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Photography and Truth Analysis

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In this photo provided by Georgian Public Broadcaster and photographed by Ketevan Kardava two women wounded in Brussels Airport in Brussels, Belgium, after explosions were heard Tuesday, March 22, 2016. A developing situation left at least one person and possibly more dead in explosions that ripped through the departure hall at Brussels airport Tuesday, police said. All flights were canceled, arriving planes were being diverted and Belgium's terror alert level was raised to maximum, officials said. (Ketevan Kardava/ Georgian Public Broadcaster via AP)

This photograph is clearly a shocking and emotional image that immediately connects to the audience in a horrific way that makes the audience think about the disasters that are occurring. Through a variety of ways this image is effective in connecting with the audience and telling a story and the image can provoke such emotion and story through the technical, visual, contextual and conceptual factors.

The technicality  is a vital aspect in creating an image and in particular within this image it is key to portray the real events. The natural lighting used to construct this image is significant in portraying the event as realistic and truthful manner. The natural light used shows a clear documentary approach to the photography as appose to a tableaux style where artificial light is used and the photograph is staged. The technicality of the picture doesn’t appear to be very good and this shows a correlation between the rush and chaos of the location in which meant the photographer was unable to sort out the best settings on her camera for the shoot. There is a slight blur within the main subjects and the shutter speed appears to have been on for a bit too long with a slight over exposure which appears to be present. Also, the ISO seems to be at around 400-800 due to the noise and grain that is incorporated. Whether intentional or not i believe that this is effective in showing the chaotic and emotion within the area.

Visually, this image is empowering in creating the story of what happened within the Brussels terror attack. To me, the stand out visual aspect is the variety of textures that show the utter destruction that has occurred and injuries as a result too. Mainly rough textures are involved which highlight the suffering and misery within the scene. Further rough textures that are present can be seen on the women’s clothing and the hand of the women on the left and foot of the women on the right. I believe these aspects of the image can influence an emotional response with the audience as they will feel sympathy for the suffering that the people in the attack are experiencing.

This photograph was captured by the photo journalist Ketevan Kardava in Bruseels Airport, Belgium. It was taken after the explosions were heard Tuesday, march 22, 2016.   Ketevan Kardava, a special correspondent for the Georgian Public Broadcaster network has had her  photograph published and shared across the world including on the front page of the New York Times. Kardava was on her way to Geneva to report on talks between Russia and her home country, Georgia, when the first of two suicide bombers detonated his explosive vest. “Doors and windows were flying,” Kardava tells TIME. “Everything was dust and smoke. Around me there were dozens of people without legs, lying in blood.” Her first instinct was to look down at her own legs. “I couldn’t believe I still had my legs. I was in a state of shock.” “I wanted to run to a safe place too, but I also wanted to take pictures. As a journalist, it was my duty to take these photos and show the world what was going on. I knew I was the only one at this spot.”  The photo above is thought to have been the first photo that she captured on the location.

This photograph is a clear representation of the truth of the horrific events that took place in Brussels. In contrast with some photo journalism, this is a truthful representation and has no signs of photo manipulation or hidden subject matter. The journalist took a realistic and truthful approach to trustfully document the attacks that were occurring. Although the images are in some peoples views insensitive and too graphic, i believe that photojournalism is supposed to be impact and essential to allow knowledge for the community to see what is happening in our world. Without these powerful images impacting individuals and creating an emotional response, it is likely that the consumers are unable to realise the impact of these events and there will be less help and support for situations like so.

A2 Personal Investigation

Photography and Truth

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Death of a Loyalist Soldier

robert-capa-falling-soldier

‘Death of a Loyalist Soldier’ is a photo taken by war photographer and photojournalist  Robert Capa and is claimed to have been taken on September 5, 1936. It depicts the exact moment of death when a republican soldier in the was shot in Battle of Cerro Muriano in the Spanish Civil War. Picture Post, a pioneering photojournalism magazine published in the United Kingdom, had once described then twenty-five year old Capa as “the greatest war photographer in the world” and his ‘falling solider’ photo is said to be the most iconic image of the Spanish Civil War.

