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REPRESENTATION, ETHICS AND STANDARDS

November 27, 2017 Adam Seal Leave a comment

How is McCurry’s images different compared to Singh in the way that they represent Indian culture?

I shall use the example of McCurry who is a documentary photographer but has been criticized for focusing on re-inforcing stereotypes on top of the reality to slant the accuracy of the representation of the photograph and Raghubir Singh who contrasts McCurry in the sense his images depict the realities of his environment. However arguably both artists are realistic in terms of what they represent as particularly in India there are 2 sides to every coin and McCurry may be accurate in representing the beauty within India however Singha is perhaps more accurate in showing ht eeconomic and cultural hardships within India.

For McCurry

Image result for steve mccurry

Steve McCurry (born April 23, 1950) is an American photographer. and has world-renowned success as a documentary photographer, who shoots in more deprived and less economically developed countries such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. In doing this Steve McCurry has become very iconic in contemporary photography for more than thirty years, through magazines and books and many exhibitions . Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; McCurry studied film at Pennsylvania State University, before going on to work for a local newspaper. After working as a freelancer photographer, McCurry made his first trip to India. Travelling with a few clothes and some film, he made his way exploring the country with his camera. Since then he has worked in photojournalism and editorial and is famous for his 1984 photograph “Afghan Girl”, which originally appeared in National Geographic magazine which is shown below above. Other examples of his images are included above:

Image result for steve mccurry

This image of an Afghan refugee was published in National Geographic in 1985. The image captured the hearts of many as it caught the the impact of the surrounding context of which many people suffered and struggled so effectively in the photograph which is why it was so heavily publicised. The context was set around the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan with the subject’s family being killed and she had to trek as a refugee to a refugee camp.

The girl is the main focal point of the picture. This is supported by the rule of thirds which her eyes are framed very effectively which this and the fact that the girl’s eyes are so colourful strengthen how effectively the viewer connects the eyes. The eyes are almost hypnotic and tell a realistic picture as to the struggles the girl has and continues to face up to this point. The effect on the viewer is we feel sympathetic towards this girl and her struggles and so because we feel so strongly about putting the right into the wrong that is shown through the girl’s eyes, as the viewer we start to examine other details that suggests the girl’s story is not just intriguing from an individual level but on a social level, it reflects the international relations and this impact on the whole of society. for example interestingly the fact the girl is positioned to the far left third of the photograph and the contrasting red/brown skin and clothe shades that stick out from the green rural environment she is hsot in also reflect the idea that this environment isn’t the natural girl’s and because of this she appears slightly uncomfortable and reflects the journey and trials refugees faced from this war. Because of this, this suggests McCurray has staged these photographs and has drawn criticism for fabricating/exagerating the truth from how this girl may have been shot in an unstaged shot which would essentially reflect the true horrors that went on in this time period. I agree that the photographic features limit the usefulness for us in terms of finding out what the struggles of this war was like. However on the other hand, I believe McCurray despite this has made an effort to at least through the model communicate to us from a personal and opinionated expression of the girl expressing how she feels towards her struggles that exposes more truth than what critics may say. Many of McCurry’s images also have gone under criticism for this, since the images appear staged and to some portray far from the truth. However I believe that despite an image being staged, McCurray is skilled at capturing the reality in his staged photographs in that the subject’s facial expression primarily or other composition features often reflect the hardships of a context through subtle but yet powerful techniques. Even if the image is staged, it represents an accurate truth of the surrounding context that may not be captured as succefully in an unstaged photograph. this is because by staging a photograph it gives the photographer and subject more freedom and control to express their views on a particuler issue.

I believe similar can be said with McCurry’s image of the Indian train too. This is because it may show a romanticized touristic approach to the photograph with slight clues suggesting the photograph was staged. However in doing this, I would argue that it is irrelevant whether McCurry’s photograph was staged or not because some such as the New York Times may argue this is a slant of the real living truth. It’s impossible for one photograph to cover the whole spectrum of issues in one country and it is the job of the photographer to focus on one specific issue and communicate that reality as effectively as possible. By taking an unstaged photograph this is waht your doing, by taking a staged photograph you have the freedom to attempt to include the relative features in order to communicate and express the photographer’s views and feelings. I believe that likewise the photograph with the train, by staging it it allows McCurry to communicate not just the economic hardships within India, but also the growth in Indian industrial might but also allows us to see the culture that flourishes within India and in doing this, it displays truth not only from the photographer’s viewpoint but also from a factual one too. Evidence within the photograph to back this up includes the highly romanticized lighting which compliments not only the abundance and variety of culture within India, but also with the Taj Mahal in the background symbolizing the Country’s rich history which creates depth to the photograph as a basis for the rest of the features in the photograph. The train storming through resembles the economic and industrial growing might of India that is overlooked when so many photographers focus on the singular issue of poverty and social issues within India. I like the feature of the train and the Taj Mahal because it not only represents where India has come from, it also emphasizes the idea of where India is going as well. Finally the idea of having 2 men at the front of the train could symbolize two things. That India is at the forefrnt of growth in the world as a forward thinking nation, but also the struggles it is and has faced in order to get to where it is and both men represent the poverty that exists amidst India’s economic power house growth. Therefore in defense of McMurray, I believe that it is unfair to criticism his photographs as they may appear staged, but they represent very strong heartfelt issues from he people’s and subject’s he’s shooting points of view. Therefore we should take it in our strength as viewer’s to understand what the photographer’s aims are and compare them with our own knowledge to judge a photograph’s accuracy in terms of representation but finally I believe that a photograph can be truthful when staged or unstaged, it is just a matter of method to achieve a similar result. Obviously staged photographs can be manipulated to convey wrong messages which should be cautioned when viewing these images however staged photographs can be very effective at describing one’s feelings or emotions where an unstaged photograph could easily be taken out of context and easily used for a different purpose that which wasn’t part of the actual reality of the situation.

For Singh

On the other hand, Raghubir Singh is an India photoghraper. because he is Indian I believe this allows him to see his own country – India from the inside as well as from the outside in how a Westernized individual may see his country. Singh worked from the late ’60s until his death in 1999, traveling all over India to create a series of powerful books about his homeland. His work shares formal content with McCurry’s: the subcontinental terrain, the eye-popping color, the human presence. However where these two differ is Singh has what the New York times calls a “democratic eye” where he may take a range of photographs relating to a range of issues whereas McMurry takes a photograph with incluing as many features and messages as possible into a single image. His images include cities, towns, villages, shops, rivers, worshipers, workers, construction sites, motorbikes, statues, modern furniture, balconies, suits, dresses and turbans/saris. There is a sense of power in his images but also yet a sense of bluntness and honesty which may be hard to find in Mcmurray’s images which may be fabricated with the photographer’s viewpoint against the real living conditions from the perspective of the ordinary fellow. Comparitively the image of the people and the road below is very similar to McMurry’s image of the train inthat boh communicate the rapid growth and expansion of India’s industry at the cost of the people on society. However where McMnurray has focused on portraying these people as being at the forefront of this revolution, Singh has portrayed the people in his images as people who are suffering meanwhile in the background there is wealth which isn’t accessible to most people. Interestingly McCurry’s image could be criticized for suggesting that the two men at the front of the train who are also at the forefront of this revolution may suggest how this wealth is only accessible to a small few elite and that he doesn’t cover and ignores the whole spectrum of the cost on society in terms of how this industrial growth is actually damaging for the everyday citizen rather than improving their lives.

