My first photoshoot focuses on the headshot portraits and half-body shot portraits. I used studio lighting to make the images more dramatic, and to easily light up the face.
Once putting the images into Lightroom, I used the flag method to see which images I prefer over the others at first glance, and which of those I did not want to use. I rejected the images where the lighting is too dark as well as the images with poses or facial expressions I didn’t think represented my ideas for the photoshoot as well.
I then used the star rating method and the colour rating method to decide which, out of my favourite images were the ones I wanted to further develop in the editing processes. I decided on 9 photographs which were both taken in landscape and portrait.
Once choosing my most successful images, I used a repeated editing process for the images to look uniform in black and white, with a slight yellow hue to them to create a vintage and weathered look to the images.
Zine (short for magazine/fanzine) is a self published type of print media which expedites the process for young amateur creatives to spread their work and gain traction. The format begin in 1940 with the publication of a science fiction fanzine by Russ Chauvenent but is perhaps most recognised for its ability to spread political opinion and the phenomenon of 3rd wave feminism, seen specifically in the feminism subgroup of the riot grrrl movement in the early 1990s.
The punk-rock girls group bikini kill published their second zine which included their riot grrrl manifesto which established the aggressive, confident feminist movement which eventually inspired prominant groups such as the spice girls with their iconic slogan of girl power being directly influenced by the trend.
For my own zine I chose to explore the topic of identity and culture focusing through the lens of food and how it brings together families.
Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer and satirist
Martin Parr’s photography is renowned for providing exciting insights into culture and identity, presenting a nostalgic view of working class Britain. Despite being shot over a period of half a century, his collections of photographs all evoke similar sentiments and feelings of reminiscence with a quintessentially British lens that perfectly encapsulates beach culture.
In my zine I imitate Parr’s use of closeups to place an emphasis on the food and establish a connection between the people and the importance of this particular dish in their culture. Having lived on an island for most of my life, seafood is very important to my own culture as it is a widely available resource. Having seafood suppers at my grandparents house is very nostalgic to me a stirs up images of my childhood. Eating seafood connects me to my family as my grandmother tells stories of when she was young and would fish for ormers in st ouen. Parr, who visited Jersey in 2013 to chronicle that years liberation day would surely be familiar with jersey culture after observing the most culturally important day on the islands calendar
Here are the raw images from my second staged photo shoot:
Editing
Sticking with the style of Paul M Smith, I am going to edit these images to be slightly under and over exposed in certain areas and a washed grainy look to resemble film photography.
Again I took multiple photographs of the same frame with the same subject in multiple different positions in the shot.
Firstly, I selected the images I wish to use in the final edit. With this final image I wanted to have the subject in the frame five times, so I needed to select five images that work together when layering them. Here are the images I chose to use:
After I selected these images I layered them together and blended them in a way that looks most natural and not out of place. This required more blending and layers than the first shoot as more raw images were used:
After this I exported this image and put I into Adobe Lightroom. Here I edited the image so that the shadows were lightened and the exposure was increased. I also added grain and texture to the image as well as a slightly warm hue similar to my first tableaux shoot to resemble that of a film camera:
How can photography explore identity between documentary and tableaux?
‘never judge a book by its cover’
I would like to explore the topic of identity, broadly as a whole, as well as how people can have multiple identities. The direction i would like to go with this is mainly Alone vs Social identity. I find this comparison interesting because of the contrast that can be created between the two through the actual contents of the image as well as how the image can be edited. Ideas like group photos with faces covered could show that they have a social identity as a group, but each individual has a separate identity and life of their own outside of that environment. I feel like this matters to me because it applies to me and my friends. We all have our own identities individually. But when we are together we have a group identity and show the social side of our identity, as well as our own personality and identity showing through too. I find that everyone has this contrast between their identity when they are by themselves and when they are with others, their personalities come together and show through the image, especially with friend groups, less with strangers. I think when people see the images created they will be able to relate to them, creating a deeper meaning and making the image more personal. I plan to have sets of multiple contrasting images of a person, perhaps at different points of their life, showing how they have changed and how they can be judged in a certain way because of their social situation. These images will be more thought-provoking, meaningful and perhaps metaphorical in their finished state. The main styles of photography I will use is formal portraiture and a more casual, candid style of portraiture, street and event photography, referred to as snapshots. These will include multiple subjects and mostly be ‘old-school’ and ‘vintage’ looking as if they were taken on a film camera. As well as these two contrasting styles, I will include images blending the two, with one subject alone, but in a social environment, showing that even though the person is in a social situation, they still have their individual identity. I will then edit these images to further bring out the meaning and emotion behind them. The photographer I will be exploring and analysing is Paul M Smith, specifically his project ‘Make My Night’ which examines ‘lad culture’ and herd mentality amongst young males but conceptualises it by using himself to act out all the individuals in the group.
