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Experimentation, Personal Investigation

Shoot // white body // edits

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The following shoot was done during the Christmas holidays.  The weather was bad which made the shoot much more difficult. The aim of the shoot was to capture a model painted white in a vast empty landscape. The meaning of the shoot was to resemble the feeling of being lost, or invisible among the world around us. We become trapped within ourselves as we’re forced to become part of the normal expectations. We lose who we are. This is what this shoot is meant to represent. By painting the model white and placing her in a bleak landscape she becomes part of it, almost invisible. I also decided to paint the model white to represent her losing her identity.

When editing the images I wanted to experiment with the use of colour to see how this would effect the overall mood. I really liked the black and white edits because this emphasized the bleakness of the images which I planned to exaggerate.

Analysis, Artists References, Creative Pathway, Personal Investigation, Photobook Design, Practical Task, Preparation

Luce Family Crest

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On my return to Societe Jersiaise after the Christmas break, I re-started my studies from where I left off before Christmas immediately but instead of looking at old Jersey postcards, I began something a little different and hopefully more beneficial to my studies at school for my photography project – the tasks completed on Monday morning of this week has already proved much more beneficial to me than my previous tasks at the SJ. So even though, different to before Christmas, I still got straight back into the swing of things as I had an idea of what I wanted to achieve in my first session back before I attended the SJ. I didn’t want to continue with my study into the old postcards of Jersey because they were not providing me with what I wanted from my time at SJ. I wanted to find representations of Jersey as an old honeymoon destination but this was not being achieved and I felt my time wasn’t being used efficiently and it was getting a little repetitive so I suggested for me to move on form this and begin something new. I suggested my idea to Karen and she backed this up and gave me the all clear to go ahead with my intentions; my idea was to look through relevant information regarding my family history in the library at SJ. This task was really interesting and I will explain it more later in this post as well as what the create below actually is as it links with my studies from Monday 8th Jan.

When I was at Societe Jeriaise on 8th January, I was introduced to the library they have within the building. I was also introduced to the librarian and very knowledgeable, Ana. Myself and Karen went down to the library and told her what I wanted to research and observe relating to my family history. I wanted to look at my family tree and so Ana lead us straight to a draw full of family trees of the families of traditional Jersey names. She pulled out a large transparent envelope which included the family tree of the Luce family. I begin to look through this, and, as it was my first time looking at this family tree in such detail, I become a bit loots and overwhelmed by all the information provided about ancestors and potential long lost relatives which I was unaware of.

Ana then told both myself and Karen that earlier that week she discovered that the mother of the British comedian, Miranda Hart had the maiden name of Luce. This was also news to me and when I was left alone to delve deeper into my family history, I began researching this and discovered that great grandfather’s and uncle’s of Miranda Hart, were in fact Luce’s and they worked in the several wars of the world as surgeons and medical assistants. Although this was interesting, it did not have a relation to my project and I quickly moved on before I became knee deep in irrelevant content.

Next, Ana pulled out a very large hardback book; it was almost like an encyclopedia, but covered information of traditional Jersey surnames and their origins as well as including the crest of each family name. This book was called an armorial book. An armorial is defined as ‘relating to heraldry or heraldic devices.’ And heraldry as defined as ‘the system by which coats of arms and other armorial bearings are devised, described, and regulated.’ All information relating to the surnames of Jersey-born families is carefully collated and and detailed in this book and it included the origins of the Luce name which was a great. Although a very small segment of the book outlined the Luce name, it had the crest of our family within and it was amazing to see. I immediately had the idea to include this in some way or another within my photo book to give some sense of historical but personal meaning to my book.

Below is the crest if the Luce family taken from the online version of the armorial book. It is evidently very detailed and beautiful in it’s intricacy and symbolic representations and I was eager to create a replicate of this by tracing part of the crest, in particular, the coat of arms in the middle and there was no way I would be able to re-create a quality drawing of the full crest. Therefore i decided to begin my recreation of the coat if arms in the center which included a range of different symbols within this and I would use this creation once digitized on Adobe Photoshop as a personal and historical representation to include in my photo book.

Crest of ‘Luce’ family name

I would love to infer as to what the different symbols within the coat of arms actually mean and I think I would be able to find this information out from the librarian, Ana. For now, however, the image below is a JPEG of my recreation of the crest and it was a first draft experiment that may change slightly through alterations over thg next few weeks leading up to the creation of my photo book. However, I was really pleased with the final outcome because of the drastic change that occurred between the first stage of tracing the crest and the uploading an image of this to Photoshop to then improve in terms of final tweaks including the increase in black point and decrease in white point to make the black lines stand out and I also added the grey background as well as drop shadows to some of the symbols, as shown in the original crest above as I wanted it look as authentic as I could whilst still  holding elements of it being handmade/drawn.