The image above is interesting because its bluntness with the broken door is quite intrusive in the sense it appears rather forceful as we feel sort of confined to where wer are and cannot explore much of the photgraph. This not only represents the roughness and busyness of Indian culture for many which McMurray contrastingly expresses it as very delicate and intricate, but also again the poverty that people live with. In the image, through the door there is an army commander presumably from the days of British colonial rule. This image appears like a reference to that and how even today, despite the economic growth, life is still the same for the ordinary folk. This is because of the forceful door intruding in our faces and hgow we feel confined, it almost symbolizes the idea of a prison and as we look out of the prison door we see a direct link to British colonialism. What is interesting is Singh has put us Westerners into the seat from which most Indian people sit and view India from and therefore it appears that the purpose of this images is to explicitly convey the hardships and remove the stereotypes from westerners such as McCurry who’s hoping to re enhance these stereotypes through creating highly romanticized images. By taking these photographs from ground level, we start to see the realities of everyday life for most people and this in turn represents Indian culture in a very different light to McCurry. Singh is therefore effective at producing images that as ordinary people ourselves, we can relate to and because of this we emphasize and trust them more as truth. However it can be argued that these images may like with McCurry easily bet taken as truth where actually it is still very possible to manipulate and influence the representation of a photograh that is unstaged. For example in the image with the door, it could be potentially argued that the strong link back to British colonialism is a strong exaggeration ad that the India today which is outward looking and prosperous is far better than those days and could be insulting to the people who fought for Indian independance. Therefore likewise with McCurry, when we see an image it is best to evaluate how well it represents the truth from the fiction and not take an image at face value as gospel as this could potentially affect the accuracy of the representation that the photograph is trying to communicate.

In conclusion, I believe no photograoher is worng, both are choosing to focus on very different aspects of Indian culture which in itself is such as broad term as each individual’s culture is different to another. Both convey truth in their images using very different techniques to focus on very different themes and therefore no one is correct.

Analysis, Artists References, Contextual Study, Essay writing, Instruction, Reading, Research and analysis, Written Task

Ethics in Photography

November 8, 2017 Jude Luce 1 Comment

Now looking at ethics in photography, another important issue to address when looking at imagery which had had a impact on how photography is produced in the current day, I will still be focusing ion the work of Steve McCurry and looking at how he his work over the years of his success has received both praise for its braveness in capturing something so alien from what we know in our society, as well as criticism for its untruthful representation of the other cultures he chooses to photograph. I have previously looked at his work in relation to the representation of other cultures in our world and how this may be an inaccurate representation due his outsider’s POV when immersing himself into the lifestyle and living of places like India and Afghanistan. Now I will look at ethics and whether his imagery is accepted by the public based on its perceptions of being right or wrong in relation to morales of how we should treat and respect other cultures – often, McCurry is criticised being offensive in his work because what he shows is glamorised and romanticised for the camera and the people of their culture would prefer to be shown in their true colours – how they live life everyday – which, for most of the people in deprived countries, is a lot worse of than us and this representation is often looked at as being inappropriate (cultural appropriation) because it goes against the view that everything should be true and we should not lie – sparking arguments about the ethical value of McCurry’s imagery.

As McCurry’s imagery was looked into further and more thoroughly, it was discovered that there were questions surrounding the methods of production of his photographs and that it went against the ethics and standards of photojournalism.

Photojournalism is defined as ‘the practice of communicating news by photographs, especially in magazines.’ Photojournalism relies on the sequencing of images to tell a story – a narrative and essentially a news story – the images should be strong enough to get a message across to an audience without the need for a caption or any text to accompany it. This is what McCurry has achieved, to immense extents in his career with several of his images being published in the National Geographic magazines and as well on the covers of a few magazines – this shows that his images are extremely powerful – powerful enough to portray a story to his audience. Photojournalism is intended to be very narrative driven bit also, there obviously has to be a underlying notion of truth and what is shown in the imagery produced by a photojournalist should be both truthful and relevant to current news stories as well as being ethically right in its content and methods. A photojournalist should not put anyone in an uncomfortable position in the process of taking their images nor should their methods be unethical.

Furthermore, ethics are defined as ‘moral principles that govern a person’s behaviour or the conducting of an activity.’ Therefore, looking at photojournalism and ethics combined, it would make sense that photojournalism, is all about being ethical and ‘right’ so that society is not harmed buy anything produced. If ethics are moral principals, then this should be evident in the imagery produced for journalism purposes where everything shown is truthful and not altered in order to show a picture or a story which is more ‘accepted’ or an image which shows things to be ‘correct’ which is what Steve McCurry has been accused of not doing in his work where people have begun to unpick his work and reveal the ugly which was not shown to us in the first place – McCurry has been heavily criticised for Photoshopping or ‘touching up’ certain elements of his images so that they look better and nicer to look at, whether this be through removing people or objects to make the images look less cluttered or romanticising a scene which is not glamorous in real life.

During Steve McCurry’s career as a photojournalist for National Geographic, India was his most visited country evident in his work and was a place which he said was very special yo him – he expressed his love for the country and it was the location which made up most of portfolio as a backdrop for captivating images capturing Indian culture and Indian people. On the blog post written by Kshitij Nagar on PetaPixel focussing the examination into is work, the writer states that India to some was regarded as his ‘Karma Bhoomi'(the land where one works)’. It is in the next paragraph that the either then goes on to talk about McCurry’s depiction of India which sparks the most controversy both internally and internationally due its ‘certain stereotypical, exotic, almost “Slumdog Millionaire-ish” version of India’. I have already discussed this when looking sat the comments made by Teju Cole of The New York Times in which he makes no efforts to hold back in his rant at McCurry and has no regard for his status in the photography due to the fact that he, in his eyes, as an Indian, disrespects their culture by showing it in the light McCurry does. This is re-iterated by Nagar.

(Words from PetaPixel’s publication on ‘The Botched Print’) ‘A travel photography giant, his vibrant images have inspired millions, but he’s recently come under fire over Photoshop use after a botched print at a show in Italy was found to have a serious issue.’ And this is quite right – McCurry is a documentary photography giant and he is expected, due to this big status and big name to follow the rules and to not offend people of the cultures he is photographing so heavily which also in the public eye so much now he is this world-renowned artist. Hover, he has been found out to potentially be a user of Photoshop to improve images beyond there rawness and actuality of life itself to a point where the story is distorted.

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This image, has been, understandably removed from McCurry’s website now as he has been under fire for using Photoshop to alter his images but has made a ‘botch up’ of it to the point where it is very obvious due to the unrealism of it – the bottom of the road sign pole has been dislocated form the actual sign post and it is floating in mid air where it does not look real – this has caused much rage over audiences and it is now questioned ‘how far has McCurry’s imagery been altered?’ This, as well, has generated more controversy over other images of his which has also been commented on in the article.

The two images below are also digitally manipulated images of McCurry’s and were both found on his website. In the first image, you can see, in the background, a hazed and blurred second cart to the left as well as a pole sticking out from this bit in the image below, these two objects have been removed from the frame by McCurry and Sharma writes that he is ‘not at all surprised’ of this digital manipulation done by McCurry because all he wishes to do is to create the ‘perfect frame’ and eh would go any lengths to do this, but the result is an untruthful representation of the real life events which occurred at the time; in turn, abusing the notion of ethical methods.

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“I am not at all surprised at the digital manipulation (done by him) to create the perfect frame.

I have watched him rig (stage) his pictures. (He) Arranged the subjects (back then) because chromes (slide film) could not be that easily manipulated.”

Another image produced by McCurry has been revealed to be very staged and this seem to be a recurring theme of his imagery production methods and we can begin to lose our hope of such a renowned photographer which has much success with his work because of this critical examination int his work and the reveal of these unethical methods. Do all photographers carry out false methods of production to create this ‘perfect frame’ or are there artists who embrace the idea of a candid portrait? Sharma also says that McCurry’s imagery are ‘staged candid portraits’ – this oxymoron presents a juxtaposition that doesn’t work as a ‘candid portrait’ is a photograph taken of a moment in time – without the subjects aware of the cameras presence – it is natural but a ‘staged portrait’ is a method where the subjects are positioned purposely to show a mood. The image below has been staged and Sharma comments on this:

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“This apparently off the cuff moment was arranged too. The lady is the wife of a photographer friend and the suitcases the coolie (porter) is carrying are empty. They had to be because the shot took time and lots of patient posing. McCurry’s pictures have been called STAGED CANDID MOMENTS by Avinash Pasricha, a photographer friend who knows how he works because he helped him with the pictures like the one above. The lady is his sister-in-law.”