The composition of this image makes it look like the moment was unanticipated because of how the horizon isn’t straight and how the soldier feet are touching the bottom of the image. If the moment was anticipated than Capa would have set up a better composition in the photo, but because it was unexpected he didn’t have time. This is also indicated through the blurriness in some parts of the image where Capa had to take the photo quickly. The photo is black and white because it was taken in 1936 making the image more formal and leads the audiences eye to the soldier straight away. The foreground of the image shows the soldier being shot and falling back towards the ground and the background displays mountains out of focus, showing how the image was unanticipated.

Doubts have been raised since 1975 in relation to the authenticity of the image. In José Manuel Susperregui’s 2009 book “Shadows of Photography”, he concludes that the photograph was not taken at Cerro Muriano, but at another location about 30 miles away. He said this meant that the Falling Soldier photograph ‘was staged, as were all the others in the same series, supposedly taken on the front.

This position the solider is in makes the image seem authentic as his arm holding the gun has been thrown backwards like he’s just been shot. But the likelihood of catching the exact moment a soldier was shot is very unlikely making the claims against Robert Capa more believable, but still isn’t evidence. But the environment surrounding the soldier doesn’t look like it was taken in the ‘heat of the battle’ said Mr. Hartshorn making the image looked like it’s staged.

This photo above is of another man from the same sequence as “The Falling Soldier.” A researcher has used the mountains to identify what he says is the picture’s correct location. Cynthia Young, curator of the Robert Capa Archive at the I.C.P “very possibly didn’t remember” where he took the picture, probably leaving his agents and editors back in Paris to make a guess when they developed his film, defending the authenticity.

Capa described how he took the photograph in a 1947 radio interview:

I was there in the trench with about twenty milicianos … I just kind of put my camera above my head and even [sic] didn’t look and clicked the picture, when they moved over the trench. And that was all. … [T]hat camera which I hold [sic] above my head just caught a man at the moment when he was shot. That was probably the best picture I ever took. I never saw the picture in the frame because the camera was far above my head

Richard Whelan, in This Is War! Robert Capa at Work, states, ‘It is neither a photograph of a man pretending to have been shot, nor an image made during what we would normally consider the heat of battle.’

Although Capa’s image could have been staged, the exposure he gave to the public about war by portraying a soldier the moment he was shot was effective and displays the turmoil that’s experienced in war.

“Which ever way you view the authenticity of his work and the identity he created, the impact that Capa has had cannot be denied. Every photograph taken represents a metaphor that will eternally last in the viewer’s mind, depicting a time riven with devastation that is still felt today. It is these timeless reverberations his photography has created that made him ‘the greatest war photographer in the world’.” (Andrew Kingsford-Smith)

In his July 1998 article, Phillip Knightley deniedthe importance of Brotóns’s discovery and stated “The famous photograph is almost certainly a fake—Capa posed it.” He went on to argue, “Federico could have posed for the photograph before he was killed.” Richard Whelan sought the advice of a forensic expert, Captain Robert L.Franks, the chief homicide detective of the Memphis Police Department. to my request. In his analysis, he said that the first thing that struck him as odd about The Falling Soldier was that the man in the photograph “had been standing flat footed when he was shot. He clearly was not in stride when he was shot.”  He went on to write, “Was this picture posed? I think not, based on the human reflex response. You will notice that the soldier’s left hand, which is partially showing under his left leg, is in a semi-closed position. If the fall was, in fact, staged, the hand would be open to catch his fall.  The deduction that the man had been carrying his rifle in a was suggesting that he did not expect to use it soon led Richard Whelan  to reconsider the story.

 “They were fooling around,” [Capa] said. “We all were fooling around. We felt good. There was no shooting. They came running down the slope. I ran too and knipsed.”                             “Did you tell them to stage an attack?” asked Mieth.
“Hell no. We were all happy. A little crazy,
maybe.”
“And then?”
“Then, suddenly it was the real thing. I didn’t
hear the firing—not at first.”
“Where were you?”
“Out there, a little ahead and to the side of
them.”

