The origin of tableaux stemmed from the multiple translations from the French language meaning either picture, art board, board, slab, writing tablet, canvas or painting. The style of production originated from the again the French phrase ‘tableau vivant’, translating to ‘living picture’. Of course the early sources of tableaux were paintings, particularly of weddings or other holy celebrations.
A Burial At Ornans was a painting constructed by Guastve Corbet, which further came to present a change in nineteenth centruy art. The piece holds a certain level of irony as the style of the image is of course that of a tableau, however, the image itself portrays the funeral of the painters great-uncle
Jean – Francois Chevrier was the first to use the term tableau in relation to a form of art photography, which began in the 1970s and 1980s in an essay titled “The Adventures of the Picture Form in the History of Photography” in 1989.
Jeff Wall is a Canadian photographer renowned for his cibachrome approach to photography and his tableaux productions. Wall’s tableaux work has ranged from 1996 to 2013.
Although Jeff Wall’s tableaux work also has the same basis of topic, all of his images have their own theme as they consist of completely different composites and colours. This coincides with how each photograph has its own story to tell.
Following the production of the movie ‘Invisible Man’, Jeff Wall decided to construct a tableaux image as he attained inspiration from it. In the film, an African American man’s color renders him invisible and is forced to live recluse in an underground room wired with hundreds of electric lights, operated by power stolen from the city’s electric grid. The character reflects upon his social segregation flashbacks to his high school experience, depicting the racism still present in America despite moves to try counteract racial discrimination, for example the Civil Rights of 1964.
Jeff Wall’s image is a direct reference to Ralph Ellison’s production, meaning he has not much of a story to reveal for himself. A unique technique of using a story and meaning already invented and created and developing on it, almost acting as a sequel to the movie but in tableaux form.
In relation to the reenactment of a childhood memory in the form of tableaux, I thought it would be important to study the work of Hannah Starkey, a British photographer who specializes in staged settings of women in city environments.
Starkey’s lighting seems to an interesting variable in her photographs as although we can clearly see the model, there is elements of shadow that cover her face, which links back to the ambiguity of the plain facial expression in environmental portraits. Note the light is all natural, which is a unique and organic feature of her photographs. When recreating a childhood memory, I would try to use as much natural light as possible.
Documentary photography; what is it? Is it news for the photographers? Is it imagery with a story, a meaning? Is it boring? Is it powerful? Can it be used to raise issues mainstream media doesn’t? Can it be controversial? Yes.
A document is a piece of paper with important information on; it holds meaning.
A documentary is a programme on TV. It is also a way to convey important information to an audience.
What’s a documentary image? Most people forget about this form of inflicting an emotion onto the viewer but still, it is a powerful source of information – it’s a visual device.
Documentary imagery is a way to derive emotions and feelings from its viewers. It was David Bate, professor of photography at the University of Westminster in London that drew on the idea of documentary photography not just having the ability to record events but also “to enlighten and creatively educate” people about “life itself”. (Bate, D. (2016). Photography: The Key Concepts). There is a certain emotion you can achieve from observing documentary photography that you may not be able to access from contemporary photography, in that documentary imagery can be very captivating due to the context and concept of its being and how an image can tell the story of a person who then becomes the character in a story, much like in a novel.
It is difficult to define exactly what is meant by documentary photography because, widely speaking, the concept of photography is challenging to define because there are no set rules to what photography is and how you should go about taking pictures. This is why there are so many pioneers of the art form; especially surrounding documentary imagery. For example, in the first examples of documentary photography, it was used to encourage social reform. However, the first publications of these photos were first forced through by Lewis Hine; an American sociologist and photographer who used his camera to push change in society. He photographed child labour – an increasing problem in the early 1900s. Being part of The National Child Labour Committee, from 1908 and over the next decade of his life, he turned his focus from teaching to documenting child labour hoping to end the practice through his visual stories. I suppose that, looking at documentary photography as a source of powerful storytelling, there is no real need to define what it is. Each photo produced with the intention to “document” is its own visual story and this is what defines not only the medium but also the context of each image – one snap-shot moment can live in history as a utility of social change. It is said that ambiguity in photographs can be used as its strength as opposed to its weakness – a way of encouraging interrogation from viewers as people don’t want to provide direct answers from their work – they want it to provide a feeling, a thought and the confusion that may come is what drives the human mind to look at things differently – Jonny Briggs, a world-renowned contemporary photographer explained his experiment with primary school children in which he asked them whether they like being confused when looking at art. One student response that resonated with me as I feel it is so relevant comment on the fact that being confused allows you to have an argument with yourself. This is what photography is about – interpreting things form your view and although documentary photography was very direct, modernised imagery is not.
Lewis Hine, 1900s, Child LabourTrent Parke, 1999, Bathhurst Races
Tableaux imagery, much like documentary, is a pictorial narrative and it aims to show a scene which constructs a meaning for the audience, however, the difference being it the format. With documentary photography traditionally used to create a fly-the-wall effect, the photographers aim to subtly show the lives of ordinary people with them often being oblivious to it – it often takes just a click of the camera in order to document that moment in time. Tableaux phtooagrohy, however, constructs a narrative through staging people in a set-up scene to tell a visual story through the particular environment. The style of photography derives from first instances of theatre and art where tableaux was frequently used on stage or in a painting. Tableaux derives from the French term ‘Tableaux Vivant’ meaning ‘living picture’. It was first 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. The difference between documentary and tableaux is that one is in a staged environment and one is ‘real-life’ and therefore, it can be argued that documentary holds more meaning and purpose.
