Born in 1975, Shannon Taggart is an American photographer known for her compelling and thought-provoking work which focuses on the themes of Spiritualism, the supernatural and the paranormal.
Spiritualism is a religious movement that emerged in the 19th century. This movement believes in the possibility of communicating with spirits, mainly the deceased.
Taggart had first became aware of Spiritualism as a teenager when her cousin received a message from a medium that gave details about her grandfather’s death. In 2001, she began taking photos in Lily Dale, New York, where her cousin had received the message. Lily Dale is home to the world’s largest Spiritualist community. Taggart was inspired by Spiritualism’s processes, earnest practitioners, and neglected photographic history. This project evolved into an 16 year journey that ended up taking her around the world in search of ‘ectoplasm‘.
Ectoplasm, in occultism, is a mysterious, usually light-coloured, viscous substance that is said to exude from the body of a spiritualist medium in trance and may then take the shape of a face, a hand, or a complete body. It is normally visible only in the darkened atmosphere of a séance.
Taggart’s work is not only artistic but also ethnographic. She immerses herself in the communities she photographs by participating in their rituals and gaining the trust of her subjects. This allows her to document spiritualist practices with both sensitivity and insight.
Ethnographic is a method of research and a style of study that involves observing, describing and analysing the cultural practices, behaviours, beliefs and interactions of a particular group of people.
Her book “SÉANCE” (2019) is a visual journey through spiritualist practices, specifically in Lily Dale. The book includes a mix of both black-and-white and colour photographs. She captured mediums in trance, spiritual gatherings and ghost apparitions.
Lieko Shiga
Born in 1980, Lieko Shiga is a Japanese contemporary photographer known for her surreal, poetic and haunting imagery. She has studied photography in London at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, as well as at the Royal College of Art. She is well known for her “Rasen Kaigan” Series and is recognised by a blur between documentary and staged photography which results in her personal, unique style.
Shiga’s work explores the themes of memory, trauma and the passage of time especially in relation to local communities. Her projects are often based in places she lives in and the people she encounters. She often immerses herself in rural Japanese communities where she collaborates with the local residents.
Shiga’s “Rasen Kaigan” series was created while she was living in Kitakama. It explores the themes of disaster, loss and the resilience of the human spirit, originally it focused on reflecting the dreams, lives and traditions of the villages in Kitakama, however, this project was impacted by the aftermath of the Tōhoku 2011 earthquake and tsunami which destroyed a large majority of her previous work, however it helped to reshape her artistic vision. Her work seen in this series often features distorted human figures, eerie landscapes and a strong sense of narrative.
Shiga is inspired by numerous subjects, one of them being Japanese Folklore and Mythology. Because of this her work often evokes a sense of the supernatural and blends reality with this. She views photography as both a way to capture moments but to also tell stories that transcend time and space which draws on the mythic and spiritual dimensions of the human experience.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
“Creative pictures must be felt in a similar way as one listens to music, emotionally, without expecting a story, information or facts.”
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Born in 1925, Ralph Eugene Meatyard was an American photographer known for his enigmatic, surreal and haunting black-and-white images. His work is often associated with the Southern Gothic tradition as well as elements of avant-garde and experimental photography.
Because Meatyard grew up in Lexington, Kentucky, he was influenced by the Southern Gothic Tradition which captured a sense of decay, mystery and the macabre.
Meatyard was deeply influenced by his interest in philosophy, literature and the arts. His interest in photography began in the early 1950s after purchasing a camera to photograph his newborn son. He is known for his surreal, dreamlike work which often features family members and friends in staged scenes.
Meatyard’s work featured a frequent use of masks, dolls and props which created images that were both unsettling and poetic. Because his subjects wore masks they ended up looking like ghostly anonymous figures. He often took photographs in abandoned buildings, overgrown woods and rural settings, these helped to add to the already eerie atmosphere to his work. His work often evokes the uncanny which creates a sense of discomfort and challenges his viewers to question the nature of reality and perception.
The uncanny was a concept popularised by Sigmund Freud which describes something both familiar and alien.
Short Statement of Intent
I have chosen to study all three of these photographers, especially Shannon Taggart, because I believe that their work shows strong elements of my own intentions and what I want to achieve with my own project.
Taggart’s work focuses on the themes of Spiritualism, the supernatural and the paranormal which are some of the themes I would like to focus on within my project. Elements of her style, such as her lighting techniques and editing, are something I would like to incorporate into my work as it creates a sense of mystery and makes the viewer question what they are looking at.
My inspiration comes from my own struggles with mental health so I’ve decided to base my project on creating a narrative about someone who is stuck in the worst parts of their life and feel lost, because their mental health has been severely declining, they start to believe they are seeing and getting signs from some supernatural beings as a way of coping. They believe that these beings are the only way they can escape their reality. They start to respond to these beings by preforming rituals and giving them everything they ask, this then leads to them becoming very unstable. I’ve chosen to go with this idea because I find the supernatural very interesting and fascinating as well as my own experience with slowly becoming like the protagonist in the narrative.
Keith Dotson is a black and white, fine art photographer. Beginning his career in Texas, after graduating collage in Austin and spending many years as a professional art director. Then going onto teach art and design at a community collage. This gave him a strong background into his current role as a professional fine art photographer. Outside of his photography, he describes himself as, …a parent, an environmentalist, an observer, a foodie, an art lover… He is now based in Nashville, filled with new exciting areas and surroundings, he captures landscapes, cityscapes and other interesting things he sees. In particular I like his abandoned car project. Although he is based in Nashville he often travels, mainly around America wherever the gloomy days and interesting subjects are!
Work
Keith Dotson, works in high contrast black and white images. To create these he uses overcast days that may photographers don’t enjoy, this allows the subject to shine in it’s own light, capturing deeper details and tone in the photo. Dotson references the spirit of the land, he aims to capture how the landscape has been shaped by the weather, geography, history etc. He doesn’t have a niche on what he photographs specifically but instead focuses on the aesthetic of his work, it tone, impact and effectiveness.
