More about Dougie Wallace

Great to see that Dougie Wallace has been shortlisted for the WPO awards for his work on life expectancy differences between Glasgow and Knightsbridge called Glasgow; Second City of The Empire. On the run up to the Scottish Referendum as mentioned on the BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-31587522 (also shown on the WPO site http://worldphoto.org/images/image-gallery/26209/?page=4) and this is particularly encouraging as I would like to produce the sort of work that Wallace does: a sort of blend of street photography, documentary and photo journalism, but the result of which is a social commentary.  I know how hard he has worked for this, and he seems to have gone from strength to strength since publishing Stags, Hens and Bunnies, and so I am pleased he has this latest success, and am looking forward to going to the exhibition.

Websites

• BBC News - Sony World Photography Awards: 2015 shortlist available from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-31587522 [accessed 1 March 2015]
• WPO -  Professional Shortlist - Portraits available from http://worldphoto.org/images/image-gallery/26209/?page=4 [accessed 1 March 2015]

Part Four - Reading Photographs: Introduction: Notes - Photographs not used as a means of expression or communication

The introduction to Part Four describes how photography can be thought of as a language, with its own codes and symbols that allow the artist to convey a meaning and the viewer to interpret that meaning.  Language can enable people to share an understanding, or it can also divide them.  I imagine that as with a language, differences in understanding may mean that the intended meaning can be lost.  We discussed the concept of loss of authorial control earlier in the course in Part Two in the post on non-visible themes; I made the point that the understanding of the photograph is subjective and will depend on the experiences of the viewer.  This is a natural part of the process.  So, just as in a conversation, you may say one thing, it can be interpreted as another.  And with written languages, there are more constants; we are taught to read and write at school, we can refer to dictionaries when we need to look up a meaning.  Is it the same with photography?  Are there constants in meaning that will always mean the same to the artist and the viewer?  I imagine that the scope for difference in interpretation is greater with a visual language than a written/spoken language.

The introduction asks us to think about any photographs that are not used as a means of expression or communication.  This was tough!  I ran through a mental checklist of genres and purposes of photography to try to find an answer:

• Advertising: clearly a language (saying "buy me") designed to penetrate your subconscious
• Documentary/reportage: communication of stories
• Fine art: used to communicate the artist's feelings on a subject
• Wedding photography: good question...what is it communicating?  Like holiday and party photographs - is it just a record of an occasion or are the photographs actually saying something?
• Wildlife photography: depends - some is used to highlight eco/conservation issues - but some, including the wildlife photographs I have taken - is just used to make cute pictures - these are however - still communicating how I felt about the animal?
• Landscape photography: could be used for a variety of means - to communicate eco/conservation issues, to be used by the artist to express something, or could be used just to make pleasing pictures
• Still life: could be used for fine art - could be meaningful or meaningless?
• Journalism: communication of stories
• Portraits: will communicate the subject and the artist's emotions
• Street photography: communication of stories.

So of the genres, they could all be communicative, or not.  It depends on the purpose of the story.  On the basis though that all photographs are telling somebody something, even if just "look at me when I was on holiday", I'm not sure there are any that are not a means of expression or communication, but clearly the levels of complexity in meaning will differ.  I quick snapshot taken in a bar does not have the same meaning as something that is complex, shocking and designed to cause a reaction, such as war porn, or a fine art photograph rich in symbology that expresses the artist's emotions.

I may come back to these notes later on in this chapter - perhaps some photographs that are not used as a means of communication or expression will come to mind.

Part Two - Narrative: Reflections

Wow - my feet haven't touched the ground!  But instead of feeling tired, as I did at the end of Part One, I feel inspired, energised and ready for Part Three.  I did have a bit of a blip though during Part Two, maybe a part of the come down from my trip to India, but I went through a bit of block with my course work, as in not wanting to do it.  I kept asking myself why I'd chosen this academic route, when basically all I want to do is get out and take photos!  I've resolved that now (yesterday actually), the bigger picture is that one day, I'd like to make a living from photography, and that will include teaching, so I need the broader understanding and skill set and have to be careful not to lose sight of that.  I do however need to revise my timetable a bit, as I'm not getting out as much as I'd like, and at the end of the day, I need to practice to progress my personal ambitions.  I currently allow 2-3 weekends a month to complete my course work, and then I read/research/surf on my daily commute.  I think I need to try, as hard as it is, to "work after work", to put in one evening a week for course work.  That means also putting it on my office calendar to avoid staying late at work.  I will start doing this in the New Year, and this will free up a bit more time at weekends for practicing my street photography :)