I will also explore the work of Polish photographer Maciej Dakowicz, and his project called ‘Cardiff at Night’. This project explores the rowdy environment of Cardiff after dark. Maciej Dakowicz’s photographs are documentary images whereas Paul M Smith’s photographs are tableaux, creating an interesting comparison between the staged and ‘real’ images, but both heavily explore ideas of identity in similar ways.
Documentary Photography
In a nutshell, documentary photography doesn’t only have one specific meaning, it includes a range of photographical approaches. it may be similar to photojournalist and street photography, but will never include a staged or posed scene. Documentary photography is used to display what is really happening out in the world, to tell a story or document an event usually through a series of photographs. The reason for documentary photography is to show what life is like at the time the photograph was taken, to tell a story without altering the contents of the shot for a ‘better’ photograph. As well as this, it can be used personally too, to document your family history or to tell your own story.
Maciej Dakowicz uses documentary photography to display what life is really like in Cardiff at night. The term ‘documentary’ was originally used in a review of a film by Robert Flaherty in 1926, by John Grierson, a British film director. The context of this is he was describing how the film seemed true to what was real, showing what life is like without changing a thing for the camera. Soon after, the term ‘documentary’ was used in photography too starting with some photographers describing their work as ‘documents’. Photographer Eugene Atget was the first to describe their work as ‘simply documentation’ when talking about his images of Parisian streets in the early 20’th century and other photographs where the photographer was seeking social change.
The start of documentary photography is shown to be linked with the development of print photography in the 1920’s and 1930’s and mass press photo magazines and newspapers. These images used in the magazine and newspaper articles were the start of the contemporary photojournalism movement. These new photographers were reporters who bring back visual knowledge to tell a story or what is happening in the world.
Documentary photography includes a range of different photography styles, all used in different events and situations to put across the desired meaning and story by the photographer including reporting, street-photography and photojournalism. These could be used for institutions, mass media, fine art and science, as well as story telling and documenting personal experiences.
Tableau Photography
Paul M Smith
Paul M Smith was born in 1969 in England and is a British photographer and educator.
He studied fine art at Coventry University from 1991 to 1995. Whilst studying he explored the meaning and construction of masculinity, focusing on the ‘alpha male’ identities.
One of Paul Smiths projects which caught my eye was ‘Make My Night’. Here he displays his take on the male identity having a ‘laddish’ night out. he did this by merging many self portraits together and layering them to make it seem as though he appears multiple time in the frame.
Here Paul M Smith takes the role of ever character in the frame, he becomes the ‘anonymous everyman’. He has set up the camera in a singular position and taken multiple frames of himself in different positions, editing them to make it seem as if the characters are interacting with each other. This type of photography drew my attention because of its ‘in the moment’ quality. They appear ‘professionally unprofessional,’ in the sense that some aspects are fuzzy, out of focus, or over/underexposed. However, these ‘unprofessional’ qualities add character to the shot, making it one-of-a-kind and seem as if someone just took out a disposable camera to take a quick photo. These images show the hectic events of a ‘lads night out’ whilst keeping a personal feel. The photos seem similar to ones in a personal photo album, memories that have been captured in the spur of the moment with little thought.
Paul M Smith heavily explores the idea of identity through his work. He does this using multiple techniques that blend together to create a sense of group identity within the image. One technique he uses is POV framing. This is where the photograph is taken from the point of view as someone at the event, making the viewer feel more involved in what’s happening in the image as well as getting a better idea of the group identity being portrayed. Another method Paul M Smith uses is editing the contents of the image so that every character in the frame is the same person. This also creates a feeling of group identity within the image singe they are all interacting with each other. The actual contents of the images explores the rowdy and hectic stereotype of men on nights out, drinking and smoking etc.
