The photobook I will be researching is ‘The Middle of Somewhere’ by Sam Harris. This photobook is an ongoing family diary that revolves around Harris’ two daughters, Uma and Yali, growing up throughout the years. This series began years after they moved from London (2002) and finally settled in Balingup, Australia. It shows their journey and how they also lived in India for a few years. I’d say the images in this photobook are documentary photograph as Sam Harris takes snapshots of his daughters’ day to day activities and their lives.
The Middle of Somewhere – Sam Harris
Sam Harris wanted to document his family in a way he was familiar the most so he decided to make his own family album. His personal photo project grew into an independently published book that won multiple awards including a Lucie Award 2015, and most recently the AIPP Book of the Year 2016.
The title of the book is quite poetic and literal as Harris’ family and him are quite literally in the middle of somewhere. They are far from their home land and in a small village in the middle of Australia, which is on the opposite side of the UK. The book is a conversation, a play between the reader and the photographer, both of who traverse different visual journeys that seem to meet in… the middle of somewhere.
“There’s a photo with Yael hanging the washing in a red t-shirt, with her arm going diagonally across her face. That was a sort of eureka moment for me. It was one of those happy accidents that is something I love about photography. Yael was hanging the washing and I thought it would make an interesting shot so I grabbed my camera and walked up to the washing line. I had something different in mind but as I took the shot her arm went up across her face. When I was reviewing my images it struck me, that there was something about that photo… it was like a key for me and it unlocked a lot I’d been struggling with. The moments in-between the moments. To allow myself to be looser, the ambiguity and it even has the diagonal which always seems to appear in my work. That’s when this project really got its legs, so to speak.” – Sam Harris
“My work is a celebration of childhood, family life, love and our simplistic lifestyle which intertwines with our environment. As I witness my daughters’ transformation—in what feels like the briefest of moments—I’m compelled to preserve something of our time living together.” – Sam Harris
This book has a soft green cover. There’s golden patterns on it which are indented in the cover, giving it some texture. The cover has rounded edges, giving it a more softer look and feel. The title is written on a piece of cloth and stuck at the top of the book, giving it more texture. To me the book has faint smell of sweet perfume and wood/cardboard.
Most of the pages in the book are thick and seem to be more durable than usual paper; and are filled with many coloured photographs. There are also lined & checker paper, as well as sticky notes that have been stuck down in the book with either tape or clear glue. This gives the book a variety of different types of papers and textures.
The book itself is a a bit smaller than an A4 and consists of mostly landscape photographs spread out on two pages, and juxta position images. The only times this photobook has writing is at the beginning, end and through the inserts. The book starts with a poem by W.H. Davies, Leisure, 1911, which is about life and how we have no time to appreciate it. Towards the end of the book there’s an essay called “Memories of Today” that describes what Sam Harris’ work is all about. Few pages after that there’s a two page spread written by Sam Harris in which he thanks everyone that helped him make this photobook.
opening poem
The book has two main inserts. The first one is “No Yesterdays. Notes from Somewhere”, which consists of diary entries and love letters from 2000 to 2015. The second main insert is the “Travelogue”, which shows the young family’s journey from India to Australia, 2002-2006. It’s filled with images documenting their travels, life in India and Yael’s pregnancy with Yali. This makes the photobook feel more like a diary rather than a book, making it more personal and appealing to the reader.
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 of living on this island. Photographers explore the topic of youth culture by capturing everyday life 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. Pannack aims to photograph young adults who are likely less fortunate than people like myself to show their true meaning in life, whereas Phil Knott photographs youths with a slightly similar culture to myself by capturing ‘typical teenager’ activities such as, skateboarding and mopeds. 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. Laura Pannack’s 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. Pannack was the first artist I chose due to her distinctive methods of portraying these teens through attempting to keep the behind landscape out of focus and bring all attention to her key concept being the children. Phill Knott has captured 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.
How do photographers such as Rut Blees Luxemburg and Naoya Hatakeyama tackle the tension between both the organic and synthetic world?
‘Photographs confuse as much as fascinate, conceal as much as reveal, distract as much as compel. They are unpredictable communicators.’ (David Campany, On Photographs, 2020).
