Families photographed - course work

research using books

Family photographs are a special genre within photography. They “employ both ‘snapshot’ and formally arranged portraits styles, veers across documentary and portraiture, often borrowing conventions from both”.

Bate, D. (2009) Photography. Oxford. Berg. p.5

Most of us have and cherish images of close or distant family members taken on special occasions. Loved ones’ photographs are kept in frames in our homes, uploaded on computer desktops and proud parents have their children’s photos tucked away in their wallets, always ready to show them to others.

They remind us of happy or sad times, importantly they represent where we belong to and in an indirect way they are connections to our identity. From all the reasons why a member of a family picks up the camera and records these moments, one quite common is to document as his/her child grows up. Most people take these photos and their subject is the child and the child’s surroundings, however in Fiona Yaron-Field’s photographs, collected in a book titled Up Close – A Mother’s View, are not solely about her children but they are also selfportraits of a mother facing and coping hardship. With the photos, accompanied with text on the facing page, it is a study and exploration of relationships; her own relationship to herself as well as portraying the parental relationship to her children, most prominently to her elder daughter Ophir, and relationship between Ophir and others.

“This book is all about me, and my life and my mum. It is full of photographs and writing together. The photographs show me and my friends and what we’re doing. The writing is about Mummy.”

Yaron-Field, F. (2008) Up Close – A Mother’s View. Ophir about Up Close. Piermont. Bunker Hill Publishing Inc. p.93

Some of the stories are descriptions of actual events, some are revealing Fiona Yaron-Fields’s own childhood memories and others are her thoughts as the mother and carer for a child with Downs Syndrome. While looking at these images and reading the lines I felt the purpose of this book and collection of images are different from the usual family albums. It isn’t just about documenting her daughters since birth. Ophir’s condition has set other challenges than normally a young mother would face with her healthy newborn.

“I didn’t recognize this baby. She didn’t look like us, so fair and her features seemed to belong to another family. She was not the baby I had imagined inside me, the one I had been talking to for the past nine months.”

Yaron-Field, F. (2008) Up Close – A Mother’s View. Introduction. Piermont. Bunker Hill Publishing Inc. p.XI

“Caught between guild and fear – ‘never doing enough.’ I feel robbed, robbed of being just a natural mother”

Yaron-Field, F. (2008) Up Close – A Mother’s View. Introduction. Piermont. Bunker Hill Publishing Inc. p.12

The above lines are like confessions and reading them feels like if I found someone’s journal of secret thoughts. I think there are more reasons for writing then publishing them, and the pictures, in a book. One reason is the same as why people keep journals. Other than keeping memories in a chronological order, it can also help to sort out confusing emotions. When Fiona Yaron-Field suddenly was faced with huge responsibilities but her emotions were all over the place, documenting her feelings and thoughts must have been a great help. I also feel she used writing and photographing as a help to accept the situation and to figure out more about herself, her daughter and others and the previously mentioned relationships. She is a mother but a photographer by profession, so taking pictures must have helped her to engage with something which is her ‘old herself’, the ‘familiar’.  It was an activity that related to that person who she knew, part of her identity that, I believe, she had fear of losing. Also I believe it provided her with confidence in a period when she did not feel confident in both her acts and feelings.

The camera “symbolized a part of me that was not a mother, a reminder of my own potential” This process helped me make sense of, reflect on, and contain my experience. It offered a means to not be overwhelmed or cut off from this journey, an opportunity to deepen and enrich our lives together.”

Yaron-Field, F. (2008) Up Close – A Mother’s View. Introduction. Piermont. Bunker Hill Publishing Inc. p.XIII

Sharing her experience might have felt as sharing the problem itself but also a good way of raising awareness of these issues and to help others to gain understanding of an illness and its effects through first hand experience.

…“maybe I do have some need to expose the myths and stereotypes about Downs syndrome that are deeply engraved in society’s consciousness. “

“I hope that making public our private world may challenge and change perceptions”

Yaron-Field, F. (2008) Up Close – A Mother’s View. Introduction. Piermont. Bunker Hill Publishing Inc. p.XIII and XIV

"Lovable: from the moment of birth this word follows us around like a consolation prize; to be labeled ‘lovable’ and also ‘not desirable’ is a strange contradiction."