 

https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/283315

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Specification/Manifesto About My Project

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After having researched and explored a variety of artists I have come to the decision to focus on the strong contrast between the sublime environment and the dereliction/wastefulness that is present. I have already looked at these two issues and by combining them i believe it will have a strong impact in raising awareness of the political issue of environmental destruction. I want to try and influence a larger appreciation for our earth by showing off the sublime but also ensuring people are aware of the dereliction that we are creating. Thus having negative impacts on the sublime environment such as a loss of habitat. In relation to my photo book, I intend to create the narrative that focuses on the changing mind set of people through the way in which they view the environment and in particular the environment within Jersey. I want to try and show that people can make a difference to the environment and help to be eco-friendly and simply view the environment in a positive way which will naturally stem positive behaviour towards nature.

Within Jersey there is a clear issue in the way society take our rural and costal areas for granted. By showing off the sublime in a positive way i believe i can allow for these people to come to the realisation that we live in a wonderful place here in Jersey. By photographing the urbanised areas in a negative manner by mainly focusing on dereliction and boring subject matters i hope to show the uneccessary need for these buildings. I also intend on doing a minimalistic shoot in the urban area to try and reflect the structured and organised society that we live in. This correlates to the negative mindset towards the beauty of our island that the community cannot see.

The two main themes within my project are the sublime/natural environment and the urbanized/man made features of our earth. The conflict between keeping things natural and building upon land is a huge political debate which causes uproar across many communities. Many people believe in building high rises everywhere to accommodate businesses and people to benefit the economy. where as others believe that it is important to keep the environment natural to protect the wildlife.

Urban areas attract many people towards them due to the promise of jobs and easy commute to work, among other factors such as the energetic vibe, entertainment, social opportunities and dining options there are many features that make a city attractive. But in cities two of the most pressing problems facing the world today also come together: poverty and environmental degradation. Poor air and water quality, insufficient water availability, waste-disposal problems, and high energy consumption are exacerbated by the increasing population density and demands of urban environments. For not just these reasons alone but many others too I am in influenced by the movement of being Eco-friendly and appreciating/respecting the natural environment.

So, through my project my main aims are to try and influence people about the beauty of our natural environment and hopefully change their mindsets about cities due to the problems they create and how they impact the nature. I intend to approach this in a variety of ways by looking at the negative aspects to urban areas such as the dereliction and poor waste removal to make people have a bad view on urbanized areas. In contrast I will portray the natural environment in a positive light by creating aesthetically pleasing images that make people want to visit these sublime areas.

To conclude my photo book/project, I intend to produce a photo shoot with manipulated images that shows the transfer of a person through a portal which is in reference to the change of mindset that the images in my project will create. The portals will be within a sublime environment to highlight the importance to me and how i want people to focus on this and respect it. Portals are often used to transport a person to a hyper reality and surreal place which shows how i view the natural environment and what i want my audience to think too. I also will incorporate a variety of surreal/futuristic images towards the end of my project to exaggerate the importance of our environment and show how significant it is.

Bullet Pointed Plan

  • Exploration of the sublime/natural environment
  • Photograph the natural environment inspired by my artist without people involved and then with people too.
  • Further experimenting with the sublime and photograph long exposure pictures on the coast to give the sublime a tranquil atmosphere.
  • Exploration of the urban environment – photoshoot in abandoned place.
  • Further photoshoot incorporating objects wrapped in cellophane to show the environmental issues within an urban area such as air pollution,
  • Minimalistic shoot to reflect society as structured and organised. Shows the structured mindset of people in jersey and how they take our natural features for granted.
  • NEW YORK photoshoot to contrast the natural environment with the urbanised and use a photo manipulation approach to combine the New York sky line into environment pictures.
  • Collect litter found in urban area and natural area too and photograph it levitating above a persons hand within the natural environment.
  • Photo shoot involving technology being used in a natural environment to show peoples reluctant attitude towards appreciating the natural environment.
  • Levitation within natural environment to show freedom and emotional connection within the sublime.
  • Edit futuristic looking photos to show the fast developing world and bring a realisation to how the world is being over developed/incorporate environmental issues into these edits.
  • Final shoot will involve people going through a portal which shows their journey through my project and their new understanding of treating the environment with respect and appreciating it.
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Lewis Bush and Clare Rae Essay

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 In what way can the work of Lewis Bush and Clare Rae both be considered political?

