First Trip Out

I took a trip to a vintage fair in Hampstead as I’d come to the conclusion that I wasn’t going to find any answers behind closed doors and through purely theory work. I made the decision, as the fair was indoors, to ask the organisers and stall holders if I could take pictures. I believe that street photography laws state that once indoors you cannot take photos of people freely and without permission. I wasn’t so much taking pictures of people but the items for sale and the care their took in presenting their items. I opted for a a 24mm lens as read it’s good for street photography but also gives a little extra information than what the eye sees. I also wanted to veer away from the 18mm-135mm lens I got with my DSLR as it’s just looks ridiculous when shooting people and markets. I went for a low f/ number to focus on the foreground with lots of hazy colour of clothes and jewellery behind.

The experience was interesting at first you ask shamefully if you can take a picture but there was not one rejection. By the end I snuck up some stairs to get a wider and higher visual of the market as whole. I’m still working on how to link the images with my research and theory but hoping something will click by continuing to head out to various markets and carboot sales. I’m still trying to work out whether if the imagery is stimulating enough. I’m considering now shooting some purchases I’ve previously bought second hand at home.

Pop Up Vintage Fairs North London, Old Hampstead Town Hall, 12th October 2019

Contemplating My Final Project

Riddled with anxiety and balancing work and university studies, I’ve begun to consider my final project. On my application I discussed my two interests of vintage fashion and nature. I have two lives where one is consumed by fashion and product photography and the other with cycling and visiting places in nature in and around London. Interested in the concept of ‘second hand’ and the prominence of recycling and avoided buying new in the media, I’m contemplating how to use this in my final project. First thoughts are researching the history of second hand trade, the rise of fast fashion and the impact both have on both humanity (in the charity sense) and the impact on the environment and nature. But what imagery to provide to accompany this research? Images of charity shop door fronts. Thrift sales with young hypsters as customers? Car boots and what is on sale, or the people selling? Yet none of this incorporates the environmental impact… or maybe linking the two is too much of a bigger task. In any case, I have not found the time to capture any images and am growing concerned with the upcoming webinar, where we are due to provide a contact sheet for peers to comment on – let alone the dreaded oral presentation!

This week I plan to research second hand trade and at the weekend visit a couple of huge car boot sales in London to try and build confidence in what to take pictures of, and gauge public reaction to a large DSLR attempting to shoot their sale items and customers. This is the current plan anyway.

Depiction of Photographers in Film

The negative depiction of photographers in film this week reminded me of Robin Williams character in One Hour Photo (2003, Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation), where he plays a photo developer who becomes inappropriately obsessed with a family who uses the service, taking a disturbing interest in their photos and life. I believe that the power of the male gaze – the ‘peeping tom’, pornography magazines under the bed, how the technology in the past has been mostly geared towards men – creates an interesting narrative for film. It is no wonder that with our need for shock in horror films, our interest in crime and the psychopathic stalker seeking out the victim and where we are viewing the film from the criminals narrative, plus the extensive research of the male gaze, will no doubt be used again and again in film.  

One Hour Photo, Directed by Mark Romanek, Fox Searchlight, Released 2003, Copyright © 2002 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation

Photojournalism and Citizen Journalism

Photojournalism is a complex area of photography to discuss, as on the one hand you have journalists who are willing to give up their lives for the greater good of images reaching the general public and people of power.

An example being the life of Marie Colvin a journalist (albeit not a photojournalist) and photojournalist Rémi Ochlik who were killed in Syria. Her story has since been made into a movie – depicting her bravery and journalistic efforts. But on the other side you have journalists who potentially take images to support powerful people’s ideals.

In my research I came across a photograph of a lynching which took place in 1937, Duck Hill, Mississippi. I believe the image was captured by a member of the public – but I haven’t been able to obtain this information – in any case, the below image was circulated and published in Time magazine. Due to the pictures’ horrifying content of two black men, stripped naked, tortured, set on fire and murdered but then to also be photographed, caused outrage across America (Scott Gilmore, 27th August, 2015, https://.macleans.ca/news/world/another-deadly-day-in-america/). So not only was this a form of Citizen Journalism but also an example of the impact of showing gruesome imagery can make real change to politics and humanity.

Photographer unknown, Roosevelt Townes and Robert McDaniels, 13th April 1937, Duck Hill, Mississippi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lynching_of_Roosevelt_Townes_and_Robert_McDaniels

Another image of the same event taken of just Robert McDaniels titled “Death Slump at Mississippi Lynching (1937)” was shown in Edward Steichen’s exhibition The Family of Man but was shortly removed from the exhibition due to shocked onlookers spending too much time viewing the image and disrupting the flow of the exhibition. But after the removal

“One of the recommendations of the [UNESCO] committee was to mount an exhibition on civil rights, and it is likely that Steichen wished to reflect in his own exhibition something of the visual reach of that socially conscious aim…By including and then withdrawing the controversial image, he became responsible for raising a socially contentious issue only to suppress it.”

John O’Brian, The Nuclear Family of Man, July 2, 2008, Volume 6 | Issue 7 https://apjjf.org/-John-O’Brian/2816/article.html

Michael Kambers’ exhibit (Bronx Documentary Centre, http://www.alteredimagesbdc.org/) of photos where photojournalists have produced propaganda and fake photos, shows how a reader and viewer might lose faith in photojournalists. As newspapers and media outlets aren’t always truthful, we must question the ethics of each photojournalist, particularly when their goal might be to get the print and make money. I follow an Instagram account called Creative Mobs (https://www.instagram.com/creativemobs/?hl=en) who post daily images people have either created solely using graphic design software, or manipulated an existing photo and created illusions. Other than showing great technical ability, it also enhances how we can trust imagery with such advanced technology, and the ever merging of reality and AI within film and media.

Reflections on this Weeks’ Presentation Content

Photography is a medium used by all today and with the internet and various social media sites it has enabled us to connect with anyone around the world and represent ourselves in any way we choose whoever we are, which allows for a sense of equality. But the speed in which we can share an image and it existing forever is a daunting fact and comes with many potential censorship issues.  

The analogy presented in this week’s presentation of a photograph being either a mirror or a window and the question of which I feel most association within my practice as posed by our Module Leader was hard to contemplate. There are elements of both, the choice of what you photograph when, where and why is indicative of the photograph being a mirror. Yet, there is also the feeling of capturing an image to share and represent something where your viewer was not present – therefore a window. But for me I believe it’s all-encompassing, and you cannot have one without the other – like positive and negative – one cannot be present without the other. 

Photojournalism has brought about unity and change throughout history and one image that comes to my mind is of the burning Buddhist monk. At first you see this image and think someone has done this to the man but then you read or are told that this Buddhist set himself alight to bring about change. The image and reporting on their situation reopened discussions by the US government on his plight with the persecution of Buddhists by the South Vietnamese government. 

The Burning Monk by Photographer Malcolm Browne, June 1963 https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/the-burning-monk-1963/

I believe that a still image can be more powerful than a moving one as your brain has time to think and feel, whilst you observe and reflect, particularly in photojournalism where videos are candid, poor quality, fast and jerky. A flow of images, people, words and sounds are pouring in front of your eyes and into your ears, you are not given the time to process without direction.