When it comes to Realism, another photographer who fits into this movement is Walker Evans, a photographer who documented families during the Great Depression in America. Evans is one of the photographers who I am looking at for the theme of family, as he focused on families for most of his images. Walker Evans was a photographer who was best known for his work during the Great Depression, and how his documentary images brought light to the struggles of family life within small towns in America. Most of his images appear to be candid, although there are a few portraits here and there within his work. One of his prime influences was August Sander, a German portrait and documentary photographer, and has been described as the most important German portrait photographer of the early twentieth century.
August Sander, Circus ArtistWalker Evans, from ‘Cotton Tenants : Three Families ‘
The image above is from his series Cotton Tenants, where he photographed three families in Hale County, Alabama, America. In this black and white image you can see a family of five and a dog standing on what looks likes a front porch. By the worn down clothes they are wearing and the poor state of the building they stand by, you can assume that they are a working class family and are struggling with poverty. You are immediately drawn to the man standing in the middle of the image, in front of the rest of his family. This may have been done on purpose to represent his importance to the family as the typical ‘bread-winner’, as during this era it was the husband who worked while the wife and children stayed at home.
The Great Depression was the worst economic downfall that has happened in American history. The stock market crash in October 1929 was the beginning of the Great Depression, and due to this by 1933 unemployment was at 25% and more than 5000 banks had gone out of business. The average family income during this time was $1,500, 40% less than what families usually earned before the start of the economic downfall, in turn leaving families stressed with just under half of their usual income gone. For his series ‘Cotton Tenants : Three Families’, Walker Evans photographed three families who were struggling with poverty to capture the effects of the Great Depression in Hale County, Alabama, and to expose the effects of this to the world. The people in the image above was one of the many families in that area who were facing destitution due to the economical decline during that era. At the time Evans photographed these three families, it was the height of the Great Depression and this was the time where people were finding it the hardest to cope. You can clearly see the effects it had on this family – they wouldn’t have been able to afford clean clothes, as portrayed by the rags they wore, nutritious food or the right equipment to fix and clean their house. – unfinished
To what extent can we trust documentary photography to tell the truth about reality?
“The process of manipulation starts as soon as we frame a person, a landscape, an object, or a scene with our cameras: we choose a portrait or landscape format” (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019; 18)
My personal investigation looks at my grandparent’s lifestyle and how it has been influenced by the time period they grew up in, the 1940’s. I have explored the influence of religion and spirituality, gender roles within the family structure and social norms during this time period which are still present in their lifestyle to this day. Holding strong connections with my grandparents led me to want to base my project on them, as I know I will be able to easily retrieve useful insight into their lifestyle, enhancing the imagery I produce, on top of forming a piece of work in which my family will cherish. In this essay I aim to discuss the extent to which documentary photography accurately portrays reality, with reference to two documentary style photographers, Latoya Ruby Frazier and Walker Evans. In this essay I will be referring to Walker Evan’s photographic series entitled ‘let us now praise famous men’ and LaToya Ruby Frazier’s photographic series ‘The Notion of Family’. Analysing photographers who captured imagery in two different periods of time, contextual and contemporary comparison, allows me to illustrate whether the reliability has changed overtime or stayed consistent, providing a valid argument. These two photographers attempt to capture reality through portrait, but the validity of the imagery is reduced as the photographer is either insider looking in, or an outsider looking in which suggests a personal attachment to the subject or a vivid understanding of their situation, reducing the reliability of documentary photography. In my project I am considered a insider looking in, due to my subject being close to me both physically and emotionally, creating a more subjective view towards their reality, thus creating biased photographs.
