What are the differences between photographs that are WINDOWS and MIRRORS?
“The two creative motives that have been contrasted here are not discrete. Ultimately each of the pictures in this book is part of a single, complex, plastic tradition. Since the early days of that tradition, an interior debate has contested issues parallel to those illustrated here. The prejudices and inclinations expressed by the pictures in this book suggest positions that are familiar from older disputes. In terms of the best photography of a half-century ago, one might say that Alfred Stieglitz is the patron of the first half of this book and Eugène Atget of the second. In either case, what artist could want a more distinguished sponsor? The distance between them is to be measured not in terms of the relative force or originality of their work, but in terms of their conceptions of what a photograph is: is it a mirror, reflecting a portrait of the artist who made it, or a window, through which one might better know the world?” — John Szarkowski, 1978
Photographs used as “windows” provide an overview into the world, culture, or experience of another person, serving as an open doorway that allows the spectator to learn more about something they are not familiar with. The viewer’s awareness of different lives, habits or locations is broadened by these photographs, which frequently depict situations, people, or settings that are outside of their own world. In this sense, “window” photos provide the audience a chance to see something different and give them an idea of parts of the world that they might not normally see, frequently with a feeling of curiosity or indifference.
On the other hand, “mirror” photos create a feeling of familiarity and connection by reflecting the viewer’s own identity, experiences, or feelings. These pictures create an emotional connection with the audience, frequently bringing out aspects of their own surroundings, culture, or emotions. A snapshot that serves as a mirror strengthens the viewer’s sense of self and helps them comprehend their own identity or experiences on a deeper level. “Mirrors” reflect the familiar, giving the observer a sense of being seen or understood, whereas “windows” provide new perspectives beyond oneself.
Richard long – A Line Made By Walking, England, 1967
A Line Made by Walking downplays the artist’s physical appearance while hinting at Long’s previous involvement in performance art. It demonstrates the duration of time it took for him to develop a visual way to express his enduring concerns about reality, movement, and impermanence.
Bill Brandt – Nude East Sussex, 1968
This picture, following his previous wide-angle nude works, positions the naked figure at the front with her body stretching into the background. The camera is positioned near the model’s face, causing the viewer to feel unsettled as they are aware that the nude is the focal point of the photo and must see the scene from the nude’s perspective. We are observers of the image while also being the focus of it.
Eugene Atget – Street Musician, 1898
This change in how Atget’s work was seen started towards the end of his life, when he became acquainted with Berenice Abbott, a young American photographer working in Paris for Man Ray. Following his passing, Abbott acquired his archive’s remains and started to advocate for his work. She was captivated by the unfamiliarity present in Atget’s photographs, finding within them a Surrealist element along with a steadfast commitment to accuracy and a genuine affection towards the subject itself.
This photograph is included in a collection Abbott printed and released to honour Atget’s centennial birth anniversary. An edition consisting of 100 sets, each numbered, was released.
Robert Rauscheneberg – Windward, Oil And Silkscreen In On Canvas, 1963
Robert Heinecken – Figure Sections (Multiple Solution Puzzle), 1966
Nan Goldin – Nan And Brian In Bed, NYC, 1983, Cibachrome
Goldin’s art is inspired by her personal life, and this image deeply captures the emotional intensity of her own love story. The artist reclines on a bed, looking at Brian – her lover – with a blend of desire and acceptance while he looks away from her. A gentle yellow glow envelops the setting, evoking the fading warmth of a setting sun and a declining bond. “The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, a collection of over seven hundred colour slides accompanied by a soundtrack, features Nan and Brian in Bed, New York City as part of Goldin’s significant work.” The slideshow, lasting forty-five minutes, is named after a song from The Threepenny Opera by Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht, providing a close, emotional look at a marginal group in 1980s downtown Manhattan. Goldin has characterized The Ballad as “the diary I share with others”; the casual snapshot approach of her photos gives their personal narratives a strong feeling of being in the moment. Although the work depicts the collective experience of a generation affected by drug abuse and AIDS, its main focus is on the passion and intensity found in romantic relationships – both the peaks and valleys.
Garry Winogrand – Los Angeles, 1969, Gelatin – Silver Print
This photograph, similar to many of Winogrand’s finest pieces, is extremely unsettling. The photographer utilized a wide-angle lens to capture the people and their surroundings in great detail, and added another level of distortion by tilting the camera. The primary focus of the image is three women casting a brief glance at a man seated in a wheelchair with a begging cup in his lap. The bending of light in the middle of the picture highlights the outlines of the women’s legs, creating lengthy shadows. The contrast between the woman’s sexuality, youth, and mobility is juxtaposed with the man’s poverty and lack of mobility. The camera’s placement makes the viewer feel like they are on the street, adding a sense of urgency to the scene.
William Eggleston – From Memphis, Tennessee, Dye Transfer Print, Early 1970s
Born in 1975, Shannon Taggart is an American photographer known for her compelling and thought-provoking work which focuses on the themes of Spiritualism, the supernatural and the paranormal.
Spiritualism is a religious movement that emerged in the 19th century. This movement believes in the possibility of communicating with spirits, mainly the deceased.
Taggart had first became aware of Spiritualism as a teenager when her cousin received a message from a medium that gave details about her grandfather’s death. In 2001, she began taking photos in Lily Dale, New York, where her cousin had received the message. Lily Dale is home to the world’s largest Spiritualist community. Taggart was inspired by Spiritualism’s processes, earnest practitioners, and neglected photographic history. This project evolved into an 18 year journey that ended up taking her around the world in search of ‘ectoplasm‘.
