Brief

Select an image by any photographer of your choice and take a photograph in response
to it. You can respond in any way you like to the whole image or to just a part of it, but you
must make explicit in your notes what it is that you’re responding to. Is it a stylistic device
such as John Davies’ high viewpoint, or Chris Steele Perkins’ juxtapositions? Is it an idea,
such as the decisive moment? Is it an approach, such as intention – creating a fully authored
image rather than discovering the world through the viewfinder?
Add the original photograph together with your response to your learning log. Which of the
three types of information discussed by Barrett provides the context in this case? Take your
time over writing your response because you’ll submit the relevant part of your learning log
as part of Assignment Five.
A photograph inspired by another is called ‘homage’ (pronounced the French or English
way). This is not the same as Picasso’s famous statement that ‘good artists borrow, great
artists steal’; the point of the homage must be apparent within the photograph. It’s also not
the same as ‘appropriation’ which re-contextualises its subject to create something new,
often in an ironic or humorous way. Instead, the homage should share some deep empathy
or kinship with the original work.

You may already have taken some homage photography where you’ve not tried to hide the
original inspiration but rather celebrated it. Refer back to your personal archive and add one
or two to your learning log together with a short caption to provide a context for the shot.

Research

My research for context can be found here. This post included references 1-5.

When deciding what photograph to use for my homage. I first considered “leap of faith” by J.A Hampton. However, I didn’t feel I could create the homage I envisaged as I would need to ‘create’ the shot. As we are currently in a tier 3 lockdown due to Covid-19, I am not able to meet with someone to recreate this for me.

I then went on to think of other photographers I have come across since starting this course. I remembered an image, when, at the time, I thought I could recreate. So that is what I have chosen.

My original post about Fay Godwin can be found here.

Approach

When choosing this photograph to create my homage, I already knew where I would go to photograph a response.

My Chosen Image

Reflection

I chose my response image for the leaves on the floor. I wanted to show that path leading up to a bridge that may or may not actually be one way. I also changed the images grey scale to show more of a homage to Godwin’s.

I wanted to respond to the title of this photograph. “One-way”.

Within the photo I am drawn to all the leaves on the floor, leading the path through this bridge. The title causes me to question why the ‘one way’ part? Is that in relation to underneath or over the top of it? Are there signs out of the frame  with actual instructions? Was this just her frame of mind at the time? Is the one way over the top of the bridge? It doesn’t look like a bridge for traffic… when I look more in to the internal context, this photo photo leaves me asking questions.

References

• [1] WikiArt, Edward Hopper, Office At Night, (2020) [website, screenshot] At: https://www.wikiart.org/en/edward-hopper/office-at-night (Accessed 27/11/20)
• [2] The Renaissance Society, Victor Burgin, Office At Night (2020) [website, screenshot] At: https://renaissancesociety.org/exhibitions/343/victor-burgin-office-at-night/ (Accessed 27/11/20)
• [3] Victor Burgin, ‘The Separateness of Things, Victor Burgin’, in Tate Papers, no.3, Spring 2005, https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/03/the-separateness-of-things-victor-burgin, accessed 27 November 2020.
• [4] Terry Barrett, Photographs and Contexts [pages 110-116] At: terrybarrettosu.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/B_PhotAndCont_97.pdf (Accessed 27/11/20)
• [5] Robert Doisneau ‘At the Café, Chez Fraysse, Rue de Seine, Paris 1958′ At: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/57506 (Accessed 27/11/20)
• [6] Fay Godwin, One-way Bridge at trafalgar, At: https://www.onlandscape.co.uk/2019/05/one-way-bridge-trafalgar-fay-godwin/oneway-bridge-at-trafalgar-fay-godwin/ (Accessed 15/12/20).

