Burtynsky and Categorisation...

Hugh suggested looking at Burtynsky and Tom agreed at looking at the idea of categorising my photos.

I don't really feel that's the direction I want to go in, we don't categorise our memories, not in terms of subject anyway. Maybe we categorise them in terms of our emotions and the effect they have on us e.g. sad memories, happy memories etc. but I don't feel that is a strong enough reason to categorise my photographs in this way.

Maybe this would work with a photo album, we put photographs in albums depending on the subject e.g. weddings, holidays, family members etc. but not so much as a memory box. People put things that represent important memories in boxes, they're usually a 'mish-mash' of objects and photographs that conjure positive emotions.

Also I don't really see how Burtynsky's images relate to mine?

Gerhart Richter, National Portrait Gallery

Gerhard Richter's portraits, although not directly photographic (the one above is a painting based on a photograph from a newspaper), relate to my own project. The 'fuzziness' of the images create a sense of memory. Our memories become fuzzy over time, unfocused, we become unsure of the specifics. We rely on images to remind us of the details of the events in our lives, to remind us of what has happened. The idea that we use imagery as evidence connects with this as well, photographs prove to ourselves the experiences we have had. Richter challenges the idea of images as a direct representation, as a reminder of our existence. This is something I've picked up with my polarioids, although the out of focus images were not intended they seem to work in a similar way as Richter's portraits. I relate memories to the objects I have photographed but those memories still become fuzzy. The objects don't work as evidence like photographs, they are just little reminders and we don't recall the same details we do as if the memory was recorded by a still image.

In fact the still image isn't what happened, it's just a representation of what happened much like Magritte's painting. We re-create our memories from these representations Burgin highlights this in his essay Possessive, Pensive and Possessed.

"In 1977 sociologists at the University of Provence began a ten-year oral history research project in which they conducted more than four hundred recorded recorded interviews with residents of the Marseille/Aix-en-provence area. They asked each interviewee to describe her or his personal memories of the years 1930 to 1945. They found an almost universal tendency for personal history to be mixed with recollections of scenes from films and other media productions. 'I saw at the cinema' would become simply 'I saw'. For example, a woman speaks of her experiences as a child amongst refugees making the hazardous journey from the North of France down to Marseille. She recalls the several columns of refugees in which she was travelling was strafed by German aircraft. In recounting these memories she invokes a scene from Rene Clement's film of 1952, Jeux Interdits, in which a small girl in a column of refugees survives an air attack in which her parents are killed."

This seems to suggest that the subjects replaced their own memories with fictional pieces of film, or at least confused their own memories with these works. The differences between this instance and referencing photographs of our experiences to refresh our memories are they're not a piece of fiction, they directly relate to our past experiences and therefore can be seen as a 'recording' of our memories rather than an interpretation. 

Nevertheless my polaroids challenge the use of photographs as memorials to important events in our lives, the subjects are not clear, they're not in focus which references the unsure nature of our memories. They relate to the medium of painting because polaroids are originals and can't be reproduced, although the process is photographic and they work as images in the same way as photographs they share that feeling of originality with more traditional artistic mediums.

Susan Sontag, On Photography

"To collect photographs is to collect the world. Movies and television programs light up walls, flicker, and go out; but with still photographs the image is also an object, light-weight, cheap to produce, easy to carry about, accumulate, store. In Godard's Les Carabiniers (1963), two sluggish lumpen-peasants are lured into joining the King's Army by the promise that they will be able to loot, rape, kill, or do whatever they please to the enemy, and get rich. But the suitcase of booty that Michael-Ange and Ulysse triumphantly bring home, years later, to their wives turns out to contain oly picture postcards...Godards gag vividly parodies the equivocal magic of the photographic image."

© Susan Sontag

This section of Sontag's famous essay relates to the essence of the photograph. Memory, knowledge and evidence are all tied to the photographic image. I aim to address the idea of storing and accumulating through the presentation of my images. I will be creating my own "suitcase of booty"...

New Project

I need some help on refining my idea.