Ectoplasm, in occultism, is a mysterious, usually light-coloured, viscous substance that is said to exude from the body of a spiritualist medium in trance and may then take the shape of a face, a hand, or a complete body. It is normally visible only in the darkened atmosphere of a séance.
Taggart’s work is not only artistic but also ethnographic. She immerses herself in the communities she photographs by participating in their rituals and gaining the trust of her subjects. This allows her to document spiritualist practices with both sensitivity and insight.
Ethnographic is a method of research and a style of study that involves observing, describing and analysing the cultural practices, behaviours, beliefs and interactions of a particular group of people.
Her book “SÉANCE” (2019) is a visual journey through spiritualist practices, specifically in Lily Dale. The book includes a mix of both black-and-white and colour photographs. She captured mediums in trance, spiritual gatherings and ghost apparitions.
Lieko Shiga
Born in 1980, Lieko Shiga is a Japanese contemporary photographer known for her surreal, poetic and haunting imagery. She has studied photography in London at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, as well as at the Royal College of Art. She is well known for her “Rasen Kaigan” Series and is recognised by a blur between documentary and staged photography which results in her personal, unique style.
Shiga’s work explores the themes of memory, trauma and the passage of time especially in relation to local communities. Her projects are often based in places she lives in and the people she encounters. She often immerses herself in rural Japanese communities where she collaborates with the local residents.
Shiga’s “Rasen Kaigan” series was created while she was living in Kitakama. It explores the themes of disaster, loss and the resilience of the human spirit, originally it focused on reflecting the dreams, lives and traditions of the villages in Kitakama, however, this project was impacted by the aftermath of the Tōhoku 2011 earthquake and tsunami which destroyed a large majority of her previous work, however it helped to reshape her artistic vision. Her work seen in this series often features distorted human figures, eerie landscapes and a strong sense of narrative.
Shiga is inspired by numerous subjects, one of them being Japanese Folklore and Mythology. Because of this her work often evokes a sense of the supernatural and blends reality with this. She views photography as both a way to capture moments but to also tell stories that transcend time and space which draws on the mythic and spiritual dimensions of the human experience.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
“Creative pictures must be felt in a similar way as one listens to music, emotionally, without expecting a story, information or facts.”
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Born in 1925, Ralph Eugene Meatyard was an American photographer known for his enigmatic, surreal and haunting black-and-white images. His work is often associated with the Southern Gothic tradition as well as elements of avant-garde and experimental photography.
Because Meatyard grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, he was influenced by the Southern Gothic Tradition which captured a sense of decay, mystery and the macabre.
Meatyard was deeply influenced by his interest in philosophy, literature and the arts. His interest in photography began in the early 1950s after purchasing a camera to photograph his newborn son. He is known for his surreal, dreamlike work which often features family members and friends in staged scenes.
Meatyard’s work featured a frequent use of masks, dolls and props which created images that were both unsettling and poetic. Because of his subjects wore masks they ended up looking like ghostly anonymous figures. He often took photographs in abandoned buildings, overgrown woods and rural settings, these helped to add to the already eerie atmosphere to his work. His work often evokes the uncanny which creates a sense of discomfort and challenges his viewers to question the nature of reality and perception.
The uncanny was a concept popularised by Sigmund Freud which describes something both familiar and alien.
Statement of Intent
I have chosen to study all three of these photographers, especially Shannon Taggart, because I believe that their work shows strong elements of my own intentions and what I want to achieve with my own project.
Taggart’s work focuses on the themes of Spiritualism, the supernatural and the paranormal which are some of the themes I would like to focus on within my project. Elements of her style, such as her lighting techniques and editing, are something I would like to incorporate into my work as it creates a sense of mystery and makes the viewer question what they are looking at.
My inspiration comes from my own struggles with mental health so I’ve decided to base my project on creating a narrative about someone who is stuck in the worst parts of their life and feel lost, because their mental health has been severely declining, they start to believe they are seeing and getting signs from some supernatural beings as a way of coping. They believe that these beings are the only way they can escape their reality. They start to respond to these beings by preforming rituals and giving them everything they ask, this then leads to them becoming very unstable. I’ve chosen to go with this idea because I find the supernatural very interesting and fascinating as well as my own experience with slowly becoming like the protagonist in the narrative.
I want to explore and tackle teenage stereotypes. I want to capture ideas of what people paint teenagers out to be, but also how they can be in reality. Exploring teenage stereotypes is valuable because it helps challenge oversimplified or inaccurate perceptions of adolescence, fostering a more in depth understanding of teens’ diverse experiences. By examining these stereotypes (such as the rebellious, irresponsible, and overly technology obsessed teens) we can uncover how society’s expectations shape both adult views of teenagers themselves. This exploration promotes empathy, encourages more accurate portrayals in media, and empowers teens to define their own identities rather than being confined to labels. Ultimately, it fosters a better understanding of development and the cultural forces that influence how teens are perceived and treated.
Why it matters to you?
Exploring this theme matters to me as personally, I have quite a large friend group. A lot of he time we are perceived as troublemakers and up to no good. In reality, we are just a group of teenagers/young adults who are enjoying themselves and are having fun. Stereotypes about teenagers are common because they simplify the complex and often unpredictable nature of childhood, a time of rapid change and emotional intensity. Society tends to categorise teens based on behaviour patterns, media portrayals, and generalizations about this stage of life, which can be seen as rebellious, experimental, or technology obsessed. These stereotypes are reinforced by popular culture, where teens are often depicted in extreme or exaggerated ways, making it easier for adults to understand or relate or even judge to them without recognising their individuality or the deeper challenges they face.
