"OLD YOUTH" FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS.

I finally finished editing my final photos, which can be seen on the web gallery to the left. I used photoshop to help manipulate them, changing some to black and white, I blended two photos together, and also used the blurring tool to blur out the background of one of them. Here is the final outcome:

PRESENTATION: MARTIN PARR

Martin Parr was born in Epsom,Surrey and decided at the young age of 14 that he wanted to become a documentary photographer. He was mainly influenced by his grandfather George Parr who, at the time was an amateur photographer himself. Geroge used to lend Martin a camera and they would go out together and shoot, then they would come back, process the films and make prints encouraging Martin to become a photographer. Before studying photography at Manchester Polytechnic between 1970 and 1973 he had only seen the work of Bill Brandt and Cartier Bresson as well as copies of Creative Camera magazine,however after his tutor showed him the work of Tony Ray Jones he was completely inspired. During college - he got fed up with learning basic studio techniques and the idea of becoming an assistant, so began creating his own projects and working on them this lead to him having to fight for his working giving him good practice on fighting for what he believed in, and gave him the passion to continue. After completing college, he first worked at for Manchester council for community relations and then began working towards his “Home Sweet Home” exhibition for a gallery in York - at the same time whilst trying to support his freelance photographer career, he took on various teaching assignments before marrying his wife Susan Mitchell in 1980, having a child named Ellen in 1986 and then residing in Bristol - where he still currently lives with his family.

Street Photography Techniques:

• Focus on sets, not individuals
• Make statements about society through your photography
• Be obsessive
• Think outside the box
• It is rare that you take a good photo
• Find the extraordinary in the ordinary
• Get close
• Exaggerate your photos
• Dont get people to smile
• Experiment

Influences:

Parr was influenced by three main people in his work. 

One person to influence Parr was Henri Cartier-Bresson, despite differences between their work, Bressons’ use of saturated colour against Parrs refined monochrome, and capturing a a dull moment in time, versus capturing a decisive moment - however, what they do have in common is that fact that both of them liked taking photographs in England because its occupants played out social roles with a lot of emphasis. HOwever, they encountered a spat when Bresson attended Parr’s exhibition and exclaimed that he was  from a completely different planet than him.”

The major photographer that influenced Parr was Tony Ray-Jones,  he found that he recognised Jones’ unique ability to document English customs and identity. Ray Jones’ also attracted the eye of the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London but died a few years later at the age of 30. However, he influenced Parr enough for hi to base a project directly on inspired by him just two years later - the “non-Conformists” which exhibited the non-conformist chapels in rural Yorkshire. The work from this exhibition, alongside the work from Jones’ archive shows clear parallels between the project and the photographs that inspired it. All of the images are in black and white, involving people who are being captured showing little interest in the camera itself. Parr describes Jones’ work as “had that contrast, that seedy eccentricity. but they showed it in a very subtle way, they have an ambiguity, a visual anarchy. They showed me what was possible”.

Books:

One of his books was named "Bad Weather" and it was a look at how British people carried on with their daily lives despite unfavourable weather conditions. Parr saw the weather was and will always be a "national obsession" for people in Britain and for some shots he used an underwater camera and a flashgun.

More examples of his work are in the books "Calberdale Photographs", "Photographs from the West of Ireland" and "Prescot: now and then".

His first colour publication was named "The Last Resort" and released in 1986. It was arguably Parr's best work and it what established his name in Europe. The book was labelled as "A stunning satire of Britain" vs "Cruel and Voyeuristic".

"The cost of living" was released in 1989 and shows photos of Britain after 10 years of Thatcherism, under the rule of Margaret Thatcher. Parr photographed what he called the "comfortable class" or the "new middle class" and again he uses satire to help convey his message.

Another of his books was called "Signs of the Times" and it involved 2000 homeowners volunteering their British . Only 50 homes were chosen and it was more a documentary style of photography showing a wide variety of decors, some of good taste and some of emotion.