Maciej Dakowicz
Maciej Dakowicz is a popular Polish Photographer. He is an official Fujifilm X-Photographer and a member of a street photography group called UP photographers. One of his projects is called Cardiff After Dark which is his first monograph. The project consists of photographs he took over the course of 6 years from 2005 to 2011 of the hectic atmosphere at night of Cardiff over the weekend.
The images are focused around pedestrians out in the streets of Cardiff, drinking and smoking.
Use this simplified list to check that you are on task. Every item on the list represents one piece of work = one blog post. It is your responsibility as an A-level student to make sure that you complete and publish appropriate blog posts each week. All tasks and learning resources are in the planners above.
WEEK 22: 28 Feb – 6 March 1a: PHOTOBOOK: Write a book specification; narrative, concept and design + moodboard of layout & design ideas 1b: FILM: Storyboarding; shot-by-shot sequence, narrative and mise-en-scene + moodboard of films and editing ideas. 2: RECORDING: Selection, editing, experimentation and evaluation of new photoshoots (one blog posts per shoot) 3: PLANNING: Evaluate current images made and produce new images/ photoshoots if needed.
Week 23: 7 – 13 March 1. NEWSPAPER SPREADS: Design 3-4 versions of a newspaper spreads based on images from both your current and previous projects.
You must design the following spreads:
FULL-BLEED: Select one image as a full-bleed spread.
JUXTAPOSITION: Select 2 images and experiment with different combinations.
SEQUENCE: Select a series of images (between 4 – 12) and produce a sequence either as a grid, story-board, contact-sheet or typology.
MONTAGE: Select an appropriate set of images and create a montage of layered images. You may to choose to work in Photoshop for more creativity and import into InDesign as one image (new document in Photoshop 400mm(h) x 280.5mm(w) in 300 dpi)
See blog post here for information and inspiration
WEEK 24: 14 – 20 March 1. PHOTOBOOK/ FILM: Continue to develop and show clear progression of your design/ editing process, including prints screens of layout with annotation (ongoing.) 2. PORTFOLIO: Review your folder and make sure you have a good selection of final outcomes incl: zine, NFT film + image, final prints, essay and photobook/ film.
Week 25: 21 – 27 March > Study Leave 1. BLOGPOSTS: Complete any outstanding blogposts as per tracking sheet 2. PLANNING & RECORDING: Final chance for making new images/ photoshoots.
Week 26: 28 March – 3 April 1. PHOTOBOOK/ FILM: Continue to work on photobook design/ film editing – make sure your document design/ editing process, including prints screens of layout with annotation (ongoing.) 2. PORTFOLIO: Review your folder and make sure you have a good selection of final outcomes incl: zine, NFT film + image, final prints, essay and photobook/ film. 3. FINAL PRINTS: Select 5-7 prints and consider presentation producing mock up in Photoshop and/or create virtual gallery.
Week 27: 4 – 8 April > MOCK EXAM 1a: PHOTOBOOK: Complete design and include essay in Blurb. 1b: FILM: Complete editing film, export and embed on blog. 2. PRESENTATON: Mount and present final images 3. EVALUATION: write an evaluation and create virtual gallery of final prints. 4. BLOGPOSTS: Review all blogposts and complete/ improve as per tracking sheet.
Mon 4 – Wed 6 April: Class 13B Thur 7 – Fri 8 April: Class 13C
DEADLINE: LAST DAY OF YOUR MOCK EXAM ALL CW: PHOTOBOOKS / FILM > PRINTS > BLOG POSTS
PHOTOBOOK: Write a book specification; narrative, concept and design + mood board of layout & design ideas.
NARRATIVE
Narrative is defined as ‘a spoken or written account of connected events; a story‘. The narrative of a book, film, or piece of art is an integral part of getting your audience to understand and empathise with the piece of work, and to bring out the intended emotions behind the piece. For my photobook, my narrative will not follow the traditional, linear route, but rather be a mix-match of images from various points in my life, such as old photographs of me when I was a child, to more recent images of me and my friends. My reasoning behind setting out my project this way is that most people consider their childhood to be a blur of memories all jumbled up together, with only a few defining moments that stand out to them. By doing this, I hope to allow members of my audience to relate and empathise with my project in a more personal way than if my photobook were a conventional, straightforward story about growing up.