When technology makes it so easy to manipulate images, how much manipulation is acceptable?

With the easy accessibility of software such as Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom, as well as Instagram an other image editing applications, and using software such as the examples listed above being sop vital for photographers in the current day, image manipulation is more or less inevitable in this ever-growing age where technology is taking over the human generation. Everyday, we rely on technology to get us through the day and everyday 52,000,000 images are uploaded to Instagram on average. This shows the pure depth of how image editing is so important to even non-photographers.

The use of Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom is a second nature to most photographers in the modern day of technology driven lives. Most photographers may feel like the editing of imagery is the way forward and it is essential in order for audiences to enjoy your work and this is why artists strive to create the ‘perfect frame’ through manipulation of the original image to take it beyond it’s raw form where audiences struggle to connect with it as the truth has been removed. I enjoy looking at contemporary and delicate imagery where the only editing done is subtle adjustments of contrast, exposure or brightness etc.

The extent to which manipulation is acceptable is very debate-able and different people would argue different things but I believe that if the message of the image becomes distorted or the truth becomes hazed due to the extent to which an artist has altered their image, the this is hard to accept as an image which can have an impact on our society – this is an image which is has no powerful meaning to impact the audiences thoughts. However, there is also the argument that heavy image manipulation is essential when creating a photo collage for example, and this is understandably. If an artist’s work is based in the fine art industry where surrealism is wanted to be achieved from each image, then I can understand how the may need to go to further extents to produce something for its purpose than want a more contemporary style artists who focuses on the more technical elements such as composition and framing may do.

Therefore, there is a whole issue surrounding the idea of manipulation of images which needs to be straightened out in order for audiences to understand an artists intentions but looking at McCurry’s imagery, his efforts to create the perfect frame goes to far, especially when looking at such a touchy subject such as poverty in deprived countries – almost taboo, this needs to be appearance every carefully but he holds no regard for the views of the subjects he photographs and this has come out in recent years to put him under scrutiny.

With viewers more sophisticated and skeptical than ever before, how can photojournalists and documentary photographers preserve their integrity and maintain trust?

Like I said before, due to this whole saga surrounding Steve McCurry’s work and his intentions from producing his work, with it also being revealed tat he is not as trustworthy and professional as originally thought, it is difficult for us viewers and consumers of these products to understand where the boundaries are – are all photojounrasists showing us flase information? Photojournalists are ‘supposed’ to be putting truthful and accurate information on the cover of our media for us to understand and absorb so we are not being fed false facts.

Although photographers, Steve McCurry being a great example, believe they can alter their images beyond the point of actuality without their audience realising because we weren’t present at the time, often, their unethical methods are revealed, much like what happened with Steve McCurry and not only does it not play well with us, but it also ruins his reputation that he has built up over several years – his status, being part of the huge firm, National Geographic – he has allowed us to put our trust in him to provide with direct information about the places he visits but this reputation and status becomes less and less over the years as more and more information about the way he manipulates is put in the public eye and the view he had maintained and the dignity he had obtained from his much loved work gradually decreases and his fans trust in him disappears.

Audiences of any media are much more opinionated in this current day and it can often come back to haunt the producers of the media especially if it has been hidden that they have been unethical in how it was produced or morally incorrect. In photography, methods of editing is often hidden and this can be very hurtful to audiences if they are loyal fans and suddenly realise the artist they follow has not shown them the full picture and it can be argued that hidden truths were kept secret for many years regarding the Weinstein scandal in the news still after a month with more and more women coming out about the sexual harassment put on them by Weinstein – this is an example of reputations and integrity vanishing in a second due to one mistake and audiences become very opinionated once news like this comes out and although less severe with photography, people still wish to voice their views and may lash out on the subject.

Photojournalists should make their intentions clear from the get go when releasing a series of works etc. so that their audiences know exactly what is occurring and how each image has been produced. If releasing two versions of an image, make this clear and make the alterations made clear also so there is no misunderstanding – communicate with your audiences.

Who sets the boundaries of what defines photojournalism or documentary ethics?

Like in photography in general, there are no boundaries as such – everything in photography is free – everybody is free with their creativity to produce what they want and I believe this is the same in photojournalism and any other aspect of photography as an art form but there is the notion of producing something within reason; like I said, nothing that offends, or pits anyone in unconformable situation and in photojournalism, it goes against the purpose of using imagery to show a visual story for news reasons by removing objects in the mage or heavily altering the way the image looks because it is about the meaning behind it – the message. Photojournalism does not adopt the same purposes as contemporary photography where it is about showing a photograph which shows aspects aesthetics through careful composition etc. Photojournalism is also this but its main function is to show a story and relate to texts which take power in the news at that current time – you want to focus on creating a meaning and this requires careful thought into the framing and content of the frame but I believe that editing should be very minimal to get the full effect of immersing yourself into the news story without worrying about the story being distorted in any way.

Therefore, I believe there are no boundaries as such because photography is a creative outlet which people engage themselves in to be free in their ways of showing something – a message but, linking back to the idea of ethics, standards and representation, these should all be considered when taking an image.

Independent Study, Personal Investigation, Personal Study, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis

Philophobia / Autophobia

November 3, 2017 Jude Luce Leave a comment

As I have been generating ideas for my personal study surrounding the idea of relationships within my own life and my own family, I have also generated a few ideas which I believe I could draw into the study at some point to accompany other main ideas.

Although not familiar with the phobia as no one I know has this particular phobia, I believe it to be a very interesting concept which may work quite well as an underpinning theme throughout my project; I have started to research into the phobias of love and lonesomeness and I feel may be able to express these a ceratin way through my own interpretation of them – as this is only what I can do as I don’t know anyone with the fears but believe their relation to my main theme of ‘relationships’ could go hand-in-hand quite well as the two phobias are often scientifically linked with one another also. Although, I don’t have to directly or explicitly make it obvious or known that I am addressing the phobia in my own interpretation of it, it can be a concept that the audience eventuality realise as they progress through the book – or a concept that may be evident to certain people depending on the way they read visual prompts or it may only be noticeable to myself, however, would like to, in some way, represent what I believe a fear of love/loneliness may look like.

However, if I was going to show these phobias in some way in my project, I would have to be careful not offend anyone who may have it but would address it very carefully and very subtly to contrast the idea of cohesion and unity between the people you love – I first came up with the idea after realising the divorce of my parents would make an interesting starting point for a story about love and relationship. Love is such a strong concept that can unify people in ways which we like to think cant be broken but eventually, may become broken – in the process of breaking the people involved in the relationship whether it be romantically or emotionally with a relative. My efforts to re-build a relationship which feels like it has been somewhat lost with my dad also links to this idea.

(Words from fearof.net) The fear of love (or falling in love) phobia is known as Philophobia. The word originates from Greek “filos” which means ‘loving or beloved’. Individuals who suffer from this phobia fear romantic love or forming emotional attachments of any sort. Often this phobia is known to have cultural or religious roots, where the person may have been committed to an arranged marriage and hence fears falling in love.

Image result for phobia of love

This phobia is more common in women than in men. The condition can greatly affect one’s life to an extent that it becomes difficult to commit or form healthy relationships. Such people tend to live their lives in solitude.

Philophobia is an unwarranted and an irrational fear of falling in love. Sometimes, the sufferer does fall in love but it causes an intense emotional turmoil in his/her mind. There are many theories why this could happen. Therefore, there is a possibility of falling in love when you are a sufferer of this fear but it may still remain in your mind – the idea that you fear to form any sort of emotional connection with a partner and this may hinder your relationship as a result.

Symptoms may include:

Some people are so afraid of love that they cannot open up to anyone. They do have committed relationships, but cannot maintain any of them.