In this essay i will be investigating the ways in which the work of the photographers Lewis Bush and Clare Rae can both be considered political. I will be evaluating the work of these artists and looking into their background too to help answer the question of how their work can be considered political. Lewis bush is a photographer whos work explores forms of contemporary power and Clare Rae whos work considers the physical and cultural landscapes of jersey while imagining her body in relation to the place. Both of the photographers have been artists in the residence of jersey therefore i am going to analyse their approaches to photographing the island whilst conveying their political messages. So, through this essay i am trying to prove that through Lewis Bush’s financial industry project ‘trading zones’ and Clare Rae’s exploration of gender representation and sexuality are considered as being political matters.

Lewis Bush is a British photographer, writer, curator and educator. He recently created a project in Jersey called “Trading Zones”. The idea of the project was to show the state of the financial industry in Jersey and draw attention to forms of invisible power that operate in the world. Through this project he shows the development of the finance center in jersey and shows how finance depicts the capital of St Helier. “Trading Zones is the result of six months spent as the 2018 Archisle photographer in residence at the Société Jersiaise. There are various differing sectors to the project and the main section that stood out to me was the portrait section in which Bush photographed what appears to be hundreds of corporate financial workers and blending them all together to result in what the average finance worker may look like. By combining many of the workers faces it brings the financial working community together as one and shows their dominance as a community however shows how powerless they are as an individual. The blending of the portraits shows that as an individual each worker means nothing and too when blended together to make the ‘average’ financial worker this discredits them as an individual and depicts them as only being ‘average’. This shows the dominating power of finance as a large corporate business and how all of their workers have no significance and are all looked at as ‘just the average finance worker. This section of his project also shows the changes in style and appearance of a financial worker over time and this is exploring the political landscape of change over time

The final product of “Trading Zones” was presented by Lewis creatively in Jersey’s old police station which was once the center for financial crime investigations. In my opinion this sets the tone of Lewis’s opinion of the finical sector in Jersey.  His personal view of finance in jersey is that is it “the accidental product of events going back almost a thousand yeats, but is also the result of every international choices made over the last half century”. Furthermore, after reading comments left by people who had viewed the expedition it is clear that the majority share that negative view. Lewis Bush’s work is very clearly political by the way it causes debate and makes people question what they really think about who is operating the financial sector and who’s best interests they have at heart.

Clare Rae’s work is most definitely considered political through the exploration of feminism and the representation of gender which is in huge discussion of people in the community. The topics of gender fluidity, identity and gender are all aspects of Clare Rae’s work and are major topics of controversy in which has caused a division between people, not only in Jersey but across the world. The project that she worked on in Jersey was titled ‘Entre Nous’ and brought together her representations of gender by exploiting her body in relation the the jersey landscape. She was influenced by a queer surrelaist artist named Claude Cahun who lived in Paris in the 1920’s. “In 2017 I undertook an artist’s residency with Archisle: the Jersey Contemporary Photography Programme to research the archive of Claude Cahun works held by Jersey Heritage. During my time there I began capturing a series of photographs alongside my research, starting with the sites inhabited and imaged by Cahun on the island, from the 1910s until her death in 1954”  – “My series, Never standing on two feet, considers Cahun’s engagement with the physical and cultural landscapes of Jersey, an aspect of her work that has received little analysis to date”Claude Cahun came to Jersey after the Germans declared war on France as she was Jewish and wanted to escape the threat of being taken to a concentration camp. While Cahun was in Jersey she liked to cause trouble: she would write rude notes in German and sneak them into the German soldiers pockets but she was once caught and sentenced to death. Jersey was liberated before she was killed but she would have rather died for her cause. Clair Ray came to Jersey to use its unique landscape to recreate Cahun’s work with her own style to it too. Jersey also holds the largest collection of Cahun’s original work which further inspired the project of Claire Rae. Cahun’s self portrait photographs and texts have become highly influential for artists dealing with questions of gender identity and representations of the female body and Claire Rae takes inspiration from this with the clear intentions to “unsettle traditional representations of the female figure”. This clearly shows that Claire Rae’s work can be considered political in the sense that she is tackling the controversial thoughts about gender and identity and portraying what she believes in through her photographs which people may disagree with.

I think that it is important for artists like Claire Rae to provide artwork like this to deal with political issues and creatively get their message out. I like her work and her approach to this political issue by exploiting her body in relation to the jersey landscape to which challenges the idea of male dominance and female empowerment. The idea of the project has these clear challenging ideas about women being adventurous and exploring the outdoors which challenge the traditional stereotypes of only men being accepted to do this. The project could have been included to perhaps include the challenging stereotypes of men too. Although this doesn’t directly relate to the artists story of herself being gay it would improve the project to give a more diverse approach to the project.

