1. Research a photo-book and describe the story it is communicating with reference to subject-matter, genre and approach to image-making.
FEMALE- Jitka Hanzlova
This photobook explores the concept of femininity through reflective photographs of women. It is composed mainly of portraits of women taken in various parts of the world, showing the different lives people live. Many photos capture the personal lives of women, including vulnerable moments, presenting them as natural and spontaneous. The images in Female are deeply sensitive and evocative, with Hanzlova’s characteristic soft, atmospheric style.
2. Who is the photographer? Why did he/she make it? (intentions/ reasons) Who is it for? (audience) How was it received? (any press, reviews, awards, legacy etc.)
Jitka Hanzlova is a Czech photographer, who uses photography to address the ways in which surrounding environments shape identity. Her work often focuses on the themes of identity, memory and the human connection to environments. She gained recognition for exploring identity through her portrait photography and landscape images. Through her photographs in her book Female, she creates a sense of quiet reflection of women
3. Deconstruct the narrative, concept and design of the book and apply theory above when considering:
Book in hand: how does it feel? Smell, sniff the paper.
Paper and ink: use of different paper/ textures/ colour or B&W or both.
Format, size and orientation: portraiture/ landscape/ square/ A5, A4, A3 / number of pages.
Title: literal or poetic / relevant or intriguing.
Narrative: what is the story/ subject-matter. How is it told?
Structure and architecture: how design/ repeating motifs/ or specific features develops a concept or construct a narrative.
Design and layout: image size on pages/ single page, double-spread/ images/ grid, fold- outs/ inserts.
Editing and sequencing: selection of images/ juxtaposition of photographs/ editing process.
Images and text: are they linked? Introduction/ essay/ statement by artists or others. Use of captions (if any.)
The book ‘FEMALE’ is simple. It’s size is a little bit larger than A4 and has a beige colour wrapped around it, with an image on the front of the book of a singular woman. This emphasises the femininity aspect that this book is trying to evoke.
The book is thick, and full of images of different women portraying their own lives- it is 127 pages.
1. Write a book specification and describe in detail what your book will be about in terms of narrative, concept and design with reference to the same elements of bookmaking as above.
Narrative:What is your story? Describe in:
3 words
friendship, life, enjoyment
A sentence
This photobook explores the lives of teenagers
A paragraph
This photobook shows the moments of happiness in the lives of the people shown in the images. The images capture moments of someone doing what they love to do whether its being with a group of people close to them or engaging in an activity they find important to them. The book brings across a sense of comfort where all the images capture happy moments where the subject is living their normal life in ways they love.
Design: Consider the following
How you want your book to look and feel
Paper and ink
Format, size and orientation
Binding and cover
Title
Structure and architecture
Design and layout
Editing and sequencing
Images and text
I want my book to look engaging to the viewer by keeping the front cover coloured with warm tones and an inviting image on the front. The format and size of the book is a Standard Portrait 8 x 10 in (20 x 25cm) with 46 pages . For the design and layout of my photobook, I tried to match certain photographs together that worked well when put alongside each other. My photograph consists of 3 separate photoshoots, with the first being the biggest, so I’ve made sure to keep each photoshoot together and not mixed with the others. I edited the images by making sure that they matched with the tones of the images alongside them. I did this by editing the exposure levels, temperatures and contrast of the images. I kept the sequence of my book at a variation of layouts making sure not to repeat the same layout after each other by adding ones such a two page spreads in between pages with two images
In what way is identity explored in the work of David Hockney and Marcelo Monreal?
Introduction:
“People don’t often show who they really are. Instead, they keep parts of their real selves hidden.” [1]
This quote by Marcelo Monreal closely links to my personal study where I want to delve into the topic of identity; more specifically the complex and confusing relationship people often have regarding it. This topic especially stood out to me as I believe identity is very prominent thing people struggle with in my age group. Whether that be teenagers trying to conceal their true identity in order to fit societal expectations or just trying to discover who they really are, identity is something that makes us unique but also makes us vulnerable, therefore leading to people to put up a facade to hide who they truly are to the world. For example, teenagers tend to hide their emotions or alter their physical appearance (eg by wearing makeup) as a way to protect themselves from people’s judgements and rejections that they feel they will receive if they are their whole, natural self. I found this idea of concealment and the desire to conform very interesting and so I have decided to explore it further in my project. An artist whose art I believe links to exploring identity is David Hockney’s body of work called ‘joiners’ which is a combination of images taken of a singular person from different angles to create a collage. In this project, his work typically explores the theme from a perspective that focuses on people’s tendency to conceal their innermost emotions and identity. He does this through distressing and distorting classical portraiture through the idealistic, creating fragmented images of people which represents their sense of self being not whole and how identity is something fluid; it is constantly adapting and changing to fit one’s environment. In contrast, I also want to look at identity from a different, more positive perspective. I will do this by illustrating the beauty and strength of embracing your identity despite the potential risk of being rejected or judged towards the end of my project. I have chosen to do this as I want to portray the journey of self discovery, which often consists of a lot of obstacles that need to be overcome and will hopefully inspire and reassure people that they can take off these facades that hide them from the world and be unapologetically themselves as it’s liberating knowing those around you love you for you and not for the fake version of yourself you have created in order to please them. I think Marcelo Monreal depicts this message clearly in his ‘Flower Face’ series as he covers themes of personal growth and acceptance through combining flowers with human faces to create beautiful, empowering images. Flowers are known to grow, wither and regenerate. This conveys to me the idea of our identity being similar to a flower; constantly changing and blossoming as we grow and transform. His work puts an emphasis on the importance of identity and embracing who we are as like the flowers seen in his images, they are all different in some way, just like we are and it is that which makes us unique and special. I hope to explore these opposing outlooks on identity further throughout my project by taking inspiration from both David Hockney and Marcelo Monreal’s work where I will compare, analyse and explore the artists differing ways of expressing what identity means to them through their art.
Historical context
The origin of photomontage began with early collage experiments by Pablo Picasso in the early 20th century. At that time Picasso was developing a new painting style coined Cubism. His experimental work in this style of art had a profound influence on what is now known as photomontage. Cubism and photomontage are closely linked to each other as they both challenge traditional ways of representing reality by fragmenting and reassembling images in an abstract form. David Hockney described cubism as a ‘different way of looking, and it’s about reality and perception’. [2] Picasso’s work surrounding cubism involved him deconstructing his subjects into abstract, geometric shapes taken from multiple perspectives then merging them together to create a completely new, alternative image and meaning. Many artists like Picasso used the cubist technique as a way to depict a new, alternative reality and to try and push the limits of artistic expression. They wanted to move beyond the representational way of displaying art and to explore it in a more unique and different way. This can be seen when Picasso said ‘it’s not what the eye sees, it’s what the mind sees’. [3] This refers to the idea that art should be used as a way to show how the mind tries to process and interpret the world instead of just photographing the world as it is; which is a core concept of cubism. The key theme of the cubism is centred around not representing an object from a single, fixed angle but showing an object’s essence by breaking it into multiple parts then displaying the different angles together into a final, cohesive but unique piece of art. This is very similar to photomontage which is an art form where multiple photographs are cut, rearranged, and reassembled to create new meanings and perspectives. Both art styles focus on embracing fragmentation and abstraction to create new perspectives instead of simply capturing what everyone already see’s normally.
Pablo Picasso, “Three Musicians”, 1921.
This image by Pablo Picasso clearly demonstrates some of the key themes seen in cubism as he fragments the three musicians into different geometric shapes. Whilst they are still recognisable, they are not depicted in a conventional or realistic way as parts of their bodies and instruments are cut, rearranged and overlapped with one another to create a fragmented image (as seen in David Hockney’s work too).
The Dadaism movement followed shortly after Cubism. Cubism emerged around 1907-1914 and Dadaism emerged around 1916 after the outbreak of World War I. It was created as a reaction against the war, societal values, and traditional art forms at the time. The main concept of cubism was to break away from the traditional forms of perspective and realism by fragmenting objects and having multiple viewpoints present in one image in order to depict the complexity of reality whereas Dadaism was used as a way to reject all pre established norms of art and to embrace absurdity/randomness. Dadaists often mixed unrelated images/ objects to create new, nonsensical narratives. Dadaism made people question the meaning of art itself. Dadaism involved using techniques that broke away from conventional photographic norms, for example: photomontage, collage, manipulation, and absurd subject matter. Photographers would intentionally distort and fragment images to create confusing juxtapositions and used photography as a tool to challenge society’s expectations of art and beauty. One of the most influential figures in Dada photography was Hannah Höch who was a German Dada artist. Her photomontages critiqued societal norms, gender roles, and the politics of her time. She desired to challenge the traditional representations of women at the time (clearly seen when she stated that she wished to ‘blur the firm boundaries which we self-certain people tend to delineate around all we can achieve.’) [4] and the patriarchal structures that influenced art and society. She often described her work as ‘a way to confront the contradictions and absurdities of the world’. [5] Hannah Höch popularised the photomontage technique as she cut and joined photographs from magazines, newspapers and other printed materials to create surreal and provocative images.
Hannah Höch. Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany (1919)
One of her most famous works is Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife Through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany (1919). This was a political piece that was used to critique and mock the political chaos of post war Germany and the objectification of women. She used her work to try change the traditional representations of femininity. She did this by dissembling images of women with images of political and military figures in a way that challenges the previously male dominated area of politics (which was known for excluding women). This successfully conveyed the message that we should question these traditional gender roles that are so normalised in society. This links to Dadaism as she managed to create a chaotic, fragmented vision of post war Germany through her distorting and assembling of different genders. Overall, Cubism and Dadaism were crucial elements in the development of photomontage which was began to take shape in the 1920s, as they both rejected traditional ideologies, embraced absurdity, and broke the boundaries between art and reality (which are similar concepts present in photomontage). For example, collages that were produced as a part of Dadaism expanded to the use of photographs and directly lead to the development of photomontage. The photomontage technique continues to grow and evolve as time progresses.