Realism and Straight photography looks at creating imagery which showcase life how it is, this emerged in the 1840’s. Artists who work within this area look at raising social and cultural issues relevant within society at that time, in order to make the audience aware of this issue in hope something can be done to make a change. This area looks at documentary photography and photojournalism to document the events which are occurring. Artists stick to the original techniques and purpose of photography, the use of photography for science, to create detailed, sharp images showcasing real life. Henry Fox Talbot created the calotype, which is said to be the basis for how photography is practised today in documenting everyday life. The calotype was done by creating a paper negative, exposing a sheet of paper coated with silver and chloride to a light source. His photographs used a short exposure time and allowed multiple prints to be produced through one negative. He believed that photographs were the cause of light, the influence of nature, on a paper negative and is illustrated through optical and chemical means. Artist Louis-Jacques Mandé Daguerre, also shared this ideology behind image making and stated that photography “consists in the spontaneous reproduction of the images of nature received in the camera obscura, not with their colors, but with very fine gradation of tones.” (Daguerre Mandé, L-J. 1838). This illustrates how this art movement allows nature to present itself showing the reliability of imagery, which is then contradicted as it states its a spontaneous reproduction suggesting the accuracy of the imagery is reduced. Artist Frederick Henry Evans’ ‘A sea of a step’ clearly presents realism through the composition and use of the formal elements of light and space. Conceptually, the imagery portrays the climbing up the stairs, as if the stairs lead towards a euphoric feeling. “He drew on the Symbolist manner of using objects to directly express esoteric ideas.” ((The Art Story, n.d.)). This use of symbolism creates a subjective perspective reducing the reliability of this art movement. Paul Strand took a different approach to capturing objects, using a macro technique with clear focus on light and shadow and the contrast between the two in order for the work to “be brutally direct; devoid of all flim-flam; devoid of trickery and of any ‘ism’; devoid of any attempt to mystify an ignorant public, including the photographers themselves.” (The Art Story, n.d.). This suggests how Strand’s work produces a more objective narrative which clearly depicts reality illustrating how this art movement can be truthful. Looking closely towards documentary photography, a style of photography which places into this art movement, artist Walker Evan’s and LaToya Ruby Frazier use portraiture to showcase the lifestyle of the subjects presented in the frame in their natural environment, somewhere familiar to them that they have a relationship with, but to what extent does these photographers accurately portray the subjects lifestyle? With my topic being based in my grandparent’s lifestyle, I felt that using documentary photography would be the most appropriate to capture my subject, as well as the project looking social issues of family structure and gender roles being raised, thus drawing connections with realism and straight photography.
‘A Sea of Steps’ (1903) – Frederick Henry Evans
‘Bowls’ (1917) – Paul Strand
Walker Evans – 1936 – ‘Allie Mae Burrough’
Walker Evan’s ‘Let Us Now Praise Famous Men’ photographic series explores the exploitation of Tenant farmers in Alabama during the Great Depression, through the medium of documentary portraits. With close analysis to the ‘Allie Mae Burroughs’ produced in 1936, the portrayal of the narrative clearly illustrates the dire conditions to which these families are subjected to, and draws upon the ideology that they do not know life any differently to the life they live now. “The essence is done very quietly with a flash of the mind, and with a machine. I think too that photography is editing, editing after the taking. After knowing what to take, you have to do the editing.” (Evans, n.d.) – Evans suggest that although his photographs are trying to capture reality, manipulation of capturing or editing still effects the photographs and the way in which it truthfully presents the Tenant’s pejorative lifestyles. In an article, published by the Guardian, the author describes Evan’s imagery to accurately present reality, “You can’t sniff the stink of the quilts in the Evans pictures, nor itch with the lice in the pillows. The foul beds take on a Shaker dignity of form. A gasoline pump on the porch of a post office metamorphoses into sculptural permanence within the fixed focal length of Evans’s lens.” (Rule.V, 2001). His positive critique to Evans’ imagery emphasises how accurately he managed to capture the raw living environments of the tenant families, which allows viewers to sympathises for these families, as we understand that they do not know life any differently, which contradicts the viewpoint of Evan, but who are we to believe more? Simplicity in the composition allows an accurate reliable source to be illustrated. Evan’s subject is placed in the centre of the frame, and using naturalistic lighting he captures the subject gawking into the lens as if they are asking for mercy. The presentation of the subject does not put her in a position of respect, in the sense of her appearance and the tonal contrast emphasising her lower class within society. However, this it allows the subject to be elevated and placed into the limelight, presenting the conceptual elements making her more respectful in present day and towards viewers. He captures the subject in their naturalistic environment allowing the authenticity of his imagery to be upheld, and allows reinforcement for the sympathetic connection to be between the subject and viewers. Technically, he uses a large depth of field, due to the whole