One of the more adventurous things that Parr did was called "Boring Postcards" which involved basic images of random objects that were mean't to convey various emotions and be a combination of:

• boring

• strange

• funny

• nostalgic

• compelling

• documentary

• insightful

Finally, his most recent work is "Acropolis Now" which is an online series, and shows a collection of water damaged prints from Parr's original 1991 shoot in Athens, Greece. The "Acropolis" of Athens is the ruins that Parr photographed and is a not particularly unusual, popular tourist attractions. The effect of the water damage creates a fiery, apocalyptic ambience and visual to the images.Overall, Parr's photography makes statements about society and his images are meaningful because of the messages they convey. Also, the opinions he expresses through his work challenge us to look at the world differently.

TEST SHOOT 2 AND LOCATIONS.

So I went out to do another test shoot and decided upon a few locations in which I want to take photos:

• Edinburgh Castle - this is the most well known historical site in Edinburgh and is on the top of a hill therefore exposing good views and a good amount of light
• Legal graffiti wall - one of the only legal graffiti walls in Edinburgh is in the heart of the old town, hidden away down a quiet road
• The Royal Mile - the main street in Edinburgh's 'Old Town', it has the castle at one end, and the modern parliament building at the other, but I want to photograph among the cobbled streets
• The Cowgate - their is a place called the "Bongo Club" down in Cowgate, it is again underneath the old town and there is artwork paint on the door of the club

I went with my subject to take some photographs around these area's just to test the lighting and composition of the shots that I wanted:

CAMERA LUCIDA

"What the Photograph reproduces to infinity has occurred only once: the photograph mechanically repeats what could never be repeated existentially" --Roland Barthes

One of our reading tasks was the short book "Camera Lucida" by Roland Barthes who was a French theorist and philosopher. She wrote the book in 1979, with the intention for it to be a reflection on photography, despite not being a photographer herself.

The book discusses a lot about the ideas of stadium and punctum. However, another key idea was the object of three practices (or emotions or intentions) . Barthes states the three practices as:

• to do: the operator or photographer
• to look: the spectator or us as viewers
• to undergo: the spectrum or subject/target

Overall, the book gives a good definition of photography shows good examples, and Roland does give some interesting points, however the book was criticised a lot due to the fact that he was never a photographer himself.

ROBERT FRANK.

Robert Frank is a photographer and film-maker. He is is known for his unconventional tactics and was unappreciated at first however people did then start to like him. He lived in Switzerland originally but was affected by Nazism in WWII and as a result of that it affected his view of the government and turned to photography. He started as a commercial photographer but then moved to NYC to become a fashion photographer. He made films such as "Pull My Daisy" and did a documentary about the Rolling Stones. His key book is "The Americans" where he took photos to help people feel and smell the place. He took 28,000 photos over 2 years and only chose 83 of them for the book.

It can be said that Robert Frank “kicked open the cultural door” when it came to his work and he has influenced  almost any photographer, documentarian and photojournalist born and working in the 1950’s. Throughout his career he chose to mentor various people and from that has influenced upon their work. Jerry de Wilde; was showing his work to Frank was offered guidance from him, he said “these a pretty pictures but what are they about” telling de Wilde to “go out and shoot people” which is exactly what he went on to do. He created a lot of work in the 1960’s taking various celebrity photos and black and white shots and has since then passed on the knowledge to his daughter. There was also Allen Ginsberg - whose work is extremely similar to Franks, he spent his lifetime taking B&W photographs of his friends - including a portrait of Robert Frank. His technique was to point his camera randomly at the counterculture around him to create this unique visual record of his friends which he then placed into his book “photographs" - which was actually designed by Frank and included a lot of insight into the “Beat” movement - that Frank was heavily involved in.