David Hockney
David Hockney explores identity and its complexity throughout his series of ‘joiner’ photographs. These images incorporate a technique by which he cuts up, rearranges and assembles a variety of different photographs to create a single, composite image. The message being conveyed in these images is to encourage the people who are viewing his work to embrace these fragmented representations of people and find comfort in the chaotic, non linear journey of understanding identity. Hockney actively engages with the idea that identity is not a static, singular image but a dynamic, multifaceted process. His fragmented approach to exploring identity in his work mirrors the way identity can be shaped and changed by a variety of factors. For example: your personal experiences, interactions with others, memories, and relationship with time all impact who you are as a person now and who you will be in the future. This evidently demonstrates that identity is a long, ever changing concept that one may never be able to grasp fully. Additionally, not only do our perceptions of ourselves change but of others too. By David Hockney breaking his subjects into smaller, disjointed parts, he illustrates the idea that identity cannot be captured in a single snapshot. This disorder in his work reflects how our own images of ourselves are constantly constructed and reconstructed, depending on our context and perspective. The joiners and often require the viewer to piece together the different perspectives in the image in order to begin to understand that person’s identity. David Hockney said he’d ‘love to make a true representation of space, as we know it, since it’s impossible to photograph it’, [6] showing that even with these different viewpoints being compiled into one image, our understanding of who that person is may still be incomplete and ever changing. This highlights how truly versatile and unpredictable identity is.
His joiners series also explores identity through the use of time. David Hockney was very interested in the concept of time in images as seen in an interview where he said ‘When is the present? When did the past end and the present occur, and when does the future start? Ordinary photography has one way of seeing only, which is fixed, as if there is kind of an objective reality, which simply cannot be.’ [7] In many of his pieces, he combines a variety of photographs, all of which were taken over a period of days, weeks, or even months. This allows him to explore the idea of time passing in his images and show the evolution of his subjects within that time period. This can specifically be seen in his photocollages of landscapes in which there’s often a shift in light, weather and perspective which he then joins together creating a single composite image. This conveys to me the idea that identity isn’t about simply seeing a person for what they are at a specific moment in time but how that person is constantly changing as time progresses alongside with their identity, interests and personality. This concept of time passing in his images makes people reflect and consider how people’s surroundings and experiences alter over time which ultimately shapes that person’s identity simultaneously. David Hockney often described photography as ‘a way of visualising time’. [8].
During the time of his joiner series being created, photography was undergoing a rapid transformation as more technologies became accessible to people eg Polaroid cameras. He stated ‘I think we are moving into a more electronic age, there’s no doubt about it. In a way, storing information digitally is storing abstractions’. [9] He then incorporated this new sense of modernism into his work by joining multiple Polaroid pictures taken from different viewpoints together to create a new, abstract image. David Hockney’s work was influenced by his own life, experiences and relationships. He would often use self portraits and photographs of his loved ones in his joiner images. By doing this, I believe he was trying to reflect the fragmented and layered ways in which he experiences his own identity. As he presents himself from several different perspectives in the same image, he is trying to prevent a single narrative/ fixed representation of himself from being formed. His work actively engages with the idea that identity is fluid and shaped by many external factors. His work highlights the importance of different viewpoints to be able to understand people. He was also inspired by Cubism and the works of Picasso and Braque (as seen when he said ‘I’m interested in all the great traditions, and I admire Salvador Dali and Picasso hugely’) [10]. His joiners series took an innovative approach on their work (which involved them breaking up their subject matter into different fragmented perspective’s) by capturing and merging multiple angles and viewpoints in order to depict the subject in a more holistic manner. Overall, David Hockney’s work has inspired me to take a variety images of people from different perspectives then join them together to create a distorted individual, highlighting the idea of the complexities surrounding identity as seen in his work.
Marcelo Monreal
In contrast, Marcelo Monreal explores the theme of identity from an alternative, more positive perspective throughout his body of work called ‘Inside outside’. These images consist of him manipulating the faces of famous celebrities, actresses, actors and models by creating cracks and holes into their face then filling them up with a variety of botanical flower images in order to create surreal portraits. These surreal images aim to explore the duality of human identity and highlight the idea that identity isn’t just about appearance, but also about deeper, often unseen layers. Marcelo Monreal believed that “to create is to uncover a new part of oneself, hidden in the layers of perception.” [11] This is reflected in his work as he delves into the internal factors of people as a way to understand what makes them who they are. I interpret his work as being a commentary on the complexity of how we perceive ourselves and how we are perceived by others. The contrast displayed between the interior (for example: internal thoughts, emotions and psychological states) and exterior (for example: physical appearance and societal roles) reflects the multifaceted nature of identity. His approach often challenges those who look at his work to question the surface level layers of identity and instead prompts them to consider the deeper, more hidden factors that shape who we are. Marcelo Monreal’s work focuses more on embracing identity in its fullest complexity as he doesn’t depict identity in a fixed/singular way but rather as something that has many layers, fluid and is ever changing. Monreal engages with the idea that embracing one’s identity often involves acknowledging and integrating all aspects of oneself. This includes both the visible and the hidden, the natural and the constructed. His work encourages people to look beyond the surface of appearances and open their eyes to see what lies beneath each person which accumulates to form who they are. For example, people’s own history, emotions and potential inner struggles is what ultimately makes them unique. I think Marcelo Monreal’s work encourages people to accept all the hidden, complex parts of themselves and to not be ashamed of those internal differences they may have to other people as by embracing your differences you begin to flourish. Marcelo Monreal often felt like people don’t tell us who they really are, saying: ‘They keep all of their real selves hidden from view’ in an interview. [12] This is what inspired him to start the project where he would be able to reveal the rare moments in which we see the beauty that’s behind these celebrities appearances. Additionally, the bright colours present in the flowers juxtapose with the soft, natural colours of the human facial features, showing how valuable and extraordinary you become as you begin to not worry about what other people think of you and accept yourself for who you are.
Marcelo Monreal’s mum’s death had a major influence on his project and was what ultimately started it. This concept of adding flowers to people’s face began after he went to his mothers funeral to which he then went to his childhood home in Sāo Paulo and noticed that his mother’s once flourishing, vibrant garden was non existent. This caused him to recall all the positive memories he had in that garden with his brothers. One day, he asked his mother what people are made of to which she responded “flowers, son!”. This memory sparked a passion in him to try to recreate and express that fond memory he had of his mother through art as a way to remember her. Overall, this series of images has inspired me in my own project on identity. I believe this positive outlook regarding the idea of embracing identity is a perfect way to sum up my project which previously focused on identifying and highlighting how people try to conceal themselves from the world, leading to them losing a part of themselves as they conform to societal norms. My images which will closely replicate the work of Marcelo Monreal. They will emphasise the notion of the beauty one radiates when they appreciate and value all the internal factors that make them who they are.
Conclusion
In conclusion, David Hockney and Marcelo Monreal explore identity in similar but conflicting ways through their series called ‘joiners’ and ‘inside outside’. While their approaches may differ in technique, they both use their work to dissect and convey the fluid nature of identity and invite their viewers to reflect on the complexity and layers that make up a person’s sense of self. David Hockney used photo collages in order to convey the fragmentation associated around identity. He used multiple photographs of a subject (taken from various angles and times) then joined the images together to create a fragmented but still cohesive final image. Hockney’s unique use of collage highlights the way identity is not fixed but is made up of many layers, perspectives, and moments which come together to form who that person is. Hockney said he ‘wanted to show the world as we see it, not as we know it should be. I want to suggest a different kind of space, a space that includes time, and also gives you a feeling of the movement of the human eye.’ [13] showing that he believes identity isn’t a singular snapshot but a continuous process, formed through multiple views and experiences. Hockney suggests that identity isn’t a static portrait but a dynamic and evolving construct which is influenced by various viewpoints and experiences. On the other hand, Marcelo Monreal uses digital manipulation to merge human faces with flowers. This creates a surreal blend of the inner and outer worlds. His work highlights a deep connection between an individual’s internal world (for example: their thoughts and emotions) and the external world (for example: society, nature, and environment). He clearly illustrates how our identities are shaped by our inner experiences and external influences. Monreal stated ‘What we have inside us is much more powerful than what we show outside. The inside is connected to nature, to everything around us. The outside is just a mask. It’s only the surface.’ [14] This quote sums up the key theme behind his work as he delves into the idea that identity is far more than what is immediately visible and by embracing these internal and external factors simultaneously, something beautiful can be formed. He believes the external self (the mask we show to the world) isn’t a full representation of who we truly are but by intertwining the inner self with nature (as seen in his work), he demonstrates how rare and potentially beautiful it is when one fully embraces every part of themselves even the parts you may deem as weird or cause you to be judged by society. In contrast to Hockney’s fragmented approach, Monreal’s work merges together two completely opposite worlds seamlessly, creating a visual harmony that reflects the integrated nature of identity.
One similarity between the artists’ way of exploring identity is they both look at identity as something that’s multifaceted and ever changing. Hockney’s fragmented compositions and Monreal’s hybrid imagery both convey the idea that identity cant be understood by a singular, fixed concept. It is crucial that we understand identity is shaped by a variety of internal and external factors that interact with each other. Additionally, they both explore the concept of time and change in relation to identity. Hockney’s work captures the passage of time through his use of multiple perspectives within a single image whereas Monreal’s combination of human forms with flowers suggests there’s a deeper, cyclical connection between humans and the world around them. Both artists imply that identity isn’t linear but a fluid thing that is constantly changing due to the different experiences one may undergo. However, David Hockney and Marcelo Monreal differ slightly regarding the methods and mediums they use. For example, Hockney’s approach is rooted in traditional photography in which it involving him using physical photographs, cutting them and then reassembling them to create a new meaning and image. His work emphasises the process of constructing an image. In contrast, Monreal’s work is digital (instead of the more physical approach Hockney’s joiners take) as he seamlessly blends a variety of flowers with a human face. His use of digital manipulations allow him to create ethereal images. This majorly contrasts with Hockney’s work which is more grounded. Furthermore, Hockney’s joiners series focuses on capturing multiple perspectives of a singular subject whereas Monreal’s work emphasises the merging of inner and outer worlds. Hockney often deconstructs and dissects identity throughout his work, but in Monreal’s work, he seeks to integrate the various aspects of self, suggesting a more harmonious, interconnected view of identity.
