You have been asked in the past and will be in the future to write a comparative study of two photographers. The following tasks will help you to undertake this task in a quick, investigative and fun way to result in a collection of personal observations that you can then use to structure your written anlaysis.
Use a Venn diagram to discover similarities and differences between the two images.
After you have filled in the three sections you can then start to compose and write your comparative study using the sentence starters and vocabulary below.
The examples below were created using five images. The figure was cut out leaving an interesting negative shape and outlined. Other images could be slid underneath until connections and interesting compositions started to occur.
Photomontage
A photomontage is a collage constructed from photographs.
Historically, the technique has been used to make political statements and gained popularity in the early 20th century (World War 1-World War 2)
Artists such as Raoul Haussman , Hannah Hoch, John Heartfield employed cut-n-paste techniques as a form of propaganda…as did Soviet artists like Aleksander Rodchenko and El Lissitsky
Photomontage has its roots in Dadaism…which is closely related to Surrrealism
How to make a GIF in Photoshop 1. Create layer for each image 2. Window > timeline 3. Select > Create Frame Animation 4. Drop Menu > Make frames from Layers 5. Timeline > select Forever 6. File > Export > Save for Web Legacy > reduce image size to 720 x 720 pixels
Throughout its long history, still life has taken many forms, from the decorative frescoes of antiquity to the high art of the Renaissance. Traditionally, a still life is a collection of inanimate objects arranged as the subject of a composition. Nowadays, a still life can be anything from your latest Instagram latte art to a vase of tulips styled like a Dutch Golden Age painting.
Darren Harvey-Regan Beauties of the Common Tool, Rephrased II, 2013 Fibre-based handprint, mounted, wooden frame with museum glass
ca. 90 x 70 cm
What you must do…
Walker Evans greatly influenced Darren Harvey-Regan, and both artists paid careful attention to choice of objects, composition, lighting and exposure values.
You must explore the work of both artists (create a blog post that compares and contrast their work) and develop a range of images in response to their outcomes. For this, you will need to use the selection of heritage objects we have provided for you and we wil l show you various lighting arrangements too.
Inspired by minimalist sculpture and painting, these simple but effective still life studies encapsulate the formal elements . Artists such as Giorgio Morandi have a clear influence here…and again there is a strong connection between painting and photography, historically and traditionally.
1. The Stack
2. Using light and paper to create shadows
3. Print out initial images and re- appropriate / cut-n-paste
4. White / monochrome
5. Splicing tow images together
6. Conceal and reveal
What you must do…
Collect a group of objects that you think combine well. Consider shape and size, colour, texture etc.
Then look carefully at what / how Mary Ellen Bartley groups, lights and photographs her objects. Aim to create a set of images by altering the layout, lighting, focus, composition etc.
Print some of the results off — and then rip, tear, cut-n-paste to create a photo-montage. Re-photograph this and develop the composition into a final outcome.
Lastly, print off a selection of carefully chosen images that you can then paste to either foamboard or cardboard. Then cut and arrange these choices so that you can create a free-standing photo-sculpture like Lethe Wilson (below)
Task 3 Symbolism and Metaphor – Vanitas
VanitasArt and Photography
Pieter Claesz, Still Life with a Skull and a Writing Quill, 1628. Courtesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
A vanitas is a symbolic work of art showing the transience of life, the futility of pleasure, and the certainty of death, often contrasting symbols of wealth and symbols of ephemerality and death.
The term originally comes from the opening lines of the Book of Ecclesiastes in the Bible: ‘Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’
Vanitas are closely related to memento mori still lifes which are artworks that remind the viewer of the shortness and fragility of life (memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’) and include symbols such as skulls and extinguished candles. However vanitas still-lifes also include other symbols such as musical instruments, wine and books to remind us explicitly of the vanity (in the sense of worthlessness) of worldly pleasures and goods.
Paulette Tavormina
Inspired by the works of 17th century Old Master still life painters such as Giovanna Garzoni and Maria Sibylla Merian, American photographer Paulette Tavormina creates stunningly lit imagery of fruits and vegetables immersed in dark atmosphere
Mat Collishaw
A perfect example of the old technique getting combined with modern-age ideas is Mat Collishaw’s Last Meal on Death Row series of works. Although they appear as meticulously arranged staged photography still lifes of food, each image is actually based on death row inmates’ last meals before they are executed. Apart from the eerie subject, the pictures deliver a strong drammatic effect through an excellent use of chiaroscuro.
