Presentations – Martin Parr

• British documentary photographer who was most famous for his critical outlook and documentation of the British middle class

• Initially started taking photos in black and white, but became one of the pioneers for colour photography

• Used a satirical method in his photography that poked fun in a somewhat light-hearted but critical manner. For example one of his most influential published works ‘The Last Resort’ was said to display a ‘stunning satire of Britain’, but it was also highly criticized for perhaps being too cruel

• He provoked photographers to think ‘out of the box’ and encouraged to take the viewer’s gaze away to a different side of a situation and to find the extraordinary in the ordinary. In terms of my own personal project I hope to take cultural objects and put them in positions that are out out of place to provoke the viewer to gain a sense of confusion and discomfort to reflect my own personal feelings about my own cultural position in society. My last intended photo, the cultural portrait double exposure shot, very much agrees with Parr’s method of finding the ‘extraordinary in the ordinary’. I hope to overlay an image within my own personal portrait that is reminiscent of my own culture.

[#7] Project proposal presentation

Research possibility for my final shot in the series of photographs

Below I have pasted the notes I made for my individual project presentation. It goes over the theme itself, how it has previously been represented and a somewhat solidified plan of action (that I will add to and improve later!):

Project Presentation – Cultural Ambiguity PowerPoint Slides

Project Presentation

Produce a series of 6 to 8 photographs that investigate ideas of representation and identity in relation to your cultural position in society.

What is the theme? – Cultural Ambiguity

Being a Turkish Cypriot who has spent his whole life in England, it has been difficult finding my footing in a set cultural identity. Therefore, when thinking of how I could best represent my ‘cultural position in society’ it dawned on me that this would be a difficult task – not being able to speak Turkish has created a disconnect with my culture which evokes feelings of ambiguity and discomfort. Similarly, despite spending my whole life here in England, I feel as equally disconnected to this culture which produces further feelings of this lack of belonging.

To capture this sense of ‘cultural emptiness’ I aim to create a series of roughly 6-8 photographs that can hopefully effectively encompass  this uncomfortable sense of being out of place, by using abstract  and representative imagery to illustrate a lack of a cultural identity.

How has it been previously represented/how do you choose to represent it?

Culture:

•        Sarah Rahbar – Contradicting Realities: The contrast between what the religious garment represents to the Muslim community and the fact that it is an American flag (associated with a country predominantly un-accepting of this culture) is what is most striking in this photograph. This is a good example of the prominent contrast that I would also like to show in my photographs.
•        Go back to culture blog post – I have extensively researched objects of Turkish and British culture and I hope to photograph these together in a way that evokes this weird sense of identity

Out of place:

•        http://www.boredpanda.org/out-of-place-photo-manipulations-robert-rickhoff/ – out of place – these photos are effective at showing things that are familiar to us, but are not quite right – this sort of photography used with the right imagery would be good to perhaps represent feelings of uneasiness, confusion and ambiguity for my project
•        http://www.julianhibbard.com/1/_12.jpg – I like the idea of using the mask to represent the subject’s true feelings in the picture – I could maybe use this idea in a setting associated with the cultures specific to me, and not include my expression in the shot but rather something that abstractly represents it

Plan of action

•        This is still a rough idea, but my initial plan was to start the series of images with a photograph that depicts something that is out of place/not quite right (akin to the previous example shown) and gradually get less subtle as it progresses from photograph to photograph  – it would gradually progress from a subtle representation of cultural ambiguity/identity to a more clearer picture of what specifically I want to represent. For example I look to show the two cultures by merging them in strange ways using cultural objects etc.
•        Also, for the last set of photographs I want to include self-portraits that gradually reveal my expression at the end – but the last portrait will be double exposure – e.g. http://www.alexwisephotography.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/IMG_9750-3-copy.jpg – rather than a cityscape I’m going to choose something personal to superimpose onto the image of my face to try and reveal a sense of ambiguous cultural identity
•        Obviously it is difficult at this stage to intricately plan out every photograph exactly, especially as I need to go out and experiment more with the objects/environments I want to shoot

[R6] Roland Barthes (1980) Camera Lucida

Camera Lucida is an insurmountably significant resource for any budding photographer. It goes into great depth about the three practices of photography (To do, To look and To undergo), how photography has transformed ‘subject’ into ‘object’ (and the irony that comes with this notion) and how the photograph is a “a cunning dissociation of consciousness from identity” among many other valuable facts/notions of photography.

