Essay Question- Is it possible for photography to capture moments in time, truthfully?

“What are the differenced between reality, witness and point of view?”– Bright and Van Erp 2019:19

Introduction

My personal investigation looks at my own documentation of my dance training and how it has developed by the time periods when I first started in 2010. I have explored the influence of time periods within my own dance life which are still present to my lifestyle to this day. Having large knowledge towards both practical and academic dance, I decided I wanted to base my project on this as I know I will be able to easily retrieve useful information into my project, enhance the imagery I produce as well as establishing a piece of work which I can cherish once grown older. In the essay I aim to discuss the extent to which both archival images and documentary photography actually portrays reality and how these style of images can capture if this image is true. To go along with this I will be referring to Walker Evens photographic series ‘let us now praise famous men’ and Diana Markosian’s photographic series entitled ‘ inventing my father’. Analysing photographers who captured imagery in two different styles allows me to illustrate wether documentation or archival styled images are the most foremost at producing images truthfully. These two photographers attempt to capture reality through imagery, with both also having other underlying subjects. In my project I am considered an insider looking into my early life, allowing subject to emotion to be explored as well as helping to create a more subjective view towards my reality of being a dancer, creating biased photographs.

Historical Context

Realism and Straight Photography was first introduced in the 1840s and looks at producing imagery which displays life how it is. Artists who work within this area mostly focused on looking into cultural and social issues which were revenant within that time, helping to gain recognition to issues and showcase detailed images to exhibit real life. Artist Frederick Henry Evens and his project ‘A sea of a Step’ is known to distinctly present realism through the use of lighting and space. He uses symbolism of creating subjective perspectives while changing the reliability of art movement. Focusing more on documentary photography, artist Walker Evens uses portraiture to show lifestyle within an enviroment which can sometimes be shown as being accurate or inaccurate. This carries me to explore my own topic which is based on my own dance lifestyle and I left that using a small element of documentary photography within my project would be nessesary to capture my intended subject. Carrying on from this, Paul Strand took an interesting approach to photographing objects where he uses the ‘Macro Technique’ which shows clear focus on light and shadowing. This gives an idea as to how Strands work is seen and how his work causes a narrative which can illustrate how the art movement can be truthful.

It is known that there has been an ongoing debate on how documentary photography portrays reality and if it is accurate which has been going on since the 1930s. Manipulation has been previously mentioned for effect from the Victorian era and is known to still be used in the present day which helps to suggest that photographers can’t actually portray reality through an image.

Diana Markosian focuses on a non-traditional method in order to explore family concept as a way of showing personal exploration. Markosian can be seen to focus on emotion in her images where she focuses on the honest approach to her family instead of the. happiness and love which is what is typically seen in this type of photography. Her raw approach highlights how she grew up without her father which she uses as a basis towards her work. This is created through her use of archival images which are manipulated uniquely which I believe makes her work stand out. Due to using archival images in her work, this adds an element of truth to her work, helping to contrast to the stereotypical perfect family which puts a sense of emptiness into her work. Furthermore, this emotion can also be seen through the typical black and white effect which is associated with despair and creates a cold feeling within the audience. Markosian’s most well known project ‘Inventing my Father’, a project based on her mother leaving her father to move to California when Diana was seven years old. Diana had quoted “had no pictures of him, and over time forgot what he looked like”, inspiring her to later travelled back to Armenia to reconnect with the man she hadn’t’t had contact with for so long. For her mothers coping mechanism after moving away was cutting his image out of every photograph in the family album in order to forget about the life she had before California. She looked at these images as a way of coping with never knowing her father and decided to photograph and manipulate them to represent her documentation with finding her father one day. The images she took can be seen to be very raw and both truthful and untruthful at the same time. This allows for the audience to create their own interpretation of what the photos may convey. Carrying on from this, the truthfulness behind her images helps to show that archival imagery is a creative and efficient way of showing the past with black and white editing making it more emotionally detached. This represents that archival images can be a way to show the past truthfully and accurately at that point in time, concluding the investigation if this type of photograph can be seen as showing truth. Diana Markosian’s work clearly relates to my own because of the relation between archival imagery and us having our own idea behind the photographs.

This image shown above is from Markosian’s project ‘ Inventing my Father’ which explores her family history from when she was born to the time period where the project was published. The project is very emotional and focuses mostly on the images she has taken which don’t include a lot of editing, adding a raw approach to her work and showing it for how it originally was, adding an element of truth to her work. We can see in the image above that conceptually it seems as if there has been a disappearance of a family member, due to the size and build it looks like a male suggesting it is her father. The cut out also proposes that the father has either left or the mother has left him as a cut out is very drastic for precious family photographs. Carrying on from this, the cut out shows to the audience how important diana’s mother was to her, being her only adult influence throughout her life. Furthermore, the edit also carries a lot of emotion through it which is obvious to the audience, these emotions include emptiness, loneliness and pain. To contrast, the contextual approach to this particular image is said that this particular image shows Diana’s mothers heavy emotion which can be seen as being in pain as she cut out her husbands image from the family photograph after she left him to move to California after he had been dissapering for weeks on end and then showing up one day. The cut up also shows the loss of a family member and how he isnt ‘family’ anymore because of his unhealthy habits towards his loved ones. Technically, we don’t know whether this image has been taken with a camera because of the high quality phones which are used in this day and age. However, we can see that there has been artificial lighting used in taking the image because of shadowing.

