Selection and colouring:

Photo shoot 1:

Selection and coloring:

Photo shoot 2:

Selection and coloring:

LaToya Ruby Frazier

LaToya Ruby Frazier is a talented American photographer known for her style and documentary like work which often explores race, social justice, class, and the impact of industrial decline. Her most famous project is called The Notion of Family, produced between 2001–2014, where she documents the lives of her mother, grandmother, and even herself in Braddock, Pennsylvania, a town that was and still is devastated by the sudden collapse of the steel industry.

There is definitely obvious themes within her work and these themes include:

Key Themes:

1. Family and Identity: Frazier’s work obviously centers on her family’s experiences and revealing inter generational trauma and resilience amidst economic decline. The project also highlights the idea of family as a cultural and historical construct.
2. Social and Economic Displacement: Her portraits and images of Braddock, highlights the connection between the destructive industrial collapse and the social decrease of working-class Black communities.
3. Health and Environmental Issues: Her famous project foregrounds environmental racism and healthcare imbalance, engrossing on how industrial pollution and inadequate healthcare have affected diminised populations.
4. Portraiture and Intimacy: Frazier’s raw, and personal portraits question stereotypes of Black and working-class life, handing out a refinement representation of struggle and resilience.
5. Cultural Context: Frazier provokes the erasure of working-class, Black, and female experiences especially in mainstream narratives. This offers a window into a community that is often ignored in discussions about industrialization.

Reception:

The Notion of Family has been praised and is still being praised for its emotional depth and constant questioning of social constructs, earning Frazier an international recognition. Her work has been exhibited in major museums and is part of collections at MoMA and the Whitney. In 2015, she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her contributions to art and social justice.

So in summary, The Notion of Family is an exploration of race, place, class, and blending personal narrative with broader social issues which offers a powerful, empathetic view of a undervalued community’s struggles.

Kürşat Bayhan

Kürşat Bayhan is an extraordinary Turkish artist and photographer who is known for blending themes like history, memory, identity, and contemporary socio-political issues. His interesting work combines conceptual and documentary photography, often exploring themes like migration, the urban environment, and the thick tension between tradition and modernity.

While he is not widely known especially internationally, Bayhans work is an important figure when in comes to contemporary Turkish photography. His projects challenge how personal experiences intersect with larger socio-political landscapes, often contributing to the discussions of visual culture and identity. He has exhibited his work both in Turkey and internationally, gaining recognition for his unique storytelling approach.

One project that is eye catching is the project callled “Away from Home” It is a photographic series which explores themes of feeling of displacement and migration. The work focuses on individuals who have been forced to leave their homes due to conflict or hardship which captures their emotional and psychological experiences of this difficult and unwilling exile. Through intimate portraits and documentary-style images, Bayhan humanizes the migrant experience, and reflects on feelings of mislaying, identity, and the search for belonging in foreign environments. The series also delves into the complex notion of “home,” highlighting the tension between the past and the present for displaced individuals. It also offers a personal and empathetic perspective on migration, beyond political or statistical stories.

Refrence:

larubyfrazier.com

www.instagram.com

www.artforum.com

Whitney Museum of American Art

Just a moment…

Wikipedia

People: Kürşat Bayhan | The Floating Magazine

Kursat Bayhan – PhMuseum

internationalphotogrant.com

Mood board:

Mind map:

REVIEW

In the first year of photography, I learned many important lessons and now in my second and last year of photography I can tell you that, I’m still learning different and important aspects of photography.

Can you even define photography?

Many may bluntly say that photography is taking pictures from a camera or a type of art however I would like to argue that photography is much more than that. From all the projects that I have done, I can strongly state that photography is a complex art. I learned that, not all photographs can be edited or taken the same way, they all have their own type of ‘impurities’. There is many angles we need to consider when producing a photograph, photography isn’t something that is easily learnt, you have to know how to use a camera, how to change settings in the camera in regard of the surroundings and most importantly, knowing when to capture the perfect moment, a decisive moment.

I have learnt that photography can be a form of preserving a memory as it encapsulates moments in time and I’ve realised this by studying many artist in the 20th century, artist like Ansel Adams, Claud Cahun, Cindy Sherman and so much more talented artist’s. This preservation of memories enabled me to understand the development and contribution towards photography. Photography has also enabled me to express my views, what inspires me and most importantly what I love most. Producing photographs has allowed me to discover my style and format. I’ve also learned that, photography documents the social, cultural, present and historical issues. It brings awareness. After studying about an artist called Jason Jackson who preached about BLM, it brought me insight about what racism actually was and it’s impact.

