DEADLINE: Essay MUST be handed in Fri 29 Jan 2021

ESSAY: In the Spring term will be spending 1 lesson a week every Wednesday on writing and developing your essay. However, you will need to be working it independently outside of lesson time.

Objective: Criteria from the Syllabus

• Be aware of some of the methods employed by critics and historians within the history of art and photography.
• Demonstrate a sound understanding of your chosen area of study with appropriate use of critical vocabulary. – use for image analysis
• Investigate a wide range of work and sources
• Develop a personal and critical inquiry.

Academic Sources:

• Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video .
• Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
• It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
• Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages
• Write down page number, author, year, title, publisher, place of publication so you can list source in a bibliography

Quotation and Referencing:

Why should you reference?

• To add academic support for your work
• To support or disprove your argument
• To show evidence of reading
• To help readers locate your sources
• To show respect for other people’s work
• To avoid plagiarism
• To achieve higher marks

What should you reference?

• Anything that is based on a piece of information or idea that is not entirely your own.
• That includes, direct quotes, paraphrasing or summarising of an idea, theory or concept, definitions, images, tables, graphs, maps or anything else obtained from a source

How should you reference?

Use Harvard System of Referencing…see Powerpoint: harvard system of referencing for further details on how to use it.

https://vimeo.com/223710862

Here is an full guide on how to use Harvard System of Referencing including online sources, such as websites etc.

TUE: Essay Question

• Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
• Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students

In what way does Nick Hedges portray a sense of state discrimination and hopelessness through his monochromatic imagery?

To what extent can we trust documentary photography to tell the truth about reality?

How does Jeff Wal’s Tableaux approach depict a seemingly photojournalistic approach?

Compare how Cindy Sherman and Phoebe Jane Barrett challenge gender stereotypes.

How can something that doesn’t physically exist be represented through photography?

To what extent does Surrealism create an unconscious representation of one’s inner conflicts of identity and belonging? 

How does Carolle Benitah and Claudia Ruiz Gustafson explore their past as a method of understanding identity?

How has children’s stories and literature influenced the work of Anna Gaskell and Julia Margaret Cameron?

How do Diana Markosian and Rita Puig-Serra Costa express the notion of family history and relationships in their work?

How does the work of Darren Harvey-Regan explore abstraction as an intention and process?

Essay Plan:

Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure.

• Essay question:
• Opening quote
• 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?
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography, visual and popular culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Essay question: Hypothesis

Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions

Here is a list of  possible questions to investigate that may help you.

Opening quote: Choose a quote from either one of your photographers or critics. It has to be something that relates to your investigation

ESSAY STRUCTURE

See below for a possible essay structure. Further help can be found here essay structure or see link here The Royal Literay Fund

Introduction (250-500 words). Think about an opening that will draw your reader in e.g. you can use an opening quote that sets the scene. You should include in your introduction an outline of your intention of your study e.g. what and who are you going to investigate. How does this area/ work interest you? What are you trying to prove/challenge, argument/ counter-argument? What historical or theoretical context is the work situated within. Include 1 or 2 quotes for or against. What links are there with your previous studies? What have you explored so far in your Coursework or what are you going to photograph? How did or will your work develop. What camera skills, techniques or digital processes in Photoshop have or are you going to experiment with?

Paragraph 1 Structure (500 words) : Use subheading. This paragraph covers the first thing you said in your introduction that you would address. The first sentence introduces the main idea of the paragraph. Other sentences develop the subject of the paragraph.

Content: you could look at the following…exemplify your hypothesis within a historical and theoretical context.  Write about how your area of study and own work is linked to a specific art movement/ ism. Research and read key text and articles from critics, historians and artists associated with the movement/ism. Use quotes from sources to make a point, back it up with evidence or an example (a photograph), explain how the image supports the point made or how your interpretation of the work may disapprove. How does the photograph compare or contrast with others made by the same photographer, or to other images made in the same period or of the same genre by other artists. How does the photograph relate to visual representation in general, and in particularly to the history and theory of photography, arts and culture.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

See link to powerpoints: Pictorialism vs Realism and Modernism vs Postmodernism here

Paragraph 2 Structure (500 words) : Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following...Introduce your first photographer. Select key images, ideas or concepts and analyse in-depth using specific model of analysis (describe, interpret and evaluate) – refer to your hypothesis. Contextualise…what was going on in the world at the time; artistically, politically, socially, culturally. Other influences…artists, teachers, mentors etc. Personal situations or circumstances…describe key events in the artist’s life that may have influenced the work. Include examples of your own photographs, experiments or early responses and analyse, relate and link to the above. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

Paragraph 3 Structure (500 words) : Use subheading. In the first sentence or opening sentences, link the paragraph to the previous paragraph, then introduce the main idea of the new paragraph. Other sentences develop the paragraphs subject (use relevant examples, quotations, visuals to illustrate your analysis, thoughts etc)

Content: you could look at the following…Introduce key works, ideas or concepts from your second photographer and analyse in-depth – refer to your hypothesis…Use questions in Pg 2 or add…What information has been selected by the photographer and what do you find interesting in the photograph? What do we know about the photograph’s subject? Does the photograph have an emotional or physical impact? What did the photographer intend? How has the image been used? What are the links or connections to the other photographer in Pg 2? Include examples of your own photographs and experiments as your work develop in response to the above and analyse, compare, contrast etc. Set the scene for next paragraph.

