Being there, and not being there - 21/10/14

As a photographer, it is up to me when to actually take the picture, do I need to be there when there's the action? Or should I be there for the aftermath, the consequences of the action? I haven't made up my mind yet, but today's session gave an interesting look into two sides of the argument.

The Decisive Moment:

Henri Cartier Bresson's image shows the decisive moment, he said sometimes a moment like this could be spontaneous, other times you just have to be patient.  He was also very methodical, if this shot wasn't "perfect" in every way (aperture, composition, exposure etc) he'd scrap the photograph.

Robert Capa, American Troops landing on Omaha Beach, Normandy, France (June 6, 1944). Capa took stills from a movie camera, which I think effectively shows movement; his images are also great examples of the decisive moment, however he is not as methodical about his technique as Bresson.

The Not-so-Decisive Moment:

Husband and wife team Bernd and Hilla Becher began photographing old industrial sites in the 1950s, and described their subjects as ‘buildings where anonymity is accepted to be the style’. The coal bunkers in these photographs were located in Germany, France and Britain, while the photographs of pitheads were all taken at British collieries between 1965 and 1973. Within a few years of completing this work, almost all of the structures had been demolished. The pair worked in a typology style which required careful construction of their images, nothing could be out of place. There is no decisive moment within their work.

"Pitheads" (1975)

Ed Ruscha - Photographer

Ed Ruscha seems to admit that his photographs are of the vernacular, within this paragraph he also says that he wasn't really looking for any meaning behind them, which to me seems like the epitome of the sense of the vernacular.

Twenty Six Gasoline Stations definitely confirmed the vernacular as an art style, what's interesting to note is that these books (published in 1962) can be found in both the art section and the travel section of the library. This photograph in particular is called "Knox Less, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, 1962", there's nothing particularly noteworthy about the image, it has a broad depth of field and is technically good. What's interesting is the ordinary nature of the photograph, there is no atmosphere to it which intrigues me greatly.

"Mock up #4 (North Side of Hollywood Blvd), 1971" (from the series "A Few Palm Trees") it's nice to see images of how photographers work, and this image is more aesthetically pleasing to me than the one above. Leading lines of the row of palm trees, the curb and the lane separation lines gently take the viewer in and out of the photograph. I'm not sure why there is white around the tree in the foreground, it looks out of place, is this what he wants? It's an interesting idea to make something that was there anyway look out of place.

Both of these images are from the series "The Sunset Strip" the top image is "Filthy McNasty's" (1976/1995) and the bottom is "Gazzarri's Supper Club" (1966/1995). These images are similar to Twenty Six Gasoline Stations yet could have an interesting back story, I suppose the gas stations could but on the face of it they are fundamentally boring; these places could have a lot of history to share.

Idealism to Realism - 14/10/14

At first the idea of the vernacular was not appealing as an artform, photographs were perhaps meant to show the ideal of a location, like Ansel Adams' landscapes. However, the documentation of the everyday suddenly became a confirmed artform. 

Ansel Adams, "The Tetons and the Snake River, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming" (1942), this photograph shows the ideal American landscape, there isn't a person in sight and these parks wouldn't have any litter. Although this image is lovely, to me it is unsettlingly beautiful; it shows a natural landscape that doesn't look natural at all but manufactured.

Robert Frank - "The Americans" (1958)

Robert Frank was actually an immigrant to America, his photographs are perhaps more interesting as we see America as he sees it, the viewers are also foreigners in the "Land of the Free"

This image to me is especially captivating as I'm seeing it from a modern perspective. I also understand this image more from reading "The Help", black women often became nannies to white children, and subsequently almost became more of a mother to them. According to the book, their birth mothers often conditioned them to think in the same way as them and only viewed their nannies (and indeed, other ethnic diversities) as the help. If the views in the book were indeed true to a major extent then it's sad to see such a young and innocent baby not knowing the harsh realities of what's going on around her.

