As a side photo shoot which doesn’t relate to my essay I took images of places which remind me of home or my family, mainly sunsets since that is what I liked the most about my life in London.
Contact sheets :
Photoshoot 2 – places
All posts by Leah L
Filters
Photoshoot 1 – people
For one of my photo shoots I took images of my family members and friends, from both London and Jersey, over the course of a few days. It was conducted over the Christmas holiday in Jersey while my family gathered to celebrate Christmas. These photo shoots were based off of the photographers Walker Evans and Latoya Ruby Frazier, who both took images of families for their series. For my photos I aimed to take images of as many of my family members as possible when they visited Jersey for the Christmas holidays.
A few images from my photoshoots :
Chosen images :
Final edits :
Analysis image :
In this black and white image you can see a boy, my brother, being shown something on a phone by someone out of the picture. Since the background around him has been blurred slightly, you are able to easily focus on his face without being distracted by the environment around him.
This image was taken when my family from London came over to Jersey for the Christmas holiday. The boy in the image is my brother and this was when my family and I went out for dinner the night before they left to go back to London. This image is a response to one of the photographers I will be looking at in my essay, Latoya Ruby Frazier, who is a photographer who took images of her family within their home when there was an economic crisis happening in their town of Braddock, Pennsylvania.
Planning
Plans for my photoshoots
2 photoshoots before the Christmas holiday:
- I will be taking images of my family here in Jersey at our home. I want to focus specifically on my Aunt and Uncle who are the ones who offered me a place to stay when I moved over to Jersey, and I want to be able to try and portray how my relationship with them has changed since September 2018, which is when I first moved over to Jersey. I’d like to try and take images with Polaroids to try and capture the authentic effect it gives the image. Polaroids tend not to change any of the details and cannot be edited by editing programs such as Photoshop, so it captures the moment as it is, and that’s the type of effect i’d like to add to my work. If using Polaroids doesn’t turn out the way i’d like it to then i’ll switch to a normal digital camera.
- The second photo shoot I plan to take if of the family as a whole who live in my house. I currently live with my aunt and uncle and my aunt’s parents, so i’d like to photograph them all together, mainly at dinner or when sitting in the living room, as this is when we are all usually together and talking.
2 photoshoots during the Christmas holiday:
- Since all of my family is coming over and spending Christmas in Jersey, I have the opportunity to take pictures of both my family in London and my family in Jersey together in one room. I will be planning to take images during Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, when everyone will be eating and spending time together. This will also capture the close relationship my family has despite living in different places. I will also try and take these images in Polaroids however if it doesn’t end up working out then I will switch to a normal digital camera.
- I will be going to London the weekend before Christmas so I have a chance to photograph my family and their lives in London to compare to my family in Jersey. I want to mainly focus on my mother and younger brothers who I lived in a house with until I moved over to Jersey at 16, and I want to photograph their life in London since I have left. I also want to focus on my Grandparents, who are also a huge influence in my life. Like my other photoshoots I plan to use Polaroids, however I will switch to a digital camera if need be.
1st essay paragraph – draft
Since I am looking at family and hope to portray them and my relationship to them as they would be in their daily lives without any intentional manipulation, my work can be related to the movement of Realism. Realism was a creative movement which originated in France during the 1850s. Individuals who identified as realists rejected the ideas of Romanticism and revolted against the subject matter and overemphasized emotionalism of the movement. Realism in photography portrays things as they are without any abstract or idealised factors put into to change the image. People usually think of Realism within photography as the ‘truth’, since the images haven’t been edited or manipulated to change what is going on within it. However, this may not always be the case, as an image doesn’t need editing to be untruthful. As Giles Duley said, ‘ There is no truth in photography, only honesty’, which could mean that you never really know what the truth is when it comes to images that you haven’t taken yourself, since factors such as angles and camera lenses can change the real situation, so the only thing a photographer can do is be honest about their work.