Their well being often depends on the responses they receive from the person they love. This can keep them high strung and anxious all the time. They may be extremely possessive or, conversely, they may drive away their loved ones with their detachment.

One also experiences severe anxiety owing to the pressures of commitment: restlessness, shallow breathing, rapid heart rate, nausea, chest pains etc are a few physical symptoms that can be attributed to Philophobia.

Panic and anxiety attacks are also common. These can be terrible since the sufferer often feels dizzy, or feels like running away, crying, shaking or sweating profusely or even feels as if s/he is fainting.

Autophobia, also called monophobia, isolophobia, or eremophobia, is the specific phobia of isolation; a morbid fear of being egotistical, or a dread of being alone or isolated. Sufferers need not be physically alone, but just to believe that they are being ignored or unloved.

Image result for phobia of being alone

Autophobia can be associated with or accompanied by several other phobias such as agoraphobia. This means people might be afraid of going out in public, being caught in a crowd, being alone, or being stranded.

Persons suffering from autophobia are unable to do many simple tasks that most can do easily. The fear of being alone also leads to bad relationships as the individual prefers abuse to being left alone – the area in which I believe I can link relationships with these two fears.

Physical symptoms:

Feeling unsteady, experiencing lightheadedness or dizziness

Feeling of choking

Rapid heart rate, palpitations or pounding heart

Sweating

Chest pain and discomfort

Nausea or gastrointestinal distress

Trembling or shaking

Numbness or tingling sensations

As this seems to be a more severe phobia in which sufferers may become suicidal or may begin to self-abuse themselves, OI feel like this may not be as very suitable concept to follow through with and may focus mainly on ‘Philophobia’ as I feel like I could represent this in a more interesting and abstract manner by using my knowledge of love and its power and then transferring this to a direct oppostite.

Analysis, Artists References, Contextual Study, Essay writing, Independent Study, Instruction, Reading, Research and analysis

Representation in Photography

October 19, 2017 Jude Luce Leave a comment

To study the idea of representation in photography and how certain aspects within imagery are presented to an audience, I will be looking at the work of world-renowned photographer, Steve McCurry, who is a very iconic documentary photographer succeeding in his captivating images produced for National Geographic.

Steve McCurry (born April 23, 1950) is an American photographer. The photographer, is best summed as world-renowned success in the medium of documentary photography, especially in culturally deprived areas such as Pakistan and Afghanistan. He has worked in photojournalism and editorial. He is best known for his 1984 photograph “Afghan Girl”, which originally appeared in National Geographic magazine. McCurry is a member of Magnum Photos.

Image result for steve mccurry — AN AFGHAN REFUGEE IN BALOCHISTAN, PAKISTAN, 1981

The image above is the world famous portrait of a young girl in Afghanistan and is titled ‘Afghan Girl’ for obvious reasons. Taken by Steve McCurry when traveling the world producing content of National Geographic, there is something very touching about the image above – something tat speak to the audience and I believe it to be because we know that this girl is likely to be very less well-of than we are if we use our schematic knowledge surrounding the topic of deprived areas such as Afghanistan this allows us to understand the likely difficult and traumatic life this girl may live – being surrounded by a war zone for most of her life and having to live with this as a environment that she has to grow up in. I, for one can feel a sense of sympathy and sorrow for this girl – she is young and lives a completely different life to us without the knowledge to understand the meaning behind possible explosions which occur on a day-to-day basis. We do not know of the help she may receiving if she does live a very poverty-run life and this portrait helps us to understand this. The use of her looking into the camera, directly at the audience is a very powerful tool and the facial expression gives off a feeling of trauma and vulnerability – her open and alert eyes let us know of her emotions, in that she is scared and overall it is a very well constructed image and is rightfully a world-famous image as it opens up a door to another life most of the world do not experience in their lives, and this is something we must be grateful for and McCurry has attempted to portray a unknown environment to us through his imagery. Us as humans love people watching and being a little nosey into others lives, which is why most of us enjoy and find pleasure out of watching vlogs, documentaries or capturing out own street photography or looking at other dociumeyatry photography but the scale on which McCurry does this at is on a much higher and more serious level. It triggers our satisfaction for being a fly-on-the-wall in others lies but this is for a much meaningful purpose. However, one thing I’d lie to pick up on is the fact that I, personally do not actually like the image – I don’t enjoy looking at it, not due to its context but due to the actual way it looks – it is not something that attracts me t the image and is more so the meaning behind the subject which draws me in. Hover, McCurry produced this image with the purpose to fit the style and method of National Geographic as a whole and this has been done to a tee as it shows us the harsh reality, although not direct, of what life in other parts of the world us like. The image appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985. There is a reason McCurry has been hand-picked by national Geographic and is member of Magnum Photos and this is because he does his job so well and many people gave fallen in love with not only him and his work bit the actual physicality of what he captures in every image – the colours, the subjects, the cultures, the lifestyles – our ability to connect with every subject in each portrait is what we love because not every photographer has the ability to create an image so well – something I will be talking about later.

American Photo magazine says the image has an “unusual combination of grittiness and glamour.” which I believe to be very true.

Expanding on the idea of representation, like I mentioned before, this is a very touching and harrowing representation of this young girl and we are able to get an insight into her life. The girl is represented as quite lonely and isolated and form her facial expression, quite scared and lonesome and we don’t know whether this as true or staged as us as the audience can only act as people who interpret the content to what we believe but the notion of true and false is hard to decipher when looking at the work of McCurry, yet t is something we believe to see as true and not staged as this would be providing us with false visuals bit in another sense, we also hope for it to be false because we do not wish to face the harsh reality that people across the world, in abundance, do actually live like this. On the other, we appreciate the imagery that McCurry produces us because we get so experience other cultures for ourselves fro what see in the frame.

It has been likened to Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa and has been called “the First World’s Third World Mona Lisa“.

Now mentioned, looking at the similarities of the Mona Lisa and McCurry’s Afghan Girl, there are many resemblances of both in each other. It is perhaps that McCurry took inspiration of the elegance and pureness of the painting of Mona Lisa an then transferred this into his portrait of the young girl in Afghanistan. Both look directly into the camera with a blank facial expression. They both have long, dark, maroon coloured hair and wear a draped scarf or vale over their head. In both imagery, there is a sense of delicateness and urge to show the femininity if our world – to show the beauty of females whether that be through a painting or photograph and though we may be faced with something difficult to address, looking at McCurry’s work, the beauty is beneath. Maybe this is something else McCurry attempted to present and show us – the inner beauty of this young girl that is underpinned by the courageousness of her efforts to stay brave in the situation she found herself in at the time. It is aa though the women in both works are attempting to tell the audience something through the very intense gaze they possess. McCurry provides us with a modernised version of the Mona Lisa for us to embrace.

In early 2002, the subject of the photo was identified as Sharbat Gula, an Afghan woman who was living in the Nasir Bagh refugee camp in Pakistan during the time of the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan when she was photographed. This effort to re-photograph the same girl several years after she has once matured and become a grown adult tells a story and a very powerful narrative which the world can acknowledge as the image at the time when she was a girl touched the whole world as a community and again when her face is shown again over 15 years later. It was revealed that she had never seen the Afghan Girl image before it was shown to her in January 2002.

McCurry made several unsuccessful attempts during the 1990s to locate her. In January 2002, a National Geographic team travelled to Afghanistan to locate the subject. McCurry, upon learning that the Nasir Bagh refugee camp was soon to close, inquired of its remaining residents, one of whom knew Gula’s brother and was able to send word to her hometown. However, a number of women came forward and identified themselves erroneously as the famous Afghan Girl.

Although being a very successful and iconic image worldwide, ‘Afghan Girl’ and many of Steve McCurry’s other images taken in India during his time there for National Geographic can be seen to be quite romanticised and purposefully made to look more glamorous than reality suggests native to India, writer for New York Times Magazine, Teju Cole, explores this in more detail and criticises McCurry’s work on this very factor that many of his images seem ‘too perfect’ and he compares other representations of India that come from natives, such as Raghubhir Singh to McCurry’s and finds an evident juxtaposition between an insider’s view and an outsider’s view. Making for an interesting story about presenting a fake reality to please a modern by audience looking for extravagantness and in reverse, we see a more real and raw look of a country told by the locals, not tom please audiences but to provide reality.