Both artists have had an influence on project and how I wanted to approach the concept of exploring identity through photography. I have taken inspiration from Hockney’s use of fragmented images and the idea of conveying multiple perspectives into one image. His work has inspired me to think about identity in terms of its complexity and fluidity which often leaves people feeling lost and alone as they struggle with embracing or even knowing who they truly are. Hockney’s joiners where he uses a multitude of images from different perspectives to create a distorted yet cohesive image, inspired me to highlight the idea that identity is a complex journey one must go through in my work. By distorting peoples faces using multiple images of them, I hope to emphasise the message that you are not alone and others also feel the chaos portrayed in the images. Similarly, Monreal’s work has inspired me to explore how our identities are shaped by not only our internal thoughts and feelings but also by our environment and society. Towards the end of my project, I want to look into the different external influences (eg culture, history, and nature) that play a role in shaping who we are and show how these differences make us unique and valuable. This will hopefully inspire those who look at my work to not conceal certain parts of themselves in order to conform to societal expectations. Ultimately, both Hockney and Monreal’s work have shown me that identity is not a singular or fixed concept, it is continually changing and shaped by both internal and external factors. Their work has encouraged me to explore different, alternative ways of representing identity. For example, through fragmentation, layering, and the blending of different perspectives as seen in Hockneys work, to digital manipulation in Monreal’s work that enhances the beauty of people that’s typically hidden inside.
Bibliography:
[1]= Interview with Marcelo Monreal (no date) PHOTOGRAPHIZE. Available at: https://www.photographize.co/interviews/marcelomonreal/ (Accessed: 09 January 2025).
[2]= Hockney, D. and Joyce, P. (2008). Hockney on art : conversations with Paul Joyce. London: Little, Brown.
[3]= Goodreads.com. (2019). Pablo Picasso Quotes (Author of The Burial of the Count of Orgaz and Other Poems). [online] Available at: https://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/3253.Pablo_Picasso.
[4]= The Art Story. (n.d.). Hannah Höch Photomontages, Bio, Ideas. [online] Available at: https://www.theartstory.org/amp/artist/hoch-hannah/.
[5]= Palmer, L. (2015). Words of Wisdom from Dada Genius Hannah Höch on her Birthday. [online] artnet News. Available at: https://news.artnet.com/art-world/words-wisdom-dada-genius-hannah-hc3ch-birthday-350867.
[6]= Bookey.app. (2023). 30 Best David Hockney Quotes With Image | Bookey. [online] Available at: https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/david-hockney [Accessed 1 Feb. 2025].
[7]= photoquotes.com. (n.d.). Quotes by David Hockney | PhotoQuotes.com. [online] Available at: https://photoquotes.com/author/david-hockney.
[8]= Bookey.app. (2023). 30 Best David Hockney Quotes With Image | Bookey. [online] Available at: https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/david-hockney [Accessed 1 Feb. 2025].
[9]= photoquotes.com. (n.d.). Quotes by David Hockney | PhotoQuotes.com. [online] Available at: https://photoquotes.com/author/david-hockney.
[10]= Bookey.app. (2023). 30 Best David Hockney Quotes With Image | Bookey. [online] Available at: https://www.bookey.app/quote-author/david-hockney [Accessed 1 Feb. 2025].
[11]= OpenAI (2022). ChatGPT. [online] ChatGPT. Available at: https://chatgpt.com/.
[12]= ellieclaireartblog, A. (2016). Inside Outside – Artist Research – Marcelo Monreal. [online] Ellie Claire Fine Art Blog. Available at: https://ellieclaireartblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/inside-outside-artist-research-marcelo-monreal/.)
[13]= OpenAI (2022). ChatGPT. [online] ChatGPT. Available at: https://chatgpt.com/.
[14]= OpenAI (2022). ChatGPT. [online] ChatGPT. Available at: https://chatgpt.com/.
History of photomontage information from:
www.nationalgalleries.org. (n.d.). Photomontage | National Galleries of Scotland. [online] Available at: https://wwwnationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/glossary-terms/photomontage
McCully, M. (2018). Pablo Picasso | Biography, Facts, & Famous Paintings. In: Encyclopedia Britannica. [online] Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Pablo-Picasso
MoMa (n.d.). Hannah Hoch. [online] The Museum of Modern Art. Available at: https://www.moma.org/artists/2675
David Hockney information from:
King, E. (2024). David Hockney Art for Sale: Prints & Originals. [online] MyArtBroker. Available at: https://www.myartbroker.com/artist-david-hockney/articles/exploring-david-hockney.
Marcelo Monreal information from:
Ideas & Processes. (2018). Marcelo Monreal. [online] Available at: https://nickyb513882.wordpress.com/marcelo-monreal/.
ellieclaireartblog, A. (2016). Inside Outside – Artist Research – Marcelo Monreal. [online] Ellie Claire Fine Art Blog. Available at: https://ellieclaireartblog.wordpress.com/2016/12/08/inside-outside-artist-research-marcelo-monreal/.
PHOTOGRAPHIZE. (2019). INTERVIEW WITH MARCELO MONREAL. [online] Available at: https://www.photographize.co/interviews/marcelomonreal/.
I presented my best images in a virtual gallery, choosing an industrial setting to go with the metal in all the photos. I placed certain photos together like the motorbikes ones, like my book. The mainly black and white images go well in the gallery and produce a good display.
Prints
These images are my final prints, I picked a few that summed up the project, from three details shots to two half shots to then one full photo. This shows the memory fragments then progressing into a full passion for motorsport. I chose to go with all black and white images as a mixture with such a small number of photos could have been confusing and the colour could have overruled the black and white photos, even if the black and white were more important.
Here were some potential essay questions which I came up with:
In what way are the work of … and Lewis Baltz influenced by the change in Architectural Styles?
How has the New Topographics exhibition influenced contemporary photography?
How have the changes in Architectural Styles been documented through Photography?
To what extent was Lewis Baltz and the aesthetics of New Topographics a reaction to Ansel Adams and Romanticism/ classic landscape photography?
How is photography influenced by the changing styles in architecture?
I ended up settling for this question:
How have Historical Periods of Time influenced Architectural Changes and therefore Photographic Styles?
Essay Plan
Introduction (250-500 words):What is your area of study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
For this essay, I would like to explore the link between different periods of time/social events and their outcomes. An example of this would be romanticism. Romanticism was a reaction to the age of enlightenment and people began to explore the beauty of nature, emotion and life. I would like to then link the new topographic as it was a reaction to romanticism and showed the new reality of an industrial/modern world.
Pg 1 (500 words):Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian.
For this paragraph, I would like to write about Romanticism and what it is/what it was a reaction to. I will link this to how it saw changes in architectural styles and in photography. I will also write a bit about Ansel Adams as he was a key photographer who was associated with this movement.
Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
For this paragraph, I would like to move on to talking about the New Topographics Exhibition and how it was a reaction to Romanticism and classic landscape photography. I would also like to refer to how it proposed a new way of thinking about landscape, place and environment with a focus on urban/ modern architecture. Furthermore, I will also refer to a photographer who was part of the new topographic exhibition, potentially Lewis Baltz.
Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
For this paragraph I would like to interpret/analyse the work of Bernd & Hilla Becher and their formation of the Typology as a new aesthetics style/ approach to photography. I am going to use interview texts as a source of information for this, specifically an interview with Jean-Francois Chevrier, James Lingwood and Thomas Struth. I will link this change in photographic styles to the fact that they were influenced by the increasingly industrial environment at the time.
Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
I will conclude this essay by linking back the essay question and exploring the things I had previously spoken about and how they are relevant to the question.
Essay Draft
This is the first draft of my essay, before I made any final changes/adjustments.
Question: How have Historical Periods of Time influenced Architectural Changes and therefore Photographic Styles?
Intro
Photography is a way of preserving the world around you. It allows you to capture a moment of time and freeze it. This is significant as the world we live in is ever-changing. The world changes due to different movements and events. For example, the Climate Movement has caused people to be more considerate of the environment and, as a result, produce sustainable and energy efficient buildings. People also use Photography as a way of promoting that change is needed. Similarly, the Romanticism movement, an artistic and intellectual movement during the Industrial Revolution, influenced Architects and Artists to use nature as an inspiration for their designs. As we can see, there is a tie between social activities and world development. In photography, The New Topographics Exhibition was a reaction to the Romanticism movement and idealised landscape photography. Lewis Baltz, a photographer who was associated with this exhibition, explored the beauty within the realistic, industrial environment at this time.
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Romanticism, first used as a term for aesthetic, became an artistic and intellectual movement in Europe in the late 18th Century. This movement was a reaction against the age of Enlightenment. This was when emotion had been sucked from art and literature and people focused mainly on science and logic. Romanticism was introduced during the Industrial Revolution, a time in which places such as Europe and the US experienced change in economy to one dominated by industry and machinery. The upbringing of Romanticism was heavily influenced by the political and economic atmosphere at the time and people used it as an escape from the new reality. During the Age of Romanticism, people explored the beauty of nature, emotion and life, creating an idealised reality within art and literature. This period also experienced a change in architecture, returning to medieval styles. Architects would use nature as an inspiration for their intricate designs, whilst also prioritising emotion and individualism. Furthermore, Romanticism is still present to this day. It can be found in art, music, films, literature, photography and more. An example of this would be Ansel Adams.
Ansel Adams was a modern-day photographer who was said to have embraced Romanticism. He was known for capturing the beauty of the natural landscape in America. Ansel Adams was part of the Sierra club which was an organisation that worked to protect the environment from industrialisation. He would use his photographic portfolios of the areas as a way to try and convince the members of congress to turn the areas into national parks. After many failed attempts, Adams had success in creating the King’s Canyon National Park in 1940, after publishing a photo book which caught the attention of many people, including President Roosevelt.
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‘The New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape’ was a photographic exhibition which consisted of the work of 10 different photographers. These photographers included Lewis Baltz, Robert Adams and Bernd and Hilla Becher. The exhibition was hosted at the George Eastman Museum by William Jenkins in 1975. It consisted of 168 prints, mostly in black and white. These prints were of things such as streets, industrial sites, warehouses and suburban houses. This exhibition was a reaction against romanticism and the idealised landscape, particularly the work of Ansel Adams. Its purpose was to challenge these traditional landscapes of the untouched by documenting reality and the growing impacts of industrialisation. After the II World War, America experienced a large increase in their economy, resulting in mass production of buildings and industrial developments. These buildings were constructed for their function, rather than their appearance, leading to the introduction of modern architectural styles and less detailed/aesthetically pleasing buildings. Although the photographers involved in The New Topographics simply displayed their everyday surroundings, the exhibition experienced a range of opinions. Many people felt responsibility towards the future of America’s landscape. This is suggested by the quote “I don’t like to think there are ugly streets in America, but when it’s shown to you – without beautification – maybe it tells you how much more we need here”. People were left feeling off-put with the representation of the American Landscape this exhibition displayed, making it one of the most groundbreaking exhibitions of the 20th Century as it completely rewrote the rules of Landscape Photography. This exhibition displayed settings which were often hidden from the camera, settings where the impacts of man-kind are evident. It proved that landscape photography can be more than just photographing the beautiful natural scenery and that it can also be capturing the ‘unattractive’ built environment.