Photography act’s as a watchdog, a term created by David Hesmondhalgh which is where the media is checked to ensure it’s accurate and fair

Proof that photography is a watch dog is by evidence I have gathered after studying a variety of artist that explored different topics. This allowed me to be aware of certain topics I wasn’t as aware of. One topic that I explored in photography that effected me the most was identity. It brought me awareness of how identity can be shown in many different ways and everyone has different type’s of perspectives in terms of identity. Nan Goldin was an incredible artist that completely changed my perspective towards identity, she redefined photography by recording the promiscuous lives of her unique friends and herself.

Overall photography taught me numerous things. It taught me how to become an artist, it taught me things I had no clue about, it taught me that, different is better, and lastly it taught me to view world differently than others.

REFLECT

Masculinity and Femininity:

Masculinity is often referred to the behaviours, roles traditionally linked with being a male and qualities, which are many times emphasised traits like strength, independence and assertiveness. Femininity is seen as something that has roles and qualities which are typically linked to being female, highlighted as nurturing, sensitive and empathy. The concepts or terms are both culturally and socially constructed which basically means they can vary across different time periods and societies within a community.

Someone who I studied and challenged femininity and masculinity was called Claud Cahun. She was a French photographer and an artist that showed her surreal self and was famously know for her self-portraits. She also explored identity and gender fluidity. Her provoking imagery challenged many traditional norms which made her a key individual in feminist art.

I learnt that, she was very evolved in her time period and her advanced thinking made her different to everyone. This challenged people, it made people have a different perspective of what identity actually was and even opened peoples eyes to gender fluidity. The project that I produced in response to her work, taught to me think outside of the box. It challenged me in many ways. It challenged me with defining what masculinity and femininity actually was and especially how I was going to express it without being stereotypical. It allowed me to be creative and open within my work.

Previous:

inspiration:

Evaluation:

My images had clear inspiration by Cahun’s work. I really liked my final outcomes and how I was able to mimic her techniques and ideas into my own perspectives, however if I was to repeat this study and response, I would try to be more accurate in colouring and editing.

Romanticism:

Romanticism was a literary and artistic movement from the late 18th to mid-19th century which sympathised emotion, nature and individualism. It evaluated imagination and often protested against traditional norms, the sublime and celebrating feelings.

An artist that I looked into that investigated romanticism was the talented artist called Robert Adams. He was known for his black and white landscapes of the American west where he compared the themes of human impact and nature. One of his project I looked into was ‘The New West’. He showed industrialised towns and often challenged these towns by capturing these towns with the background of the images being nature. He often put towns at the front and the nature in the back to comment on the effects that industrialisation was creating. The effect that he had when he put nature as the background was ground braking. Him doing this implied that we were forgetting about nature and worrying more about the human species and its ever growing population. His work brought me awareness and anger. It made me realise how much we have selfishly ruined and defrosted many fields to sustain our never-ending population. With this realisation, I was able to show this within my images. I was able to make urbanisation as something that was dark and bad in my images and make the nature/rural part of my image lighter, just like he did.

Previous:

inspiration:

Evaluation:

This topic was one of my favourite topics I got to explore. I really liked how awareness was brought to me via images and how eye opening it was. I enjoyed producing images that brought awareness and with these images, I could use them as a way to shout at the human population about the mass urbanisation but not literally. I did it through my images. However, if I was to repeat this again, using my final images, I would take images of towns instead a place that wasn’t as highly populated. This would’ve brought even more awareness about the mass population and the message Roberts wanted to imply.

Identity:

Identity mentions the qualities, beliefs and characteristics that make a person or a group distinct So, identity is about how each individual person perceives themselves and how they are seen by others. Identity is often influenced by experiences and social contexts.

A artist that I really liked learning about her work was an artist called Clare Rae. She is an Australian photographer who is famously known for her intimate portraits which explore themes of femininity and identity. Her work combined fine art and documentary styles where she would use light and composition to create evocative narratives. Her work was unique. She expressed her frustration towards objection in women, directly or indirectly. Positioning herself in awkward poses, enabled her to show that and communicate things that she could say or didn’t want to say directly. I learned that a body is a very powerful message. Without using words or implication, you can use your body to show how you feel or perceive something and I find that powerful. I also learned that we can use our surroundings to produce and image and when you combine those two things, a body and a surrounding, you get a striking message.

Previous:

inspiration:

Evaluation: I really liked my outcomes that were inspired by Rae’s work. I think that I powerfully showed my inspiration and awkwardness in my images, just like Clare. The poses in awkward settings, enabled me to be creative and inspiring. However, if I was to repeat this topic and response. I would do Self-portraits instead of taking images of others because Clare did that, to indicate an important and persuasive message.