Taj Mahal and train in Agra, 1983, Steve McCurry

Teju Cole in his article addressing this topic he feels very passionately about goes as far as to say that McCurry’s images are “astonishingly bring” which may seem quite harsh and disrespectful as most would see McCurry as a hugely influential and dedicated photographer but I can see where Cole is coming from with this very brave statement as there isn’t much in his images that sparks interest from me in terms of look and visuals. Like I said, you would think that McCurry’s work should be admired and loved by everyone because of its popularity in National Geographic and his image of the Afghan Girl which will live in memory but his work is not for everyone, including Teju Cole and myself but Cole himself mentions the immense popularity of McCurry’s work which “adorns calendars and books, and commands vertiginous prices at auction.” – in other words ‘sells for ridiculously expensive prices’ and Teju Cole cannot see the demand for such images which are “boring” because he sees the images produced by McCurry as unrealistic of Indian culture – evident in the image above where photographed is a very glamourous scene where in frame is a train going by with natives on the front in their colourful and beautiful headdresses looking very polished and slick and in the background is the Indian landmark. the Taj Mahal and it almost seems “too perfect” much like the title of the article suggest. Cole says “The men are real, of course, but they have also been chosen for how well they work as types.” This is suggesting a fake presence around McCurry’s work that they have been specifically chosen as they look well together and it makes for a very glamorous image which is not a true representation.

Indian photographer, Raghubir Singh worked from the late ’60s until his untimely death in 1999, traveling all over India to create a series of powerful books about his homeland. His work shares formal content with McCurry’s: the subcontinental terrain, the eye-popping colour, the human presence. Within these shared parameters, however, Singh gives us photographs charged with life: not only beautiful experiences or painful scenes but also those in-between moments of drift that make up most of our days.” Here Cole talks about the difference between Singh and McCurry’s work as well as similarities but focuses on the negatively charged feelings which exude from McCurry’s work in particular and suggests that this is incorrect and not how he wishes for his homeland to be shown and therefore, with pride, backs the work of Singh to show what India is – in that it is a land full with life but is better shown through the snap-shots of everyday life – what is in between the hustle and bustle of a usual busy location.

Subhas Chandra Bose statue, Kolkata, 1987. Raghubir Singh

Kemps Corner, Mumbai, 1989. Raghubir Singh

An example of Singh’s work is show above and is quite the opposite of McCurry’s work although taken of the same content – just much more relaxed in its composition. Singh focuses on creating a ‘snap-shot’ of one second in time – no-one is looking directly into the camera, not is there exaggerated shadows and colours enhancing in after-affects and instead we are given a much more raw representation of India’s busyness told from the perspective of an insider. Although an outsider’s view, McCurry’s amateur representation of India is still loved because we are given something simple to feast our eyes on; not a narrative which needs to be unpicked yet still enjoyed in its visuals – much like what Singh’s work offers.

Looking at another view, above is the music video for Coldplay and Beyoncé collaboration song ‘Hymn For The Weekend’. Although very poplaur, it has spakred much controversy over its intentions.

Written by Billbaord, ‘Coldplay’s new “Hymn for the Weekend” video featuring Beyoncé that was released on Friday 29 January is catching some heat over its Indian inspiration, with some online calling the Mumbai-shot clip a work of appropriation while others defend it as an appreciation of the foreign culture.

People were seen to express their fury at both Beyoncé and Coldplay and people took to Twitter to outburst their range over what should be seen as an offense to the local culture instead is being ignored because it has been addressed by two popstars who are worth millions. Some said ‘Are we gonna discuss how Beyoncé dressing up as an Indian woman for the Coldplay video is cultural appropriation, or no?’ and another said ‘Just because it’s Beyoncé, doesn’t mean she’s right. She is being offensive and appropriating our culture.’ However, some actually like the fact that Beyoncé was seen in the video to dress up as an Indian woman as it empowers them and someone said ‘I adore Beyoncé for embracing my culture. In a country where I’m a “terrorist” I have never felt more accepted’. And it is argued that Beyoncé is likely not offensively appropriating due her black origins and this would not be in her remit.

However, In my own view, I had never looked that far into it until now and just saw it as a band who wants to embrace the culture of India and not intentionally offend anyone by different people have their own views on representation and it is often misinterpreted.

Analysis, Inspirations, Instruction, Reading, Recording, Research and analysis, Workshops

Visit to CCA Galleries, Tanja Deman & Jonny Briggs Exhibition, 12/09/17

September 24, 2017 Jude Luce Leave a comment

On 12/09/17, we visited the recent exhibition of Jonny Briggs and Tanja Deman’s work. The exhibition consisted of the work they had produced during their residency in Jersey and they were hoping to show off the research and efforts they made in an attempt to impress the locals of Jersey by showing them a side to the island the hadn’t seen before in this exhibition that was great experience and it was very impressive to see the extent of their work, especially having the opportunity to look at two world-renowned photographers who have had their work displayed in art galleries such as Saatchi, I was honoured to have this amazing chance to speak to them on a personal level about their work and get an insight into the style and aims from the series of images they had put on display for us.

In the words of the Balliwick Express website from their publication and the very successful joint exhibition, “both artists were awarded £10,000 to work in the island and have both chosen different projects, Tania photographed underwater landscapes while Jonny focused on the island’s ancient landscape, monuments, institutions and archives through the motif of the mouth.” In my opinion, the contrast that showed two sides of Jersey rich in beauty and wonder was amazing.

CCA Galleries — Pictured: From left to right, Jonny Briggs, Tanja Deman, Sasha Gibb, Director of CCA Gallery International and Gareth Syvret, Société Jersiaise Photographic Archivist and Archisle Project Leader.

I had kindly received a private invitation to the opening night of this exhibition sent in the ail from Societe Jersiaise and I was very honoured to be given the opportunity personally to attend the opening night to be one of the first to see the amazing array of works produced by both artists. As well, on Tuesday 12th the following week, I attended the event again with my school and got another opportunity to speak to both photographers about what they had created on a more one-to-one, immersive basis and it was great to experience. As well, during both artists residency, I began to work with them both very closely on the workshops the set up for myself and other like-mind people and this was an opportunity to produce my own set of work influenced by both of them and the conversations I managed to have them throughout has benefitted my artistic mind and when I got to see the work they had been conjuring up behind the scene when I visited the exhibition, it was a amazing experience I that mad me feel very grateful.

Tanja’s exhibition, entitled ‘Sunken Garden’ focuses on the hidden wonders underneath the surface of the sea – the garden we don’t get to see in such great detail which we were given the opportunity to through the captivating series of works Tanja had produced looking at the types of seaweed that lie beneath the ocean which surrounds our island. There was something quite mesmerising and magical about her work which is what she stated her intentions were – to provoke a certain emotion out of her audience. She wasn’t intending to ell a particular message through the works which were consistent throughout to produce a very truthful series, but instead wanted to force a feeling out of her audience from the magic that was on display – very dream-like images which were underpinned by the very professional skills shown in the photographs with use of lighting to illuminate the texturized seaweeds and highlight their patterns often not noticed when going for a swim in shallow waters. For the project, Tanja had to plan thoroughly to determine the best bays of Jersey which would give her the chance to capture the different types of seaweeds. This wasn’t a very simple effort that required just a couple dips in the shore of St Brelade’s Bay and instead a much more conscious effort to locate perfect locations for the few shoots Tania created in between choosing final images and framing them ready for the exhibition. Tanja’s style and process through producing her images is very different to that of Jonny’s but the behaviour of both of them in terms of their work makes for very different results which both have tell a powerful story encapsulating the rich beauties of Jersey which is often not realised by the locals but the two artists forces the information through to us when exhibiting their work and articulating their intentions from it.