Lewis Baltz, a crucial photographer of The New Topographics Exhibition, focused his work on searching for the beauty in bleakness. In an interview with Mr Witkovsky, Baltz stated that there’s an implied human presence in his work. There are traces of people but an absence of their physical presence. This is due to the fact that the subject of his photographs is the man-made environment. Baltz would capture stark images of the suburban landscape, revealing the impacts of urbanisation and mass construction. His photographs, displayed in black and white,
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Bernd and Hilla Becher were another two photographers who were part of The New Topographics exhibition. They are best known for their method named the ‘typology’. In Carl Andre’s notes on Bernd and Hilla Becher, he stated that a ‘typology’ is simply ‘grouping similar views of different structures built to serve the same purpose’. This is evident in the image below.
This is a Typology consisting of 24 blast furnaces. These images were taken between 1969 and 1995. The blast furnaces are from locations all over the world and each have distinct features, however, they all were made for the same utilitarian function.
Previous to meeting Hilla, Bernd would produce paintings and lithographs of industrial structures. He would make these paintings from photographs, however, he soon discovered that he preferred taking the photographs than he did painting them. His interest in photography advanced and he found himself collecting old photographs of industrial structures so that he could later capture them himself. He would take these images using a step ladder to avoid optical distortion. After meeting Hilla, she too became fascinated by photography and Bernd’s ideas. She soon left her job in advertising to help him. The couple would travel together and make families of objects that they discovered in their path so that they could later create a typology. From 1961 to 1965, they worked mostly in the German Ruhr district which is known as the largest Urban area in Germany and the third largest in Europe. The pair had immense interest in the fact that the industrial world would one day disappear. This is why they photographed it as they wanted to fix it. They wanted to make sure that their typologies were able to describe the structures visually so that people can read the photographs and not need to visit them as they would be unable to, due to them no longer existing. They would consider their projects as finished once the structures had been destroyed. Additionally, in an interview with Jean-Francois Chevrier, James Lingwood and Thomas Struth, Hilla expressed that industrial structures are ‘nomadic forms of architecture’ and that they ‘come and go like nature’. Here, she is emphasising that these structures are only temporary and will be built or replaced depending on the need for them, alike nature’s lifecycle. I find this reference to nature very interesting as there is a huge contrast between the industrial and natural world in the sense that the natural world is completely organic and untouched and the industrial world is a man-made environment which is proven to be destructive to the natural environment. In this same interview, Bernd later made another reference to nature. He claimed that ‘all these objects that are linked to industrialization are disappearing. As in the world of nature, they consume each other.’ By this, Bernd is referring to the fact that industrial objects are constantly superseded by newer, better models, alike the food chain in nature. He also stated that, the fact there is no aesthetic thinking behind the architecture for industrial structures, it proves that people are only concerned with the idea of making money fast and efficiently. These structures are not built to last or to leave an impact as they will soon be replaced. Furthermore, the couple believed that photography should be used to describe and document things which is what they did in their work as they used their typologies to document industrial architecture and emphasize its nature, function and aesthetics.
Overall, Bernd and Hilla’s fascination in the industrial environment resulted in the upcoming of a new photographic technique, the Typology.
WHAT IS THE IMPACT OF DOCUMENTARY VERSUS TABLEAUX PHOTOGRAPHY IN TELLING A STORY?
‘To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed.’ (Sontag S. 1977)
The meaning of this quote is to explain the difference between the real thing itself and an image of the real thing. The photograph of the real thing is only an appropriation, or rather a representation of that thing which the camera recorded, or the photographer chose to frame in a picture. However, the photograph itself as a print, is a real object that exists in the world.
Introduction
This essay explores two aspects of photography; documentary and tableaux, in their unique ability to entice and seduce the viewer to comprehend the story that is being told. Both photographic methods attempt to convey a story in a historical timeframe; documentary photography is often used in reportage (Tate.org) by comparison a photograph that uses tableaux can feel pre-planned and hence staged. Although, the two approaches maintain a common purpose in communicating a narrative, the method behind how each photograph has been produced is completely different.
The origin of tableaux photography emerges from Pictorialism in the late 19th century. The word documentary was first coined by British filmmaker John Grierson in 1930s. The line between a tableaux photograph being staged and posed and a documentary photograph showing ‘reality’ isn’t as black and white as the definitions say. For example, some photographers such as Tyler Mitchell and Justine Kurland fuse together both the real with the imaginary. (Gelder 2010). This means that to keep this essay on track, I will be explicitly focusing on obvious documentary or tableaux style photography.
This essay primarily analyses one historical and two contemporary image-makers; Dorethea Lange’s Migrant Mother, Paul M Smith’s tableaux photography focusing on masculinity and recreating scenes of war, and Neil Leifer’s documentary photos of sports. These artists were previously explored as part of my personal study, including them in this essay permits me to take a deeper dive into their images and make comparisons between tableaux and documentary styles.
Storytelling in photography is of particular personal interest, because my previous studies explored creating visual narratives of St Malo and St Helier Harbour, producing two different outcomes, magazine double spread and a photo-zine. My approach taken in both cases were documentary based. A similar approach will be taken to my current project, however this time the subject being explored will be basketball and the commitment and determination that a sports person needs.
Documentary – Contemporary Example
Documentary photography is the recording of people, events and places to create an accurate record or story. Documentaries are traditionally supposed to show ‘reality’ as well as highlighting issues and for promoting change (Tate.org). However, it can also be used as an art form. It is similar to, though not the same as reportage photography.
In its infancy photography was originally used for scientific purposes. This meant that a camera was only used for documentary purposes; nothing more than a simple record of reality. “This is one of the founding arguments about photography right from the moment of its original invention, that is, its capacity to store and reproduce other objects as a visual image” (Bate 2010).
Photographs only started moving towards a true art form in the late 19th century, gaining a similar artistic status to paintings and sculptures. This is known as the pictorialism movement, starting in the late 19th century and continued growing after. This meant photography can be a ‘naked’ and unaltered image that shows truth, or an artistic image, that the photographer planned to make it unique and impossible to replicate. This is where photographs start drifting away from a true depiction of history and to a depiction of the thoughts that a photographer has. The idea of a ‘Naked Image’ when referring to documentary photography is used represent history to fact and reality, as its often accepted to not tolerate any other form of presentation when it comes to a documentary photo. However, it’s impossible to take a photograph without aesthetics being added. And often, the most basic and obvious examples of a ‘document’ in a photograph end up being a formation of art photography.
Above Dorothea Lange ‘Migrant Mother’ – example of documentary photograph taken during the Great Depression in USA during the 1930s.
The composition draws your eye to her face, which is tired and shows she is worn out, and hopeless. The image was used to raise awareness to the many Americans, especially farmers, that faced this kind of poverty (Eschner 2017). According to Lange, she approached the woman – as if drawn by a magnet – and snapped five pictures. Lange didn’t ask her name, but did hear of how the woman had sold the tires of her car just to buy food. Years after the photograph was published the subject of the photograph came forward to given her account. She said that she had not been paid and was told that the photograph would not be published. There are another five photographs of the same scene taken by Lange. In each photograph the furniture and the children are in different locations (Davis 2020). This has led to accusations that the final, iconic, picture was posed, staged. If this was the case does this take away the value of the image? As Bate (2010) said “in terms of history and memory, photographs demand analysis rather than hypnotic reverie” (Bate 2010).
Documentary – Neil Leifer
A more recent photographer, and someone who is an inspiration for my own personal studies, is Neil Leifer. Leifer has been documenting key sporting events in America for 60 years and is responsible for many classic sporting images (nielleifer.com). His style is primarily documentary and portraiture. He has taken many posed photographs of famous sports personalities however it is his documentary photographs that this essay will focus on.
Neil Leifer puts his success down to luck and being in the right place at the right time, however he also emphases the need to recognise that a great shot is there and grab it, even when it may be fleeting: “what separates the top photographers from the run-of-the-mill photographers is that when you get lucky a good photographer doesn’t miss.” (NPR 2016).
One of Leifer’s successes has been getting the camera in the right spot. He says this takes time and planning. For his famous shot of Ali v Williams boxing match at the Houston Astrodome in November 1966 he arrived four days before the match to set up and test his remote camera mounted in the rafters. He then took the film to the developers and waited for it to be processed “most photographers don’t hang around the magazine’s photo labs, but I would go to make sure they didn’t mess up my film” (Jonze, 2020). So, for sports documentary, it is important to be think ahead and plan and to control what you can, however it is equally important to be constantly on the lookout for ‘the shot’ and ensure you do not miss it.
Above Philadelphia 76ers center Wilt Chamberlain shoots over Walt Bellamy of the New York Knicks during a game at Convention Hall. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. March 1966 (neilleifer.com)
Above Miami Heat center Shaquille O’Neal goes up against Antonio McDyess and Ben Wallace of the Detroit Pistons during Game 5 of the 2005 NBA Eastern Conference Finals at American Airlines Arena. Miami, Florida. June 2, 2005. (neilleifer.com)
Above are some of my favourite basketball photographs taken by Leifer many years apart. With the first image, you can see a bright light shining on the players from the left, casting long and ominous shadows. Both players reaching for the ball are fully in the frame, making these players seem even larger than they are, this and the dynamism of the players is exaggerated by the wide angle lens and by having the camera low to the ground. This image is a good documentation of what basketball looked like back in the sixties, especially when compared to the second image with Shaquille O’Neal forty years later. You can see how the clothing has changed to being baggier, as well as the players being larger on average. The photograph captures the split-second pause as O’Neil eyes onto the basket before he shoots. O’Niel, in white, is framed on both sides by McDyess and Wallace, in blue. McDyess’s and Wallace’s eyes are both on O’Neil, drawing the viewer to the central figure. O’Neil’s eye’s are focused hard on the basket, which being out of shot sends the viewers gaze off to the top left of the image. This is a perfect example of what Leifer means when he says that good photographers do not miss the shot.
Above is one example from my photoshoot that I took during a D1 game in Jersey. I tried to replicate Neil Leifer’s Images by sitting close to the basketball hoop as well as using a wide-angle Lense to capture a wider field of view.
