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AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation

Essay Questions

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Key Ideas:

Family: Looking at the theme occupation in terms of my family, exploring the history of my family as well as exploring the way we are now and how the past has influenced us. My main focus will be on my grandparents as they will have the most stories to tell, allowing a clear narrative to be created.

Lifestyle: Still on the ideology of capturing my grandparents, I want to see how the time period they grew up in 1940, has influenced the lifestyle they live through key themes of religion, family structure and gender stereotypes.

Liberation of Family History: The main focus will be trying to showcase my grandparents lives. I intend to capture their stories about their past, telling the narratives of their lives. This can be done through tableaux and staged imagery as well as capturing landscape and showcasing the incorporation of image and text.

Possible Questions:

How does Walker Evans and Alicja Rogalska showcase the lifestyle of their subjects within their imagery?

Explore the relationship between documentary and photography with reference to Walker Evans.

Explore how the photographers Sam Harris and Walker Evans capture the theme of lifestyle within their work.

To what extent does family photographer Sam Harris present the theme of lifestyle?

To what extent is the theme of lifestyle presented through documentary portraits, with reference too Sam Harris and Walker Evans?

To what extent does straight photography accurately portray events in time?

How is the theme of lifestyle presented within documentary photography, with reference too Sam Harris and Walker Evans?

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas, Uncategorized

Personal Investigation – Historical Context

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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. Appropriately, I chose the art movement of realism to influence the stylistic features of my imagery to create the narrative of my grandparent’s life style. Realism photography looks at documentary photography and photojournalism to capture life how it is, whilst occasionally raising social and cultural issues. With my topic being based in my grandparent’s lifestyle, I felt that using documentary photography would be the most appropriate to showcase this, thus drawing connections with realism. Moreover, my work is aimes to look at social norms and family structure, such as the wife being a housewife whilst the husband provides for the family, which illuminates social issues which still subtly influence today’s society.

Image from: Walker Evans – “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men’

The art movement of realism and straight photography looks at creating imagery which showcase life how it is. The movement emerged in the 1840’s, which retaliated against pictorialism which suggests photographs have to look like a drawing or painting. 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, which presents the convention of social reform. This area looks at documentary photography and photojournalism to document the events which are occurring. Within this art movement artists stick to the original techniques of photography, the use of photography for science, to create detailed, sharp images showcasing real life.

Image from: Walker Evans – “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men’

Walker Evans is a key photographer who has influenced my investigation through his ‘Let Us Now Praise Famous Men’ photographic series. In this he aims to document the lives of sharecropping families, those who are forced into labour which involves them having to look after the land and in return they gain a share of the crops produced on their portion of land. His work falls into the movement of realism, as the series produces imagery which showcase the families’ lives as well as drawing cultural issues at the time, with strong political views being produced from Evan. In addition, his work looks at capturing lifestyle, which is similar to my project, which enhances my understanding and approach to capturing the lifestyle of my family, which has allowed me to consider the conceptual and contextual elements in a new way.

Uncategorized

Personal Investigation – Statement of Intent

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Within my personal investigation I want to explore my families lifestyle and the interventions within this, with specific focus on my grandparents. I decided to capture my grandparents’ as they were raised during the 1940’s where the ideology of a traditional family existed, this will allow me to see if their lifestyle now reflects their lifestyle back in the 1940’s. A traditional family during this time was considered a structure which consists on a man and women, who are usually husband and wife, who have one or more biological or adopted children after they have been wedded. It also looks at the role of religion and spirituality within the family structure, and how it influences a families life style. In addition, within a traditional family during the 1940’s it was considered a social norm for the wife of a family to be a house wife and the husband to provide within the family, outlining gender stereotype’s within the family structure. Within this project I intended to capture imagery in the style of documentary photography, following the art movement of photo realism, in order to accuratly capture the life style of my grandparents.

For my first photoshoot; I believe it is necessary to explore my grandparents past and try and gain an understanding of their lifestyle when they were younger. In order to achieve this I intended to explore their photo archives of old photographs and documents they have stored at their house, whilst interviewing them asking about stories and meanings behind their archival material. This will give me an in-depth understanding of their lifestyle and will enrich my investigation with valuable detail about my grandparents which can influence the way in which I explore their current lifestyle.

One major aspect of their lifestyle is holiday seasons; every Christmas my grandparents will come down to my house as we celebrate Christmas, exposing me to their lifestyle. As a family we sit around the table and eat a traditional Christmas meal, dress smart and part take in activities such as watching the Queen’s speech every year. I intended to capture this to explore my grandparents lifestyle within big family events, as well as showing how their lifestyle has influenced their descendants.