His work has been displayed in films, tv series, to finance companies, hotels and just about everywhere else. He has exhibited his work but mostly his work is used by others from wall art or stage backdrops. The versatilely of his work is immense, from his own powerful series of photos to clients using them for a range of things, his work is well loved throughout the world.
Image Analysis
“The Ghost” Junked Antique Truck – Black and White Photograph (KD10763X)
This photo I think is a great representation of Dotson’s style and aesthetic, one I am inspired by for my own project. The photo is part of a collection of six images of cars in an abandoned junk yard, shot on film. The camera used was a medium format Cinestill Double-X BwXX black and white film using a vintage Hasselblad camera. This film has been cut and repackaged from classic Kodak Eastman Double X motion picture film. This film is known for its tonality and sharpness, all important to Dotson’s style. Looking at this photo, the composition is straight on, eyelevel shot, showing the harshness of the light coloured truck in comparison to the background. All the moss and years of grime are shown through the high contrast, harsh black and white. He has captured the lines in the photo, from the curves of the bonnet, he has had to make sure that even with the harsh lighting the cars curves remain clear and don’t blend into the background. The truck takes up most of the frame, forcing the viewer to focus on it, the age and the details due to years of abandonment. On the right of the frame there is a glance of another car, enforcing the ideas about the environment being an abandoned junk yard. While Dotson used an 80mm lens it has a wide angle feeling to the photo, partly due to the cars shape, I do think Dotson enhanced this by being closer to the car and using it as the subject, hence the little foreground, which is also a contributing factor in the wide angle feel. It is a strong image, thought provoking and forceful in what it, it wants you to see due to the composition and harsh contrast. Overall it is a very strong image and goes well in the collection, giving a small insight into the abandoned junk yard, picking up the details in a bold way.
I want to explore and tackle teenage stereotypes. I want to capture ideas of what people paint teenagers out to be, but also how they can be in reality. Exploring teenage stereotypes is valuable because it helps challenge oversimplified or inaccurate perceptions of adolescence, fostering a more in depth understanding of teens’ diverse experiences. By examining these stereotypes (such as the rebellious, irresponsible, and overly technology obsessed teens) we can uncover how society’s expectations shape both adult views of teenagers themselves. This exploration promotes empathy, encourages more accurate portrayals in media, and empowers teens to define their own identities rather than being confined to labels. Ultimately, it fosters a better understanding of development and the cultural forces that influence how teens are perceived and treated.
Why it matters to you?
Exploring this theme matters to me as personally, I have quite a large friend group. A lot of he time we are perceived as troublemakers and up to no good. In reality, we are just a group of teenagers/young adults who are enjoying themselves and are having fun. Stereotypes about teenagers are common because they simplify the complex and often unpredictable nature of childhood, a time of rapid change and emotional intensity. Society tends to categorise teens based on behaviour patterns, media portrayals, and generalizations about this stage of life, which can be seen as rebellious, experimental, or technology obsessed. These stereotypes are reinforced by popular culture, where teens are often depicted in extreme or exaggerated ways, making it easier for adults to understand or relate or even judge to them without recognising their individuality or the deeper challenges they face.
How you wish to develop your project?
To develop my project, I am going to meet up with my friends and capture moments of us just hanging out. i wont be setting anything up, just capturing the moments naturally. I am going to look at both my artist references and recreate images like theirs, but in my own way. I will be using the style of windows, an observational technique reflecting my friends and I’s lives, leaving an aesthetic approach to my images.
Which form you wish to present your study (photobook, film, prints etc)
I want to present my work in a photobook. I would like to do this as I believe it is the most artistic way of presenting my work. I like how you can search picture for as long as you want and admire them. I also like how you can flick through the pages. What inspired me to do this was previous photobooks I have looked at from ex-students who have already produced one. I will include objects and props to help show the stereotypes, but ill leave out anything that makes my pictures look fake and staged.
When and where you intend to begin your study?
I want to begin my study as soon as possible so I have time to get it perfect, and change anything I want to change. I will begin by going out with my friends wherever we go, inside and outside and capture these shots.
Vivian Maier captures images of the street but also makes sure that there are people in the background, whether the people were aware they were being photographed or not. These images are quite like William Klein’s as they capture the natural beauty of the streets, not just what objects are seen but the people as well. Although William Klein’s photos are based on the way people are dressed and their style, he liked to use the streets as his studio. Whereas Vivian Maier is more observant on what people are doing, her images tend to be less staged where people are doing normal activities but notice the camera and stop what they are doing midway through. Her images tend to focus on one or two people and each image holds different emotions. Her images are black and white which helps to lend a timeless quality to her photographs, allowing the viewer to focus on the subject matter and composition. I feel that her images being in black and white makes the images stop in time, almost as if that moment is stuck forever, although all images are a representation of the past and can never be lived again, Maier photos make me believe that the moment she captured is forever gone, her images are quite nostalgic. The black and white effect usually makes the image hold emotions such as happiness, sadness or confusion. it also can depict the passage of time or the changing of seasons. Possibly a major event happened before or after these images were taken, which makes them look strange in way that there is something else happening in the image, but we don’t know, we can only see a small section of the image. Her images were taken in New York city and Chicago, which helps to make the image look very busy, she found a good surrounding to take her images with all the other citizens walking around minding their own business. Vivian Maier also used the Rolleiflex twin-lens reflex (TLR) camera which was quite discreet and not many people would notice it unless they paid specific attention to it. It was a waist-level camera, and most people would tend to look at Vivian and not notice the camera and that is ow she managed to capture her images.
Vivian sadly passed away therefore doesn’t own her own images, A Chicago collector, John Maloof oversaw Vivian’s photos, and his mission was to promote the work of Vivian Maier, and to safeguard the archive for the benefit of future generations. Vivian also kept every negative she had ever shot; she believed that they were important and could be useful in the future. As Maier had passed away, her photos were published, her images were found at a local thrift auction house on Chicago’s Northwest side in 2007, where John had visited to find material for the book up for auction and instead, he found a box of negatives depicting Chicago on the 60’s. Although she wasn’t known when she was alive as she worked as a professional nanny for more than 40 years, during which she secretly took more than 150,000 photographs. her photographs were only revealed in July 2008 by Slattery; however, they don’t really get much notice until October 2009 when Maloof linked his blog to a selection of Maier’s photographs on the image-sharing website, that’s when her work became viral with thousands of people expressing interest. Although Maloof owns about 90% of Maier’s work another man named Jeffrey Goldstein a Chicago-based collector, also began to amass a collection of Maier’s works. Maloof and Goldstein’s ownership was, however, legally limited.