My digitized recreation of the ‘Luce’ coat of arms

 

Experimentation, Personal Investigation, Practical Task

Extending Ideas and Concepts

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Over the Christmas holidays, my family booked a sporadic trip to Valfréjus, a ski resort in Modane, France but it was extremely close to Geneva and Turin. The vacation provided an opportunity to capture images of my step-brother abroad, undergoing new activities and seeing how he would react in a new and daunting situation as we would undergo skiing. As a cyber-hub, Noah tends to struggle with physical activities as he does not have an interest in them, contrasting to his three other siblings who would strive in the situation, perhaps causing jealous and feeling second-best. Another emotion my mother and step father feared was the feeling of boredom and dissatisfaction that Noah may feel, especially as we were sat down for such long periods of time and restricted to the car when travelling. In practice, he wasn’t as bad as expected, however, he did cause problems with my two younger siblings, frequently disturbing them but overall, he wasn’t bad. Fundamentally, this attitude did not reflect the rest of the holiday as it consisted of us often walking and adventuring the South-East of France, causing unease for Noah who struggles to leave his own technological devices. My shoots are rather limited as to be quite frank, Noah was rather reserved over the trip, rarely taking time away from his devices, however, when he did, I captured Noah the best I could, Unfortunately, being a bit of a beginner at snow boarding, I did not want to carry around my camera which would produce much clearer images, instead I had my iPhone 6S and I used it to my best ability.

 These photographs have been cut down from around seventy items, choosing images that I feel portray Noah’s trip to France. My mum organised the holiday for us to have fun, but in reality, it was far from it, especially for Noah who rarely delved out of his comfort zone or escaped his gaming world, not counting frequent arguments between my mother and step-father. Admittedly, I have grown rather numb from arguments between my parents or my mother and her partner having listened to them for most of my life, and then watching them get resolved.

Artists References, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Photobook Design, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Photo Book Investigation (Matt Eich – I Love You I’m Leaving) – Deconstructing the Book

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For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book. 

Deconstruction of the physical and narrative features of the book:

Book in hand
The book in hand feels very light and small – it can be handled easily and doesn’t feel too heavy.
The cover has a very smooth texture yet a little rough and feels almost like plastic.
Book is a small portrait format.

Paper and ink
The paper is the same throughout – matte paper with solely black and white images printed throughout.
There is no text / captions in the book
There is a coloured image of photographers grandfather at the beginning and the end as it is dedicated to him.

Format, size and orientation
There are 64 pages and 46 photographs.
The edition is softcover with an exposed spine.
The dimensions are 22 x 17 cm.
It is portrait and features images of all sizes.

Design and layout:
Within the book, there are no captions or texts alongside the images. However, there is a poem at the end next to the image where we the wife on the floor in what seems like a breakdown as she looks very uneased by something with her hands on head. I am not certain on what the poem means or who it was written by but it describes driving away from the one you love on a 10th wedding anniversary and feeling a sense of remorse.
Neither are there any fold-outs or inserts.
Landscape Images: 18
Portrait Images: 14
Full Bleed Images: 11
Tipped In Images: 2
Blank Pages: 5

Rhythm and sequencing:
The book starts and ends with very similar images; the first image of the project is of Eich’s daughter sat at a park bench with the light reflecting on her body and she has her eyes closed as she leans on the table. This image image is again shown as the last image to conclude the book but this time with her eyes open and the shadows reduced.
The second image introduces Eich and his wife in a self-portrait where we see Eich, sat down, learning his head against his wife’s bare abdominal as she stands. This is a very powerful image to introduce the wife and husband.
From this point, it seems as though every juxtaposes one another in the sequence they have been printed. There doesn’t seem to be an order yet that all work in conjunction with one another.
It is as though we physically take a journey through the busyness of family life as the husband and wife spend time with their children and as we are introduced to new characters throughout.

Structure and architecture:
The book, unlike other photo books simply consist of solely images which often don’t seem to have nay relation to one another and so it may, at first be difficult to derive nay meaning from the imagery and decipher the story which is wanting to be represented which is what I experienced at first . However, there seems to be a running theme of finding a balance between emotions, events and feelings. It starts at an equilibrium which seems to gradually crumble and become an imbalance of emotions within all family members and this is presented in the photographs as we people confiding in one another, and more serious facial expressions, if we see any at all because often, faces are covered with hands to hide the sadness. People seem to be less involved in their familial circle and daughters, the wife and Eich’s parents seem to become isolated from what once was an equilibrium.