We can never determine where and who started photography due to the fact that in the time that photography was being invented, many individuals were exploring and working in similar things in relation to photography. However what is certain, is the fact that many revolutionary people contributed to the history and origin of photography and many are credited till this day. The two most important processes that were introduced in the early forms of photography is the two processes called Daguerreotype and Calotype. Daguerreotype was a direct-positive process which created a highly detailed image on a sheet of copper plated with a thin coat of silver without the use of negative which was invented by Louis Jacques Mandé Daguerre. Calotype was a technique created by William Henry Fox Talbot where it consisted of a sheet of paper coated with silver chloride that was then exposed to light in camera obscura. Some may say that in terms of John Szarkowski’s thesis where he states that the world can be viewed through a ‘mirror’ or ‘window’, these two processes can be applied towards the ‘mirror’ side of the thesis. This is because most pictures produced using these two processes, were pictures of family or portrait images of people, so they were quite personal and reflective of the people who made it. Szarkowski’s implies that ‘Art is a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it‘ which contributes to the statement above. There is a strong agreement towards this saying as I believe that a mirror can be a reflection of what the artist see’s and interprets. However, some may contradict that the process Calotype views the world as ‘window’. Some images produced using a Calotype, were quite documentary in style, and showed a better and different perspective of the world. We can prove this by the saying that is said in Szarkowski’s thesis, which is ‘window, through which one may better know the world‘. Many may even say that these two processes are both ‘windows’ as they both document the past.

The image that has been chosen that shows ‘mirror’ in terms of Szarkowski’s thesis is the image shown below. This image is seen as a ‘mirror’. This is because the image is quite subjective itself. The time, 1997, that this image was taken was the time that women were seen as housemaids and things that had to have motherly features and attitudes. This is a self portrait taken by Cindy Sherman where it shows her in a very provocative outfit doing household chores. She projects that women in those times needed to look presentable for their husband for visual pleasure yet needed to act like a responsible and role model to their kids, taking care of the chores which was something that women were obligated to do in those time periods. This image reflects Sherman’s ‘Self’ especially her views, its almost like its quite a personal and private subject for her but she still chose to use her voice and express her views using photography. This picture also connects to the theorist Laura Mulvey, who explores the male gaze and states that representation of women is quite objective and defines their identity in relation to male character, which is exactly what Cindy Sherman is posed as. Laura Mulver implies that “Woman’s desire is subjugated to her image (…) as bearer, not maker, of meaning”. This was said the good reads, a website filled with her quotes. This acts in accordance with Shermen’s intention because Laura Mulvey indicates in the quote what women are stereotypical portrayed as which Cindy also explores in the image show below and in many of her images. This picture wholeheartedly reflects the person she is which is someone who is interested in exploring identity and she even said that, “I wish I could treat every day as Halloween, and get dressed up and go out into the world as some eccentric character” which was said in the MoMA website

Szarkowski’s states that the “general movement in American photography in the past quarter-century has been from public to private concerns.”. Cindy’s images are subjective and private and we can extract the part where Szarkowski’s mentions the private concerns and apply it to her image. Although her images are quite controversial and ‘out there’, it is still private. How women were portrayed in that time was a private subject and something that was forbidden in terms of protesting about such roles within the female population. In Jed Perl review, Szarkowski’s comments on Minor White’s work as “romantic” and “self-expression,” which is something that is exactly represented in Sherman’s work. This strongly supports Szarkowski’s statement about how mirror is described.

The image that has been chosen that shows ‘window’ in terms of Szarkowski’s thesis is the image shown below. This image is seen as a ‘window’. This is because the image is objective. It literally states what its showing, it is common sense. This image was taken in 1933, Seville and entitled as, “Children Playing in Ruins”. Even in his descriptions he was objective and clear. After this image, The Spanish Civil War broke out, in the cities Henri Cartier-Bresson had navigated through. Although he did not know this would be the outcome, a war, this ruined building and crippled children became associated with the horrors of that war. If we look at Szarkowski’s theory about what a window is defined as, he says that “through which one may better the world” which is something that is exactly shown. Cartier-Bresson took this picture without realizing that three years after, war would unleash, which massively effected the way this image was read. It showed the possible outcomes of war and documented the distress of war, unintentionally.

Szarkowski’s observes that “there is a fundamental dichotomy today between photographers who believe that all art is concerned with self-expression and those who see it as a means of exploration” seen in the website called MoMA’s . Cartier-Bresson’s work, especially this image had a tendency of being documentary like and we can actually apply and extract a part from Szarkowski’s suggestion about the ‘concern’ of ‘exploration’ and apply it to this image. Especially with the known fact that this was taken few years before the Spanish Civil War in Saville. Again proof of his dangerous exploration. In Jed Perl review, Szarkowski’s comments in franks work, and notices that his work explores “realism,” and “exploration”, again complying with the first statement done by Szarkowski. It is certain that Henri’s work has a certain realism to it, the realism of War and the youth that are effected by it. Henri declares that “Of all the means of expression, photography is the only one that fixes a precise moment in time.” which was shown in John Paul Caponigro’s blog. This obey’s Szarkowski’s theory as it basically implies that expression is shown as something that is documentary like, it captures the past.

