*PLEASE NOTE* Photography as Research

Hello and welcome to the blog. Please note that posts are in order of date posted, therefore it is necessary to scroll upwards from the bottom of the page in order to follow them in order. Thank you Michael

Working with a partner

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‘Photos taken of us by other people give us a chance to see the many ways that others may perceive us. They allow us to examine what it is about us that matters to others in our life and compare this with what we think is, or should be, most important about us to them. If we have posed for the photo, it shows our posing behaviour (to the person gazing at us through the lens). If it is spontaneous – a candid shot – then often a different self is captured’.¹

‘Re-enactment photography offers a methodology that can make visible and open up aspects of the self to scrutiny. It uses the languages of the body: gesture, facial expression and movement, in an embodied eloquence, which is photographically recorded’.²

Working in pairs for this project we would photograph each other in the form of a photo story. After discussing ideas we determined that we had a shared interest in the idea of the re-enactment photography of Jo Spence and Rosy Martin. However, as we both come from more of a Fine Art rather than a Therapeutic background we wanted to use the idea in an alternative way. The project is not so much re-enactment photography but more a reflection, documenting turning points in our ‘career’ aspirations, from a very young age to the present. Similarly to Spence and Martin it would allow us to think back and reflect on younger ages and allow for a potential re-enactment of emotion from that age. However, whereas Spence and Martin used re-enactment photography ‘by going to the source of an issue or an old trauma, re-enacting it and making a new ending’³, we would use it more as reflective nostalgia by interacting with an object from our past to potentially reveal facial expressions or emotions. These turning points would range from the very ambitious/ambiguous to the present with relation to career aspirations. Mine were selected as follows:

• Age 4-5                        – Astronaut
• Age 7-8                       – Spiderman
• Age 14 – 15                 – Footballer
• Age 17 – 18                 – Artist
• Present                       – Artist/Cinemaphotographer/Photographer

We made a conscious decision not to go overboard on the props; instead we would use signifiers in the setup of the images. As well as the practical implications of cost etc this would also enable us to focus more on the emotions we were trying to capture in facial expressions and the general feel of the photograph. We would interact with the object as the other would take photographs in the hope that an emotion or even punctum would be captured.

Photographer Irina Werning has used re-enactment photography in her ‘back to the future’ project where she literally stages re-enactments of youthful or old pictures using participants. She says ‘to me, its imagining how people would feel and look like if they re-enact them today’⁴. To some extent we used this idea but instead of literally re-enacting an old photograph we made a new imagined one, re-enacting an age in our historical timeline, a photograph that never existed but an emotion or aspiration that did.

The process of handing the camera over to another person was a new experience for me. Whilst I was in control of the whole photographic setup (the staging of the image, where I would sit/stand and the objects I would interact with) I wasn’t in control of the moment the shutter would be depressed. Therefore, I asked Kerry (my partner for this exercise) to put the camera in continuous shooting mode, this way Kerry would, on instruction be able to simply depress the shutter and hold it there until I said stop. This meant that the camera would take a series of images at less than one second intervals and I would be able to choose the images which best captured ‘me’ from the numerous quantity at the end of the shoot. Whilst initially apprehensive about handing over my camera to someone else I am pleased with the results of the photo shoot. I intentionally utilised and considered many of the previous techniques to culminate and use in this final task such as the use of the gaze and the interaction with objects.

I think the photographs speak for themselves in terms of what the content or object of the image is designed to be. Once again, however, I think that either subconscious or unknown things appeared in me that I was unaware of at the time, or maybe things that I ‘project’ into the image now. This could be a thousandth of a second emotion but nevertheless it was there and has been captured by the camera. The image that I feel best reflects me or captures the age/re-enactment best is image number (3). For this photograph I instructed Kerry to adjust the camera to a shutter speed that would be quick enough to capture a footballs aerial flight being thrown in the air and returning to my hands. What I hadn’t accounted for was dropping the ball and this photograph captures the exact moment when it slips out of my hands. There is a concentration on my face and the tendons of my hands protrude as I desperately attempt to cling to the football. I chose to use a deflated football as I thought it would reflect that the dream has died or never really existed in the first place. The accidental dropping of the ball allows this photograph to become a metaphor for this image, showing that the dream of becoming a footballer has slipped through my fingers or was just out of reach.  