Krista van der Niet
On a much more lighter, even pastel note, we have Dutch photographer Krista van der Niet, whose compositions often include fruits and vegetables mixed with mundane objects such as socks, cloths and aluminum foil, giving it all a contemporary feel. Her photos often carry a dose of satire as well, which references consumerism and popular culture through a clever employment of objects within a carefully composed scenery.
Laura LetinskyOlivia Parker
Experimenting with the endless possibilities of light, self taught photographer Olivia Parker makes ephemeral constructions. She started off as a painter, but soon turned to photography and quickly mastered the way to incorporate an extensive knowledge of art history and literature and reference the conflicts and celebrations of contemporary life in her work. Over the many years of her artistic career, her style remained fluid, yet consistent
Richard Kuiper
Think paintings by Pieter Claesz or Adriaen Coorte, only in plastic. That’s how one could describe the photographs of Richard Kuiper, whose objects are all made of this everlasting, widely used material, including water bottles, floral arrangements, even the feathers. The artist tries to draw our attention towards the excessive use of plastic in our everyday lives, with the hope we will be able to decrease it before it takes over completely.
What you must do…
Respond to one of the artists above and create a set of images that clearly shows your understanding of…
Light
Shape
Shadow
Composition
Metaphor
Symbolism
Memento Mori
A series of blog posts should now show a combination of visual experiments, Adobe Lightroom selections and adjustments, 3-5 final images and an evaluation
You have a deadline for the end of this week to ensure that all your work is completed. Please use some of the lessons, your study periods and own time to review and reflect on your work and focus on refining and improving it.
Below is an outline of what each of your blog posts should contain. Use it as a checklist.
Contact Sheets – Your photos of objects at Hamptonne eg: shoes, pots, pitch forks, cloths, bath tub etc.
Image Selection – select your strongest images (explanation)
Image editing – screen grab / explain any editing you have done (lightroom or photoshop)
Final Outcome – present your final image or images.
Hamptonne Interiors/Exteriors
Contact Sheets – Your photos of building at Hamptonne eg: internal and external
Image Selection – select your strongest images (explanation)
Image editing – screen grab / explain any editing you have done (lightroom or photoshop)
Final Outcome – present your final image or images.
Jersey Museum – Corn Riots
Information on People, Power, Protest exhibition. Explanation/ explore how the right to protest has shaped and influenced the Island that we know today. History of The Corn Riots.
Contact Sheets – Your photos of exhibits.
Image Selection – select your strongest images (explanation)
Image editing – screen grab / explain any editing you have done (lightroom or photoshop)
Final Outcome – present your final image or images.
You watched the documentary on ‘Fixing the Shadows’ from BBC Genius of Photography, Episode 1.
To embed your understanding of the origins of photography and its beginnings you’ll need to produce a blog post which outlines the major developments in its practice. Some will have been covered in the documentary but you may also need to research and discover further information.
Your blog post must contain information about the following and keep it in its chronological order:
Camera Obscura
Nicephore Niepce
Louis Daguerre
Daguerreotype
Henry Fox Talbot
Richard Maddox
George Eastman
Kodak (Brownie)
Film/Print Photography
Digital Photography
Each must contain dates, text and images relevant to each bullet point above. In total aim for about 1,000-2000 words.
Archives in contemporary photography: Also read text about the resurgence of archives in contemporary photography by theorist David Bate: archives-networks-and-narratives_low-res, make notes and reference it by incorporating quotes into your essay to widen different perspectives. Comment on quotes used to construct an argument that either support or disapprove your own point of view.
Origins of Photography: Study this Threshold concept 2: Photography is the capturing of light; a camera is optional developed by PhotoPedagogy which includes a number of good examples of early photographic experiments and the camera obscura which preceded photography. It also touches on photography’s relationship with light and reality and delve into photographic theories, such as index and trace as a way of interpreting the meaning of photographs.
Photography did not spring forth from nowhere: in the expanding capitalist culture of the late 18th and 19th centuries, some people were on the look-out for cheap mechanical means for producing images […] photography emerged experimentally from the conjuncture of three factors: i) concerns with amateur drawing and/or techniques for reproducing printed matter, ii) light-sensitive materials; iii) the use of the camera obscura — Steve Edwards, Photography – A Very Short Introduction
View from the Window at Le Gras by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827
Debates about the origins of photography have raged since the first half of the nineteenth century. The image above left is partly the reason. View from the Window at Le Gras is a heliographic image and arguably the oldest surviving photograph made with a camera. It was created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826 or 1827 at Saint-Loup-de-Varennes, France. The picture on the right is an enhanced version of the original which shows a view across some rooftops. It is difficult to tell the time of day, the weather or the season. This is because the exposure time for the photograph was over eight hours.