There are a variety of similarities and differences between Bush’s work on ‘Trading zones’ and Rae’s project ‘ Entre Nous’. For example they were both based in Jersey for the duration of their project however approached the island in a very different way. Bush chose to come to Jersey out of freedom because he wanted to focus on the financial sector. On the other hand Claire Rae was somewhat influenced to come over by Claude Cahun. Lewis Bush’s work is made within the genre of documentary photography in the sense he captures the political problems in a truthful way without staging his photographs and bending the truth. Where as Rae’s work uses a tableaux approach as she uses a staged approach to structure her political messages in the photo. A definite similarity between both of the photographers are that they are both exploring through their work the changes that are occuring within society and the response of these changes that society have. Although the fundamental concept of their work is somewhat similar with the theme of ‘change’ bush photographs the changing financial sector in jersey whilst RAe photographs the changing views on gender and idenity which are very different subjects. In conclusion, the work that i have focused on of Lewis Bush’s and Claire Rae’s are considered political due to the fact they are dealing with issues that are in conversation within society and they both aim to stem a debate about an issue or raise awareness about it.

Bibliography: 

http://www.lewisbush.com/trading-zones/

http://www.clarerae.com/work/never-standing-on-two-feet

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ESSAY 1: LEWIS BUSH VS CLARE RAE X CLAUDE CAHUN

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In what way can the work of Lewis Bush and Clare Rae both be considered political?

In this essay I am going to explore the work of two completely different photographers and discuss how both of their works can be considered political. Clare Rae is an artist who explores performance and gesture with the use of gender, feminist theories and the female body. Lewis bush on the other hand is a photographer who works with facts, research and historic archives. By looking into how they incorporate their political perspectives into their art I want to compare and contrast how this can be done in so many different ways, through documentary or conceptual, I will also explore how their images can be perceived and viewed through different political opinions and perspectives to create completely new meaning.

Lewis Bush created a body of work named “Trading Zones” in 2018 whist staying in Jersey as the Archisle photographer in residence. As well as being a small, beautiful, scenic island, Jersey is also a huge finance centre where thousands of offshore jurisdictions locate. This method is used by many big companies to avoid tax and stamp duty which would otherwise be extreme and could effect the success of their businesses. In 2014 jersey held an estimated £92 billion for Uk property making it one of the biggest tax havens. But it not only recently that jersey has been used as a safe place to store money, a hoard dating back to the iron age was found in 2012 containing 70,000 coins and ancient jewellery. ‘Trading zones’ comments on various areas of Jersey’s relationship to finance, Lewis Bush has used information from campaign groups, mainstream sources and his own primary research to create his detailed library of work.

As we can see in the above photo, Lewis has used archival accounts such as bank notes to show the development of finance in the island. I think an interesting part of Lewis’ work is his landscapes, at first they just look like simple images showing a contrast between the built up finance buildings and the natural beauty of the island. But after reading the accompanying description I learnt that they were in fact the views out to see in the direction of significant onshore companies that relate and use the islands finance facilities. Jersey has been in the limelight in the last year due to a leak of paradise papers, documents relating to offshore investments. This has stirred up an active debate on whether it is ethical for the companies to legally avoid tax on such a large scale and avoid paying money to the government which is used for things such as health care and education. Lewis has also centred some of his work around the people including islanders that have contact with the finance industry. From protesters fighting against the development of the new finance centre to to people who work in the buildings