Before radio, film and television, tableaux vivants were popular forms of entertainment in the Victorian and Edwardian era.
Looking at tableaux photography, and, in particular, the work of Gregory Crewdson, a Brooklyn based tableaux photographer, the style has a very slick and polished effect to them. With regards to documentary photography, composition and framing, or whether one part of the photograph was blurred didn’t really matter or have an effect on the outcome. For a tableaux image to work to its best effect, it is likely it would take much planning to find the best locations and then to pull of the image through trial and error of different poses and set-ups. Gregory Crewdson is known as the photographer with a movie-style budget for casting, locations and make-up and props.
Gregory Crewdson, 1999, chromogenic print (Chromogenic color prints are full-color photographic prints made using chromogenic materials and processes. These prints may be produced from an original which is a color negative, slide, or digital image).
I would argue that tableaux photography aims to romanticise and dramatise the subjects through the use of costumes and how intricately their body positioning is paid attention to and this can however cause ambiguity as the action which is present in the image is not always explicitly presented to the audience, whoever, with documentary, it aims to show in its most raw form, the actuality or what life can hand us.
The reason I chose Larry Sultan is because I like the structure and form of his photos. He isn’t afraid to use color yet still display a brokenness or sadness. When looking at these photos I get a sense of a dis-functional couple, this is due to every time we see this couple together there is a barrier or a distance between them. Otherwise they have been photographed on their own looking distressed as we can see in the bottom left photo or we see them obsessed with a hobby as we see in the top left photo. The people in the photos are the photographers parents. Sultan is clearly showing his family in these photos. Showing how family isn’t always easy and can be difficult sometimes. Sultan’s work is very centered the main thing that he wants you to focus on is in the middle clearly showing wants he wants the viewer to look. It also gives the photos a sense of formality as most formal photos the main subject is placed in the middle of the frame which is something we can see here. Some of these photos look very staged however there are others look as if they have been captured in the moment such as the one with the Vacuum cleaner and one with the father practicing his golf swing.
Analysis
In this photo we see the photographers father on one side of the window and his mother on the other. The father is on the outside and mother in the inside. This looks like a photo captured in the moment as the lighting in this photo isn’t perfect, it’s very much improvised using natural lighting. However, I do not think this photo is celebrating how to create the perfect photo I think it is celebrating to capture the perfect at the right time. When looking at this photo I see multiple meanings behind it.
I find the when first looking at this photo I got a sense of a dis-functional relationship like I did from the other photos Sultan has taken. I see as there is a distance between them both, the window acts as a barrier almost like the american prisons where you go visit an inmate and there is security glass separating the visitor and the inmate. This could represent that maybe someone or both people feel imprisoned in their relationship as they are not happy. Also we see the father at the window coming back from gardening (or playing golf like we discovered he liked doing in other photos). However, the mother is in the kitchen. This in itself it reinforcing dominant ideologies that women should be inside preparing food and the man should be outside working or doing “Man things”. This ideology is very popular among the older generation which again shows off their subjects old age. It could also be a reason why the mother of the photography looks so sad and distressed as she does not have a life of her own to live. I like this photo as it talks for itself.
This photo may not be perfectly framed or lighting may not be perfect but it has captured something that tells its own story to each person. This is very important for a photo as it allows the viewer to connect to the photo and have their own meaning. I like the fact the fact that the photographer has captured the subjects in such a way that they look awkward to be around each other. I like how informal the photo is as it is almost like a window into what the photographers eyes.
This photo looks as if it could have been staged and to a certain extent I think it was. I think the photographer asked the subject to practice his golf stance and he photographed this. The carpet is green just like the grass he would be on if he was actually playing golf. The main subject is almost in the center of the photo. This can be seen almost all of Larry Sultans photos as the main thing he want you to focus on is in the middle of the frame. The photo is taken in very low key lighting giving it a isolated feeling. There isn’t much actually in the photo however the fact that the photo isn’t cluttered gives the photo a isolated feeling.
When I look at the photograph I feel like the photographer is trying to show his father isolating himself using his hobby (golf). I see this a lot in the older generation as my grandfather also plays golf as is often not in the house leaving my grandmother at home. This again links to other photos as it showing a dis-functional family however this time only showing one side to that family. Its showing a man so obsessed with this hobby that he is forgetting to spend time with his wife leading to a broken marriage. Most of the time the hobbies exist as a distraction for something that needs to be talked about. This is the meaning I get out of this photo.
I like this photo as it is strange as he is practicing his stance indoors in front of the TV rather than outside in the sun. I also like the way it has been framed as like his other photos it has a sense of formality to it yet it is still informal. I also like that the carpet is green as it is almost like grass and goes perfectly with the photo, its what makes the photo special. I like the fact that throughout his shoot he has a obvious theme that can be taken in different ways and viewed in a different way by each person that views this photo.
