Post Assignment 4

Feeling rather flat at the present. Not a very good response to my last assignment. Pictures too similar and lighting also too similar, both comments fair, but I had tried to take them inside and under artificial light deliberately, this is always something I find hard.

Wondering whether to start again completely – or to take some more and go outside (if it ever stops raining).

Also need to use more explanations of what and how, I tend to put it in this blog, but still not in enough detail. Not sure how to do this bit, self reflection  is not my strong point – so make a check list.

before:

• think about what you are taking
• why are you taking it?
• what detail are you concentrating on?
• what light are you using?
• shutter speed and aperture
• focal point

afterwards:

• did it work?
• if so – why
• if not – why not
• what settings did you use
• what lighting
• what post-processing

This should help. Less and better is the aim.

Tony Ray-Jones

Tony Ray-Jones (1941 – 1972) was born and schooled in England, went to Christ’s Hospital School. He then studied Graphic Design at the London School of Printing. During his 2nd year he was taught photography by Bill Brandt’s brother. In 1961 he moved to New York to Attend Yale. He stayed in America until 1965, mainly in New York during which time he developed an interest in street photography, mainly using black and white. He met with many of the now famous names from that era of American photography, including Brodovitch (who was a major influence).
In 1965 he returned to England and took photographs of festivals (formal and informal) and English culture and customs, seeing it from an eye that was partly English but altered by his 5 years in America. This was collected and published (posthumously) under the title ‘;A Day Off – An English Journal’.

When I first looked at Ray-Jones work I was not sure how to take it. Many of the scenes are evocative of my childhood, as I lived on the South Coast, near Brighton. (and we had a Butlins's).

Butlin's Holiday Camp, Clacton-in-Sea. c.1968 - Tony Ray-Jones

Initially I found the images cruel and stark (much as I had originally seen the images of Diane Arbus), but as I examined them further I found that many had a quite gentle humour and reflected the quirky nature of the English on holiday and at leisure well.

Glyndebourne, 1967. Tony Ray-Jones

‘ My aim is to communicate something of the spirit and mentality of the English, their habits and their way of life, the ironies that exist in  the way they do things’  (Tony Ray-Jones, Creative Camera 1968)

Clacton-on-Sea. 1967. Tony Ray-Jones

‘For me their is something very special and humorous in the English way of life’  (Tony Ray-Jones, Creative Camera 1968).

Boarding House, Newqyay. 1968. Tony Ray-Jones.

This final picture of his is evocative of the whole series, someone outside looking in. Although Tony Ray_Jones was English his photographic eye and mind must have been altered by living in America. The pictures give an accurate view of the times, shown with understanding and a degree of love, but still reflect someone 'looking in' at the the scene not 'partaking of' it.  I wonder what his pictures would have been like if he had lived even another 10 years.

Reflections

As I progress though this course I am discovering things about photography and also about myself. Both are important.

1. I find it exceptionally hard to take photos ‘to order’. I think this is because I have spent so many years just taking pictures randomly, what I like, when I like, and lots of them. I am rather this way in my own work, in that although I have a very intense job, to a large extent I can make choices about when and how I do things.
2. Culling is hard. I still am bad about only keeping the best. I always think that I might find a use for the others. This is a mistake. The end result is that I can’t find the good ones, I was going to say the jewels in the crown, but that is definitely overdoing it at the moment. This is a skill I must learn. I only ever show the best to others – so why keep them?
3. Avoid repetition. I tend to go back to the same places, inevitably, but I need to think clearly each time about what is new, and why it is worth re-doing. Is it because I see something in a different way? Is the weather different? Am I thinking differently?
4. Look first. I don’t often carry a tripod because of the weight, so its too easy to just shoot. I need to learn to look and absorb the scene – then try taking just 1 or 2 shots only.
5. Reading about photography is interesting, but I need to focus on one book at a time!
6. Attending exhibitions is important, but so is absorbing the pictures and thinking about styles and learning points.

Most of these reflections are the same as those I made at the beginning of the course, have I changed at all? Have I learned to look critically at my pictures – yes , but not enough and not often enough.