DESIGN
For my project, I have taken inspiration from various artists who have published their own photobooks, such as Jim Goldberg (Raised By Wolves), Carolle Benitah (Photos Souvenirs), and Larry Clark (The Perfect Childhood). I was intrigued by the layout of these photobooks, especially Jim Goldberg’s Raised By Wolves, which includes old photographs and objects integrated between the new images of his subjects. In doing this, Goldberg allows his audience to empathise with his subjects in a more meaningful way. In my photobook, I will use different page layouts, such as some full-bleed pages where my image takes up the entire space.
How powerful a medium is family photography when looking at identity?
“Photographs state the innocence, the vulnerability of lives heading towards their own destruction”. Marianne Hirsch in Family Frames. Marianne Hirsch spoke about family photography and described how powerful the medium is when looking at family history. She explains how innocent photographs are and how vulnerable life is when looking at people who don’t know that they are heading towards the end of their lives. I want to look at how powerful and important photography is when looking into personal and familial identity. Photography immortalises people and keeps them alive in a single moment. I am going to study my family history because I believe learning about where I come from may bring my closer to my own heritage. I am going to speak to my grandmother who has kept family records, photos and documents and use them to create photomontages and recreations of the photos. The combination of recreating images and photomontages/ edits from different sides of my family will show the power of family and how I am influenced by the people who have come before me. I have chosen three artists who interest me in the way they take photos and portray meaning. Firstly, is Chris Porsz who is restaging old images of his family in the same location. Next is Christian Carollo who recreates the image whilst holding the image in the photo at the same place. The final artist I will look at Is Virginie Rebetz who made a photobook about the disappearance of someone’s daughter and is using images and documents from family archives to piece together a story about what happened to her, as a missing person investigation. There will be a few links to my previous projects in the methods in which I take photos. For example, I will utilize black and white with great tonal values creating drama, I will use photoshop to edit some photographs to portray a specific message (juxtaposition) and I will make retro like photos from images I take. All of which I have previously used to show my personal identity and have worked and been successful.
Historical and Theoretical Context: Personal and Family Photographs
“Users bring to the images a wealth of surrounding knowledge. Their own private pictures are part of the complex network of memories and meaning which they make sense of their daily lives.” Liz Wells (Photography: a critical introduction). Photography began a transformation after the Victorian era where the work of amateur “hobbyist” photographers began. George Eastman had marketed his Kodak camera by 1899 with the slogan ‘You press the button, we do the rest’. The Box Brownie claimed that everyone could afford it and it was so simple children could use it. Photography has now put the controls in the hand of everyone making everyone with a phone an amateur photographer. Due to the development of technology the way images are arranged using digital technology makes It easier to create narrative. The development of technology is driving innovation in photography. Websites which specialise in family history have fuelled an increase in interest of tracing ancestors and discovering old images, documents and reconstruction of images. The history of the medium of personal photography has existed since the 1800’s but was first compared to family photography by writers such as Terry Dennett. He compared family albums to that of groups in society. Private and personal photography has eventually become family photography. Without context, images are seen as being thin and provide ghostly hints of others’ lives which spark a detective project to construct meaning. Personal pictures are very unreliable but due to the unreliability interest is constructed and questions are asked. Questions such as whom are these pictures? Who see them? To whom do they communicate? Family photography properly began with travelling photographers making postcards. However, family albums were being created in the nineteenth century, but were only for the rich who had the leisure and money for photography. Another historical moment for photography was the increase in popularity in going on holidays. With the invention of motor vehicles, people wanted to bring cameras on holiday to have memories of where they have been. With the coming of the First World War, families began to buy cameras to record soldiers leaving for the war. Many who were photographed never returned leaving a sad statement in family albums from the twentieth century. Images from a post WW2 world are described as “Part of our lived experience and hint at meanings which are tantalisingly within our grasp”. In my own study I will show images from the lifetimes of my parents and grandparents but also my lifetime. I will arrange the images like a timeline starting from the lives of my distant relatives and then to current day.