Yaron-Field, F. (2008) Up Close – A Mother’s View. Introduction. Piermont. Bunker Hill Publishing Inc. p.8

The honest images and thoughts in Up Close take us on a very personal journey and narrative. I also felt it is quite educational while full of beautifully sad sentiments as well as some happy moments. It is certainly different from any other 'family album' I have ever seen.

images scanned from the book

The sublime landscape - course work

Research using journals

This week’s seminar broadened my knowledge about how I look at landscape images, particularly when we talked about the meaning and representation of the sublime.  Now I understand that sublime is something impressive and magnificent, also frightening. Nature’s power, both physical and spiritual, have been pictured by artists who want to convey these feelings and the expression of the sublime. What can be greater and more frightening than the uncertainty that lies in nature and the constant changes of nature?

As I more think about the sublime I start to believe that it is actually a relation between nature and humans. We can describe a snowstorm, a hurricane or the most dangerous mountains as sublime but this is only our perception and it reflects our own fears, vulnerability and fragility as humans and how we perceive these natural phenomenons.

During my research my aim was to find a photographer whose body of work or project can describe this subjectivity and my understanding of sublime as described above.

Rinko Kawauchi’s photography has resonated with me since the first time I saw her images. She usually captures the beauty of ordinary moments in life that we often ignore. Her 6x6 medium format photographs are serene and poetic and very calming. 

In her project, called Murmuration, she shows us a bit more unnerving moments with the photos of the spectacle of flocking starlings at Brighton. At certain times, birds gather in tens of thousands and fly above the sea in a large group, creating a dark cloud. This natural behavior of these birds called murmuration, and although it is harmless, the strength of their unity, the dynamic of their flight and strong connection of them can be definitely chilling as well as very impressive.

“Panic is just around the corner, as it is in Brighton where the birds form a fancy figure on the sky before filling the frame with their terrifying noise and inexplicable urgency.

Those starlings along the coast at Brighton manoeuvre en masse with such dexterity that we can hardly keep track of them.  Something has always happened or is about to happen. We exist in a perpetual state of alertness and expectation.”

When we look at these images we can also sense the “high-pitched squealing of the birds”, “suddenness of their flight” and the “crashing of waves” and all these induce fear on their own.

Jeffrey, I. Rinko Kawauchi: Murmuration, Photoworks Autumn / Winter October – April 2010/11.  pg 26

I feel these images, the landscapes of the sea and the vast amount of birds, grasp the feeling of sublime and nature’s relation to human beings and humans place within nature. The structured flight of these birds is natural to them and with no intention to frighten us.

Truth and Credibility - course work

research using web resources

The first aim of photography in the 19^th century was the truthful and accurate documentation; the emphasis was on taking photos and using them as mirrors of the world, unchanged, presented straight from the photographic device. On the contrary, as early as in 1857 Oscar Gustav Rejlander’s large scale image, ‘The Two Way of Life’, concocted out of over thirty negatives, divided the audience about photography as realistic medium. However debated since then, making, altering, enhancing photographs have been a way photojournalism, advertisement and art used the medium.

“We are being bombarded from all sides, from movies, television, advertisements, the Internet, with images that are not real, that are created in computers and documentary photojournalism is the victim.

Real photos can change the hearts and minds of the people. Real photographs can change how we view war and how we view or society.”

Long, J, NPPA. Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography

http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/self-training_resources/eadp_report/eadptxt.html

accessed on 2 March 2012

These are the words of John Long, Ethics Co-Chair and Past President of the National Press Photographers Association, USA.  In his report, ‘Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography’ he writes about recognised issues that concern, and ought to concern every responsible documentary photojournalist. Alongside many examples on how photo manipulation of published images is used and aiming to influence the public’s view, or simply targeting to sell more copies, he mentions the case of O. J. Simpson. 

The time when O. J. Simpson was arrested, the Time magazine used a version of his mug shot on their cover. In the very same time, another magazine, Newsweek used the same shot on their cover but in the form as they received it from the police.  

Time magazine altered the photo, darkened the corners and changed the brightness in different parts in order to achieve a more sinister look. The final image, and the way it was represented, suggested that O. J. Simpson is guilty. This matter caused outrage at the time and not only on one base but raising ethical, moral and legal questions.

They did not physically add to or took away anything from the original photo, but in fact, simply darkening the image added and took away from it and damaged the magazine, and once again, modern journalism’s credibility. “In other words, they changed the photo from what it was (a document) into what they wanted it to be.” 