In this image you can see that the man is looking above the camera at Vivian Maier, this is because the camera is lower down and less noticeable. The background is quite filled with people, meaning the image in whole is not a setup, the people in the background are minding their own lives and doing their own things. The man seems almost shocked and confused and creates this type of tension in the image, almost as if there is someone next to or in front of Maier and this man is reacting to it, its showing us that there are things happening in the photos that we are not aware off, there are sectors that aren’t captured and not visible to the naked eye. This feeds the image and helps to make it more entertaining. This image also has a good background of buildings, helps to build up the image and make it the way it is now. The main topic of this photograph is this man, all the focus is on him. The man slightly slanting to the side also directs our eyes towards the lady next to him and the idea that she is walking away from the man, not necessarily away from him on purpose but has other places to go.
A well rehearsed phrase that we are all familiar with, invoking childhood memories of fairytales, grandparents recounting old days or stories around the campfire. American novelist Kurt Vonnegut argued that the quality that defined good storytellers was simply that they themselves loved stories.
In this module we will study how different narrative structures can be used to tell stories in pictures from looking at photography, cinema and literature in photo-essays, film and books. We will consider narrative within a documentary approach where observation is key in representing reality, albeit we will look at both visual styles within traditional photojournalism as well as contemporary photography which employs a more poetic visual language that straddles the borders between objectivity and subjectivity, fact and fiction.
In order to understand how photography as a medium can be applied to tell a story we need to understand the differences between narrative and story and how editing, sequencing and design is intrinsic to this process.
THEORY
Often people tend to think of narrative and story as the same thing. In photography that is no exception. Jörg M. Colberg, a photographer, teacher and editor of Conscientious Photo Magazine (online blog dedicated to contemporary fine-art photography) has written extensively about narrative in photography. For you to gain a better understanding of the differences between narrative and story when we think about it in relation to making a photobook (which is your main outcome in your Personal Study later in the academic year) or in your current task of making a photo-zine you NEED TO READ his two blog posts; Photography and Narrative (part 1) and Photography and Narrative (part 2).
a story or account of events, experiences, or the like, whether true or fictitious
a book, literary work, etc., containing such a story, or
the art, technique, or process of narrating, or of telling a story.”
In Colberg’s view;
‘Those three options really aren’t the same at all. A photobook’s story is not the same as the book itself…. What I tend to find is that many photographers use the term narrative in the sense of it being the same as story (option 1), but what they mean is that it is the way the story is told (Option 3).’
He continues:
‘This is because it will contain a set of photographs that are being presented in a very specific way: there is an edit, a sequence, and very specific decisions about design and production were (hopefully) being made. As I’m trying to explain in the following, the edit and sequence (and to a lesser extent design and production) form a specific narrative that, in turn, might or might not produce or allude to a story. How to approach this then?’
When Colin Pantall made his book, All Quiet on the Homefront about his daughter growing up and becoming a father he wrote about the process of making it on his Blog here: Identifying the Story: Sequencing isn’t narrative
In Pantall’s experience narrative isn’t just sequencing a set images that flows together nicely. He says:
‘In photobooks there are so many elements used in editing, sequencing and creating a narrative. It’s really difficult. For All Quiet on the Home Front, we went through the lot of them. Sequencing by chronology, geography, family, resemblance, art history, season, colour, form, tone, flora, expression, dress, climate, mood, symbolism, material, and so on. The sequencing was a gradual process that was embedded into the editing with voice, mode, person, text, the basic best picture edit and much more besides.’
In his view identifying the story first and being able to communicate it in three words is essential.
‘You can sequence in a multitude of ways in other words. But none of that made a narrative. What made the narrative was actually identifying what the story was about. Do that and then you can create all the structures through which the story can flow – and that, structures plus story, creates the narrative.’
For photographer, writer and lecturer, Lewis Bush;‘narrative are things that exists within stories.’ In his article, Storytelling: A Poverty of Theory, Bush gives different reasons why photography as a medium does not have an established theory on narrative like cinema or literature. He also wonders why photographers often refer to themselves as storytellers but have little understanding of the differences between story and narrative when applied to photography.
‘One story can spawn many narratives, a fact that, in contrast to photography, is well understood in literature and cinema….when I say ‘I’m going to tell you a story’ I actually tell you a narrative of that story.’
Bush cites an example in cinema, Akira Kurosawa’sRashomon where multiple narratives are presented on screen of a murder, that may or may not have happened.
In photography today Bush reminds us;
‘it is well understand that single images are not reality, they are a representation of it.’ Similarly, a series of images put together in a fragmentary and incomplete order is ‘a record of something [that] are always a narrative of a story or event, never a full reflection of the thing itself’.
In a follow article: ‘Photographic Narrative: Between Cinema and Novel‘ Lewis Bush cites different examples from both cinema, literature and photography and identity each mediums different strengths and weaknesses.
In Bush’s view, photography’s narrative strength is;
‘It’s sheer power of description.’ A single photograph can depict a scene with a verisimilitude which pages of written account would still fail to capture. It is this quality which led photography to be first employed for practices like crime scene photography, in place of the unreliable memory and incomplete notes that had previously been relied upon.
Conversely photography also has many weaknesses, such as explaining things. Bush cites German theatre parctitioner and playwright Bertol Brecht who wrote, a photograph of a factory tells us what a factory looks like, but it tells us very little about the relationships that underlie it.
Bush also references Roland Barthes , whose seminal book, Camera Lucida,(1980) is a bedrock of photographic theory, especially, the relationship between photography and memory, photograph and death. He describes reading a sentences where Barthes, ‘characterised photographs as things which were somewhere “between cinema and novel”.