My third photoshoot will capture my grandparents lifestyle in a naturalistic way through producing candid photographs. I intended to follow my grandparents around for a day capturing specific tasks that they do within the day, such as house chores, hobbies etc. This will give me an understanding of what their day to day life is like and how their upbringing has influenced this. In addition, I will also look at producing a video which captures this which work alongside this set on imagery, I intended to overlap this with audio of each grandparent explaining what their upbringing was like in terms of lifestyle.

For my final photoshoot I do not have a set idea on what I want to capture. I plan to capture a significant area of their lifestyle which I have not yet explored, in order to showcase a holistic view of their lifestyle. Ideally, I am wanting to capture more naturalistic imagery but may turn to artificial staged family photographs to showcase this. I believe after looking through my family archives I will have more of an understanding of what I am wanting to capture for this photoshoot.

AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas

Personal Investigation – Inital Research and Ideas

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Mind Map:

This mind map explores different ideas which I would consider to be my main focus for my person investigation. With each idea made below I tried to link them back to the overall themes of Occupation and/or Liberations, as those themes are still the project title. Personally, I wanted to come away from looking at the occupation of Jersey, due to me doing it for such a long time, exploring different elements. I took the word Occupation and Liberation and looked at synonyms which allowed me to respond to the words in a more contemporary and artistic way, as well as ensuring I would be able to conduct multiple photoshoots to produce strong imagery relating back to the themes. My exploration is shown below:

Mood Board:

Action Plan:

Moving forward I would like to create a repose to the themes of occupation and liberation by exploring my family, more specifically my grandparents. I have decided to choose my family as I have a personal attachment to the subject and I believe I will be able to produce stronger outcomes, in a conceptual and contextual sense, as I have that bond with my subjects which allows them to be more open. With regards to looking at my grandparents I would like to look at lifestyle and how their upbringing in the 1940’s has effected their lifestyle, with specific looks at gender roles, family structure and religion. These three areas are the main influencing factors on their lifestyle, however when I look further into their past I am sure that other elements will make themselves present which I can also include in this investigation. I have decided that I would like to look through family archives to gain an understanding of their lifestyles before I was born, and conduct photoshoots which showcase their lifestyle now, allowing a comparison to be made of the past to the present.


AO1 Develop Ideas, AO2 Explore Ideas

Pictorialism VS Realism/Straight Photography

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PICTORIALISM

Time period:

  • 1880s-1920s


Key characteristics/ conventions:

  • In 1839 photography first created in order to objectively present subjects scientifically.
  • Fixing images onto objects, highly scientific, not heavily considered as an art until pictorialism was presented.
  • Photography was considered too easy to be considered a form of art.
  • They wanted to make photographs look like paintings and drawings to penetrate the art world, which juxtaposes original purpose for photographs.
    • Experimenting with chemicals in the dark room, and placing Vaseline on the lens.
  • Highly romantacised landscapes
  • Allegorical painting influenced pictorialism
    • Looks at story/parable of figures in a landscape informing us of ways to live out lives – acts as a teaching for viewers. (similar subject matter)
  • Male photographer emphasised erotic aspects of images, female subjects.
  • Began staging scenes which influenced Tableuax


Artists associated:

  • Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)
    • Used family as subject matter in their natural environment.
    • Imagery is dream like, symbolic, wings, long hair etc.
  • Peter Henry Emerson (1898)
    • ‘Naturalistic Photography’
  • The Vienna Camera Club (Austrian Group)
    • Hugo Henneberg
    • Heinrich Kuhn
    • Hans Watcek
  • The Brotherhood of the Linked Ring (London
    • George Davidson
  • Photo-Secession (New York)
  • Sall Mann – Modern Day
    • Still captures in this style of photography.


Key works:


Methods/ techniques/ processes:

  • Experimenting with chemicals in the dark room, and placing Vaseline on the lens.

REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period:

  • Emerged in 1840, and was created to showcase photography did have to be like a drawing or painting.


Key characteristics/ conventions:

  • Creating photographs which retaliate with pictorialism, and shows real life.
  • Creating detailed, shape, images
  • Capturing the world we live in, bringing up issues within society during that time period.
  • Social Reform – Thought their images could impact and change the lives of the subject.
    • This influenced the movement of photo journalism and documentary photography


Artists associated:

  • Walker Evans (1903-1975)
    • Captures the lives of family who travelled from farm to farm due to forced labour.
      • During the Great Depression
    • Documentary of the family – first photo-book which showcases a narrative
  • Paul Strand
  • Dorothea Lange – Social Reform
    • Thought their images could impact and change the lives of the subject.