Perhaps the most significant for me and my personal project though was how Barthes stated how photography can only signify by using myth, by letting something specific stand for something abstract:

“Society, it seems, mistrusts pure meaning: It wants meaning, but at the same time it wants this meaning to be surrounded by a noise” (p.g. 36)

This has proved to be invaluable information when preparing for my project, as the very nature of my intended photo series is to evoke an emotional discourse through abstract and representational imagery. This ‘noise’ can very well be a series of cultural objects shot in an unconventional manner to produce the desired feelings in the image. Similarly the photos’ punctum can also be achieved using me as the subject in relation to cultural imagery.

Barthes, Roland. Camera Lucida New York: Hill and Wang, 1981.

Presentations – Robert Frank

• Created his perhaps most celebrated work, ‘The Americans’, a highly influential post- war American photographic book. He took a staggering 28,000 photos but only used around 87. This shows how taking a wide breadth and variety of photos is good to develop an effective photographic language and is particularly an important lesson for me when I am undergoing my final project.

• Due to a divergence from contemporary photography it gave Frank difficulty in attaining an American publisher for his work

• One aspect of his method was that he believed very strongly in the practice of taking photographs every day to be able to develop as an effective and artistically emotive photographer

• He approached photography emotionally rather than intellectually, and, with regards to my project, I believe I would like to undergo my photo series in a similar style. As my project is very personal to me every shot will try to capture some of the raw emotion through representative imagery

• He regarded content to be more important than aesthetic value, and usually worked with a hidden camera to gather a more naturalistic and ‘un-posed’ style.

Group Presentation Notes – Diane Arbus

• American photographer who studied photography under Berenice Abbott (best known for black and white photography) & Lisette Model (American photographer, Arbus owed much of her early technique to Model’s example), Weegee’s themes of nudists, circus performers, freaks and street people were later taken up and developed by Diane Arbus in the early 1960s
•  “It was my teacher Lisette Model, who finally made it clear to me that the more specific you are, the more general it’ll be.”
• Known for her square format photographs of marginalised individuals in society
• Photographer of freaks – heavily criticised by art critics as she was accused of photographing her subjects in a negative light
• Followed her heart in her photography – she took photos of those she was interested in, and felt compassion and warmth to
•  “you see someone on the street and essentially what you notice about them is the flaw”
• Initially her images seem to be exploitative of her subjects, until we realise that they are in fact very sympathetic