Another image that surprises me is number (4), in that I appear to be confronting the photographer. This image was designed to reflect my ambition to be an artist or what I considered an artist to be at the time. Therefore, I decided that I would draw Kerry, the photographer, whilst she took photographs of me. There are occasions when I am looking down focussed on the sketch pad but this moment where I look up to view my subject was one that stood out. It is obvious that an engagement is taking place; whilst she is taking quite a high quality image I am drawing her in a quite quick and abstract way. I’ve exerted some authority over the situation and it is now unclear who is in control. Typically it will be photographer instructing model on a photo shoot but in the case of this assignment the roles could be reversed as we both capture each other with disparate techniques.

This final task has been particularly interesting and has allowed me to experiment with the various techniques and knowledge gleaned from this module. I initially considered these images not to be therapeutic but now assess them differently. The process of making them was a new and fun experience and one that I would repeat again. It allowed us to look back on these supposedly important turning points in our life in terms of career aspirations and ponder their significance. What if I had been an astronaut? Or a footballer? What has become apparent through this task is not what could have been but what is happening now, what the future holds is in my hands and what I need to deal with is the day to day of my present situation.

1. Weiser, J. Phototherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums. USA: Jossey Bass Publisher of San Fransisco. (1999). pp 22

2. Martin, R. Inhabiting the image: photography, therapy and re-enactment photography. London: Routledge. (2009). pp. 48

3. Martin, R. Inhabiting the image: photography, therapy and re-enactment photography. London: Routledge. (2009). pp. 41

4. Werning, I. Irina Werning: Back to the Future. (Online resource accessed April 2011)  http://irinawerning.com/back-to-the-fut/back-to-the-future/

People who support me

'the most beautiful colours laid on without order, will not give one the same pleasure as a simple black and white sketch of a portrait’ Aristotle

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‘Candid shots that catch us unaware, and thus more naturally, often end up being less resonant with our inner picture of ourselves, so we may reject them as being only someone else’s accident’.¹

‘Now, once I feel myself observed by the lens, everything changes: I constitute myself in the process of “posing,” I instantaneously make another body for myself, I transform myself in advance into an image’.²

I have been considering what it is that attracts me to photographs and feel it is the potential for a narrative to take place. The moment when the shutter is depressed a fleeting second of something that has past is captured; the scene will continue but the photograph is a document of a moment gone by. I am drawn to black and white imagery within photography; the image or narrative is not distracted by colour as everything in the scene is treated as equal and in its raw state. I have chosen to use black and white for the portrait assignments not only because I find the images to be more aesthetically pleasing but because it reflects my minimalist sensibility. For example the equality in the photograph allows the viewer to focus more on the content of the image rather than be distracted by a colourful irrelevant object in the background. I also feel it is because I have an admiration and respect for the photographer in the primitive age of film photography when everything was black and white. When I look at old photographs I marvel at how each detail must have been meticulously worked out so as to avoid mistakes and get it right first time. Nowadays, however, with digital cameras it is easy to take thousands of pictures and edit unwanted details in Photoshop. A combination of these opposing methods, black and white but digital photography is what I have decided to use.

Roland Barthes in his famous book ‘Camera Lucida’ states that he ‘always feels (un-important what actually occurs) that in the same way, colour is a coating applied later on to the original truth of the black and white photograph. For me colour is an artifice, a cosmetic (like the kind used to paint corpses)’³. An interesting thought that somehow the black and white photograph is seen as more truthful than a coloured one. Perhaps this was more relevant when the book was published in the 1980s when most newspaper or documentary photographs supposedly representing the truth would have been printed in black and white. It is, however, a sentiment that I believe to be true, black and white photographs still seem, to me anyway, more truthful than coloured ones, more representative of the scene and more believable.