Tanja told Archisle at the beginning of her time in Jersey that she is concerned with ‘the perceptions of space and her relationship to nature’ and this was evident in the work she put on display because she as a photographer and to really make a effort to make a physical relationship between herself and her surroundings – what she was photographing as this would make for the best results.

Tanja wanted us to explore her exhibition and then after 5 minuets of observing the images, she wanted us to choose a photograph we liked and one we disliked and then show her our choices and tell her why we chose the images we did. When I was first handed this task, I felt a bit sceptical about the prospect of criticising a professional photographer on her work she has spent 6 months producing for the locals of Jersey but this was part of the experience I would go onto embrace to allow me understand more bout her work.

This (right) is the image I chose as the one I ‘disliked’ due to the fact that I wasn’t too sure what it was and it seemed very dislocated from the serirs as it wasn’t too similar to other images Tanja had produced as the others showed clear subjects in that you could tell what was in the frame. I showed this to her explain it was my least favourite and told her why this was and she then went on to explain that it was a seabed and I then understood and forced myself to understand that in every series of images, there is going to be an anomalous result that may not always fit in however, this is what makes it special and interesting.

I chose these two images (above) which were displayed in a paring at the exhibition as my favourite because I thought they worked really well together and their wondrous nature is what attracted me to them because they look so fairy-tale-like. I love the haziness which is present in the images. The streak of seaweed which takes its place in the centre of each of image stands out beautifully from the clouded background of the sea and the lighting is what accentuates the detail of seaweed. It is as though the seaweed is so lonesome and it’s dream-like beauty is seen through the effect that the seaweed is floating in this clouded seascape but the effort to pair the two images together makes them much less lonely as opposed to hanging them separately. I explained my reasoning for these two being my favourite to Tanja and she understood why I liked them so much. Tanja’s other works were much bigger in sixe but the smaller size of them both and simplicity of it is what drew my attention to the photographs.

Jonny Briggs exhibition, although within very close proximity, being in the same building with Tanjas’ was actually very different in the type of work produced. Tanja’s was landscape based and Jonny’s was based around photo collaging and using other objects to create images which encouraged much more talk and thoughts from the viewer, in my experience because they ate not as self-explanatory as Tanja’s due to the very contemporary and untraditional techniques used to produce the images.

Jonny found himself during his time on the exploring the idea of censorship and controversy which comes with the motif of the human mouth and the relationship between the eyes and mouth – speaking and seeing. His works were much more muddled and there was no real sense of cohesion but they all worked together to complement each other even though the narrative was not fully direct to the audience however this is what I enjoyed about looking at Jonny’s work. The chance to see the exhibition twice gave me the opportunity to see images twice and therefore conjure up two different meanings which I thought the exhibition was intending to show. The first night was a chance for me to view the array of works but because of the busyness of the night, I could not speak to either Tanja or Jonny which was very frustrating but going back on the following Tuesday allowed me to speak to both artists one-to-one to allow me to get a better understanding of the purposes of the images and Jonny’s work really resonated with me due to the sole message he wanted to tell and hoe actually did this through the unusual and contemporary style of his 6 month project but also the way he articulated his intentions made me very grateful to be in his presence so he could, with much passion, tell us about each and every image.

Jonny’s passion for photography originally came from his failure at architecture at university where he realised he found himself immersing more so into other media where je could find more freedom to do whatever – this is evident in what he produced on the island where you could see works which would put some people off because of the pure unusuality of it. He displayed works such as a pair of shoes with a second pair of feet branching off the end it which walked up the wall of the building. As well, a portrait the size of a credit card with a piece of used chewing gum spread across the two faces of the subjects hanging from the wall. Something I found particular unusual yet satisfying and intriguing was the candle which stood lonesome on pedestal; something I first thought was a normal candle used to freshen the air but in my second return, Jonny explained to us that it was a candle he had produced when working with specialists that burns the smell of burning human flesh. This was inspired by the concentration camps at war times where people inside would find themselves feasting in human flesh as cannibals.

The exhibition overall held this unnerving and disconcerting sense of invasion into the human comfort zone. It was a series of works which played with the human need to be neat and for things to be directly explanatory. In Jonny’s work, he forced a sense of irritation from the audience by creating candles that exuded a pungent whiff of burning human flesh. He sticks chewing gum over images – something we would see as damaging. He takes the time out to create a set where everything within is sliced in half and then moved by one millimetre to create a sense of annoyance for the viewers.

Shoes to Walk up Stairs in an Orderly Fashion, Sculpture, 2017 Lips Hierarchies series - Mirror, Objects within a room sliced through and photographed, 2017, 111 x 118 cm

Here, you can see the effort Jonny has made to show the relationship between the mouth and eyes and what is not seen is heard or vice versa. Again. it all about censorship and in his time in Jersey he visited the old police station. During his time here, he would attempt to cover objects in the dark room in red lipstick – a very repetitive and irritating process I can imagine but something that paid off to be very effective to show the relationship between the mouth and lipsticks and beauty and red lipstick and how it can, when applied in large amounts become something of disgust and unattraction. The sue of red lipstick was something that showed in Jonny work throughout and it is again reiterating the idea of purposely getting on the nerves of the viewers by ruffling their feathers with regards to OCD but how, in the end, it creates a beautiful and powerful catalogue of works.

Analysis, Contextual Study, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis

Alfonso Almendros vs. Maria Kapajeva / Tableaux Portraits

September 22, 2017 Jude Luce Leave a comment

Now I find myself looking at tableaux photography, I have chosen to study the pairing of these two artist by looking at each of their work individually and then comparing and contrasting their photographs by looking at their style and aims of their series of images. I have chosen to look at Alfonso Almendros and Maria Kapajeva because I feel like their is something very unique and perhaps quite sinister and unnerving abut each of their series of images which relate to theme of family, and in some way also underpinning the theme of environment also. After looking at Almendros’ series entitled ‘Family Reflections’, I found a quite strange connection I had with the series in that it made me feel a little uncomfortable looking though the photos but it also made me question the message behind each of them resulting in an enjoyable experience as interrogate back and fourth with myself what the series’ attempts to represent. I will expand n my thoughts on his work later on this post. As well, Kapajeva’s series ‘Family’ again possesses an effective sense of eeriness due to the lighting techniques used and the way she divides two halves of the each photo down the middle to provide seven different images for the series. The split down the middle of her photos which is a recurring theme in all of her images makes us feel as though we as the audience are looking at new different images in what is one frame but divided t sow two different stories – one of the subject in one half an the other of the subject in the other half. One attracts me to the works of both artists is the captivating way in which they have addressed the style of tableaux photography. As well, I love how Almendros’ series seems very, sometimes overly staged in this one environment which you can see throughout the works as it does not changed where the actions in several photographs seem very dramatised. On the other hand, there is Kapajeva’s catalogue of works which does not seem at all romanticised in the actions performed in each image, instead it seems very natural and, almost like documentary imagery.

An image from Almendros’ series, Family Reflections

Both artists take a tableaux approach, however, I believe there is a fine line, which is near enough blurred between what tableaux imagery and documentary imagery is the way they look. There is very extreme tableaux photography where there is several subjective and people within the frame accompanied by film-like locations and props; mise-en-scene is vital in tableaux image. However, in documentary, although much moire informal, with the aim to capture an unexpected, unplanned moment in time, the look can be very similar to tableaux photography. Much like in the image above, however, we as the audience are aware that the photographer has arranged this shot and for the man to stand, naked in the middle of a road. Furthermore, both styles do provoke thoughts from the viewers which ask what the meaning behind an image was because as the audience, we are very much unaware of the happenings ‘behind-the-scenes’ as such. The aim of both styles is to give an insight.

What I like about the two series I am about to look at is the evident theme in each image. This contributes to the very powerful images that speak for themselves. The types of photographs set up are very captivating and in each photographers works based around the them of family you can see the very careful thought process that went in to making each image and together, the images in both artists selection complement each other.