Method, techniques and teachings – street photography

1. Go places you have never been – seemed enthralled by a lack method/control over what she photographed, placed importance on the curiosity of the unknown, “Simply let the shots come to you, and embrace them.”
2. Camera is a license to enter the lives of others – Views the camera as a useful tool to approach people you want to find out more about – without a camera it would be more difficult to delve into someone’s personal history
3. Realize you can never understand the world from your subjects eyes – photographers intention is not always clearly represented in the photograph, Arbus described it as a ‘gap between intention and effect’ – you have to have an understanding that the subject’s ‘tragedy’ is not the same as your own – e.g. someone dressed ‘as a rockstar with chains and spiked studs, they may feel that they are giving off the image that they are powerful and cool. However an outsider might see this as frightening, and something abhorrent’ – know your own prejudices – therefore your photographs are more a reflection of yourself
4. Create specific photographs – specificity creates a stronger message
5. Adore your subjects – Arbus put an emphasis on having an affinity for those you are photographing, and she was principally drawn to those who were marginally challenged (at the time she referred to them as ‘freaks’). She was particularly compelled to this group as they were often born with their trauma and had to go through life living with and overcoming it. She found an honour in them and wanted to humanise those which were looked at as despicable members of society. This is an important lesson as it highlights the importance of being compassionate to those you photograph, and can make for more interesting images.
6. Inspiration from reading – after reading a variety of books Arbus was able to see something in real life that inspired her imagination for her photography. She considered it important to gain outside inspiration for her photography as this could lead to a spark in creativity.
7. Utilizing textures to add meaning to your photographs – As Arbus developed her style she considered the ‘look’ of a photograph to be very significant – i.e. different focal lengths, shooting at different apertures, using a flash or natural light, color vs black and white, formats – she believed that these things would not only affect the aesthetic quality, but also the meaning of the photograph
8. Take bad photos – Arbus gained a valuable lesson in taking bad photographs. Bad photos are generally things you’ve never tried before as a photographer as they can make you ‘recognise something you had seen in a way that will make you recognize it when you see it again’ – therefore, taking bad photographs will allow you to see what makes a good one, and this can lead to inspiration at times where you may feel it to be otherwise lacking. Arbus actually sometimes preferred it when she made mistakes as it occasionally did a better job at depicting what she wanted to evoke
9. Sometimes your best photos aren’t immediately apparent (to you)
10. Don’t arrange others, arrange yourself – Most interesting photos are generally ones that aren’t posed
11. Get over the fear of photography by getting to know your subjects – by talking with the subjects it allows the photographer to overcome the fear with taking personal shots and feel more comfortable
12. Subjects are more important than the pictures – She considered the people to be more important than the photograph itself, as humans are three-dimensional and evoked a more ‘holy feeling’ in her

Many of her photographs appear to be straight forward on the surface but as we look and begin to read it, underlying meanings are brought to the surface. For example Identical Twins (1967) this photograph that we have already seen in the reading ‘The Photograph’.  When we talk about the photographers photographing what they see through their eyes and that a part of them is always within the photograph whether it be physically or revealing something about themselves within the photograph. An example of this is ‘A Family on Their Law One Sunday in Westchester’ (1969). Arbus was in a state of depression at the time this photograph was taken which comes through in the photograph. Such as, the separation of the parents and child playing away from them, the tense, distressed look of the father with his head in his hands .– Lucy Le Lievre, 2014

 

http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2012/10/15/11-lessons-diane-arbus-can-teach-you-about-street-photography/

http://www.photokaboom.com/photography/pdfs/Diane_Arbus_1.pdf

Exterior Portraits

All the way back in session 4 (a while ago now!) we were given the task to produce an exterior portrait of a partner and include a head and shoulders shot, close up and one when they are interacting with someone else. The contact sheet is below:

Class exterior portrait contact sheet

This was a useful exercise in learning how to moderately good photographs of other people, and it was interesting seeing how some of them came out. Here are a few of them and some reasons why I liked/disliked them:

I quite like the framing for this ‘head and shoulders’ shot, but the exposure is definitely a little low and so some post-edit tweaking would be required in order to improve the lighting.

 

This is the only real close-up from the bunch, but in retrospect I feel as though it’s really not close enough! The focus and framing is fine, but in future I aim to zoom in a little more to actually create a close-up shot rather than just another mid-close one.

I quite like this ‘interaction’ shot as it effectively captures a genuine moment of conversation between two individuals, and blurs everything in the background to keep a focus on the foreground. I also like how each person is on the far edges of the opposite sides of the frame.

Here I was experimenting with the focus and seeing whether I could perhaps produce a more interesting photograph by using a lower depth of field and shifting focus to the background of the photograph. However I believe in this context taking the photograph in this way is not as effective as focusing on the most impactful aspect of the image – the two people interacting.