Tableaux
Tableaux photography is staged and often posed. The people in the photographs may be wearing costumes and props may be used along with artificial lighting to create a scene. Tableaux photography is an evolution from art, for example Renaissance paintings depicting scenes from the bible or mythology. People in tableaux photographs are staged such that they appear to be absorbed in their actions or surroundings and unaware of the photographer. (Tate and Pilgrim 2023). Tableaux photography operates in the space between reality and fiction, drawing the viewer into a scene that feels both familiar and uncanny. (David Bate). This tension between reality and fiction allows tableaux photography to be so powerful when it comes to telling a story.
Below is a modern (amateur) example of a tableaux photograph below The Last Supper by Renaissance artist Leonardo da Vinci. The image, clearly posed by medical staff trying to have some light relief during the Covid Pandemic, is an example of a classic tableaux photograph, depicting a scene from the bible. (Smith 2020).
Above – The Last Supper painting by Leonardo da Vinci and tableaux by doctors at a hospital in Paris during the Covid pandemic (Smith 2020).
I’ve already talked a little bit about pictorialism in this essay, however, almost all tableaux photographs contain ideas from pictorialism and adds an aesthetic that’s pleasing to the viewer. Many contemporary photographers didn’t agree with this new movement at the time saying it marks a shift from an emphasis on ‘truthful’ representation to a recognition of its constructed nature. However, photographers that followed pictorialism believed it allowed viewers to pause and analyse them, allowing them to find there own meaning and symbolism. This can increase a story’s impact on the viewer as they are able to relate the photo to other moments in their own life, instead of taking the photo at face value which is often the case for documentary photography.
Tableaux – Paul M Smith
At first sight the images of Paul M Smith would not appear to be part of the tableaux genre. Smith is a British photographer who has produced several sets of images on the theme of masculinity. While his photographs appear to have the theme of documentary they are actually posed, and a large amount of effort has gone into capturing and editing the images in which, he, is often the only person in the photographs. These photographs do not record real events and are completely staged, they are tableaux.
In ‘Artist Rifles’ Paul M Smith takes self portraits of himself dressed as different soldiers and uses photomontage to create fictional military scenes (some of which are relatively graphic, such as execution and burials).
Above Paul M Smith photograph taken as part of his Artist Rifles series. In this photograph each of the soldiers is posed by Paul M Smith himself and the image put together as a photomontage. While having the appearance of a documentary image, it is entirely posed and fictional.
This image and the rest of the ‘Artist Rifle’ series contradicts the ideal view of courageous and well-known superheroes against that of a soldier, since he previously produced a series called ‘Action’ which mocks the masculine ideas of a superhero. Solders are unfortunately often seen as faces among the masses. This makes them heroes, not through their individuality or charisma, and instead by the difficulties of being a soldier. The use of tableaux allows Smith to recreate images with a high level of emotion, as he can control every aspect of the image, including the subjects himself since he is the subjects. When he took these photos back in the 1990s, it was much harder to replicate himself without the current technology, making these images more visually striking to the viewer. The multiple self-portraits also emphasise the idea of ‘brothers in arms’ in war, where they all work as one unit. This image above is particularly realistic as well, not just with the subjects’ actions, clothing and placement, but the baren and war-like background, allowing a strong effect on the viewer. The cigarette in the left soldier’s mouth and the rifle in the right soldier’s arms is almost over exaggerating the stereotypes of masculinity since the viewer knows its staged, giving an amusing effect allowing the viewer to participate in the fantasy. Looking past the depiction of masculinity, the details in this image that Smith planned makes it seem like a real event.
Above is my attempt at replicating photomontage in the style of Paul M Smith. I used photoshop to replicate the subject multiple times performing different things that are ‘basketball’ related.
Conclusion
It is clear from the examples given that both documentary and tableaux have the ability to tell a story.
Lange has potentially manipulated her image by having the mother and her children pose for the final and most famous image. Does this detract from Lange’s purpose of documenting the impact of the Great Depression and spreading the news of the suffering to the rest of America and the world? Does it remove the title ‘documentary’ from the image? Is it ‘fake? The truth is that the mother in the photograph was homeless and the children were starving. Perhaps all Lange is guilty of is using her skill as a photographer to marginally manipulate the story to make a greater impact on the reader, and by doing so raise the plight of the mother and others in her difficult situation?
It is interesting to compare the images of Lange with the sports photographs of Leifer. Both are well known documentary photographers, working at different times with very different subjects. However while the documentary images of Lange have a shadow of doubt over their ‘authenticity’ it is clear that the images taken during sports events by Leifer are true representations of what actually happened, the story of the match. It is very unlikely that these would be staged in anyway, and instead they are the product of a photographer who has the ability to foresee and capture a great image in the instant it happens during a fast-paced sports event.
The purpose of tableaux photography is to tell a story, whether that be the bible story of the last supper, the trials of working in a hospital during the Covid Pandemic, or the modern representation of masculinity and warfare.
Smith’s photographs are deliberately fabricated to mimic documentary wartime photographs. Only by looking closely is it apparent that all the people are posed by Smith himself. This creates a contrast between documentary photos and tableaux photos. Does a documentary photo carry more emotion because there are no lies? Or a tableaux photo, which can be endlessly modified to maximise the emotion the photographer is trying to create? It is my view that impact is not from whether the photograph fits the ‘tableaux’ or ‘documentary’ genre. Rather it more the ability of the photographer to convey the message they wish to tell. A documentary photographer who asks (implicitly or explicitly) the subject to change their pose, position etc, and in doing so is able to make a more powerful image while the most important elements of the truth remain is equally valid as the obviously posed tableaux that examines the meaning of its subject.
Bibliography
Bate, D. (2010) ‘The Memory of Photography’, photographies, 3(2), pp. 243–257. doi: 10.1080/17540763.2010.499609.
Davis L. J. (2020) ‘Migrant Mother: Dorothea Lange and the Truth of Photography’ https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/migrant-mother-dorothea-lange-truth-photography/
David_Bate ‘The Art Of The Document’
David_Bate ‘The_Pictorial_Turn’
Gelder, H. V. (2008), ‘Photography Today: Between Tableau and Document’, Photographie Volume 28, numéro 1-2, URL : https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/044589ar
Pilgrim, F. (2023) ‘Dreaming in Real Time’: How staged tableaux disrupt notions of authenticity in documentary photography’ https://www.felixpilgrim.com/blog-1/staged-tableaux-and-documentary-photography
Eschner (K), (2017) ‘Meet 10 Depression-Era Photographers Who Captured the Struggle of Rural America’, Smithsonian Magazine. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/meet-photographers-charged-documenting-depression-era-america-farm-security-administration-180964123/
Smith W. S. (2020) ‘Tableaux Vivants Are Giving Us Life During the Pandemic’ Art News https://www.artnews.com/art-in-america/columns/ableaux-vivants-replicate-art-masterpieces-during-covid-19-quarantine-1202686492/
Jonze, T. (2020) ‘Muhammad Ali flattens Cleveland Williams: Neil Leifer’s best photograph’ The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2020/dec/02/muhammad-ali-cleveland-williams-neil-leifers-best-photograph
NPR (2016), ‘A ‘Relentless’ Sports Photographer Explains How He Got His Shots’ NPR. https://www.npr.org/2016/05/06/476893044/a-relentless-sports-photographer-explains-how-he-got-his-shots
Sontag S. (1977) ‘On Photography’ Farrar, Straus and Giroux
How do feminist artists use art and photography to display messages to society?
“I wanted to foreground girls’ lives, centring them by creating an all-female society.” – Justine Kurland – 25th January 2023
The works of Justine Kurland express the heritage of youth, girlhood and a search for identity, capturing the lives of young teenage runaways specifically through her book, Girl Pictures. Girl Pictures is a photo book, presenting an enduring symbol of romance, rebellion, escape, and freedom through the representation of teenage runaways, which ultimately challenges traditional narratives of femininity. Created between 1997 and 2002, Kurland focused on the roads in the American wilderness, and her subjects are presented as companies to one another, promoting a strong sense of intimacy throughout her series. My personal study will take inspiration from her photo book, as I feel it resonates deeply with my ideas and what I want to portray. Her work evokes a strong sense of nostalgia and longing for freedom, and her images blend the innocence of girlhood with the strength and independence young women find during adolescence. The contrast of the two allow Kurland to construct a powerful narrative about the importance of connection and community during this time, which encourages girls like myself to delve into our own experiences including vulnerability and strength. Kurland’s work stands out to me because her subjects experiment with intimacy and protection, along with the experimentation of nostalgia to evoke a sense of freedom, rebellion and escape. These ideas successfully link to my project as I am aiming to reflect these themes through my own personal experiences as growing up as a girl in the island of Jersey. Family Album by Ramona Jingru Wang carefully investigates themes of identity and relationships, similar to Kurland. Wang shed light on the exploitations of models, and her work is a quiet refusal of specific representations of them. Wang’s images in this series depict her family, where she delves into the themes of identity and the connections between humans and the space around us, through capturing simple everyday moments that highlight femininity and nurture. I took inspiration from Wang due to her ability to shift certain stereotypes and present young women in a way that feels empowering to viewers like myself. I admire her unique approaches to photographing young girls, and this allows me to consider how I can use these ideas to portray my own experiences as growing up as a girl. Both Kurland and Wang stand out to me through their ability to challenge traditional female stereotypes and capture femininity and youth from a female perspective, making it easier for me to feel inspired by their work, understand their values and successfully incorporate them into my personal project.
I am basing my personal study project on the themes of youth and femininity as I feel passionately towards both topics. Femininity is significant to me as I am a young female who feels the need to carry out certain feminine qualities in order to display my place in social circles, as well as society as a whole. The male gaze is a term formulated by feminist theorist Laura Mullvey in 19th and 20th century. She introduced the concept in 1975, where she argued that the mainstream media constructs women into objects of male desire. The link below shows the psychoanalytic and feminist theory by Jacques Lacan and Luce Irigaray, in Mullvey’s Visual Pleasure and Narrative Cinema essay. I have read through the pages and deepened my understanding of the voyeuristic values that society have shaped around women and how long these values have been around, as well as where they have stemmed from.
After reading through the pages of Lacan’s and Irigaray’s views, I found myself most drawn to page 21, specifically the quote:
“Ultimately, the meaning of women is sexual difference, the visually ascertainable absence of the penis, the material evidence on which is based the castration complex essential for the organisation of entrance to the symbolic order and the law of the father”.