I want to photograph people's prized possessions. i want my subjects to also write up a memory that they relate to that specific object (in their own handwriting to emphasise the idea of individualism). I 'm looking at individuality and the idea of memory really. My main inspiration was Wim Wender's work at Photocinema in Derby. He took photos of what he experienced on his travels then printed a story relating to the photograph next to it. You will probably remember them if you went, the prints were in black and white.

The text aspect of project is important, I think it will give my work a deeper context. I don't know how to represent it though, I either scan in my negs and use photoshop, try and print them using traditional methods and then contact printing the text using an acetate print out. Or I could use the idea of handwriting in a seperate book. In fact, i've just had an idea, Why not make a book? Not a digital book like Hugh was saying but more like a scrap book but a bit more formal. I could use polaroids (or the fuji equivalent) to really enforce the idea of memory. The instantaneous nature of polaroid has always been a popular aspect when recording important memories and will also save me time.

I also thought of Rene Magritte's painting.



The idea that the picture if the object I'm photographing is not actually the object, it's only an image of that object is quite interesting. Also I think that my photograph will be able to invoke the same memories to the subject as the object itself. I think the photograph will also have it's own significant meaning to the owner of the specific object, the fact that is embodied in a photograph is seemingly quite special. The reason we photograph our family is to remember them and to remind us of memories we have of them. Do our most prized possessions do the same? Or do we rely on photograph's to remind us of the most important times in our lives?

Any suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks.

Still Thinking...

My thought from yesterday wouldn't work.
There are images I simply can't recreate.

I'm going to pick 6 specific images to re-photograph and concentrate on them. If one doesn't work then I'll choose another until I'm happy with the series.

I've decided I'm going to use medium format, I'll take my DSLR with me for back up shots(and to act as a light metre).

Right decision made. 1 week to shoot, 1 week to print, 1 week to get the exhibition ready.

A thought...

Maybe I should concentrate on one specific volume of Victorian Nottingham and re-photograph every image over a certain number of pages.

That way there will be a flow to the work and the use of the page layout would make sense a little more.

Also, I'm leaning towards b+w medium format - it's relatively quick and I can crop in the dark room. Also I won't have to rely on anyone else to print for me.

Argh, I need to be more decisive!

Re-photographs

New photos up on flickr.

I've been trying to re-photograph the streets of Nottingham, taking similar angles to old Victorian images. I'm not going to create a kind of photo-montage type project, replacing a piece of an old photograph with it's modern equivalent. I'm actually rephotographing whole photographs.

It has been quite tricky so far, I've been using a wide angle lens on my DSLR (a format obviously not used by Victorian photographers) so getting the right angle and trying to fit everything into the frame has posed a few problems.

I'm considering black and white, medium format but I really don't want to get bogged down by film at this late stage.

Also I still have the problem of displaying the old images. I'm currently referencing 3 volumes of a journal called Victorian Nottingham, it was published by the Evening Post. I'm thinking of scanning in the images (with whatever text is around it) and printing them on photo-quality paper. Then I can display them underneath/next to my own prints. The A4 page layout will be familiar to the viewer so I don't think it's necessary to print them to the size of my own images. The original images would essentially be a form of supporting text, they give my own images a context so it is important they are included in the exhibition.

Gregory Crewdson

I saw this while it was being exhibited at the V&A. I thought the whole series was amazing. The way they create a feeling of suspense, as if they were taken out of a film, is incredible. The colours look so smooth, I think they show that the digital process is a credible way of working in the art world. It seems to me that there are a lot of traditionalists who turn there noses up at digital work. I'm pretty sure Crewdson's images have done a lot to change peoples perceptions of digital photography.

Simon Norfolk

Norfolk's landscapes from Afghanistan are quite haunting but often contain a little glimpse of hope. For example, in this image it shows a man selling balloons. When the Taleban were in power they had banned balloons. A balloon is now a relatively cheap treat for Afghan children. I think it's amazing that someone can go into such a hostile environment and tkae pictures like this.

Bernd and Hilla Becher

The Becher's work is a study of industry in the western world. Although the subjects can be considered quite boring the scale of the buildings they photographed and the quantity of those photographs really is quite impressive. Again, like Knight's book 'Skinhead', this is a very detailed study rather than just a set of photographs of industrial architecture. I suppose this relates to my project in terms of photographing buildings but the methodology is quite different.

