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Archive for October, 2011

Oct 19

War Photographer

“I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated.”

James Nachtwey.

Documentary war photographer James Nachtwey, considered by many the greatest war photographer ever, describes some of his experiences as the express elevator to hell.  // Poverty, genocide, political unrest. Not just war photography. // Are you a participant or an observer? Is it right to stand back and watch a man get killed? // Famine – the most destructive weapon in war is starvation. // The images are a form of communication, but James never feels complete or satisfied with his work. Over the years his sense of purpose grew stronger - “the subject is more important than myself” James Nachtwey. // He gave up everything for the job. Any normal sense of a relationship or family life. // James has the optimism and belief that war will not be forever and that his photographs will force people to look at it and to make the change. His optimism is what keeps him going. All emotion, anger, remorse he tries to channel into his photographs. // “Is it possible to end human behaviour that has been there since the beginning through photographs? Is photography the anti-dote to war?” James Nachtwey // The photographer is putting himself at risk to mediate for peace – “nothing is worth the pain … If you were there you would change it … But not everyone can be there. That is why you have photographs.” James Nachtwey. // “Personal ambition should not overtake personal passion” James Nachtwey. // He lives with himself because he connects and lives with the subject. // Do these images need to be graphic to get a reaction in today’s de-sentised world? // We are dealing with hugely complex issues. Issues that are often simplified by the mass media and presented as a snippet of entertainment. Images can though effect change, but is it the censorship that actually effects change? Vietnam (James Nachtwey’s inspiration for his career) and the images came back to change public opinion. Since then governments have controlled image, but is again being challenged with the Internet, but having said that, the lay-man is still fed content through media corp and popular websites. Controls therefore come from the consumer. They demand the entertainment and the simplicity. People who buy a photo-book already believe in the subject matter.

Oct 16

Meaning & The Single Image

“The relationship between what we see and what we know is never settled”. John Berger.

When given a photograph you read all four corners of the image. You look at parts within that photograph to determine meaning (the internal structure of an image).

John Berger states “All photographs are ambiguous”. A photograph has fact of object, but any analysis is surely false. “Only occasionally is an image self-sufficient” Jean Matr.

Berger lists reasons why photographs are ambiguous. There is a conflict of interest. A meeting place where interests come together.

a) The Photographer

b) The Photographed

c) The Viewer. Eyes in the future. We might look at the picture through romantic eyes. Time breads nostalgia that is nothing to do with the original photo.

d) Those who are using the Photograph.

Berger also argues that another reason for ambiguity  is its lack of content. Single photos are fragments taken out of a continuity (of real-time). The make no sense. We make sense of an image only by lending them a continuity ourselves.

“The pro photographer tries when taking a photo to choose an instant which will persuade the public viewer to lend it an appropriate past and future“. John Berger.

For Berger you can eliminate ambiguity by adding text or a caption. This provides a context. However some writers say that the text limits the photograph. Text has a kind of voice. Image has another. The picture can be manipulated through text.

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Another Way of Telling. John Berger & Jean Mohr.

Photographs don’t lie–or do they? Another way of telling explores the tension between the photographer and the photographed, between picture and viewer, and between the filmed moment and memories it resembles.

The Spoken Image: Photography and Language. Clive Scott.

Language has always been central to the meaning and exploitation of photographic images. However, the various types and ‘styles’ of language associated with different photographic genres have been largely overlooked. This book considers the nature of photography, examining the language used in titles, captions and commentaries, particularly as they relate to documentary photography, photojournalism and fashion photography.

Context as a Determinant of Photographic Meaning. Walker, J.

Oct 16

Visual Culture. Edited by Chris Jenks.

As photographers how do we understand the nature of the world. Even though we can see the world we might not know something. If you really look at the world, can you understand what is going on?

Eugene Smith wanted to over-turn myth, and believed there was a thing out there that can be known. Chris Jenks suggests  that as you grow-up, how are you taught to see. There is a difference between seeing and knowing. To see is something you learn. What we see is a partial vision. A short-hand of the world. We learn to concentrate. Make snap judgements and limit what we see. Even our human form limits what we photograph. We don’t, for example, look down on the world.

“I can’t tell your whole story through simply a photograph. There are different levels. Different mediums to communicate” Margaret Morton.

We have a partial vision. We have coloration from our background, our own history, as does the subject. The output therefore is socially produced. It is a construction of all the actors.

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Visual Culture. Chris Jenks.

Oct 16

The Art of the Project

My Uncle’s partner Cathy has recently set about a quest to have a drink in every Red Lion pub in Britain. There are around 600 and it will take about 3 years. Cathy’s project has already drawn out any number of surreal stories and a slot on the Chris Evans breakfast show. What started as an opportunity to explore different parts of the country is now backed by a corporate sponsor and a brewery campaign for women to drink more real ale.