How you wish to develop your project?
To develop my project, I am going to meet up with my friends and capture moments of us just hanging out. i wont be setting anything up, just capturing the moments naturally. I am going to look at both my artist references and recreate images like theirs, but in my own way. I will be using the style of windows, an observational technique reflecting my friends and I’s lives, leaving an aesthetic approach to my images.
Which form you wish to present your study (photobook, film, prints etc)
I want to present my work in a photobook. I would like to do this as I believe it is the most artistic way of presenting my work. I like how you can search picture for as long as you want and admire them. I also like how you can flick through the pages. What inspired me to do this was previous photobooks I have looked at from ex-students who have already produced one. I will include objects and props to help show the stereotypes, but ill leave out anything that makes my pictures look fake and staged.
When and where you intend to begin your study?
I want to begin my study as soon as possible so I have time to get it perfect, and change anything I want to change. I will begin by going out with my friends wherever we go, inside and outside and capture these shots.
A well rehearsed phrase that we are all familiar with, invoking childhood memories of fairytales, grandparents recounting old days or stories around the campfire. American novelist Kurt Vonnegut argued that the quality that defined good storytellers was simply that they themselves loved stories.
In this module we will study how different narrative structures can be used to tell stories in pictures from looking at photography, cinema and literature in photo-essays, film and books. We will consider narrative within a documentary approach where observation is key in representing reality, albeit we will look at both visual styles within traditional photojournalism as well as contemporary photography which employs a more poetic visual language that straddles the borders between objectivity and subjectivity, fact and fiction.
In order to understand how photography as a medium can be applied to tell a story we need to understand the differences between narrative and story and how editing, sequencing and design is intrinsic to this process.
THEORY
Often people tend to think of narrative and story as the same thing. In photography that is no exception. Jörg M. Colberg, a photographer, teacher and editor of Conscientious Photo Magazine (online blog dedicated to contemporary fine-art photography) has written extensively about narrative in photography. For you to gain a better understanding of the differences between narrative and story when we think about it in relation to making a photobook (which is your main outcome in your Personal Study later in the academic year) or in your current task of making a photo-zine you NEED TO READ his two blog posts; Photography and Narrative (part 1) and Photography and Narrative (part 2).
a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious
a book, literary work, etc., containing such a story, or
the art, technique, or process of narrating, or of telling a story.”
In Colberg’s view;
‘Those three options really aren’t the same at all. A photobook’s story is not the same as the book itself…. What I tend to find is that many photographers use the term narrative in the sense of it being the same as story (option 1), but what they mean is that it is the way the story is told (Option 3).’
He continues:
‘This is because it will contain a set of photographs that are being presented in a very specific way: there is an edit, a sequence, and very specific decisions about design and production were (hopefully) being made. As I’m trying to explain in the following, the edit and sequence (and to a lesser extent design and production) form a specific narrative that, in turn, might or might not produce or allude to a story. How to approach this then?’
When Colin Pantall made his book, All Quiet on the Homefront about his daughter growing up and becoming a father he wrote about the process of making it on his Blog here: Identifying the Story: Sequencing isn’t narrative
In Pantall’s experience narrative isn’t just sequencing a set images that flows together nicely. He says:
‘In photobooks there are so many elements used in editing, sequencing and creating a narrative. It’s really difficult. For All Quiet on the Home Front, we went through the lot of them. Sequencing by chronology, geography, family, resemblance, art history, season, colour, form, tone, flora, expression, dress, climate, mood, symbolism, material, and so on. The sequencing was a gradual process that was embedded into the editing with voice, mode, person, text, the basic best picture edit and much more besides.’
In his view identifying the story first and being able to communicate it in three words is essential.
‘You can sequence in a multitude of ways in other words. But none of that made a narrative. What made the narrative was actually identifying what the story was about. Do that and then you can create all the structures through which the story can flow – and that, structures plus story, creates the narrative.’
For photographer, writer and lecturer, Lewis Bush;‘narrative are things that exists within stories.’ In his article, Storytelling: A Poverty of Theory, Bush gives different reasons why photography as a medium does not have an established theory on narrative like cinema or literature. He also wonders why photographers often refer to themselves as storytellers but have little understanding of the differences between story and narrative when applied to photography.
‘One story can spawn many narratives, a fact that, in contrast to photography, is well understood in literature and cinema….when I say ‘I’m going to tell you a story’ I actually tell you a narrative of that story.’
Bush cites an example in cinema, Akira Kurosawa’sRashomon where multiple narratives are presented on screen of a murder, that may or may not have happened.
In photography today Bush reminds us;
‘it is well understand that single images are not reality, they are a representation of it.’ Similarly, a series of images put together in a fragmentary and incomplete order is ‘a record of something [that] are always a narrative of a story or event, never a full reflection of the thing itself’.
In a follow article: ‘Photographic Narrative: Between Cinema and Novel‘ Lewis Bush cites different examples from both cinema, literature and photography and identity each mediums different strengths and weaknesses.
In Bush’s view, photography’s narrative strength is;
‘It’s sheer power of description.’ A single photograph can depict a scene with a verisimilitude which pages of written account would still fail to capture. It is this quality which led photography to be first employed for practices like crime scene photography, in place of the unreliable memory and incomplete notes that had previously been relied upon.