Evans is known as being one of the most influential photographers of the twentieth century through his sharp photographs which have deep meanings behind them. His typical use of documentation showcases his ability to look into different elements of life without being biased. We can also see he has authenticity within his work. Walker Evans most recognizable work is from his project ‘ Let us Now Praise Famous Men’ a series where he explores Alabama farmers during the Great Depression from portrait using a documentation style of photography. Looking into his portraiture, it is clear to see what the families have gone through and how they don’t know any different. He has stated that he enjoys to use editing as a large part of his image as it develops an image even if you are trying to prove a realistic point. Evans imagery has been described as “You can’t sniff the stink of the quilts in the Evans pictures” showing a positive response to his work and emphasis how he is accurate with representing his work in the way he is successful at capturing raw images through simplicity. Evans uses naturalistic lighting to capture his images and does not position the models, but photographs them in their typical element adding a sense of truthfulness and reality. Capturing the subject in their naturalistic environment allows a sense of authority to the images, adding emotion and a sense of sympathy.

IMAGE ANALYSIS:

In order to effectively analyse this image, 4 main key areas have to be unpicked. The visual, technical, conceptual and contextual. Looking at the visual aspects of this image there is a distinct focal point, the man in the center of the image can be very clearly and bluntly be seen looking at the camera, creating a candid portrait. The full body shot which has been taken of the man is an intentional aspect of this image, most likely being used in order to capture the man’s surroundings and the environment which he lives in, being a dire reminder of the housing conditions in which he resides in. The overall image is extremely dark, with most of the shadows being in the same tonal range. The man can also be witnessed smoking a cigarette, adding to the dark and grungy aesthetic of the image. He is of old age, wearing very period specific clothing. It can be concluded that due to this man’s age, disability and social status, he is likely living in conditions like this because of a lack of money. The illumination which can be seen on the mans face and the surrounding environment suggests that there was one very strong light source in the middle of the room, likely coming from a ceiling light. This article focuses on housing constructed during the decade or so after the end of the Second World War as part of the progressive, experimental establishment of the Welfare State in Britain.Housing provision by the end of the war, particularly in urban centres, was considered inadequate, not only in quantity, but in quality as well. War damage had impacted on the quantity of housing stock, but additionally, much ‘obsolete’ housing had been earmarked for demolition before the war.

Contextually, knowing that this man is Jewish, living in 1970’s England, it is likely that he was a victim of discrimination. Living through the second world war and into post war Britain. This man is a great example of the intersectionality relating with religion, disability and age. He is seen living in very dire conditions, much less suitable for a human to live in. He is a great example of the discrimination faced from multiple facets within society, and what Hedges perfectly captured within his imagery. The lowest fringes of society living in ways which were simply unacceptable, receiving little to no governmental aid. Technical restrictions and the physical characteristics of slum housing, the darkness of the photographs must also be interpreted in the light of an established art historical convention. Hedges’ choice to represent the homeless in a dark space as a recurrent trope in his photographs serves to tie his photographs to a recognizable pictorial tradition. Representations of the urban slum dwelling poor have invariably been located in dark, dirty and overcrowded domestic space.

CONCEPT & IDEAS:

In order to keep experimenting with different ideas and concepts to add to my photo book, with these edits I have experimented with adding a noise filter and gradient filter in order to create different outcomes. Adding the noise filter was an effective aesthetic choice as it continues the film style images which I created previously, as it adds the graininess which can be seen in real film images. It is also a cost effective way of creating film style images as I am able to use a digital camera, using photo shop in post production in order to get the same effect.

Adding overlays to these images also helped with getting the desired effect which I was looking for as it added the high contrast flash which can be seen in film images. Creating a high contrast between the highlights and shadows. It also intensifies the saturation of the colors, adding more orange and red tones, creating very warm images.

Finally I also experimented with some gradient overlays. I used a variety of different color overlays such as blue and yellow, purple and orange, red and green etc. These were also an effective way to create film like images, especially looking at the last edit with the washing machine and dryer, the blue tones effectively create film style imagery with the use of simple editing.

In order to add points of interest I have played around with the layout of the imagery, using different configurations and playing around with the sizes of the images. Especially in edit 1, placing the second image behind the first created an effective layout which work harmoniously together in terms of layout and composition.

