Where: York city centre

When: 23rd of March, early morning

What/who: The city and the people in it

How: DSLR, auto focus to ensure all images are in focus.

Where: Edinburgh city centre

When: 23rd of March, early afternoon

What/who: The city and the people in it

How: DSLR, auto focus to ensure all images are in focus.

Alec Soth

Alec Soth is a photographer based in Minneapolis, Minnesota whose style of photography includes documentary photography. Soth likes to make “large scale American projects” where his images are ‘off-beat’, obvious and boring images of modern America. Within his images he likes the subject to be a “loner or dreamer” which is why the subject is often seen alone in typically a rural American landscape.

Alec Soths work is inspired by Diane Arbus and has had his work compared to Walker Evens and Stephen Shore. When taking his images Soth has admitted that he “feels very nervous at times” but he finds that his awkwardness comfort people. It can be argued that Soths project ‘Sleeping by the Mississippi’ is his most well know project as Soth worldwide artist recognition in 2004 after publishing this project. He wanted this book to portray the feelings of neglect and isolation by presenting rural, remote landscape and interior images along with portraits. The images that appear in the book were taken on his road trip along the Mississippi.

Sometimes imperfections make something even better – which is one of the reasons why I still enjoy shooting on film.– Alec Soth

Personally I think the work of Alec Soth is unique as his images and draw viewers in. There is a sense of power within his images and the lone subjects is surrounded by a vast rural American Landscape, leaving the viewers to interpret their own idea and story for the subject such as their background. When looking at Soths landscape and interior images there is a sense of awe as the setting appears quiet purely because of how abandoned and derelict the place are. The images Alec Soth takes are raw and detailed.

Image Analysis

This is a digital portrait taken of Charles Vasa by Alec Soth. The mise-en-scene presents Charles in his coveralls standing on a roof holding two model planes, one in each hand, presenting them to the viewer. Charles is stood against a rural winter background in Minnesota, which is out of focus. This tells us that that image has been taken with a narrow depth of field and a large aperture because the subject is in focus and the background isn’t. The photo has been taken from a straight on angle with the subject engaging with the camera, which makes the image feel tense and gives it depth. The use of lighting is natural however, as it is a overcast winter day there isn’t much of a light source which is why there aren’t many shadows present in the image. The colours in the image are quite dull and could be described as ‘army like’ as there are many greens, browns, white and blacks seen in the image. The use of those colours relate to the Air force as the subject is holding two model planes and wearing clothing that makes him look like a pilot. It can be seen that Soth has used the rules of thirds because he has cantered the subject in the middle thirds. Overall the image has a sense of awe and a dreamlike feel to it as the freshly painted house contrasts with the messy, unfinished rooftop.

Thomas Lodin

Thomas Lodin is a Biarritz-based surf photographer who creates images displaying the simplicity in surfing. Lodin grew up in the northwest of France, an hour away from the beach which is where he spent most his time during the weekends and summer holidays, messing around in the water bodyboarding and sailing. He first started to take images to create memories with his friends which later developed to Lodin wanting to take “better images” whilst still having fun. When Lodin started to surf he would bring his camera with him, capturing images of the surf which he is still doing now. The images he produces are taken on film so when I edit my images I will take this in to consideration so my images have the same feel to them as Lodins. When taking his images he focuses on how the light looks and the contrast of the images as well as any emotion within the photo.

“For me a photograph is fixing a moment that is already gone, it’s so powerful so if it creates an emotion at that exact moment, that’s a good photograph.”– Thomas Lodin

What I enjoy about Thomas Lodins work is how well it links and relates to the surf culture as there isn’t a strong professional feel to the images, there is more a sense of freedom which links in with the aesthetic of surfing.

Image Analysis

This is a digital image of a portrait of a surfer. The mise-en-scene presents a surfer sat on his longboard looking down at the sand in the foreground whereas it presents a pier and a mountain in the background. The use of light is natural and coming from the left side of the image as you can see the sand is lighter on the left side of the image. The photo has been taken low angle from the right side of the subject which allows Lodin to get the whole surfboard in frame as well as allowing us to view the subjects facial expressions. The foreground and subject is in focus whereas the background is out of focus suggesting this image has a narrow depth of field. The colours in the image are monochrome which includes darker and lighter shades within the photo. Lodin had used the rule of thirds which can be seen as the subject is in the middle third and the foreground and background are separated in to the background being in the top third and the foreground being in the bottom third.

I will be using the work of Soth and Lodin for inspiration throughout my project, as I will take a range of photos of my sister as she prepares for the Euros (surfing competition).

W. Eugene Smith was an American photojournalist and was perhaps the most famous documentary photographer of all time. Arguably Smiths most famous work is his Country Doctor magazine which he produced in 1948. For this project Smith spent 23 days Kremmling where he photographer the day-to-day activities carried out by general practitioner. I will be studying Smiths work as I will be following and documenting the day-to-day activities carried out by my sister as she prepares for the upcoming European Championship Juniors 2024.

