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.