For the photoshoot I carried, I looked at the role of the women of the house in my own circumstance – being my mum. I looked at this through documenting in a staged style, almost tableaux and it also has environmental aspects within it because the shoot is executed in the subjects usual environment and this either the home or the workplace, however, for my mum, it is both as she works from home so it is often you find her slaving away in the kitchen or her workroom and I aimed to encapsulate this lifestyle which can get quite repetitive as she said when I was photographing her by staging different scenes in which she is posing doing different household jobs. In each shot she is also looking directly at the camera – making the viewer feel quite intimidated or uncomfortable. I wanted to show her as though she stating her authority within her own home – with pride and confidence but I also wanted her to look quite vulnerable to the audience as she could be looking into the camera as to say “help, look at me, look at what I do”.
Evaluation of the Shoot
I found that the shoot and its end products turned out to be very successful and I think I will use this experience as a learning curve in order for me to improve for next time. I treated the photoshoot as an experiment of to try out different ways of photographing documentary images and it is evident in this first attempt that I focused on low angles, body positioning, facial expressions and a different camera aspect ratio to the usual 4:3 – the square for,at is not achieved through cropping on Photoshop – I achieved this through altering the settings on my camera to shoot in 1:1 in order to achieve a more vintage effect. This limited the amount of the surroundings I was able to include in each shot but I attempted to focus on the main objects in the frame, being my mum and the event she is doing and the object needed for this – for example, the sink, the work unit, the stair case and the armchair.
The first room in which I photographed my mum was the kitchen. I already had the idea for the action being performed to be her washing the dishes.
Before the shoot, I took some reccee shots to decipher and terminate which position I wished to have my camera in for the best results. I was aware that I wanted a low angle shot but this was difficult to achieve due to the small sized of the room. I found a spot where I could get a good frame which included the main areas of the kitchen, including my mum in the middle. I first started out using a tripod as I thought this would be easier to capture good quality shots at a low angle – which is quite awkward to photograph hand-held, however, this is the technique that prevailed in the end. As the shoot went on, I found that mounting my camera on a tripod in a tight corner was quite difficult especially when I had to direct my subject to change her position. Therefore, for the most part, I ended up not using a tripod and instead myself. I would lie on the ground on my front and point my camera up to the subject manually. This proved to be much more effective to achieve the drastic low angle I wanted.
However, what I found most difficult during the shoot was being able to focus the subjects face as I was in a rather awkward position in order rot get a full clear view of the camera’s screen as I could not use the viewfinder feature in this instance.
As well, I struggled to choose a pose which my mum would attempt to act out for me as I did not know what would look best nut I already had this image in my mind of how I wanted ach shot to look – vey serious, quite uncomfortable for the viewer but telling a story of a mum who rarely leaves which rarely leaves the house during the day and has the work-load of providing for the other occupants within the house. I wanted to get this across through the documentary style I took.
For example, the image above was the first image I took during the shoot and it was mainly an experimental sot to see whether I liked the look of this style. However, I opted not to proceed with this style of the rest of the shot because for me, the image looked to overloaded and it did not have the clean and polished affect I wanted due to the foregrounded object obstructing most of the frame. Even though this was intended, I did not like it at all.
The look I wished to achieve form the image above was a fly-on-the-wall effect; as if the viewer is discreetly watching the subjects movements through a peep hole. I placed the camera within the washing basket which has holes in and I pointed the lens through one of the gaps and focused on the subject to allow the basket to become out of focus, in order to make my mum the focal point. I realised that the image would look something like this but when I reviewed my efforts, I was not attracted to the way it looked and I decided it would be in my best interests to continue with a more traditional approach to photographing but with my own personal touches. I don’t feel like you ca et the same feeling towards the image when there is foregrounded objects obstructing the view because I feel as though you, as the audience are not connected with the subject and are not building that relationship enough with them because of the fly-on-the-wall effect. However, with the tableaux style, the audience can really begin to build a relationship with the subject within, especially as she is looking directly at the camera – breaking the normal conventions of documentary photography where the subject is seemingly unaware of the presence of the photographer. However, I wanted my mum to attempt to represent her role in the house and for her to do this in a way which shows her as vulnerable and this is aided by the style I adopted.
In David Bates book, Art Photography, in chapter three which cover the topic of Documentary and Story-Telling, he writes “documentary drew on the idea of information as a creative education”. The way I interpret this is that: providing a visual story or visual element to physically view is another way, if photographed in the right way, to educate people and inform people of relevant issues, just form that ne image or “photo essay”. I do believe that a photograph has the contextual and technical power to achieve this education – a creative education and this is what I am aiming to do in the shoot and edits which follow.
Again, this image above was another experimentation that I attempted to do to give a different perspective however, it did not work. I also want the photoshoot to be consistent in the way each shot was photographed, just in different rooms of my house. However, I would not be able to do this in each room that we shot in so this would not be appropriate to show as part of the final images but was useful as an experimentation but the reflection of the window is too over-powering and it fades out the subject.
The Edits - Final Images
Image taken in the kitchen, mum doing the dishesImage taken in the dining room, mum sitting downImage taken on the landing, mum looking downImage taken in the lounge, mum relaxingImage taken on the staircase, mum polishingImage taken in the workroom, mum at the sewing machine
Theory
Something I found quite interesting came not from the post photoshoot stages but the post editing stages when I decided to actually show my mum the images I had produced form the shoot she had no idea about until I called upon her to help me out with it at the last minute – something I do often if I need some assistance with models.