Smith was intrigued in the aviation industry which is why he started off by taking images of planes at local airfields. Smiths passion for photography started to grow and by the age of 15 his images were being published in newspapers. After attending the University of Notre Dame for a year, where he was granted a scholarship for photography, he dropped out and mover to New York City. Smith briefly worked for Newsweek before shortly being fired for refusing to abandon the 35mm Contax camera he enjoyed working with. In 1939 Smith began to work with Life magazine which he later became a war correspondent for in 1943. During his time as a war correspondent Smith took images on the front line of the battles of the Pacific which shaped his photographic career as he wanted his images to “carry a message against the greed, the stupidity and the intolerances that cause these wars and the breaking of many bodies.” In 1945, Smith was seriously injured by mortar fire while photographing the Battle of Okinawa.

During his time at Life magazine Smith produced one of the most well known photojournalism pieces the Country Doctor. The Country Doctor showcased the day-to-day challenges faced by general practitioner Dr. Ernest Ceriani. Many of the images produced were unsettling as they demonstrated the challenges GP’s faced on a day-to-day basis, giving the world an insight on what it was like to be a general practitioner at this time.

The Country Doctor consists of 11 page spreads with a range of different images such as; establishing shots, detailed shots, environmental portraits, formal portraits, observed portraits, relationship shots and person at work shots. Smith has also included a caption under each image, narrating what is happening in each image.

I have decided to that I am going to take documentary style photographs of my sisters surfing journey. I will be taking images that demonstrate ‘a day in the life’ of a teenager surfer, looking at the work of W. Eugene Smith specifically ‘The Country Doctor.’ as well as Alec Soth and surf photographer Thomas Lodin

Artists:

W. Eugene Smith, Thomas Lodin, Alec Soth

Alec Soth

W. Eugene Smith

Thomas Lodin

What is the photographic gaze?

“The idea of a photographic ‘gaze’ relates to a specific way of looking, and being looked at through the camera, and implies a certain psychological relationship of power and control.
The camera lens is another demonstration of a powerful gaze, referred to as the photographic gaze, simulating the gaze of the naked eye. Indeed, the former could even be more powerful than the gaze of the naked eye due to photographic permanence. Janina Struk defines a photograph as: “a two-dimensional object, a fraction of a second framed and frozen in time” (4). Susan Sontag in On Photography notes that “photographs are a neat slice of time, not a flow” (17). It is the stillness of a photograph that gives it power and makes it more effective than television broadcasting or film.

Types of gazes

• the spectator’s gaze: the gaze of the viewer at an image of a person (or animal, or object) in the text; 
• the intra-diegetic gaze: a gaze of one depicted person at another (or at an animal or an object) within the world of the text (typically depicted in filmic and televisual media by a subjective ‘point-of-view shot’); 
• the direct [or extra-diegetic] address to the viewer: the gaze of a person (or quasi-human being) depicted in the text looking ‘out of the frame’ as if at the viewer, with associated gestures and postures (in some genres, direct address is studiously avoided); 
• the look of the camera – the way that the camera itself appears to look at the people (or animals or objects) depicted; less metaphorically, the gaze of the film-maker or photographer.

How it links to my artist references

The gaze links to both my artist references regarding the male gaze, In feminist theory, the male gaze is the act of depicting women and the world in the visual arts and in literature from a masculine, heterosexual perspective that presents and represents women as sexual objects for the pleasure of the heterosexual male viewer.

Although both my artists are female they capture photos of women and girls in a way which would be desirable to a male audience, they capture true beauty of the females and show them in an explicit way, which typically men want to see as they look desirable in many of the images and the models have these strong feminine features, which make them stand out.

For my third photo shoot this is going to be inspired by Nancy Honey and my mood board, i am going to focus on lighting and photographing images in the male gaze, taking photos of collar bones, neck and side profile, the photos are going to be taken in the bath, my sister being the model wearing a bikini, i am going to light up the room using lamps i have placing them in places which will emphasis shadows .

For my second photoshoot I am going to go to florists and take photos of flowers in links to Tara Lichtenstein as the photos will be used to layer on photos to create a double exposed photo, the photos of the flowers will be close up focusing on the details of the flowers, they will be taken in daylight using natural lighting.

For my first shoot i am going to go down to St. Ounes beach and photograph my friend in a flowy dress in response to Tamara Lichtenstein, i am going to get the model to pose freely near the edge of the water the view of the sea in the background, i am going to make the photos darker by letting less light into the camera this is because i am going to try layer photos together similar to Lichtenstein this will allow this shoots photos to stand out more prominently. I am going to take the photos in the late afternoon as it isn’t too bright yet there is still enough light to create clear images.

All these images are unedited as my second photoshoot is going to be based on flowers which i am going to use to layer them on top of these images to make them more intriguing and similar to Lichtenstein’s images.