Bush then outlines traits and similarities for storytelling between photography and cinema, photography and literature and provides a number of examples which we will have a closer look at below.
CINEMA
Chris Marker: La Jétte
Chris Marker, La Jettee, (1962)
Chris Marker, (1921-2012) was a French filmmaker, poet, novelist, photographer, editor and multi-media artist who has been challenging moviegoers, philosophers, and himself for years with his complex queries about time, memory, and the rapid advancement of life on this planet. Marker’s La Jetée is one of the most influential, radical science-fiction films ever made, a tale of time travel. What makes the film interesting for the purposes of this discussion, is that while in editing terms it uses the language of cinema to construct its narrative effect, it is composed entirely of still images showing imagesfrom the featureless dark of the underground caverns of future Paris, to the intensely detailed views across the ruined city, and the juxtaposition of destroyed buildings with the spire of the Eiffel Tower. You can read more here about the meaning of the film and it is available on Vimeo here in its entirety (29 mins)
Mark Cousins:Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise
A narrative can also be made constructed entirely of archive footage as in Atomic, Living in Dread and Promise, a film that shows impressionistic kaleidoscope of our nuclear times – protest marches, Cold War sabre-rattling, Chernobyl and Fukishima – but also the sublime beauty of the atomic world, and how x-rays and MRI scans have improved human lives. The nuclear age has been a nightmare, but dreamlike too. Made by director and film critic, Mark Cousins and featuring original music score by Mogwai, it was first broadcast on BBC4 as part of Storyville documentary. Your can read a Q&A with Cousins’ here where he discusses the making of the film.
Christopher Nolan: Memento
Memento is a 2000 American neo-noirpsychological thriller film written and directed by Christopher Nolan. Guy Pearce stars as a man who, as a result of an injury, has anterograde amnesia (the inability to form new memories) and has short-term memory loss approximately every fifteen minutes. He is searching for the people who attacked him and killed his wife, using an intricate system of Polaroid photographs and tattoos to track information he cannot remember.
The film is presented as two different sequences of scenes interspersed during the film: a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically, and a series of color sequences shown in reverse order (simulating for the audience the mental state of the protagonist). The two sequences meet at the end of the film, producing one complete and cohesive narrative
Telling a story in reverse can be an interesting way to construct a narrative. Both cinema and literature are good at jumping between different time modes, past, present and future. Moving image and sound can enhance these different temporal shifts and written language is good and transporting your imagination from one time zone to another. Photography is mute but different strategies can be employed such as changing from colour to monochrome suggesting a different time or a different set of images. Using old photographs from archives, or found imagery can add complexity too, and including words can support a sequence of images, or add tension between the visual and the textual adding other elements to a photographic narrative.
Memento: Narrative and Postmodernism is also being looked at in Media Studies and if you are studying this subject make sure you include knowledge and understanding learned. Adopting a inter-disciplinary approach to your work is advantageous and being able to use theory and/ or context from other subjects will add value to your overall quality of your work and potentially achieve higher marks.
Theorists like Sergei Eisenstein, D.W Griffiths, Lev Kuleshov, Jean Epstein, John Grierson (also the coiner of the term ‘documentary’), Dziga Vertov, Andre Bazin, and Siegfried Kracauer went into sometimes painful detail to articulate theories about how various film and editing combinations created different forms of meaning. Many of these ideas remain surprisingly robust and useful a century later, and remain the bedrock of much of the theory taught to film students. Let’s look at some narrative structures and film editing techniques that are used in cinema.
The Kuleshov effect is a film editing (montage) effect demonstrated by Soviet filmmaker Lev Kuleshov in the 1910s and 1920s. It is a mental phenomenon by which viewers derive more meaning from the interaction of two sequential shots than from a single shot in isolation. Through this phenomenon we can suggest meaning and manipulate space, as well as time.
The Kuleshov Effect
Kuleshov edited a short film in which a shot of the expressionless face of Tsarist matinee idol Ivan Mosjoukine was alternated with various other shots (a bowl of soup, a girl in a coffin, a woman on a divan). The film was shown to an audience who believed that the expression on Mosjoukine’s face was different each time he appeared, depending on whether he was “looking at” the bowl of soup, the girl in the coffin, or the woman on the divan, showing an expression of hunger, grief, or desire, respectively. The footage of Mosjoukine was actually the same shot each time.
Kuleshov used the experiment to indicate the usefulness and effectiveness of film editing. The implication is that viewers brought their own emotional reactions to this sequence of images, and then moreover attributed those reactions to the actor, investing his impassive face with their own feelings. Kuleshov believed this, along with montage, had to be the basis of cinema as an independent art form.
For more details see Dr McKinlay’s blog on Narrative in Cinema and The Language of Moving Image which look more specifically at some of the conventions and key terminology associated with moving image (film, TV, adverts, animations, installations and other moving image products.)
PHOTOGRAPHY
Let’s explore some examples of images used in photo-essays and photobooks and see if we can identify the story as well as examine how narrative is constructed through careful editing, sequencing and design.
PHOTO-ESSAY: The life of a country doctor in Colorado’s Rocky Mountains
“A photo is a small voice, at best, but sometimes – just sometimes – one photograph or a group of them can lure our senses into awareness. Much depends upon the viewer; in some, photographs can summon enough emotion to be a catalyst to thought”
W. Eugne Smith
W. Eugene Smith compared his mode of working to that of a playwright; the powerful narrative structures of his photo essays set a new benchmark for the genre. His series, The Country Doctor, shot on assignment for Life Magazine in 1948, documents the everyday life of Dr Ernest Guy Ceriani, a GP tasked with providing 24-hour medical care to over 2,000 people in the small town of Kremmling, in the Rocky Mountains. The story was important at the time for drawing attention to the national shortage of country doctors and the impact of this on remote communities. Today the photoessay is widely regarded as representing a definitive moment in the history of photojournalism.
In October of 1958, French publisher Robert Delpire released Les Américains in Paris. The following year Grove Press published The Americans in New York with an introduction by American writer, Jack Kerouac (the book was released in January 1960).
