A LEVEL PHOTOGRAPHY TASTER | EXPERIENCE DAY | 9th / 10th NOVEMBER

COURSE OVERVIEW


ASSESSMENT OBJECTIVES

  1. Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding. 
  2. Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
  3. Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress. 
  4. Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements. 


TASTER LESSON: CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS MINI-PROJECT

Learning ObjectivesTo develop knowledge and understanding of environmental portraiture. 
To explore and analyse the work of a photographer specialising in the genre. 
To create a meaningful response and evaluate progress.

“All photographs are memento mori.
To take a photograph is to participate
in another person’s (or thing’s)
mortality, vulnerability, mutability.
Precisely by slicing out this moment
and freezing it, all photographs
testify to time’s relentless melt.”
Susan Sontag

RESEARCH What is Environmental Portraiture?

Portraiture is by far the most popular of all photographic subjects. Portraiture allows for far more freedom than other forms of photography, simply because the subject can be moved around and posed with ease. Much of the composition can therefore be controlled by instruction – rather than just by viewpoint.

An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings. The subject often knows he/she is being photographed but a lot more emphasis is placed on location. 

E.g.

Pastry Cook 1928 // Germany

August Sander

 

Igor Stravinsky (Russian composer) 1946 // New York

Arnold Newman

 

Migrant Mother, 1936

Dorothea Lange

 

Young Carers

Michelle Sank

 

Anthony Kurtz

What impact could photographing the subject in their usual environment have on the viewer?

 

ANALYSE Artist Reference

Who is Anthony Kurtz?

Anthony Kurtz is an award-winning, commercial, editorial and “art-documentary” photographer based in Berlin (formerly San Francisco). He specialises in environmental portraiture and strives to create beautiful and unexpected photographs of people and the spaces they occupy.  Combining both natural light and studio strobes, Anthony sculpts light to create a mood, an atmosphere, a photograph that tells and story and, hopefully, sparks curiosity in the viewer.

 

No Man’s Job, 2013 // Senegal

 

ANALYSE Image Analysis

Apply a technical / visual / contextual / conceptual analysis to the below image – a photograph by Anthony Kurtz, taken from his series ‘No Man’s Job’,  Senegal Africa, 2013.

 

No Man’s Job, 2013 // Senegal
The Guardian (2013) Big Picture: No Man's Job - female mechanics in Senegal by Anthony Kurtz https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2013/apr/05/photography

https://anthonykurtz.com/

Things to consider with environmental portraits…

Technical =  lighting / exposure / lens / shutter speed

Visual = composition / framing / viewpoint / angle / eye contact / engagement with the camera / facial expression

Contextual = background / story / character(s) / connection to the photographer / social or political context?

Conceptual = meaning / idea behind the work /  social documentary? / class? / gender role? / lifestyle?

PLAN Your Photo Assignment

Organise your shoot and discuss your ideas. 

  • Model(s)
  • Location
  • Lighting
  • Camera Settings
  • Context
  • Concept

 

RECORD Create a Meaningful Response

Take 10-20 photographs each that show your understanding of environmental portraiture in the style of Anthony Kurtz.

Use the school as your setting, and students / each other as your characters / models.

Think carefully about specific setting, facial expression, pose, lighting, and composition. 

 

EXPLORE Experiment and Review

Explore the camera settings and demonstrate camera skills.

Review your images (in camera).

 

EVALUATE & PRESENT Select Final Images

In your group, select one final image to present to the class.

Evaluate your image using the analysis model (technical/visual/contextual/conceptual).

Reflect.

  • What went well?
  • Would you do anything different next time?
  • How might you experiment further with your photographs – camera skills / photo editing skills (Photoshop)?

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Who is Henri Cartier-Bresson?

Henri Cartier-Bresson was born in Chanteloup-en-Brie, Seine-et-Marne, France. He was the oldest of five children, with his father being a wealthy textile manufacturer. His mother's family were cotton merchants and landowners from Normandy, where Henri spent part of his childhood. His parents supported him financially so Henri could pursue photography more freely than his contemporaries. 

Henri took holiday snapshots with a Box Brownie; he later experimented with a 3×4 inch view camera. His father assumed that his son would take up the family business, but Henri also feared this prospect.

Returning to France, Cartier-Bresson deepened his relationship with the Surrealists. He became inspired by a 1930 photograph by Hungarian photojournalist Martin Munkacsi showing three naked young African boys, caught in near-silhouette, running into the surf of Lake Tanganyika. Titled Three Boys at Lake Tanganyika, this captured the freedom and grace of their movement and their joy at being alive. That photograph inspired him to stop painting and to take up photography seriously.

Some of the work he started to produce consisted of:


From this selection of a few of his images, I found that my eye was drawn to the picture of the wall crumbled in.
Image result for henri cartier-bresson bioThe contrast between the subjects within and the white crumbling wall, which in a way frames the image, allows the photograph to really define the faces of the individual children. From this it allows us to see the different expressions of each child, some seem to be captivated by this photographer taking the picture, whilst others are completely oblivious to it. Allowing the photographer to capture the playfulness but also the curiosity that is seen within each child. The fact that some of the children are playing on rubble, shows how that even in the worst scenarios, kids always make the best out of what they have, showing that innocence within.  