Family pictures have been around for hundreds of years, with family photos becoming common around the time the camera was invented. Before the invention of the camera, middle to high class families were able to pay for expensive family portraits to be painted for them. Family has always been a main art subject, with individuals wanting to treasure their loved ones and their family legacy by having either a painting or a photo made of them. As cameras evolved and became more popular, photographers were able to find another way of documenting their families, by taking candid images of them within their lives. The subject of family is generally a topic which is related to Realism as many photographers prefer to capture their family relations as they are within their daily lives, with as little changes as possible. My work is the same, as I am planning to document my family from both London and Jersey and portray my relationship with them as they are normally, making my work related to Realism. I am looking at two photographers who both look at family, Walker Evans and Latoya Ruby Frazier, and both their work can link to Realism as they both document the lives of families and the effects of the economic downfalls that their families are facing.
One photographer whose work is related to Realism is Dorothea Lange, a photographer who took images of farmers and migrant workers during the Great Depression and how this economic downfall affected these individuals. This image of the migrant mother and her children is one of Lange’s most famous images, and this is because it conveys a large amount emotions and stories just by looking at the mother’s facial expression. As a realist photographer, this image has not been altered or manipulated and is a clear idea of what was happening during the time of the Great Depression. Dorothea Lange is quite similar to the photographers I have chosen for my question, Latoya Ruby Frazier and Walker Evans. She looks at the oppression and suffering of people during an economic downfall, such as the Great Depression that both she and Walker Evans were looking at, and her work is documentary-like, showcasing the effects of these events.
Bibliography:
- Parkin(2018), Realism and Honesty in Photography, www.onlandscape.co.uk (https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2018/07/realism-and-honesty-in-photography/)
Essay draft – introduction
Question – How does Walker Evans and Latoya Ruby Fraizer portray the importance of family in their work?
Introduction:
Once used only to document information, photography has now flourished into a huge industry, being used for multiple different reasons – for self-expression, for awareness of current events, for political grounds. As once said, “From Daguerre’s age to ours, photography has undergone a transformation, not only technologically but conceptually.”(Bright and Van Erp. 2019:18) The ways to take and portray photos are endless, with each person having an independent reason as to why and how they could utilise photography. Many use this form of expression to focus it on the ones they value the most – family. Family has a significant impact in an individual’s life. They are the first people they are familiarised with in early childhood, they are the ones who make them feel comfortable and safe, and are usually the ones who help them get through when they find themselves stuck in a tough situation.
For my personal study, I will be focusing on the importance of family, specifically my own, and hope to portray them in a way which can express their importance to me. Family has always been important in my life. As mentioned before, they are the first people who we know in our lives, and this creates a special bond from early childhood which cannot be replicated with anyone else or destroyed. Most of my family, including my parents and younger brothers, currently live in London whereas I moved to live in Jersey with my aunt and uncle over a year ago. This evidently means that I don’t see and talk to them as much as I used to, but although we may not end up talking for a week or may not see each other for a few months, we still have that strong connection. This theme relates to the previous work I have been doing on Occupation and Liberation as families were affected during the war, especially those who had family members outside of Jersey and had trouble communicating with them while the island was occupied. We were able to take a look at the Red Cross letters which were sent between people trying to communicate with their loved ones, and were able to see the limited words exchanged between family which were separated.
The two photographers I am looking at are Walker Evans and Latoya Ruby Fraizer, two individuals who both documented family life. I decided that I would be investigating these artists as their works link to the theme which I am looking at. Although Walker Evans didn’t photograph his own family, he did take a look at others and the effect that the Great Depression had on these families. Latoya Ruby is a photographer who looked at her own family and effects that the state of the community had on them. These two photographers also relate to the work I have been doing previous to this, about the Occupation in Jersey, as their photographs revolve around the oppressed and struggling people in a place which wasn’t economically or socially strong at the time, with Walker Evans looking at families who were being effected by the Great Depression and Latoya Ruby looking at her own family within a community which was struggling with racism and economic downfall. To respond to these photographers’ works and my question I will be taking images of my own family from both London and Jersey and plan to edit them in the same black and white way which both Evans and Fraizer used for their images, so there won’t be much experimentation with colour but I will be focusing on factors such as contrast, cropping and under/over exposure. I will be aiming to take these images in a documentary style within the homes of my family members as this is when they are most themselves and the most authentic, which is an important factor of my photoshoot.