The divide between an organic, natural world and a synthetic, man-made world has widened since, and very much because of, the technological advances of mankind, creating a parallel between what is considered natural and unnatural, or organic and synthetic. Photography as a medium and an art form represent this shift from the earlier techniques such as the Heliograph and Daguerreotype processes, to the far more recent digital era of photography representing the advances of technology. In recent years especially, it has come to light in the mass media, as well as the photographic community, that the synthetic has begun to bleed into, and perhaps replace or destroy, the organic. By analysing the work of Rut Blees Luxemburg and Naoya Hatakeyama, I aim to highlight this damage, or alteration, nature has received by interpreting the meaning behind the otherworldly, synthetic aesthetic and methods their work adopts. Luxemburg’s night photography especially creates a sense of otherworldliness, something she describes as a ‘transformation’ from the ‘mundane, everyday experience’, (Campany, 2018) perhaps highlighting the cities she photographs as being unnatural, or even from another world. While Hatakeyama’s photographs take a similar stance, some images blatantly detailing the destruction of natural landscapes, while others are more discreet, both are equally thought-provoking.
Naoya Hatakeyama, Blast #5707, 1998.
An otherworldly representation of a piece of nature (landscapes; objects such as plants; etc.) indicates a form of corruption or damage, perhaps mirroring society’s growing concerns of the Earth’s change of climate. What has led me to this topic would likely be some of my earlier work, involving themes of the Anthropocene and Islandness (where I opted to focus on the natural side of that subject), both of which had a similar concept to this project. In those projects I mainly focussed on using colour and pattern to make my images appear more vibrant, inspired by artists such as Andy Warhol and Troy Paiva whose work emphasises colour also. By focusing on artists such as Luxemburg and Hatakeyama, I will experiment with night photography, both in a city environment like in Luxemburg’s work, but also in a countryside setting, which will provide different perspectives from the same genre.
It could be argued that the very creation of the photographic process was inspired by nature, with the pioneers of the creation of the medium, such as Nicéphore Niépce, Louis Daguerre and William Henry Fox-Talbot searching for not only a process that would be capable of what photo-historian Geoffrey Batchen describes as, ‘what they had created was something far removed from natural (and human) conventions, yet it was nature that was forefront within the process, something, to them, which was otherworldly (Batchen, 1997). In addition to the process of photography being otherworldly, the images created during their experimentation could be considered ‘of a different world’, especially by today’s norm. Each of the inventors of photography struggled to define in human language what they had created, as it was in itself a contradiction, ‘For Niépce, nature was central to photography, but he could never resolve with any precision how to articulate the relationship between the two’ (Batchen, 1997).
Nicéphore Niépce, View from the Window at Le Gras, 1827.
The first photograph taken, a Heliograph image created by Nicéphore Niépce in 1827, presents the viewer with the visage of curiosity and awe; we are looking into the birth of a medium that was likely considered a fantasy at the time. This otherworldly depiction of Le Gras was captured for purely scientific purposes, yet from an art perspective, it does not stray far from a typical pencil sketch from an aesthetic standpoint. This image does not stray far from the images created within the pictorialist era of photography, with the images depicting dreamlike, romantic scenes. The images created using Heliography do not have the clarity of the Daguerreotype that came after, giving them that nostalgic aura. ‘Light in the state of combination or decomposition reacts chemically on various substances. It is absorbed by them, combines with them, and imparts to them new properties.’ (Niepce, 1833). This scientific description of what he named ‘Heliograph’ can be taken as a literal description on how his process works, however it could conceptually represent the dilemma he (and the other scientists) faced upon trying to truly define their creation. Their processes used nature (not only light and resources, but the image of nature itself) to ‘combine’ with and ‘impart’ the image onto a plate, as if it was nature herself taking her own picture (Batchen, 1997).This definition links with the tension between nature and man-made:was the process chiefly a natural or synthetic phenomenon? This paramount interpretation of the process led to a confusion regarding the true name of what is now photography.
While Luxemburg’s images are indeed visually appealing and provide a unique aesthetic within the genre of night photography, Luxemburg seems to be more focused on the ‘transformation’ of the scene she records on her camera, relating closely to the mindset of post-modern artists. In her own words, she describes this ‘transformation’ as ‘something other than what you can see during your mundane, everyday experience of the city’ (Luxemburg 2018). Focusing on the meaning of her photographs makes Luxemburg approach to image-making more postmodern, with a focus on meaning rather than appearance. This post-modern approach to her work leaves room for the viewers to speculate the true meaning and purpose behind the ‘transformation’ created by Luxemburg. This ‘transformation’ links with the conflict between the organic and synthetic. The synthetic ambient lighting, straight and ordered lines and patterns seen in many of her images gives them a very otherworldly aesthetic, despite being images of a scene we as humans have grown accustomed to. To me, this focus on the synthetic environment of a city highlights the conflict between the natural and unnatural. While searching for places and scenes to photograph, Luxemburg identifies that she is ‘looking for something that is sort of dismissed, marginal, but has its own luminosity somehow’ (Luxemburg, 2017).
