In this I was just going through a pen drive full of family photos and trying to find some good one I could use of my parents. I was trying to find one where my parents looked really in love so it would make the contrast between past a present really harsh. I plan on looking through and taking out photos from physical family albums as well, like Yoshikatsu Fujii has done.
In this shoot I was trying to capture candid moments while my mum and step-dad were watching tv. If I waited for them to be relaxed and distracted, they wouldn’t know I was photographing and therefore I’d get the purest outcome from the situation and therefore allowing my book to have more raw emotion in the future. With editing I kept it simple and made the images monochrome with some slight grain added.
This second shoot was mainly about trying to get ‘aesthetic’ styled images that would break up the portraits a little bit and add something artistic to the book. I was trying to get photos of plants in my mums garden so the photos would have some significance. I experimented using flash similar to Mateusz Sarello to get that aggressive ‘assault’ feeling. I also captured some more candid portraits. Again, keeping with the theme I intend for the book, I kept the editing minimal and again made the images monochrome and added extra grain.
This shoot I actually took on New Years Day. I thought this would be a perfect time to gain some photos of my mums lifestyle and would be a good contrast to my dads. I took photos of my mum doing the laundry and cooking the new years dinner. My mum always likes making events special so capturing one of these events would be very important in enhancing the meaning in my book as that is something that hasn’t changed because of my parents divorce. Again, I kept editing minimal and did the same as stated above.
This was a small little shoot as we were out. I thought including the landscape around where my mum lived would again break up the portraits but still have significance and a place within the book.
I got enough photos of my dad during this shoot. My dad doesn’t cook much so we often go out to eat. I thought I’d take a photo of the takeaway bag as it contrasted the images of my mums cooking very well. Capturing my dad loading the dishwasher was very similar to my mum doing the laundry so i thought that image would be very effective in showing similarities as well as differences. I thought taking images such as the photos of the dead flowers would play into the stereotype of living with a single dad, which a reader would recognise and be able to understand more. Editing was the same as above however I plan on maybe photoshopping my mum into one of these images as if she’s a ghost.
To what extent can we trust documentary photography to tell the truth about reality in Sian Daveys Work and Maja Daniels?Introduction:
"Reality, witness and point of view can actually blend into one another." (Bright, S. and Van Erp, H. 2019:18)
The quote above displays how all these factors can be completely separate from each other, a point of view from one side of a story can alter the true reality of an event, however, can align as well. Documentative photography has been around since photography began. It’s used to chronicle events and environments that are significant to everyday life, history and historical events. Documentary photographs aren’t just produced by professionals; family photo albums and phone albums can provide an insight from the everyday to the historical world of an individual. Whether it’s a photo taken of someone blowing out the candles on their birthday cake, or the fireworks on bonfire night. However, although those images are captured in a moment, often candid, how do we really know that the photographs aren’t staged? After practitioners established photography as an art form, there was “a need to define which images were based on ‘objective’ reality (documentary) and which were instead the creations of an artist’s ‘subjective’ sensibility (art)” (Rosler 2003; Sekula 1982; Soloman-Godeau 1991b; Walker 2002: 21-21).
For my project I will be focusing and capturing my identical twin sisters. There is a cultural fascination with twins, people are confused by their striking symmetrical features and their unearthly connection towards each other. Many claim to know what each other are thinking and feeling and their undeniable bond creates curiosity towards the uniqueness that surround the ideology of twins. As their older sister, I know my sisters extremely well as we also have a close bond, however, I recognize that I could never have a bond like Phoebe and Scarlett’s. Although we sometimes describe them having a love-hate relationship, they are each other's best friend and always seem to know what the other is thinking and feeling. They have deep empathy for each other rooted in them and always defend each other, even if someone is only joking about the other, they will always back each other's corner. They often tend to copy each other when the other twin does something. For example, Scarlett cut her long hair to shoulder length and the next week Phoebe cut her hair to shoulder length as well. They also have extremely similar grades and are in the same classes as they both have the same intellectual ability. Guang Guo discusses how researchers believe that the reason identical twins have do similar actions is because of their genes. “If a physical or behavioral trait, like hair color or success at math, is shared more often by identical twins than by fraternal twins, researchers reason, genes must have played a role in developing the trait.” (Guang Guo, 2005).