A paper by Johnnie Gratton and Michael Sheringham titled ‘The Art of the Project‘ outlines a number of photography projects of varying types, design and creativity, including Tom Phillip who identified 20 sites across London and since 1973 has taken a photo at each the twenty locations once every year on or around the same day. Calle records her day spent under the sign of the letter W, and Stephanie Bolt contacted every Brown in the British telephone directory and asked them to send a photo of themselves.

With such projects we wonder if it is the creativity of the projects design that creates attention or the outcomes of the project itself, but as the paper identifies, the project can give structure and direction to an exploratory piece of work. It is about the ground rules, but in turn, the more ground rules you set the higher likelihood the project will transgress.

Gratton and Sheringham also suggest that the individual is tied-up with the nature of the project; it brings in the personal. Most recently, I have been fascinated with shooting people in their element – the crossroads of doing what they love with what they are good at. This is not a pursuit in itself, but possibly born from a frustration that I didn’t follow my element clearly evident from a young age, and moreover that I don’t want anyone to miss their element again.

There is also an inherent danger of going to deep with a difficult project, and a danger of never finding an end point – the conclusion or the truth. There is a real risk that you forget your original reasons for doing the project or unearth a truth that you never would have expected. The paper warns of the “long-term programming of one’s existence”, many projects leading to madness, death or suicide.

I must warn Cathy! But I suspect the ale will help.

Oct 8

Picture for Women

Before I saw the image, I was presented with the title – ‘Picture for Women’. This title placed any number of prejudices, ideas and impressions in my mind. Was it going to be political, divisive even, separating women from men? Can this picture only be appreciated by women, or is it more interesting to men because they are told it is only for women? Maybe the photograph would interest men as when you say ‘Picture for Women’ you can almost here ‘Picture of Women’. Inversely, I then think – Is there ‘Picture for Men’ or ‘Picture of Men’ or perhaps it is all contained in this one piece?

On viewing the photograph, I am immediately taken to the promise of 80′s engineering. The steel piping, the fat light-bulbs, metallic chairs and bold radiators. I am taken back to my Dad’ first place of work (a postal sorting office in Preston) – industrial, green, grey and heavy. Structure and function without any of the design. It is a scene from Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

The picture itself, at first glance, appears like any picture anyone could have taken. Not particularly professional, not well staged, and not overly compelling to look at. The camera in the centre of the photograph changes this initial feeling of underwhelmed. You wonder why the camera is in the centre and how exactly has the picture been taken; was it captured using a separate camera pointing at the scene or simply a mirror reflecting the image back to the lens?

The lines in the two vertical poles create an odd effect as they cut the image into three distinct sections, separating the female subject from the male subject. The pair seem disconnected from each other, almost unaware of each others presence. The lines continue across the photograph from the horizontal corrugation in the ceiling to the lines on the desk, floor, brick and piping. There is a lot of texture in this photograph.

The photograph appears to show some of the feminine confidence and equality between sexes that grew in the 80′s. The ladies appearance of denim jeans and functional top suggests work. The ear-rings maintain a touch of femininity, but again the ladies hair is up to suggest her ability to operate within a manufacturing styled working environment.

The male subject looks almost confused by this change in woman. How does he communicate with her, work with her, love her? Or is he now disconnected in a separate scene never to be joined.

The female subject looks to be in thought, confident, but maybe confused, wishing to appear attractive, but then holding back the smile.

The shot is taken. The women is lit. The man not. I wonder why? What is that trying to say? What is any of the image trying to say? Although amateurish on first glance, it has been carefully crafted. Carefully staged. I wonder why? Why is everything positioned as it is and why this location?

A quick search on Google offers the following results:

- Many of Jeff Wall’s pictures are staged and refer to the history of art and philosophical problems of representation.
- ‘Picture for Women’ was inspired by the painter Édouard Manet.
- In Manet’s painting, a barmaid gazes out of frame, observed by a shadowy male figure. The figures are similarly reflected in a mirror in Jeff Wall’s piece, and the woman has the absorbed gaze and posture of Manet’s barmaid, while the man is the artist himself.
- The reflection creates a complex web of viewpoints.
- The image marks the transition of photography as an art form from the printed page to the gallery wall.
- The photograph captures the original tensions played out between male artist and female model.
- The seam running down the middle of the photograph is apparent in some of Wall’s large-scale pictures, where two pieces of transparency are joined.
- Jeff Wall does not photograph, initially. He keeps an image in mind. A memory, and then recreates this dream life reflection through a photograph.

Oct 6

Steve Jobs (1955-2011)

“You’ve got to find what you love. And that is as true for your work as it is for your lovers. Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do. If you haven’t found it yet, keep looking. Don’t settle. As with all matters of the heart, you’ll know when you find it. And, like any great relationship, it just gets better and better as the years roll on. So keep looking until you find it. Don’t settle.”

…

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

…

“Stay Hungry. Stay Foolish.”

Excerpt from Steve Jobs Stanford Commencement Speech 2005.

Image from martincahill | photography.

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