 

 

 

The Genius of Photography – Episode 4 – ‘Paper Movies’ (study direct video)

Photo by Tony Ray Jones

Episode 4 of the ‘Genius of Photography’ explores the golden age of photographic ‘journeys’ and relives some of the best photographers of that era. It also looks at the artistic credibility of colour for serious photographers. The image above was taken by Tony Ray Jones and was of particular interest to me as it depicts a candid representation of 60s Britain – the beach was a place where the nation could ‘recline and bare it’s soul’. He reveled in seeing how people were ‘performing in a way that that they wouldn’t normally do and then in that performance they’re revealing something of themselves that they wouldn’t normally do’. I unfortunately cannot use this sort of candid photography for my project due to the direction I’m going in (set up photographs using representative imagery), but I did think that this was a very pertinent observation that particularly stood out to me.

[#5] Continuation of research for project idea – Culture

As my intended project is to be based on an ambiguous sense of cultural identity I therefore carried out some research on culture itself, and objects that represent it. I decided to first look for images that represent Turkish culture as this is something that reflects my personal position in society. I will not necessarily just include objects in my final project (I fully intend to take portraits also!) but it is good to get a general idea for what I may include, and how I may also try and present these objects in a way that conveys this sense of feeling out of place:

In addition to this I have taken a look at objects that effectively represent British culture so that I may find a way to contrast the representations of both cultures to therefore hopefully evoke a sense of uncomfortable ambiguity:

These are just a few ideas for what I believe to be good representations of the two conflicting cultures that I want to portray. Obviously I won’t just be taking pictures of tourist-style objects! I hope to photograph and arrange some of these in such a way that creates an uncomfortable contrast to create a sense of ambiguous tension. My previous research of ‘things out of place’ should help me to gain a clearer picture to achieve this. I also hope to use people to portray this, but it is important to me to include objects of culture to effectively reflect my own personal experience.

 

 

August Sander – First Group Presentation

This weeks presentation was on the German portrait and documentary photographer August Sander, who was most famous for photographing the Wiemar Republic after the events of the First World War. He was considered a pioneer of the portrait photographers and therefore he became one of the most influential for its genre. His portraits were set in simple environments and typically included working class individuals (e.g. farmers, women and skilled tradesmen).

He put a particular emphasis on facial expressions found in the foreground – these expressions were viewed upon as realistically ‘miserable’ and is the reason why it was seen as a true representation of the Wiemar Republic (his photographs were easily considered as ‘time capsules’ of his era).

In my opinion one of his most striking and interesting images that particularly showed off his style was a group gypsy photograph, shown below:

This is an effective example to portray Sander’s notable boldness to his photography – he photographed what he wanted despite the assured opposition he would inevitably face from the political and social ideologies of the time. In this instance, the fact that he photographed women and black people was very against the Nazi ideals during this period. It is this courageous motivation to depict reality and portray the truth that I have particular respect for, and it is easy to understand why he was so influential.

[R5] John Berger – About Looking – Uses of Photography 52 – 67.

The ‘Use of Photography’ chapter in Berger’s ‘About Looking’ begins by stating that when photography first came into existence it offered a new way of ‘habitual reading’ of an unexamined part of modern perception, and was therefore was a useful tool in capturing parts of history that were previously lost in time. As society became more accustomed to photography people began to realise the power being the photographic image. Berger stated that ‘unlike any other visual image, a photograph is not a rendering, an imitation or an interpretation of its subject, but actually a trace of it. No painting or drawing, however naturalist, belongs to its subject in the way that a photograph does’ (p.g. 54).

However, meaning from a photograph can only be gathered through narration:

‘photographs do not in themselves preserve meaning… Meaning is the result of understanding functions… Photographs in themselves do not narrate. Photographs preserve instant appearances…’ (p.g. 55)

Therefore it’s only through my own analysis and feedback on my own photo series that the viewer will understand my images – especially if I intend to take abstract imagery to evoke feelings of discomfort. They need to be explained for context and generate intrigue through discussion and meaning.

Berger, John (1980), About Looking, London, Oxford University Press