How does Laura Pannack and Phil Knott explore a sense of realism in youth culture?

Many teenagers around Jersey seem to complain about having little to do on the island. My project is to portray the youth culture of Jersey through capturing day-to-day life. Photographers explore the topic of youth by capturing ordinary lives of young adults like myself through the eye of a lens. Laura Pannack draws an audience to her work by displaying true similarities of teenagers and her photographs which help older generations understand how a teenager lives their life. She aims to photograph young adults who are less fortunate to show their true meaning in life, whereas Phil Knott photographs youths with a slightly similar culture to my own by capturing ‘typical teenager’ activities such as, skateboarding and racing mopeds. Both of my chosen artists relate to the photographic topic of realism through the way their images depict things as they are, without idealising or making abstract. I have chosen to explore these artists specifically because of their non-conventional approaches, taking a closer perspective of the individuals personal life. By being able to capture these perspectives of individuals in a similar way to these chosen artists will allow me to develop a further understanding of how fellow teenagers live a similar life, yet different in many aspects compared to mine.

Looking at both of my chosen artists, the realism movement seems to have an influence towards their photographic styles. Realism in photography emerged in the early 20th century with the work of Paul Strand who photographed streets in New York that he referred to as ‘straight photography’. Straight photography was a reaction against Pictorialism where photographers aimed to make pictures that were ‘photographic’ rather than ‘painterly’. Photographers tried to visualise the image before taking the photo and included, sharp focus, rich detail and high contrast to produce images of reality. This movement further lead to the idea of Realism in photography where artists desired to portray lower and middle class as the way they were in reality, creating the belief of importance to view the world more realistically. The Realism movement began during the early 1920s due to photographers being rather concerned with how images can be manipulated to portray different ideas to the viewers. During the movement, photographers created artworks that were as realistic as possible which lead to many artists making a name for themselves such as Walker Evans. Evans was one of the most influential artists of the 20th century and has a ‘realistic’ approach to the photos he is documenting. He took up photography during the year of 1928, stating that he was influenced by Eugène Atget and August Sander. Walker Evans’ early photographs reveal the influence of European modernism, specifically its formalism and emphasis on dynamic graphic structures. However, he gradually moved away from this aesthetic style to develop his own and more reticent notion of realism. Between 1938 and 1941, Evans produced a remarkable series of portraits in the New York City subway documenting everyday life for citizens of New York, which led on to be one of his most influential series. Walker Evans made fellow Americans see The United States through the eyes of poverty by introducing a new style of photography to document individuals of middle and lower class.

This image from Walker Evans’, subway series, gives the viewer a sense of realism, due to these people having no knowledge of the camera in front of them . With a 35mm Contax strapped to his chest, with the lens peaking out between two buttons of his winter coat, Evans was able to capture his fellow passengers surreptitiously and at close range. Although the setting was public, he found that his subjects, un-posed and lost in their thoughts with a constant change of moods and expressions-by turns bored, amused, curious, dreamy, cloudy or even upset. Documentary photography can be argued as a reliable source of information, as an individual can learn many things just by looking at an image. These images from Walker Evans’ subway series document and inform viewers about how different the 1900s were especially for individuals of a lower class.

Laura Pannack is a London based photographic artist who is renowned for her portraiture and social documentary work and seeks to explore the complex relationship between the photographer and the subject. Pannack was the first artist I chose due to her distinctive methods of portraying these teens by framing them against their social and cultural background often using narrow depth of field in her portraits. Her artwork has received much acclaim and has been awarded with multiple awards for her work. Pannack seeks to fully understand the lives of those she captures on her camera in order to portray them as truthfully and possible. She says that the culture of these teens often inspire her to take photos, “the strength of naivety and sense of invincibility and wonder inspires me. I like the honesty of young people, the lack of pretence, and most of all they are just great fun.” (Pannack 2020). Pannack says that she is careful when she chooses to approach her subjects, keeping in mind what their reaction to her might be. For her, “The ultimate mistake is when I overthink an approach. I select people on instinct. I try to think what I need to say to make sure they are interested, can trust me, and feel comfortable.” (Pannack 2020). I will be exploring Pannack’s project of Island Symmetries focusing on her overall development of youth culture. Her photo series ‘Island Symmetries’ (2020) captures nostalgic imagery that focuses on the friendships formed in a small community on wasteland called ‘The Cracker’ that stands between two estates – ‘Tibby’ and ‘The lost city’. Keeping her focus tight Pannack positions herself at the key meeting place where young people would flock to socialize. The Cracker in Tipton and Topside in Gagebrook. ‘Tibby’; is a cul-de-sac of residential houses that curls around a small playground with ‘The Cracker’ being an open space of rolling grass lined with blackberries and stinging nettles. Pannack states that, ‘Motorbikes, peds and quads bark loudly every day and at all times.’ She captures these troubled teens in a unique way by trying to include an aesthetic landscape throughout most of her teenage portraitures.