What is a daguerreotype?
The daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process (1839-1860) in the history of photography. Named after the inventor, Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre, each daguerreotype is a unique image on a silvered copper plate.
In contrast to photographic paper, a daguerreotype is not flexible and is rather heavy. The daguerreotype is accurate, detailed and sharp. It has a mirror-like surface and is very fragile. Since the metal plate is extremely vulnerable, most daguerreotypes are presented in a special housing. Different types of housings existed: an open model, a folding case, jewelry…presented in a wooden ornate box dressed in red velvet. LD a theatre set designer
The invention of photography, however, is not synonymous with the invention of the camera. Cameraless images were also an important part of the story. William Henry Fox Talbot patented his Photogenic Drawing process in the same year that Louis Daguerre announced the invention of his own photographic method which he named after himself. Anna Atkins‘ British Algae: Cyanotype Impressions of 1843 is the first use of photographic images to illustrate a book. This method of tracing the shapes of objects with light on photosensitive surfaces has, from the very early days, been part of the repertoire of the photographer.
Henry Fox Talbot – Latticed Window, 1835
In the month of August 1835, William Henry Fox Talbot produced the first photographic negative to have survived to this day. The subject is a window. Despite the clear connection, it is an entirely different image compared to those of his colleagues Niépce and Daguerre. Those are photographs taken from a window, while this is the photograph of a window. From the issue of realism, we shift here into an extremely modern outlook which today would be likened to conceptual and metalinguistic discourse. While the window constitutes the most immediate metaphor to refer to photography, Talbot doesnʼt use it but more simply he photographs it. He thus takes a photograph of photography. The first to comment on this was the author himself, writing a brief note (probably added when it was displayed in 1839) on the card upon which it is mounted. The complete text reads:
Latticed Window (with the Camera Obscura) August 1835 When first made, the squares of glass, about 200 in number could be counted, with help of a lens6
In 1978, the German photographer Floris Neusüss visited Lacock Abbey to make photograms of the same window. He returned again in 2010 for the Shadow Catchers exhibition at the V&A to create a life-sized version of Talbot’s window (below right).
That 1878 photogram was the start of our adventures in creating photograms of large objects in the places where we found them […] we took our equipment to Lacock Abbey and made a photogram of a fixed subject. This particular subject was for us not just a window in a building but an iconic window, a window on photography, opened by Talbot. The window is doubly important, because to be able to invent the photograph, Talbot first used photograms to test the light sensitivity of chemicals. His discovery became a window on the world. I wonder what percentage of our understanding of the planet we live on now comes from photographs? — Floris Neusüss
The idea of photographs functioning like windows makes total sense. Like the camera viewfinder, windows frame our view of the world. We see through them and light enters the window so that we can see beyond. Photographs present us with a view of something. However, it might also be possible to think of photographs as mirrors, reflecting our particular view of the world, one we have shaped with our personalities, our subconscious motivations, so that it represents how our minds work as well as our eyes. The photograph’s glossy surface reflects as much as it frames. Of course, some photographs might be both mirrors and windows. If you’re interested in thinking a bit more about this you might want to check out this resource.
Examples of Jersey-based Photographers—the early days…
Image analysis is very important in your understanding of photography. Both from learning how an image is composed or structured to the actual content and meaning of an image. You may need to understand or find out its social, historical, or political context.
Choose one of the images below and in groups discuss and record your findings to report back and share with others.
IMAGE ANALYSIS | GROUP EXERCISE 1
Using the matrix TECHNICAL – VISUAL – CONCEPTUAL – CONTEXTUAL below work in small groups to analyse and interpret this image :
Arnold Newman | Portrait of Alfred Krupp | 1963
Who – what – where – how – why?
IMAGE ANALYSIS GROUP EXERCISE 2
Using the matrix TECHNICAL – VISUAL – CONCEPTUAL – CONTEXTUAL below work in small groups to analyse and interpret this image :
Robert Frank Trolley, New Orleans, 1955, from The Americans
Using the matrix TECHNICAL – VISUAL – CONCEPTUAL – CONTEXTUAL below work in small groups to analyse and interpret this image :
Kevin Carter Starving Child and Vulture 1993
Who – what – where – how – why?