Powerful Photography
“Photography, as a powerful medium of expression and communications, offers an infinite variety of perception, interpretation and execution”. Ansel Adam’s quote about powerful photography provides an insight into both people and photography. Everyone is different from everyone else and the way we perceive and consume messages and information is different. One image may have a different meaning to one person versus another and one image may resonate more with one person than with another. Power in relation to photography can be to do with the power of the medium of photography to communicate important and personal messages or, it could be to do with the construction of a powerful image. Research into the construction of a ‘powerful image’ gave me a few important things that if done correctly, will help create power in photography.
Subject
The first important thing is a subject. The subject has to resonate with the people looking at it and needs to make us intrigued. For example, who is this? Where are they? Why are they there? Etc. The subject doesn’t need to be a person, it could be a building, animal or scene of nature but whatever it is, it must connect to the audience for a reason. This could be mystery, beauty, danger or love etc. Alone, the subject doesn’t make an image powerful however in sync with other factors will make an image powerful.
Framing
Next is framing. If an image has a good, powerful subject but incorrect framing the proper meaning will not be understood. With framing, it is important to frame using theories such as the rule of thirds and photo geometry in mind. This creates a strong composition for an image making it clear for people looking at it what story and meaning you are trying to tell.
Moment
The moment a photo is taken is vital in creating a powerful photography. In a powerful photography you see an image capturing an expression like a smile, the wind blowing a piece of rubbish or a child’s first steps. The moment is seen as powerful in images such as an endangered animal, a lightning strike or shooting stars. It is so effective and powerful because you have captured a rare event which is there for one moment and gone the next.
Lighting
The lighting is crucial to an image as it creates a sense of mood, drama and emotion. The way light illuminates a certain part of an image tells a story. For example, If the lighting in an image of new-born baby is constant, messages aren’t portrayed however if there is low light except a ray of light only on the baby, it creates another message.
Emotional Impact
Finally, emotional impact is the final factor to help create powerful photography. The emotional impact is the overall outcome of all the other factors put together. This is different for everyone as people perceive messages differently however, the combination of the other factors no matter who it is will create an emotional impact. They could laugh if the image is funny or cry if the image is sad.
Powerful Meanings
The other way power is used in photography is in the construction and contribution of meaning. Images alone can be powerful however become ultimately ‘powerful’ when used in the right place. Images with powerful meanings have been used for many years and a good example of one of the first examples of this is propaganda. Propaganda has been used throughout the 20th century in the many Wars that occurred. It was used to provide information usually of a misguided nature to fuel a certain political agenda. Propaganda has been used in the First World War and famously by Hitler to lay a base for his rise to power in the brink of World War Two. Propaganda was also used during the Cold War by Soviet Russia and famously in the writings of George Orwell in his Novels Animal Farm and Nineteen Eighty-Four.
Another example of photography with powerful meaning is the variety of images published by National Geographic. Nat Geo is an American monthly magazine which contains photojournalism and is one of the most read magazines of all time. It was founded in 1888 and began publishing photos in 1905. During the Cold War, it presented messages of a balanced view of physical and human geography. Years later, it now presents messages and stories on conservation and environmental and social issues. Nat Geo published a story with it’s 21 most compelling images of the 21’st century containing the most compelling and important stories. I will look at the images and choose a few of my personal favourites and explain why I believe they prove the fact that photography is a powerful medium of expression.
The photo above was the most compelling image from 2001. The photo shows the moment the second plane hit the second World Trade Centre. The photo is powerful because it is so raw and documentative. You can see the dark outline of the plane heading towards the second tower amongst the plumes of smoke coming from the first tower.
The photo above was taken in 2007 and shows the murder of mountain gorillas. At the time, there was only around 720 mountain gorillas worldwide and the image shows one of seven murders in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s Virunga National Park. Nowadays, the Gorillas remain endangered due to the habitat loss and climate change. The photo is powerful because of the messages brought with it.
The photo above was taken in 2018 and shows the final moments of the last male northern white rhino before it passed away. The species was driven to extinction by poachers who hunted them for their horns. There are currently two remaining individuals who are both females meaning that after they die, the species will go completely extinct. The photo is very powerful as it shows another example of when the human species completely disrupted an ecosystem.
The last photo was taken in 2020 and shows the international backlash after the death of George Floyd. It shows how protestors came to the streets to protest over the police brutality and pushed for the removal of Confederate statues of those who fought to preserve slavery. Around the world statues were defaced with symbols and messages to spark the removal of these statues. The statue in the photo above was transformed from a memory of slavery into a memorial for George Floyd and BLM. The photo has power in the form of messages of BLM and also in the form of a community that stand and fight together to get recognition for their cause.