The title of this photograph describes it as being exciting and thrilling, which is definitely a valid interpretation, as the viewpoint and likely the process of making the image (having to dangle the camera over a ledge for at least half a minute due to the longer exposure times required for night photography) gives a sense of danger, of falling. However, on the other hand, the softer, almost painterly lines and colours gives the image the dreamlike, otherworldly feel described earlier, coming across as being almost calm and unmoving. The viewpoint is interesting as it is looking directly downwards, from a considerable height, in addition to suggesting danger, this could also give the viewer the feeling of being trapped within the setting. The lines are also almost always straight, similar to Luxemburg’s other work, creating the man-made and synthetic aesthetic. The colour palette in this image is fairly limited, being made up of mainly yellows and greens with a small amount of red on the cars, this reinforces that painterly aesthetic, while simultaneously giving it a more urban atmosphere. As a photograph taken at night, with no additional lights used specifically for that photograph, the use of ambient light makes the image appear more synthetic.
Naoya Hatakeyama, similar to Luxemburg, has produced a range of work involving both the synthetic and organic as their subject matter. As a Tokyo-based photographer he has developed a work which ‘has a focus and relationship between dual themes of rural and urban, city and countryside, man and nature’ (Hutchison 2010), using the city to capture the synthetic aspects of human life. The ‘relationship’ he captures differs between each of his projects, some involving quarrying and the destruction it causes in the organic, natural landscape, or how little parts of nature (such as trees or rivers) can be found within a city environment. Hatakeyama’s work could be said to have a post-modern approach, as he focuses on the duality between the organic and synthetic rather than the aesthetic appearance of the image. Most of Hatakeyama’s images use line and pattern to differentiate the natural and man-made, with the natural elements having softer lines to represent their organic aesthetic (for example, his ‘Slow Glass’ project uses the raindrops to give the image those soft lines), while other images embrace the straight lines and patterns found within a city or quarry.
Naoya Hatakeyama, Slow Glass (#63), 2001.
The title of the image has a literal meaning, likely reflecting the main process he used while taking the images, using a slow shutter speed to allow enough time for the streaks of light to be made and positioning the camera behind a window (likely a car window) and focusing the camera on the raindrops to blur out the background. This gives the image an otherworldly effect, almost forcing the viewer to make sense of what they are looking at and how Hatakeyama managed to capture it.The streaks of light could have been made in many ways, he could have positioned the camera behind the window and shone a light into them to create the lines manually, or he could have positioned the camera in a car and had someone drive around while he took the image so he could capture the light on the road signs. The colours in this image are vibrant, in a similar way to Luxemburg’s work, while still having darker areas due to the image likely being taken at night time, however this image appears more organic due to the raindrops and streaks of light having a softer form, as opposed to be far more rigid and angular lines and patterns seen in Luxemburg’s work. The image has a rather calm tone, much unlike Luxemburg’s images, likely as a result of the softer shapes and colours.
The organic world has evidently colliding with the man-made world since the advances of human technologies, including those which are not inherently damaging such as photography, creating great tension. Artists such as Luxemburg and Hatakeyama highlight using their work the unnatural aftermath of the collision of the two worlds, either as a statement of protest and awareness, or a way to inspire other artists and photographers to do the same. The early processes of photography, having been invented to allow a way for nature to paint her own self portrait (Batchen, 1997), being man-made, ironically produces questions; is photography an organic or synthetic representation of nature? To what extent is it a natural or man-made process? The irony in taking pictures of what man has created using a medium reserved for nature’s use is the very reason why images such as Luxemburg’s and Hatakeyama’s (especially when compared to pictorialist images) are so effective in conveying their message, despite being silent, ‘unpredictable communicators’ (Campany, 2020).
In response to Luxemburg and Hatakeyama, as well as other artists, I have created images that aim to capture a sense of ‘otherworldliness’. To achieve this, I experimented with night photography to record scenes people are already unfamiliar with due to the darkness. Using artificial lighting (both light shone by me and ambient light from buildings) to create normally unseen shapes from the shadows, in addition to using coloured gels to give the images more colour, which adds to the unnatural and synthetic aesthetic of these images. Images that include organic subjects (plants, birds, etc.) change them in a way that represent the changes to nature and humanity’s attitudes towards it, for example placing a red light on a tree may be aesthetically appealing, however was it necessary to use it to truly capture its natural beauty? I made use of synthetic replicas of plants in my still life photoshoot, to mimic the style of a classic still life painting, the plants being synthetic perfectly symbolises the growth of human technologies at the cost of natural resources and landscapes.