frame being in focus, suggesting a small aperture and slower shutter speed. It is recorded that Evan has four different variations of his ‘Allie Mae Burroughs’ which reduces the reliability of his work, due to manipulation of his subject in each image, which can lead to us not fully conforming to believe in this social implication, as it not being a reliable source due to several versions of the same image, with only one outcome being used. In my response, I captured my Grandparents outside of their homes, in locations where they spent the most time when outside, or the areas in which they felt illustrated their lifestyle. Similarly, using a small aperture and slow shutter speed, I used a tripod in order to produce detailed and well structured portraits. The natural light source from outside and naturalistic environment, allowed me to maintain the authenticity of my imagery allowing for a reliable source presenting my Grandparents lifestyle. In terms of concept, I captured my photographs mainly outside using simplistic backgrounds illustrating their lifestyle, but I also decided to explore this connection of subject and location with the interior of my Grandparents house, as they spend more time inside than out. In addition to this, archival material will allow for me to systematically show the connection between my subject and the outdoors.
My Response
Latoya Ruby Frazier – ‘The Notion of Family
LaToya Ruby Frazier photographic series ‘The Notion of Family’ aims to tell the narrative of her African-American family whom are struggling to come to terms with oppression (prolonged cruel or unjust treatment or exercise of authority) in Braddock, a suburb of Pittsburgh, and the negative physical and psychological effects of the city’s steel industry on their home life. Furthermore it looks at the impact of racism in the small suburb as well as the decline in the community and family, showing her personal and political viewpoint towards this topic. In this she explore three generations of her family who have lived through these issues: her grandmother, mother and herself which reinforces the personal attitudes towards her imagery, making a subjective and unreliable presentation of this issue. “I am obliged to document and counter this reality, and ultimately re-imagine and rewrite it myself.” (Campany, 2014) – Frazier refers to her imagery as a way of documenting reality literally, and re-imagines her lifestyle through the pejorative metaphors presented throughout the series, this clearly presents biases to this social situation, leading to misleading and in accurate imagery of reality. In a interview with Frazier she made the comment “We need longer sustained stories that reflect and tell us where the prejudices and blind spots are and continue to be in this culture and society,” (Campany, 2014) – the connotations implied is that Frazier views her embodiment of work as a clear way of illustrating these social issues, and suggests that the camera is a “weapon” (Campany, 2014) of exposing reality, suggesting high reliability within the imagery. In contrast, the photographic series is a personal response to an issue relevant to the her, insider looking in, which means biases of the way in which the imagery will be composed to create meaningful representations. This ideology of being an insider looking in is reinforced by critique when he says “Ms. Frazier reimagines the tradition of social documentary photography by approaching a community not as a curious or concerned outsider but as a vulnerable insider.” (Berger, 2014). In specific analysis to the imagery above we are presented with two member of Frazier family at a straight on angle, one in the foreground looking to the right of the frame with her eyes lightly closed and a female in the background looking direct into the camera, creating an emotional connection between the viewer and subject. The positioning suggests the female in the background is seeking help or obeying to the female in the foreground creating a sense of power and family structure, this implies an artificial positioning of the subjects reducing the reliability of showcasing reality. The presentation of the subjects allows cultural context to be illuminated, through the wig caps, patterned and plain clothing which also suggests low socio-economic status, which increases the emotional impact of the conceptual message on viewers. The use of a narrow depth of field and low aperture allows focus on the subjects, and allows the background to compliment the conceptual and contextual elements through the African pattern stylised curtains. The naturalistic environment contradicts the artificial composition and creates a more reliable source of reality for presenting Frazier’s family. The low ISO being utilised and artificial lighting, allows a soft ambience to be illustrated, which juxtaposes the chaos in their lifestyle, suggesting more biases from Frazier due to the lighting, reducing the reliability of this piece of documentary photograph. Critiques imply that the photographic series is “a cautionary tale and a force for educating the public and motivating reform.” (Berger, 2014) – due to these external motives connotes a reduction in reliability due to wanting social reform, she was aware that she had to create imagery which provoked emotion in order to achieve a reform. In my response to Frazier, I captured my grandparents in their home in places which suggested their ameliorative and luxurious lifestyle. Through the manipulation of the composition and positioning of my subjects, I created imagery which implied family structure and gender roles, which shows how the 1940’s has influenced my Grandparents lifestyle. Similarly, the naturalistic lighting and low ISO will allow me to create a similar soft and welcoming ambience allowing my conceptual representation of lifestyle to clearly be illustrated within my work, allowing my documentary stylised photography to be considered reliable in portraying reality.