In his book Barthes describes what he calls the ‘punctum’ of an image as being ‘the element which rises from the scene, shoots out of it like an arrow, and pierces me…A photographs punctum is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)’⁴. So, as the photographer of these images I am drawn to question whether I can intentionally place punctums within an image. I believe the answer to be no! as I believe the it is something that the viewer brings to the image something from their own experiences. I believe it is subjective. Barthes continues ‘Certain details may “prick” me. If they do not, it is doubtless because the photographer has put them there intentionally…the deliberate (not to say, rhetorical) contrast produces no effect on me, except perhaps one of irritation’⁵. Therefore he suggests that an interesting facet of the photograph may be something overlooked or unconsidered by the photographer. He finally says of the punctum ‘whether or not it is triggered, it is an addition: it is what I add to the photograph and what is nonetheless already there’⁶.

Susan Sontag in her book ‘On Photography’ suggests ‘there is something on people’s faces when they don’t know they are being observed that never appears when they do’⁶. This idea is something that attracted me to capture people engaged in everyday activities, I hoped I could portray genuine emotion rather than a more considered or staged portrait. I also attempted to take the shots in non arranged environments so as to add to the unintentional potential for a viewer to observe ‘punctum’ within the image. The premise of this assignment was that I would take photographs of people that support me and in this case I chose family members. These are the people that know me really well and who would trust me to capture them in their daily setting without the pre-empted need for permission (I later asked them for permission to use the images and they all agreed). I didn’t stage any of the photographs but the subjects were aware of my presence. This obviously draws me back to Sontag’s quote about people showing different emotions when unaware that they are being photographed which, in turn, questions my photograph’s validities. However, in this setting it would have been difficult for me to photograph my subjects from a long distance and retain the intimacy of the indoor environment. Conversely, whilst it might have been interesting I would have felt quite uncomfortable with the approach of spying paparazzi style on my family members. I may also add that the awareness of the photographer’s presence hasn’t tarnished the power of images by Dianne Arbus for example, her subjects are however, ‘encouraged to be awkward’⁷ so the power of her images may come from that contrasting idea of posing her subjects to reveal truths about themselves through an unspoken dialogue with the photographer.

I proceeded with my concept and am really happy with the final outcomes. Although I mentioned earlier that I didn’t feel I could read punctum in my own images I was potentially mistaken. Some unintended things did occur, image number (5) for example, wasn’t staged but at the time I didn’t notice the title of the book ‘in your dreams’ and the possible subconscious sign of two fingers essentially telling me to ‘go away’. I do believe that I have captured something of a genuine emotion and simultaneous reflection of the individual’s personalities in the images. Image number (1) of my Mum probably organising something for a family member, number (2) my Dad chopping wood to provide warmth for the household, image (3) of my Sister, I feel, reflects her shy attitude and constant placing of barriers in her own path and image (5) of my Brother in his room playing on the x box, engaged in the fictional realm of a game but displaying unequivocal emotion.

I believe each individual supports me in different and equal ways and therefore I believe it inappropriate to place the photographs into some form of order. I wouldn’t be comfortable with ordering my families support, even if I had chosen to use friends for this project I would still find it equally invasive. Therefore with image (6) I have taken a different approach and placed them in a circle surrounding me. I feel I can go to each individual for support in a different way and I know that they are there when I need them. This arrangement suits me much better as it doesn’t necessitate a start or an end point. I think that this much better assess the way in which I value my families support and doesn’t feel disparaging of the people who know me best.

1. Weiser, J. Phototherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums. USA: Jossey Bass Publisher of San Fransisco. (1999). pp.126

2. Barthes, R. Camera Lucida, Reflections on Photography. Trans. Howard, R. USA: Hill and Wang. (1981). pp. 10

3. Barthes, R. Camera Lucida, Reflections on Photography. Trans. Howard, R. USA: Hill and Wang. (1981). pp. 81

4. Barthes, R. Camera Lucida, Reflections on Photography. Trans. Howard, R. USA: Hill and Wang. (1981). pp. 27

5. Barthes, R. Camera Lucida, Reflections on Photography. Trans. Howard, R. USA: Hill and Wang.  (1981). pp. 55

6. Sontag, S. On Photography. England: Clays Ltd. (1997). pp.37

7. Sontag, S. On Photography. England: Clays Ltd. (1997). pp.37

The Self Portrait



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‘Self-portraits differ from other pictures of us in that the creation of a true self-portrait is not affected by anyone else. They are pictures of us – of our bodies or of something that we feel stands for us. We have control of all aspects of image-making, from beginning idea to finished image. Because they are pictures of the self, made by the self, they have the potential to be powerfully self-confrontational and undeniable’¹.