Narrative:
The story is told from the perspective of Eich himself as a father, son and husband and focuses on all 3 of these elements of family life to tell a narrative of love, connections and detachments. Eich, although at the centre of it all, does not make this clear and instead focuses on the presence of his family members and how this provides a base for he life they all lead. Eich himself states that the book follows his documentation of what he experiences within his own familial circle as he, on regular basis makes connections with his daughters through his love for his wife and this welcomes an interaction between himself and his parents. The narrative can also tell a story of generations and how this is, even though very broad from elderly to youth, can actually connect a family through the relationships that build over this concept of ‘knowing our place in this fragile world’ as Eich states. This is shown in the image which includes the book where we one of Eich’s daughters sat by the coffin of Eich’s grandfather and even though this man is not present in the book’s content through, it reiterates the importance of remaining close because without that knowing of belonging, people can become so easily isolated which I explore in my own project through the main body looking at belonging; it provides an underlying guilt of not being present and instead being contained within yourself, something I have recently become a victim of and I am attempting to include this emotion in my project as I have become much more aware of my own feelings since starting this book. I see my own project as an experiment of truth and showing everything as it is – by not covering anything for the lens or presenting anything false for the camera. My aim and intent is for this to make my project more raw and real by not altering things to make them more “acceptable” because then photography does not become interesting and it removes that ability to connect with imagery once the rawness of what you are capturing has been discarded.

In Eich’s project, he does not attempt to tell a story of sorrow or upset and instead looks to simply present his family and the rawness of their respect and love for each other – this what I get and feel form looking and flicking through his book.

Title:
The title is literal but it is also poetic. The title ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’ I imagine was carefully chosen by Eich but once chosen would have been easily imagined because of it’s compete literal meaning. The story follows the split of his mother and father after over 30 years of marriage and how this break-away coincides with the departure if Eich and his newly formed family to a new city. It looks forming a new identify from what Eich used to be – from his mother and father’s careful nurturing to raise Eich to the man he is now has benefitted his ability to build his own relationships, however, occurring at the time of what once was a happy family’s physical and emotional detachment as he moves away, leaving his mother and father suffering on their own, also away from one another. The title, knowing this synopsis of the project, seems very suited and it does work very well. It also connotes the popular phrase of what people say to one another if they are about to leave an event or situation etc. but don’t rally want to and it is not out of their own will – people often say ‘I’ll love you and leave you’ as they say goodbye and this essentially what Eich is doing. It does very intrigue the audience because it opens the door to what is to come. 

Images and text: 

Image result for matt eich i love you i'm leaving

There is one piece of text throughout the hole book, excluding the two texts at the beginning and end which dedicates the book to Eich’s grandfather and this is the pome towards the latter of the book (shown above). It is a poem on a blank page next to a full bleed image of Eich’s wife lying on the floor. There are no captions or anything else apart from this four verse poem. I am not actually fully sure of the meaning of the pome and or what it’s intent on the audience is or who’s perspective it is actually from. However, I am imagining it is either rom Eich’s perspective to his wife or I thin that the most likely option is that it is written by Eich about his father’s divorce from his mother as it follows a story of leaving the said and feeling some sense of remorse but still a sense of love. I also believe the title of the poem is ‘X’ – most likely connoting a kiss in text talk.

 

Analysis, Artists References, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Photobook Design, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Photo Book Investigation (Matt Eich – I Love You I’m Leaving) – Research of Photo Book

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For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book. 
Research of the photo book:

I will be researching, for this task, the photo book produced by Matt Eich highlighting his project entitled ‘I Love you I’m Leaving’. This project outlines his parents split after several years pf marriage as he and his newly formed family transfer themselves form their hometown to a new city to start a new life as his parents are in a phase of vulnerability, grief and need. He feels as if he leaving in the most fragile of times and he documents this through photographing his family’s habits in in their new lease of life.

“I Love You, I’m Leaving is my meditation on familial bonds, longing, and memory. The series borrows from personal experience and the visual language of the everyday in order to create a fictional account that mirrors my reality. Made during a time of personal domestic unease, I photographed as my parents separated, and my family moved to a new city.” (ceibaeditions.com)

Image result for matt eich i love you im leaving

Throughout the book, Matt Eich sticks strictly with black and white images and focuses harshly on using shadows and light to depict a particular mood – this being quite eerie – there is a certain glow to Eich’s images and his subjects posses a certain importance highlighted through the use of light to illuminate their presence. You see the subjects consisting of his wife, two daughters and older generations through the family wearing mainly white and flaunting their hereditary blonde hair as the light Eich focuses on strictly catches and provides glow to the light colours each subject possesses.