My Response to LaToya Ruby Frazier
Bibliography:
Berger, M. (2014). LaToya Ruby Frazier’s Notion of Family. [online] Lens Photography, Video and Visual Journalism. Available at: https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/10/14/latoya-ruby-fraziers-notion-of-family/?mtrref=www.google.com&gwh=9D64C6B52E292A5A637A20017A9D54AA&gwt=pay&assetType=REGIWALL [Accessed 24 Jan. 2020].
Bright, S. and Van Erp, H.(2019), Photography Decoded. London: octopus Publishing House
Campany, D. (2014). So present, so invisible. 1st ed. Italy: Contrasto, pp.61-68.
Evans, W. (n.d.). Photography Quotes by Walker Evans. [online] Photoquotes.com. Available at: https://www.photoquotes.com/ShowQuotes.aspx?id=196&name=Evans,Walker [Accessed 24 Jan. 2020].
Rule, V. (2001). Review: Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2001/aug/18/historybooks.highereducation [Accessed 15 Jan. 2020].
The Art Story. (n.d.). Straight Photography Movement Overview. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/movement/straight-photography [Accessed 24 Jan. 2020].
My third photo-shoot will be focusing on the hidden aspect of gender identity that are often not spoken about. I will be focusing on the issues of women who do not want to present as feminine, and yet are forced to by society, as well as men who struggle to show their more feminine aspects without being shamed by society and historical gender norms. In order to do this, I will be focusing on more metaphorical imagery, using portraits and images of objects to do so, as I will be exploring the problems and consequences people face when they try to express themselves in a way they don’t want to/feel forced to.
Below I have included a mind-map of some ideas for this third photo-shoot:
For my third photo-shoot, I will be focusing more on the physical objects that can be associated with gender, and will be contrasting these with each other in the photograph. As the focus of my project is on breaking gender stereotypes (liberation of gender) and showing the truth behind peoples identities and the way they express themselves through gender, I will be focusing on creating images that encapsulate stereotypical gender roles and stereotypes, with small twists within the image that allow the viewer to realise that the image is not what it seems (specifically, that the stereotypes they link to the objects may not always be accurate. For this photoshoot I will be focusing on feminine objects, such as makeup and jewellery, and will be intertwining the idea that both women and men can suffer when it comes to expressing femininity, to create a contrast. This photo-shoot will be focused more on the hints to the viewer that some people express their identity in less stereotypical way, and that there are often social consequences for those who do this.