This quote tells me that power is determined by gender, ie. males with a penis holds more power, whereas castrated women are immediately frowned upon as it is assumed that they lack intelligence. It also exhibits the idea that females are judged by what they lack rather than the qualities they do have, which follows the traditional stereotypes. Therefore, this plays a key part in the development of gender identity and is perhaps the reason many women struggle with becoming at ease with their identity. Most art and photography projects that include women also follow the idea that women exist primarily to be looked at, and are only framed in a way that emphasizes their beauty or vulnerability, reinforcing male control. I believe that my artist Ramona Wang has included aspects of the male gaze into her work and perhaps taken inspiration from it to challenge stereotypes of women. For example, Wang uses the ‘camera’s gaze’ approach in a lot of her images, in which her subjects are looking seductively at the camera or posed in submissive ways. I believe that this approach to her photographs is to challenge traditional stereotypes of depicting women for male pleasure, as she has used her subjects to mimic the poses from photography and film, therefore exposing how women are forced to perform femininity. Contrastingly, Justine Kurland does not use the male gaze in her photography. Rather, her work rejects the idea, particularly in her Girl Pictures series that I am focusing on. Her work challenges traditional depictions of females in photography, as she has her subjects appear more free and powerful instead of weak and vulnerable, which is how women are often portrayed in art, photography and media. Femininity is a mixture of qualities and characteristics that exhibit narratives that only women can do, which therefore ultimately separates us from men. Despite this, feminism in general is seen as a movement to end sexism, which I also think plays a vital role in my project as women have faced many battles with sexism, and fought for values to be modernised in a way that allows an equal balance between genders. The girls in Girl Pictures are often presented as dirty, tough and portraying a tomboyish look, which goes against the idea that youth and femininity must be delicate. I aim to touch on these conventions in my project due to the natural ingrained stereotypes of females, and therefore shine light on the inequalities. These values of mine have guided me to focus my project on femininity, as I feel it allows people to find their personal identity and can help us explore how femininity is expressed through different generations and cultures. Youth is equally as important to me as I aim to successfully highlight the impact youth has on an individual, through being able to develop their skills and also finding their own personality that they feel they can express to the world. I think my two themes link effectively to one another because they are both mainly shaped by societal factors. In my opinion, society idolises youth and associates it with beauty which then creates pressure for young females to adopt these elements into their identity.
I will be responding to these two artists by taking in all of my inspiration from them and capturing several photoshoots that portray similar ideas to them both. For example, my first photoshoot will take place outdoors in a natural and rural landscape, similar to Justine Kurland. This is because she focused on photographing a fantasy and utopian world that teenage girls ran away from home to live in. I will recreate this idea using my friends as subjects, and the location of my shoot will be St Catherine’s woods where my subjects can explore the nature surrounding them. My second photoshoot will primarily take inspiration from Ramona Wang, located indoors. This is due to the fact Wang mainly captured her subjects indoors with minimal clothing and expressing a traditional exploitation of females, specifically her loved ones. My photoshoot will include aspects of the male gaze, as this is another significant factor that contributes to my project and the themes of youth and femininity. My third photoshoot will be another inspired by Kurland, where I will take my subjects into more scenes of nature where they can display the ‘runaway’ narrative and build relationships with one another in the wild. My fourth photoshoot will be one with no particular artist inspiration, an opportunity for me to incorporate my own ideas and imagination tied into youth and femininity. It will be shot outdoors similar to my first photoshoot to stay related to my main artist Justine Kurland, yet I aim to include exploitations of females to stick to my themes. My last photoshoot will be mainly inspired by Wang again, where I will be the main subject presenting female stereotypes. This is because I feel strongly about the topic, and by including myself I am able to present my values and beliefs in my project to add a more realistic effect. I will include images of me doing things that typical young women do, for example putting on makeup and dressing up to go out.
Justine Kurland
Justine Kurland uses her photography to challenge the traditional stereotypes shaped around women. She uses her platform to reinforce the idea that women do not have to perform in certain ways and exhibit specific behaviours in order to be feminine. In Girl Pictures, Kurland reimagines her models as independent, free and brave, which are characteristics that women are not usually seen to have. Due to mainstream media, male-dominated traditions have formed gender inequalities, leading to an uneven balance between men and women. I feel drawn to the idea that Kurland has focused her work mainly around young women, and has placed them in the centre rather than outside objects of desire for men to view. I believe that she has successfully criticised the expectations imposed on young women in most mainstream narratives, and suggested an alternative vision of female dominance which is very important for young girls to see. My overall aim is to break down these norms in my own work, following Kurland’s message to society in order for many young viewers to disengage with traditional stereotypes and expectations. Kurland stated: ‘There’s something political about creating a world that you want to exist.’ (Reference source using Harvard system…) This quote confidently reflects Kurland’s attempt to create a world where women exist outside following a patriarchal society, where we can live freely and not need to exhibit personas that men believe are important. The political side to it is displayed through Kurland’s work, as she is actively challenging the dominant ideologies and attempts to propose a new world which would be ideal for women.
In an interview with Aperture magazine, Kurland also stated: ‘The usually male protagonist doesn’t belong to the world as he has inherited it. He fights alienation by striking out to find a world of his own.’ (Kurland 14 July 2020) I was drawn to this quote by Kurland in the interview as it is suggesting that in mainstream media, it is common for men to be born into a world where they feel they don’t belong, and that most of them have the confidence to run away from it and begin a new life due to being unsatisfied. However, Kurland challenges this by adapting these ideas into her work about females where they escape the domesticity.
Comparison of my images to Justine Kurland:
Within my response to Justine Kurland, I attempted to include similar aspects within this specific image inspired by her; such as the slight hint of red clothing, the background of nature and the physical close bond between the subjects, resembling strong relationships and intimacy.
Evaluation of my images compared to Justine Kurland:
The setting of nature is used in both mine and Kurland’s images, as they both take place in a natural, overgrown outdoor environment. I carried this out effectively as it allows my outcome to link to Kurland’s style of depicting her subjects in an untamed space. I also think I exhibited the composition of the image well, due to the subjects performing in an intimate manor which shows a clear connection between them. The main factor that differs my image from Kurland’s would be the overall tones within it. My image has been edited so that it has cooler tones being emphasised rather than warmer tones. This makes my image appear colder than Kurland’s, which I think overall changes the mood of the image and gives a slightly more melancholy effect. This is a drawback for me because I wanted this outcome to appear vibrant and reflect a happier mood, as the aim of this image is to allow the viewer to focus on the clear friendship between the subjects.
Ramona Wang
Ramona Jingru Wang uses her position in photography to reflect the themes of identity and community through her family and loved ones. Wang’s ethnicity plays a crucial role in her photographs, to create a strong narrative around the exploitations of Asian women in photography. Her heritage is a significant factor of the story behind her photographs, making her main aim through her work to delve into the connections between humans and the space around us, and also the impact that images can have on our perception of reality. She proposes her ideas into her work by photographing her loved ones building relationships with one another, and investigating how we as humans care for each other. Wang believes in discarding flat narratives of Asian models, as she is a model in art and photography herself. Therefore, her Family Album series was proposed in a way that implies blurring boundaries between private family life and public photography, where she captures intimate scenes at home focusing on the relationships of the people around her. I believe Ramona Wang’s approach to her work is important because it is a quiet refusal of the typical narratives shaped around women of her ethnicity. This ideology links to Kurland as the aim of both of their work is to challenge traditional stereotypes and ideologies surrounding categories of people, which relates to my work because I aiming to disregard typical expectations of young females and link it to my personal experiences with being a girl.
‘I’ve always wondered why naked female bodies are always presented and seen in a sexual way, so I decided to see if I could create photos of my body that are honest and not for pleasing anyone.’
This statement by Wang reflects feminist opinions on the male gaze and the rights of women. It challenges the conventional portrayal of the female body in art and photography, as she questions why it is only looked at in a way of sexualisation to be consumed by men, and not in a way where it can be understood that female bodies can be photographed within personal expression through a camera. From the quote ‘honest and not for pleasing anyone’, I can gather that she is attempting to gain reclaim control over the male gaze, and wanting to shift perspectives on women as she emphasises honesty, which overall implies that she wants to be free from the idea of objectification.
Comparison of my images to Ramona Wang:
For my image comparison, I believe these two images share similarities within the subject matter, but differences within the overall tone and lighting. One thing that I think I executed well is the connection between my two subjects, as this links to what Wang produced and they both suggest a strong sense of togetherness, which is the aim I am trying to reflect. In both images, the subjects are also lying down, which implies a sense of realism as it gives the outcome a more casual effect, which allows it to look less staged. The frame and angle of my image is also very similar to the artists, as I have reinforced the focus on the facial expressions through the angle of the camera which is only focused on the subject expression. However, there are some clear differences between the two. My image was taken in the evening, meaning I had to use artificial lighting, whereas Wang’s image has been taken near a window in clear daylight as there is sunshine rays beaming on the subjects face. Another difference is the clothing on both of our subjects, Wang’s subjects are wearing softer clothing which gives her image a more relaxed and realistic effect, whereas my models are wearing minimal and harsh clothing, making it appear more dramatic.
Evaluation of my images compared to Ramona Wang:
To evaluate, I believe I executed similar outcomes to my artist inspiration by closely analysing the connection between models which I interpreted well as this was a main focus of mine to reflect on, as it links to my themes. I recreated this successfully in my image by using the same posing approach, where both my subjects are laying down with one lying on the other, and getting my subjects to perform in a way that presents a close relationship between them. However, I think Wang’s image evokes a deeper connection between her two subjects due to the model in the foreground looking up at the model behind her, which shows that Wang has carefully explored the theme of love and care, which I didn’t. Another drawback would be the difference in lighting as mine is artificial, which I think slightly shifts the perception of intimacy as it emphasises that the image is staged, whereas Wang’s image feels more natural.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, there are multiple parallels between both of my artist inspirations – Justine Kurland and Ramona Wang. They both explore themes of female representation and intimacy, linking to my themes on femininity and youth. Through carefully interpreting both of their photographic styles, in this project I was able to gain a strong sense of the conventional narratives on femininity and the way females are expressed through art and photography, through both landscapes and self-perceptions. The significant difference between my two artists is Kurland focuses on groups of young females in a wild and natural environment in which they explore a sense of freedom and escape, whereas Wang explores self representation with a more personal approach, challenging the traditional sexualisation of the female body. One of Wang’s main ideologies included throughout her work is the male gaze, as she questions how women are presented as well as perceived by men. Kurland does not explore the male gaze in her photographs, she explores a more crafted and opposing aesthetic through using nature and soft lighting to create a utopian world for young females. These two contrast heavily to one another, as Kurland’s approaches and compositions create a balance between innocence and real life documentary, yet Wang uses a more raw approach through self-representation which create a more unfiltered effect. Kurland executes her images in a way that highlights an idealised version of the world, through trying to challenge traditional domestic roles of women by depicting them as brave and free. On the other hand, Ramona Wang emphasises the reality of the female form, showing that she prioritises honesty.