If we refer back to the question, ‘how can photographs be both mirrors and windows of the world’. If we look at Szarkowski’s theory in summary, it is obvious that he see’s mirror’s as something that is “art, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, and window, as those who may better know the world”. However in Perl’s review, Szarkowski’s reviews and observes mirrors as something romantic and self-reflection and windows as realism and expression. We can agree and say that photographs can be both mirrors and windows especially with the two images that were analysed, above, especially when applying Szarkowski’s theory and Jed’s review. They have similarities and these are the way they have people in the images, creating a door to a more public approach something that is considered as mirror. Both images are factual, however very different. One is about the Spanish Civil War, showing realism, and the other is about the realities of how women were portrayed, this is romanticism of how women were seen, in a specific time period. However, the image that shows how a women is projected is quite fictional. The image is made up, it was creatively constructed by the artist, even though it was factual, because that was exactly how women were characterised, it was also exaggerated and staged. Lastly if we look at the images, they can be both be mirror and windows however they individually have sides that they lean more to so in conclusion I think that in images there are mirrors , windows and in-between’s.

STORY: 

My story will be seen as something that has a mixture and comparison of past and present. It might also show some form of the future in the St Helier harbour. This is to manipulate a realisation towards the audience for them to actually realise how quickly the time is passing and how quickly Jersey, more specifically, St Helier harbour, is evolving.

NARRATIVE: 

I will have my own produced images with a comparison and incorporation of mixture of images from the Archives and will also get the future images from a folder my teacher has provided me which shows a variety of future lookalikes that St Helier harbour may become.

At the beginning of my zine, I will have an introduction of the history, facts and more about the St Helier harbour. The first couple of pages will consist of landscapes of the St Helier harbour (present). Then I will have some past and present images, using the archive images and my own picture to compare. In this group of images, I will have the year it was taken and where. Then using some picture from the archive, I will incorporate the past people or objects from the past pictures and place them on my own, present images of St Helier harbour. These images will be placed on one side of the page and the next page won’t have any images because I will put a poem about St Helier harbour or sayings that people have said about St Helier harbour

I plan to have my font-types quite antic tone to them with words that change colors depending on the image that is shown (black and white or colored). The cover of the zine will be black and white with an image that indicates what the zine will be about. The text will be shown vertically on the right side of the cover on the middle. These words will be black and white

Mood board of 10-16 images.

General layout:

Measurements:
Create new document
width: 148mm
height: 210
pages: 16
orientation: portrait
columns:2
column gutter: 5mm
margins: top, bottom, inside, outside: 10mm
bleed: top, bottom, inside, outside: 3mm

Paper plan:

This was my first ever mock plan. I liked the Sequence of the photos however I didn’t really like the Layout of it and the fact that there was too much images to produce so this plan was rejected.

Indesign plan:

I liked the layout more and the features however the fonts and writing weren’t what I was looking for and there was too little images so I wanted to incorporate more images so this plan was rejected.

Actual Indesign plan:

I loved everything about it, I liked the layout the sequence of images and most important the fonts and placement of the text. The design of the zine was also something that I was extremely proud of.

What is the difference between photographs that are mirrors or windows?

Mirrors tends to classed as quite subjective and romantic. It has denotations of a photographers sensibility of view which is a projection of self. Windows is objective, it explored the exterior region and illustrates reality and presence

1. Read two texts above (John Szarkowski’s introduction and review by Jed Pearl) and select 3 quotes form each that is relevant to your essay.

John:

“The pictures included here are arranged in two
sections,”

Szarkowski suggests that there is a,
“fundamental dichotomy today between photographers
who believe that all art is concerned with self-expression
and those who see it as a means of exploration”

“Art is a mirror, reflecting a
portrait of the artist who made it, and those who see it as a
window, through which one may better know the world”

Jed:

White, toward an idealist, “romantic” goal of “self-expression,” a “mirror” that primarily describes the self; Frank, toward an introverted “realism,” involved with the “exploration” of a private “window” on the world.

“the general movement in American photography in the past quarter-century has been from public to private concerns”

 Now, in Mirrors and Windows, he presents a binary theory of photography as art: an evolution from public to private concerns

RE-DO this

2. Select two images, one that represent a mirror and another that represents a window as examples to use in your essay.

3. Use some of the key words that you listed above to describe what the mirrors and windows suggest.

Mirrors: subjective, personal, romantic, sensibility, private, expression, projection and complex,

Windows: objective, exterior, documentary, tableux, public, escape, landscape, still life, explore, world and elements