During the shoot, I had given very little details to my mum about the aim of the photoshoot and what is what for, as well as what I wanted to achieve from it and way I was even doing it. I gave enough information to her in order for her to know what she needed to do however. As well, throughout the shoot, I had snapped about 55 images and not one of them did she see. I also do this with any other portraiture shoot I carry out due to the inner worry of being judged if I was to show the subject what I was actually producing. I only enjoy showing people my products once fully completed – which would usually be after the photoshoot, after I had gone through them and defined which ones I would work with and then the final stages of editing. Only then would I show others because I feel I would get satisfaction out of showing something I feel proud of as I know my family would appreciate this too and would recognise the hard work I have put in. Yet, there is something disconcerting and worrying to me about showing my subjects the images I have taken of them due to the potential inner damage it could cause to me if they don’t “get” it or understand it. However, I have previously experienced the issue where when showing the model the images I have taken halfway through the shoot, they begin to doubt themselves and their attractiveness in front of the camera – this mostly being females. For example, when I worked with my girlfriend on previous projects she would comment on how “ugly” she looked and I experienced this for the first time with my mum after the point which I had shown her the edits from the documentary shoot.
What I find interesting however, is that for this shoot, I was not particularly aiming to show glamour or beauty, I was concentring more so on the message I could present but as soon as I showed my mum the images, the first thing she comment on was the way she looked and her exact words, as I flicked through the images were “oh, no, I look so gross”, however laughing as she said in a comedic way. She then went on to state how from the low angle I had adopted, you could see her double chins. To me, she was more focused on how she looked and how herself was being presented, not the character I wanted to portray. This is what contributes to the worry I have of showing others my work because of the reaction I may get where the focus of their comments is leant more towards how they look for the camera and they are often not pleased with it. It is at this point where I begin to question my own work and whether it holds any quality to it.
From my own view and perspective on the outcomes of the photoshoot I have now named ‘This Is Your House, Mum’ for obvious reasons relating to authority, I am pleased with the results because I feel I have ben consistent in the way I approached each shot and this has paid off for the overall look of the final selection of images which I believe would work nicely as a selection of four or six together.
This is my favourite image out of the six because of the successful composition and framing. I feel my mum is positioned in a great way here in order for her to, through the image, connect with viewers through her looks and her body positioning as she stands vulnerably yet statefully on the stairs with her hand on the banister as she polishes it.
Make one environmental portrait using a family member.
When considering capturing a family portrait, i think about the members of my family and what represents them. To me, other than my mum and sister who i live with, My grandparents are my closest family. As documentary photography captures portrait style images in individuals natural environment, i am going to take images of my grandparents at their home because neither of them work anymore and spend most of their time at home. I plan to tell a story with my images as i want to show the relationship i have with my grandparents through natural image, i go around to their house on Tuesdays and Thursdays nearly every week and just spend time with them, not particularly doing anything special. Therefore through myimages i want to use creative and innovative camera angles aswell as natural lighting which turn there everyday lives into somewhat beautiful images.
Genre
Location
subject
lighting
Composition
Settings
– Documentary photography
Portraiture
shots that show my grandparents natural environment but including them
– Grandparents house as it is what reminds me of them the most because i go to there house a couple times a week to spend time with them so its the location which reminds me most of them but also tells the best story about who they are
– grandparents
try to get portraits of them from a front angle so you can see facial features as this tells a lot about their age
however subject to also be their home in the background of the images
– strong lighting, creating dramatic portraits
-experiment with lighting coming from behind the images
– experime nt with breaking rule of thirds: grandma in the centre of the image
follow rule by having grandparents in the sides of the image with home as background for the rest of the image
no flash
fast shutter speed
medium aperture
auto white balance(adjust when editing if it needs)
I think that the shoot went well as i managed to capture a couple of good portrait images of my Grandma which tells us a bit about her and what she likes to do. However i think that the shoot could have gone better if i had planned more and considered the small rooms and where i needed to position myself in relation to where my grandparents where to get a good angle as i was trying to capture the most natural images of them possible. Therefore in my next shoots i will focus on taking more images focusing on capturing the same image but from a variety of angles, changing the lighting so i can get the best image possible. Nonetheless the images did capture my grandparents in their natural environment and show from start to finish what a normal visit to their house would be like and how spending time with them is what family means to me. Here are a few of my favourite images:
This is my favourite image from my documentary shoot because it captured the documentation of my grandma which i had planned and i would also considered the image a strong portrait as she is looking directly at the camera so we can see her face clearly. However it is also a good documentary portrait as it contains a lot of the environment and this gives a greater clue to the activities and the type of character that my grandma might be. The image is of my grandmother doing a puzzle. i think that the rule of thirds in this image has been followed, the subject is in the top axis of the image and sticking to one particular side (right) of the image. This helps to keep the image spaced out and allow for the puzzle to be included in the image which is the main documentation part of the image because the photograph is capturing her doing one of her hobbies in her own home. I also think it is crucial to highlight the use of lighting in this image. The strong direction of lighting onto the face makes the portrait almost bold and over dramatic for what is actually being captured but this was the effect i was going for. The harsh lighting created from a sunny day through the blinds adds a really interesting look to the image. But i also feel like the blinds and lighting may highlight a further message which has a deeper meaning. The blinds which are not allowing much light in and are covering the outside world could symbolize that the older generation are more limited in their movement and may feel like they are trapped inside there homes as they are unable to walk around as much as they used to be able to
Documentary usually means that something is occurring naturally and is being captured purely for recording purposes.Documentary photography is one of the most popular forms of photography and occurs all over the world environmental, social and chronicle events which have a certain relevance to history.During the first world war when documentary photography properly emerged it was used purely for ‘gathering a creative education about actuality, life itself’ says David Bate in ‘documentary and storytelling’ . the photographer wanted the images they took to be records of everyday life.
