Conclusion

All images for Context & Narrative can be found here. 

I have thoroughly enjoyed the research element of this course, I was blown away by Briony Campbell’s Dad Project and fascinated by Nikki Lee’s ability to slip into so many characters, inserting herself into communities. These examples gave me an understanding of the photograph that I had never, until then even considered.

Photographically, the course started badly for me. A failed first attempt led to a rushed submission with a weak message and several technical errors. Increased preparation led to a much more successful second assignment in which I really thought about the many ways that balance could be interpreted way before getting my camera out.

The self-portrait - oh how I hated this assignment! I took months trying to decide, photograph and edit something that truly reflected me and no sooner had I finished, my tutor pulled it to bits, questioning every single element. I love her for it now, she made me think more than I have ever thought before about photography but oh the strops I had at the time! Thank you Dawn, you are one clever woman!

After this, I feel that the course got more serious as we moved deeper into the subject of semiotics. Reading a chosen image was another great learning curve which really helped with my final piece.

How I loved creating that final piece; props, costumes, models, signs and symbols, all put together to create a narrative on a subject which I feel holds great importance in today’s society. Again, Dawn questioned everything, encouraging me to explore my work and that of others in greater depth.

As I started this course two years ago, I could have never imagined how much I would learn on this course. Thanks to the lessons I have learned, I now look at photos differently and take photos differently, I even watch films differently, which I’m still not sure is a good thing. A few months ago, I felt emotion looking at splashes of colour in a modern art gallery, I’m still not quite sure how that happened. I love the new me, I love the way I am starting to see things and I can’t wait to move onto the next level. This course for me has been a real turning point.

Assignment 5: Making it up

For my final assignment, I have chosen to create a set of images around the concept of gentrification, quite prevalent in Britain’s more trendy cities such as London, Brighton and Manchester. The links between gentrification, displacement and homelessness are devastating for many residents.

Dan Hancox, having visited some of London’s victims of gentrification, speaks of London residents who are forced out to the cheaper surrounding counties. Those most at risk are tenants in need of social housing, who risk being moved as far as Newcastle, under the threat of being declared intentionally homeless.

Inspired by some creative solutions to living more cheaply, I chose to create a mock-up living space, using volunteers to produce a set of over exaggerated home life situations. Rebecca Solnit compares gentrification in San Francisco to climate change:

“Contemporary gentrification is an often violent process by which a complex and diverse urban environment becomes more homogeneous and exclusionary. It does to neighbourhoods and cities what climate change is doing to the earth: driving out fragile and deeply rooted species, and pushing the poor past the brink.” (Solnit R. 2016)

As gentrification uproots people from their home environment, climate change is capable of destroying the homes of people, plants and animals alike. The poor suffer while rich, global organisations trading in fossil fuels or property development prosper. I felt it fitting to use a location that has recently suffered at the hands of climate change as the setting for this project.

I used models, outfits and props to create a homely scene in the caves created by flood defences on Spurn Point, a thin peninsula separating the Humber Estuary from the North Sea. A sense of the strong, northern working class runs through the scene, backed by the affluence of the city they have been forced to leave.

Evaluation

Demonstration of technical and visual skills

Spurn Point is a four mile long, thin strip of land separating the North Sea and the Humber Estuary. Due to recent flooding, part of this wild and varied nature reserve has collapsed, making parts of it only accessible at low tide. Tidal defences in the form of large chunks of concrete and stone, lean on each other to form tiny caves. I chose to use this location to represent the general decline to local neighbourhoods.

In order to set up this shoot, several things had to be considered. The most vital aspect was to study the tidal calendar as the location I had chosen is totally inaccessible at high tide, and pools of water remain for a few hours after. The weather was also important, as, although we were all happy to work in most weathers, a heavy rainfall would have made the caves too flooded to work in.

 Having chosen two potential weekends, I put out a request through social media, getting a good response from some keen volunteers, quite excited about creating characters and providing props.

The tide tables gave a window between 9am and 3pm for our shoot. Avoiding midday sun, I chose to shoot in the morning, as the light would be shining into the caves; by mid afternoon, the sun would have moved behind the caves, creating too much shade for a successful shoot. The chosen day, being warm and cloudy provided filtered lighting for the shoot. The chosen day provided pale grey skies, providing filtered lighting for the shoot.

With the help of the filtered lighting, I have managed to create balanced lighting both for the people in the cave and those outside. I had hoped that the cave would be dark enough to create a glow from the electronic tablet, however I underestimated the power of the sunlight, even in a darkened cave. Shooting with the sun behind the cave may have rectified this, however it would have created unwanted shadows in the foreground. The models are well spaced around the image and the eye lines of the two higher models follow that of the landscape, further separating their world from the city scene.

