This task involved reading through Lewis Bush’s article ‘Rule Breakers‘ which highlighted the eight ways in which the rules of documentary photography could be broken. He emphasises the key point that as documentary photography is not photojournalism and has no requirements to truthfully portray an event/environment or subject, therefore rules can be broken which are associated with documentary. Some of the rules to be broken that Bush considers are The rule of reality, the rule of the camera and the rule that i found most interesting was the rule of technicality. During the article Bush discusses that breaking the rule of technicality involves ignoring the norm to take perfecting correct,well focused and composed images. Bush states that many young photographers are being more experimental and are, ‘among a new generation express themselves lyrically, skilfully throwing technique into the wind’. i convey this to mean that elements such as using the correct amount of exposure and having in focus images are now not the focus and not a critical part of the image.
those who had chosen the same rule to break went into pairs and together we produced a mind map of ideas that we thought would be breaking the rule of technicality. we considered how we could make images that were purposely taken to be technically bad. A few of the ideas we came up with consisted of creating grainy images which may depict and change the look of an image, blur photographs through slow shutter speed in night time situations where normally photographers would try to avoid blur or fuzz. we also began to look at a few artists that we were already aware of that we considered to take technically bad images purposes and one we came up with was Francesca woodman would blurs her subject whilst they are moving.
Laura El Tantawy was a photography that Lewis Bush mentioned in his article, i had a quick initial look at some of the work that she does which can be liked to breaking the rule of technicality and was really intrigue by the night time scenes that she captures. Bush explains that her ‘long exposures express a very personal vision of a monumental event.’ and that ‘her work hints at the uncertainty engulfing the country at a time of change.’ Tantawy, a Egyptian photographer with egyptian parents grow up in England. Although starting university in Egypt she finished her degree of journalism and political science in the US. In 2006 she became a freelance photographer so that she could begin to work on her own projects and this is were her sense of breaking the documentary rules began. It was her first self published photo book which drew me to the attention of her works. In 2015 ‘the shadow of pyramids’ was published showing her interest in returning to her routes in Egypt, however she documented her view of the country she was from in a compleatly free way. Her interesting use of slow shutter speed and orange tone to her images convey the heat and fast pace life which she saw during her time in Egypt. The toughness of her vision is almost mask through the use of the bright and vibrant colours to the image and you have to look beyond the aesthetics of the images to understand the true story of the protesters which lies underneath
Creative Review described her first book as “close-up photographs of protestors and street scenes of fervent crowds in Cairo during the January revolution in Tahrir Square, are mixed in with local witness accounts, alongside old family photographs from her childhood growing up between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the US. Shot between 2005-2014, the series is a heady combination of documentary photography, portraits, and more dynamic, abstract images, jarring with the retro, candid shapshots.”
Through conceptual photographs she creates modern documentary styled images which sway from the usual path of documentors and create eye catching and meaningful narratives. The blur which is evident in most pictures highlights the first pace of life we live in as well as making the audience have to look deeper into the image to understand the meaning which lies behind them. Due to the freedom which is now acceptable she explores the limitless themes of identity, culture and notions of home which are all evident in her project ‘ the shadow o the pyramid’. This short video (The Photographer’s Gallery, Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize 2016) Explains her reasons for starting the project and a few experiences she had during the project which enables us to understand why she takes the images which she does.
Analysis:
I chose this image to analyse as when i came across it i was the work that interested me the most. the colours and tone sin the image give it a really warm feeling. however when researching the context of her images this particular photograph comes from Tantawys photo series ‘the shadow of pyramids’ where she focuses on the riots and protests in her home country of Egypt. Therefore although the orange and red tones may convey a warm feeling this may actually be too mean heat and anger for what the people are protesting for. The way that tantawy uses colours to convey the heat and power of a situation brings such a different element to her images one which i would like to convey through my images when considering freedom and/or limitations. Tantawy breaks the rule of technicality and this can be seen in this image as there may have been a filter over the lens to create the red tone which breaks the rule of technicality through that the images aren’t conveying the correct colours and the artist has manipulated the natural colours. Furthermore there is camera shake which is considered technically wrong however i think that this was purposely done to add to the high pace of the event and adds to the realness that the protest were really going on whilst she was there and that as it was taken in the moment whilst all this was going on it is slightly blurred but this just represents the action.
initially the audience’ eye is caught by the bright yellow in the left side of the image, this is actually technically correct as she has followed the rule of thirds although this may not have been intentional. nonetheless the image can then be considered to be breaking the rule of thirds as the protagonist is directly in the center of the image, i think this fits really well with the way she breaks the rule of technicality as the subject in the center really begins to tell the story of the protests and what tantawy is trying to capture through her photo series of Egypt. furthermore the stance of the protagonist is crucial to analyse. the subject is standing tall with his arms opened out wide as if he is a symbol of the protest and he is in the centre of what is going on and he is shouting out for what he wants and fighting for what he believes in. Therefore i think that in this image especially Tantawy is almost a photojournalist as she is truly capturing what is happening in that moment in Egypt however the fact that she has then manipulated technical aspect of the images creates a documented image. She also manages to include depth of field which adds a lot to the image, the people walking on the street in the background although ma be blurred add to the depth of the meaning of the image as it is showing that there are others protesting alongside the main subject.
Through the inspiration of Laura El Tantawy, i am going to try and break the rule of technicality in similar ways. I will consider changed the colours of the image possibly through not adjusting the white balance for different situations this may lead to the colours in the images being incorrect. I am also going to experiment with long shutterspeeds which may slightly blurr the image creating a technically wrong image. My focus will be on women and how in the 21st century they women have the FREEDOM to express themselves and be free to show who they truely are. this will then hopefully link into the rest of my project of showing the story of how women that were once the gender of limitation fought for their rights and became free.
http://www.lauraeltantawy.com/