Long, J, NPPA. Ethics in the Age of Digital Photography

http://www.nppa.org/professional_development/self-training_resources/eadp_report/eadptxt.html

accessed on 2 March 2012

While, as seen, on one hand enhanced photographs are used for displaying negative assumptions, on the other hand advertisement agencies and fashion photographers are heavily relying on photography retouching services and their limitless options for creating unreal figures, faces and looks.This is a major worldwide issue, and it should be regulated more strictly. I am wondering how we’ve got here, where everyone knows that these airbrushed images are lies, still we let ourselves to be influenced by them daily. These photos make us buy more and spend more money on products that are advertised by Photoshopped models and celebrities. We try to copy styles that have been carefully created by team of stylists and we admire altered photographs that are published in magazines and show us unrealistic images of singers, actresses, politicians and our idols from various fields.

Is there any difference in the level of responsibility between the fashion and celebrity magazines when publishing fake images and those reputable and well established magazines and newspapers where many times the editorial decisions dictate the composed images and, as many times it's been revealed, they are not documenting the truth but intend to manipulate and influence the public?

Still life and Documentary - course work

research using e-resources

When documentary photography is mentioned we usually recall images that are reports of significant events, often photographs of people.

There are however several other ideas where photographers document people’s life and behavior through taking photos of their belongings and surroundings. Typically these photos show objects that can give clues about their owners and their habits. Often these objects indicate the occupants' age, gender and beliefs or further more, hobbies and whether if they live alone or in family. Guessing these when we observe photos, in my opinion, makes an interesting exercise on how to read images.

But do these photos always give away that where they were taken?

I started my research with looking for articles on Edmund Clark because I remembered seeing some of his photographs he took in prisons. In his project, 'Still Life Killing Time', Edmund Clark documented the prison life of elderly prisoners, aged between late 50s to 80s, living at HMP Kingston, Portshmouth. This unique environment was the home of a community of violent criminals where, apart from the communal areas, the personal areas were decorated by the individuals. The first thing we can notice is that Clark didn’t use the traditional portrayal technique of taking photos of the prisoners but their personal space which is a trace of their every day activities or, perhaps in this case lack of activities.

“Clark found that portraits of inmates distracted viewers. “All people wanted to know about was the criminality of the people they were looking at, “ Clark relates. “Was he a murderer? Was he a rapist? What was actually more interesting was that the environment they lived in spoke about the nature of long term incarceration and the segmentation of time and space, and the motifs of the passage of time, which were all around these people.”

Conor, R. "The still-open space: British photographer Edmund Clark's new book considers the significance of Guantanamo Bay prison by looking at the living spaces of the incarcerated, of their captors, and those of ex-detainees who were found innocent and released." Photo District News Apr. 2011: 104+. General OneFile. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

link to resource

When looking at the collection of objects in this series the fact of time passing slowly, the order and structure of everydays are significantly part of their lives. I also noticed some kind of domestic and institutional overlap coming accros from the images; this is represented by showing different areas and details of this environment. In my opinion, the presentation of personal belongings in this uniformed environment de-humanise the person.

Further to these observations I found an interesting point, which is the desire of ‘making it home’ when the imprisoned person surrounds himself with certain objects and the way certain parts of the institution is decorated. This finding surprised me, because I didn’t usually associate the thought of prison with the thought of home. However, it made me realise, wherever we are, and as long as we have a chance, we naturally create our surroundings so we can feel comfortable during our short or prolonged stays. These might be the smallest things, such as a family picture placed on our office desk or a plant, in this instance, on a window seal of a prison's eating area.

Following on from these thoughts I extended my research because I was interested in comparing photos that are documents of a traditional family home. This led me to Marjolaine Ryley, whose projects are records of her grandmother flat and family house and through these still life images, her family life. 

“Ever since she was a child, the photographer Marjolaine Ryley has been visiting the same flat on the same quiet street in Brussels to see her grandmother. Document her family get-togethers in this small and intense space. Ryley’s photographs record the minutiae of domestic life, focusing on a very smallest of details. In the absence of any explanation or gloss, the viewer is encouraged to try to come up with their own linking narratives.”

"Pick of the week." Independent [London, England] 26 Apr. 2008: 13. InfoTrac Full Text Newspaper database. Web. 28 Feb. 2012.

link to resource

The photographs of ‘Residence Astral’ and ‘Villa Mona – a proper kind of house’ are similar to Edmund Clarks’ prison pictures and they fall under documentary still life, as such, and without the direct presence or in some cases only partial presence of the occupants. My next surprise was when I realised that most of the scenes didn’t give away whether they come from a traditional home or a prison, where personal space is limited. The practicality and simplicity of the furnishing, the warm colour of the chosen materials and textures, the displays of personal memories and reminders of tasks and events, the comfort and familiarity are the same in all of these documentary pieces. 