Franks work can be directly linked to his close friend Diane Arbus - they both held high interests in the street photography of strangers. Where Frank liked to capture people off guard, usually unknown that they are being photographed, Arbus’ shots were positioned - with the subject being in an unusual environment so that all their insecurities are lade bare with nothing hidden.  Through his “The Americans” photos Frank wanted to portray the optimism of the 1900’s, the realities of class and also the raciall differences whilst including the portrayal of the bleakness and loneliness of America. Likewise, Arbus wanted to keep the realistic nature in her photos, but mix it up with expressive possibilities and position her subjects in a way that creates tension. However, Frank uses unusual focus, low lighting against the gloss of the culture and wealth to cover up the tension in his photos, unlike arbus who exposes the tension and emotions in her photos. For example looking at Arbus’ photo “young couple on a bench in Washington Square Park, NYC, 1965” there is a striking resemblance to Franks image from “The Americans” of a young couple also sitting on a bench. Both images do heighten a feeling of tension but as Arbus’ subject is looking directly at the camera it is more obvious.

Another person influenced by Frank is Saul Leiter - he also does black and white street photography but focusses it in the area of New York. He was actually friends with both Arbus and Frank - being influenced by Frank’s use of out of focussed images and he also emphasises the fact that his subjects are unaware that they are being photographed. Like Frank, he took photos for pleasure and only released black and white photos. However, some of his best work is actually in colour but he hid these images - presumably to be more like those of Arbus and Frank.

Overall, his work challenged traditional styles and was shot directly through his eyes and not other peoples.

FINAL PROJECT CHANGES AND TEST SHOOT.

After presenting my project idea to the class, my tutor gave me some feedback concerning my ideas. She thought it was a good idea mixing the old and young, however thought that it was too broad of an idea and that I should focus on the ideas that I am most passionate about such as the tartan aspect and the graffiti and art.
I also went home to Edinburgh to take some test shots of possible locations and ideas that I had: I went into the old town of Edinburgh because this is definitely where I want to base my shots, I want to look at the young people around that area and the artwork, influence and individuality there - as it is also the central area for student accommodation.

FLASH GUN PHOTOGRAPHY.

Flash Gun photography can be seen in various photographers work, such as: Garry Winogrand, Sophie Calle, Cindy Sherman, Nan Goldin, Julia Fuller-Batten and Martin Parr. Some examples of flash guns used in their works are as follows:

The TTL system means "Through The Lens" and it is used in most cameras - the TTL flash measures a "pre-flash" in order to see how much power is needed in the actual flash for the shot. You have to take into account the Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO when using flash.

In class we had a go at flash photography in the darkness of the classroom and I have posted some images that I took:

FINAL PROJECT PITCH.

50 WORD OUTLINE: I want to create a contrast of "old youth" - being a young person in an old city, emphasising the beauty and history of the city and culture whilst highlighting this viewpoint from a young person's identity (eyes) using vibrant colours and lights seen within the popular culture of today.

The theme is have chosen for my photography project is “Old Youth”. when I was ten I moved from London to Edinburgh with my family. Being a teenager growing up in an extremely old city gave me the inspiration for the theme of my project. Edinburgh is full of associations with the past and the majority of buildings are historical - for example Edinburgh Castle and Holyrood Palace. Both Edinburgh’s Old and New Towns are listed as world heritage sites of specific cultural significance, which leads me on to my project. 

The brief was to produce photographs that investigate ideas of representation and identity in relation to my cultural position in society. Personally, I see my cultural position as a Scottish teenager -and through this idea I want to contrast the aspects of being young and the popular culture that affects most youths, including me and that I am particularly interested in; music, art, drinking, fashion and also something that is completely relevant to being a scottish teenager - Scotland’s independece with the historical city and the older aspects of Scottish culture.  Originially being a Londoner in Edinburgh it was all about adapting to  the sense of “Scottish Pride” - there is an overwhelming amount of love for scotland within the people of edinburgh and within my photo’s I want to emphasise the beauty of the city and it’s ancient history, whislt also mixing this and emphasising the viewpoint from a young person’s eyes creating the juxtaposition of the old and new being able to co-operate and live together in harmony.