Eich also pays close attention to providing a balanced tone spectrum in each image as you notice the whites being visibly brighter than that of the solid blacks and in between this, greys of all different tones fill the negative space to create a very tonally balanced image.

The genre Eich takes on is that of a documentary approach where he captures the still moments that take their course in between the more hectic, busier moments of life which are also captured on a more subtle level. However, the overall tone the images depict is very atmospheric as if each image is their to tell a story and work as a collective but each individual image also has the ability to stand solitary as a documentation of the fragility of their familial circle. No one image is isolated and they come together, intentionally to create a solid visual narrative of what Eich experiences as a photographer, father, husband and son.

With Eich’s imagery, he pays no attention to attempting  to romanticise life itself and as a documentary photography project, it shows life itself and the rawness and actuality of what, on an everyday basis, his family are familiarised with but as a viewer, we are getting an insight in this and become hooked on what we are shown and begin to attempt to deconstruct this when, really, Eich’s job is to show is what is front of him as he discovers his family just as much as we are when delving through the project. Each photograph has a meaning and makes no effort to depict a false reality and instead focuses on what is there – the tangible – but we are shown a sense of intangibility through the project as we attempt to sympathise and relate with something we only know fragments of. Furthermore, Eich creates this sense of belonging as he brings each and every family member together as a collective and us as the audience feel involved in this poetic representation of what family is and it’s ability, in partnership with attachment and love, to unite yet destruct the once solid family tribe.

Artists References, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Photobook Design, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Photo Book Investigation (Matt Eich – I Love You I’m Leaving) – Who is Matt Eich?

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For my investigation into a photo book, I will be observing in detail, then discussing the features of Matt Eich’s photo book entitled ‘I Love You I’m Leaving’. I have chosen this book to research because it is the book I will be using in my personal study and Matt Eich is a photographer I have paid close attention to throughout my project thus far. His images are so very poetic and it is a style of documentary photography I am aiming to replicate in my project. The following few blog posts will be dedicated to the research into this photo book and will include discussion surrounding the narrative and features of the book as well as who Matt Eich is and my own options on the book. 
Who is the photographer?

Matt Eich (b. 1986) is a portrait photographer and photographic essayist working on long-form projects about the American condition. He is currently a Professional Lecturer of Photography at The George Washington University and continues to accept commissions. Matt resides in Virginia with his family.

Matt holds a BS in Photojournalism from Ohio University and an MFA in Photography from Hartford Art School’s International Limited-Residency Program.

His second book, ‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ was published in September 2017 by Ceiba Editions and is sold out. He has three forthcoming monographs scheduled between 2018 and 2020.

‘I Love You, I’m Leaving’ is Eich’s latest photo book. The book was a finalist at the Lucie Photo Book Prize in the Limited Edition category and received a special mention at FoLa Book Awards.

Until I came across Matt Eich, I did not really enjoy looking at black and white imagery because I thought it was traditional and classic and has been too over-used and as a result of this, I felt like I couldn’t be original when using black and white images in projects etc. I also felt like I couldn’t portray the mood and tone I would wish for in black and white because there is no colour and I used to enjoy relying on heavy colours to bring my photos to life but now I feel the complete opposite to this since discovering many modern day photographers who use black and white imagery for full projects. I now find pleasure out of relying on shadows, light and contrast to create dramatic or elegant and poetic black and white photographs.

Although this book would be aimed at a more elder target audience due to its subject matter and use of nudity within, I believe it could be aimed and read with enjoyment and pleasure by a keen photographer of any age because although the subject matter it relatively mature, it is very relatable to people of my age. It looks at the fragility of your place in the world and how this is secured through family life. I have found great enjoyment out of looking at this book because of its pure ability to speak to the reader throughout it’s poetic story-telling style.

Analysis, Artists References, Experimentation, Independent Study, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Recording

Shoot w/ Mum and Lucy

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Below are the edits I have created using Adobe Lightroom from my photoshoot where I photographed my girlfriend, Lucy cutting my mum’s hair in our kitchen.

This was one of the first the photoshoot I completed for my project and I saw it as the perfect opportunity to get a collection of a few strong images to start me off with my project looking at relationships within my life and my family circle.

My girlfriend, Lucy is 17 and has just recently qualified as a hairdresser and so is always being asked by family members for hair cuts, including my own family.

I really like these images and the reason for this is because of their very delicate, poetic and elegant nature. All three are very documentary style and are capturing a moment in time.