Like Frank’s earlier books, the sequence of 83 pictures in The Americans is non-narrative and nonlinear; instead it uses thematic, formal, conceptual and linguistic devices to link the photographs. The Americans displays a deliberate structure, an emphatic narrator, and what Frank called a ‘distinct and intense order’ that amplified and tempered the individual pictures.
Although not immediately evident, The Americans is constructed in four sections. Each begins with a picture of an American flag and proceeds with a rhythm based on the interplay between motion and stasis, the presence and absence of people, observers and those being observed. The book as a whole explores the American people—black and white, military and civilian, urban and rural, poor and middle class—as they gather in drugstores and diners, meet on city streets, mourn at funerals, and congregate in and around cars. With piercing vision, poetic insight, and distinct photographic style, Frank reveals the politics, alienation, power, and injustice at play just beneath the surface of his adopted country.
Since its original publication, The Americans has appeared in numerous editions and has been translated into several languages. The cropping of images has varied slightly over the years, but their order has remained intact, as have the titles and Kerouac’s introductory text. The book, fiercely debated in the first years following its release, has made an indelible mark on American culture and changed the course of 20th-century photography. Read article by Sean O’Hagan in The Guardian
Rita Puig Serra Costa: Where Mimosa Bloom
https://vimeo.com/124694405
Dealing with the grief that the photographer suffered following the death of her mother, Where Mimosa Bloom by Rita Puig Serra Costatakes the form of an extended farewell letter; with photography skillfully used to present a visual eulogy or panegyric. This grief memoir about the loss of her mother is part meditative photo essay, part family biography and part personal message to her mother. These elements combine to form a fascinating and intriguing discourse on love, loss and sorrow.
“Where Mimosa Bloom” is the result of over two years work spent collecting and curating materials and taking photographs of places, objects and people that played a significant role in her relationship to her mother. Rita Puig Serra Costa skillfully avoids the dangerous lure of grief’s self-pity, isolationism, world-scorn and vanity. The resonance of “Where Mimosa Bloom” comes from all it doesn’t say, as well as all that it does; from the depth of love we infer from the desert of grief. Despite E.M.Forster’s words – “One death may explain itself, but it throws no light upon another” – Rita Puig Serra Costa proves that some aspects of grief are universal, or can be made so through the honesty and precision with which they are articulated.
Yoshikatsu Fujii:Red Strings
https://vimeo.com/102344549
I received a text message. “Today, our divorce was finalized.” The message from my mother was written simply, even though she usually sends me messages with many pictures and symbols. I remember that I didn’t feel any particular emotion, except that the time had come. Because my parents continued to live apart in the same house for a long time, their relationship gently came to an end over the years. It was no wonder that a draft blowing between the two could completely break the family at any time.
In Japan, legend has it that a man and woman who are predestined to meet have been tied at the little finger by an invisible red string since the time they were born. Unfortunately, the red string tying my parents undone, broke, or perhaps was never even tied to begin with. But if the two had never met, I would never have been born into this world. If anything, you might say that there is an unbreakable red string of fate between parent and child.
Before long, I found myself thinking about the relationship between my parents and . How many days could I see my parents living far away? What if I couldn’t see them anymore? Since I couldn’t help feeling extremely anxious about it, I was driven to visit my parents’ house many times. Every day I engage in awkward conversation with my parents, as if in a scene in their daily lives. I adapt myself to them, and they shift their attitude toward me. We do not give way entirely to the other side, but rather meet halfway. Indeed family problems remain unresolved, although sometimes we tell allegorical stories and share feelings. It means a lot to us that our perspectives have changed with communication.
My family will probably never be all together again. But I feel without a doubt that there is proof inside of each of us that we once lived together. To ensure that the red string that ties my family together does not come undone, I want to reel it in and tie it tight.
NARRATIVE – a summary
Narrative is essentially the way a story is told. For example you can tell different narratives of the same story. It is a very subjective process and there is no right or wrong. Whether or not your photographic story is any good is another matter.
An analogy: if you witnessed a road accident and the police arrived to take statements from witnesses. Your version of events would be different to that of other witnesses or bystanders. They are both ‘true’ to what you saw and they both tell a different narrative depending on where you were in relation to the event, your point of view and how you remembered the event as it happened.
Narrative is constructed when you begin to create relationships between images (and/or text) and present more than two images together. Your selection of images (editing) and the order of how these images appear on the pages (sequencing) contributes significantly to the construction of the narrative. So too, does the structure and design of the photo-zine or photobook.
However, it is essential that you identity what your story is first before considering how you wish to tell it. Planning and research are also essential to understanding your subject and there are steps you can take in order to make it successful. Once you have considered the points made between the differences in narrative and story, write the following:
PLANNING: Write a specification that provide an interpretation and plan of how you intend to explore A Love Story. This must include at least 3 photoshoots you will be doing in the next 2-3 weeks (these could include photo-assignments). How do you want your images to look and feel like? Include visual references to artists/photographers in terms of style, approach, intentions, aesthetics concept and outcome. Remember the final outcome is a 16 page photo-zine so you will need to edit a final series of 12-16 images that sequenced together as a set forms a narrative that visualises your love story.
STORY: What is your love story? Describe in:
3 words
A sentence
A paragraph
NARRATIVE: How will you tell your story?
Images > new photographic responses, photo-shoots
Archives > old photos from family albums, iPhone
Texts > letters, documents, poems, text messages
AUDIENCE: Who is it for?
Most image makers tend to overlook the experience of the viewer. Considering who your audience is and how they may engage with your photo-zine is important factor when you are designing/ making it.
Reflect and comment on this in your specification (age group, demographic, social/ cultural background etc.)
PHOTOBOOKS
A few photo book dealing with memory, loss and love
Yury Toroptsov:Deleted Scene
On a mission to photograph the invisible, with Deleted Scene photographer Yury Toroptsov takes us to Eastern Siberia in a unique story of pursuit along intermingling lines that form a complex labyrinth. His introspective journey in search of a father gone too soon crosses that of Akira Kurosawa who, in 1974, came to visit and film that same place where lived the hunter Dersu Uzala.