The artists I will be analysing will be Sian Davey and Maja Daniels. They both do capture twins, Daniels having a whole project on Mady and Monette: twins who both work together and dress the same. Davey’s work doesn’t feature around twins, but her stepdaughter Martha is friends with twins, and they do feature in Davey’s work, in particular, her project Martha. Both of the artists can be viewed as documentative photographers, although, because of the similarities between Mady and Monette, Daniel’s work looks more staged, whilst Davey’s work looks more naturalistic and candid. I will discuss the extend of reality portrayed in both of the artists work and the difficulties to truly believe they are authentically documentative.
Historical Context:
I will be incorporating both realist and pictorialist photography into my project.
Postmodernism can be seen as a reaction against the ideas and values of modernism, as well as a description of the period that followed modernism's dominance in cultural theory and practice in the early and middle decades of the twentieth century. The term is associated with skepticism, irony and philosophical critiques of the concepts of universal truths and objective reality. Postmodern art questions the notion of authenticity and embraces 'hybridity’, blurring the lines between high art and popular culture. Postmodern photographers are particularly interested in the selective, constructed nature of the photograph.
Realism is not so much a style, but rather one of its fundamental qualities. From its beginnings in the 1830s and 40s, photographers and viewers of photography marveled at photography’s ability to capture an imprint of nature. Photography’s capacity to depict people, objects and places realistically made it suitable for trying to record and document individual likenesses, scientific discoveries and foreign places – concerns that were of particular interest for 19th-century Europeans.
The time period for pictorialism was the 1880’s – 1920’s. Pictorialism is an approach to photography that emphasizes the beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. I would describe pictorialist photographs to be very dreamy and reminds me of fairy tales. They focus on the dream world and oppose documentative photographs. They tend to focus on nature; however, they do also feature cityscapes. They also tend to have fog or low clouds which gives it a dream like effect. Reacting to the widespread commercial and domestic uses of photography for recording people, events and places, pictorialist photographers sought to evoke emotional sensations and states of mind. They depicted commonplace scenes in ways that suggested psychological and spiritual meanings.
Modernism began in the late 19th century and lasted to about the mid 20th century. Industrial revolution kicked off modernism as machines were being standardised for production in factories. The industrial revolution started in 1760 and continue onwards. Modernism was a broad movement encompassing all the avant-garde isms of the first half of the 20th century. Although different modernisms were often incompatible (and occasionally antagonistic) they all rejected the dominance of older movements such as Classicism, Naturalism, and Academicism in favor of new experimental ways of producing art. Early modernity is characterized intellectually by a belief that science could save the world and that, through reason, a foundation of universal truths could be established. The common trend was to seek answers to fundamental questions about the nature of art and human experience. Modernity imbue all aspects of society and are apparent in its cultural forms including fiction, architecture, painting, popular culture, photography.
Artist 1: Sian Davey
Artists that I am interested in are Sian Davey, in particular, her project on her stepdaughter 'Martha' and her other book “Looking for Alice” which focuses on the life of her daughter who has down syndrome. Davey's is able to capture the lives of both Martha and her friends who are transitioning from child to adult. Davey's also captures a set of twins who are Martha's friends. Davey tends to use a documentative approach to her photography, capturing the natural essence of Martha's development in life. Although they look very similar due to them being identical, the audience are able to distinguish that they do have some different characteristics e.g. their different hairstyles and clothing choices. I want to study Davey's work in particular because of her approach to photographing the teenagers, she isn't trying to sugar coat or emphasize their actions, but just want to capture what they do together and how they interact with each other.
The image below is from Davey's book "Martha". It is called "Twins". It features one of the twins staring directly into the lens and the other gazing down. The audience may have to question Davey's image and whether it truly tells the truth about the reality of the scenario that is occuring. Is Davey, truly capturing the essence of reality? Did the twin happen to glance up at the camera or did Davey direct and stage the photograph? Just because an image looks candid and authentic doesn't mean that is the true reality.
In response to Davey’s image “Twins” I wanted to capture my sisters in a different location but doing similar things. Both the twins in Davey’s photo and mine are looking in different directions and are in beach/swim attire: Davey’s twins feature one in a surf brand jumper and the other in a bikini/bra. Whilst my sisters are in their bikini’s and one of them wearing a sarong. I also used natural lighting in my photos but wanted to make my photo a bit lighter to replicate the airy and beachy aptmosphere that was there when the photo was being taken.
The difference between the subjects of our photos is that in Davey's photo, one of the twins is staring into the lens, meaning she is aware the photo is being taken, whereas my sisters were unaware that the photo was being taken, making the image candid and authentic to being documentative. The truth behind the reality of the photos can be questioned as both Davey or mysef could've directed our subjects to act and present themselves in a certain way, however, the natural looks to the images can infer to the audience that you can trust the documentative images produced and that they are portraying a true reality.