Quality of outcome

I have used a low perspective for this shoot to connote a sense of power and worth in the face of adversity. The blustery day and number of models, including a baby led to some difficulty getting everything right within one shot. The five images below were merged in order to create the best possible representation of each character.

Jenny (washing): outfit gives a sense of a strong, working class woman, reflected in pose, powerful and strong, determined facial expression, hinting at hope for the future.

Meg (bath): interacting with Jordan (laptop), in other images where Meg had been looking outwards, it left Jordan isolated and not a part of the group.

Jordan (laptop): Looking towards Meg and laughing, bringing happiness to the scene despite their circumstances. I am a little disappointed with Jordan’s positioning, however the difficulties we experienced placing two characters in such a confined space was quite fitting to the project.

Amber (reading): Amber was also the second prop for the washing line, the end tied to the back of her jeans. While hidden away by her bedding, the line of the washing and her body create flow through the image. I chose this version of Amber because although she was reading, the slight smirk and sideways glance connect her to the rest of the scene. I am disappointed that the title of the book, ‘501 Must Visit Natural Wonders’ is not visible in the scene; the book in this scenario could quite easily be retitled, ‘Property Guide for the Gentrified’.

  

Kelly & Esme: Although we had used Esme’s highchair in the individual shots, she had grown tired and hungry by this point and was ready for a feed. Kelly sitting to breastfeed has given more balance to the image physically and also fits with the natural setting. Because of Esme’s head position, it is not immediately clear that she is feeding but the interaction between mother and daughter enhances the feeling of closeness and family.  

The northern working class theme is reflected by the use of a tin bath and TV guide featuring Coronation Street characters. In some of the individual images I used an electric lamp as well as the Internet tablet prompting the viewer to question how these items are powered; the tablet, although transient will need to be charged. This question in turn highlights the distance from civilisation as victims of gentrification are moved away from support networks built through friends, family and services. The tin bath and Internet tablet cross a generational divide, showing the traditional and the modern side by side.

The setting, being a fifteen-minute walk across sand from the nearest car parking spot limited the amount of props we could carry. I feel that the image may have been improved with a few toys scattered around Kelly and Esme or a hairdryer on the white rock but the image could have become very cluttered with too many more props.

The characters, on the surface appear happy with their lot but the difficulties can easily be seen; the rock hard bed, tiny tin bath and lack of electricity symbolise some of the discomfort experienced by the real victims of gentrification.

The completed scene was then backed with a typical London scene, taken on a trip to the capital earlier in the year. I chose this particular scene as it included the iconic Shard while the bridge allowed me to include people at a higher level, making the setup feel like a possible reality. The city is de-saturated to give a feeling of a memory, a life left behind, although I am somewhat worried that the vibrant cave scene compared to the grey backdrop gives the impression that gentrification is a positive movement.

Demonstration of creativity

After a few failed attempts at creating a narrative for this assignment, the idea came to me while editing family photographs shot on Spurn Point.

The concept immediately felt right as ideas came flooding through about how to create my intended narrative on such an important and current issue. Knowing the setting fairly well, I hoped that we could fit all of the characters into one scene but was not entirely sure how well it would until everyone was in place. The individual images were taken initially as a backup plan and also to relax models into the shoot before creating the final, combined image. I feel that the humour and vibrancy expressed in the image separate it from other work on the subject.

Context

I feel that this assignment is a culmination of many of the technical and artistic skills I have developed over the last two years. Inspiration for the scene set up came from Domenico Dolce’s ‘ITALIA IS LOVE!’ Campaign for Dolce & Gabbana, first seen during Dawn Woolley’s presentation at the Photography Matters symposium. The example shown brings together several small groups of people to create one combined scene; the young and beautiful taking selfies, playing guitar and eating real Italian home cooked spaghetti, thanks to the loving mother, the central figure of family life, shown at the centre of the scene. The image does not appear to be advertising a brand but a lifestyle, for the young, beautiful, caring and creative. I have aimed to emulate the idea of combining several different but connected activities in my setup.

Costumes and props were used to create a homely scene in and around the caves and a group of volunteers played the parts of my chosen characters. The idea of bringing the indoors out is a reversal of Marja Pirilä’s Camera Obscura and Gregory Crewdson’s images in which the outdoors is brought in.

   

   

The matriarchal character far left has a look of the strong northern women featured in early episodes of Coronation Street, also seen in wartime art, such as the “We Can Do It!" propaganda poster produced by Howard J. Miller in 1943.