So, during Part Two I have (in no particular order):

• Taken part in a week-long Street Photography workshop in Varanasi, India with Maciej Dakowicz 
• Learnt a lot about different ways of supplementing images with text and what that achieves
• Learnt about loss of authorial control
• Learnt about the difference between relay and anchor text
• Understood how images can be ambiguous if not supported by text
• Learnt about photographing the unseen
• Met Dougie Wallace again at his Shoreditch Wildlife launch event
• Reviewed 2 exhibitions
• Read 0 photography books!!  (ooops.....)
• Won a photography competition at work!  Yay!
• Had one of my photographs used by Maciej Dakowicz on his website :o)

But, most importantly, a while ago, I wasn't sure where my photography was heading.  I was flitting between street, travel, wildlife, landscape, conceptual, art, documentary, trying out photojournalism....I had no idea where I was going.  Following my experience in Varanasi, I now known for certain exactly where I'm going.  I found this blend of street/travel photography very exciting and challenging - and this is what I want to do - every day that I can!

Finally, I need to do something about the tag list for this blog -it's getting a bit long....not quite sure what to do about it, but I'll give it some thought.

Part Two - Narrative: Project Two - Image and text: Exercise 1 - Newspaper articles

Exercise 1 of Project 2 (Image and Text) requires us to select some pictures from a newspaper and write some captions.  For my pictures, I have taken screen shots from the BBC News website, with links to the actual items below.

Image [1]

Possible captions:

• New waterways created
• Green space preserved as City expands

The article was in fact about Greater Manchester being made a "northern powerhouse".

Image [2]

Possible captions:

• Thousands attend Communist Party annual conference
• Chinese politicians sworn in for new term

The article was in fact about anti-corruption investigators in China confirming the reported seizure of the equivalent of $33m in cash at an official's home in May - the biggest such haul to date.

Image [3]

Possible captions:

• Free Sgt. Tahmooressi NOW!
• American people campaign for the release of Sgt. Tahmooressi.

The article was in fact about the campaign for the release of a US marine imprisoned in Mexico for driving a vehicle loaded with firearms across the border has been released.

In the first two examples, without the captions, you cannot tell what the article is going to be about.  In both cases, I found captions that were not representative of the real article.  The captions therefore in these cases would be anchor captions, i.e. they would control the meaning of the image and prevent it being interpreted. 

In the third example, even if you don't know what the article is about - it is pretty easy to work it out.  The picture already gives you most of the story.  The accompanying text would therefore provide more information to enable a full understanding. 

Links to news items:

[1] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-29459243 accessed 3 November 2014
[2] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-29845257 accessed 3 November 2014
[3] http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-29858652 accessed 3 November 2014

Part One - Photograph as document: Reflections

Well - what a jam-packed experience this has been!  Probably largely due to the amount of off-course activities I've been doing as well, but also from the increased momentum in undertaking more academic work than actual photography.  During Part One, I have (in no particular order):

• Conducted some thorough research into Street Photography
• Understood the difference between Street Photography, Documentary and Reportage
• Learned more about and tried out Photojournalism
• Photographed the 2014 Pride and the Naked Bike Ride
• Considered my own feelings on war porn
• Investigated the nature of the neighbourhood I live in
• Created my first and last composite photograph
• Reviewed eight exhibitions
• Read nine relevant books/articles
• Met Dougie Wallace, Matt Stuart, Nils Jorgensen, David Gibson and David Solomons
• Caught up with Dave Mason
• Taken 311 photographs for Bleeding London
• Understood that I am a right-brained photographer (and successfully resisted peer pressure to keep a sketch book - what's that for??? - I would never be able to plan a photo like that!)
• Taken part in an LSP course on Street Photography and Photojournalism
• Taken part in an In-Public workshop.

No wonder I'm tired....

The highlight of the course, despite my reservations about not being able to produce 60 photographs that meet my interpretation of street photography, was in fact my day out in Brighton for the Project 3 Street Photography Exercise.  This was an amazing day and my favourite kind of day; I loved both the shooting and the editing afterwards, and I wish this had been the assignment brief!