Improbable Images

Breif

‘When somebody sees something and experiences it – that’s when art happens’ (Hans-Peter Feldman)

If photography is an event then looking at photography should also be an event.
Look again at Henri Cartier-Bresson’s photograph Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare in Part Three. Is there a single element in the image that you could say is the pivotal ‘point’ to which the eye returns again and again? What information does this ‘point’ contain? Remember that a point is not a shape. It may be a
place, or even a ‘discontinuity’ – a gap. The most important thing though is not to try to
guess the ‘right answer’ but to make a creative response, to articulate your ‘personal voice’.
Include a short response to Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare in your learning log. You can be as
imaginative as you like.

Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare

When reading this brief, without looking back to the image, I thought I knew what I would consider the pivotal ‘point’. I thought it would be the figure leaping over the water – Is that not the obvious answer? I was wrong.

When looking in to this image, I find myself drawn to the figure in the background. The blackness of the silhouette. The stillness of the reflection. Possibly because of the jumping figure to the right. I then notice an image to the left, which has the same kind of position- but as a dance position- on the poster. I think this draws me to the still figure as its almost out of place. Almost set up to be the centre of the photo. However, from research, we know this was not a set up scene or even a planned image.

I then find myself looking in to the water. I see the ripples to the left of what looks like a ladder. Did this man run across that to get the best chance of avoiding water? His legs don’t seem too far apart, was it a proper attempt to jump or did he maybe loose his footing a little when jumping off the last step of the ladder? Is the ripple his last step and therefore he’s just taking larger, quicker jumping steps to avoid the water as much as possible. 

I like that within the water you can see more of the leaping man than in his silhouette. There’s a clearer image in the light of the water rather than the darkness of the scene behind him.

The biggest discontinuity for me, is the clock tower. When looking at the background, it seems the obvious thing to look at, however its one thing not seen in the reflection in the water.

I have really enjoyed looking at this photo in such a critical way. It really forces you to look in to the photo. I found once I had started looking, there were so many questions around why he was there, how he came to be in that exact position, what the small details can lead you to believe has happened. Mostly I loved feeling like the more I looked, the more I felt I understood.

When looking through my own work, I wanted to find a photo where the obvious thing in the photo wasn’t what caught my attention.

When looking at the photo above, I feel the water would be the obvious thing. At the time, I took the shot for the people in the background. However, looking at it now, I actually find the ‘point’ within this frame to be the leaves in the foreground – top left corner.

I like the brightness of the leaf against the lightness in the same area of the background. Perhaps that is why I am drawn there, as the light is the brightest part of the photo.

References

• [1] Cartier-Bresson, H (1932) Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, Pont de l’Europe, Paris [photograph] At: http://www.howardgreenberg.com/artists/henri-cartier-bresson (Accessed 28/11/2020)

Brief

‘For a short introduction to how context operates in relation to photographs, read Terry Barrett’s
essay ‘Photographs and Context’.
Barrett suggests that we interpret pictures according to three different types of information:
information in the picture, information surrounding the picture and information about the way the picture was made. He calls these the internal context, the external context and the original
context.’

Research

Looking at the images suggested, by both Edward Hopper and Victor Burgin, I can understand the meaning of a ‘homage’ more. Burgin talks of ‘looking at one image and having another image spontaneously come to mind’. There are some great examples of this discussed in ‘The separateness of things’ [3]. Both images using the title ‘The Office at Night’ above have a similarity, with Burgin focussing more obviously on the female we also see within Hopper’s art. In Hoppers portrayal of the office at night, there are things which lead us to ask more questions. Is this due to there being no other information?

We do not know why these two people are in this office together. Both dressed well, but the female feeling more prominent within the frame. She was the point I was first drawn to. I notice what seems to be street light shining through just to the left of her face and then that the male is sat with his desk light on, so it seems the two are working late. I then noticed the papers; on the desk, on the floor and an out of place one on the other chair. Why is it on the floor? Has something happened before this scene was portrayed? Something between the two of them? On the other hand, why is the window open? Perhaps it was just a breeze that blew the papers. However, if it is breezy enough to blow paper off the desk, why are they warm enough to want an open window? In my mind, this is the perfect example of how ones mind can wonder between completely logical explanations, and the possibility of something entirely less innocent.