The three images below have been edited on Adobe Lightroom and are the best three images from the photoshoot. All three work well in conjunction with each, however, I plan to use them with the images produced from my mini photoshoot I carried out at my dad’s flat.

The photograph below is of Lucy cutting my mum’s hair. You can also see me in the reflection as I am taking the photograph and this could be seen to ruin the image as usually it is known for photographer to remain behind the camera and out of frame because if the audience are t see the camera or the photographer, then we don’t like this as we have been taught that the common ideology of photography is for the photographer to remain behind the camera. I enjoy the fact that as well as the subject, I am also in the frame but with both Lucy and Mum illuminated so the focus is on them.

The photo below is mid-at through the haircut and shows Lucy gathering some of my mum’s hair to cut and the effect of this movement is captured in the camera and transferred to a visible blur in her hands which I also think has a positive effect because it shows that the photo is more than just one dimensional and adds action to what is shown. It is pretty much the same photo as above as it consists of the same content but as a close up shot to view the subjects in more detail and instead in black and white. As opposed to focusing on hard shadows and contrasts,  I have attempted to focus more on neutral tones such as greys and making these the base of the image because I observed this in LaToya Ruby Frazier’s images; that the contrast was quite low and instead, grey colours were used to provide a body to the image and this is also the same in Matt Eich’s images – something I ma not used to but enjoy the visual effect of.

There is in fact a Matt Eich image that he took of his family in the garden as his wife cuts his hair, shown below.

The image below is of the hair resulting form my mum having her hair cut. The wet, clumps of hair lay on kitchen floor scattered across the tiles as, in the top corner, the blurred motion of the vacuum enters the frame. It is a very simple image that takes little skill and technique and more observation and focus to see this moment as a photographic opportunity because this photo finishes off my collection of the first, second and this as the final image to create a mini series of three images.

Creative Pathway, Independent Study, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Divorce Parties

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This blog post covers work discovered through attending my work placement at Societe Jersiaise as well as this relating to my work for my personal investigation and I will be using this information mainly as research to work in conjunction with my project regarding my parent’s divorce and how this has since shaped my own life living two different experiences, one with my mum and the other with my dad. I encounter this notion of divorce parties when at Societe Jersiaise as the database lacks any information on divorces in Jersey and instead has over 100 images relating to marriages and weddings but this interesting discovery of divorce parties intrigued me and I thought that the information found would work well in conjunction with what I produce, even I do not produce anything [images] relating to the celebration of divorce – but on a deeper level – this whole project is a celebration of divorce as I am documenting this as it happened in the past and I am also showing it now and what has come of it – a celebration in its own right because the vent has in-turn affected me and made me a different prosper to who I would have been if they stayed together – one I am proud to be. My project looks at the fragility of relationships and the intimacy that comes with all relationships in a lifetime – to me intimacy is what makes a relationship strong because knowing a person inside and out, something I feel I possess with my relationship with my mum, my girlfriend and my sister, is crucial to feeling like you have a place within this world – this fast-moving world where often you can feel very isolated and this project looks to challenge that while supporting this realism through underlying moods and tones shown through my images – as much as it about finding a balance between two oppositions, it is good for these conflict at times; for example, loneliness and acceptance or cohesion and destructiveness of familial bonds.

The information to follow covers divorce parties and what they are and what the subject of divorce parties are supposed to take from it. However, I do believe that it would be interesting to perhaps get in contact with a wedding planner on Jersey to inquire as to whether the have weer actually organised a divorce party for a local and go from there with regards to including it in my project.

Once I discovered this idea of divorce parties, I did some research into it in order to see if it could get me anywhere and if it intrigued me. I found an article on The Guardian Online which covered the celebration and in particular interviewing a specialist in divorce party planning and a lady who has made a living out of it. You can read the full article above in the hyperlink but for now, I am going to list the notes made from reading into divorce parties from several sources. I also got some information from the planner’s website dedicated to booking a divorce party.