Key works:


Methods/ techniques/ processes:

  • Capturing the world how it is.
  • Using the original processes of photography to produce sharp, detailed outcomes.
AO3 Record Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation

Review and Reflect

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Studying the theme of Occupation and Liberation so far has allowed me to explore different areas within the second world war, from bunker archeology to war veterans. Starting off this project I was able to look at the importance of archival imagery, after visiting Societe Jersiase. On this trip I was able to search through imagery which enriched my understanding of the war, providing social and historical understanding which I previously did not know. After this I produced an essay exploring the importance of archives, with references to artists and how archives have developed into modern day society. Soon after, I was informed about the history of the island’s Bunkers and there uses, which lead me onto exploring landscape photography, with experimentation of natural lighting and the environment. After conducting three different bunker photoshoots, in three different locations, I believed that I was able to show my ability to showcase Jersey’s history within imagery. This lead me to learning about photomontages, and how manipulating my images can lead to strong conceptual representation allowing my project and photographs to be further developed. This also lead me to learning about the Jersey War Tunnel and other tunnels around the Island used for different reasons, enriching my understanding of the war.

After this I then conducted research into what a zine is and zine making within photography, specifically as Sam Ivan. In this I learnt the importance of narrative and sequencing and the importance of the layout within a design. This lead me on to gaining an understanding of the software InDesign, allowing me to create my own photographic zine for the bunker imagery produced. When creating this I learnt that I could add archival imagery to help convey my conceptual and contextual representations. Creating my zine, showcased my landscape work in a way which shows my understanding of the war and the links to Occupation and Liberation

This then lead me to moving my focus onto portrait photography where I began my investigation look at a classical and contemporary photographer, Francis Foot and Michelle Sank. Researching these photographer gave me an understanding of what makes a successful portrait, through positioning, lighting and composition of the frame. This lead onto me conducting a photoshoot of Bob Le Sueur. Doing this thought me how to photographer someone who you have only just met, and the importance of trying to form a rapport with your model to try and showcase their personality and true self. I was able to learn about Bob’s stories and memories during the war, which influenced how I captured him in the studio. This then lead me to starting the Home Sweet Home project which looked at photographing the occupation within my house. Within this I learnt different styles of portraits, from environmental, candid, macro and establishing a shot, which were influenced by different artists such as Martin Parr. I also decided to look into my own family archive, giving me an in-depth understanding of my families history, thus influencing what I captured.

After looking at portrait photography I looked at objects, an area in which I have not done much research in previously. From this I learnt symbolic representations of different objects in a classical painting, and how the symbolism has transferred into todays society. This allowed me to learn the importance of studio lighting , with flash heads and consistent light sources when capturing at different angles. In addition, it reinforced my skills of capturing images on a tripod using a 50mm lens. This then allowed me to revisit photomontage where I explored the work of Ralph Milach, who combined portraits and objects to create a narrative, this style of documentary photography I much enjoyed producing. This then influenced a new photographic zine which combined portraits and objects in order to portray a narrative, reinforcing my knowledge of Indesign and narrative and sequencing.

To conclude, my photographic skills has significantly developed over the past couple of months, as I explore different areas within photography and different software to edit and display my work. I have personally really enjoyed the units which looked at landscape and objects, as I personally believed I managed to produce the strongest outcomes in these styles. I also think my contemporary outcomes, mainly photomontages with objects, have also been successful in presenting clear conceptual and contextual representations. These two areas in photography are the areas that I would like to mainly loom at for my personal investigation.

AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation

Final Prints

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With regards to final prints from the occupation and liberation I selected two photographs which I believed where my strongest. I decided to print both out as A3 photographs and frame them on black card using a window mount technique. Using a more contemporary photomontage creates an intriguing and captivating embodiment of work which allows conceptual and contextual representation about the war to be clearly illustrated. I also took a macro photograph from my home sweet home project, as I felt using the strongest detailed image allows the terms occupation and liberation to be viewed in a new way. Personally, I really like the way in which they stand alone, due to them being highly impactful in terms of concept and context and present the theme in different ways, through the difference in composition in the overall frame of the photographs.

AO3 Record Ideas, AO4 Present Ideas, Component 1 Personal Investigation

Zine Objects and Portraits – Final Design

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Evaluation:

To evaluate, having my final outcomes as a dos a dos layout, meant I could successfully showcase my war images and my home images under the same categories of occupation and liberation, whilst being able to showcase the relationship between objects. To achieve the dos a dos I simply glued the back pages of each zine together to create the effect, thus I have an overall zine which is two different zines. I believe my design has strong conceptual representations which clearly showcase my intended narrative. The layout for each page has been carefully thought out and justified as to why the spread is how it is, showcasing my ability to successfully place images into a clear sequence to showcase an intended narrative. I have been able to show my experimentation process when creating the zine, which shows my ability to critically analyse my work and reject ideas which may not be successful. Overall, I believe I have created a strong photographic zine which showcase my intended narrative through my strongest imagery from the part of the occupation and liberation project.