Evaluation

Areas of Photographic Practice A

I’ve found this module very interesting and I have really enjoyed doing it. It was difficult to begin with because I really struggled to come up with a concept that I felt was both interesting and reflected my word ‘timepiece’. The group presentations really helped me advance and narrow down my ideas and it was also great to see what others in the group were going. I personally working in smaller numbers worked very well for this project, we got to know each other’s ideas well and could see the progress on a weekly basis.

On the photographic side of things I’m happy with my images. They’ve turned out exactly how I had hoped and I feel like I’ve stuck the balance between simplicity and effectiveness. The number of images was something I was struggling with at first. Initially I was looking at 10-15 images and after some discussion I decided this was far too many, I knew I could get my narrative across in at least half of that number so I settled on 6 images and I’m glad I did. I feel I have reached a resolved idea that is in essence a circular narrative revolved around the word ‘timepiece’. I’ve chosen to show the bare minimum of a daily routine of someone who lives a very mundane working life and in doing so have got across a feeling of a repetitive routine in 6 images.

I liked the presentations in this project, it’s a great way to build confidence and learnt to talk about my ideas and take feedback. Having weekly sessions with the same group was a great advantage as we bonded well and everyone contributed in helping me with my ideas.

With this project I didn’t find it particularly useful to research practicing photographers. I focused more on my subject matter and the reasoning for my ideas. I looked into photographers who use narrative and this really did help me early on. It was also useful to look outside photography at films, books etc. that had a circular narrative. Again this influenced my ideas and helped with clarifying what a circular narrative was.

I also found it useful to talk to the group about narratives as I got a different perspective, which helped me broaden my thoughts and appreciate how people would interpret my initial thoughts. We were encouraged to look at photographers, filmmakers, authors; videographers that again helped broaden my appreciation for narrative.

I did enjoy this project and it was nice to have some direction at the start but to then have total freedom to interpret our words ands create our own ideas.

Final Images

These are now my final images. They don't differ greatly from my original images however the clocks show the correct times in order to tell the story. I toyed with the idea of adding in more shots in between but I felt that it was making my message too literal and giving the audience too much. I decided in this project that less was more. I'm very happy with my idea, I think it's concise and I'm glad I've resolved a circular narrative using the word 'timepiece' as a start.

I think in a gallery setting I would lay the images out in rows and show a few repeats of every image as seen below

I think this is a good way of getting the point of repetition across and also showing the passing of time. Each row would represent a new day and as we read left to right naturally, I think this would come across quite easily to the audience. I think I have followed through with my idea and resolved it with a fairly simple series of images. The key for me in this project was not to overcomplicate my idea or images and I'm glad I stuck by that, it's a simple idea that most people can relate to and by using clear, simple images I think it makes my message as solid as it could be.

Synopsis

In our weekly group sessions we've been discussing each others ideas and developing our thoughts as a group. This has been a great way to get feedback on my ideas and talk things out with both tutors and my peers. When talking about my idea it brought up that that less could be more in terms of photographs, by giving the audience less information I would perhaps make my ideas more clear. It was also said that if my idea was to portray the character as having no time outside of work I wouldn't include images of him doing things outside of work Eg, eating, watching TV as this goes against the message I'm trying to convey.

I've scrapped the idea of following someone in the workplace. I think my images will work best if I create them from the start the finish, this way I can control everything in the image and in turn control the message that the audience gets. I've got a few shoots planned this week to work toward my final set of images, after completing the cropping exercise in our other sessions I'm really eager to get out and shoot! 

These were some inital images I took to the group sessions. I was confident that they couldn't be improved when I walked into the session however I walked out with a very different view. Although on a visual level the images were fine, after some experimenting I decided that if the images were cropped much tighter they become instantly more valuable. We've been discussing cropping a lot in the professional frameworks module and so I decided to have a go with my own images and it was very rewarding. I've now decided on a visual style for my images and I'm going for much tighter crops than I originally thought I would. This helps draw the viewer into the scene and again lets me control exactly what they see in order to get my message across.

I'm now going to take this forward and take the others shots to form my narrative, especially my start image of an alarm clock. Keeping in mind the composition and how the images can be cropped to add context.