EDIT 1:

In order to add context to these images, They will be accompanied with inserts and captions to explain the setting. For example, these images were taken in one of my family friends’ homes, documenting the small details of their homes and telling their story of what living in Jersey as an immigrant is like.

IDEA 2:

Some of these images are examples of personal possessions which I think are important when conveying ideas of what it is like for the immigrant population in Jersey to live in property which is overpriced and often unsuitable.

IDEA 3:

These images will also effectively fit into my hand made photo book as they follow similar conventions as my previous images which showcase Jersey housing, made in film, in a grainy medium which isn’t perfect. I want to focus on the raw nature of these images and the less than glamorous aspects of living ij low cost housing.

“RED STRING” – Yoshikatsu Fujii

• Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.

One of the most prominent aspects of this photo book is the physical feel of it. The material which has been used to create the cover is a soft and plush felt in an of white cover, arguably being symbolic of the protection which the parents of this book’s author provided her with.

• Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.

There is a multitude of different papers used within this book, mostly made up of regular matte finish paper, yet we see inserts of paper which are much thinner and the initial two images are printed on gloss. Color also plays a huge symbolic factor in this book, there is a variation between color and B&W images in the book. The inserts which have been secured to the inside of the book are done so with red washi tape, which reflects the color of the red string and therefore the title.

• Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.

The photo book has been created in an A5 format with a variation of image sizes being used throughout the book, both landscape and portraiture with a wide variation of sizes and placements. The book consists of a total of 92 pages.

• Binding, soft/hard cover. image wrap/dust jacket. saddle stitch/swiss binding/ Japanese stab-binding/ leperello

Instead of a traditional soft or hard paper cover, the author has instead chosen a felt like material for the cover, creating a totally new experience for the viewer. The layout is also very unique, when opening the book, it splits into two separate sections, with both sides being very unique. The narratives are different too, covering the stories of the mother and father. The overall book is held together by Japanese stab binding using the very recognizable red string. The split binding allows the reader to page through one side and then the other, but the powerfulness comes from pairing both halves together. In this delicate and personal family album, Yoshikatsu Fujii ties the memory of his family back together with the cultural metaphor of red string.

• Cover: linen/ card. graphic/ printed image. embossed/ debossed. letterpress/ silkscreen/hot-stamping.

The cover of the book is covered in a very soft felt material and sew together by a red string which ties together both the overall theme and title off the book.

• Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.

According to the Japanese legend, this thread emanating from the heart doesn’t end at the tip of the finger. It continues in the form of an invisible red string, which ’’flows’’ out of your pinkie and goes on to intertwine with the red strings of other people — connecting your heart with theirs.

Two people who are connected in this way are bound together by Fate itself. Sooner or later, they are destined to meet, no matter how far apart they live or how much their life circumstances differ. And, when it happens that encounter is certain to profoundly affect both of them. The strings can sometimes stretch and become tangled, which could postpone the fateful meeting. But those ties will never be broken.

• Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?

“I received a text message. “Today, our divorce was finalized.” The message from my mother was written simply, even though she usually sends me messages with many pictures and symbols. 
I remember that I didn’t feel any particular emotion, except that the time had come. 
Because my parents continued to live apart in the same house for a long time, their relationship gently came to an end over the years. It was no wonder that a draft blowing between the two could completely break the family at any time.”

• Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.

Throughout the book there is repeated symbolism of family and nostalgia, the photos reminisce the days of when the author was a child, unassumingly enjoying her adolescent life. In a way it can be argued that these images get progressively more cold and sorrow as the happy family dynamic fades out just like the marriage of the author’s parents did. This can also be denoted by the fact that the images on the left hand portion of the book are in black and white possibly noting feelings of sorrow and a lack of love within the man’s heart towards his wife.

• Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.

An interesting aspect of this book is the unconsistent layout and spread. The left hand portion of the book includes images which are both colour and monochromatic, she played out in single spreads and some in doubles. The fold outs within this portion are also attached by the red string, adding to the continuity of the title and providing the reader with a constant reminder of the motif of this colour. Contrary, on the right hand side, the images are all monochromatic and lack colour. Interestingly there are also no fold outs in this portion showing the lack of emotion the father may have.

• Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.

The author of this book has likely utilised a large portion of family photo archives in order to create this photo book as we see a variety of images of different time periods within this book. There is again a large juxtaposition in this book with the lack vs prevalent use of colour within the left and right hand potions of the book. Moreover, another point of contrast is the lack of inserts within the right hand portion of the book.

• Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others.  Use of captions (if any.)

The ways in which these images are linked are through the repeated use of archival imagery and the text which goes along it. Most noteworthy is the poignant quote, “today the divorce was finalised”, along side a family portrait. This book undoubtedly is a reflection of this family’s time together and the way in which a marriage grows apart. The split binding representing the ways in which these two people grew apart.