Conversely photography also has many weaknesses, such as explaining things. Bush cites German theatre parctitioner and playwright Bertol Brecht who wrote, a photograph of a factory tells us what a factory looks like, but it tells us very little about the relationships that underlie it.
Bush also references Roland Barthes , whose seminal book, Camera Lucida,(1980) is a bedrock of photographic theory, especially, the relationship between photography and memory, photograph and death. He describes reading a sentences where Barthes, ‘characterised photographs as things which were somewhere “between cinema and novel”.
Bush then outlines traits and similarities for storytelling between photography and cinema, photography and literature and provides a number of examples which we will have a closer look at below.
CINEMA
Chris Marker: La Jétte
Chris Marker, La Jettee, (1962)
Chris Marker, (1921-2012) was a French filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor and multi-media artist who has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. Marker’s La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel. What makes the film interesting for the purposes of this discussion, is that while in editing terms it uses the language of cinema to construct its narrative effect, it is composed entirely of still images showing imagesfrom the featureless dark of the underground caverns of future Paris, to the intensely detailed views across the ruined city, and the juxtaposition of destroyed buildings with the spire of the Eiffel Tower. You can read more here about the meaning of the film and it is available on Vimeo here in its entirety (29 mins)
Mark Cousins:Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise
A narrative can also be made constructed entirely of archive footage as in Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise, a film that shows impressionistic kaleidoscope of our nuclear times – protest marches, Cold War sabre-rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima – but also the sublime beauty of the atomic world, and how x-rays and MRI scans have improved human lives. The nuclear age has been a nightmare, but dreamlike too. Made by director and film critic, Mark Cousins and featuring original music score by Mogwai, it was first broadcast on BBC4 as part of Storyville documentary. Your can read a Q&A with Cousins’ here where he discusses the making of the film.
Christopher Nolan: Memento
Memento is a 2000 American neo-noirpsychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Guy Pearce stars as a man who, as a result of an injury, has anterograde amnesia (the inability to form new memories) and has short-term memory loss approximately every fifteen minutes. He is searching for the people who attacked him and killed his wife, using an intricate system of Polaroid photographs and tattoos to track information he cannot remember.
The film is presented as two different sequences of scenes interspersed during the film: a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences shown in reverse order (simulating for the audience the mental state of the protagonist). The two sequences meet at the end of the film, producing one complete and cohesive narrative
Telling a story in reverse can be an interesting way to construct a narrative. Both cinema and literature are good at jumping between different time modes, past, present and future. Moving image and sound can enhance these different temporal shifts and written language is good and transporting your imagination from one time zone to another. Photography is mute but different strategies can be employed such as changing from colour to monochrome suggesting a different time or a different set of images. Using old photographs from archives, or found imagery can add complexity too, and including words can support a sequence of images, or add tension between the visual and the textual adding other elements to a photographic narrative.
Memento: Narrative and Postmodernism is also being looked at in Media Studies and if you are studying this subject make sure you include knowledge and understanding learned. Adopting a inter-disciplinary approach to your work is advantageous and being able to use theory and/ or context from other subjects will add value to your overall quality of your work and potentially achieve higher marks.
Theorists like Sergei Eisenstein, D.W Griffiths, Lev Kuleshov, Jean Epstein, John Grierson (also the coiner of the term ‘documentary’), Dziga Vertov, Andre Bazin, and Siegfried Kracauer went into sometimes painful detail to articulate theories about how various film and editing combinations created different forms of meaning. Many of these ideas remain surprisingly robust and useful a century later, and remain the bedrock of much of the theory taught to film students. Let’s look at some narrative structures and film editing techniques that are used in cinema.
The Kuleshov effect is a film editing (montage) effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation. Through this phenomenon we can suggest meaning and manipulate space, as well as time.
The Kuleshov Effect
Kuleshov edited a short film in which a shot of the expressionless face of Tsarist matinee idol Ivan Mosjoukine was alternated with various other shots (a bowl of soup, a girl in a coffin, a woman on a divan). The film was shown to an audience who believed that the expression on Mosjoukine’s face was different each time he appeared, depending on whether he was “looking at” the bowl of soup, the girl in the coffin, or the woman on the divan, showing an expression of hunger, grief, or desire, respectively. The footage of Mosjoukine was actually the same shot each time.
Kuleshov used the experiment to indicate the usefulness and effectiveness of film editing. The implication is that viewers brought their own emotional reactions to this sequence of images, and then moreover attributed those reactions to the actor, investing his impassive face with their own feelings. Kuleshov believed this, along with montage, had to be the basis of cinema as an independent art form.
For more details see Dr McKinlay’s blog on Narrative in Cinema and The Language of Moving Image which look more specifically at some of the conventions and key terminology associated with moving image (film, TV, adverts, animations, installations and other moving image products.)
PHOTOGRAPHY
Let’s explore some examples of images used in photo-essays and photobooks and see if we can identify the story as well as examine how narrative is constructed through careful editing, sequencing and design.
PHOTO-ESSAY: The life of a country doctor in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains
“A photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought”
W. Eugne Smith
W. Eugene Smith compared his mode of working to that of a playwright; the powerful narrative structures of his photo essays set a new benchmark for the genre. His series, The Country Doctor, shot on assignment for Life Magazine in 1948, documents the everyday life of Dr Ernest Guy Ceriani, a GP tasked with providing 24-hour medical care to over 2,000 people in the small town of Kremmling, in the Rocky Mountains. The story was important at the time for drawing attention to the national shortage of country doctors and the impact of this on remote communities. Today the photoessay is widely regarded as representing a definitive moment in the history of photojournalism.