In terms of the photographs I plan on taking, through my research I have developed a brief outline of my ideas;

Potter Row: potter row is deep in the heart of the city, surrounded by the old university buildings and it sits just next to edinburgh’s old town. It holds one of edinburgh’s only legal graffiti walls which is covered and changes practically daily with new artwork appearing. My idea for an image wants to contrast the passion young people have for art, with the old style and brick work of the city. I plan on taking an image of people walking along against the wall, with the older buildings in the background, I want to adjust the motion in the picture by slowing the shutter speed down. 

Parliament: Edinburgh’s parliament is at the centre of global news recently with the debate on Scottish Indepence. The building itself was built by Enric Miralles who actually died during the building process, it’s construction (which took 5 years when it was only mean’t to take two) and architecture came under a lot of controversy from the media. It cost 414 million pounds and aimed to achieve a poetic union between the scottish landscape, the people , the culture and the city of edinburgh - resulting in leaf shaped motifs on the roof around the building. Linking this to my theme, i want to take an image that incorporates this completely ultra-modern building against it’s backdrop of the old town in Edinburgh - it is also extremely relevant to my personal culture as for the first time 16-18 year olds are able to vote concerning independence - a huge priority to Alex Salmond therefore giving them a huge amount of power to change the future of Scotland.

St Andrews Square: St Andrews Square was one of the first constructions of Edinburgh’s new town in 1772 - not very new anymore! It stands at the top of George Street and over the years has become one of the most desirable and fashionable commercial areas. Recently, artist Bruce Monro installed his “Field of Light” exhibition around the statue - it creates the perfect mix of olden day Scotland with the “Melville Monument” in memory of Henry Dundas the “Uncrowned King of Scotland” being surrounded by this urban landscape of lights in various pathways and shapes.

Tartan: A huge piece of Scottish heritage is Tartan. Originally each family (clan) was associated with a different colour of tartan in the 19th century. There are around 5000 different types of tartan and it wasn’t until the 1970’s through the introduction of punk music that it became a fashion icon. Since then, every year designers bring out punk-inspired tartan clothes and young people everywhere are seen with tartan scarves, trousers and shirts. The ancient tartans - a huge element of scotland was brought up to date in the fashion industry, linking to my idea of popular culture and something that I am extremely interested in - owning three tartan scarves myself. The image I wish to create is of a young person, wearing a symbolic scarf on the old, cobbled streets of edinburgh to emphasise how this tradition and culture has passed on through the generations.

Bars: another huge aspect of today’s youth is partying - a large portion of university life is spent socialising and going out to drink with friends. With this idea of drinking and partying being a part of today’s youths popular culture edinburgh is full of bars and clubs in old locations. One bar “the standing order” is located on the land of a Grade A, listed building which used to be an old bank on edinburgh’s george street. This links to the idea of old youth as before it used be a place of sorting out finances on one of the wealthiest streets - the pub still includes an old vault inside whereas it is now a place where all the young people go for the cheapest drinks before a night out. My idea for an image is youths standing outside smoking against the stone walls or a group of youths inside all dressed up against the backdrop of old bookcases or the vault.

Music: Music is another necessity to my culture, and also the popular culture of most young people today. An important factor of edinburgh’s nightlife is the bars and clubs that are situated in what used to be the vaults of edinburgh’s underground city. Music venue “The Caves”, which when first evacuated found terracotta floor titles, a fireplace and a well within the building, and the majority of the vaults are used during the month of August during the Festival Fringe to showcase upcoming artists and performers in up to 60 shows a day. My idea for a photograph is for a shot inside of the venue, emphasising the arches and confined spaces of “the caves” during a night of music and young people dancing the night away.