Both Edmund Clark and Marjoline Ryles’ projects have got me thinking about the symbolic objects we collect and keep, our natural desire to call a place a home and how we make it our home, regardless where it is, and our need for comfort and structure in our lives.

Photography and Identity - Shirin Neshat - course work

Research using web sources

Some aspects of our identity, gender, social status, appearance, religious beliefs, nationality, can be voluntary changed; some, such as race and certain disabilities, remain with us thorough our lives, however our age changes our identity involuntary. Our background, life experiences and interaction with others influence us about how we see ourselves, how we behave and whether at any point in our life we choose to change any of our personal identification.

There are many excellent photographers who deal with issues regarding identity but during my research I’ve become particularly interested in Shirin Neshat’s photography.

Shirin Neshat, Iranian visual artist, was born in 1957, and has lived in New York since the age of 17. Although she lives and works in the United States, her artwork is deeply rooted in her background, her historic culture and exploration of Islam and gender relations. Her work “addresses political, sociological, psychological and spiritual dimensions; particularly in relation to an Islamic woman's point of view and much more”.

www.heyokamagazine.com

Interview with John LeKay

accessed on 18 February 2012

Her series of ‘Women of Allah’ (1993-97) is arresting black and white pictures of armed, veiled women, their skins covered with handwritten Farsi poetry.

“The contrast between the calligraphic text on women’s bodies and the prohibition on speech is often suggested by titles. In "Speechless" the barrel of a gun peeps out from between a head-cloth and a woman’s beautiful face laced with calligraphy, and in "Rebellious Silence" the cold steel of a weapon parts a woman’s face and dark body into light and shade. The clothing and weapons suggest both women’s defence of Allah in the revolution, and their defence of privacy and chastity in daily life.”

www.culturebase.net

accessed on 18 February 2012

Looking at more of her photos from this series, there is something haunting in these women's sensually or sorrowfully gazing eyes, also mute and concealed feminity. The body languages imply power and an almost tangible energy.

A beautiful selection of Shirin Neshat's images

While Shirin Neshat’s main focuses are womanhood and Islam, looking at her photography, video installation and film, I felt her circumstances of living in a Western society has influenced her views and photography.

In an interview she said: “…my work investigates social and political issues of Iran”, “…the work is made from the perspective of an Iranian living abroad, therefore it bears an exilic point of view”.

www.heyokamagazine.com

Interview with John LeKay

accessed on 18 February 2012

Thinking more about these lines raised many questions and I am intrigued. Since also an immigrant myself, I am time to time faced with similar questions about my new identity and interest.

Would her body of work be different if she still lived in Iran?

What makes an artist's, or in fact any immigrant’s, work and views remaining this strongly influenced by her roots?

What influences us more? Our upbringing in the past or our interactions and new experiences in our new residency is what makes us focusing on certain issues in life?

Is this focus different if we move by our choice or if we are relocated involuntary and by force?

Does this strongly remained connection depend on what our country of origin is and our memories about our motherland? Similarly, does it depend on the present situation of the country we left and the country we presently are?

The Mugshot - course work

weekly research using library books

While the mugshot was used for police and prison records in the 19^th century, contemporary photographers often use this portraiture style as tool for visual communication. Although its initial use is still in place and as a crucial tool of objective identification of the individual and record keeping, it is also used for creative exploration of ideas, featuring the human face.

Whether it is for record keeping or conceptual image making, the characteristics are the same. It is objective and observant; attention is often drawn to the eyes. The compositions are often repeated and controlled by the photographer according to the different concepts. Lighting and colours are standarised as well as the photographed people; in many cases their personalities are removed. Mugshots are typically studio portraits or as Alex Kayser describes his own work ‘physiognomy studies rather than portraits”.

On a classic mugshot everybody seems equal and not more than a face and its features.

Contemporary photographers have different approaches and even though their images work within the theme of mugshot, there are examples where the viewers are allowed to see behind the face and the intense gaze.

In Bettina von Zwehl’s projects sitters were directed and asked to carry out certain tasks, and the photographer captured their spontaneous feelings and emotions.

“Her subjects wear the same clothes, wearing the same faces, adopt the same poses, face the same lighting conditions. They carry out the tasks she set them; to fall asleep, sit in darkness and silence, to hold their breath, to exercise. She documents reactions.”