In October of 1958, French publisher Robert Delpire released Les Américains in Paris. The following year Grove Press published The Americans in New York with an introduction by American writer, Jack Kerouac (the book was released in January 1960).
Like Frank’s earlier books, the sequence of 83 pictures in The Americans is non-narrative and nonlinear; instead it uses thematic, formal, conceptual and linguistic devices to link the photographs. The Americans displays a deliberate structure, an emphatic narrator, and what Frank called a ‘distinct and intense order’ that amplified and tempered the individual pictures.
Although not immediately evident, The Americans is constructed in four sections. Each begins with a picture of an American flag and proceeds with a rhythm based on the interplay between motion and stasis, the presence and absence of people, observers and those being observed. The book as a whole explores the American people—black and white, military and civilian, urban and rural, poor and middle class—as they gather in drugstores and diners, meet on city streets, mourn at funerals, and congregate in and around cars. With piercing vision, poetic insight, and distinct photographic style, Frank reveals the politics, alienation, power, and injustice at play just beneath the surface of his adopted country.
Since its original publication, The Americans has appeared in numerous editions and has been translated into several languages. The cropping of images has varied slightly over the years, but their order has remained intact, as have the titles and Kerouac’s introductory text. The book, fiercely debated in the first years following its release, has made an indelible mark on American culture and changed the course of 20th-century photography. Read article by Sean O’Hagan in The Guardian
Rita Puig Serra Costa: Where Mimosa Bloom
https://vimeo.com/124694405
Dealing with the grief that the photographer suffered following the death of her mother, Where Mimosa Bloom by Rita Puig Serra Costatakes the form of an extended farewell letter; with photography skillfully used to present a visual eulogy or panegyric. This grief memoir about the loss of her mother is part meditative photo essay, part family biography and part personal message to her mother. These elements combine to form a fascinating and intriguing discourse on love, loss and sorrow.
“Where Mimosa Bloom” is the result of over two years work spent collecting and curating materials and taking photographs of places, objects and people that played a significant role in her relationship to her mother. Rita Puig Serra Costa skillfully avoids the dangerous lure of grief’s self-pity, isolationism, world-scorn and vanity. The resonance of “Where Mimosa Bloom” comes from all it doesn’t say, as well as all that it does; from the depth of love we infer from the desert of grief. Despite E.M.Forster’s words – “One death may explain itself, but it throws no light upon another” – Rita Puig Serra Costa proves that some aspects of grief are universal, or can be made so through the honesty and precision with which they are articulated.
Yoshikatsu Fujii:Red Strings
https://vimeo.com/102344549
I received a text message. “Today, our divorce was finalized.” The message from my mother was written simply, even though she usually sends me messages with many pictures and symbols. I remember that I didn’t feel any particular emotion, except that the time had come. Because my parents continued to live apart in the same house for a long time, their relationship gently came to an end over the years. It was no wonder that a draft blowing between the two could completely break the family at any time.
In Japan, legend has it that a man and woman who are predestined to meet have been tied at the little finger by an invisible red string since the time they were born. Unfortunately, the red string tying my parents undone, broke, or perhaps was never even tied to begin with. But if the two had never met, I would never have been born into this world. If anything, you might say that there is an unbreakable red string of fate between parent and child.
Before long, I found myself thinking about the relationship between my parents and . How many days could I see my parents living far away? What if I couldn’t see them anymore? Since I couldn’t help feeling extremely anxious about it, I was driven to visit my parents’ house many times. Every day I engage in awkward conversation with my parents, as if in a scene in their daily lives. I adapt myself to them, and they shift their attitude toward me. We do not give way entirely to the other side, but rather meet halfway. Indeed family problems remain unresolved, although sometimes we tell allegorical stories and share feelings. It means a lot to us that our perspectives have changed with communication.
My family will probably never be all together again. But I feel without a doubt that there is proof inside of each of us that we once lived together. To ensure that the red string that ties my family together does not come undone, I want to reel it in and tie it tight.
NARRATIVE – a summary
Narrative is essentially the way a story is told. For example you can tell different narratives of the same story. It is a very subjective process and there is no right or wrong. Whether or not your photographic story is any good is another matter.
An analogy: if you witnessed a road accident and the police arrived to take statements from witnesses. Your version of events would be different to that of other witnesses or bystanders. They are both ‘true’ to what you saw and they both tell a different narrative depending on where you were in relation to the event, your point of view and how you remembered the event as it happened.
Narrative is constructed when you begin to create relationships between images (and/or text) and present more than two images together. Your selection of images (editing) and the order of how these images appear on the pages (sequencing) contributes significantly to the construction of the narrative. So too, does the structure and design of the photo-zine or photobook.
However, it is essential that you identity what your story is first before considering how you wish to tell it. Planning and research are also essential to understanding your subject and there are steps you can take in order to make it successful. Once you have considered the points made between the differences in narrative and story, write the following:
PLANNING: Write a specification that provide an interpretation and plan of how you intend to explore A Love Story. This must include at least 3 photoshoots you will be doing in the next 2-3 weeks (these could include photo-assignments). How do you want your images to look and feel like? Include visual references to artists/photographers in terms of style, approach, intentions, aesthetics concept and outcome. Remember the final outcome is a 16 page photo-zine so you will need to edit a final series of 12-16 images that sequenced together as a set forms a narrative that visualises your love story.
STORY: What is your love story? Describe in:
3 words
A sentence
A paragraph
NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?