Alfonso Almendros

Alfonso Almendros is an emerging photographer from Spain who lives and works in Helsinki. In a published article on photography website, GUP, they talk to Almendros about his work, Family Reflections and the described his work in a short paragraph which encapsulates the series and what it is about. They said: “Family Reflections captures the parallel of the now and then, each image defining one basic concept – the roots, obsession with death, virility as a symbol of authority, glorification of maternity or the sacred character of some objects. A series about family, struggle and intimacy that creates a parallel reality – words dissolve and become slightly dark, incomplete, almost invisible. The photographs evoke nostalgia, solitude, melancholy among others.”

Particularly in Alemendros’ work, you can notice the style of his work due form the colours used. This would have been a conscious decision, as well as the location used. He takes each image in the same location – a room in a house and you cans see the same furniture as you progress through the different images which would have appeared beforehand. Throughout the series, there is a division of the main series achieved through other images which can be classified as anomalies, in that they don’t fit the theme as such due to the change of location and subject. This is an effect I really like and hope to use in my own study.

A Collection of Images from the Series

On his website, Almendros does not provide any explanation about the series and the meanings behind his series, Family Reflections, however, GUP interviewed the photographer on the release of his series which provides answers to why he produced the images and what they mean.

Looking at the grouping of the images he has produced, I can draw my own conclusions from them but it is likely to be very far from the actual meanings and concept for the construction of the work. However, I am aware that the theme is based around family, and, form the title, I can conclude that Almendros is perhaps looking back at his own family, which, at the time of him making the series, may not have existed and it is therefore an homage to the relationship he may have had with his family members.

Alemendros states that’ Family Reflections’ came at a point in his life where he was full indecision. He also says “after living abroad for a few years, I decided to go back to my hometown and spend a few months with my family. There, I found things that had changed during my absence.” This was what spurred his choice ot make a photographic series of works relating to the changes that occurred in his environment that he remembered in a different way before his absence. As well, he wanted to document the change in his family members attitudes and behaviours since coming back from being abroad.

Alfonso Almendros also states that his father was a photographer beofre he ws born, however he died when Almendros was two years old but he cameras and photographs remained in their house – influencing his need to pick up a camera and begin shooting.

Image Analysis

This, for me, is one of the most powerful images in the whole series because it is so unusual and quite difficult to decode because of its eeriness.

However, if I was to attempt to decode the image, I would suggest that the dead bird could be a metaphor for the relationship between Almendros and his mother and sister after coming back from travelling in that it is now non-existent and itself is dead because he feels as though he doesn’t have that previous, special relationship with his family members but his absence has resulted in them all becoming distant and therefore, when he arrived back in Spain, he came back to something that change dramatically to what he remembered and to him, he may have seen this as very upsetting that the previous memories stored in his mind did not exist when he cam back to his hometown. Now the relationships has to be rekindled and re-created in order for the family to become attached and ‘as one’ again. I believe this image is well representative of the series title as Almendros is looking back and reflecting on what had previously been part of his life – a paramount factor of his happiness when he had that special bond with his mother and sister which now, as he talks, is different as the environment around him and the people he loves has changed.

Talking about the environment, this is the first image of several in the series and it is a great image to have as the opening frame as it sets the mood and atmosphere for the images to come. This image is taken in a room which is a recurrence throughout he series as you notice ht dame wall beyond the subject in most of the images. It is, what looks like a barren and dark room which possess no emotion and it seems very melancholy, deriving the same feeling from audience – a feeling of emptiness and hardship in a way because of the theme throughout of loneliness and trauma, regret, nakedness. A whole array of emotions make up this series and contributes to the whole mood.

Looking at the technical factors in the image and how it is composed, the use of depth of field is used to full extent to make the image very visually pleasing. There is a very shallow depth of field where only the foreground is in focus and it is focused solely on the bird lying just over the edge of table just off the center of the frame. Everything else gradually become blurred, whether it be to the right of the bird where the bowl on the table is out of focus or behind the bird where as you look further into the image, the table cloth comes more and more blurred as well as the glass behind This effect leaves just the bird in focus and it has a great effect and forces our eyes t be drawn to the bird only.

The colour within the images are very similar an there is a very stimulating colour palette because although they are all very bland and dark, they all work very well together. There are different shades of brown that complement the off white of the table cloth and the yellow of the bowl as well as the brown bird. The colours all seem quite faded and it is create a vintage effect. This was perhaps the style of homes in Spain. There seem to be a source of light coming from the right also which illuminates the frame.

Maria Kapajeva

Maria Kapajeva is a Russian artist from Estonia based in London who left her career in Economics behind and moved to the UK to get her BA and then MA in Photography at University of Westminster. Her work has been exhibited internationally including Belfast, FORMAT and Guernsey photo festivals.

In her work Maria focuses on the issues of women representation in contemporary society and cultural and social stereotypes around that representation – shown through a very strong message in her series ‘Family’ In her practice she expands the borders of photography working also with found images, video and textile crafts.

I am Usual Woman, 2013 © Maria Kapajeva

Detail from I am Usual Woman, 2013 © Maria Kapajeva

For this piece above entitled ‘I Am Usual Women’, the used photographs on the quilt were found on the matrimonial websites specially created for Russian women to find a Western husband. The images for the quilt are carefully selected from the ones which were shown on these websites as ‘the best samples’ of how women should be photographed for the best matchmaking. She looks at the fantasies of Russian women and is one of several works she has produced which relate to the role of women in society and how the are perceived to be – that they are often objectified due to their gender and therefore sexualised but also seen as the leaders of the home-life in that they do the work to cater for the husband.

About the series ‘Family’ taken form Kapajeva’s website:

“The series is an exploration of family as an integrated institution within its problems such as miscommunication or misunderstanding between its members. During her research she collected a lots of stories from people about how badly the misunderstanding could end up because of lack of an essential communication in the families on daily basis. Maria selected seven most common scenarios and interpreted them in her images. Each story consists of two separate photographs placed close to each other for an installation. The physical division between two prints visualise a distance between family members who are involved in each story. Even though Maria staged peculiar scenarios, she is open to other interpretations by the viewers. Thus, each pair left with no caption to give a space for people to find their reading of the set-ups.”

A Collection of Images from the Series

As well, it is evident that lighting is important feature of Kapajeva’s work, in particular, this series which focuses on divisions of family life and relationships between family members, as well as contrasting characters and how these clash and produce an “empty family” which has no cohesion or bond no more. She illuminates each subject in each half of every image to show the spotlight on them and this is also a popular technique in most tableaux images. It creates shadows and they high key lighting shone upon the subject’s face puts them in spotlight of the audience – under pressure as such.

Kapajeva’s work is very well produced as she has created a consistent series of images that all work together in harmony to create a documentation through tableaux photography that speaks to the women of Russia through the visualization she provides of family life in terms of how a wife and husband and their potential kids may behave in their home. Each image int the series is divided through the middle by cropping one side and then the other to create the effect as if you are looking at two different images but then on closer inspection, is one because the two sides often work together to show tow different environments with different subjects in, however, a hint that they are a whole image maybe given through the body positioning of the subjects or where they are looking. Although the environments in both halves often seem different, they produce a contrast of the characters in them and the audience are forced to see the two images combined to create a narrative. Her images often follow the theme of showing a husband and wife and their physical and mental divide and breakdown as they may begin to become two as opposed to the previous one harmonic couple the once were. This is also backed up by the physical divide of Kapajeva’s images.

Image Analysis

This is one of the images form the series and is one of my favourites due to he complete contrast ad powerful and evident message it is trying to get across.