Bibliography:
Campany, D. (2020), On Photographs. London: Thames & Hudson Ltd.
Batchen, G. (1997), Burning With Desire: The Conception of Photography. Massachusetts: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Abel-Hirsch, A. (2019), ‘ Blackwater River’ in British Journal of Photography. Issue 7890: 50-67
Company, D, Blees Luxemburg, R. (2018), So present, so invisible. Via Nizza: Contrasto
Niépce, N. (1833), ‘Memoire of the Heliograph.’ In: Trachtenberg, A (ed) (1980), Classic Essays on Photography. Connecticut: Leete’s Island Books
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
Post Modernism
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
Bibliography
Practice:
Sternfeld, J. (2003), American Prospects. Göttingen; Germany.
In Text Reference:
Direct Quote: In his book on conversations on photography, Sternfeld writes ‘
Paraphrasing: Sternfeld (2003)
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.
Essay Question
Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions:
To what extent do female role models influence personal identity, and how is this shown in Hannah Altman’s work?
In what ways have LaToya Ruby Frazier and Hannah Altman represented identity between generations of women?
How does Hannah Altman portray the delicate relationship between a mother and daughter?
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure.
Essay question: In what ways have LaToya Ruby Frazier and Hannah Altman represented identity between generations of women?
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?
List photographers, links to context, what they both bring to my essay and how they informed my ideas.
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.
Historical portrayal of women – in art, film and photography. Links to feminism, female / male gaze. Use sources from key texts read.
Can link to Julia Margaret Cameron’s historical portrayals of women
Divine mother figure
Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
LTRF – used psoed photogrswphy but not for the male gaze etc – not for erotic impaxt, still using look-at ness but for the FEAMLE gaze. Initially created images for just her mother and her – they were the initial audience, not the traditional perspective of creating work for the enjoyment of others and again MALE gaze.
Loookedatness – looking INWARD – reflective nature to her work. Sense of self, childhood,
Analyse key work, read interview, links to context behind her work, art theory and period
STEEPLY GENDERED…
‘spaces where girlhood is supposed to abide and womanhood stands guard”
Sociolgoist – with camera
Place in the family vs place in the world.
Richness of place and memory
socioeconomic elements
Deconstructs notion of a nuclear family. See below
The Notion of Family gilds its often grim truths with the hope of resistance, as in Frazier’s portraits of her Grandma Ruby—with her battalion of dolls, a stoic countenance, and a matriarchal sense of duty—who raised six children by herself on a Goodwill manager’s salary. In one photograph, she stands in her kitchen, her arm resting on the back of a chair where her grandson sits, light from the adjacent window pouring through a scrim of curtain and ivy, her nightgown slipping from her shoulder, her home a picture of order and cleanliness. “Grandma Ruby’s interior design was a firewall that blocked external forces,” Frazier writes.
Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
Disrupting idea of the divine mother figure – picture analysed in artist reference.
Takes inspiration from Jewish Folklore and traditions in her image, similar to LTRF using socio economic context.
(Kavana)
Presents generational identity and memory through exploring her family history and historical persecution as Jews.
What memory do the photographs leave? What sentiment?
Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
Compare both artists, context behind, link to my own work and reasons for producing.
Both extremely different artists but disrupting / representing the same things etc
use images
Both use images of the divine mother figure – link to first paragraph and to my own work
How is the ethereal experience of growing up conveyed through the photography of Sam Harris and Olivia Bee?