Artist 2: Maja Daniels
When Daniels discusses first talking to the twins she talks about “When I finally approached them I found out that they had long stopped celebrating their birthdays and that they defy any pre-conceived notions related to growing old. I then thought that the twins could make an interesting project that could somehow comment on questions regarding ageing in today’s society a bit differently.” Daniels work can be seen as unique as there aren’t many photographers who capture adult twins. There is a fixation on identical twins, particularly when they are children, maybe because as they get older many grow out of wanting to look similar and want to lead their own lives.
Although Daniels is capturing and documenting the lives of Mady and Monette and what they do, the truth about reality can also be questionable. In the image below, both the twins are aware of the camera presence due to their stare into the camera. Although the truth is that Mady and Monette are identical twins, Daniels credibility can be doubted with the twins' dresscode: matching. Just because Daniels claims that the twins choose to dress identically doesn't mean that it is true. The audience would have to ask Parisians who either personally know Mady and Monette or who see them often whether it is their personal choice to present themselves in their particular style, or whether Daniels has been able to construct a narrative and persona for the twins.
Daniels uses natural lighting in the image below and the colour palette of the photograph is very similar. It can also lead the audience to question whether the scene itself is constructed due to the perfect coordination with the clothing colour to the walls, or their bright red hair to match the scooter. Although Daniels is capturing the twins out on a walk and although she is not taking the images deliberately in a studio, the truth behinf the reality of her images can be questionable to whether she is truly and authentically documenting the twins or whether she is planning her shoots and directing what is happening.
The image below is my photographic response to Daniels work. Although I documented my twin sisters in the sandunes, both playing and then sunbathing (what they're doing below) I directed the images and ensured I got the shots I wanted. For example, I ensured that theyboth would wear identical outfits and wear their hair the same to enhance the similarities between them. I decided to go for an earthy tone with the image, with the fresh white to juxtapose the tone. After Phoebe and Scarlett started to sit down, I ensured that their faces were looking up in a similar direction and that they both have a similar facial expression. Although I am documenting what the girls are doing, I am constructing a reality and manipulating the truth behind the image.
Although Daniels work can be viewed as truthful and just happens to document the twins at the right places at the right time, I wanted to deliberately display that the truth behind the reality of an image can be confusing and misleading.
Conclusion
In conclusion, documentative photographers, such as Maja Daniels and Sian Davey will be documenting a reality. However, there is a grey area to how truthful and authentic the images are, and whether a narrative and reality is being deliberately and misleadingly constructed.
Both Davey and Daniels manage to capture a set of identical twins, their methods and subjects juxtapose eachother. Mady and Monette are portrayed as extremely similar in Daniels work due to the matching outfits, hair and the way they present themselves. As they are older they do tend to wear makeup and manipulate themselves to how they want to be portrayed in their reality. Whereas Davey's work has a more natural approach where the twins similarities aren't forced upon the audience, the girls are dressed differently are are doing different actions.
Both of the artists are documentin the realities of the twins in their images, the realities the artists portray are extremely different. Davey portrays them more as individuals whereas Daniels tends to enforce the similarities between the twins and treat them as almost a collective. I took inspiration from both of the artists and I believe I managed to portray a truthful reality of my twin sisters, they are individuals and are unique in their own right, but there are also extreme similarities between themselves and they can act as a collective.
Bibliography
- Bright, S. and Van Erp, h, (2019), Photography Decoded, London: Octopus Publishing House
- Stephen Bull, (2010), Photography, Oxon, Routledge
- James Cartwright, (2012), Photographer Maja Daniels' wonderful Monette and Mady series explores our fascination with twins, viewed 07/03/2020 https://www.itsnicethat.com/articles/maja-daniels
- Guang Guo, (2005), Twin Studies: What can they tell us about nature and nurture?, viewed 07/03/2020 https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1525/ctx.2005.4.3.43
1 full A3 print, 1 cropped A3 print, 2 A5 prints, 1 A4 printSingle A5 print mounted on black card
Prints Evaluation:
Overall I am happy with the way my final prints turned out as I feel they create a similar atmosphere and emotion to my book, tackling the same issues in a smaller and more condensed package. Rather than put pictures together to create a specific a specific story, I wanted my print work on the foam board to be up for interpretation, and for people to assign their own emotions and feelings to it. In contrast to this, I had a very specific idea around having one of my self-portraits on a lone piece of black card, to show the isolation and loneliness that comes along with mental illness; showing not only isolation, but feeling surrounded by darkness with no clear way out.