Clare Rea’s work from Entre Nous heavily influenced and inspired by the work of Claude Cahun, a French photographer in the early 20th century who’s work become popular due to the controversial subject of gender and sexuality explored in her work. Claude settled in jersey In 1937 and stayed in the island during the occupation where she continued to create activist artwork. She used her work to undermine authority which was not approved by the German forces occupying the island, who finally arrested Claude and sentenced her to death however the island was liberated before this happened. Clare has taken inspiration from Claude’s work in her own series of images ‘Like Cahun’s, my photographs depict my body in relation to place’ ‘They explore an idea of self within the immediate environment and were produced in collaboration with her lover, Marcel Moore.’ (Clare Rae, 2018, 1) In the gallery space she displayed her work n a very thought out format which reflects the political meaning behind the images. She got the rights to used copies of Claude’s work as an asset to her own work to show the similarities and and connections between them. The work was separated into two rooms with connecting doors allowing us to move freely from one to the other but also see the work standing alone. It was interesting to see how the work linked, for example Clare’s images taken near dolmens on the island, these are ancient burial grounds which have been preserved and are now on protected land. In the photos Clare is performing for the camera in this natural setting, the one bellow shows her wrapping her arms around the stone, this makes us question the way female bodies are represented through the use of the physical environment. This could link and contrast with modern culture and the media where woman’s bodies are often over sexualised and vied as a objects rather than people. politically women are making progress and receiving more equality everyday from gaining the vote in 1918 to justice for sexual assault victims in the me too movement which started in 2017.

To conclude I think that the work of both lewis bush and Clare Rae can be considered political due to the modern and relevant issues they relate to. The economy and finance are in a way a taboo subjects which is often glossed over by artist because it can be perceived as boring however lewis bushes work shows us an alternative angle where politics and photography collide. Clare’s work can be seen as political due to the focus on gender and the feminism both of which are hot topics in politics and modern culture.

Bibliography:

http://www.lewisbush.com/trading-zones/

interview with Lewis Bush in online photography magazine ASX

http://www.clarerae.com/work/never-standing-on-two-feet

 

A2 Personal Investigation

Essay – In what way can the work of both Lewis Bush and Clare Rae both be considered political?

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“In what way can the work of both Lewis Bush and Clare Rae both be considered political?”

I will be investigating the ideas behind the works of Lewis Bush and Clare Rae by suggesting different concepts about their work to stage how their exhibitions can be considered political. Both artists have experienced Jersey closely. Lewis Bush focused on the local finance industry whilst Clare Rae investigated roles of gender. Clare Rae’s exhibition titled “Entre Nous” features works with Claude Cahun who helped as an inspiration to the concept of her work on gender and the landscape. However, Lewis Bush’s “Trading Zones” aids as the beginning of a long-term concept on the financial meaning of onshore and offshore locations.

Contemplated as political, Lewis Bush’s work revolves around the concept of producing photography through different photographic methods such as topography and landscapes.Lewis Bush has finalised projects looking at the redevelopment of London (Metropole) and most recently a project focusing on the finance sector in Jersey. Lewis based the project ‘Metropole’ in London as he felt the city which he grew up in was becoming wasted with government schemes of regeneration leading to demolition and construction of new buildings. Lewis’ most recent project ‘trading zones’ has similar connotations to Metropole as Lewis is showing how the finance industry is managing to take over jersey in a number of different ways.An aspect I found dominant from his work from the exhibition was his way of how political landscapes within a specific business shaped the employees in accordance with its development. This was described as “the self-image of how finance represents itself”

Bush collected multiple images of finance employees from different finance companies and merged them together which created an overall figure. This is done by overlapping various workers profile pictures which created a general portrait of the faces behind the businesses, whilst offering us with an insight into the otherwise unseen side of companies. Furthermore, this exhibition conveyed another political message which was clear, the board filled with various people’s opinions on the financial sector of Jersey with a large merged portrait of a certain business. By gathering opinions to form an overall insight into societies perspective of finance in jersey and in general created an overall opinion on what they think. This created an un-bias result, this was because the cards patented from a number of different sources. (schools, finance and retail sectors) This allowed the feedback to emphasis how they viewed Jersey and which way it should head.

Image result for claude cahun photographyImage result for claude cahun photography

In contrast to Lewis Bush’s work Clare Rae took a different approach to tackling politics in her photography. She chose jersey as her location as she knew that Jersey had the largest collection of Claude Cahun’s work and her work helped to inspire her exhibition. Claude Cahun was a queer, surrealist photographer who was originally known as ‘Lucy Renee Mathilde Schwob’. Claude Cahun was chosen as this was a gender ambiguous name which links with her and Clare’s work as it is about gender and gender stereotypes. Claude Cahun’s work was set in Jersey around the time of the second world war when it was occupied by Germans. Photography was a way for Clare to experiment with her own gender as a performance and to perhaps discomfort a typical stereotype from the early 1900’s. Clare Rae was inspired by Cahun’s work as it allowed her to use it to take on a similar journey. Clare Rae took both visual and conceptual tips from Cahun with all of her photographs being taken in black and white.