Include relevant examples, illustrations, details, quotations, and references showing evidence of reading, knowledge and understanding of history, theory and context!

Conclusion (500 words) : Write a conclusion of your essay that also includes an evaluation of your final photographic responses and experiments.

List the key points from your investigation and analysis of the photographer(s) work – refer to your hypothesis. Can you prove or Disprove your theory – include final quote(s). Has anything been left unanswered?  Do not make it a tribute! Do not introduce new material! Summarise what you have learned. How have you been influenced? Show how you have selected your final outcomes including an evaluation and how your work changed and developed alongside your investigation.

Bibliography: List all the sources that you used and only those that you have cited in your text. Where there are two or more works by one author in the same year distinguish them as 1988a, 1988b etc. Arrange literature in alphabetical order by author, or where no author is named, by the name of the museum or other organisation which produced the text. Apart from listing literature you must also list all other sources in alphabetical order e.g. websites, exhibitions, Youtube/TV/ Videos / DVD/ Music etc.

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PICTORIALISM

time period : 1880-1920
Key characteristics/ conventions : photography was seen as a science, and photographers tried to make their photographs resemble art. they did this by manipulating the images in the dark room by doing things such as scratching on the negatives.
Artists associated: JMW Turner, Paola Veronase, John Everette Millias, Julia Maragret Cameron, Heinrich Kuhn, Hugo Henneburg, Hans Watcek and Sally Mann.
Key works:

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REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period: 1940
Key characteristics/ conventions : to provide an accurate representation of the real world. these images were made to look more like photographs than art.
Artists associated: Walter Evans, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Dorothea Lange, Lewis W Hine, and Jacob Riis
Key works:

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MODERNISM

Time period: 1900-1940
Key characteristics/ conventions : Early modernity is characterised intellectually by a belief that science could save the world and that, through reason, a foundation of universal truths could be established. Photography is a modern form of image making, contributing to the development
of modernism.
Artists associated: Ansel Adams, Eadweard J. Muybridge, Margareth Bourke-White, Alexander Rodchenko, El Lissitzky, Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Salvatore Dali, Man Ray, Maurice Tabard, and Claude Cahun
Key works:

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POST-MODERNISM

Time period: late 20th century
Key characteristics/ conventions : Architects took the lead in the development of postmodernism. They criticised the international style of modernist architecture for being too formal, austere and functional. . In photography this was the direct challenge to the ideal of fine art photography whose values were established on an anti-commercial stance.
Artists associated: Barbara Krüger, Corrine Day, Sam Taylor-Wood, Cindy Sherman, Tom Hunter, Jeff Wall, Hannah Starkey and Anna Gaskell
Key works:

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Smith made his photography debut with ‘Artist Rifles’ a series of photos of fake war scenarios created by his own experience in the army.

‘Artist Rifles was to become the first chapter in Paul’s interrogation of the many-headed beast that is masculinity, of what it means to be a man. The most immediate subject of this enquiry was naturally to confront his own reasoning for joining the army.’

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The cloning of the protagonist creates a appropriate metaphor for the army’s effect on an individuals identity and creating group identities (Brothers in Arms) This duplication of himself is a very effective method to emphasize the struggles of male identity, fitting in and belonging to a group / community.

Smith has used this technique multiple times after his Artist Rifles project with himself and others. for example his advertising campaign with Robin Williams or his second self protrait project ‘Make My Night’

‘Make My Night’ follows a group of lads on a night out consisting of good laughs, pranks, fights, drinking and, inevitably, the rough morning after. ‘ As before, he becomes the anonymous everyman but this time is more overtly the narrator as well as the protagonist of a frequently observed ritual.’

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My attempt at the repeated protagonist effect:

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Shoot Plan

WHAT: Take some images of his garage where he kept his mini highlighting details and his tools. Also the spare room where there are trophies and stuff he won. I want to capture the details around the house where he lived, and his my Nan who still lives there.

WHERE/WHEN: In my Nan’s house and in her garage. During the day so I can use natural light in the house to take the photos.