My concept for the ‘Self Portrait’ was to experiment with various techniques, with each image representing me or my engagement with the camera in a different way.

I decided to capture my self demonstrating three different types of a self portrait. Each image would be determined by my gaze, whereby each shot would be focussed in the following ways:

• Gaze averted
• Gaze directly toward the camera
• Gaze engaged with something ‘other’ or with an inanimate object

Susan Sontag in her book ‘On Photography’ describes the differences between an averted gaze and a gaze engaged with the cameras lens.

She states ‘In the normal rhetoric of the photographic portrait, facing the camera signifies solemnity, frankness, the disclosure of the subject’s essence. That is why frontality seems right for ceremonial pictures (like weddings, graduations) but less apt for photographs used on billboards to advertise political candidates. (For politicians the three-quarter gaze is more common: a gaze that soars rather than confronts, suggesting instead of the relation to the viewer, to the present, the more ennobling abstract relation to the future.)’²

With my images I used these ideas to see the effect they would have, enabling me to experiment in the future when I use portrait photography. With the first image (1) for example I chose to look directly towards the camera and it seems to produce a confrontational type of stare, as though I am looking directly at the viewer. I believe the image captures a contemplative emotion as I allow the camera to take a series of around ten quick fire images whilst I adopt various impulsive poses. This photograph was chosen from around fifty images taken on that day and I feel it best captures my feelings on that day. What I am attracted to with this image is my hand which almost covers my whole mouth. I hadn’t planned to pose in this way, so perhaps this was some form of subconscious tell of my emotional or thoughtful state on this day and I think it resembles Auguste Rodin’s statue ‘The Thinker’. I was allowing the camera to take control of the situation with its timed shutter release rather than ‘I’ ‘the photographer’ being in complete control of the moment the trigger was released. I think the contemplative emotion has something to do with giving away this control and relying on the technology to capture the image; I was perhaps preoccupied with whether or not this method of photography would work and this is perhaps why the image has turned out like it has.

With the second image (2) I chose to adopt what Sontag describes as the ‘three-quarter gaze’ and also used a wireless trigger so that I could control the precise moment when the camera would capture my image. Instead of looking like a politician with a soaring gaze as Sontag describes I, however, appear more despondent. This probably reflects my attitude to how awkward I felt taking a photograph of myself. I am so used to taking pictures of other people that the notion of being in front of the camera is one I can now empathise with when people say they ‘don’t like being photographed’. Portrait photographer Christina Nunez has used the idea of the trigger release in her project ‘The Self-Portrait Experience’. I believe that the presence of the trigger in the images is a powerful tool in that it demonstrates that the subject of the photograph has complete control over the precise moment when the shutter will be depressed. Thus, the way the subject poses in the image is predetermined by them and them alone. Nunez states that in ‘the self portrait we are author, subject and spectator’³ she also says that ‘the self-portrait is the only possible image of the creator of that image, in the precise moment of the creation of the image. It is the portrait of our creative self, of our higher self’⁴. In my image I am the creator, in control of the shutter but I am at the same time obviously engaged with something of a distraction whether mentally or physically.

Whilst the backgrounds in all three photos are relatively desolate and sparse I think the images capture particular emotions which I, as the photographer and the photographed may only know. With the third image (3) for example, I have chosen to capture my gaze engaged with an object in this case a guitar. The perspective of an outside viewer may read the image as me displaying an affinity with the instrument. However, I read the image differently being aware of my frustrations with the guitar, as I struggle to find the time to practice and wish I had learnt to play the instrument at school. In this sense the relatively staged self portrait can be quite misleading in that the subject or the photographed may not wish to reveal truths about themselves that can be easily read by the viewer. However, there is also the argument that ‘you’ coming at these images cold may see something that I don’t see and in fact reveal something about yourself through the photographs something that psychologist and art therapist Judy Weiser calls ‘projections’⁵ whereby the viewer projects something of themselves into an image and subsequently reads it differently.