Symbolism

What is symbolism?

sym·bol·ism  

/ˈsimbəˌlizəm/

Noun The use of symbols to represent ideas or qualities. Symbolic meaning attributed to natural objects or facts.

Symbolism is often used in photography to carry messages across to an audience. Sometimes it's very obvious sometimes it is more subtle but the majority of photographs are to taken to either document a time to influence an audience sometime in the future. 

I have began to think about symbolism within my own photography for this project. A narrative is all about telling a story but how can I tell a story without creating something cheesy or that carries no weight. 

I'm quite enjoying my timepiece project, it's got me thinking outside of the box and it's been a big help to have group talks about my project. Initially I was looking at shooting around 10 images, however after talking with the group it was decided that I could achieve the same message with fewer shots and that the message may actually be more effective if the audience are given less information and have to work a little to see the connotations within my work.

To further help me with my ideas and what my actual photographs will entail I have written a short synopsis that is a quick summary of my narrative. It includes a general overview of my motives and has helped me to imagine my photographs which will help me when it comes to shooting.

Synopsis

"My story only has one character and his identity is not a key element. The focus is more on him as a cog in the machine rather than an individual. He finds himself leading a dull routine lifestyle filled with work and menial tasks.
The story begins with him asleep, he is then woken by his morning alarm; time to get ready for work. The next shot moves onto work, he is clocking into the job he’s had for several years. Once he clocks on, robot mode engages and he becomes a part of the machine that is his work. He has his breaks during the day and then waits for the clock to advance to the time of the day where he is free. The story then moves on to him clocking out of work some time later. He is now free for the next few hours until it starts again. We see a few snippets of his evening routine in this time. The story advances and he is ready for bed and setting his morning alarm. This repeats every day of the week. Clocks and time rule his life. He is slowly loosing the human element and eventually the photos repeat so much that we are only shown the clocks in the photo and not the other elements of his life." 

Feedback from Lawrence and my group was that I should maybe take out a few shots to simply things. It was picked up on that this may be a more effective way of getting my message across. Maybe starting my story with the image of the alarm, moving onto clocking into work and then I need to think of a way to show a large portion of time has passed without being literal and photographing a clock. I think the best thing for me to do is to photograph someone in a work environment and see if I can come up with anything that will be a good way of showing how mundane the job is and how much time has passed. I'm going to start some taking some photographs this weekend and at least get my start/end image and then build the story around that.

Initial Images

These were my initial images that I took towards the start of the project. These were taken when I was focusing on my 'A day in the life' idea and although I've not chosen to take the whole idea forward I feel I can pick on key elements from the above images and adapt them to my new idea. It really helped to start shooting early, this sparked some ideas for me and has led me to draw up plans for my next set of images.

I'm going to focus more on the workplace now as this was the idea I decided upon after my presentation. Although I'm not 100% sure on my full extent of my idea I know that I want to show someones daily work routine that's very mundane and boring. So I know I want the start image to be an alarm clock, waking them up ready for work. The other images will be them clocking into work, doing there work, clocking out, going home, getting into bed and then starting the day over. The drive behind my ideas is repetition. I want it to come across in my images that the person has the same daily routine which isn't really exciting at all. 

Presentation

After being given my key word I was asked to prepare a short 10 minute presentation containing 3 ideas based around the word 'timepiece'. Initially I struggled quite a lot with this, I couldn't think of an idea that carried a half decent narrative while still involving the key word.

I spent a few days thinking about possible projects and I finally came up with my three. In all honesty I was set on an idea before the presentation and the other 2 ideas just didn't feel as strong. This was backed up in the feedback on my presentation but I was happy with this. After my presentation my group and Lawrence were very helpful in aiding me to advance my ideas. They asked questions such as why I have chosen to do a 'day in the life style' and I answered saying it's something I felt most people can relate to.

I have chosen to take forward my day in the life idea. I think this is the strongest out of the 3 and will identify with the audience much more than the others. I have tweaked the idea in my feedback session and I am now focusing on a persons job. The job rules there life and I want to show this through the use of my photographs. The initial image will be an alarm clock waking them up in the morning, the following image is them arriving into work and clocking in. They then clock out and the cycle starts again. The narrative is that this person is leading this life they don't really like, they have no time outside of work but work is all they know.