Growing up is often conveyed through media as whimsical and magical- whether it be through film, music or art- this portrayal of growing up is then often hit with harsh realities through adolescence and adulthood while media embraces the idea of staying connected to your childhood through nostalgia: Sam Harris creates emotionally rich documentary images which main purpose serve to capture memories of his two daughters growing up in rural India and Australia, intertwining the ethereal experience of childhood intertwining with nature (The Middle of Somewhere: Containing images from 2002-2006 -released 2015- of Harris himself, his wife and two daughters travelling in India and Australia), these images manage to apprehend the innocence and joy of childhood while also tackling seemingly brutal topics such as death and natural disaster. “‘The Middle of Somewhere” is from my ongoing visual family diary, which revolves around my two daughters growing up… My work is a celebration of childhood, family life, love and our simplistic lifestyle which intertwines with our environment. As I witness my daughters’ transformation—in what feels like the briefest of moments—I am compelled to preserve something of our time living together.”1 Olivia Bee concentrates on capturing the oneiric and often ephemeral experience of adolescence, her photobook “Kids in Love” was created when Bee was merely 17, capturing moments as they happened and staging highly emotive, moving scenes with recurring themes of intimacy, exploration and naturally occurring beauty in everyday life- it is significantly hard to tell which images are staged and which are candid which adds to the beauty of Bee’s work. In Bee’s own words, she is “intrigued by the beauty of everyday life and how the beauty of memories (real or imagined) touches us.”2 Containing images from between 2008 and 2013, Bee photographs her circle of friends while growing up in the natural, romantic landscape of Oregon USA. I plan to respond to these photographers by creating my own scrapbook-style photobook: aiming to capture childhood nostalgia, memories of now as a teenager and growing up enveloped in island nature- I will be doing this by focusing on natural landscapes and humans in natural landscapes including staged and documentary style images: focusing on a female perception of aesthetic, aiming to show the beauty of everyday life through a scrapbook and diary style photobook.
Historically, the process of capturing memories through photographs was a very formal process- taking large inspiration from portraiture in paintings, to immortalise people through portrait photography during the Victorian ages, especially with the commercial process of carte-de-visit. This process was typically only accessible to wealthy families as photography was an expensive, complex process. It was not until photography became affordable and more accessible that scrapbook style and vernacular photography developed in response to 19th century studio portraiture showing grandly staged images. The aesthetics of snapshot developed within vernacular photography and became more popular in the general population- namely from the 1970s onwards where staged and candid images were mixed together due to the accessibility and nonchalance of photography at the time. It is this style that I am trying to capture with my photobook project. More inspirations for this project include various photography movements such as modernism- where photographers began to embrace social, political and aesthetic concerns from 1915 onwards: concentrating on the beauty of a subject instead of a harsh reality: experimenting with light, perspective, developing abstraction in a sub-context of surrealism. A renowned modernist photographer “André Kertész said, “I regard myself as an amateur today, and I hope that’s what I will stay until the end of my life. Because I’m forever a beginner who discovers the world again and again.” Kertész saw photography as a sort of visual diary that documented the way he felt about the world around him and insisted that emotion was the basis of all his work, rather than an artistic impulse.”3 Kertész created an image4 which inspired me to look into modernism as an inspiration for my photobook- this was further cemented by the quote from the article above where it was emphasized that emotion was the drive for his work. His images- much like many modernist photographers of the time- are a mixture of staged and documentary: capturing life as it happens in an abstract, unorthodox way, much like Sam Harris and Olivia Bee’s photography style.
4. Underwater Swimmer, Esztergom, Hungary; dated 1917; André Kertész
As previously stated, Harris’ work was created purely to capture memories of his family- specifically his two young daughters growing up while they travelled around India and Australia. Harris’ images look pure, with a lack of editing and the natural lighting being taken advantage of to create interesting images which apprehend an almost naïve view of life which is drenched in bright blues, green and warm tones- creating an ethereal, seemingly other-worldly, nostalgic view. Similarly to modernist photography values images (such as the image below) are taken from an offbeat perspective- the two children framing the adults in the middle and the forest setting providing a backdrop. I find this image particularly alluring due to the blurriness- the imperfection- which adds to the feeling of time slipping away with the figures looking almost celestial but almost if they are fading away: however this image does look esoteric in the sense that it is a glimpse into a young family where Harris is trying to capture memories before they fade away (much like the figures). Furthermore on the composition of this image, the two children are framing the two adults- which is unusual as usually the parents would be protecting the children, while this composition gives a sense of the two adults letting their children be free- adding to Harris’ ethos of capturing memories as they happen showing the unpredictability of this travel and the children’s curiosity, the parents acting as a safe haven while the children explore. Harris himself is also in this image- an almost Christ-like figure in white raising his arms as if to welcome his children into a hug- this is also unorthodox as it brings up the conundrum of who is taking the image which furthermore asks if the image is staged or not. On the technical approaches of this image: the image looks amateurish, where a low shutter speed emphasises blurriness. Flash is also used, creating artificial lighting which highlights the colours in the image while a low aperture makes colours and scenery visible in what otherwise would be a very dark image as it was taken at night time/evening.