Images > new photographic responses, photo-shoots
Archives > old photos from family albums, iPhone
Texts > letters, documents, poems, text messages
AUDIENCE: Who is it for?
Most image makers tend to overlook the experience of the viewer. Considering who your audience is and how they may engage with your photo-zine is important factor when you are designing/ making it.
Reflect and comment on this in your specification (age group, demographic, social/ cultural background etc.)
PHOTOBOOKS
A few photo book dealing with memory, loss and love
Yury Toroptsov:Deleted Scene
On a mission to photograph the invisible, with Deleted Scene photographer Yury Toroptsov takes us to Eastern Siberia in a unique story of pursuit along intermingling lines that form a complex labyrinth. His introspective journey in search of a father gone too soon crosses that of Akira Kurosawa who, in 1974, came to visit and film that same place where lived the hunter Dersu Uzala.
Yury Toroptsov is not indifferent to the parallels between hunting and photography, which the common vocabulary makes clear. Archival documents, old photographs, views of the timeless taiga or of contemporary Siberia, fragments or deleted scenes are arranged here as elements of a narrative. They come as clues or pebbles dropped on the edge of an invisible path where the viewer is invited to lose himself and the hunter is encouraged to continue his relentless pursuit.
Mayumi Suzuki:The Restoration Will
My parents, who a owned photo studio, went missing after the 2011 tsunami. Our house was destroyed. It was a place for working, but also for living. I grew up there. After the disaster, I found my father’s lens, portfolio, and our family album buried in the mud and the rubble.
One day, I tried to take a landscape photo with my father’s muddy lens. The image came out dark and blurry, like a view of the deceased. Through taking it, I felt I could connect this world with that world. I felt like I could have a conversation with my parents, though in fact that is impossible.
The family snapshots I found were washed white, the images disappearing. The portraits taken by my father were stained, discolored. These scars are similar to the damage seen in my town, similar to my memories which I am slowly losing.
I hope to retain my memory and my family history through this book. By arranging these photos, I have attempted to reproduce it.
Dragana Jurisic’s YU:The Lost Country
Yugoslavia fell apart in 1991. With the disappearance of the country, at least one million five hundred thousand Yugoslavs vanished, like the citizens of Atlantis, into the realm of imaginary places and people. Today, in the countries that came into being after Yugoslavia’s disintegration, there is a total denial of the Yugoslav identity.
“There proceeds steadily from that place a stream of events which are a source of danger to me,” wrote the Anglo-Irish writer, Rebecca West in 1937. “That place” was Yugoslavia, the country in which I was born. Realizing that to know nothing of an area “which threatened her safety” was “a calamity”, she embarked on a journey through Yugoslavia. The result was Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. Initially intended as “a snap book” it spiraled into half a million words, a portrait not just of Yugoslavia, but also of Europe on the brink of the Second World War, and widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.
At Easter 2011, I started retracing Westʼs journey and re-interpreting her masterpiece by using photography and text, in attempt to re-live my experience of Yugoslavia and to re-examine the conflicting emotions and memories of the country that was.
In 1999, Jacob Aue Sobol went to live in the settlement of Tiniteqilaaq, Greenland, where he lived the life of a fisherman and hunter with his Greenlandic girlfriend Sabine and her family. Taken over three years Sobol’s book records, in photographs and narratives, his encounter with Sabine and their life on the east coast.
https://vimeo.com/103609319
Photographer Jacob Aue Sobol reflects on the three years he spent in Greenland and the traveling he did there. While his first trip was focused on documenting the culture, his second trip revolved around his girlfriend Sabine, who later became the subject of a series of photographs.
Laia Abril: The Epilogue’
‘The Epilogue’ is the book about the story of the Robinson family – and the aftermath suffered in losing their 26 year old daughter to bulimia. Working closely with the family Laia Abril reconstructs Cammy’s life telling her story through flashbacks – memories, testimonies, objects, letters, places and images. The Epilogue gives voice to the suffering of the family, the indirect victims of ‘eating disorders’, the unwilling eyewitnesses of a very painful degeneration. Laia Abril shows us the dilemmas and struggles confronted by many young girls; the problems families face in dealing with guilt and the grieving process; the frustration of close friends and the dark ghosts of this deadliest of illnesses; all blended together in the bittersweet act of remembering a loved one. Read more here on Laia Abril’s website
AUDIENCE: Most image makers tend to overlook the experience of the viewer. Considering who your audience is and how they may engage with your photo-zine is important factor when you are designing/ making it.
Students past responses to the theme of love, friendship, family etc.
Niah Da Costa: Espera For my photo book, the main theme was intimacy and young love. I wanted to explore my relationship with my boyfriend and show a series of different styles of images. I called this photo book “Espera” which means to wait in Portuguese, as this word (besides love) is a word that both Jack and I use frequently. Read more on her BLOG here.
Amy Low:Nothing can get between us A photo-book which is based on specific people in my life and what makes them an individual, I want this to also center around the theme of youth culture. Each picture/section of my book is about one person and their features/interests and things that make them who they are. I also plan to have pictures which break theme in the book to act as a barrier between each portrait. Read more on her BLOG here.