I aimed to execute both of these ideologies throughout my five photoshoots for this project, tieing in both traditional stereotypes of young females as well as intimacy and resembling the close bonds that we share with one another. My overall objective is to create a seamless blend within my photo book, between the importance of personal identity through youth and the strong community between females. Drawing from Kurland’s depictions of her subjects, my photoshoots obtain a clear portrayal of freedom and female bonds as I focused on natural settings that evoke escape from traditional expectations. As Wang challenges the male gaze, I also incorporated aspects of this in my second and fourth photoshoot. I did this by using a more intimate approach within my subjects, to reinforce the idea of female objectification. By merging these two artists and their themes together, my project reflects a narrative where young females exist both collectively and personally, which overall challenges the way femininity is portrayed in art and photography.
Bibliography
Bengal, R. (2020) ‘The Jeremys’ in Girl Pictures. New York: Aperture.
Kurland, J. (2020) ‘Cherry Bomb’ in Girl Pictures. New York: Aperture.
The first set of images I began to experiment with were digital archived images that my parents found of me and my brother, as well as singular images of my brother or with his friends from childhood. I imported these onto the computer from my phone and began to experiment with them in Photoshop using different techniques.
My initial idea going into this was to create adaptations to the images and convey a message of concealing his identity to protect him as these images are of me and him at vulnerable ages, susceptible to different kinds of traumas and the risks within the world that parents try to protect their children from. These images reflect a time of innocence and naivety to connote feelings of nostalgia. A very affluent theme within my personal study is looking at memories, so by making adaptations to these archived images that are associated with core memories from childhood, it changes the meaning behind the images to think back to how my brother used to be before this illness completely changed his identity. This also is representative of how these core memories with my brother are something I think back to all the time and reflect on the person who he used to be in comparison to now where the entire family dynamic has been altered.
However, although I am using family albums in my personal study, I still need to ensure that the image isn’t too under-exposed or over-exposed as I need to ensure I am using effective images.
My first few experiments are inspired by the aesthetic of the ‘unknown user’ profile pictures that people typically use when trying to be anonymous. This is because I think that this is an effective way to show how my brother is not the person who he once was, and demonstrates how he may feel out of touch with himself or like another person because of how much the illness has deteriorated him. This anonymity also contributes to my idea of showing the stigma surrounding men’s mental health in a subtle and muted way as it could be interpreted as hiding away due to a diagnosis due to the perception that men shouldn’t be emotional or speak out about their mental health.
What I began looking at was empty silhouettes of my brothers face, using the Lasso tool in Photoshop to create my selection and delete it to reveal a plain white background. I then added the gradient tool to the white page so that this would be shown through the selection, instead of being this cut out as a block colour as this looked too strange and was very plain.
This experiment didn’t really align with the concept of memory
Whilst I did like this idea of total concealment, I found that the image still looked quite plain and didn’t really convey the message in a clear way. Even though there was a gradient in the image, it still looked very flat and not very interesting, even if I changed the colour it looked quite odd.
I then attempted this again with another image, however this time I included the strands off hair that were laying on his face as this would not only add more texture to the image, but make it look more detailed and intricate rather than being a flat and simplified cut out. I also repeated this method with the same image I used before so that I could see if the images would link together and work cohesively.
Whilst this looked better, I still was unhappy with itAnd this one too due to it looking too false
I preferred the way this looked more, however the cut out still looks very exaggerated and dramatic and I feel like this has the possibility of taking away from the ‘memory’ aspect of the image as it doesn’t have that soft touch to it. However, I may still use these as I feel like it looks like an anonymous user profile picture which I could use to link to the present. However, I am going to have to think about this after I begin taking my other photoshoots to see it aligns correctly with my other ideas.
I didn’t really like these experiments that I created so I decided to try a different approach with this method where his entire body was surrounded instead.
I repeated this process again with another image as I felt that it would work very well with this technique:
I think that this was successful as it balances the aesthetic of the image instead of looking out of place.
I began thinking about the other ways I could represent anonymity and concealing identity in a way that I thought would be not only more accurate to the techniques that people usually use to remain anonymous, but would also have a softer touch to them to keep the same tone of nostalgia and protection as well as the aspect of remembrance. I did this because it means that I can include a variation of these methods in my final photobook.
I began playing around with the idea of pixilation. There wasn’t a tool for this in Photoshop so I began by using the rectangle tool to make reasonably sized squares to begin covering my brothers face. I also used the eyedropper tool to select the different tones of my brothers skin and hair so that the pixels looked accurate. I had to make sure that both the fill (the box) and the stroke (the outline) were the exact same colour so that this wouldn’t look strange and actually looked as if his face had been really pixelated.
I started duplicating them and then changing the colour to make sure that each of them were the same size.
Whilst I was beginning to experiment with this, I realised that the resolution of the image was quite poor, and whilst I am using the snapshot aesthetic, the image was still quite blurry and out of focus. I decided to go back to the image that I used before as I wasn’t too fond of the initial outcome anyway, and the composition of the image was nicer too, for example I’m wearing pink whilst my brother is wearing blue.
I repeated this process continually over my brothers face until I thought that the shape and size of the cluster worked proportionally. This resulted in a large amount of layers:
Experiment 4 – I was really happy with this edit
Similarly…
Experiment 5
I didn’t really like the edits I made on this experiment as I felt that the pixels were too large so I attempted this again using smaller cubes:
I pixelated this image of my dad and brother playing pool on holiday when he was younger. Whilst the resolution isn’t as great as I would’ve liked, I am still going to use this image in my photo-book because it acts as a contextual cue for my images containing the keyring of a pool ball. This way, I can imply how my brother’s mental health restricted him from continuing with his hobbies, and I feel that this will be a very reflective way of what my brothers personality used to be like and his different interests.
I repeated these two methods in several different images to have an element of consistency in my photobook. I also experimented with cutting out just my brothers face and also his body to still keep them differentiated.
Experiment 6
I found a few images of my brother in his football kit so I can enforce the same contextual cues.
I am also going to use these two images to pair them with my second photoshoot that took place at the same beach to show context:
To what extent is Henri Cartier Bresson’s theory of the ‘decisive moment’ a true representation of reality?
To me, photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organization of forms which give that event its proper expression – Henri Cartier-Bresson, “Foreword”, The Decisive Moment (1952)
What does photography really capture? Is it the essence of a moment? Is it the emotions of a scene? Or is it simply just an image? Photography as an art is such a subjective genre. Within photography, there is a multitude of different styles of how images are presented, for example, portraits, landscapes, documentary etc. Even these categories have different approaches that can be taken. My project focuses on the documentary style photography. But what actually is it? Documentary photography is a way to tell stories through only an image, it portrays the contrasting lives of the ordinary people around us. Documentary photography can be seen in many different forms such as street photography, photojournalism, reporting and others. A subgenre of photography known as the ‘snapshot aesthetic’ focuses on the everyday traits of life and capturing that moment in time, the images can often be said to appear like both staged and candid, which is similar to the aesthetics of my images. My investigation will consist of exploring and documenting the same people/ groups of people, my friends and family – socially and isolated, but in different environments and situations. Although my images will use the same subjects, the photographs will be portraying the different parts of their lives, and in some way reflecting who they are, which is the narrative of my project. I have decided to take my images in the documentary style because I find that these images are the most authentic, however the reason I will be photographing only those close to me, rather than outsiders like street photography does, is to add a personal touch to my project. This way, my images will have consistency as well as being captivating, with each photo you will discover and learn more. This project discusses street photography, photographers whose work is based on street photography, as well as my own interpretations and my own photographs produced. To take good documentary style photographs, you need to be able to observe the environment you are in and decide what would be the shot that will capture people’s attention. This means ensuring the composition, the light, the atmosphere of the scene are all what would make the most aesthetic, perfect image. This process of image making is known as the ‘decisive moment’ by Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Henri Cartier Bresson was a well-known, French artist and photographer, best known for his candid photographs and street photos. It was in 1937 that his first photojournalist photos were published, and this time period where his career peaked. Cartier-Bresson was born in and grew up in France in 1908 with a wealthy family and from an early age, was introduced to the arts. This led to his first interest in painting until he discovered photography. Then his passion was solely photography, he saw it as an extension of drawing and an extension of the eye as he could capture exactly what he was seeing. He also used the description, “like hunting but without the killing”, to describe the art of photo taking. He then went on to travel around Europe and Africa to dive into other culture. Which then inspired his view of life which became ‘photography isn’t just about images; it’s about capturing the essence of existence’. This helped him to form his philosophy of the ‘decisive moment’. The decisive moment is the point in time where an image builds itself, where all elements and components come together, the scene is the exact right shot, so you shoot. Cartier-Bresson is considered a humanist photographer, meaning he incorporates human experiences within the images he makes. Due to his photographs being candid, he is portraying the lives of the people his images capture, truthfully. His documentary street photography falls under the category of ‘windows’, when discussing mirrors vs windows in photography. A ‘window’ image is one that is more objective, real and truthful, they show the external world which is what Cartier-Bresson’s images are.
Henri Cartier-Bresson Behind the Gare St. Lazare1932
This photo, by Henri Cartier-Bresson, was taken behind the Gare St. Lazare, train station. The image miraculously captures the moment that this man jumped over a puddle of water. Because the man is mid leap, in the air, it is as if the photograph was planned, it almost seems too perfect. However, as we know from Bresson’s line of work, it was not planned which makes the image all the more intriguing. The background and foreground of this shot are also part of the reason that the image is as good as it is. Things such as leading lines, balance, framing and rule of thirds also make this image what it is. The leading lines in this photo can be seen going horizontally, along the gate and the reflection of the gate in the water. The positions of the leading lines guide you your attention, subconsciously to the leaping man as he is in between. Another aspect of the image which leads you to look at the focal point of the image, is the amount of negative space at the top and bottom of the image, this shows that there isn’t too much going on in the image, overbearing the viewers. Also, due to the puddle anything in the background of the image, is reflected causing a symmetrical middle ground to the image. The rule of thirds also adds to this image, this is because the man is in the right side of the frame separating him from other things going on in the shot but also, he is travelling in the same direction adding to the total composition.