How context operates in relation to photographs

As suggested, I went on to read ‘Photographs and Context’ by Terry Barrett [4]. I was surprised whilst reading this at how little I had considered a photographs meaning before. When taking my own photographs, I suppose I had only ever considered them through my eyes and what I was personally trying to capture. I had not considered the impact of the text or surrounding information which could influence how others view them.

When reading about the various uses in which Robert Doisneau’s photograph ‘At the Café Chez Fraysse, Rue de Seine, Paris, 1958’ had been portrayed, I was taken aback by the vast difference from what he had intended to what it had become. When photographing a couple outside a Café, I wonder how you could ever consider that this encounter between the two would then be portrayed as something like prostitution. The couple obviously hadn’t realised how this would work its way in to a French scandal sheet. To them, this particular outing ended with them having to sue the scandal sheet! Not what you would expect after sitting in a café and agreeing to one photograph being taken.

Other examples, such as a NASA image of the world being used to promote petroleum products, seems counter intuitive, as petroleum is arguably contributing towards global warming and seen as a bad thing for the planet photographed so beautifully. Or, an embryo becoming a page in a glossy book, shows how something photographed for scientific purposes becomes a ‘nice to have’ piece of art. Something which many people may struggle with, due to fertility complications or the arguments around abortion. I’m surprised to find myself thinking of these kinds of issues because of photographs which perhaps weren’t taken with those intentions.

Barrett then goes on to say that photography can be contextualised in three different ways. Internal context; the picture, its title, date and creator. External context; the pictures pre-sensational environment – the article in which it is displayed. Original context; the physical and psychological environment present at the time of taking the photograph.

I can easily see how different minds will interpret different images based on what is within them – Internal context. All minds view & analyse things in their own ways, just as we have opinions on other issues, we are all individuals after all and therefore have our own opinions. We will view things, not only photographs, and then form our own viewpoint. This is influenced, of course, by what has been captured and how it has been displayed and by the time when it was made. We cannot judge something such as Edward Hopper’s Office at Night in the same way in which we would judge Victor Burgin’s Office at Night, as the difference in the years when they were created are distanced even more so by the way the world was. For example, the scene depicted by Hopper was of a time before the advocacy of women’s rights, and therefore some stereotyping can be seen within the image. However, Burgin does not even show a male. Is this purposefully to show women at work, or to not assume that the woman would be the assistant to the man, as we all know, that is no longer the case in every office.

When looking at Doisneau’s photograph, I can see how it can take on all of the meanings which it was given, even though all were so different. From a drink in a café, to alcohol abuse, to prostitution to seduction; a photo with external context, such as where it is displayed, what it is displayed with and what text is displayed with it too, can all influence how it is seen. We take on what we see around the image to tell us what we are observing, rather than viewing the image by itself or even viewing it as intended. when This particular image was then used in a museum, it then took on the interpretation of the museum curator too.

References

• [4] Barrett, T. Photographs and Contexts [pages 110-116] At: terrybarrettosu.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/08/B_PhotAndCont_97.pdf (Accessed 27/11/20)
• [2] Burgin, V. (1986) Office At Night [website, screenshot] At: https://renaissancesociety.org/exhibitions/343/victor-burgin-office-at-night/ (Accessed 27/11/20)
• [3] Burgin, V. (2005) ‘The Separateness of Things, Victor Burgin’ In: Tate Papers. Spring 2005 At: https://www.tate.org.uk/research/publications/tate-papers/03/the-separateness-of-things-victor-burgin (Accessed 27/11/20).
• [5] Doisneau, R. (1958) ‘At the Café, Chez Fraysse, Rue de Seine, Paris 1958′ At: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/57506 (Accessed 27/11/20)
• [1] Hopper, E. Office At Night (1940) [website, screenshot] At: https://www.wikiart.org/en/edward-hopper/office-at-night (Accessed 27/11/20)