This image from Laura Pannacks ‘Island Symmetries’ project displays a lot of meaning to the viewer as you wouldn’t expect a child of his age to be displayed as such. The subject is holding a cigarette which is usually classed as an item aimed at adults, with a lollypop which is a typical element of a young persons childhood. These two items portray a completely different meaning that the subject is still a child but expresses himself in a much more mature way compared to his age. He is shown with a black and blood-red eye, expecting he has been involved in a fight, further proving the kid is more mature than typical kids his age. Pannack aims to involve some sort of aesthetic background in each of her portraits which keeps a ‘photographic’ sense to her images. An image of such varies compared to one of Phil Knotts portraits in the way that Pannack organises her portraits to make the subject pose for the shot instead of taking the image without anyone’s knowledge. This image can be compared to one of Sally Mann’s most iconic images, ‘Candy Cigarette’, where a young girl seems to be holding what looks like a cigarette when in reality it is candy. Sally Manns image is taken in a much similar way to Pannacks in the way the subject is positioned and how the background is out of focus. Both subjects are looking directly into the lens whilst striking a similar pose, holding the supposed cigarette in the same position.

Phil Knott, who is a multinational artist who photographs kids from London to LA, all in a similar portraiture style to present the teens in full detail. Knott grew up around scooter culture and has always been drawn to this specific topic. He became most well known for his portrait photography and his ability to give us a completely unobstructed insight into an individual. Phil Knott grew up with a similar culture to his subjects stating that, “I drove a scooter and they were all around me and where I used to live was like a f****** racetrack.” (Knott 2022). This made him able to understand the culture of the subjects much deeper, which makes him taking these photos a lot more meaningful. He captures youths through a range of photographical approaches by either staging the subject or taking photos of them without their knowledge, which creates a true sense of realism towards the viewers. Knott believe the actions of these teens are ‘harmless’ and ‘rebellious’ and stated that it is ‘quite lovely’ to see these teens being ‘silly’, he states.

Here is one of Phil Knotts most famous portraits of multiple children performing typical teenager acts. Knott has set up the camera in an anonymous position to the teens capturing what seems to be a moped meet-up of at least 4 different teens. The teens involved all seems to show something a typical teenager may carry. As you can see, two of the subjects are holding a cigarette or a rollie which is heavily linked to underage children like themselves. This creates a great sense of realism towards the photograph due to the subjects having no knowledge of the sudden image Knott has taken. However, the ‘unprofessional ‘ qualities add much needed character to the shot, making the image seen as if one of the subjects has quickly pulled out their phone and snapped a quick photo. This images shows what boys of this culture usually get up to also whilst keeping some sort of personal feel to the shot.

Laura Pannack and Phil Knott’s work is similar in many ways, however their art differs when it comes to their photographic approaches. Knott captures his subjects using a method of snapshot aesthetic. Snapshot aesthetic is an approach used by influential photographers such as, Lee Friedlander and Garry Winogrand. The photographic style typically features everyday subject matter and off-centred framing which heavily relates to Phil Knotts set of images. As you can see in the image above, no staged positioning has been utilised making the image seem as if Knott has pulled out his phone and snapped a quick photo.

Conclusion:

Overall, these two artists I have explored showcase the idea of youth culture and teenage lifestyle throughout their respective work and projects. Laura Pannack and Phil Knott both capture the youths in detail, they accurately photograph what the children get up to on a day to day basis. The main similarities between both photographers, is that they both fully understand how to photograph the subjects to create meaning towards the viewer. Both of the photographers images make the viewer think and almost create a background story of the image. However, the main difference between both photographers is their photographic approach. For example, when taking a look at Laura Pannacks images it is clear to understand that she stages her photos by making the subject somewhat ‘pose’ to capture in full detail, with Phil Knotts images being taken without the knowledge of the people he photographs.

With Laura Pannack only photographing her subjects in a portraiture approach, it narrows down the sense of realism in her photos. It can remove visual distractions from the background by removing visible scenery to make the image more simplistic. Without including anything other than the subject in her images can make it easier to understand the camera techniques such as positioning, lighting and focus. Most of her youth culture images display an out of focus background which makes the viewer only focus on the subject, which I believe was the aim of Pannacks project of ‘Island Symmetries’.

However, Phil Knott takes a slightly different approach compared to Pannack. This photographic style Knott uses does create a much more visible effect of realism. This is because of how Phil Knott mainly aims to photograph the youths without them knowing he his taking a photograph, to try and capture them with full understanding. This approach is a much more practical way of photographing in an authentic way as it gives a lot more information about the subject, which Laura Pannacks method may not provide.

Bibliography:

https://independent-photo.com/news/laura-pannack/#:~:text=The%20strength%20of%20naievity%20and,they%20are%20just%20great%20fun.%E2%80%9D

Rebellious rides with phil knott

Island Symmetries

https://www.philknott.com/

https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Laura_Pannack