For my inspiration - I don’t have a particular photographer in mind, however I am definitely influenced my urban street art photographers as I feel as though they are able to capture the youthful atmosphere and emphasise being young through the colours and effects on the images. On the other hand I am also inspired by older fashion photographers such as Terry O’Neill and David Bailey as I feel as though they are able to successfully add a hint of glamour to their photos and set up their objects perfectly for example this rolling stones photo I think links in with my theme, you have a new up and coming band who end up becoming one of the most famous bands in the world - against what looks like an old background.

In terms of test shooting for my project, I am travelling to Edinburgh next week in order to take some shots and create my overall vision of youth culture in an ancient environment.

I have posted the link below to take you to my "Prezi" powerpoint that I made alongside this pitch - it includes images and more information about my final project.

http://prezi.com/dfamvuf_nlux/present/?auth_key=8s514rx&follow=vtilmzi4m5jq&kw=present-dfamvuf_nlux&rc=ref-57843353

TIPS FOR INSPIRATION.

When thinking about my project, I've been finding it difficult to come up with fresh, new ideas and angles for the brief! Therefore, I decided to look up various ways to help get me inspired and I found a great list online! The article is titled "25 Ways to Jump Start Photography Inspiration" and simply lists some ideas to help get the creative juices flowing. Below I have written out a few of my favourite's from the post

--> Look through your CD collection - being a huge fan of music I never thought to turn to CD covers to help inspire me! Although most covers I now only have copies of digitally, I still look at them on a daily basis. A suggested idea that I found particularly interesting was to shoot a new cover for an old CD, I think this is a great way to re-vamp and modernise old CD's to fit this day and age!

--> Look 360 - For something so simply, the difference it makes is huge! Basically, when walking we look straight on, however if we look at the full 260 degree angles - upwards, downwards etc then there is a lot more we tend to miss! For example, reflections on puddles, patterns on car tyres and shadows!

--> Go to the movies - personally I love this idea, because I love going to the cinema! However, there is a lot more that we can pick out from watching a film in general - the dialogue, camera shots, characters and morals.

Those were three of my highlights from the post, but the entire 25 ways are listed in the original post here:

http://www.diyphotography.net/25-ways-to-jump-start-photography-inspiration

I definitely found this link very helpful in giving ways to think of new ideas and inspiration for my final photography project!

PORTRAIT TASK.

In class we were given our Nikon D7000's and told to go and photograph our fellow peers and other people walking around campus. I was in a group with Connor and Hayley and we decided to chose a brick wall as the background for our shots. This was due to the fact that it was a very simplistic setting, however gave enough colour and vibrance to make the shots star out against it. Here are the finished products!

READINGS.

    This week's reading was again from John Berger's"Ways of Seeing" but it was the chapter "Uses of Photography". The piece discusses the various uses for photography when it was first introduced - for example' police filing, war reporting, military reconnaissance, family albums and postcards etc. The main argument of is that photography has many uses but, what it most prominently does is preserve memories and recreate moments in time. Berger saw that photography is a transparent thing and offers direct access to real life and he likens the idea of photography to the human memory system. 

    Berger looks at how before photography was introduced there was the use of memory and what photographs do nowadays used to be done within human reflection. It is pointed out that human visual perception is a far more complex and selective process than what a film records - the camera saves a set of appearances from other inevitable further appearances, keeping memories and not allowing them to change. Unlike memories photographs do not preserve meaning, they just offer certain appearances without narrating anything - in other words photographs just preserve instant appearances. In conclusion to Berger's point, the photograph and memory system act as contributions to each other - the photograph stores the moment, but the memory narrates what a person or object is living.

    Once discussing with my group about the article, we came up with a few questions fro consideration:

1. Within the article Berger links photography to religion - claiming it to be the "eye of god" as it the rise of photography corresponds to the decline of religion. The question being, is there actually a link between the two and is it something to consider or is it just coincidence?

2. How does taking pictures of people change the style or meaning of photography?

AUGUST SANDER PRESENTATION.