Below are the contact-sheets for my photo-shoot, I have indicated my decision making process using the brush tool:
COLOUR KEY: GREEN: tick – possible final image, rectangle – final image, question mark – possible final image, RED: line – rejected image, S – subject is in the wrong pose, O – wrong orientation, E – too high/low exposure, C – camera is in the wrong position, hatched red lines – shadow/unwanted aspect
COLOUR KEY: GREEN: tick – possible final image, rectangle – final image, question mark – possible final image, RED: line – rejected image, S – subject is in the wrong pose, O – wrong orientation, E – too high/low exposure, C – camera is in the wrong position, hatched red lines – shadow/unwanted aspect
COLOUR KEY: GREEN: tick – possible final image, rectangle – final image, question mark – possible final image, RED: line – rejected image, S – subject is in the wrong pose, O – wrong orientation, E – too high/low exposure, C – camera is in the wrong position, hatched red lines – shadow/unwanted aspect
COLOUR KEY: GREEN: tick – possible final image, rectangle – final image, question mark – possible final image, RED: line – rejected image, S – subject is in the wrong pose, O – wrong orientation, E – too high/low exposure, C – camera is in the wrong position, hatched red lines – shadow/unwanted aspect
COLOUR KEY: GREEN: tick – possible final image, rectangle – final image, question mark – possible final image, RED: line – rejected image, S – subject is in the wrong pose, O – wrong orientation, E – too high/low exposure, C – camera is in the wrong position, hatched red lines – shadow/unwanted aspect
COLOUR KEY: GREEN: tick – possible final image, rectangle – final image, question mark – possible final image, RED: line – rejected image, S – subject is in the wrong pose, O – wrong orientation, E – too high/low exposure, C – camera is in the wrong position, hatched red lines – shadow/unwanted aspect
COLOUR KEY: GREEN: tick – possible final image, rectangle – final image, question mark – possible final image, RED: line – rejected image, S – subject is in the wrong pose, O – wrong orientation, E – too high/low exposure, C – camera is in the wrong position, hatched red lines – shadow/unwanted aspect
This was the original image I began with.
For my first image, I wanted to separate the image itself from the background in order to replace the background with a simple black background (as I felt this would draw maximum attention to the image and details in the foreground). To do this, I used the lasso tool to highlight the areas of the background, and deleted it from the layer. I then went around the edges of the image with a 0% hardness eraser tool in order to soften the boarders so that it would blend more realistically with the black background.
Here, I erased the background of the image, and softened the edges of the image with the eraser.
I then added a black background to the image to make the foreground image stand out more and draw maximum attention:
Once the black background was added, I erased the remaining areas which looked uneven, and I smoothed out all boarders of the image.
I decided to focus on the contrast of the shades, textures and shapes of the image, and therefore decided to make the image black and white, and raise the contrast substantially in order to emphasise these contrasting aspects:
Here, I altered the image to black and white in order to increase the contrast, and also increased the contrast of the colour itself to highlight this.
After increasing the contrast and turning the image black and white, the boarders of the image faded more into the background, allowing the image to fit more flush with the background.
I decided that for this image, I wanted to highlight a certain area of colour in order to draw the viewers attention to the image, and to provide a small amount of contrast in the image which would draw attention to the jewellery that the subject was wearing (by highlighting the colour of the stone, the viewer can more easily focus on the jewellery itself, rather than looking at the whole image as a flat continuous image). To to this, I copied the original coloured image, and copied the stone using the lasso tool. I then pasted that over the top of the black and white image, and smoothed out the edges:
I first copied the original stone from the coloured image, and pasted it into a seperate layer.I pulled this layer to the top, above the black and white later, and layer the coloured stone over the top of the black and white stone.I then smoothed out the edges to sit the stone smoothly onto the black and white image.
The final image can be seen below:
I used the same sort of editing process for the other final images in my photo-shoot. I increased the contrast of many of my photos, (especially if the image was going to be turned monochrome in order to increase contrast between shapes).
Below are my final images for this photo-shoot:
for the below image, I used the lasso tool to cut the lip mark out of the original layer and paste it onto asseverate later. I then made the first layer monochrome and increased the colour contrast of the lips to make them stand out from the background. I also cut the mirror from the background and replaced the table background with all black to force the viewer to focus on the image in the foreground:
This was the image after I turned it monochrome, before I pulled the layer with the lip mark to the front.
These were the 2 separate layers to show the contrast between the coloured lipstick and the black and white background.
After pulling the lip print to the front, I increased the contrast of the red colour, and this was the final result.