John Berger discusses traditional ‘genre’ painting by masters such as Hals, showing the poor smiling, showing teeth, something never shown in paintings of the rich. In 17^th century Europe, broad smiles were connected to the poor, the drunk and those in entertainment. The natural, happy faces of my models represent the lower class. Jenny’s outfit brings the most obvious representation of the working class, however her expression and upward gaze hint at a better way of life.

Bibliography

Agafonkin, V. (2009) SunCalc sun position and sunlight phases calculator Available from: <http://suncalc.net/#/53.5921,0.1373,18/2016.09.12/22:05> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Berger, J. BBC, the and al, et (1972) Ways of seeing (A pelican original). 35th ed. London, Eng.: British Broadcasting Corp. and Penguin Books.

Burgin, V. (1982) Thinking photography. London: Macmillan.

Dolby, 2016 Dick (2009) Spurn head tide times Available from: <https://www.tidetimes.org.uk/spurn-head-tide-times> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Dolce (2016) Italia is love Dolce & Gabbana. Available from: <http://www.dolcegabbana.com/discover/dolce-gabbana-summer-2016-advertising-campaign-inspiration/> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Folwell, S. (2015) House prices are forcing generation rent to innovate. News, 15 October. Available from: <http://www.cityam.com/226650/london-house-prices-might-be-mind-boggling-for-renters-and-young-buyers-but-its-forcing-creative-solutions-to-the-problem-like-never-before> [Accessed 8 June 2016].

GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS (n.d.) GREGORY CREWDSON: BRIEF ENCOUNTERS. Available from: <http://www.gregorycrewdsonmovie.com> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Hall, S. (2007) This means this, this means that: A user’s guide to Semiotics. LONDON: Laurence King Publishing.

Hancox, D. (2016) Gentrification X: How an academic argument became the people’s protest. The Guardian, 19 January. Available from: <https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2016/jan/12/gentrification-argument-protest-backlash-urban-generation-displacement> [Accessed 8 June 2016].

Nati, M. (2015) 9 creative ways of living cheaply Oddee. Available from: <http://www.oddee.com/item_99493.aspx> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Owen, J. (2015) Gentrification pushing some of the poorest members of society out of their homes, says study. The Independent - Home News, 15 October. Available from: <http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/gentrification-pushing-some-of-the-poorest-members-of-society-out-of-their-homes-says-study-a6695926.html> [Accessed 8 June 2016].

Pirilä, M. and LensCulture (2014) Interior/exterior, camera Obscura dreams - photographs and text by Marja Pirilä LensCulture. Available from: <https://www.lensculture.com/articles/marja-pirila-interior-exterior-camera-obscura-dreams> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Sontag, S. (2001) On photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

‘We can do it!’ (2016) National Museum of American History. Available from: <http://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_538122> [Accessed 15 June 2016].

Assignment 4: A picture is worth a thousand words

The brief for this assignment was to write a 1000 word essay on a chosen image which could be anything from famous art photography to a family snapshot. I had a few images in mind; Eggleston’s woman on a swing had always been a favourite, McCurry’s Afghan girl drew me in with her intense green eyes and I was rather drawn to an old photograph of my mother holding a child’s potty on a caravan site in the late sixties. All of these images initially struck me because of their use of colour. It is often one of the first things that I am drawn to, so I was quite surprised that my final choice turned out to be a black & white image.  

As I flicked through Magnum’s ‘A Year in Photography’, an image from Bruce Davidson's Palisades Circus collection struck me; I knew instantly that this was the image I would use. There is a great sadness to the image, which drew me in and made me want to look further. The denotative element to the image is a 1950s circus dwarf, smoking a cigarette outside the circus tent. The sparseness of the grounds would imply that the image was shot after the show when the crowds had left.

What initially struck me was the juxtaposition of the man, dressed as a clown, an entertainer in binary opposition to the barren, grimy setting. The use of colour, or lack of it greatly enhances the desolate feeling of the empty showground, vibrant hues of the clown’s makeup and circus tent becoming a bleak monochrome. A lone lorry and the circus tent balance the background, far from the buzzing crowds expected around a circus tent, two dark figures can be made out in the distance; the day is drab, wet and dreary.

The juxtaposition goes further; signifiers of happiness, the clown’s painted smile and raised eyebrows cover a downturned mouth and a tired, sunken brow. A child’s entertainer drawing on his half smoked cigarette shows the contrast between his real life and that which he portrays when the circus is alive.  The clown’s other hand holds a bunch of wilted flowers, giving a connotation of sadness and neglect apparent throughout the image. The clown is not looking towards the camera; he appears deep in thought and oblivious to the photographer.