There are many different views of what documentary photography really is and is you look at it from a now modern perspective and the opinion of Tate they describe documentary as ‘a style of photography that provides a straightforward and accurate representation of people, places, objects and events, and is often used in reportage’. However there was a very different view of this before the middle of the twentieth century were documentary photography was vital for capturing key events.
Greer and Robert on the bed, NYC 1982 Nan Goldin born 1953 Purchased 1997 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/P78044
Nowadays documentary photography follows the lines that it shows a story through a series of photographs in depth which can be seen as different to photojournalism which is more what is happening in reality ( similar to documentary photography when it was first set up). Documentary photography gives us a deeper understanding and sense of meaning to critical events, public connections, stories of political justices, and human rights issues which are all very relevant to the audience of the photographs.
Documentary photography is very important in today’s open society as they have the ability to highlight stories and are one of this generations best chances of making people understand that change does need to happen. I think that this is why i really like documentary photography because it has the power to maybe make a difference and change the society with live in today to a better more peaceful place, and this is the type of photography which i would like to achieve this year ( something with a bigger meaning.
former combat medic with the Us army and his grandmother – Eugene Richards, War is Personal
I think that documentary photography does have different meanings to it but what interpret it as is a way of showing social, political and environmental issues which are going on around the world that our society needs to know about and a photographer which i have found really influential when researching is Marcus Bleasdale who documents natural disasters in the Congo. He photographs show true stories of real life tragedies and although his work is spreading awareness of some issues going on around the world ‘Open society foundations’“believe that photographers can be more effective when connecting to those who are already working towards change in an ongoing way.”
French for ‘Living picture’ Tableaux photography is what it means. it is a style of artist presentation which tends to ‘describe a group of suitably costumed actors, carefully posed and often theatrically lit.’ – wikipedia. The idea of Tableau has been around since before photography when people from the middle and lower class liked to recreate scenes from paintings of famous parties. Photographic experimentation began to appear more regularly during the 1970’s were it became more known of performance art and photography among women. Cindy Sherman is an example of woman photographers immerging in tableaux photography. Brighthub state that “Cindy Sherman’s “Film Stills” series dating from the late 1970’s to early 1980’s are all narrative tableau constructions that create archetypal women from B movies – posed, staged and lit to convey meaning and message. Sherman starred in every image, making herself into art.”
Cindy Sherman – ‘film stills’
Susan brights opinion on what Tableaux and narrative photography is shows that she thinks that you can create exciting staged images which still tell a story but have been created in a specific. she states ” narrative is crucial to photography, as is artificial and contemporary artists realise this and use these as strategies to tell stories”. Similar to Documentary photography narrative/Tableaux images have a deeper meaning behind them and are often telling the story of a social situation or issue.
Therefore the difference between tableaux photography and documentary photography becomes clear as tableaux photography is staged, artificial photographs which act on the before of telling either fantasy or real life situations but are not actual in the real environment/ situation. Whereas documentary photography capture real life in the moment image which have been less staged or not staged at all however still tell a very relevant and real story/ message about current social situations.
In response to the task set, I delved into my nostalgia in order to recollect memories from when I was a little tiddler. Initially, I thought of my trip to Disney Land Paris for my eighth birthday, or my first day of secondary school or some sporting highlights. However, as my reminiscence developed, I remembered one of my earliest childhood memories but it was a darker recollection than the others.
Somehow, my three and a half year old self remembered the day my father left home. To this day, I remember exactly what he was wearing, the expression on his face and the dialogue exchanged. My then nineteen year old father was sobbing with tears running down his face as I clung on to his right leg and looked up to his face whilst my mother told him to go. He was wearing a blue Henry Lloyd fleece with a Nike tight fit beanie. I have a specific image in my head of me looking up to my father with tears streaming down his face and I said to him “Don’t go dad”. Following this argument, my father never lived with me and my mother again and has definitely changed my life, but not in a necessarily negative way. When I was seven years old, I had a birthday meal at Mano’s, a local restaurant in town in which I was surrounded by the young adults I had grown up with. After several years of conflict, my parents had finally agreed, for me, to both come to my birthday meal. It was great, I had all the lovely adults I had grown up with who had presents for me and good food (I had pasta), but most importantly my parents were in the same room after continuous phone call and text messaging arguments, they were both here, celebrating with me. The main meal passed by and out came my cake, I don’t remember the cake but I remember blowing out the candles shortly after my mum requested me to make a wish. Once all the candles were out and the applause had stopped, one of my mother’s friends asked me what I wished for. The room still silent, I raised my voice slightly higher than normal and said something along the lines of “I wish for my mum and dad to get back together”. Both my mother and father were stood with their new partners with my parents on the opposite ends of the table. A cloud of awkwardness shaded the room yet I was gleaming, it had felt liberating to release how I was feeling for so long. Of course they never got back together and the meal ended rather swiftly after that.
Fundamentally, I captured my dad wearing the exact same clothes he wore the day he left our perfect family trio. He is now in a comfortable and settled home with a new partner which contrasts with what happened the last time I saw him wearing that clothing combination.