Bibliography :
- Bright, S. and Van Erp, H.(2019), Photography Decoded. London: Octopus Publishing House
Photography decoded
“Daguerre’s technique gave a unique image : it can only be copied by being re-photographed – something that already suggests photography’s complicated relationship with reality.”( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )
“If manipulation is the first thing someone thinks of in connection with photography, what does that say about the value of the photograph as a reflection of reality?” ( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )
“And what does a ‘real photograph’ look like: Is it something you can hold? Is it something you can see on a screen and alter?” ( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )
“The daguerreotype didn’t make up what was in front of the camera, as a mirror doesn’t lie.” ( Bright and Van Erp. 2019:17 )
“The process of manipulation starts as soon as we frame a person, a landscape, an object or a scene with our cameras.” (Bright and Van Erp. 2019:18)
“From Daguerre’s age to ours, photography has undergone a transformation, not only technologically but conceptually.”(Bright and Van Erp. 2019:18)
Bibliography: Bright, S. and Van Erp, H.(2019), Photography Decoded. London: Octopus Publishing House
Essay plan
- Essay question: How does Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange portray the importance of family ?
- Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question.
I will be looking at Walker Evans and Latoya Ruby Frazier as they both include images of family while a change in their daily lives were happening. Walker Evans based his images when the great depression was happening and took many images of large families during this time.
Although he doesn’t look at immigration and the effect of being apart from a family member, he does look at how having a family helps when one is going through a hard time. In his images many of the family members smile even though the great depression was happening at that time.
Latoya Ruby is a photographer who photographed her family while an economical downfall and a rise of racism was happening within their hometown of Braddock, Pennsylvania.
I chose her as one of my photographers because her images look at her own family.
To respond to their work I will be taking images of my own family, the family I have in London which includes my parents and younger brothers, and the family I live with in Jersey.
- Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. Link to power points about isms and movements M:\Departments\Photography\Students\Resources\Personal Study
- My work connects to Realism
- Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
- Walker Evans
- Influences : August Sander
- Photographer during the Great Depression
- Series Cotton Tenants
- Looks at three families in Hale County, Alabama
- Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
- Latoya Ruby Frazier
- Influences : Carrie Mae Weems and Dawoud Bey
- Photographed her own family
- Her home town of Braddock, Pennsylvania had an economic downfall because of the steel industry collapsing, and had a problem with racism which affected her family.
- Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
- They both look at families during a crisis
- they both use black and white images
- They both both a documentary style
- They give different viewpoints because of their differences – Frazier gives a woman’s and a person of colour’s viewpoint, Evans gives a man’s viewpoint
- They look at families in different contexts – Frazier looks at her own family in a small town affected by a local economic downfall, Evans looks at three different families during the Great Depression which would have affected the whole of America.
- Frazier is looking at her own family so she has those personal connections while Evans is looking at families who he has never met before.
- Bibliography: List all relevant sources used
Jesse Rhodes
November 4 2010
Statement of intent
For my personal study I will be exploring family and the relationships I have with the ones who I live with in Jersey and the ones who live in London, who include my parents and younger brothers. I originally lived in London until last year so my relationships have changed over the time I have been here, so I believe this would be a good topic for me to look into. Since most of my family live in London, there is some sort of disconnection between us as we don’t see each other as much as we did before, and the family who I live with in Jersey have closer relationships with me since I have moved over. Although Jersey is similar to the UK, it was still quite difficult getting used to the new areas and starting fresh at a new school, and my family in both London and Jersey were here to help me with that. During the occupation, family would have been the only thing the people of Jersey would have really had close to them, and they were still somehow able to connect with their loved ones who lived outside of the island even though communications were extremely limited.
I am planning to take 2 photo shoots before Christmas break and 2 during Christmas break, with three of them being in Jersey and one being in London. I’d like to take a look at my family in London and Jersey, and take images of them as they would be naturally in their daily lives to compare the differences of lives and relationships between the two.
Essay questions
Key ideas:
- Sense of safety – what people and places I consider make me feel a sense of safety. Will look more into my own family, the areas I grew up in London and where I live in Jersey now.
- Movement – Looking at my move from London to Jersey and how my connections to my family and friends have changed since then.
- Family and friends – how my family helped me settle down in Jersey and how my relationship with my family and friends in London has changed since I left.
- Immigration – Looking at how immigrants handle life in new countries.
Possible questions:
- How does family help when dealing with difficult situations?
- How does Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange portray the importance of family?
- How does Walker Evans and Dorothea Lange portray the lack of safety in their work?
Personal investigation : mindmap and moodboard