Image result for clare rae photographyImage result for clare rae photography

Clare also used a film camera which allowed her to put more thought into her work as it restricted her to a certain number of images per film suggesting that her images where to a high standard. A big part of Clare’s imagers followed the theory of the male gaze, by using this idea she used it to challenge it by taking images of her own body and by doing this she is controlling the female figure in art which is tented to be taken advantage of by the male artist in a sexualized way. This links to political landscape as Clare’s images could be linked to the feminist theory.

Clare’s work and Lewis’ don’t have links in the way they are actually taken as Clare’s are tableau and are staged as they have been taken in a way to relate to Claude’s work and self-portraits. In addition, Lewis’ work has been taken in a way that relates to his own styled a sense of documentary photography. Furthermore, the two photographers work was both based in jersey however two very different approaches where taken into consideration. Lewis came to Jersey out of pure freedom and with a specific idea focusing on the financial sector. On the other hand Claire Rae came to Jersey as she knew that they were a large collection of Claude’s work. Overall, the two photographers are both exploring their work through the changes and impacts their subjects are having on society. However, both artists work has clear connotations of political landscape ranging from feminism and the finance sector. Which suggests that both photographers were working under the same genre of photography being political landscape due to the fact they are handling issue that are impacting society and how the work they are producing is helping create awareness of the impacts.

AO2 Explore Ideas

Contextual Study – Spying/Stalking

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Sophie Calle

Sophie Calle has engaged in art as provocation. One of her first projects in 1983, The Address Book ,begins with the discovery of an address book, which she then uses to discover the life of its owner, contacting everyone within to access information about the owner. The point is voyeurism, or more accurately, a kind of intentional intrusion, but it is also and most essentially, an inquiry into the unbridgeable distances between us as people, the layers and everything we cannot know.

 “At the end of January 1980, on the streets of Paris, I followed a man whom I lost sight of a few minutes later in the crowd. That very evening, quite by chance, he was introduced to me at an opening. During the course of our conversation, he told me he was planning an imminent trip to Venice. I decided to follow him.”

The result is this thrilling book, first published in 1983 , blending detailed daily text entries with Calle’s elusive black and white photography. For Sophie Calle, the idea is to push the bounds of propriety, to go where one wouldn’t ordinarily go. This is an assault on privacy,  undertaken without permission and meant for the public, a public with which the subject may or may not wish to engage. That’s also one of the challenges of her work, the discomfort we feel as she crosses the line. How would it be if we were Henri B? Exposed without permission, written about, photographed?

Stalking in Photography

Stalking is unwanted or repeated surveillance by an individual or group towards another person. Stalking behaviors are interrelated to harassment and intimidation and may include following the victim in person or monitoring them. The term stalking is used with some differing definitions. Although stalking is illegal in most areas of the world, some of the actions that contribute to stalking may be legal, such as gathering information, calling someone on the phone, texting, sending gifts, emailing, or instant messaging. They become illegal when they breach the legal definition of harassment (e.g., an action such as sending a text is not usually illegal, but is illegal when frequently repeated to an unwilling recipient).

First signs of stalking photography began with the paparazzi, these are independent photographers who take pictures of high-profile people, such as athletes, entertainers, politicians, and other celebrities, typically while subjects go about their usual life routines.

Street photography, also sometimes called candid photography, is photography conducted for art or enquiry that features  chance encounters and random incidents within public places, in a sense it is also a form of stalking photography.  Street photography can focus on people and their behavior in public, thereby also recording people’s history. This entails having also to navigate/ negotiate changing expectations in laws of privacy, security and property. In this respect the street photographer is similar to social documentary photographers or photojournalists who also work in public places, but with the aim of capturing newsworthy events; any of these photographers’ images may capture people and property visible within or from public places.

Stalking Services

The existence of services like Google Street View, recording public space at a massive scale, and the trend of self-photography, further complicates ethical issues reflected to stalking photography as a whole.