Although the clothes are the same, my dad has changed in numerous ways, for example the beard, however, his life has changed to a more settled one but I don’t primarily live with my father.
Sian Davey is a photographer from Britain who focuses on taking documentary photographs of her family including her older daughter and her friends creating series of images as well as a series called ‘looking for Alice’ based on her youngest daughter who is diagnosed with down syndrome. the photos series shows her daughter experiencing and enjoying everyday life and was a huge success when it was released in 2015.
Sian spoke about in an interview with ‘Lensculture’ how she has always had an interest in photographer ever since a young age but really began taking documentary photos around four years ago and had her main inspiration from her daughter Martha which is the main theme which runs throughout the images above. she also intertwines her photography with her psychotherapy works which she feels helps her emphasise both her inside and outside worlds.
“…presents an idyllic scene that is layered with underlying tensions. It is named after the artist’s stepdaughter and grew as a response to the question ‘why don’t you photograph me anymore?” – https://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/artists/211-sin-davey/overview/#/artworks/10509
Analysis
I chose this image from Sian Davey because i think the image is a clear reflection of family through documentary photography. If you know what Sian Daveys photographs or have research her works you know that this is an image of her daughter Martha and her friend. Daveys started photographing her stepdaughter as a project when the question came up in their family ‘why don’t you photograph me anymore?”. when researching this i interpreted this as a question asked by Martha because generally parents and family member take the most photographs of general family life or events when their children are at a young age and then less photographs are taken when they because teenagers because they don’t like there photograph being taken anymore. I think therefore Daveys ‘Martha’ project shows clear links of family because she is photographing her daughter growing up with her friends, which can also be seen as another form of family for many. I chose this image in particular to analyse showing links with family and documentary photograhy because of the background. You can see that they are in the family garden with their home in the background so the images is not only capturing Sian Daveys family members but also one of the biggest family momentum is the family home because it is usually where the most family memories are created and has a lot of family connotations.
The photograph shows Sian Daveys stepdaughter and her friend therefore they are the subject and the focal point of the image. they are stood outside there family home in the garden showing clear links to family and although documentary photography can been seen a lot of the time as spontaneous images of people in the moment it can also be staged and i think that this image was a mixture of both. The image is natural in the form it is their natural environment and a casual photograph of her and her friend but it has been slightly staged like family photograph would be when you decide to capture a photo of a family event and the photographer say stand over there. As i stated above i think that there has been some planning and staging for this photograph and that Daveys would have wanted the two girls to be stood central in the image breaking the rule of friends as the are in the center axis of the grid, although this works for the image as they have a balanced ratio of the girls and the background making it a symmetrical image as there is equal background to the proportion of the girls as it is taken as a long shot. that means that this image has some symmetry to it making it a nice/ aesthetically pleasing image to look at.
I don’t consider this image to have leading lines either on purpose or accidental as there are no striking lines which lead your eyes around the image. The main technique which is focusing where you look in this image is the use of depth of field through adjusting her ISO settings which has had the effect on the image that the subject is in clear focus and the background is slightly blurred and out of focus which has helped to create a natural frame as if the background was purposely framing the two girls so Daveys daughter, the subject of the whole project stands out the most. The rest of the image almost comes across as simplistic in technical terms because it is a straight on viewpoint, however i think this has been purposely done as i said before because she is trying to capture image which all families would of their children. Therefore to make it realistic Daveys probably didn’t want too much technical aspects to the image apart from i clear, good quality, well thought out image.
The lighting in all of her images are similar to the image above where they all contain and dark green background making the images themselves dark, from the trees and woodland setting that they are usually taken in. i think that this could have a deeper meaning in that Daveys is portraying what family means to them and what kind of family they are as it seems like they are earthy people and out doors spending time together a lot.
Sam Harris
Sam Harris has been a photographer since around 1990 when he started his career in london taking photographs for recording artists and also photographing editorial portraits. Further into his photographic career he went onto photographing international assignments for leading Uk publications.
Around 2000 he decided to turn his career around from looking at images that didn’t really have much sentimental meaning to him to flipping the camera and looking inwards and began to focus his photography and his loved ones, family and friends. He now has an on-going project of photographing his family and doing workshops in southwestern Australia, where he has won numerous awards for his creative documentary work.
The image above, photographed by Sam Harris, is an image of his daughter from his on-going project in southwestern Australia called ‘the middle of somewhere’. The image is a close up of his daughter and possibly their family pet along with a necklace which could have some kind of sentimental meaning to the family. I chose this image because i think that it shows links to the topic of family through the use of documentry photography. The first link is that it is a photograph of his daughter which is clearly a huge part of his family and everyday family life. I also see the image as being a close up because he sees himself close with his family. She may be holding a family heirloom in the image or a precious necklace which means something to the family which only those close to them would understand the real meaning of it. But i also find the inclusion of the bird a really interesting aspect because it not only tells you they have a family pet but it begins to tell you about the family and what kind of people they are. Therefore from this i get that the Sam Harris family love animals, family means a lot to them, and they are a close family.