EQUIPMENT: I am going to use my Sony A73 with my 35mm lens to get the wider interior shots of the house and of my Nan. For the details I will use either the 50mm or the 70-200mm zoom lens to really isolate the the details I am capturing. I want to use window light for most the interior shots of the house and not use the ceiling lights as they are a different colour and make the photos look really dingy and colour contrast with the cool window light. For areas where more light is needed and definately in the garage I will set up my SL60W light with a softbox. I will put it off to the side of the work bench and point it down onto the desk as this will cause some nice shadows.

Initial Shoot – Test

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I took these initial images as I was already visiting my Nan’s house. I wanted to see what the lighting is like just from the ceiling lights. I wanted the chance to edit these images first and see whether I need to bring a light when I do the proper shoot. I am happy with these imaged but I think they are lacking contrast which I can get from using an artificial light.

Edited Images

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I am happy with the outcomes of these images, I didn’t want to completely change the images but rather enhance the old look and make them look aged.

Edit Process

PICTORIALISM

Time period:

Late 19th and early 20th Century (1880’s – 1920’s)

Key characteristics/ conventions:

Trying to make photography a handmade proccess. The idea was to make the photos look like art or painting. ‘Fixing an Image’.

Artists associated:

Peter Henry Emerson, Heinrich Kuhn, Hans Watcek, Hugo Henneberg,(Vienna Camera Club) Joseph Gale.

Key works:

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Methods/ techniques/ processes: Vaseline on the lenses to make the image soft so it looks less like a photograph, scratching the negatives to look like brushstrokes.

REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period:

‘1910’s – 1940’s’

Key characteristics/ conventions:

Go back to the qualities of photography as it recreates accurate and sharp images. They wanted to take photos of what they actually saw. They took things the way they were and not manipulated in the darkroom. Trying to emphasise and focus on shape. The art came from the skill of the photographer

Artists associated:

Paul Strand transitioned into and pioneered straight photography. Walker Evans, Ansel Adams. Group f.64 – A group that were interested in capturing the amazing natural landscapes.

Key works:

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Methods/ techniques/ processes:

Photographers interested in the genre of straight photography would use a very small aperture to get everything in focus. A group was formed called group f.64. This represents the smallest aperture a large format camera can go to on the lens. This became a trademark and a common feature of photographers like Paul Strand and Ansel Adams

PICTORIALISM

Time period : 1880s-1920s

Key characteristics/ conventions :

New set of aesthetics to re-associate photography with art – Allegory style, dream world and spiritual ideas, with romantic ideals

Artists associated:

Abelardo Morell – modern contemporary. Uses old keyhole method to project outside scenes into rooms, no other interference so the light projects the image upside down. lengthy process

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The Vienna Camera Club (Austria)

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Photo-succession group – founded by Alfred Stieglitz

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The brotherhood of the linked ring.

Key works:

Alfred Stieglitz – New York in 1890 promoted idea that photography was a medium as capable of artistic expression as painting or sculpture, created photo succession group (important group in solidifying the pictorialist movement) Alfred used compositional choices and use of natural elements like rain, snow, and steam to unify components of a scene into a visually pleasing pictorial whole.

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Julia Michael Cameron – pre-Raphaelite style, fairy light, unfocused. Creates angelic scenes with woman, white clothing and soft finish to present innocence.

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Emerson’s Naturalistic Photography – promoted photography as art rather than science, natural and aesthetic depictions of (famously) wheat workers workers

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Methods/ techniques/ processes: Vaseline on lenses to have foggy smudged affect, and chemicals or scratches on developing negatives. Made the images look like paintings, with depth and sketchiness through human interaction, not just the mechanical use of the camera .

REALISM / STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY

Time period: 1915

Key characteristics/ conventions : sharp shapes, realistic and clear view of reality, play with shadows. art made in initial framing not in post. Edward Western, Walker Evans.

Artists associated: paul strand creator. Edward Western, Walker Evans – wall street crash 1929 economic depression of workers.

Key works:

Methods/ techniques/ processes:

TIME PERIOD-

Pictorialism was strongest between 1885 to 1915. It emerged as a response to the growth of amateur photography and the commercialism of photography due to the rise of Kodak’s more affordable handheld cameras. It criticised the wider use of the “point-and-shoot” method that rose as a result, believing it to undermine the more traditional craftsman-like role of the photographer.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS-

Its main purpose was to classify photography as an art form and separate it from the type of photography used for scientific or documentary purposes. It focused on “the beauty of subject matter and the perfection of composition rather than the documentation of the world as it is.” Often the results are dreamlike, romaticised, idyllic, and make references to classical paintings.

