, the format of images is so very informal and relaxed like inn the above where there is no thoughts of showing any emotion for the camera. The reality of living normal lives without presenting anything false for the camera is backed up by the clutter that lies around on the table and on the side unit.
A page from ‘Pictures From Home’
Ray Billingham
and artist comparison
Richard Billingham, you could say is completely on the other end of the spectrum to Larry Sultan in the way his parents live and in the message that Billingham wanted to force through to the viewers of his series ‘Ray’s A Laugh’. His parents led completely different lives of that of Sultan’s and it is evident in this very captivating catalogue of works for may different reasons compared to Sultan’s. Billingham as a photographer has become a household name for documentary photography and he received lots of reception, mostly positive about the way he addressed the topic of alcoholism in his father and audiences, including myself have loved looking through his published book about the state of which his parents lived in their council flat. He said ‘I just hated growing up in that tower block’ and this is what spurred him to photograph it. The Guardian Online published an article about the series and wrote ‘The photographer was a pioneer of ‘squalid realism’ with his images of his parents’ dreary, drunken existence in the Black Country, which won him a Turner prize nomination. Now, with the help of ‘White Dee’, he’s turning their life into a feature film’.
* Squalid / (of a place) extremely dirty and unpleasant, especially as a result of poverty or neglect.
Richard Billingham had a very touch upbringing and I believe this is what contributes to us as the audience being able to sympathise with him in terms of the way he was brought up, yet he still manages to capture a series so beautiful in it’s narrative. The brief of his teenage years goes as follows: he didn’t even take a photograph until he was nineteen. This was when he was living with his alcoholic father, Ray in flat on the seventh floor of a council block in Birmingham. He’d actually just begun an art foundation course at Bourneville College and was working every night to pay his way stacking shelves at the local Kwik Save supermarket, as ‘The Guardian’ writes.
The first pictures Billingham took, with a camera bought on credit after he persuaded the shop assistant he was a librarian, were of geese and ducks in the park, “just to see if they would come out”. He then trained his viewfinder on Ray. (words from The Guardian). He also said that the pictures he took of his dad were rare and that the film cameras he used own were to expensive to develop. This suggest that maybe Billingham always wanted to get into photography was always eager to be creative but never had the chance due to the circumstances he and his family were in. This series he produced could maybe have been a compensation for the times lost when he was younger as he watched over his mother and father physical and mental state deteriorate – a conclusion I can draw just from looking at the photographs included in the book as you see his mother and father slouch on the sofa eating their dinner with food-stained clothes and junk food packaging strewn across the grim carpet.
A Collection of Images from the Book
An image of Billingham’s mother grinning as she weans a new-born kitten, presumably from the new litter she would have bred as Billingham claimed she loved animalsHis parents eating their dinner together on the sofa. You can see a very noticeable contrast between the living conditions of Billingham’s parents and Sultan’s as this image represents two recluses sat in the living room eating dinner as opposed to a dining room. They are surrounded by washed out wallpapers and dirt-covered furnitureYou can see Billingham may have used the flash of is camera at points throughout the series when you look at the dog’s red-eye as it licks the substances off the ground and you wonder how the pets survived in conditions like this.
There is something about the images that I see in this collection by Richard Billingham that makes me feel very uncomfortable and on edge to look through them because I can sense, just by looking at the images that the tension within the house of the Billingham’s would have been very unpleasant to witness, especially between the two parental figures, who seem to be the most vulnerable yet should be the ones with their loving eye gazing over their sons yet, in the image above, it looks like the mother has her fist up at Ray’s face mid-way through a row. The facial expressions from both halves portray a sense of anger yet regret or upset. However, as much as it is not pleasant to observe the events that occur in the images, it is essential to do as it opens your eyes to the reality – once again – this is what documentary is; reality being forced directly to the viewer. I feel very connected when analysing the events that occur in the images because each photo has a meaning behind it, a story – this is a similarity between Billingham and Sultan, that each image represents a moment in time and that the collection of photo produced tell a story. Looking at the two contrasts re-defines the meaning of family as I am being told about two different situations – one of love and one of agitation.
Artist Analysis
This image, to me holds a very strong and powerful message as it sums up the whole meaning behind the series, ‘Ray’s A Laugh’. It shows Ray’s wife bringing him his dinner, which looks like two boiled eggs and some toast. The simplicity of the dinner reiterates their need for simplicity and being basic in their life choices. It shows Ray sitting don on the sofa with his dogs and his wife coming over to him with his dinner as conjures up a smile as this moment in the day is probably his favourite. He puts out his hands as his wife looks at him drearily and it is a shot which makes the audience think of family. It is a typical scene of the lady of the house bringing dinner to her man as he relaxes on the sofa ready to enjoy a relaxing evening with his wife. This usually occurs in men who have ben at work all day and women who have spent the day at home cleaning and cooking, however, for these two, it is likely they have spent the day on the sofa and what is seen above is there everyday life – it has the sense of repetitiveness an this is what is ironic because something so simple for Ray is what brings him joy as he probably doesn’t have much else to provide him excitement.
The state of the house is shown by the surroundings. The walls are caked in dirt and grease and filth, there are cardboard boxes with what I can only imagine is junk which has been hoarded over several years. There are cheap-looking decorations hanging off the walls which at ornaments which Billingham’s mother has collected as he claims she loves little knick-knacks. The two subjects themselves don’t look clean and it is though they fit it with their surroundings perfectly and they have become part of the house over-time. The whole look of the image is very sad and the audience can sympathise with what is going on.
The wife is holding in her other hand as she oases over the boiled egg for at some breadsticks which you can only bare to imagine that this could be her dinner as she has had to focus on pleasing her husband. You could draw a conclusion that perhaps if Rau does not get his evening meal, if may get aggressive and retaliate and this prospect because it is breaking his routine. He is an alcoholic and Richard Billingham stresses this as in almost every shot in the series is a greasy recycled bottle filled with a brown, thick liquid said to be the homemade brew his father makes.
I find it hard to believe that Billingham has he courage to construct such a personal visual documentary of images because it is such a personal subject that encapsulates the hardship his parents have been living for the most part of their lives and how it has affected the ones around them, including himself but the context of the series is what makes it so thrilling to view.
His video art piece which re-imagines scenes from his book released in 2000, ‘Ray’s A Laugh’.
For example, the image above was the first image I took during the shoot and it was mainly an experimental sot to see whether I liked the look of this style. However, I opted not to proceed with this style of the rest of the shot because for me, the image looked to overloaded and it did not have the clean and polished affect I wanted due to the foregrounded object obstructing most of the frame. Even though this was intended, I did not like it at all.
Again, this image above was another experimentation that I attempted to do to give a different perspective however, it did not work. I also want the photoshoot to be consistent in the way each shot was photographed, just in different rooms of my house. However, I would not be able to do this in each room that we shot in so this would not be appropriate to show as part of the final images but was useful as an experimentation but the reflection of the window is too over-powering and it fades out the subject.