The subject of the image is his daughter, but she is not necessarily the focal point of the image. i see the focal point of the image being the hand because this is the clearest most in focus section of the image which my eyes are immediately drawn to so i think this was the focal point that Sam Harris wanted to be focused on when looking at his image. The depth of field is a key aspect in this photograph due to it highlighting the areas of the photo that he wants to be focused on but also in my view makes this image a technically well thought out image and well photographed as the use of ISO and aperture settings have been successfully used to capture a creative image where both the foreground and background have been blurred and there is a main focal point. I think that the meaning that is trying to be portrayed in this image has been well worked into the image through the techniques used as well as the use of colour in the image. The image has a strong bold background colour of orange/red, which tends to have the effect of an images mood of making them feel warm and calm. This image definitely looks calm and peaceful in my eyes and i think this is down the the colour in the image as well as the soft, natural lighting being directed on the young girls face.
Everything in the image seems to have been thoroughly though out and as if everything has been placed in the specific position for a reason. For example the girls face runs throughout the left axis of the image following the rule of thirds keep the image balanced between portraiture and the background, however it begins to break the ordinary rules of photography when the bird and the hand are included making the image slightly abstract because the image now seems to be half full in a diagonal way which is not seen a lot in photography. i think that leading lines does occur in this photograph through the lines of Sam Harris daughter face. Framing can also be seen to be used in this image through the strong block coloured background which almost frames the face bird and hand making this aspects the subject and focal point of the image.
Documentary photography is the process of Visual storytelling. Although documentary photography is a recent process, telling a story with the use of pictures has been around for years. There are many examples of this including stain glass windows in churches, tapestries, illustrated manuscripts and biblical stories. When documentary photography came about, it grew a new social process. People began using it as a creative form of educating people about life itself. They aimed to show the everyday lives of ordinary people in an informal way. Many photographers used documentary photography as a way of bringing about social change by drawing the attention of an audience towards the subject of their work.
Documentary photography has been described as many things including a genre, an art and a tradition. The term ‘Documentary’ was first used by the English philosopher Jeremy Bentham in the early 19th century. However, within the area of visual culture, it was the British film maker John Grierson who first used it to describe a film in 1926.
Lewis Hine
Lewis Wickes Hine was an American sociologist and Photographer. He used his work as a way of making social reform. His photographers made a massive difference in the changing of child labor laws in the Unites States.
Bill Brandt: Lovers in the park
Hermann Wilhelm Brandt, a German-British photographer born 2nd May 1904, was one of the first Documentary Photographers, known as a photojournalist. He was considered to be one of the most important British Photographers in the 20th century.
Within the area of Documentary Photography, there are many different styles and approaches. There’s a variety of genres and disciplines that contain Documentary Photography, including photojournalism, reportage and street photography. Images that come under the term Documentary Photography are used in a diverse area, from mass media, fine-art and science. However, I believe Documentary Photography is used to investigate particular social morals.
Although Documentary Photography has progressed throughout time, its power to convey particular information has not changed. However, images have become more open to interpretation. Documentary photography has become more of a form of art rather then a way of learning. This is mainly because of the changing environment, and landscape that’s surrounding us. There is a growing fascination with celebrities and modern lifestyles, and people have interested in this from of life. They want to capture the life of these people. Contemporary Documentary usually becomes a series of photographs which convey’s a particular narrative. Contemporary photographers reference their own history within their images. Some photographers include references to art history, cinema and literature.
Former teahouse in a park next to the Afghan Exhibition of Economic and Social Achievements -Simon NorfolkMichelle Sank, South African from In My Skinbroken manual-Alec Soth
The images above are examples of Contemporary Documentary. Modern documentary photographers look at many different angles within this concept. They like to be individuals and have their own unique style for their work. Some contemporary photographers focus on the individuals within the photo. Some even create fictional characters to focus on. Other photographers focus more on the landscape within the image.
Tableaux Photography is when a Narrative is portrayed through the use of a single image, compared to a selection of images, similar to Documentary Photography. The term Tableaux is also known as “staged” or “constructed” photography. Tableaux images also make references to fables, fairy tales, myths and sometimes unreal events. The term Tableaux itself, comes from the form tableaux vivant, which in French means “Living Picture” The term mainly refers to a group of people, poised on a stage wearing dramatic clothing in a theatrically lit atmosphere. The image below is an example of one of the earliest Tableaux photographs take in Paris by a Photographer called Folies Bergères. It was taken in 1920 during the Victorian and Edwardian era. In this period, Tableaux Photography was a from of popular entertainment
Tableau Vivant, Folies Bergères c. 1920, Paris
Ever since the beginning of Photography, artists have directed models to pose in a particular way in front of the camera. Through the use of props, costumes and lighting, they have created fictitious image. Some of photographers were associated with Pictorialism. Pictorialism is the name given to an international style and aesthetic movement that dominated photography during the later 19th and early 20th centuries. Here are some more recent examples of Tableaux images.
Invisible Man, 2001 Jeff WallThe Bruce High Quality Foundation, Raft of the Medusa, 2007
After studying two artists which both focus on producing documentary images revolving around the theme of family, in particular, parents, I have realised that documentary photography is a great means of showing the lives of people as if you are a fly on the wall observing their every move. Documentary photography can also be a way of degrading the lives of ordinary people by capturing the often monotonous and repetitive routine thru go through, which is evident in Richard Billingham’s work on his parents who live in a council flat. However, in a way, documentary imagery can be a way of romanticizing the events which occur in the shots because if you look deeper into the photo’s context, the photographer could be representing the subject as privileged, like in Sultan’s work on his family.