Leader, D. (2007) Bettina von Zwehl. Primal Scene Photography. Brighton. Photoworks. p.24

In an interview with Charlotte Cotton she says: ‘”I continue to be fascinated by what appears and disappears in people’s facial expressions if they let go of their photographic ‘mask’ .“

Cotton, C. (2007) Bettina von Zwehl. Interview. Brighton. Photoworks. p.71

In a way her balanced compositions are like experimental studies, presented by intense and aesthetic images.

Her ‘Profiles I’ series broadens the scope of the classic mugshot.

Bettina von Zwehl
Profiles I

The images are arranged in pairs, facing each other yet in separate pictures, looking at each other yet also gazing into the empty non-space between the frames. These portraits make direct reference to the wedding portraits of Frederico da Montefeltro by Piero della Francesca, a painting commissioned by the husband after the death of his wife.

Piero della Francesca

Portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Urbino (c.1470)

Florence, Galleria degli Uffizi

In each of the pairs the profile is perfectly positioned. The absence of eye contact with the viewer, but the same time linking the two people through their eye contact between the pages is created by the photographer.

Lowry, J. (2007) Bettina von Zwehl. Symptoms, Signs and Surfaces. Brighton. Photoworks. p.41

Rineke Dijkstra’s work is another example of new interpretation of portrayal of human beings. Many of her compositions are mugshots, simply posed images. Her models are calm and reserved; young mothers posing shortly after giving birth, children and young people on the beach or standing by a tree, toreros after bullfight, legionnaire dressed in different uniform on each shot, in various stages of his military career, and a child asylum seeker photographed at irregular intervals. Some of these sitters’ portraits taken after an important event, a difficult action but the faces remain mute.

“The two closely cropped photographic busts of “Tia”, the first taken shortly after the birth of her child and the other five month later, show subtle yet impressive changes in her facial expression, a yar

dstick of the strength and energy that Tia gained in just half a year. The impression of exhaustion, of inner emaciation in the first picture gives way to that of a revitalized, restrained yet radiant woman in the second.”

Stahel, U. (2004) Portraits. Afterwords "After the climax" as a focal element in Rineke Dijkstra's portrait photography. New York. Schirmer/Mosel and D.A.P. p.150

Rineke Dijkstra

Tia

Amsterdam, The Netherlands

June 23 1994                                      14 November 1994

Suzanne Opton’s collections of soldier portraits are striking images of currently serving soldiers and veterans. These are photos of human beings whose lives have been on the line daily and they were willing to share their intimacy with the viewer. Suzanne Opton keeps the uniformity within the shots but placing the model into a different, unusual posture.

The series of American soldiers were displayed on billboards in 8 cities in the United States in 2008-2010 and caused controversy at the time. The faces are still; some stare directly at the viewer and some stare away as if they were dead.

“These American soldiers volunteered to be photographed, but had photographer Suzanne Opton posed them conventionally, or upright, their psychological defenses would have been engaged. As it is, she has successfully disarmed them. Suddenly these young men, trained to kill, seem heartbreakingly vulnerable and defenceless…”

Ewing, W.A. (2006) FACE The New Photographic Portrait. London. Thames & Hudson. p.43

Suzanne Opton
Soldier: Conklin 2005
Soldier: Claxton 2004

Suzanne Opton
Soldier: Jefferson 2005
Soldier: Birkholz 2004

In his project 'Heads', Alex Kayser photographed people from every walk of life. The portraits presented in a manner of classic mugshot, similar to classic police records using tight frames, plain background and uniformed composition. The carefully chosen 184 faces then compiled in a well-presented, black and white book, a catalogue of human physiognomy. His sitters share the same neutral expression; similar look and we look at these headshots as analytic studies.

As we turn the pages and a new face stares at us from every page, we compare different people with the same expression. We notice the differences, in the same time we sense their link to each other. They emerge into one group photo, into one face. In a way this collection reduces everyone to the same creature, a face with two eyes, a nose and a mouth. 

  

In Alex Kayser’s words: “…184 times the same picture.  Only the faces change.”

Kayser, A (1985) Heads, A Conversation with Lyn Mandelbaum and Alan Axelrod. New York. Abberville Press Inc pg.9

Alex Kayser

Stephen Jashijan

New York City:

artist and performer

Alex Kayser

Dean Johnson

New York City:

poet and performance artist;

works at various Lower-East-Side nightclubs,

including Pyramid and Save the Robots

Alex Kayser
Perri Masco,
New York City:
musician 

Alex Kayser
Eido T. Shimano (Roshi Tai San)
New York City:
Zen Buddhist priest, The Zen Studies Society

Alex Kayser
G. C. Smith
New York City:
World War II Air Corps veteran