Yury Toroptsov is not indifferent to the parallels between hunting and photography, which the common vocabulary makes clear. Archival documents, old photographs, views of the timeless taiga or of contemporary Siberia, fragments or deleted scenes are arranged here as elements of a narrative. They come as clues or pebbles dropped on the edge of an invisible path where the viewer is invited to lose himself and the hunter is encouraged to continue his relentless pursuit.
Mayumi Suzuki:The Restoration Will
My parents, who a owned photo studio, went missing after the 2011 tsunami. Our house was destroyed. It was a place for working, but also for living. I grew up there. After the disaster, I found my father’s lens, portfolio, and our family album buried in the mud and the rubble.
One day, I tried to take a landscape photo with my father’s muddy lens. The image came out dark and blurry, like a view of the deceased. Through taking it, I felt I could connect this world with that world. I felt like I could have a conversation with my parents, though in fact that is impossible.
The family snapshots I found were washed white, the images disappearing. The portraits taken by my father were stained, discolored. These scars are similar to the damage seen in my town, similar to my memories which I am slowly losing.
I hope to retain my memory and my family history through this book. By arranging these photos, I have attempted to reproduce it.
Dragana Jurisic’s YU:The Lost Country
Yugoslavia fell apart in 1991. With the disappearance of the country, at least one million five hundred thousand Yugoslavs vanished, like the citizens of Atlantis, into the realm of imaginary places and people. Today, in the countries that came into being after Yugoslavia’s disintegration, there is a total denial of the Yugoslav identity.
“There proceeds steadily from that place a stream of events which are a source of danger to me,” wrote the Anglo-Irish writer, Rebecca West in 1937. “That place” was Yugoslavia, the country in which I was born. Realizing that to know nothing of an area “which threatened her safety” was “a calamity”, she embarked on a journey through Yugoslavia. The result was Black Lamb and Grey Falcon. Initially intended as “a snap book” it spiraled into half a million words, a portrait not just of Yugoslavia, but also of Europe on the brink of the Second World War, and widely regarded as one of the masterpieces of the 20th century.
At Easter 2011, I started retracing Westʼs journey and re-interpreting her masterpiece by using photography and text, in attempt to re-live my experience of Yugoslavia and to re-examine the conflicting emotions and memories of the country that was.
In 1999, Jacob Aue Sobol went to live in the settlement of Tiniteqilaaq, Greenland, where he lived the life of a fisherman and hunter with his Greenlandic girlfriend Sabine and her family. Taken over three years Sobol’s book records, in photographs and narratives, his encounter with Sabine and their life on the east coast.
https://vimeo.com/103609319
Photographer Jacob Aue Sobol reflects on the three years he spent in Greenland and the traveling he did there. While his first trip was focused on documenting the culture, his second trip revolved around his girlfriend Sabine, who later became the subject of a series of photographs.
Laia Abril: The Epilogue’
‘The Epilogue’ is the book about the story of the Robinson family – and the aftermath suffered in losing their 26 year old daughter to bulimia. Working closely with the family Laia Abril reconstructs Cammy’s life telling her story through flashbacks – memories, testimonies, objects, letters, places and images. The Epilogue gives voice to the suffering of the family, the indirect victims of ‘eating disorders’, the unwilling eyewitnesses of a very painful degeneration. Laia Abril shows us the dilemmas and struggles confronted by many young girls; the problems families face in dealing with guilt and the grieving process; the frustration of close friends and the dark ghosts of this deadliest of illnesses; all blended together in the bittersweet act of remembering a loved one. Read more here on Laia Abril’s website
AUDIENCE: Most image makers tend to overlook the experience of the viewer. Considering who your audience is and how they may engage with your photo-zine is important factor when you are designing/ making it.
Students past responses to the theme of love, friendship, family etc.
Niah Da Costa: Espera For my photo book, the main theme was intimacy and young love. I wanted to explore my relationship with my boyfriend and show a series of different styles of images. I called this photo book “Espera” which means to wait in Portuguese, as this word (besides love) is a word that both Jack and I use frequently. Read more on her BLOG here.
Amy Low:Nothing can get between us A photo-book which is based on specific people in my life and what makes them an individual, I want this to also center around the theme of youth culture. Each picture/section of my book is about one person and their features/interests and things that make them who they are. I also plan to have pictures which break theme in the book to act as a barrier between each portrait. Read more on her BLOG here.
Jude Luce: All My Love My plan for my photo book is to produce a detailed and insightful exploration into my family life, with me centered within the middle. This is the running theme throughout and I hope to show it through poetic, still images of landscapes or objects which may have no direct meaning at its face value but has a deeper meaning once inferred. As well, the portraits in my project are intended to be collaborative and intimate to show the relationships I hold with the people in my life but the portraits are intended to show the emotion of each being as well. I have contrasted yet shown the similarities of my mum and dad’s relationship when they were together to that of my relationship with Lucy now and the overall look I hope to achieve is that of a fun, vibrant, light-hearted but quite solemn and sombre image-based diary about how I am still developing through the events if life and the attachments I have built from the event which shaped my life – my mum and dad’s divorce. I want their to be an obvious existence of the theme of attachment but also an underlying theme of detachment. Although these themes are the main focus for my book, they are underlying themes which are subtly hinted at every now and then by a sequence which develops upon the understanding of love. Memory is fragile and I use this notion as a driving force for my project made up of diaristic photographs, which, when come together, create an album of moments in time which in-turn lend themselves to never be forgotten. I have attempted not to avoid the subject of my mum and dad’s divorce but felt it easier to express this and my feelings towards it through other subject matter, being my relationship with my girlfriend and the other people in my life, such as my individual relationships with my mum and dad and how I view them in solitary opposition to one another.
For my project, I would like to explore Night Photography, I’ve always been interested in how different lighting and weather gives new perspectives that change how we see the world, especially during the night. The aesthetic of the night, where the normal becomes abnormal, the change that happens at night is mysterious and gives off this feeling of loneliness which has always had me fascinated.