Red Saunders

Recently I've been introduced to the work of Red Saunders, he creates photographs of moments in history that were overlooked. Often only scenes that portrayed the controlling powers as great would be documented in paintings, anything that went against this was forgotten about. He focuses on the normal men and woman of the time rather than the great people of the monarchy that dominated history as we know it. 

His photographs are very elaborate and feature a lot of characters, the style is known as tableaux vivants (living pictures). I decided to go and look at his work for myself in the Peoples History Museum and it was a very interesting experience. It was wonderful to see such large prints of his work, I could really get up close and appreciate the detail within the images. It was also nice to see his scribbles and initial ideas and how they formed into these elaborate photographs. 

My favourite image is the depiction of the Swing Riots in 1830 where hooded farm workers are sneaking out of the bushes to revolt against landlord farmers. I really like this because there is very little chance this would have ever been captured as a painting, it's a great document of history and I think there's a lot of emotion within the image. The colours are great also. The characters seem quite intimidating at first glance but once you hear the back story you're inclined to side with them in a time where they were facing great oppression.

Dina Goldstein

Ariel - “Here, we have Ariel, who, because she’s so unique and beautiful, has been captured and put on display in an aquarium. We tend to capture beautiful things and use them for our pleasure, and that was really the idea for the shot—the human inclination toward using beautiful creatures for our own entertainment. This project was created with no budget, so I had to do what I had to do to make a picture come together. What I did is I shot the tank separately, photographed Ariel in studio with a green screen, and then we composited the two together.”

Jasmine -  “She’s a soldier and has gone to defend her country, just like so many other women who are on the front lines today. When I shot it, women were in Iraq fighting, which, to me, is amazing. I grew up in Israel and, while women don’t go into combat there, I’ve always seen women with machine guns on the street because they go into the army at age 18. People will laugh, but for the helicopters and tanks, we just photographed some kids toys and superimposed them. We did what we could with the budget!”

Sleeping Beauty - “She’s still sleeping and never woke up, and everyone around her ended up getting old and gray. And the prince kept waiting for her to wake up. My mother works at an old-age home near Vancouver, and a lot of these old people I’ve known forever because I’ve always gone in and visited her.”

Dina Goldstein is a photographer with a very unique series of images called 'Fallen Princesses'. The pictures depict what life would be like for modern day disney characters, it shows them living not so happily every after.

Goldstein says “My daughter was very small and getting into the whole Disney princesses culture, and at the same time my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer (she’s totally fine now),” says Goldstein. “I started to think: what if these princesses had to deal with cancer, or financial discourse, or any of the real-life problems people have to go through?”

It's a very unique idea and I really like it. The images are very effective and it's immediately evident what she is trying to achieve. They clearly show that the characters are living in a modern day world but it's not until you realise they are terribly out of place you begin to question why they are there. The scenarios can all be related to modern day ideas and issues which is quite a strange balance, you have these very real scenes featuring fictional characters leading lives that are influenced by there fairytale story but they all differ quite drastically to the childhood stories.

I think the photographs are quite interesting, especially viewed from the point of view of an adult. It's like the moment you realised you were no longer a child, this seems to be reflected in her photographs and makes you think that nothing you really viewed as a child was that real. Perhaps we were brought up to believe in fairytales, love stories and magic but in the real world none of that is true and in turn it puts the disney princess' out of a job.

Although my view on the photographs is quite grim, the photos themselves are quite bright and heavily focused around the characters. The scene may be quite dreary but the princess' are pretty much always in there bright colour costumes which again links back to childhood.

Overall I really do like this body of work, it's very effective in it's message and quite and original idea that's well delivered and thought out. I like that she has a backstory for each princess/photograph, this is a nice touch that could easily turn into a whole story all together.

What do we see in images?

Shortly after being handed the brief we completed an exercise to get us thinking about photography on a very basic level. We looked at a series of photographs, pinned them to the wall and wrote down what we saw.