Divorce Parties 
  • Attempts to allow subject to get past pain of being divorced
  • there are divorce party planners who make a living out of it
  • Idea of rituals and ingrained traditions of celebrating birth, marriage, death bit not divorce…
  • Throw a divorce party to forget and vent anger of a cheating partner
  • If you want to become the person you used to be when single – to feel more independent and free
  • It is often women who want to throw a divorce party to forget their cheating male partner
  • It is a riddance of bad memories – revenge
  • E.G. one woman burnt cheating husband’s trophy on bonfire at the party
  • E.G. another woman threw wedding ring into sea and some burn their wedding veil or wedding photos
  • “There has been a couple guys but men don’t seem to need the display of support like women do”
  • There is a divorce party handbook which outlines etiquette at parties and what the evening would consist of etc.
  • It reiterates the importance to maintain relationships with people around you – however, detachment can lead to attachment onto other things to forget what once was happy times
Artists References, Essay writing, Independent Study, Instruction, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Preparation, Written Task

Personal Study (Essay) Plan

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Title: How have the photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through the medium of photobooks?
Opening quote: “As photographs give people an imaginary possession of a past that is unreal, they also help people to take possession of a space in which they are insecure.” (Susan Sontag)

Introduction (250-500 words)
What, How, Why, Where, When, With

In this essay I will be investigating how photographers Matt Eich and LaToya Ruby Frazier have explored themes of attachment and detachment in their own family through the medium of photobooks.

What are you planning on doing and why, what is the story you want to tell / explore

Paragraph 1 / Context (500 words)
Psychological / scientific research and understanding of attachment and detachment theory…
Poetic visual language; describe that you are developing a new language with influence from Anders Peters / Engstrom

Paragraph 2 (500 words)
Matt Eich – analyse his work. book in relation to essay question
his voice through interview / statement of his work
outside voice: someone else’s comment about this work
Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail

Paragraph 3 (500 words)
LaToya Ruby Fraizer – analyse her work / book in relation to essay question
Her voice through interview / statement of her work
Outside voice: someone else’s comment about this work
Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail

Paragraph 4 (500 words)
Analyse your own work, how it developed what you did and why
How do your set of images interpret attachment/ detachment
Select a key image as an example to further analyse in more detail

Conclusion (250-500 words) 
Compare / contrast – differences / similarities

Bibliography
List all relevant sources used

 

Personal Investigation, Recording

Results from Photoshoots

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These were the results of my photoshoots conducted in Scotland. I then chose specific images, which I then edited to the way I would have liked them presented in my photo-book. I am happy with some of the images made and not so happy with others as they are not what I wanted and visualised them to look like, however saying that they are still successful images and show a true representation of my granddad’s life, through documentary photography.

This is my granddad’s chair, which is located in the living room of his house, this is where he would spend most of his time and will sit on that chair for hours on end. Its sad as this seems to be all he ever does anymore, he sleeps, eats and sits on the chair watching TV or reading a book until its time to go to bed again. This chair is a huge part of my granddad’s life and he would be devastated if it were to get taken from him. This image was inspired by an image made by a photographer called Phillip Tolendeo as he captures his fathers chair in a similar fashion in his book ‘days with my father’. The chair is located next to the window as occasionally you would notice that would often look out the window almost fantasising about being outside and being free to move around willingly. This chair isn’t just a chair but represents more than this. This chair almost supports my granddad and represents his loss in freedom. Specifically, his loss in quality of life, it shows his loneliness as he relies on the chair to get him through the day and to release any physical pain he may have. The patterns on the chair shows that they are more modern in their fashion and styles as this is a more up to date theme and patterned material, which suggests they are aware of how society has changed over time. The chair is a smart, upright and elegant model, which reflects accurately to what my granddad is like as a person as he is extremely smart and witty even in his old age and he is elegant and takes pride of his appearance.

This is my granddad sitting on his chair, reading the Sunday paper which he often looks forward to doing. This is a documentary style photograph as it was a photo taken in the moment, without staging, which is a theme I tried to remain consistent throughout my photoshoots. Again, my granddad does not do much during the day, for most of the time he is sitting in his chair, which is shown in this image. This image was taken to show the activities he does to pass time in the day, it also suggests that he is aware of current issues or news in the UK as he is always reading different papers and often has his own view and take on things he listens to or reads about. I feel that he reads articles to have some sort of contact with the outside world as he has lost contact with this due to his illness and ability to walk and talk. I also feel that he might read the paper to pass time as he has hours to waste and this takes up time in his day to distract himself from pain he may feel and the thoughts of his lack of quality in his life.

This is in my granddad’s garden there are two chairs with a round table in between them, this is where my gran and granddad would sit on a warm day to watch the birds fly past as they have always been big animal fans and enjoy bird watching. They used to sit and play games to see how many they could name correct, my granddad could tell you the name of almost every bird, he has phenomenal memory. He can no longer go outside as he feels the cold significantly more than he used to. In this photograph their is a owl, which sits on the table this was already their before photographing. My gran explained that she put it there to symbolises their ‘bird watching place’ I thought this was extremely thoughtful but didn’t understand why it was still there, my gran told me she could bring herself to remove it and it brings back happy memories of times where they were both happy with their quality of life. The space between the two chairs represents the distance between my gran and granddad due to his illness and his lack of independence. Although this seems like 2 chairs and a table- this represents distances and memory.