Nick Knight

The book Skinhead made me want to photograph people who could be considered 'different' and also the working class. People who aren't into mainstream culture interest me. Maybe it's because they reject the idea of conformity, conforming has always seemed quite a boring way of living to me. It's a little ironic that people who label themselves as a non-conformist often conform to the fashion, attitude, music and culture of their chosen social group.
The book is a detailed study of skinhead culture, it's not just a set of photographs. Knight said something along the lines of 'This isn't the truth, but it is my truth' (maybe paraphrasing a little there). That attitude towards taking photographs reverberated with me. It gave me a sense that even though my photographs can be criticised it is still what I witnessed and that they will always reflect that.

Jeff Wall

I saw an exhibiton by him at the Tate Modern (I think) while I was still at school. I had a postcard of both these images on the inside cover of my A-level folder so I saw them in every class I had. I always thought of him as an interesting photographer, his images were quite surreal but still believable. He seemed like THE professional, everything about his work is well thought out. His post production work, his ideas etc. The fact that he believes his work is documentary is interesting as well. It shows your images can be extremely creative and staged but because you are stil making comments about the world around you it can be considered documentary.

Henri Cartier-Bresson

Although it maybe a cliche to pick one of the 'Old Masters' as an inspiration, Cartier-Bresson was one of the first photographers I really 'got into'.
There's an element of spontaneity to his work yet it doesn't look rushed. The compositions are clever and often quite humourous. I found it hard to pick one image that inspired me and I couldn't find the ones I first thought of. (A stormy River Hudson and/or a moss covered boat in Ireland). I chose this because it demonstrates the photographers ability to create clever images.

Flickr...

Here's my page if you want to look/leave comments etc.

www.flickr.com/wharvey




I've just been taking pictures of the buildings that inspired the project. I'm yet to start on the 're-photography' aspect. Simple reason being I haven't found anything I want to re-photograph yet.
Also how would re-photography work as an exhibition, I would have to show the original image to provide a context. Unless I use some text to direct the viewer to where they can find said image. Also Tom (Matthew) has already said I could encounter some copyright issues but it shouldn't be a problem with images over 100 years old. I think if I did show the original images the biggest problem would be enlarging them to the same size as my own prints. Also the originals would be in black and white, should I stick with colour to illustrate that my photographs are contemporary or should I change them to black and white to get a sense of uniformity to all the images?

Lots of questions, any comments would be much appreciated.

Project Brief...

This is what i've got so far, any help would be much appreciated.

"My project aims to address the ideas of reuse and disuse of the old and new regarding the architecture of Nottingham. My initial inspiration was the old Victorian lace mills which had either fallen into disrepair or been converted into student accommodation. What struck me about these buildings is that their current use (if they have one) is quite modest when compared to their dominating presence over the Nottingham skyline. Although these grand buildings instigated this project I intend to photograph smaller structures, such as houses, as well. I want to create documents about the industrial revolution and its legacy in Nottingham and this entails looking at what remains of the buildings that housed and entertained the workers of Victorian Nottingham. I will be looking at early photographs of Nottingham and I will look to re-photograph them myself. This will illustrate my ideas of change in Nottingham, in terms of architecture and also the society in which we live in today compared to that of the Victorian era. I will seek background information on the buildings that I photograph, such as past and present use etc.

I intend to use a simple digital work process. A DSLR and limited post production work will be enough to portray my ideas. I will be using digital because it will allow me to have a relatively quick turnaround of work in comparison to analogue. Also it will allow me to upload photographs to my blog and flickr account quickly.
The DSLR will allow me to have mobility and flexibility which will suit the way in which I intend to photograph my subjects, something which a larger format will limit me on.

My aim for this project is to result in a successful exhibition situated within the subject itself, the city of Nottingham. I also want to improve my digital workflow, although I have learned a lot about the digital process I have yet to put the majority of that into practice."

P.S. My laptop has decided to fail on me (why during a project focused around digital photography??), hopefully it will be fixed soon enough, I will try my best to give feedback via the blogs. I'll also try and get some photos up on flickr and here as well.