At first we were stating very obvious things, where the locations were, what techniques were used, why we think it would be taken? After speaking with the tutors about the images they pushed us to look a little deeper into the photos. One particular example was of a door, there was a shadow of another door shining onto it. At first we thought it would just be that someone left the door open. Upon further inspection we realised it was an external door with a peephole, maybe in an apartment corridor. It was shot from a POV perspective which we ignored at first. We came to the conclusion that it was someone peering out of there own door to see what was in the corridor.

Of course there were no wrong answers but it was a great exercise which got us thinking looking deeper into photographs and there meaning.

Gregory Crewdson

Gregory Crewdson is a photographer best known for his huge staged photographs. He creates images that could easily be a snapshot from a hollywood blockbuster. He controls every element and creates a very cinematic photograph.

All of his photographs have a narrative and are taken to convey an idea or message. Aesthetically they are very pleasing, using complex lighting to control the mood of the scene.

His series "Beneath The Roses" (seen above) featured photographs that share a classic american feel and explores a strange sense of drama. The images themselves are very striking, they feature a lot of information which leads you into several potential stories. To me the photographs seem to speak of dark secrets that lie behind closed doors. On first glance the images seem to reflect a typical American lifestyle but when you take a second to look around the images the context begins to throw you. Is there something more sinister going on? The smaller details seem to play a large part in Crewdsons photographs, we are given clues that only appear if we look for them and with each clue a possible narrative becomes apparent. For me personally there is something quite disturbing about most of the photos in this set, the characters seem to be glazed over and somewhat non-human.

I think his work is very fascinating, they could easily be snapshots from a hollywood blockbuster but I think it's interesting that he chooses to use photography although it's apparent he would be quite capable of being a director and creating feature length films. The level of details in the shots is astounding, every element is controlled and each shot can take up to 3 days with a team of 30+ people.

Although not related to my own ideas, his work is very influential. I'm interested in the controlling of environments within photographs and think this is something to think about with my own shots in this project. Especially since I'm trying to convey a narrative, I will have to control what I show my audience which in turn controls what information they are given. If I was to include things in my images that didn't really add to the narrative it may throw people off and begin to distract from the message I'm trying to get across.

Initial Briefing

We have just been introduced to our first module of the year, 'Areas of photographic practice'. This module is about understanding narrative and meaning through the use of visual language. The aims for this module are:

• The importance of context 
• Critiquing photographs
• Understanding your audience
• Sequenced/circular narratives

Narrative Codes;

Open Structures - Often found in TV dramas, very open ended and never fully reaches a resolved end. Very little or no structure to show a begging, middle and end.

Closed Structures - The most common structure in films. A very structured story with a clear beginning middle and end. Often we are introduced to characters, a problem arises and then is solved.

Circular Structures - The start/narrative of the story relays to the end. You are introduced to the ending at the start and taken on a journey to show how you got there. (Eg Fight Club, Pulp Fiction)

Linear - A story told in chronological order, we see the story unfold as it happened it real time. The most common style for films etc.

Non-Linear - Not told in chronological order, the concept of time becomes some what irrelevant and you are shown things that may be further along in time in order to understand events that are yet to happen. (eg. 500 days of summer, eternal sunshine)



Photographers can adapt the above styles to convey there messages to the audience. This is something I will have to develop with my own ideas but to do this I will first research a mix of photographers who have adapted these techniques to there own work.


Tableau Vivant - A term borrowed from the French language meaning 'Living Picture'. A group of performances re enacting an event throughout time. The term has been adopted by photographers who create single images that are used to portray a message. The image often contains vast amounts of people in costume and can be very complicated productions.

Red Saunders - Recreates significant events in England adapting Tableau Vivant. They all took place before the invention of the camera and he re enacts scenes that would not have been painted due to higher powers not wanting to document certain events that would undermine there authority or show that they were unpopular. They have a very strong political viewpoint.

Dina Goldstin - Fall off the princesses
A series of photos that depict disney characters in very modern day scenarios. A rather comical set in which she says 'The happily ever after' is replaced with a realistic outcome and addresses current issues.