Representation, Standards and Ethics in Photojournalism

The job of photojournalists is to show the world what is happening in a visual form. This can often be controversial subjects such as war or famine. The photojournalist is ethically bound to not change the story as they should show the real picture that the world deserves to see.  It can be hard for photojournalists to keep these ethics – especially whilst trying to capture the shot that everybody needs to see.

These photojournalists can often come under fire for their controversial photographs. An example of this is Kevin Carter. Carter took this photograph and it was posted in the New York Times in 1993. There was a lot of reaction from readers but it was not positive. People were saying that Carter was inhumane for taking this photograph and that he should’ve dropped the camera and tried to help the little girl. A year after this was published, Carter killed himself due to the backlash. It later turned out that the supposedly girl was in fact a boy and was being taken care of by the UN food aid station. This shows that cropping and lack of context in an image can completely change what the image is showing, and it can be a powerful tool.

Image result for kevin carter

Photo Stories and Stories in a Single Shot

Photo Stories

A visual story is often called a ‘photo essay’ or ‘photo story’. Photo stories allow photographers to narrate a story with a series of photographs. Images are ordered in a specific way with the aim of the viewer seeing them as a story rather than a series of images. Captions are often used with photo essays but it is the images themselves that should be telling the story – the caption is only there to provide some context.

Image result for picture story photography
A photo story found on the internet

Stories in a Single Shot

It doesn’t have to be a series of photographs that tells a story; stories can be told in one photograph. For example the one below. This photograph was captured in 1968 by Eddie Adams in Vietnam. Adams thought that he was watching the interrogation of a prisoner but to his surprise, as he looked through his viewfinder he saw a pistol being raised to the prisoner’s head. This photograph caught the emotion and action of everyone involved and showed the world what life is like in different places from just one photograph.

Henri Cartier – Bresson

Who is Henri Cartier-Bresson?

Henri Cartier-Bresson was a french humanist and candid photographer, Henri was also a user of 35  mm film when taking his photographs. Henri developed the genre of street photography and viewed photography as capturing a devise moment. Henri is told to be one of the most original, accomplished, influential, and beloved figures in the history of photography.

These images can be found on the website below.

http://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN 

 

Image analysis

This is a black and white candid photography of a man sleeping. This photography heavily falls under the rule of thirds as the man is one of the 4 intersecting lines on the bottom right of the image, this is supported by the fact we are attracted straight to the man as it is the first thing we focus on when looking at this image. This is a very dark image but there is also a strong contrast between the mans dark clothes and the whites on his clothes allowing the man to stand out more in the image. The lighting is soft and dim as there the picture is still very dark but the one side of his face that we are able to see is lit up meaning that there is a source of dim lighting within this image. I really like this image as this image creates a story for the viewer as to what life was like back in the 1930s.

A comparison of work to William Klein and Diane Arbus

William kelin

William Klein was born in American but a French photographer and filmmaker was less well known for his ironic approach to both mediums, his extensive use of unusual photographic techniques in the context of photojournalism  and fashion photography ranked 25th on Professional Photographer‘s list of 100 most influential photographers.h has many awards and exhibitions surrounding his work, soon after being a painter he started off within his photography journey soon achieving  widespread fame as a fashion photographer  for vogue and for his photo essay  on various cities.

Because of this he was able to make many feature length films, and numerous of short and feature length documentaries advertising his work and allowing the public to see and be influenced by what he has achieved. Again he started off within photojournalism and street photography in new York much like many other famous photographers,His work was soon viewed to be considered revolutionary for its “ambivalent and ironic approach to the world of fashion”, its “uncompromising rejection of the then prevailing rules of photography”and for his extensive use of wide angles  and telephoto lenses, natural lighting and motion blur.

He was said by the New York times to had been considered one among the fathers of the streets and a mixture of compliments that classifies a man who is hardly classy,Or Perhaps this represents him in quite a figurative manner but it still successful shows how people within New York needed his influence and guidance in order to make  an important  for society and that he was able to capture both the humor and the reality within New York at the time.  the world of fashion would become the subject and inspiration for many of His works ad inspire inspirations of clothing evolution and a new meaning of beauty and womanly presentation. Lastly his street would would print a more violent and also exploit different religions and groups within America ta the time which was important to allow news programs to see his work.

what I like about his works that people were shown in such a ironic and unexpected light, people would be holding a gun with a face that implies that they are joking, or people in uncomfortable scenarios being laid-back and smiling while enraptured in a city more dull than themselves. he was able to capture the people within the city who would otherwise be ignored.

