Assignment 4 - research (4)

Duane Michals  - Telling a story through a series of photos

Looking at the work of this photographer, made me think hard about the approach that I might take with this assignment. 

Michals ( b. 1932 )is not a reportage photographer. He is noted for two innovations:

• Telling a story through a series of photos as in 1970 book 'Sequences'
• Handwriting text near his photographs , thereby giving information that the image itself did not convey

While many photographers depend on an accident, Michals work is more structured and doesn't rely on this. His view is that images should ask questions. Photographers show the package not the content. in other words.. he sees the key word as being 'expression'.




© Duane Michals-The Henry L.Hillman Fund,
Carnegie Museum of Art,Pittsburgh/
Courtesy of the Artist and DC Moore Gallery

So staged, and created- used to create a narrative..

 ©Duane Michals-The Henry L,Hillman Fund,

Carnegie Museum of Art,Pittsburgh

/Courtesy of the Artist and DC Moore Callery

http://bit.ly/1GLhXbo

Thinking about my approach to 'Love Albert Road' , there may be some opportunity to use text to give information that the image doesn't itself give....much depends on what images present themselves when I'm out and about in Albert Road.

Assignment 4 - research (3 )

What can I learn from photographers Arnold Newman and Hannah Starkey ?

I’ve been looking at the work of Arnold Newman (1918-2006) and Hannah Starkey in the context of the work that I am doing for my Assignment 4 project.

Environmental portraiture

Newman is interesting in that he is often credited with being the first photographer to use environmental portraiture. I understand that this is where the photographer places the subject in a carefully controlled setting to capture the essence of the individual’s life and work. You can see from images on the website dedicated to his legacy and work   (www.arnoldnewman.com ) that he normally captured his subjects in their most familiar surroundings and surrounded by visual indications of their professions and personalities. It occurred to me that it might be useful to keep this approach in mind when out and about in Albert Road knowing that I want to capture the feel of all the different businesses that trade there.

Newman used a large format camera and tripod and is probably best known for black and white images though he did work in colour. I like the idea of using surroundings to add to the composition and understanding of the person his earlier work. I also like his earlier work which has a lovely abstract quality – see below:

 

©Arnold Newman:  Ironing Board Cutout  West Palm Beach FL 1941

It was definitely worth checking Newman’s website as I found a fascinating insight into a particular commission for a photo story for an article entitled ‘What Do U.S. Museums Buy? For example, here’s how he conceptualized the possible magazine spread – 

©Arnold Newman

 And below played around with possible poses and setups for the shoot… 

©Arnold Newman

 

Hannah Starkey has also specialised in staged settings too- of women in city environments.The image below is an example, a London café , which is part of the Tate Modern collection  ( see this link from Tate  http://ow.ly/QRF4P ) and was one of the works exhibited in her degree which she called ‘Women watching Women. For these images she advertised for actresses and then photographed them in urban locations in London.

©Hannah Starkey: Untitled - May 1997

Interestingly, unlike Newman, in Starkey’s work the narrative suggested by scenery and accessories are deliberately ambiguous to leave the viewer to imagine what this might be…and it can make for a real sense of isolation within  the cityscape. I like her earlier work but have yet to track down later works. Certainly from research so far these would seem to have moved away from a series of staged scenarios to more individual contemporary images. Charlotte Cotton make an interesting comment in her review Hannah Starkey New Work (1) referring to one of her compelling qualities :

‘that the viewer’s take on what constitutes the shifts in this contemporary version of the human condition is triggered by something so finely balanced between a critical reading of where we and Starkey have come to and visual pleasure’

 (1) Cotton, Charlotte (2004 ) Hannah Starkey: New Work. Portfolio, No. 40, December

Not sure what I can take away from what I've learnt so far from researching Starkey that I can apply to this particular assignment - certainly I cannot easily stage a scene nor look to create an ambiguous image easily or intentionally as so much is outside my control...perhaps on this occasion I shall wait and see what the viewer's interpretation of the images might be...

Assignment 4 - research (2)

Can I do a Gursky ?

I’ve been looking at the work of the photographers recommended by my tutor to see what I might bring to my assignment

Andreas Gursky

I had seen some of Gursky’s work in my copy of the Tate publication ‘Cruel and Tender: The Real in the Twentieth Photograph Century’ (1). I know that his trademark is the high point of view i.e. he often employs a high point of view in his large format architecture and landscape colour photographs. Around 1991 he began to explore the possibilities of editing shots digitally. To quote the Sophie Clark in the Tate publication (P261);

‘The adjustments he makes to his negatives are subtle, yet re-emphasize the formal qualities in his compositions: lines are straightened out, extraneous details are wiped out, colour is enhanced and order is imposed ‘to maintain or ideally to enhance the credibility of his images’.

But what made his work really come  across was a profile of the artist by Director  Ben Lewis back in 2002 :
https://vimeo.com/17692722  

( Accessed 12 August 2015 )

Just wondering how I might apply his approach to my assignment?

There are no individual people in his images – no decisive moment ( a candid image taken at the precise moment which defines or illustrates the entire story or action ) but people en masse .His photographs  are always taken from a distance and often from  above.

P972: F8 @ 1/1000  50mm  ISO 100

P973: F5.6 @ 1/640  18mm ISO 100

If you look above when walking down Albert Road, you can see people using the space above street level in an interesting way such as above the Casa De Castro. There are very few high buildings around from which to view the area or street. I checked out the Methodist Church tower but the windows are blocked up. So the possibility of a Gursky style landscape panorama was not viable.

But looking at and considering Gursky hade made think of using different viewpoints to capture the 'sense of place' that I was looking for. It occurred to me that I could get a downward view from above the street if I could get up to one of the ‘patio areas’. Based on the premise if you don’t ask, you don’t get I talked my way onto the decking area above ' Bellamys ':

P974: F5.6 @ 1/500  45mm  ISO 100

P975: F5.6 @ 1/1000  24mm  ISO 200

It was harder to do than I thought and the angles that I could shoot from were not ideal. I think I really needed  to be higher up.. 

(1) Dexter,Emma and Weski,Thomas (eds.) (200) Cruel and Tender : The real in the twentieth-century photograph.London : Tate Publishing