Placing myself on the other side of the camera has been a valuable and equally taxing experience. I can now appreciate when others ‘do not!’ want to be photographed and empathise with their feelings towards this. However, I think the awkwardness of the situation is the main issue that I have found with the self portrait; the fact that oneself is posing for the camera rather than for a photographer seems an odd thing to do when we are so familiar with the camera having an operator. I think there is a different visible emotion between knowing and not knowing you are being photographed and I hope to experiment with this idea in the next task.

1. Weiser, J. Phototherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums. USA: Jossey Bass Publisher of San Fransisco. (1999). pp19

2. Sontag, S. On Photography. England: Clays Ltd. (1997). pp.37-38

3. Nunez, C. The Self Portrait Experience. pp.45 (Online resource accessed March 2011)

http://www.self-portrait.eu/home/documents/IW.pdf

4. Nunez, C. Christina Nunez’s Self Portrait Philosophy. (Online resource accessed March 2011)

http://www.self-portrait.eu/home/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=28&Itemid=27

5. Weiser, J. Phototherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Albums. USA: Jossey Bass Publisher of San Fransisco. (1999). pp.124

5. Weiser, J. 1999 Phototherapy Techniques: Exploring the Secrets of Personal Snapshots and Family Album. USA: Jossey Bass Publisher of San Fransisco pp.124

Three Websites

Social Activism/Documentary Photography – http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/21/amazing-pictures-pollution-in-china/

These images by Lu Guang are a social document and focus on social phenomena, things we wouldn’t believe to be true if we couldn’t see them such as the toxic environments that these people are subjected to, these people seem to be living at the bottom of society, enduring this hardship to survive and provide for their families. A photograph of a woman washing in a seriously polluted pond, children born with defects due to Shanxi Province being one of the most polluted areas in china, all Guangs images evoke a strong emotion, you can’t help but feel the pain and suffering of the photographed.

Photo-therapy - http://christinebenjamin.com/photography/information/about

Through a series of photo shoots and “therapeutic” conversation, Christine takes you through the process of identifying your body image concerns, becoming familiar with the ideal for your body and photographing you in a way that enables you to see yourself differently than you have in the past. (Taken from the website). 

I can understand to a certain degree how this could be beneficial to the person being photographed as it may help them work through problems with body image and see themselves in a different light, perhaps being photographed in a way that allows the participant to remain anonymous as though they are looking at someone else. However, from an outsiders perspective looking at the image below it is clear to see that the girl is suffering with body dis-morphia or anorexia and I just wonder whether this is the correct promotional image to be used on her website for her Photo-therapy sessions. The image is quite haunting and the pose enhances features such as the spine and shoulders. This may however be the aim of the exercise, if the girl is seeing these areas of her body as problematic she may see them differently through a photograph than a mirror for example. The soft focus of the image below does allow for other features of her body to become subdued which may have a positive effect on her when she sees the finished result. 

Photography as Therapeutic - www.spencertunick.com

I remembered seeing this artist/photographer on the news a few years ago and have since thought about the potential of the work being therapeutic, not so much in the way of the actual photograph but more in being apart of the photograph, involved in the experience.  Tunick photographs thousands of willing nude participants in odd locations across the globe. The participants aren't paid but instead receive a limited edition photo, perhaps a memento of being involved in the event. I think it has the potential to be a liberating experience and one that may help an individual deal with issues of body confidence in a similar way to Gok Wans 'How to look good naked' T.V. programme. Everyone is in the same boat and there is nowhere to hide as Tunik says himself 'a body is always beautiful to me' and perhaps this is the message he is trying to spread. In this image I was particularly drawn to the man who is slightly protruding from the crowd, bottom left (excuse the pun) and I wonder whether or not he was told to stand there or whether it was a happy accident. All the participants are facing the same way in the image which could also raise the question of, what are they looking at? If they were watching a sunrise or sunset for example this could have the potential to increase the emotions of this shared experience whilst simultaneously working as a distraction from the potential embarrassment of being naked in front of so many strangers.