Invisible War - BJP August 2014

I'm not quite sure how I feel about an article called Invisible War in the August 2014 issue of BJP.  The article, written by Laurence Butet-Roch, describes a body of work by photographer Christoph Bangert.  Entitled "War Porn", Bangert has put together a series of shocking, explicit, gruesome, and real images of war, shot over a ten-year period in conflict zones.

What is interesting is the decision to publish and why Bangert felt that they needed to be seen: "When you have all this unpublished material dormant on your hard drive, you get angry; you feel like you have failed in your mission, which is not only to take photographs, but also to show them" (Bangert quoted Butet-Roch, 2014, p64).  This implies that taking the photograph (or in fact capturing the "story") is only half the job.  If photographs are not seen, the exercise is pointless.  In this case, Bangert intended to provoke discussion about how images of horrific events are framed.  I think that a lot of people will look at these images published in BJP, but I wonder how many will go on to purchase the book, so from that perspective, is the context in which they are seen right?  Perhaps governments and heads of state should be forced to see wall-size reproductions in an exhibition....This said, the first edition of War Porn is already sold out. 

The article goes on to reference Susan Sontag and her work "Regarding the Pain of Others" and comments on her reactions to photographs of atrocities and whether they inspire peace, provoke revenge or simply raise awareness.  Bangert's reaction is simply that his images will not prevent further violence, but, if people cannot even look at the images, then we can't begin to think about preventing war, and that if you don't look at the pictures, then you simply don't care.

Thinking about my own reaction, I am amazed by war photography; not in a voyeuristic way, but in the ability of the photographer to carry out their work under such conditions - both from an emotional point of view and the issue of personal safety.  I previously wrote about Don McCullin in my DPP blog, and remember feeling stunned that he could continue his work, and like Bangert produce photographs that are technically competent (read brilliant!) and also creative and visually compelling, whilst the atrocity is happening around them.  In this case, Bangert has put together a collection of work that for a lot of people will be too gruesome to look at.  I can look at it, and I am beyond appalled that human beings can commit these atrocities and harm each other to such an extent, but I don't know if I would be able to retain sufficient composure to be actually able to deliver something like this myself.


Reference List

Butet-Roch, L. (2014) Invisible War. British Journal of Photography 161 (7827), pp.62-65

LSP - Photojournalism and Street Photography - Day Three

On Day Three (26th July) (after feedback on the British Museum assignment from Day Two) we learnt about photojournalism, reportage and documentary:

• Photojournalism: witnesses and records events as they happen; images often have to be dramatic in order to be competitive
• Reportage: more in-depth story telling, picture essays, viewpoint of photographer present
• Documentary: images that document location, event, situation - insight into culture, history, society.

Notable photojournalists include:

• Arthur Fellig (Wee Gee)
• Dorothea Lange (who shot the well-known image "Migrant Mother")
• Henri Cartier-Bresson (Magnum)
• Robert Capa (Magnum)
• George Rodger (Magnum)
• David Seymour (Magnum)

For photojournalism, context is critical - photos need captions to avoid ambiguity.   For example, Molotov Man, taken in Nicaragua by Susan Meiselas, has been used for propaganda by both sides of the revolution.

Another example of narrative we discuss is the work by 2013 Deutsche Boerse nominee Cristina de Midel "Afronaughts".  This body of work challenges our perceptions of context and reality.  Photojournalists are supposed to represent the truth - and she does - but in a conceptual way.  I remember reading about this piece of work in British Journal of Photography, but can't find any notes on it in previous blogs (note-to-self to try to find it!).

In documentary photography, there is always a tension between beauty, ugliness, truth and emotion.  Also, documentary/photojournalism portraits need to imply all aspects of context - can be candid, environmental, posed (classic).  Steve McCurry is a good example: see previous notes on Afghan Girl).  See also Martin Parr for parts of a person, bright colours and funny context.

Our assignment for Day Three was to go to Camden Town and photograph portraits as follows:

1. Group scene
2. Portrait in environment/context
3. 5 aspects of the same portrait (including asking permission from someone)
4. Detail of a portrait
5. Candid portrait

This exercise went well - better than expected in fact.  Feedback took place in the moment looking at the camera screen and on the whole was great.  Only comment was to get in closer!  Here are my results (i.e. the best of - I took loads!):

1. Group scene:

2. Portrait in environment:

3.  5 aspects of same portrait (two situations):

4. Details of a portrait:

5. Candid portrait:

And as an added bonus, on the way back after the day had finished, I took this.  Really impressed with the colours with D8100 (no photoshop!):