KEY WORKS-

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ARTISTS ASSOCIATED-

• Henry Peach Robinson: gave pictorialism its name in his book “Pictorial Effect in Photography” (1869)
• Alfred Stieglitz: American artist who gathered a group of artists to promote photography as an art-form, called the “Photo-Secession” group
• Clarence H White: teacher and leading pictorialist, created elegant and natural portraits of his friends and family, established the Clarence H White school of photography in 1914- the first educational institution to teach photography as an art-form
• Alvin Langdon Coburn: experimentalist photographer, inspired by Japanese ink paintings, the first photographer to take completely abstract images
• Julia Margaret Cameron: mid-19th century photographer, possibly one of the first to use photography as a fine art, overall a very important contributor to early pictorialism

MORE KEY WORKS-

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METHODS/TECHNIQUES/PROCESSES-

In the dark room development stage the images were often tampered with to imitate other, more accepted work of art, like paintings, using different solutions or pigments to mimic brushstrokes, or leaving them to over-develop or under-develop for a chiaroscuro effect. Pictorialists also often experimented with different paper types and chemical processes to create different effects, a few of which are described below:

• cyanotype: resulted in deep blue tones and made by covering the photographic paper with light-sensitive iron salts
• gum bichromate: made by coating the paper in gum arabic, potassium bichromate, and one of the artist’s chosen pigments, then leaving it to develop in the light; this was one of pictorialists’ favourite techniques
• platinum print: a two step process, this starts by exposing paper sensitized with iron salts to a negative, then chemically developing it and replacing the iron salts with platinum, allowing for a wide range of tones
• carbon print: made by coating tissue paper with potassium bichromate, carbon black pigment, and gelatin; provides great detail and so became one of the most commercially-available development methods

LINKS/SOURCES-

http://www.visual-arts-cork.com/photography/pictorialism.htm

https://www.widewalls.ch/magazine/pictorialism-photography-pictorialist-photographers

https://www.theartstory.org/movement/pictorialism/

William Crawford- “The Keepers of Light, A History & Working Guide to Early Photographic Processes” (p85-95)

What is the deadpan aesthetic?

First appearing in 1927, the term ‘deadpan’ was coined by the New York Times magazine to describe the work of Buster Keaton, an American actor, comedian, film director, producer, screenwriter, and stunt performer.

A deadpan photograph is often described as being ‘devoid of emotion’, which is prevalent in the Keaton’s work. A deadpan image is considered to be seemingly empty, existing merely as a subject and photograph. There is a clear lack of joy, sorrow or any other emotion on the subject’s face and the deadpan is often considered a mood of its own. The aesthetic of deadpan is that the photographer is entirely detached from the subject being photographed, the subject is indifferent and the image produced is objective.

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The visual language of the deadpan
aesthetics is mainly built on the absence of a photographer’s emotional input.

THEORETICAL AND PHILOSOPHICAL BASIS OF
THE DEADPAN AESTHETICS
Peter Lančarič

Modern deadpan photography can be seen in the works of photographers such as Rineke Dijkstra and Alec sloth, whose images are highly engaging yet seemingly disengaged with the subjects.

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Soth’s photography consists of a mix of still lifes, portraits and landscapes, presenting the world in a completely unbiased way. His images have “a sense of distance is so tangible you can almost feel it” according to a New York Film Academy article in 2014. The portraits Soth produces show, in full, real people who have real stories and hobbies and so forth, yet his images are completely objective and present them no further as a body and a face. What you see is what you get; his subjects are not posed or dressed for the shoot and are presented as honestly and as accurately as possible. They are presented as though this is how they would appear if you were to walk up to them in real life.

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The detached and unemotional style of deadpan photography is rooted in the development of the ‘New Objectivity’ (Neue Sachlichkeit) movement of the 1920s. This style was pushed forward in the 1970s by Bernd and Hilla Becher, who photographed large water tanks and other industrial landscape features in a formal manner and producing high quality objective images and typologies.

Thomas Ruff

He captures perfectly the identity issues that his generation may have faced following WWII. Despite having no direct involvement or responsibility for the carnage of the war, the topic is still conflicting for each of the subjects- Should they, or should they not, feel guilty for the war crimes committed by their country?

Incorporating this into my project:

For the portrait sections of my photo-book, I’m aiming to incorporate the deadpan aesthetic into my images. These photos will introduce all of my subjects objectively, with no insight into their personality, character flaws or narratives within their lives. The portraits will be juxtaposed by still life images of objects that are often considered taboo. This will create a strong contrast between the ordinary and regular nature of the portraits and the negative connotations surrounding the objects, which could not have been achieved if the portraits presented the use of these objects or showed the emotions of my subjects. Placing these two types of images together also begins to create a narrative of it’s own, making the viewer question why each object is significant to the subject beside.

I’m also considering photographing the body parts of my subjects and juxtaposing this with the still-life shots. Photgraphing scars, tattoos and other distinguishing features ads depth to the narrative and gives an insight into the types of people presented throughout the book.