Jude Luce: All My Love My plan for my photo book is to produce a detailed and insightful exploration into my family life, with me centered within the middle. This is the running theme throughout and I hope to show it through poetic, still images of landscapes or objects which may have no direct meaning at its face value but has a deeper meaning once inferred. As well, the portraits in my project are intended to be collaborative and intimate to show the relationships I hold with the people in my life but the portraits are intended to show the emotion of each being as well. I have contrasted yet shown the similarities of my mum and dad’s relationship when they were together to that of my relationship with Lucy now and the overall look I hope to achieve is that of a fun, vibrant, light-hearted but quite solemn and sombre image-based diary about how I am still developing through the events if life and the attachments I have built from the event which shaped my life – my mum and dad’s divorce. I want their to be an obvious existence of the theme of attachment but also an underlying theme of detachment. Although these themes are the main focus for my book, they are underlying themes which are subtly hinted at every now and then by a sequence which develops upon the understanding of love. Memory is fragile and I use this notion as a driving force for my project made up of diaristic photographs, which, when come together, create an album of moments in time which in-turn lend themselves to never be forgotten. I have attempted not to avoid the subject of my mum and dad’s divorce but felt it easier to express this and my feelings towards it through other subject matter, being my relationship with my girlfriend and the other people in my life, such as my individual relationships with my mum and dad and how I view them in solitary opposition to one another.
My photoshoot plan is to focus on stereotypes, gender roles, feminism, misogyny, expectations of women, patriarchy, female gaze and power dynamics. My main objective is to focus on social issues within women. My plan is to make similar images of Cindy Sherman such as some images looking as if the subject has taken the images herself and set them up but also varying them by some images being taken of the subject by another person. Or potentially I could get some images setting it up, giving the illusion that I took it of my self but in reality another person helped. This is what I assume when it comes to Sherman’s famous images. Such as this image,
My aim within themes
My main objective is to portray the theme of the stereotypical traditional housewife, such as being a service to men. My aim is to suggest the themes of women looking after the household, uneducated, nurturing motherhood and seen sexually. The way I want to execute this is through similar posing such as a hand on the lower stomach, suggesting nurturing motherhood/ Another example would be heavy eye makeup emphasizing the female gaze. The purpose of the ‘female gaze’ becomes to connect with the female viewer via the female creator, coming together in a way that serves them, and upholding the idea that women are powerful and can control their own destiny. That is why one of the most notable differences between the male and the female gaze is intent. The setting up of the camera is a very important factor as it gives the illusion of her taking it off herself. Not only this, the saucepan is pointing at her breasts which adds a sexual and objectification element to her images, which she executed purposely. I will also attempt to take more images of Sherman’s but overall attempting to portray these important themes such as Sherman suggesting the representations of women.
Representations of women
All of these images have different representations of women, and the traditional stereotypes in the 1970’s which was when Sherman began to take these. Sherman uses black and white which I personally like as it suggests an older aesthetic. Therefore, within my plan I aim to make it have more of an older aesthetic like Sherman’s such as experimenting through black and white filters, heavy or light grain or other effects and decide which one works best with my modernity images attempting to make them traditional.
‘Widely recognized as one of the most important American artists of her generation, Cindy Sherman revolutionized the role of the camera in artistic practice and opened the door for generations of artists and critics to rethink photography as a medium.’
This series of photos created by Cindy Sherman in her exploration of film and caricatures pushed into women in Hollywood. my interest in these images is not the themes they surround but instead the may they are made utilising projected backgrounds that create a rustic and film like appeal.
I believe using the technique of projecting the background in some of my images will create a sense that the image is just a screenshot from a film, contributing to the story’s I intend to tell throughout my photography.
In 1980 Sherman stopped working on ‘The Untitled Film stills’ and began working in colour with the Rear screen projection series, she continued to create self portraits using only herself as a model and transforming her appearance with many varying wigs, makeup, outfits, leaving the narrative of her scenes deliberately vague. However instead of using pre existing scenery and lighting she created a manufactured environment for her photography using specific lighting and projected scenery in the controlled environment of the studio. ‘Unlike the Untitled Film Stills, with their artificial narratives set in real locations, this series presents women no longer bound by their physical surroundings.’
Nick Haymes – The Last Survivor Is The First Suspect
The Last Survivor is the First Suspect” is at once a celebration and a requiem. The project, captured between 2005 and 2009 by photographer Nick Haymes, is a record of a drifting community of young friends based mainly between two distinct geographic points: Southern California and Tulsa, Oklahoma. The book’s narrative merges a sense of joy in documenting burgeoning friendships and bonds, and a looming sense of dread that would ultimately culminate in a series of tragedies. Platforms such as MySpace, YouTube and online message boards engendered a sense of community by enabling connection, while also setting new and impossible standards and expectations. Diligently collected, these various forms of communication between the characters frame a foreboding.
In Haymes’ own introduction he accounts how his camera allowed him to compensate for a sense of crippling shyness developed during his teenage years. ’I picked up a camera and hid, discovering I could once again be near people, intimate with them, without having to engage,’ he writes.
Growing up in the UK, photographer Nick Haymes remembers his teen years spent bouncing around cliques in school. Drawn to kids for who they were, instead of who they aspired to be, Nick found his genuine interest was widely reciprocated by everyone except the girl he had been crushing on for six years. Lacking confidence, he turned to drugs, stopped writing and making art, and eventually stopped going to school. Three years later, Nick’s world fell apart when he learned he was adopted, and later went to rehab, where he dealt with paranoid psychosis. On the other side, overcome by profound shyness, Nick gravitated to photography. Camera in hand, he could engage with the world while maintaining a safe distance from people. In February 2005, Nick met two California teens, Josh and Mikey, at a dim sum restaurant in New York’s Chinatown. Their laidback manner and easy repartee gave Nick a feeling of connection and security he had been missing. That summer, he travelled to California to hang with them, and soon found a place for himself in what he described as “a family of lost boys.”