5. Sam Harris; untitled from the collection “The Middle of Somewhere”; year unknown
Priorly stated, Bee’s work is a mixture of staged and candid images however as contrary to Harris’ work, Bee takes pictures as seemingly an outsider looking in while Harris’ images are from an insider perspective. Bee’s photos- although they are of her friends and herself growing up in Oregon, USA- are very intimate and images like the one below6 are from the perspective of an outsider looking in to a relationship, while other images of Bee’s are more casual- documenting her friends actions and hobbies such as skateboarding. However the image below is staged, and although staged this image shows great emotive value- two young lovers intertwined in embrace, their body language only open to each other, fitting to the photobook name- “Kids in Love”- this image certainly depicts teenagers in love. This photo also represents uncertainty, a prevailing theme in a teenager’s life- curiosity and apprehension about the future- this can be shown massively through the water. Bodies of water are often unpredictable, humans have always had a fearful fascination about water with hundreds of fairy tales, myths and legends being revolved around wonders of the sea, whether it be shipwrecks or mermaids. A vignette around the corners of the image present an unease creeping in while the lovers embrace and find sanctuary in each other- the light concentrated on them giving an impression of hope in darkness. An important aspect of this image is also colour- the red streak in the girls hair shows rebellion while the contrast of the blue of the water shows serenity asking the question is the danger coming from teenage love, or from the unease of the future creeping in on them?
6. Olivia Bee; untitled from the collection “Kids in Love”; year unknown
Bee and Harris both successfully create an identity for each subject- with images giving the viewer a sense of individualism for every subject- this is evident in Bee’s portraiture7 where direct eye contact with the camera makes the image feel personal and an intrusion on someone’s life yet exhibiting their nature- imploring you to judge by looks. Harris succeeds this by taking photographs for the sake of memories, capturing the raw natural emotions which a person is displaying. However even though both artists have similar aims and motivations for their images- they succeed them in different ways. Harris’ artistry being more truthful than Bee’s: with a lack of staged, highly controlled images and more a mixture of seemingly amateur “happy accidents” where blur, overexposure and unexpected angles create beautiful, resonant images. On the other hand, Bee’s work “Kids in Love” creates a rebellious aura around the subjects and establishes the real lifestyle behind adolescence existence- times of love, hatred, fear and the occasional cocky, overindulgent attitude- however in Bee’s work there is a sense of masking in the subject, where a subject is clearly letting the viewer judge by appearance but presenting an aura of complexity about them- letting the viewer know that this image is only peripheral through their facial expressions. Together, both artists display an ethereal idea of growing up- from childhood with Harris then adolescence with Bee. Attempting to respond to Bee and Harris’ work, I generated this image8, keeping to the main aesthetic of both photographers work: this image is edited very minimally, only the colours have been emphasised. This photograph is of some of my friends climbing up trees- the image is taken from the ground looking up. I feel as if this image encapsulates both photographers; the unusual perspective, the lack of editing, the imperfect of the blur, the fact that it was taken candidly- as just a snapshot in time to remember the night. Taken with flash at night and a high ISO and shutter speed- this image contains a lot of detail, down to each individual leaf which the light of the flash hits. The hectically abstract point of view along with almost an optical illusion concerning the tree structure where it appears to show people walking directly up the tree towards the sky creates a visually interesting image- although not similar to Bee and Harris’ usual subject matter and lacking subject interaction to the camera (backs turned away from the camera) this image does present Bee’s rebellion in essence, backs turned to the camera remaining in anonymity: teenage rebellion, as well as reflecting Harris’ idea of pure childlike curiosity: climbing trees towards the sky. I like this image because depending on how you look at it you can conjure up a meaning for it when in reality- much like Bee and Harris- the image purely captured memories, when growing up into an adult is right around the corner images like this show that you can still enjoy the experiences you did as a child- growing up is ethereal however childlike wonder and rebellion remains in us all.
7. Olivia Bee; untitled from the collection “Kids in Love”; year unknown
Dating all the way back to the 1830’s with photographs from the Civil War, realism in the visual arts is defined as an accurate depiction of lifeforms. Images were unedited to give a direct viewpoint what was happening in that moment in time. Documentary, street and cultural photography later stemmed from realism where photographers capture community through an outsider vs. insider perspective.
Walker Evans
Realism photography characteristics: Images depict a straight-on realistic representation of the world, in particular different cultures and communities.
Photographers like Paul Strand and Walker Evans essentially paved the way for straight photography capturing working class American citizens in a way that revolutionized photography and changed the way we view images today.
MODERNISM
Modern photography is a period in photography that marked the shift from traditional pictorialist photography to a more direct way of capturing photos, exploiting, and emphasizing the use of and nature of the camera instead of using it as a tool to capture images.