This is a snapshot image of my granddad as he walked into his 80th birthday party as he didn’t realise 40 people would be there to celebrate with him. When he got over the initial shock, he said ‘I can’t believe this many people are all here for me.’ I feel this photograph represents emotion, my granddad never cries, however, the shock and overwhelm of the outcome brought him to tears. A part of me feels that the tears were not just for this moment but a build up of emotion and fear of leaving the world, family and friends too early and the fact he got to the age of 80 is astonishing. Although, this is not a strong image technically I feel it has represented what I wanted my book to be about.

The images are of my granddad’s glass eye, this goes in his right eye socket, he hates putting it in as it causes discomfit and pain for him. He got his eye taken out after his second stroke in an attempt to remove pain he was getting behind the eye, he had already lost his sight in that eye and he was desperate to stop the pain, he agreed to have his eye taken out and replaced with a glass eye, which was matched to the original colour of his eye.  He told me that this was the hardest part of his stroke and often thinks about how he regrets making this decision as the pain is still there and the glass eye causes infections, which are again extremely painful. The box at in the bottom photograph is the box he keeps it in to protect it from damage, when in the house he takes it out and relaxes his eye, he finds this extremely soothing and relaxing, This represents the change in my granddad’s life as he has had things taken off him- his freedom, his eye, his ability to see, walk and talk as he did before.

This images shows the glass eye in, it is clear he has some sort of problem with his eye as it does not look the direction of his gaze and his head position. One eye looks at me and the other is looking down, the image is a documentary image as it was again now stages, you see my granddad sitting down , which is a common theme of his life and daily routine and will not see many times where he will be standing or walking. This image is to capture my granddad as he is- a simple portrait to show what he looks like.

The image is of a magnifying glass, which my Granddad uses when reading as he struggles to see as he currently only has one eye which he can partially see out of the other eye but not very well. He uses this to make the words bigger on page to enable him to see the words to read. Reading and learning has always been a significant element in his life, even as a young man so he does not want to give this up so therefore he uses as a way of adapting to his condition. I decided to photograph objects which were significant things in his life, this is one of them, without this he would not be able to read.

This is another image of my granddad sitting on his chair, this one he is clearly thinking about something,my Nan says he does this daily and she thinks that he is thinking about the life he used to have but whenever anyone asks him what he is thinking about he demands its nothing. Again this is demonstrating that his life is mostly him sitting on his chair. I often catch him staring into space and I am convinced he is reminiscing about how good his life used to be and how he wishes he could move. He also frequently grips his hands together, maybe to release his pain as his grip is usually tight and strong as if he is distracting his attention to other pressure instead of the pain he feels in his body.

This is my granddad’s eye patch, this is to protect his eye socket from getting infections when he is not wearing his glass eye, as this is potentially a hole or wound in his face. My granddad does not like wearing this as he finds it uncomfortable and he often calls it his pirate patch as admittedly he looks like a pirate when wearing it. He also has to get a new eye patch every few months as it gets dirty, which could result in infection this is collected from the chemist and comes with his repeat descriptions. Again, this is something he uses regularly, which is why I felt it was important to photograph this.

This is my granddad washing his eye, everyday he has to clean and wash his eye so he doesn’t get infections. This is a snapshot image and illustrates a part of his daily routine, which I wanted to capture in my photo book as this is the main theme of my book- how his life has changed due to the illness and the adaptations he has to make to his daily routine.  Although the window is seen as white in the photograph due to the light reacting with the camera, the main focus is my granddad so I feel this does not matter as much as if it was a environmental or landscape photograph.

My granddad likes to have a little bet once a week, the money put on it is a very small amount but he enjoys the thrill of winning and it also gives him an element of excitement, which he does not have very often as his daily routine consists of the same activities, which can get extremely boring. He has always loved horse racing and in particular watching the horse racing and with old age he started to enjoy placing bets on the horses- this is something that brings him a thrill. This is something he looks forward to so I felt this was significant to photograph and be in my photo-book.

In this photograph my granddad is smiling, it is not often that we see this as he is often in a lot of pain, which means he is not usually happy or feels like smiling. However, he will smile, you know deep down he is trying to hide his pain, this is a genuine smile and that is what makes this image so special. This image was taken when he walked into his 80th birthday party with all his old friends and family, which he hadn’t been able to see in ages- including his sisters, his best friend, childhood friends, aunties and uncles etc. He did not expect this and he was extremely surprised, I feel this image captures that.