My personal study will focus on the dichotomies of the characteristics between the day and the night. During the day, the natural sunlight brings elements such as energy, clearness of the landscapes around and life to the world around us, however, at night the same landscapes/spaces give a sense of mysteriousness, loneliness and emptiness. These changes not only alter the location/setting itself but the emotional impact it has on those who experience it.
There are a variety of photographers/artists which I will take inspiration from within this project, such as William Eggleston, Todd Hido and Pierre Putman. William Eggleston`s mainly known for his powerful use of colour within his images, this will guide my approach to capturing the colour which is brought by the sun during the day or artificial lighting during the night.
To successfully create this project, I will use a variety of equipment including: DSLR Camera, tripod, Shutter release, Artificial Lighting (Torch and LEDS) and coloured gels. As I go on with the project, I will experiment different ideas and possibly use different equipment to the equipment I had listed earlier however that is my initial plan of equipment to use
Finally, I will present my personal study project as a photobook so that I can showcase my images and also tell a story through the way I lay out these photographs. I originally had planned to put the book in a chronological order, with the front of the book consisting of images taken during the day and the end of the book having night photography images, like the cycle of the day. However I have decided to take a different approach and will mix the book, so it will start with a night photoshoot then a photoshoot taken during the day and then keep that pattern going on throughout the whole photobook.
capture compositional and structured elements with the same subject every time – showing this relationship between the person and the environment being captured in.
Show a story/ journey/ documentary
Urban environment, lookign closely at visual elements when capturing the photos, for exakple the colour, contrast, patterns, lines, shapes, outline, space, line
Focus on colour – high contrast in colour between the subject and background ( building) I want the subject top be popping out at you so their is a clear definition between the subject and background.
Final Idea:
look closely at the lines and structural elements found within the streets, then looking closely at how this creates a dynamic relationship and connection between one another.
Within this I am going to explore the way colour is expressed through the forms, pattern and shapes, and how this reveals particular narratives that go unnoticed.
Formalism– look at the history of Formalism from photographers like Piet Mondrian and inspiring artist that were influenced by this.
Piet Mondrian
Siegfried Hansen – Hold the Line
As you can see from the photos above explain how Siegfried Hansen is greatly influenced by formalism, as it is shown to us through the composition, filled with shapes of pigmented colour that is outlined by a structure of bold lines. This ultimetally portrays this abstract, expressive design – shown to us through the colour and formation, – not really giving a particular meaning or narrative behind it as we are just presented with colour.
Piet Mondrian uses three types of colour, red, yellow, and blue (primary colours) and only works in two ways, horizontal and vertical. – this structured layout is what I want to have in mind when taking photographs and also when presenting my images in my final photobook.
I feel this gives sharpness and quick expressive marks of colour which overall complements the graphical elements.
Observe
A person who watches and observes people, following such events closely whilst commentating or making some kind of judgement which could be personal or public.
Spectator
Witness
Commentator
Reporter
Blogger
Seek
The desire to explore the unknown, look or go after. Leading to a diverse subject matter as constantly in search to find new material or concepts to develop further. Unravel working of human psyche/ nature.
Challenge
Could be described through participating which could be during a competitive situation, leading to superior perceptions in terms of ability or strength.
Photographers:
Saul Leiter
I am inspired by the layered effects created by hectic and business of the image. I like how this creates depth, shown through the colour and compositions.
I will be shooting at night so I will have to be careful with lighting, however I will use two of these lights to focus and create the lighting situation I want for each shot. This means I can create dramatic shadows or use direct lighting. This will be time consuming but will allow me to create a specific atmosphere for each shot.
W Eugene Smith – Significant American photographer and humanitarian
Biography
William Eugene Smith, a prolific photographer working mainly in the mid 1900s. Being known for creating the photo essay as we know it now. He began his photography career as he was fascinated with planes and wanted to buy photos of them, instead being given a camera to take photos himself. By 15 he was making a name for himself having all sorts of images published from sports, to landscapes all done to document current situations whether it be sports scores or the impact of the wild weather at the time. This quickly made the basis for his career.
After graduating high school in 1936 he gained a scholarship, through Catholic Church connections, to study photography at the university of Notre Dame, however then quitting university at 18. He spent the following two years in New York working for Newsweek, becoming known for his detailed work and unusual personality. Later on he was fired from Newsweek, due to the newspaper wanting Smith to use a larger format camera as technology advanced but Smith refused to stop using his 35mm Contax. A year later Smith started working for a magazine company, Life, of which he quickly became friendly with the magazines, at the time, photo editor. As he progressed in his career he got married and had children, continuing to have up and downs in his personal life before ending up with Sherry Suris in New York having completed the Minamata book in 1974.
War work
As the time progressed, so did Smith’s career. World War Two approached quickly, leaving Smith as a war correspondent in 1943 while still supplying photos for life magazine now just of the war rather than previous subjects. Smith is renowned for his work during the war being on front lines with American troops and on many other missions. Smith found his way within the war, stating ‘you can’t raise a nation to kill and murder without injury to the mind… it is the reason I am covering the war for I want my pictures to carry some message against the greed, the stupidity and the intolerances that cause these wars and the breaking of many bodies.’ Smith made huge amounts of progress in his work from 1943 to 1945 but with this came dangers, in 1945 Smith was injured by mortar fire while photographing a battle. This led to the following two years being filled with surgeries. However as Smiths condition improved, he began to photograph again. A photo made famous by another photographer after he exhibited it was actually his first photo after the accident, the photo being of his two children walking in his garden at home. Even having had the set backs of the war, Smith continued to photograph for Life magazine till 1955. The year in which his photo from 1946 was made famous by Edward Steichen. Smith contributed to the development of the photo essay significantly in this time, producing many articles and photo essays, the most prominent being the country doctor. As time progressed so did Smiths work before drawing him back to his roots in America, where he began to teach at the Art department and department of Journalism at the University of Arizona. Subsequently living the rest of his life teaching and organising his work before suffering a second significant stroke, which sadly he passed away from in 1978.
Smith is a monumental photographer, who created around 50 images, changing the trajectory of how we perceived and experienced history. Not only having documented World War II, he covered subjects such as the Minamata disease, the ever changing environment and many other issues we still have today. He was essential in raising awareness and understanding to the goings on around the world, otherwise biased in its documentation or simply hidden.