Dear Photograph
Dear photograph is a photo project that began in May 2011 and was created by Taylor Jones. Jones was born in Canada and started the project when looking at family albums. His brother happened to be sitting in the exact spot he had been sitting years before and Jones grabbed his camera and took the first “Dear Photograph” image. There is a crudeness to holding a picture with one hand and photographing it with the other. Jones allows people to send in their own photos in his style which he publishes on his blog with a little paragraph. The paragraph starts with ‘Dear Photograph’ as well as a message from the person that made it. The message is personalised and has a strong meaning for the person who wrote it. I like the message Taylor Jones’s style of photography brings. It connects the original image and the people in it with the recreation and staging of the image. There is a lot of importance in going back to where a loved one has been and doing the same as them many years later. I like the contrast of the retro image versus the new background image. I think it provides a story and extends the scene that the subject is originally in. I could apply this to my project by getting the photos taken in Jersey and holding the original in front of where it was taken. I believe this could be a good way to show family and how I am walking In my ancestors footsteps.
John Clang
John Clang is a Singaporean visual artist and photographer who explores issues such as identity, memory and longing. I will specifically look at his project “Being Together” as it is a way to bring families together who aren’t able to be there in person. This can be due to long distance issues or family members who are no longer alive. Clang described this as being dis (membered) by time and space. He creates emotion in his work and says that when a family sees images of them all together, it brings them closer and goes beyond the two-dimensional medium it was originally captured on. I like the way he projects families onto walls and positions other members so that they can be part of the family photo. It is a good way to get a ‘family photo’ when some members of the family are across the world or have passed away. I could project images of my distant family next to my actual family and edit us all together. This could be a good way to show family as a whole instead of smaller groups together.
Chris Porsz
Chris Porsz is an English photographer who has recently recreated hundreds of images he originally took in the 1970’s and 80’s. He tracked the people and places in the photos down and created his book called “Reunions”. His method of taking photos is quite unique. He gets an old black and white photo and takes a new colour one with the same people at the same place. The contrast between the old photos and the new photos shows the improvement in technology from the old, grainy black and white image versus the new, detailed colour image. I could apply this to my project and recreate images taken by my grandparents in Jersey and in England and contrast them together making a series of images like a before and after.
My Project
So far in my project, I have gone to see my relatives to get photos, documents and objects to construct a timeline of my family. I have scanned images from of my Mum, Dad, Grandads and Grandmas and my Great Grandparents. I have images that I will use to create a story of where my family came from and how I exist. Below are some images I have scanned in.
As well as scanning in family images, I also scanned the dates and names of people in the images. With these I can get a good understanding and layout of what my timeline of photos will eventually look like in the photobook.
Conclusion
In conclusion, power in photography is very common however creating power is difficult but when done correctly is very successful in telling stories and giving opinions. The definition of power is something that has the capacity or ability to direct or influence the behaviour of others or the course of events.
Photos can also influence people easier if they are directly connected to them for example, family photographs. My family would think that images that show my history which involve them have power to them however a random person my not be affected the same way.
I believe there is a lot of power in recreations of photos that were taking of my family many years before. It shows a close connection between myself and my family and brings me closer to some family members who I could not meet.
Since my project covers the theme of homosexuality I will attempt to use same sex models, preferably both males since the project is about my past dating life.
Since the project is about my past dating life, I will attempt to shoot in similar or the same places that these dates occurred in order to relate it back to my life.
Feeling
With my pictures I want to convey the feeling of intimacy and romance as well as confusion and revelation to some extent. For example, some images will portray the same sex models being quite intimate with each other and then some will have archival imagery that relates to a Bible quote that kept popping up in my head while in dates with the other guy.
Lighting
Inside: since some photographs will be shot inside a studio, I will make use of the lights of the room to create a more natural look to my images as they’re not meant to seem too artificial.
Locations
Since this project is based upon my personal experiences I will attempt to go back to the locations of where these “dates” occurred like a car (driving around), interior setting and more
Camera setting
I will set my camera to automatic mode so that it can automatically adjust settings like ISO.