The reality of America isn't a nice one, children in elementary school (the equivalent to our primary school) have to pledge allegiance to the flag, to me this seems like the opposite of a free country. The American flag takes up most of the frame and perhaps signifies it's control on the people around it.

The Vernacular - Martin Parr

The next series of images are taken from Martin Parr's book "Boring Postcards USA" published in 1999

These postcards are not images taken by Martin Parr, he just put them in the book; they strongly relate to the theme of "the vernacular". I especially like the third one down, how the objects are placed on the surface. When I go to my location I could take a few items I see and set it out like this and maybe do it in the studio to take the objects straight out of context.

The Vernacular - Walker Evans

Walker Evans was a prolific American photographer who was prevalent during the Great Depression. Documentary photography wasn't really about in America at this time and Walker Evans was a great documenter of the Vernacular.

He started collecting postcards when he was just 12 years old, and developed a collection of 9000 in 60 years!

"Street Scene, Vicksburg, Mississippi" (1936), I really like people interacting within a location, it's like they add life to it. The three men seem to be looking into the camera, and it's almost intimidating. They are in between two doors which makes us question where they belong, is the man on the right the owner of the Barber Shop? Is he just waiting for another customer so he'll have enough money to get food for the evening? The depression was a difficult era for America and it hit the Southern states hard.

"Lunchroom Window, New York" (1929), I think this photograph is really interesting as something has caught the eye of the two men on the left, it even has one stop eating. However the man on the right is paying close attention to Walker Evans, these men are in suits and could possibly be rich men of Wall Street, what's interesting is that this photograph was taken in 1929, the year of the Wall Street Crash.

"Church, Beaufort, South Carolina" (1936), the loneliness of the church really affects the overall mood of this photograph, churches are meant to be places for community and have a social spirit to them, the fact that there's no one within in make the atmosphere moody and eerie.

The Vernacular - 7/10/14

Definition: (noun) 1. The language or dialect spoken by the ordinary people in a particular country or region: "he wrote in the vernacular to reach a larger audience".

Before 1839 photography was an expensive practice and exclusive only for scientists, it wasn't until failed, English artist William Henry Fox Talbot produced paper that was sensitive to light that photography became closer to being an activity for the masses.

His process (called "calotype") allowed images to be reproduced again and again, unlike his competitor Louis Daguerre's "Daguerreotypes" which were pictures on expensive silverplate and couldn't be reproduced.

William Henry Fox Talbot, "An oak tree in winter", c.1842-43.

In 1900, the Kodak Brownie came along, and this device was for everyone! This camera saw the introduction of picture postcards, and in 1903 over 700 million postcards were sent in America.

Kodak Brownie

First Session - 30/9/2014

A powerpoint introducing the term context, and one about different practitioners we could look into really helped me achieve the starting point you already see on my blog. I soon saw that my blog was looking bare with actual research that inspired me, and I hadn't written down any notes from sessions I had. Well, that's all about to change.

This post is from the first session I had, I described the brief earlier on in the blog but that's not all we did. Here are a few artists that I felt were relevant to my own project from the powerpoint Matthew showed us:

John Constable, "The Haywain" (1821). What looks picturesque now wouldn't have been in 1821, the painting of the Haywain would be equivalent of including a pylon in the shot today; it just goes to show that the development of the world can change the way we view pictures. This painting was meant to shock it's viewers, now it makes those who see it wish they were in the painting.

Sand, Wind and Tide Series (1969),  The Boyle Family picked random locations all over the world and took casting from these areas to make a number of series. The way they chose their locations, and the randomness of it has had some influence on the project.

Alec Soth, "Nome, Alaska" (2008). I feel Alec Soth's work will have a prevalent influence on my work for this project. The gritty truth in his photographs really speak to me and there is no room for a fairytale nonsense. 

During this session we were also given an introduction to the ins and outs of our rights as photographers; I feel that this was very helpful as I am planning to go to my chosen location (a public road) and there could be some people within my shots, who don't want to be there, hopefully if they have a problem I'll be able to put their minds at ease with my basic knowledge of the legal system, and the fact that only my class will see the photographs!