Google Earth Street View takes photos freely feature passers-by without their consent. The people, buildings as well as cars on the street view are presented to the whole world. Some people and organizations believe that the service provided by Google Earth violates people’s right to privacy. The Ethical Issues are involved here. Google Earth provides a new technology and therefore brings convenience to people’s life, but in some people’s mind, the street view is actually an invasion into privacy. In response, Google, however, has taken some actions to protect people privacy. They mark the license plate numbers of the cars as well as people’s faces in every photo they have taken. Google also has a way for individuals or nations to request that certain images be blurred or removed.

Global Positioning System satellite technology (also known as GPS) is embedded into many of the devices we use today for location purposes. One use of GPS is geotagging, sometimes geotagging is done automatically for us, such as when you take a picture with your phone. You don’t see it, but your location is automatically recorded in the meta-data of the photo. Othertimes we geotag ourselves on our social medias. Social networks have geotagging features built in (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Snapchat) such as a ‘check-in’ or ‘add location’ feature that allows personal geotagging. Burglary, Identity Theft and Cyberstalking are only a few of the possible crimes that correlate to this topic.

Originally, the satellites used for GPS were created by the government to track military personnel. These same satellites are used to convey GPS information to drivers and third parties. The question is, who actually owns the data produced through the system?

Closed-circuit television, also known as CCTV in short, is the usage of video cameras for surveillance in areas that require monitoring such as banks, casinos, airports, military installations, and convenience stores.  As with all privacy issues, there is an argument saying that only criminals need to fear systems that monitor location, even if they are capable of covering the whole population.
Some say cameras make them feel safer. However several experts say that, although crime my be reduced in the necessarily small areas covered by the cameras, it is displaced elsewhere.

Resources Used : CCTV, GPS, Google Earth Maps,

Stalking in Photography:  Article1, Article 2, Article 3, Article 4

Sophie Calle: My Blog Posts

 

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Photography and Truth – Analysis of Brussels Attack Journalism

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In this photograph artificial lighting from the airport in which the Brussels terror attack occurred is being used to produce a photograph that shows journalism and what is happening as it is happening.  The use of this light creates a setting that is realistic and uses a documentary style rather than a tableux style of photography as this photograph captures the truth rather than being set up.  A shallow/deep depth of field appears to have been used as the lady sat in the foreground is more in focus than the injured lady behind her – this could also be because the shutter speed is not quick enough to sharply capture the movement of the injured woman.  An ISO of 400-800 will have been used in this photograph as it is bright but has a small amount of noise in the photograph. The colours within the photograph are quite warm – the walls and the floor are a dark colour which contrast with the bright yellow jacket of the injured woman.

The colours in this photograph are reflective of the colours seen in real life as this photograph documents the truth.  There is a variety in colours on the clothes of the subjects – there are bright yellows and dark blues creating contrast within the photograph.  The typical browns and grey of an airport remind the viewer that this is real life. There is a fairly wide tonal range in this photograph through the shadows and different types of clothing on the subjects, the range of tones creates contrast and drama.  The texture of the dirt and dust can be seen throughout the photograph which again reminds the viewer that this is real and the photograph was taken as soon as it happened.  There is a slight 3D effect to the photograph due to the woman sat further ahead of the injured woman – this 3D effect is added to by the sense of rushing and anxiousness in the photograph created by the blur.

This photograph was shot by Ketevan Kardava, who is a special correspondent for the Georgian Public Broadcaster network.  Kardava was on her way to Geneva to report on talks between Russia and Georgia, when the terror attack on Brussels airport occured.  Kardava told TIME “Everything was dust and smoke. Around me there were dozens of people without legs, lying in blood.”  Within the next minute, the second explosion occured and Kardava said “I wanted to run to a safe place too, but I also wanted to take pictures. As a journalist, it was my duty to take these photos and show the world what was going on. I knew I was the only one at this spot.”  This photograph was the first phoograph that she took – showing that the people were in a state of shock and fear.

This photograph shows the truth as opposed to some journalism in which subjects are hidden from the camera or cropped out in order to create a different perspective or in order to hide the truth.  Kardava took the opportunity to show the world what was really going on in the attacks – some may say that this was insensitive to the victim and their family and that it was selfish of Kardava to do this but truthful and authentic photojournalism is impactful and essential for the people in the world to understand what we are going through as a community.