Not only did his photography inspire and change how we perceived, he was the creator of the modern photo essay. Having spent many years developing it to the form we know today.
Image Analysis
“The Walk to Paradise Garden” – W. Eugene Smith in 1946
This photo was the first photo Eugene Smith took after his accident in 1945. It was his a photo of children running in the garden. For what should be a simple photo it is impactful, not only with the historical connections of it being the first photo after his accident. The lighting adds impact with the trees already framing the shot creating a tunnel of light and a small path of light where the children had walked. The children are off centre in the frame, but this works with light opening up on the right balancing the image. In the photo is a young boy and young girl holding hands the taller boy leading the way into a brightly lit open area of trees rather than the tunnel in which the photo has been taken. The children have been silhouetted against the bright light as the leave the leafy tunnel. The photo invites curiosity and childlike innocence, portrayed with the title ‘The walk to paradise garden’ suggests a childlike approach of running through gardens, enjoyed the sun and finding what a child would consider ‘paradise’. However I think this can also link to Smith himself as while the photo was taken from a low angle, a child’s eyeline the title and the idea that it is his garden and his children in the photo does add impact, considering his previous few years deep in the depths of war and the most brutal forms of humanity, the simple bliss of getting to watch his children play tells a completely different story. This photo is not only impactful but tells a tale as old as time, of children innocently enjoying life and adults escaping with them for a second recognising their former selves within the children. Overall not only technically is this a lovely photo is beams childhood and the stories within it. Smith is known for creating the modern version of the photo essay, this technique is ever present in his work, even single shots like this one tell a story, often from multiple perspectives like this one.
In order to respond to the theme of “Observe, Seek, Challenge” I have come up with some rough ideas (inspired by my previous work as well as photographers I have found)
Brain Storm of Ideas
Name of book Ideas:
“Vocation”
“Succumb”
“Supernaturalism“
“Conversion”
“Epiphany”
“Mysticism”
“Aureole”
“unknown”
“Clairaudience“
“Hermeticism”
“Ephemeral”
“Pareidolia”
“Phantasmagoria”
Vocation – A calling (In religious terms).
Supernaturalism – A belief in an otherworldly realm or reality that, in one way or another, is commonly associated with all forms of religion.
Epiphany – A sudden realisation or insight, especially one that leads to a spiritual or religious awakening.
Trance – A state of mind in which someone seems to be asleep and to have no conscious control over their thoughts or actions, but in which they can see and hear things and respond to commands given by other people.
Ephemeral – Lasting for a short time.
Phantasmagoria – A sequence of real or imaginary images like that seen in a dream.
Mysticism – Becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning.
Pareidolia – A psychological phenomenon that causes people to see patterns in a random stimulus. This often leads to people assigning human characteristics to objects. Usually this is simplified to people seeing faces in objects where there isn’t one.
“The Five Stages of the Path of the Mystic“
1) A catalytic event, such as a personal tragedy, illness or insight that sets the person off on his or her mystical search for meaning in life.
2) Initial experiences of illumination
3) The “dark night of the soul”
4) Stable enlightenment
5) A return to the marketplace
Aureole – A bright circle of light, especially around the head.
Clairaudience – The power or faculty of hearing something not present to the ear but regarded as having objective reality.
Hermeticism/Hermetism – A dualistic faith that portrays the body of men and their interactions with the material world as being antagonistic to the soul.
Kirlian Photography – A way to create images of coronal discharges around an object. A coronal discharge is an electrical discharge caused by the ionization of gas or fluid surrounding an object.
Orb – (In terms relating to the supernatural) A type of anomaly that appears in photographs, especially digital flash photography, in which mysterious objects appear floating in the air.
Pentagram – A symbol of protection and invocation. Always depicted point-up. Symbolizes the union of the five basic elements.
Pseudoscience – Any system that tries to explain physical phenomena but cannot be proved by the scientific method.
Magic Action Ritual – Rituals invoking supernatural forces or energies to achieve desired outcomes.
Urban Exploration/Urbex – A recreational activity in which people explore derelict urban structures such as abandoned sewers or underground railways or attempt to access areas which are closed to the public such as the roofs of skyscrapers.
Sanewashing – is the act of minimizing the perceived radical aspects of a person or idea in order to make them appear more acceptable to a wider audience.
Surrealism – is an art and cultural movement that developed in Europe in the aftermath of World War I in which artists aimed to allow the unconscious mind to express itself, often resulting in the depiction of illogical or dreamlike scenes and ideas.
Dilapidated – (of a building or object) in a state of disrepair or ruin as a result of age or neglect.
Mental Deterioration
Use coloured gels and spray water onto them to get a water droplet or misty affect.
Do what I did previously in studio but with a swinging cross or symbol.
Experiment by drawing over some images with symbols to convey chaos.
Uncanny – The term was first used by German psychiatrist Ernst Jentsch in his essay On the Psychology of the Uncanny, 1906. Jentsch describes the uncanny – in German ‘unheimlich’ (unhomely) – as something new and unknown that can often be seen as negative at first.
Sigmund Freud’s essay The Uncanny (1919) however repositioned the idea as the instance when something can be familiar and yet alien at the same time. He suggested that ‘unheimlich’ was specifically in opposition to ‘heimlich’, which can mean homely and familiar but also secret and concealed or private. ‘Unheimlich’ therefore was not just unknown, but also, he argued, bringing out something that was hidden or repressed. He called it ‘that class of frightening which leads back to what is known of old and long familiar.’
Artists, including some associated with the surrealist movement drew on this description and made artworks that combined familiar things in unexpected ways to create uncanny feelings.
Now, the term ‘uncanny valley’ is also applied to artworks and animation or video games that that reproduce places and people so closely that they create a similar eerie feeling.
Over the past few weeks I’ve taken example photos of what type of images I might make(I may include these in my actual photoshoot)
Review & Reflect
Throughout my projects I have experimented with both documentary and tableaux images responding to different themes. I have gone back through these images and selected ones that may help inspire or give ideas of what kind of work I’d like to produce.