Teen Paparazzo

I watched this interesting video on the teen paparazzo

http://veevr.com/videos/F6GYmLXt

The word paparazzi is an Italian translation of the word mosquito and this seems to hold true as pap’s constantly harass celebrities in an effort to sustain an income. It would be interesting to place the resulting photographs among the Del Lowethal diagram and gauge how ethical they are. Some celebrities give permission and rely on the paparazzi to make them more famous than they are. However once a celebrity has gained notoriety the paparazzi seem to become a burden. In the film it was interesting to note that when the documentary team wanted to film the paparazzo’s many refused, one used the excuse that she hadn’t put on any makeup. The celebrities have no choice when they are photographed and an image where the celebrity is without makeup not looking their best is likely to generate more money than an image of them looking immaculate.

The 14 year old Austin was becoming narcissistic and aspiring to be a celebrity and at one point became estranged from the documentary team – not answering their calls and not meeting at agreed times, it was like the celebrity disease had grabbed him and wouldn’t let go. The film speaks of a para-social relationship – a fake relationship that we have with celebrities, we feel as though we know them because they exist in our homes via TV and movies, we see the celebrities as the characters they portray.

Towards the end of the film we meet Austin one year later and he seems matured in his approach to photography and has new ambitions. He makes a distinction between being a paparazzo and ‘a person who photographs celebrities’ – he wants to gain notoriety for having done something worthwhile and not be famous for being famous or famous for being a paparazzo.

At the end Adrian and Austin sit down and discuss the fact that they have both exploited each other. Adrian has used Austin but at the same time Austin has used Adrian. They both decide on a mutual friendship and suggest that this is only possible away from the cameras.

It was a really interesting film and gave differing perspectives on the paparazzi. Celebrities seemed less intimidated by the youngster and more willing to have their picture taken when it was him photographing. The film also provided an insight into the whole aura around becoming a celebrity as it saw Austin’s transformation from an everyday teenager into someone possessed by the lure of fame. 

The Del Lowethal Photographer's Ethical Window

2.1

I was asked by the photographed to document a charity event for his start-up advertising agency. Both are aware that I was photographing but were not aware that I was photographing them. Whilst I was primarily documenting the actual event I wanted to document the documentary of the event – how he was filming etc. This image was chosen by the photographed because it shows that these two people are documenting something but what they are documenting is unclear. To the people at the event this is a unique image from that specific day but at the same time it serves as a generic image that can be used on his website which clearly captures one of his key services as an advertisement filmmaker.

2.2

This image is a 2.2. The concept was that I was giving away a signed, limited edition, empty, Perspex box in exchange for a photograph of the participant with the box. I have put myself first in that I chose the image that would be put on display. I had no intention of reprinting the images for the participants as they had already received a free one off piece of art. It was interesting to note that once the images were put on display some people photographed their photograph. The participants gave permission for me to use their image in any way I like and whilst the images do become my artwork I think that the final exhibit allows all involved to take part in the experience. This may question its authority as a 2.2.

1.2

This is an image where photographer puts the photograph first. It was taken by chance as my brother held a snowball ready to fire at an unsuspecting victim. As he was holding it he simultaneously sneezed sending the snow flying off in all directions. The photograph captures a split second in time and the shutter speed allows the chaotic moment of the snow to be preserved for others to see and question its authenticity, did he really sneeze? I had no permission to take this photograph and when I reviewed this image I chose it as it captured and preserved the essence of that day.

1.1

This is a portrait of me taken by someone else whilst on holiday in Portugal. I gave permission for my photograph to be taken and I have chosen the image, therefore the photographed has put the photographed first. To others this may seem like a simple snap shot but for me it is a memory of the warm coastal location that was enhanced further by the secluded area we found to watch the sunset. As the designated photographer there are not usually many photographs of me, this photograph captures me, in one of my favourite places.