Overall I am satisfied with the way my project came out and following the theme of “Occupation vs Liberation” it gave me many choices in terms of what to focus on for my personal study. However considering this was a personal study I gathered I would do something involving my family as then I know it would be something I could look back on in a few years time that would hold value. As my parents are both Portuguese and lived in Madeira growing up the concept of occupation didn’t quite fit with the idea that I wanted to do. Eventually I decided to have my own take on the idea of liberation. My parents divorce was a way they got liberated from each other. This was something that was personal to me and was something that forced me to be centre of all the problems. In a way I would say I was being occupied into a situation I didn’t chose to be in. However, this gave me a direction with how I wanted to develop my personal study.
Many edits went well and turned out great. However,my problem with exploring and documenting their divorce was the lack of images I was hoping I was going to be able to gather. I looked through old cameras and laptops and photo albums but couldn’t find many images of my parents together. As they rarely ever speak now a days I knew I wasn’t going to be able to gather new images from so I just had to play around with what I had. The part of this project that I found more challenging was how to actually put all these photos together in order for it to tell the narrative but without any written elements.
These are the photographers that inspired me to look at family especially relationships and breakups.
From this study I have been able to step outside my comfort zone and experiment with techniques that I wouldn’t normally use. I have done research that has helped me find inspirations from the works of photographers such as Mathew Finn and Diana Markosian. Using photographers like them I managed to create a question steer for my essay and allowed my research to gain a deeper meaning. I watched several videos and read loads of articles in order to back what I was saying and allow me to view things from other peoples perspectives. Overall, I am happy with the way my book came out and with the way I conducted research and produced my experiments. For my exam title I am going to try and broden my options in terms of what to photograph and how I’m going to gather my primary source.
I am really happy with the outcome of my mounted photos as I think I was able to capture intimacy quite well. I also believe that I could’ve mounted them a bit better but I’m still overall happy with how they look.
Overall I am pleased with the out come of my project based on the topic of ‘Occupation and Liberation’, luckily when given the topic it allowed for a wide choice of options and therefore a variety of pathways that I could elaborate on and develop my ideas around. When beginning this project is was important to base my project around something that I am passionate about and show an interest in; therefore I chose the liberation part of the title and selecting dancing as an area to investigate in terms of the idea of developing the idea of feeling liberated. Initially I thought it would be difficult to produce a number of decent photoshoot that would help aid the overall narrative of my project, however when creating and brain storming I managed to form five photoshoots. On the other hand, although I produced enough images the overall quality I was not pleased with as I felt I could have produced and developed more creative ideas and responses providing a more intricate narrative. Initially I was going to focus the project on myself however I knew I would begin to struggle to grasp a large amount of images this is where I came up with the idea of using other dancers to project my own story; this would allow for a different point of view and understanding. I ended up using three different dancers who each had a different type of opinion on why they dance and what dance means to them ; this helped create a contextual and conceptual point for my project. In terms of the type of style my book follows it ahas a documentary style as it follows the development and growth of three dancers as well as the narrative that comes along with it.
In addition, the five photoshoot produced fair photos however I believe there to be room for improvement and to develop my initial concepts and ideas. All my photos are in a variety of filter, black and white as well as some colour images, to me this helps aid the narrative. I had Healy edited my images inspired by Gjon Mili to help show the idea of a whole movement in one image. However to improve next time I would add more photoshoots which would allow more photo options for editing. The project itself has shown me how to fully express different types of emotions through photography and how this can help show the narrative and documentary style through the portal of emotions. It has allowed me to understand and develop my passion for dancing. For my final outcomes, the image display on my framing boards were in three, as I used three dancers so each image would be representative of each individual; overall I was happy with my display. To conclude, for my book final I was happy with the display and the narrative that it told, however if I was to redo my project I would produce more creative photoshoot that would elaborate my points and create amore abstract appearance and conceptual understanding. Furthermore, through producing and writing my essay it helped me understand Gjon Mili’s work even more therefore letting me develop and edit my final images with a more overall complete understadning.
For my shoot I went to St Ouens to the sand dunes. I used the daylight as my natural light. I dressed my sisters in the same outfit as I wanted to make them look as similar as possible. The aim of this shoot was to reflect the similarity between my twin sisters and how people view them as a collective rather than individuals.
Manipulated Images
I manipulated my images using Adobe Lightroom. I adjusted the brightness, contrast, white balance and clarity. I liked how these photos turned out and I think that the natural lighting and lightness of the surroundings helped make the images very beautiful and natural looking.