The conflicting messages of these binary opposites create friction, prompting the viewer to question the contrasts between the painted smiles of circus entertainers and their true selves. The viewer is invited to look deeper into the narrative behind the painted smile, now questioning the true feelings and character of the clown.

The image was taken at a circus in Palisades, New Jersey in 1958, a time when ‘circus dwarfs’ had been big business. Agents could make a very comfortable living recruiting the myriad of people classed as freaks at the time, little people being a firm favourite of many. This series shows an era close to its end as circus life gives way to more modern forms of entertainment such as television.

"I was chronicling the end of something, the last tent shows. Television put paid to the era of the circus performer and you can feel that sense of sadness, of a time passing into history, in the photographs."

Davidson has photographed the clown from above with a wide angled lens giving him a lost, childlike quality, enhanced by the vast, empty space behind. It is a realistic view as seen from the perspective of most adults, however a lower perspective would have given a more powerful impression of the subject. This downward perspective connotes vulnerability, quite reflective of the performer’s position in the world. Seen as freaks, such people had difficulty finding work and many had no option but to enter the world of entertainment. The pay was little compensation to the humiliation and patronisation endured on a daily basis.

Bruce Davidson met his subject, Jimmy Armstrong while photographing three very different circuses in the 1950s.

'I saw the dwarf standing outside the circus tent in the mist of a cold spring afternoon. His distorted torso, normal-sized head and stunted legs both attracted and repelled me. He stood before my camera sad and silent.’ (Telegraph)

Although Davidson used a torso shot, omitting Armstrong’s ‘stunted legs’, I feel that the downward perspective was chosen intentionally to highlight the man’s size. Davidson’s initial feelings towards Armstrong are typical of the time; people who differed from the perceived norm were often hidden away and only seen in arenas such as the circus. In today’s society, a career in entertainment would be an active choice for a talented actor or musician with restricted growth; in 1950s America, it was often the only way to make a living.

Introduced by Diane Arbus into photographing the ‘screwball aspect of the world’ Davidson produced several works throughout his career in which he immersed himself into communities, not normally welcoming of outsiders.

He spent months building relationships and and photographing these communities in a bid, as he describes, to ‘understand his own place in the world’. (Telegraph)

Although seen by many as exploitative, Arbus’ images have also been praised for their honesty; people often hidden away being drawn into the spotlight.

Although his images tell a story, this is not what Davidson is looking for when creating his work. His intention is to capture a mood, the coded iconic message sustained in the emerging series. His relationship with the subject often brings out a story; if anything, the story is being told to him. Armstrong’s story was a reflection of the ‘strange loneliness’ apparent in the world of the travelling circus. During his time with Armstrong, Davidson captured many moments that enhanced the mood of my chosen image; the photograph below shows the clown’s loneliness as a group at a nearby table mocks him. Interestingly, sadness is again signified with a bunch of drab looking flowers.

Although the mood is consistent, I feel that the way this image is shot shows that Davidson is beginning to see Armstrong as person, rather than a subject. The image is shot from a lower perspective, which along with the lack of makeup and costume denotes an average adult eating in a cafe; nothing about his size has been exaggerated, in fact it has been quite played down. The group mocking Armstrong are now shown to be the freaks, clearly lacking humanity towards a person of which the photographer has grown quite fond.

The melancholy mood of these images set a tone for much of Davidson’s future works. His avoidance of the telephoto lens ensures that he is in the thick of his chosen environment, building relationships, becoming part of his subjects’ worlds, rather than an observer. I feel that as a result of this, Davidson’s images give off an honest grittiness, unobtainable from a larger distance. This method of work allows Davidson to rely more on his instincts; he professes to subliminally know when he’s captured a great image, even if he’s not yet sure why.

Bibliography

4127, amer (2011) Everything is sacred - an interview with Bruce Davidson (2006) | #ASX AMERICAN SUBURB X. Available from: <http://www.americansuburbx.com/2011/12/interview-interview-with-bruce-davidson.html> [Accessed 4 March 2016].

Barrett, T. (2011) Criticizing photographs: An introduction to understanding images. 5th ed. New York: McGraw Hill Higher Education.

Jeffrey, I. and Kozloff, M. (2008) How to read a photograph: Understanding, interpreting and enjoying the great photographer. By Ian Jeffrey, Max Kozloff. London: Thames & Hudson.

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Newman, C. (2010) Bruce Davidson: Close encounters. The Telegraph, 14 May. Available from: <http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/photography/7715452/Bruce-Davidson-close-encounters.html> [Accessed 4 March 2016].

Photos, M. ed. (2013) A year in photography: Magnum archive. Munich, Germany: Prestel.

Sontag, S. (2001) On photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.