Modern photography characteristics: Images emphasized sharp focus and detail. These photographs were noted for their precision and geometric simplicity which were the result fo a focus on photography as a technical exercise and the photographer as a technician.
The most well-known discourse of photographic modernism now is the one initiated in the USA by Alfred Stieglitz. Developed around his New York based journal Camera Work between 1903 and 1917, this version is characterized by the “straight” photograph.
POST-MODERNISM
Postmodern photography began in the second half of the 20th century, and it encompasses a variety of themes. First and foremost, postmodernism builds on the themes and conceptual ideas that began during the modernist period. This type of photography also often features surrealism, expressionism or other similar themes
Post-modernism photography characteristics: Postmodern art questions the notion of authenticity and embraces ‘hybridity’, blurring the lines between high art and popular culture. Postmodern photographers are particularly interested in the selective, constructed nature of the photograph.
One of the defining features of Postmodern photography is the idea of the “banal”, and photographers such as Lee Friedlander, William Eggleston, Jeff Wall, and Andreas Gursky have all sought to re-examine “banal” (or “boring”) subject matter through their camera.
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
Bibliography
List all the sources that you have identified above as literary sources. 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/online sources, Youtube/ DVD/TV.
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.
Bibliography
Examples of Referencing:
Bibliography:
Paiva, T. (2008), Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration. San Francisco: Chronicle Books LLC
Online Source:
Direct Quote:
In his recent book, Paiva writes about the ‘relentless drive of humans to both build and explore’. (Paiva 2008: 9)
Paraphrasing:
Paiva (2018) writes about the drive humans feel to build and explore.
Abel-Hirsch, A. (2019), ‘ Blackwater River’ in British Journal of Photography. Issue 7890: 50-67
Essay Plan
Essay Question:
Subject matter: Technology/Light/Aesthetics
In what way has Rut B-L and Robbie L made images at night that references an otherworldly effect?
In what way does Rut B-L and Robbie L use artificial light to create a surreal tone?
Opening quote
Introduction (250-500 words):
What is your area of study? Surreal and abstract photography that displays nature as damaged/overrun/etc… within the genre of landscape/night/object/studio photography
Which artists will you be analysing and why? Robbie Lawrence as his ‘Blackwater River’ project has images that are akin to what I am aiming to produce (the theme of the project isn’t exactly the same but some of its roots are similar). Rut Blees-Luxemburg as I have interpreted her work as representing the relationship between humanity’s effect on nature.
How will you be responding to their work and essay question? I will aim to create my own work with motifs of theirs, while linking it with this project’s theme and essay question.
Pg 1 (500 words):
Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography, visual and popular culture relevant to your area of study. Talk about Surrealism/Abstractionism Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historians. Modernism
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
1. Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.
Petrochemical America
Petrochemical America is a book created by Richard Misrach and Kate Orff and focuses on in-depth analysis of the causes of decades of environmental abuse along the largest river system in North America. Even more critically, the project offers an extensively researched guidebook to the way in which the petrochemical industry has permeated every area of contemporary life. This focuses on the how the landscape has been altered because of the chemicals that are now used in American society have changed the appearance and health of their environment.
In 1998, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta asked Richard Misrach to produce work for their “Picturing the South” series. Misrach decided to focus on “Cancer Alley,” the Mississippi corridor that is a hundred and fifty miles between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, a decade later, the Museum asked Misrach to return to Cancer Alley to shoot, and then combined this new work with the original series for an exhibition and book called “Petrochemical America,” published by Aperture. In re-approaching the project, Misrach hoped to find avenues of environmental and structural change in this region and for the nation.
2. Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, reviews, awards, legacy etc.)
Richard Misrach is one of the most influential photographers of his generation. In the 1970s, he helped pioneer the renaissance of color photography and large-scale presentation that are in widespread practice today. Best known for his ongoing series, Desert Cantos, a multi-faceted approach to the study of place and man’s complex relationship to it, he has worked in the landscape for over 40 years.
Petrochemical America represents a unique collaboration between photographer Richard Misrach and landscape architect Kate Orff. Presented in two parts, the first features Misrach’s photographs of the Mississippi River industrial corridor, stretching from Baton Rouge to New Orleans—one of America’s most industrialized places, and a region that first garnered public attention as “Cancer Alley” because of the unusual occurrences of cancer in the area.
3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book and apply theory above when considering:
Book in hand: how does it feel?
Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.
Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.
Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.
Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.
Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.
Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others. Use of captions (if any.)
This book contains images of Cancer Valley, prints of oil patterns, ‘swamp and pipeline’ throughout Louisiana, a locational map of industrial land map along river road, Prairieville (Louisiana), Mississippi. There is also constructed images of landscape impacts of petrochemistry and land patterns of the industrial corridor over time which gives details regarding how much the landscape has changed.
The whole book is formatted in a landscape form, with the first section of the book having the location of the image on the left hand side of the page and then the full size colour image on the right hand side. The second part of the book is filled with images like the one above, not taken by Misrach but constructed as part of the book as it adds more purpose to his images, and gives a clearer indication of how much humans have changed the landscape.
The whole cover of the book is hardback with a printed image and contains in my opinion, one of the most successful of all of Richard Misrach’s images, this means that the cover is very eye-catching and draws in the viewer. Furthermore, the title of the book is pretty intriguing as it makes you want to explore what Misrach and Orff’s definition of ‘Petrochemical America’ is and whether this relates to a positive or negative event or theme. As the title is very explicit, it increases curiosity within the reader. The story is told in a very clever way, as the first part illustrates the beautiful and natural landscapes, and then afterwards many scientific like images and placed in, with lots of accurate information regarding chemicals population increases. Continuing, the book travels back to the natural landscape images, however, these images aren’t as aesthetic, this third section is also very much focused on cities and industrial life.
Despite the images above being filled with dark colours and tones, the majority of the pages in the first section are pretty blank, with only one sentence of just the title of the images written down, all of the text in the next sections are very relevant to the images shown, and all description’s are detailed but clear. I think its important to note that all of the sections are well organised, section one and two very much juxtapose each other, whilst section three is a very good mix of both, this is good as it makes you feel like the general consensus of the book is coming to an end, with everything being well finished off.
How do Jim Goldberg and Ryan McGinley explore the representation of youth culture through photography?
‘Damn girl, it’s only a story. It’s not real. And don’t worry, there is a happy ending. ‘ – Tweeky Dave, Raised by Wolves (Jim Goldberg)
The idea of youth culture is often romanticized through media, especially in the present day through unrealistic beauty standards and expectations that all adolescents should have a positive mindset because they’re ‘only young’. Through social media in particular, a negative stereotype is fed to teenagers that growing up is easy and undemanding, whereas in reality, it can at times be the opposite. In my personal study I plan to explore youth culture in a different light. This interests me as I feel the portrayal of adolescents in media is often unrealistic, blocking out the hedonistic and reckless side of teenage life which is deemed ‘taboo’ in the eyes of society. Therefore, I have chosen the theme of youth culture for my personal study to prove my point that it is a part of growing up and that although to some it may be considered an unacceptable stereotype, it sure is fun.
My chosen artists for my project are Jim Goldberg and Ryan McGinley, two photographers that showcase a side of youth culture that is lesser captured in photography. Jim Goldberg is an LA based artist, most well known for his photobook Raised by Wolves, a ten-year documentation into the lives of teenage drug addicts living on the streets of Hollywood. Through a collection of images paperwork and interviews, Goldberg weaves together a story that makes the reader feel connected with his subjects. When asked about his intention behind the photobook, Goldberg simply said ‘“I had done the Rich, and I had done the Poor, and I had done the Old with Nursing Home, so it made sense to do something with young people.’ His work inspires me because it captures an unfiltered, raw & realistic side of youth culture that is often brushed under the carpet in media coverage. In my project, I aimed to respond to his work by taking a variety of images depicting stereotypes in youth culture that are considered negative, focusing on the lows in teenage life such as violence and the aftermath of hedonistic tendencies. On the other hand, my second artist Ryan McGinley portrays the topic of youth culture in a more fun, positive light, capturing the freedom and liberation of being a teenager but still including the self-indulgence of growing up, mainly through his photobook The Kids were Alright, where he would photograph himself and his friends in New York, most often out late at night smoking, drinking or spraying graffiti tags on walls. In my project, I aimed to respond to his work by photographing my friends in their most carefree state, aiming to capture the essence and intimacy of teenage life.
For my last shoot I decided to use some snapshots I have taken throughout 2022 (June to December) because I thought they might be useful as they weren’t taken for the intention to be used in this project. The images weren’t staged which makes them a bit more realistic in portraying what my life in the UK is like. The contact sheets contain images from Jersey, our trip to Greece and Turkey in July, as well as our trips to Liverpool and Southampton/Winchester in Oct-Nov.