Like I mentioned above, it sows the physical; divide between family life between a husband and wife and then often the child involved as well – in the frame – the child glued to her mother’s side – reiterating the desire for children to be attached to their mums at the early stages of their life as they feel safe mum due to the connection built with them form birth. It creates this sense of fragility and preciousness – that this child possesses and she is at the fore front of everything done in the house and the parents’ life revolves around her. But also the fragility of family

As well, the image is illuminated on both side with the use of high key lighting on both subjects and the activity they are doing. Te women of the house is in the typical potion of doing work and providing for the others in the house. In the frame, she is doing the ironing whilst looking at the man with an expression showing no emotion – it is as though she is fed up and sh is looming in envy as the husband sits in the armchair with his beer watching the TV – he is ot watching over his daughter and it is instead left up to the wide even though is currently busy. As well, the kid is in a position of anger underneath the iron the mother is using, yet the male is not paying attention and it gives the sense that there is no communication between the two and they are at their worst where they cant bare to look at each directly and instead live their life trapped inside themselves.

Analysis, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis

Environmental Documentary Shoot Planning

September 11, 2017 Jude Luce Leave a comment

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:

portraits-holding-devices-removed-eric-pickersgill-2

portraits-holding-devices-removed-eric-pickersgill-33

portraits-holding-devices-removed-eric-pickersgill-22

portraits-holding-devices-removed-eric-pickersgill-10

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.

Foreboding … Mother and Daughter, 2014

Gregory Crewdson’s Father and Son, 2013.

Image result for gregory crewdson cathedral of pines

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.

Analysis, Independent Study, Inspirations, Instruction, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis

Larry Sultan vs. Ray Billingham / Documentary + Environmental Portraits

September 10, 2017 Jude Luce Leave a comment

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.

Image result for ray billingham ray's a laugh cover — 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

Reading In Bed — 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.

Mom Garage Portrait — Other 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

Los Angeles, Early Evening Mom in Curtain

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.

Across the Divide

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.

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 animals

His 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 furniture

You 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.

Untitled (RAL 22)

Untitled (RAL 25)

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.

Untitled (NRAL 13)

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’.

Analysis, Inspirations, Personal Investigation, Preparation, Reading, Research and analysis

Areas of Focus this year (Documentary / Tableaux)

September 8, 2017 Jude Luce Leave a comment

Throughout the process of this coming year in photography, I am going to be looking at a variety of different style of photography that will be paramount for me to present my personal study in a creative and new narrative style that I have not attempted before. I have already looked at one of the threes styles, being archival imagery. I have achieved this through looking briefly at my own personal family archive and visiting the archive of Jersey and it’s history at the Societe Jersiaise museum. This was a really enjoyable experience and it has set me up for the year to come because I aim to use these new skills learnt to help me analyse the background context of photographs deeper and I will be able to explain my now photographs better because of this. The other two style of photography will interlink with archival works and the pieces I produce from each aspect will hopefully come together to complement each other in the end result.

I have set myself a personal target this year to explore lots of new techniques and photography styles. Last year I focused solely on what was set and I feel this limited my ability to explore and expand my creativity further outside of the boundaries and therefore my outcomes were often basic and they weren’t always what I wanted in order to differentiate myself from others because I didn’t know what to do in order to make myself unique. Furthermore, my maturity as an artist has develop and artists mind has also advancement, therefore, I feel as if I am eager to try lots of new things and challenge myself in terms of exploring outside my comfort zone to help me understand what I want to be as an artist, the style I feel most attached to and so on. I hope to discover a particular look to my work and I think that looking at new techniques will aid this; this is why my ability to be experimental in photoshoots for documentary, tableaux and archival purposes will be vital for my own success. I see this year as a time for trial and error in an effort to discover myself.

Documentary

Documentary photography usually refers to a popular form of photography used to record events or environments both significant and relevant to history and historical events as well as everyday life.

Documentary imagery drew on the idea of information as a creative education of life itself and it has been used by a range of photographers to show everyday life of ordinary people – which is what I will be attempting to achieve in the near future.

Documentary photography wished to, when first introduced, pave the way for social change as people often photographed controversial subjects very subtly to get the idea of documenting a particular event as if they shouldn’t be because the subject is seen to be a taboo such as alcoholism, much like Richard Billingham did in his series Ray’s A Laugh.

Richard Billingham’s Untitled, 1995, from the Ray’s a Laugh series. — Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham’s Untitled, 1994, from the Ray’s a Laugh series. — Richard Billingham

Tate says that Until the mid-twentieth century, documentary photography was a vital way of bearing witness to world events: from shoot-from-the-hip photographs of the Spanish Civil War by Robert Capa to the considered portraits of poor farmers by Dorothea Lange.

Dorothea Lange – one of America’s greatest documentary photographers who worked in War strucken areas and investigated the working conditions of farm workers

For me, documentary photography is a very powerful tool to use in order to get across a message creatively and artistically through the use a camera – a snap shot to allow us to compensate for the resistance that media has when serious topics such as mental illness or suicide are not addressed and are not put in the face of the public due to such topics being regarded as taboo. I am not saying I will be addressing such topics and issues but I believe that documentary is a perfect way to compensate for the lack of publicity it gets and artists such as Richard Billingham or journalists as early as 1880’s who documented the slums in Manhattan shows this in their work. Also, an artist, I am particularly fond of addresses less serious topics but in a humorous way – French illustrator, Cecile Dormeau tells the hidden story of women and the other side to women that society don’t regard as lady-like through her colourful and cartoon-esque illustrations and gifs. She shows women eating junk food in lounge-wear and shows curvy women in strappy tops through the characters she creates in each of her drawings. It is a form of documentary work because it is publicising something that wouldn’t get addressed in other media because it is typical to have a petite models in the public eye through brand advertising.

Image result for cecile dormeau — Cecile Dormeau

Tableaux

Tableaux photography is a type of art in which the subjects of image are staged. Tableaux is used to describe a painting or photograph in which characters are arranged for picturesque or dramatic effect and appear absorbed and completely unaware of the existence of the viewer.

‘Tableau’ derived from the French term ‘Tableau Vivant’ meaning ‘living picture’. The term is relevant to many art forms including painting, where it first stemmed from and it has since gone on to become popular in photography and sculpture for visual and aesthetic representations. In the theatrical context, the actors/models do not speak or move throughout the duration of the display they are presenting during a play or show etc.

When I think of tableaux photography, bearing in mind I have never performed it myself or photographed due to the prospect of being motivated to due to my lack of interest in it, I personally do intend to concentrate my time too much on it because I feel like it wont suit my artistic style. However, I am definitely up for experimenting with the historical technique which is still in use now, mainly for theatrical reasons however but I feel like I could enjoy this style once I have planned a shoot for it. This is because I enjoy photographing people and faces. I feel like I can definitely envisage what I want to achieve once I have the subjects inf front of me , and, from what I have learnt of tableaux photography so far, it looks like it needs a lot of patience in order to make the position being performed.

An example of tableau photography can be seen when looking at the worm of Ryan Schude. He photographs set up scenes as if they have just come from a movie and I love his work. I cam across him by chance and I was instantly attracted to the images due to the mayhem that is often occurring in each image and it is always at a particular location and the subjects are all performing something different to each other which is what makes it so interesting because there is always something to look at. I also love the colours that are present in the images andf they almost look vintage which is what I presume Schude has attempted to give the idea of original tableau vivants – the costumes of each character aids this effect and the mise-en-scene.

Image result for ryan schude tableau vivant — Ryan Schude, Tableau Vivant, Crazy Pool Party

Tableaux photography, to me is different to documentary because it is not known as much to document serious issues and its aim is not to pave a pathway for social change. This is because of where it derives from, being theatrical purposes.

Seamus Nicholson, another tableaux based photographer

His artist statement explains his work in a sentence and is revolved around documentary combine with tableaux and how he can create a snap shot moment with his camera to get an insight in ordinary peoples lives.

“My work seeks to express the surreal and the unexpected found in ordinary everyday moments. I draw inspiration from cinema and the traditions of tableaux painting as well as from direct observations of life. I am interested in combining elements of documentary and the snapshot aesthetic.”

2018 Photography Blog