“The Last Survivor Is the First Suspect” is a notable and powerful photo series created by photographer Nick Haymes. This series is often regarded as impactful and thought-provoking due to its dramatic exploration of themes like survival, isolation, and the human condition in the context of both literal and metaphorical “endings.” Here are a few reasons why the photoshoot is considered good, even great, by many in the photography and art communities
Mood Board
Image Analysis
This image is called… The depth of field used in this image is eye catching as although it focuses on the three girls having fun, it also can create a story within what you can see and what you cant see outside the frame. The image creates a sort of familiar feel, as it reflects my personal life alot as my friends are such a big part of life. I also feel like this image resonates with my friends because we love hanging out and going round to each others houses. This image also gives me inspiration for my own photoshoots because although this activity is just a day to day activity, it also focuses on and captures stereotypes in a way. I also like this image as its showing exactly what i want to shoot.
For my personal Study I have looked at two photographers, Micheil Peters and August Sander. Michiel Peters is distinctive for his aesthetic and expertly crafted composition of his visualisations of the Second World War. With Images depicting the Soldiers of the past, his work is unique for there elaborate mise-en-scene of locations converted to the past. Taken with original vehicles, such as: Tanks, boats, trucks, Jeeps, aircraft, etc he makes good use of these to tell the true story of what occurred within Europe. August Sander, known for his extensive portfolio of the German peoples portrait over half a century, has been implemented as a highly influential figure within the world of photography. Through a single image he is able to convey so much about his subject due to their appearances and surroundings, for this reason, Sander’s work is recognised as a perfect example of the ‘environmental portrait’.
Michiel Peters –
August Sander –
Further sources –
Some other artist influences include Henri Cartier-Bresson, known widely for his candid street shots, captures the decisive points in time when pictures are taken, These to me show the candid reality of people which I can try to replicate in my work. From a historical context, I have looked into the work of Robert Capa, who is arguably the most recognisable war photographer for such works as the ‘Falling soldier’ taken during Spanish civil war of the 1930s and mainly his images of Omaha Beach, taken in the early hours of the invasion of Normandy, June 6th, 1944. D-Day. These shots capture the frontline horrors many back home had not seen yet and gave an accurate representation of the brutal reality many had to deal with during the Second World War. This practice of close combat photography would not take of massively until much later in the 20th century such as with the Vietnam War. Further more, I have collected my own sources of pictures of Jersey’s occupation which I aim to implement alongside by own images. For the staged candid effect I may want to experiment with I have also looked into the work of Paul M Smith. From real experiences within the Army, Smith recreated staged images of army training/combat photos where every soldier was himself. From this I can explore the more personal aspects of the occupation and how much I can represent my passion for the subject.
‘Liberation of Paris’, August 1944 – Henri Cartier-Bresson.
‘Omaha Beach’, June 6th 1944, Robert Capa.
‘Artist Rifle’, 1997, Paul Smith.
Further into Paul Smiths Artist Rifle series can be seen here to see how he uses clones of himself to create some interesting story’s within his photographs.
Personal Response from artist inspiration, Michiel Peters:
Interested in his work, I reached to the photographer to ask him 3 questions on his work relating to some ideas behind my project:
What inspired your to recreate these visualised images of the Second World War?
“I’ve always had a passion for photography and military history. As I live in Belgium I always went to the Ardennes to attend the battle of the bulge commemorations in December every year since I was a little boy. But at the same time I never had the feeling that the pictures I saw really brought the history to life in such a way that the horror of the war in all its aspects was represented so that people would know the horror these soldiers had endured. I wanted to bring more character In my pictures to relate to real soldiers during World War 2.”
Have you taken influence from any other photographers?
“I have not really been inspired by other photographers, when I started photographing re-enactment, this form of photography was only in its early days VS now where it has gotten a real boost in recent years. I see myself more of a pioneer by telling a story with my pictures, instead taking just a few shots here and there. I never take just 1 re-enactment photo, I always work based on a project which contains more pics to tell a story. I try to be more cinematic in my pictures, hence my inspiration comes more from movies and TV than other photographers, such as with Band of Brothers, Saving Private Ryan, the Longest Day, and some others.
“These photoshoots are most of the time in private shoots not open to the public, I can’t be limited by a public fence where I need to stand behind, for me, the only correct way to capture the re-enactors is when you are next to them in the mud, snow, rain, foxholes, tanks, etc. This is not possible from 100m, you need to be embedded with them or otherwise I cant get the character I want in my pictures I want. The only photographer I relate to in WW2 is Robert Capa with his famous quote… ‘If your pictures are not good enough, you are not close enough!'”.
Does retelling these soldiers lives make you feel more connected to them?
“I work with dedicated re-enactors, at the original historical accurate WW2 locations In Belgium, Normandy, etc. I aim to recreate these scenes as accurately as possible in their environment, using only authentic equipment. The only way I can pay tribute to our fallen heroes the best I can is to show them in this way to express my photographic mind as much as possible.”
Tom Hunter does similar style photos to Philip-Lorca diCorcia with the still, staged photos with the theme of loneliness. Also, Tom Hunter is a London-based British artist working in photography and film. His photographs often reference and reimagine classical paintings.
All of these photos have a similar theme with both women in the last two photos by themselves expressing sadness, or being lost, or almost having an idea of ‘no plan for their life’.
The first photo involves a women with her baby in a house/flat that looks run down, whilst looking at her bills or some piece of paper to do with money. This gives an idea to the photo that she might not have enough money to support herself and her baby and doesn’t know what to do.
