For my street photography, I am going to take my images in Saint Malo.
WHAT
I am going to walk around St Malo and try and capture the ‘decisive moment’ like the work of Cartier Bresson.
WHEN
I am going to take my images in the afternoon when as it will be busy and lots will be going on
HOW
I will use different setting on my camera to adjusts it to the environment and wait in certain bus spots to capture a unique moment.
Henri Cartier-Bresson was a French artist and street photographer who was considered the master of candid photography and influenced many other photographers to take images in the style of street photography such as William Klein. Cartier-Bresson took great care and interest in capturing human activity and wanted to capture ‘everyday’ in his images. He wanted to capture the “decisive moment” so he would take his images of subjects without their knowledge, which created these unique and mysterious images as the viewers are left to interpret what is happening in the image.
Henri Cartier-Bresson created a book called “The Decisive Moment” presenting his images. “The Decisive moment” became Cartier-Bresson’s moto and in a way his own style of photography as he believed that there was a ‘decisive moment ‘in every scene laid before a photographer. He captured unique images, waiting for the decisive moment that had a sense of awe about them.
I will be using the work of Cartier Bresson as inspiration when taking my images around St Malo
What is nostalgia?
Nostalgia is when you get a feeling of sentimental longing for the past, typically associated with a place, smell or sound. It reminds you of the good times you had and brings back old memories, feelings and connections you may of made with something or someone, in your childhood. The word nostalgia comes from the formation of the Greek compound consisting of νόστος (nóstos), meaning “homecoming” and a Homeric word, and ἄλγος (álgos), meaning “sorrow”. In the 17th century, the word was coined by the by the Swiss physician Johannes Hofer to display the symptoms of anxieties shown by Swiss mercenaries.
An example where many people feel nostalgic is when they are looking back on old photos, it can help individuals visualise their memories and look back on the ‘good ol’ days’. People also feel nostalgic listening to music, possibly on a plane going back home. Songs will link back to certain events that have happened in peoples lives and bring back the memories and feelings they felt.
The exhibition ‘PLAYTIME’ presents images from Lakeman’s childhood memories from Fort Regent Leisure Centre. Will has dedicated the exhibition to his late brother Matthew, the brothers used to spend most of their time up at the Fort as Will states that “those were the best of times for us.” The exhibition displays a range of images of the fort made from artificial intelligence (A.I) which are an attempt to recreate Will’s childhood memories from his point of view.
Lakeman wanted to recrate his childhood memories of Fort Regent through a series of images. Will “didn’t care if the images he created weren’t correct/ didn’t fit other peoples memories of the Fort because he wanted to portray how he remembers the fort. The images link back to the theme of nostalgia as it will bring back many old memories from the ‘good ol’ days’ for older generations. It will also allow them to explore whether their memories of the fort were different to Wills as the A.I images may not match what they remember. The exhibition made me feel nostalgic in a different way, as there were a variety of images such as ones that I could relate to as it’s how I remembered the Fort and ones that I’ve been told stories about by the older generations. When looking at the variety of different images, the images that made me feel a strong sense of nostalgia were the ones that showed the Fort how I remembered it; Such as ‘Rampart Angles’ which showed the iconic blue flooring along the upper floor of Fort Regent which was bordered with a red railing. It brought back my own childhood memories, from when I would run along there when playing with my friends.
Will had different sections of his exhibition, In one of the sections, there were a series of images displayed on a light board. This cause the images to glow, exaggerating the vivid colours in he image which are exactly how Will remembers the memories.
Throughout the exhibition, there were three different scents that Will thought related to each section exhibition. For example there was a swimming pool scent where Lakeman has displayed his photos showing his childhood memories from the swimming pool. Will had also made a custom sound scape to fit the exhibition which made it unique and made me feel like I was able to visualise what Will’s memories looked like.
Will used A.I to create most of the images seen at the exhibition, using tools such as the ‘text-to-image’ generators. Will used this tool to generate images that linked back to his memories which have a unique outcome.
I enjoyed the exhibition because it was different to other exhibitions as it had multiple aspects such as the soundtrack, scents, arcade game, darkened room with lightboxes. I found the different elements of the exhibition made it more interesting and interactive in a way as you could really try and visualise what Will was trying to show. The exhibition brought back some of my childhood memories and showed me what the Fort used to be like, as I have heard stories about it from older generations.
I am happy with the way my mounted outcomes turned out. I used a window mount and foamboard to mount my images. In my opinion, my images linking to the theme ‘femininity vs masculinity’ had a strong outcomes and they link back to my artist study, Justine Kurland. My environmental portraits came out better than I though they would as I wasn’t sure how the background I made, with all the surfboards would turn out. My least favourite images from the portrait project were the images I took in the studio because I found it hard to get the lighting correct at times. Overall, I would say that I have a strong range of final outcomes.
comment on technical, visual, contextual, conceptual?
My artist reference was Justine Kurland and I was focusing on her ‘Girl Book’ images. I think that I managed to portray Kurland’s work in to mine and took inspiration from her images to build up an idea of my own. When comparing my images to Justine Kurland’s, I could see clear similarities such as taking the images in a rural area, getting the model to wear similar clothing to the ‘run away girls.’ I also wanted to capture the idea that girls can go out and explore instead of ding the stereotypical thing of staying at home. Overall, I think that my images linked back to Justine Kurland’s work but, the final outcomes would have been better if I had more than one model in the images.
– Is there anything you would do differently/ change etc?
For my Justine Kurland shoot I would have changed how many models I had as the images would of linked back more to her work. I also, would have left myself more time to get a second photoshoot done. I had a plan but didn’t have time to execute it.
Both Kurland and Goldberg take their images in a documentary style, documenting the lives of people who have run away from home and are essentially homeless.
Justine Kurland’s project ‘Girl pictures’ contrasts with Jim Goldberg’s project ‘Raised by wolves’. Kurland presents her images in a more ‘feminine’ way; soft and gentle, hiding the reality that the girls in the photos are ‘run away girls’ and aren’t living a traditionally pleasant life. On the other hand, Goldberg has presented his images in a more ‘masculine’, harsh way; without sugar-coating anything. His images show the jarring truth of what it’s like to live on the streets.
Jim Goldberg’s project ‘Raised by Wolves’ took 10 years to make. Throughout those 10 years, Jim focused on picturing troubled runaways, whose lives became intertwined. This is similar to what Justine Kurland captured in her project ‘Girl pictures’ which is arguably a ‘feminine’ version of Goldberg’s project. Jim Goldberg captured the subjects’ personalities, histories, dreams, and aspirations; which are presented in their own words.
I’m going to put these images on individual white foam boards and lay them out on either a black or white background.
I’m going to put this image in a window mount.
A rough idea of how I’m going to lay out these images.