This is my favorite piece of his won work because it allows again a sense of youth and joy with is contradictory compared to that of the elderly people surrounding herself.It shows a women having a. sense of freedom and not wearing much clothing but she is not exploited for her sexuality but shown for reasons of her spirit and how this is what keeps cities alive. Again something more solemn is occurring in the background but the is ignored but to the irony of her celebration.

His work overall is very different to That of the previous artists as it portrays a more light hearted representation  on suffering and troubles within the world and surrounding New York city, his photographers are perhaps less natural but sill capture a well enraptured essence of the people and their lives.

Diane Arbus

Was an American photographer  well known for photographs of marginalized people such as dwarfs,giants,transgender people,nudists and finally circus from former. She again did this in order to represent the minority and portray a sense of  normality by ways in which they look and not general populace who would consider them as  ugly or surreal.Her work has been described as consisting of formal manipulation characterized by blatant sensationalism, this means that her work has most of the interests surrounding the subject of the charter and is taken in a formal manner, this allows a direct eye line and conceptual though go the person and their story and not allowing others to be influenced by herself.

sadly Arbus committed suicide and so presented a fictional version of her life story,within her last areas of photography .This was possibly due to her affair to a married a man who was never going to marry herself and only pushed her harder frequently throughout her work. She was married to another Jewish man such as herself Arbus was insulated from the effects of the great depression while growing up in the 1930s . Her father became a painter after retiring from Russek’s; her younger sister would become a sculptor and designer;so the majority of her family become intrigued in everything surrounding the creative arts and influence.

Diane started her own photography   business and  would come up with the concepts for their shoots and then take care of the models. She grew dissatisfied within this role, a role even her husband thought was “demeaning.”They contributed to  glamour,seventeen,vogue,Harper bazaar, and other magazines even though “they both hated the fashion world”. Despite over 200 pages of their fashion editorial in Glamour, and over 80 pages in Vogue, the Arbuses’ fashion photography has been described as of “middling quality’ due to her gradually  hate and enforcement of photography  she become even less inclined to choose to take a shoot and no longer wanted to develop her work and she grew older and more depressed.

what I like about her work: I like how formally and clearly she captures people. there is no doubt what they are feeling but only why,it allows question which you can answer yourself by looking further into the image itself,and also due to all the interesting people,it allows a more intriguing view of the society in which she was in. Her images also allow an interesting composition to enhance the interesting subject to which she is capturing.

This is my favorite from this artist,this is due to interesting subject of a transgender man which again shows her representing the majority in order to allow a sense of normality to the society in which they are in.The makeup again furthers the image of femininity but that is contradicted within the darker tonal background suggesting more harsh underlining themes.You can also see how they are smoking,which bring a somewhat relevance to the time and possibly creates a sense of relation to the public and they all act the same but have different appearances.

Compared to the previous artist,She is a lot more formal within only concentrating on the face itself and not a lot of movement,this allows a  straight forward proposition of her these also allow a sense  of irony to show a more extravagant type of people within the society.

 

 

Henri Cartier – Bresson and The Decisive Moment

Henri Cartier-Bresson born August 22, 1908, died August 3, 2004, was a French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography, and an early user of 35 mm film. He pioneered the genre of street photography, and viewed photography as capturing a decisive moment. His work has influenced many photographers. In 1952, Cartier-Bresson published his book The Decisive Moment. It included a portfolio of 126 of his photos from the East and the West. 
In early 1947, Cartier-Bresson, with Robert Capa, David Seymour, William Vandivert and George Rodger founded Magnum Photos. Capa's brainchild, Magnum was a cooperative picture agency owned by its members. The team split photo assignments among the members.  Cartier-Bresson would be assigned to India and China. Maria Eisner managed the Paris office and Rita Vandivert, Vandivert's wife, managed the New York office and became Magnum's first president.

Cartier-Bresson achieved international recognition for his coverage of Gandhi's funeral in India in 1948 and the last stage of the Chinese Civil War in 1949. He covered the last six months of the Kuomintang administration and the first six months of the Maoist People's Republic. He also photographed the last surviving Imperial eunuchs in Beijing, as the city was falling to the communists. In Shanghai, he often worked in the company of photojournalist Sam Tata, whom Cartier-Bresson had previously befriended in Bombay. From China, he went on to Dutch East Indonesia, where he documented the gaining of independence from the Dutch. In 1950, Cartier-Bresson had traveled to the South India. He had visited Tiruvannamalai, a town in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu and photographed the last moments of Ramana Maharishi, Sri Ramana Ashram and its surroundings. A few days later he also visited and photographed Sri Aurobindo, Mother and Sri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.

Magnum's mission was to "feel the pulse" of the times and some of its first projects were People Live Everywhere, Youth of the World, Women of the World and The Child Generation. Magnum aimed to use photography in the service of humanity, and provided arresting, widely viewed images.

Below is a link to Cartier-Bresson's page on MAGNUM Photos.

http://pro.magnumphotos.com/C.aspx?VP3=CMS3&VF=MAGO31_10_VForm&ERID=24KL53ZMYN