Plan:

1. Be really harsh with the culling, keep only the best (family shots an exception).
2. Finish a book a week, then think and summarise it.
3. Critically evaluate 1 picture a week of mine.
4. Look at more of other peoples images and evaluate them, – off Flikr, out of magazines, off the news.

Interesting Images

I have recently come across some interesting images online.
1. This comes from a BBC website and is a collection of photographs taken in the aftermath of the Japanese earthquake, showing mainly the effect on the survivors.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/in-pictures-13014430
2. This is a photostream my husband (a military modeller) found on Flickr, the photos come from 1957 in Libya, and are a fascinating mix of wartime reminiscence, tourist shots and pictures of the local lifestyle.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8567152@N08/sets/72157605655522623/with/2585315801/

The Nature of Photographs

I have just read this book by Stephen Shore, a quick read, but a very revealing one, and one that helps illuminate this course well.

The author talks about the various levels of photography, ranging from the physical level to mental modelling and gives a few photographs; some famous, some less so, to show each level. There are a minimal number of words and he mainly uses the images to explain the concepts.

In the depictive level he states that photography analyses the world to make images in contrast with the artist who starts with a blank canvas. He describes  flatness, frame, time and focus as being the four areas that the photographer controls to ‘impose an order on the scene – simplifies the jumble by giving it structure’ (Stephen Shore, 2007, The Nature of Photography, p37).

The mental level reminds one that that what you see is interpreted by the brain, and that this interpretation is going to partially depend on previous experience, this may, for example, alter your understanding of the picture so that it might appear very flat or have great depth.

The mental modelling concept shows that photographers will have preconceived ideas of their images that might either be very restrictive, or very fluid, and that this will clearly alter the types of photographs they take. By being aware of this, and thinking about all the previous levels of image taking one can expand both ones awareness of the world and ‘accommodate new perceptions to …………. turn a piece of paper into a seductive illusion or a moment of truth and beauty.’ (Stephen Shore, 2007,The Nature of Photography, p122).

 

Reading, and re-reading this short book makes me think more about the how and why of taking photographs, it is far too easy to just shoot and hope. By the end of these courses I should have learned to monitor my thought processes enough and to improve my instinctive decisions.

Reflections

I have now fully committed myself and sent the money off for the first part of the course - so I think it is time to consider what my intentions are and where I want to take my photography. Obviously things may change over the next few years but these are my starting thoughts.

I am not planning on aiming to be a professional photographer, been there, got the t-shirt, at least, vicariously. My stepfather was a photographer in the long ago of film only. He took pictures for magazines and books of Europe and especially of sites of historic interest, with the occasional tree or landscape thown in. We still have files and files of slides and many thousands more are/were sitting in the archives of various agencies - this was well before digital or high quality scans, and the only thing that did was large format colour slides.

What did I learn?
a) patience. Film was very expensive - so you waited for the right light and cloud cover, or for that irritating tourist in the ugly jacket to move.
b) persistance. When you find a good view - go a little further to find the perfect one.
c) light. Evening or morning - there was little use of flash as it wasn't very portable.
d) recording. Take notes so you could remember what worked and what didn't. Lots of notes, there was no automatic details recorded with film so they were all painstakingly written down in a notebook after every shot was taken.

I have long moved to digital and fallen into the trap of shooting hundreds of photos to get a very small number of good ones. On reflection I an slowly realising that that does not work for me, I am a packrat by nature - and once taken find it very difficult to discard things. So the plan should be to think first!

What are my aims?
I have just embarked on a small (very small) experiment. I have posted 2 photos onto flickr on one of the groups which exist to gather comments and work though levels. One is a nice, pretty sunset, well OK , its a good sunset with all the right ingredients. The other is a simple monochrome, macro picture of a single flower. I think the flower is much the better photo, more interesting , and showing greater skill. The sunset garnered far more votes.

My photography is for me, sometimes for my family and occasionally for gifts. I need to be satisfied that each print I make, hang or give away shows something that is individual. This may not be the obvious or popular shot. It may not always be pretty - but something should catch my eye and remind me why I stood there at that time and took that picture.

I am hoping that studying the art and craft of photography will help me get there, a long term aim.