Idea #1
Furthermore, it is so easy to document events yourself to produce a visual catalogue of different stories. We document things which are so simple on a day-today basis, using smart phones and tablets. We may not realise it but when we take out our phone to record a video or tale a picture of a moment in time, you are then recording that particular moment in order for it to have meaning and a special purpose when you look back at it. The endless photos you take which are stored on your phone in it’s own gallery is an example of a personal archive. Technology as simple as smart phones makes saving memories much more easier and it is hard to argue why this is a negative. However, people can begin to over use their technology and often abuse it’s purpose and you can end up not living in the moment which is what is most special but I believe there is something very satisfying about looking back at old memories, whether it be from two weeks ago, a few months ago or ten years ago. I have briefly covered this because I feel it is an important and relevant issue for us as consumers of media to understand and that to produce visual documents is as easy as snapping a perhaps blurred picture without much thought gone into the composition. I wish to incorporate this concept into my personal study at some point because I feel it could tell a very powerful story about the positives of technology but about how destructive it can be to out society and the ability to socialise traditionally. We can become so addicted to our phones. I came across a photographer who addresses this issue by photographing real-life situations of people of their phones, however, with the phones removed form the shots to show how addicted we’ve become.
American photographer Eric Pickersgill removed the smartphones and digital devices from his portraits of everyday life. The project “Removed” aims to show our addiction to technology and hyper-connectivity, and Pickersgill claims that he’s also amongst the addicted, and I too, can admit this.
The project was inspired by some observations the photographer made in a New York City cafe one morning:
“Family sitting next to me at Illium café in Troy, NY is so disconnected from one another. Not much talking. Father and two daughters have their own phones out. Mom doesn’t have one or chooses to leave it put away. She stares out the window, sad and alone in the company of her closest family. Dad looks up every so often to announce some obscure piece of info he found online.”
He achieved the surreal effect in his photos by asking strangers and friends to remain in position, removing their cellphones, and then taking the shot. Here are some of the shots from his series:
The concept is very simple yet the context is very complex and I feel like it is a great series of images with powerful meaning behind it. This series by Pickersgill is a form of documentary photography and it addresses a very relative subject to our modern day with he ever-growing proliferation of technology and the need to be up to date with all the current affairs, whether it be news, fashion, music, celebrity gossip or to chat with your friends – we are always on our phones and the images above are a very clever way of showing this. You can see that mot much has gone into the editing or actual composition and framing of the photo because most of the quality lies in the context and concept.
In terms of my environmental documentary photoshoot, I feel it would be a good experiment to do a photoshoot similar to this using the people in my house when glued to their phones, smart watches, the TV, laptops or games consoles. I will aim to remove these items or I may photograph the person with the object also in the frame to reduce it to its most simplest form.
Idea #2
My second idea for a photoshoot to complete this week is also based in my home and it will focus on one particular occupant of the home – the one person who is in the house the most – my mum. I have an idea to photograph my mum in each room of the house, or at least the ones she uses most often to create a nice little series of images.
When I was given the task to produce a photoshoot based around the theme of documentary and environmental, and after looking at the works of Larry Sultan and Richard Billingham, I began thinking of different themes and different styles of photoshoot I could look into and began thinking about what I could produce relating to the themes family as well as environment and the relationship people have to different locations. I decided that a could starting point for me to develop my understanding of documentary photography would be to concentrate on my mum and her everyday routine in the house but stage each shot as though it was setup, almost like a tableux image. I would achieve this effect through the subject looking into the camera and I would not attempt to capture her when she is not expecting it, I would look more at the effect I can achieve if I ask my um to pose in a particular way or position her body in particular when doing different tasks around the house, such as hoovering, cooking, using her sewing machine or washing the dishes etc. I would like for the style to be quite serious to get the message across that she is taking pride in her home in the way she looks at the camera. I would edit the images and put a heavy focus on contrast and making the shadows pop out the photo.
A photographer who focus much more on tableaux photography is American artist Gregory Crewdson. He achieves a captivating look through the colour palettes and the locations he chooses which contribute to the overall feel of the image. They have very vintage looks to them due to the props used when photographing in houses and the scenes are very memorable. His photographs can be recognized very easily.
His series, Cathedral Of Pines was critically acclaimed for it’s tremendous efforts to achieve something very different. It took two and a half years to shoot and, typically for Crewdson, required the kind of preparation that usually attends a Hollywood film: months of casting, location hunting and storyboarding, with an extensive crew to oversee lighting, props, wardrobe, makeup and even some special effects involving artificial smoke and mist, as The Guardian Online writes.
This is only for me to look at to understand the style and look I intend to achieve if I was to do a shoot like the one I have just mentioned and it would definitely not be as professional slick-looking due to the limited time and budget I have! However, I love the work of Gregory Crewdson and think it is amazing how you can capture something so enthralling through an image.
For example, the image above was the first image I took during the shoot and it was mainly an experimental sot to see whether I liked the look of this style. However, I opted not to proceed with this style of the rest of the shot because for me, the image looked to overloaded and it did not have the clean and polished affect I wanted due to the foregrounded object obstructing most of the frame. Even though this was intended, I did not like it at all.
Again, this image above was another experimentation that I attempted to do to give a different perspective however, it did not work. I also want the photoshoot to be consistent in the way each shot was photographed, just in different rooms of my house. However, I would not be able to do this in each room that we shot in so this would not be appropriate to show as part of the final images but was useful as an experimentation but the reflection of the window is too over-powering and it fades out the subject.