I think that the theory of the decisive moment is a clever way of image making, this is because the images that are being produced from it, capture people in moments of ignorance, they are unaware they are being documented, or they are but they are caught off guard keeping their behaviours unchanged. Because of their unsuspecting state, this means the snapshots of them are all natural with no manipulation, making the images seem so genuine causing them to be intriguing. Since you don’t learn anything about what is really happening, you are left with questions that you ponder on or even make up the answers to in your head, making your own storyline to the image. Because of these reasons, I believe that the decisive moment is a true representation of reality as the photographs produced are candid shots, no staging, no manipulation, just the scene and the camera, adding a sense of vulnerability.
Tom Wood has a variety of projects around street photography, photographing people on the street, in pubs, clubs, markets, buses, essentially, anywhere, and everywhere. Wood has photographed since 1978 up until 2013, his photographs portray moments which have not been interfered with or staged, they are all naturally occurring images, meaning they are an authentic representation of the people in the images. Tom Wood spent a lot of his times taking the bus, which is what prompted him to take some of his best-known images. He would sit on the bus and shoot images of the strangers sharing the bus with him or of strangers out of the windows shooting pedestrians, buildings, traffic etc. When describing how he would take his images, Wood said, “I don’t think about it. The whole point is not to think – but more to feel, to be open”. This was his way of having the confidence to photograph these people he never knew, and to get his images pristine.
Tom Wood differs from Henri Cartier-Bresson’s style, the decisive moment, as he described his image making style by saying “I would just put up the tripod, open the lens and then wander around with a flash gun, not knowing how the photographs would turn out”. Whereas the decisive moment is about choosing when to shoot, paying attention to the details and shooting when the scene in front of you is the perfect image. Rather than looking through the lens, observing the details, Tom Wood would shoot quickly and whether or not the shot was good, would depend on chance. Similarly to Cartier-Bresson however, Tom Wood’s images are also ‘windows’, documenting the lives of the locals, in a genuine manner.
For this project, my photographs are being captured using a mix of both Tom Wood and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s strategies of photography. In most cases, I follow the theory of the decisive moment, I observe my scenery and shoot the image when I think all components have come together. Although, in some environments, I will take a photograph of what is in front of me without looking through the lens for long, I will watch what is happening and take images and decide after the shoot if the photographs turned out how I had hoped.
The second artist I have taken inspiration from is Andrew Kung, a modern photographer whose work is centred around portraying the lives of Asian American people. His specific project that has inspired me is ‘Dreaming on the Hudson’. The photographs from this project are documentary style, capturing the activities of young Asian men. The photographs produced in this project are staged situations of the men, plastered around in different settings of the Hudson River. Although the images were taken in the same location, Kung explored all of the different areas around the Hudson, allowing each individual photograph to be unique in its own way. For example, there are images in a field, the water’s edge, grassland etc. Even though the images are staged, they are taken in a documentary approach as the subjects don’t engage with the camera directly, they let themselves be documented.
Kung’s work and manner of shooting images differs from Henri Cartier-Bresson’s theory of the decisive moment, while sharing little similarities. Unlike the decisive moment, where the images produced are about the unpredictability of the moment, Kung’s image making is the opposite. The photographs are of arranged scenes, creating a cinematic feel to them. Although Cartier-Bresson’s images can have the same feel, his images can also be described as more chaotic, as they are captured in a moment of time that may not be captured again. Also, whereas Cartier-Bresson’s, as well as Tom Wood’s, images are ‘windows’, Kung’s images are ‘mirrors’. A ‘mirror’ photograph is one which reflects the photographer, they tend to be more subjective, staged etc., since Kung’s images are staged photographs portraying Asian American’s, they are ‘mirror’ images. Another difference between their photography style, is that Andrew Kung’s work is reflecting a message and meaning – “Through my images, my aim is to normalize Asian American beauty, belonging, and individuality. I often investigate themes of masculinity, family, intimacy, and what it means to be American“.
In my own project, I have taken inspiration from the aesthetics of Kung’s images, rather than his message, and have my own meaning behind the images. My aim is to highlight the idea that every individual has their own unique life, and to show a snippet of the lives of those close to me. The photographs taken of my friends are the ones that most reflect Andrew Kung’s images. This is because of the locations used and also due to how I have presented them in the images. In contrast to Andrew Kung, the majority of my images are not staged, I observed my friends socialising as normal, and shot images of them, apart from a few times where I directed them to perform a certain action to capture a better shot.
To conclude, I think that Henri Cartier-Bresson’s theory of ‘the decisive moment’, can be considered as a true representation of reality to a large extent. This is because, what the camera captures in the moment, is the exact scene in front of you. In terms of Cartier-Bresson’s photographs, it is a true representation of reality as he is not manipulating the images, they are authentic. Similarly, Tom Wood’s photographs, even though he didn’t shoot his images with the decisive moment in mind, both techniques share similarities, causing Wood’s work to also be a true representation of reality. However, Andrew Kung’s project consists of staged images, creating a false reality on the surface, but the true reality of the image is the meaning behind it. When taking my own images, during the photoshoots I would take multiple images while a scene unfolded in front of me, the final images produced are the ones where all of the components came together in place. As discussed previously, my images and procedure of image making have similarities and differences with Henri Cartier-Bresson’s as well as Tom Wood and Andrew Kung. In summary, I followed Cartier-Bresson’s theory of ‘the decisive moment’ to a certain extent, as I ensured all elements of the image were at their prime when taking the image. With Tom Wood’s photographs, my images share similarities in the sense that they were all documentary images, even though Wood didn’t prioritise that the style of his images were documentary, “I’m only interested in good pictures, if it’s a document then it’s a bonus”. I recorded the lives of those close to me and he reordered the lives of strangers in his town. Finally, my work is similar to Andrew Kung’s as a big part of my work is focussed on my friends who are youthful, like the people he photographed in ‘Dreaming on the Hudson’, also I find that the appearance of my images are similar to his. Oppositely to both Tom Wood and Andrew Kung, my final images are presented in black and white, whereas their photographs are bold and bright in colour. Each of these artists have a different approach to photography, and a different reason behind their work. In spite of this, in some sense, they all portray reality through their image, which is what my own photographs are intended to do.
Once I had finished editing all the photos I added them all to one folder using filters to pick out the best ones from each shoot. This allowed me to then select all the photos using the arrow key and clicking on the ones I wanted. Having done this I then selected the book option at the top of the page.
I then could select the book settings I wanted, I tried both landscape and portrait, both worked for certain images but portrait worked better for more. It also gave it a photo album feel which is a nice link to it’s basis on family history. I chose a hardcover image wrap as it prints the photo onto the covers. Alongside choosing the premium lustre paper, I have focused on what will be the best for my photos and enhance the narrative.
First few Pages Draft
Cover draft, I tried different photos on the covers of the book, however I found many related too much to the individual shoot it came from. I tried this photo and thought it fitted well. Having the main subject in the photo out of focus reduces the specific of the photoshoot while having the car in focus allows for a vague idea on the books content to be interpreted. The technical elements of the image also work well, having a black and white shot with a cropped frame and many details creates an interesting but not too complex cover.
This page of the book is where I would like to add some archive photos. By adding the photo with ‘Edith’ written on the car as that is what the car is nick named so it adds a personal touch to then compare it to the archive photos of a different car. I have added the two ford badges from the current car to add context and like the two cars together, with them being a similar style and the same brand.
These are the next few pages, still using the combination of shoots I have created a story that flows onto the next page.
I have left this page blank as the previous two pages are full so it allows the viewer a minute to understand the photos before getting a simpler, contextual photo. I have created a comparison between old and new, the new being the three dog photos and the movement in the images adding life back to the car and then contrasting it with a simple black and white shot of half of the car, showing its age.
On this page I wanted to show the images presented together as the one on the top right is a closer look at the details from the photo below it. I also wanted to keep the dust heart featured in the book as it links shoots together.
To then make the transition to the next part of the story I used a tryptic of three low contrast black and white images with lots of sunlight on page 17 then contrasting the bold high contrast badge image of the next car on page 18. I have used the badge of the car as a subheading, suggesting the latest part of the narrative.
The next few pages I added photos of the Westfield, leaving spaces for where archive photos would best benefit the story. This photoshoot didn’t have any people in it so I didn’t give it many pages as I didn’t want the book to become to monotonous.
This part of the book is important as it is the bike I heard the most about growing up alongside the fords. It was brought in India and then ridden back to Jersey. I would like to put some text in mentioning this but I need to add the archive photos first as it might make it too busy. I have also, towards the end I have hinted towards the next section in the end of these photos as there are more modern bikes in the background, foreground.
The next section of the book then goes onto my bike, the one I brought influenced by the family history of motorsport and my own passion for the sport. Again these photos didn’t have people in them as I wanted to focus on the stark contrast between bikes due to their age, the previous photos being about a 1999 bike and these ones being a 2017 bike.
This section of the book, the final section is important as it creates a conclusion for the book. The first photo is me on my bike, as shown in the previous pages of the book and then the last page is my father on my bike. I wanted to show it this way as it is a cyclical pattern of my parents love for motorsport and them sharing it with me, to me being able to share it back to them in my own way, sharing my bikes and car with them, training together. I chose to use these as full page spreads as I wanted the images to be prominent, I also made sure to place the subject slightly to the right as its a double page spread the book will have a crease in the middle and I wanted to make sure the subject wasn’t lost in it.
Final Layout
This final layout shows the book as a whole rather than page by page. This displays the colours, patterns and story telling skills I have used in creating this book. The flow of the book is old to new so older cars are the first half of the book. The newer bikes are the second half. I have used double page spreads for important photos or points within the story, connecting old to modern. Also using multiple photos on pages to highlight and group small details so they don’t get lost within the book. Within each section of the book there are blank slots for me to put archive photos into, this is an important part; for the book is based upon seeing these photos and hearing the stories with them, as a child. I ended up using many black and white photos, including the cover. I didn’t end up using a title instead choosing a photo that sums up the story without text. Encouraging the viewer to study to book and the photos within. Overall my book is inspired by the story the photos produce and the research I have done on photo books, looking at the styles I like. Experimenting with what benefitted the narrative of the book.