Image Analysis Group Exercise 4
Dorothea Lange Migrant Mother, Nipomo, California March 1936
Who – what – where – how – why?
Task
Create a blog post that includes the following…
Title: Image Analysis
Content : a range of images that you have learned about in the lesson (as above) including captions (title, date, artist etc)
Technical attributes
Visual Attributes
Conceptual Attributes
Contextual Attributes
…to show you knowledge and understanding, research skills and articulation of analysis and interpretation.
Extension : Representation,Standards and Ethics
Photographers (and artists in general) can bend, twist and manipulate the truth…they can influence how we understand the world.
THE AGE OF THE IMAGE
Watch this interesting documentary!
How we represent individuals and groups of people, change the context or meaning, and how fair we are with our methods has huge importance on the way we work…
THE HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY
So far hopefully you have the chance to present your summer task and in groups discuss the role of photography and what it is and have gained an understanding of what an image is and how to analyse an image.
NOW we’re going to look at the HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY.
First we’re going to watch Episode 1, BBC – The Genius of Photography.
Hopefully you all will have your personal school login accounts and passwords etc.
Your First Steps…
file management
standards and ethics
code of conduct
You should all have a valid login now…which provides you with a Hautlieu Creative account so that you can start creating andcurating your own blog.
This will be your normal, everyday login details. We expect you to check your emails everyday too…and get used to using Office 365, Adobe Photoshop + Lightroom and follow us on Twitter too (HautlieuC).
The blog provides you with a neat platform to showcase your learning, including knowledge and understanding and of course your images too.
You should have access to the Media Drive (M : Drive)…this is where you must store all of your files. Please check this!
You will learn how to adapt and organise / store your image files…and you must manage file sizes carefully.
We will teach you step by step how to use the blog…then it is down to you to look after it and present your work as thoughtfully and carefully as possible. Each time you publish a blog post…it is then available for marking and assessment. Unpublished work will not normally be marked…thus affecting your progress and success.
We will also comment on your blog posts regularly…which will appear as a new email for you. You are expected to respond to the advice and suggestions accordingly. We constantly track your approach to lesson, independent study and overall progress.
You are expected to take responsibility for your own learning, progress and success during A Level Photography…
minimum 2-5 hours per week
weekly photo-shoots (200+images) must clearly demonstrate a range of approaches, reinforcing the techniques you have learnt
complete any / all incomplete class tasks by the end of the week
contribute your own photo-assignments + research
seek out opportunities to extend your learning / skill level
if you are absent / remote learning – you must check the blog daily / check emails for instructions, guidance and advice and complete in accordance with deadlines for your teaching group (these may change depending on timetable).
We all have various roles and responsibilities…
Hautlieu School Code of Conduct
Be respectful when taking photographs…think about who / what is in the frame and how you are representing / misrepresenting people
Ask permission where necessary…
Do not trespass on private land / derelict property…safety is important always
Copyright…beware !
Always credit the artists work in your research / blog including imagery
During your first lessons you will be expected to submit and display your summer task and informally present it to your group. As a group we will discuss the merits and limitations of your work and it will be assessed soon and you will receive feedback too.
(If you have not completed a Summer Task as a new recruit…then you have until Monday 13th September to complete the task appropriately.)
We will also discuss your thoughts and feelings / knowledge and understanding of…
Photography’s function(s)
Photography as an art-form
Photography as a science
The difference between the study of photography and the practice of photography
Henri Cartier-Bresson once said…”Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst”
What do you think Cartier-Bresson meant by this…? Discuss
Demonstrating a critical and contextual understanding of photography can be tricky, especially if the subject is relatively new to you in Year 12. The following activities have been designed to encourage you to reflect on what you know already about photography. Hopefully, some of the prompts will encourage you to further develop your understanding of photography through additional pondering and research.
In small groups, discuss the following questions. One person in the group should be responsible for making notes capturing the main ideas of the discussion:
Why do people take/make photographs?
Why is photography important?
What skills do you need to be a good photographer?
How many different kinds of photography can you think of?
How does photography help us see the world?
Can photographic images be trusted?
What are the similarities and differences between photography and other types of visual art?
When would it not be OK to take a photograph?
How do you know when you’ve made a good photograph?
Are photographers also artists?
Where is the best place to see photographs?
What kind of photography interests you most?
What confuses or frustrates you about photography?
Watch this short film in which the photographer Henry Wessel discusses his practice. Make some brief notes. What does he help us to understand about photography?
Henry Fox Talbot – Latticed Window, 1835