The Distance Between Us

Breif

Use your camera as a measuring device. This doesn’t refer to the distance scale on the focus
ring. Rather, find a subject that you have an empathy with and take a sequence of shots to
‘explore the distance between you’. Add the sequence to your learning log, indicating which
is your ‘select’ – your best shot.
When you review the set to decide upon a ‘select’, don’t evaluate the shots just according to the idea you had when you took the photographs; instead evaluate it by what you discover within the frame (you’ve already done this in Exercise 1.4). In other words, be open to the unexpected. In conversation with the author, the photographer Alexia Clorinda expressed this idea in the following way:
Look critically at the work you did by including what you didn’t mean to do. Include the mistake,
or your unconscious, or whatever you want to call it, and analyse it not from the point of view of
your intention, but because it is there.

Approach

When reading this exercise, I knew what I would use as my subject for this exercise, or should I say who.

As a new mother, I spend all of my time looking after and caring for a baby girl. In the last 7 months she’s come so far and learnt so much. I decided to use this opportunity to photograph her enjoying her new skills – crawling, standing, exploring.

The brief tells us to photograph something we have an empathy with. Collins dictionary describes empathy as “the ability to share another person’s feelings and emotions as if they were your own”. [1].

I’d like to think as her mother, I feel what she feels and am excited by the things that excite her. I think spending most days with her, especially through lockdown – due to Covid-19 – we have formed a bond which allows me to really be proud of how she is growing and changing. Because of her, I am also growing and changing.

I read through the exemplars given in the exercise by previous students. Both were very insightful but also, two very different approaches. I found that to be very useful. Two different takes on the same breif, and both fulfilling what was asked of them. [2]. [3].

My Select

The brief for exercise 5.1 tells us to make our select based on what we captured. I did not plan anything in particular that I wanted to capture. Knowing that she is new to crawling in the last 4 weeks, I also knew planning a shot wasn’t going to go as I thought anyway. All I really ‘planned’ was to wait for a time when she was happy and exploring, then to just take photos and capture what she was doing.

F/9.0 – 1/200s – ISO 800 – flash on – 50mm lens

The reason I chose this shot is I felt it was natural. A candid shot of baby off to find the next new thing. If I had been planning the shot I would have wanted a cleaner background, perhaps a studio style so there were no distracting features behind her such as the radiator. However, I like how natural the pose is. Shes just crawling away from the balls she had left around the room. I feel this shows a little of the reality of having a little one in the house. I’m not overly happy with the lighting as it was taken with flash. It seems a little harsh but I had to use a quicker shutter speed to avoid blurring. This photo was taken in manual mode.

Contact Sheets

Analysing My Shots

I wanted to look at the photos I hadn’t chosen as my select image. There were a few I picked between and I wanted to also include why I didn’t go with these shots.

This is probably my favourite photo from this exercise. However, the lighting wasn’t great so this would need editing to brighten it up in my opinion. I used flash in some photos just to see the different results. I like that she’s not looking directly at the camera. I like the balls in the background showing she had been playing. I would also remove the white from the top right corner.

I felt my select was a better image than this just because she wasn’t looking. I prefer my subjects to be just doing what they were doing. I enjoy a more candid approach to photgraphy.

I would have liked this photo better if the frame were wider. I feel its a little cropped which leads me to wonder what shes looking at. Also, the focus is on her ear & shoulder, rather than the eyes. I feel that’s the key to a good photograph of a person. It was hard to get the correct focus with such a quick mover. This is something I need to work on moving forward. I do like the blur of the background in this shot, it doesn’t feel too distracting as it may have if all the frame was in focus.

References

[1] Collins dictionary (2020). Definition of Empathy. At: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/empathy (Accessed 20/08/20).

[2] Andrea Schwickart, exercise 5.1, (2017), At; https://eyvlog.wordpress.com/2017/08/21/the-distance-between-us-
exercise-5-1/ (Accessed 06/10/20)

[3] Darryl Godfrey, exercise 5.1, (2016), At; https://darrylgodfrey.wordpress.com/category/coursework/part-5-
viewpoint/ (Accessed 06/10/20)