Although these look like sunglasses they are glasses he wears when he needs to judge distance, which is when he is walking outside and often when watching TV. The brown lenses improve contrasts and also enhances depth perception, which helps to see 3D objects. There are different colours, which help with eye sight, you can get green, which transmits all colors evenly and dims glare while brightening shadows. This is the colour my granddad used to wear before he found the brown tinted glasses worked more efficiently for him. You can also get yellow, blue/purple, grey and pink/red.

This is a snapshot portrait of my granddad, the background is blurred to direct the attention to my granddad, making him the focal point of the image.

I decided to make a collective image of all his medication he uses for various reasons- all resulting from his strokes. Every week he puts his tablets into his container so that he remembers to take them as he regularly used to forget to take them all. This way they are all in the same place and this is kept next to his bedside table, the tablets has changed his life significantly as they are extremely strong, which results in him not being allowed to drink or take any other tablets in conjunction with them. They are also evidence that he needs medical help, which is something he never needed before his strokes. The tablets are also placed in an orderly manner, which is to show the structure in his life as he has a very structured routine when it comes to his medication and medical care.

This is my granddad and his childhood best friend, this is Rusty. He appears in some of the archival photographs with my granddad as youths. I find it inspiring that they are still very good friends after 80 years. This shows that although things have changed in his life, other important things has stayed the same such as his friendships and love for his family.

I decided to take a photograph of his 80 balloons to capture the celebration of his 80th birthday. I feel that I would like to turn this black and white- increasing the contrast as I do not think this image is strong enough without editing. I will do this later when I am choosing the final images I will be presenting in my photo book.

My granddad often scratches his head, the same specific part. I never really knew why but I researched into this as I know many older individuals, which excessively scratch their skin.  I found that the sensation of scratching at skin can be pleasurable for some, while others describe a feeling of tension release when scratching. It can also have a calming effect as the sensation can be soothing to the nervous system. The scratching may therefore be a response to feelings of anxiety, depression, nervousness or fear. These are all common emotions in the aging adult, compounded by the deterioration of other mental faculties such as memory. I found this extremely interesting how this was a common activity for elderly individuals and felt this was important to photograph as it is something he likes to do.

Although this is not a well put together photograph it shows my Granddad’s intelligence. He likes to watch quiz TV shows and will answer the questions himself as if he is on the show, most of those answers are right. He has always been extremely intelligent and knows everything about anything. He tell us he likes quizzing himself as  “it helps keep my brain ticking over.” He has every quiz show recorded and he looks forward to watching them, especially The Chase.

Again, this is an image of my granddad scratching his head. This time you see him from a side profile, which reveals his nose, which as you can see has partly deteriorated leaving him with half a right nostril. It was the whole of the right side of his body which was mostly affected by the stroke. This image shows this.

This is a night time image of there house, I decided to edit this in photoshoot to make it more contrasted and turned into black and white. This is significant as this is where he will spend the rest of his life and they also had to move after his second stroke as he could no longer walk up the stairs and they became a difficulty to move from room to room and therefore this forced them to move to a bungalow to make it easier for my Granddad to move around the house. My granddad was devastated to leave his old house as this is where his children were brought up and he felt like there were so many memories in that house.

Another snapshot of my granddad, receiving his birthday cake- I thought this is a good documentary image of the event.

I also took images of thinks I seen round where they live. These would be objects my granddad would see when he leaves the house. This tree is located outside their house and is in clear view out of the window next to my granddad’s chair. I decided to turn it black and white and add more contrast to make it a bit eerie, which is because its something my granddad can see but will never touch as its too fair of a walk for him.

A snapshot of my granddad. I enjoyed taking these snapshot portraits of my granddad as they are all similar but also extremely different and to me this shows the different sides of him.

This is a cut down tree, which is near their house. About 10 years ago my granddad fought to keep this tree, instead of it being cut down, however he lost that battle. The tree was 15 years old and it was a beautiful feature, they cut it down to give one of the houses a sufficient view. My granddad didn’t think this was a good enough reason to cut down trees and ruin out environment and nature. This image illustrates his strong beliefs in nature.

These are all of the environment around the house and their areas as well as documentary images of my granddad.

These images are to accompany the interviews I conducted, which have now been turned into a few paragraphs about my granddad. I still have one to conduct- which is my mum. I like that they have an old and pure look to them. I also have just received some doctors notes about my granddads eye, which is the part he found the hardest. I don’t know whether to take photographs of the notes or to photocopy them to then insert into the book like Laia Abril does in her photobook.

Some of these images I would like to manipulate more to maybe turn some of them black and white.