    This week's group presentation was on August Sanders (1876-1964). He was born in Germany and received his first camera in 1892. He then went on to build a dark room and tour Germany as a commercial photographer, before being employed as an assistant in Austria where he and his partner bought a studio in order to explore his own themes, but then sold it.

    His most famous work is his "People of the 20th Century" exhibition which captured and classified his fellow Germans. His intention was to document all German people and to represent them as types of people instead of individuals and once completed his archive had collected up to 40,000 entries.  He classified people by their profession, social class and family relationship, and then divided them into classes such as farmer, skilled tradesman, women, classes and profession, artists, cities and last people (homeless). Sanders took a typological approach and most of his subjects wore work clothes and held the tools of their trade. 

    The exhibit was split into sections and one was dedicated to farmers and old farming men, women and couples in their homes of against a natural backdrop which showed their fundamental role in society. All of the males had female counterparts and families who were also included. 

    Sander is seen as one of the most important German post-war photographers and his style favoured large format cameras with lengthy exposure times in order to focus on detail. His work is described as assisting a self portrait but he made his exhibition specifically for the strict documentation of his view of man. Questions arose over where his work is documentary or portraiture and a conclusion was never come to - it can be seen as documentary as it documents what is happening during specific time periods however the photos are very controlled and precise therefore, reflecting a portrait as it is from Sanders specific point of views and he composes the subjects into certain positions.

   Similar artists to Sanders are Cindy Sherman and Diane Arbus. Both Sanders and Arbus' work reflect the haunt of war - being two world wars for Sanders and the Vietnam war for Arbus. All of the work by these three show class, identity and respective societies ideologies. They highlight the unseen truths of their cultures and the everyday documentary style portraiture and it can be argued that each are trying to document society through their constructive nature of images.

     Below we can see the similarities between work - with August Sander's image on the left and Diane Arbus' on the right.

COMPOSITION.

    As part of today's class, our tutor asked us to explore composition if we had no prior knowledge of the term. Before starting my degree, I had no previous experience of photography (as previously mentioned!) aside from just mucking about with a camera therefore I had little understanding of how to actually composition a shot. She gave us links to various websites in order for us to learn more about what composition is, what it means and the basic rules/guidelines of how to actually set up a photograph:

    "Composition" can be used within various different forms of art; such as music, dance, literature and visual and it has two very different, yet still somewhat related meanings. Firstly, it describes the placement of objects in art and secondly it is a key aspect of good art. Composition is of extreme importance and it enhances detailing and requires good balance - it helps to emphasise the idea or story you are trying to convey.

    In photography, the way an image is shot is crucial. Therefore, composition in a photograph is when certain elements of a photo are arranged in order to fit the goal of your work. One link give to me describes 10 rules of composition:

  
1. SIMPLIFY THE SCENE: remember that the camera picks out everything, even if the naked eye doesn't therefore you have to chose your subject, select a focal length that makes it the centre of the frame - and make sure that other objects are part of the background.
2. FILL THE FRAME: leaving too much empty space makes your subject look small than it actually is and leave viewers confused as to what the focus point is, filling the frame gets closer to the subject and makes it easier to control what is in the background whilst also giving a more interesting take on things.
3. ASPECT RATIO: make sure to keep changing your camera between horizontal and vertical shots and you can always crop an image to 16:9 for a widescreen effect particularly if your subject doesn't fit the frame.
4. AVOID THE MIDDLE: it's tempting to shoot right in the centre of the frame however, it only produces basic, boring photos. In order to prevent this, you can use the "Rule of Thirds" idea where you split the image into thirds horizontally and vertically and put your subject into one of these imaginary lines with the other two bring free space.
5. LEADING LINES: there is a way of controlling a persons eye movements when looking at a picture. Converging lines give a 3D depth to an image that lead you to the main subject. Lines can be found everywhere, for example on walls, fences, roads, buildings etc.
6. USE DIAGONALS: diagonal lines introduce a drama, uncertain feeling to an image, wider angles tend to produce more diagonal lines as you are more likely to tilt the camera. To introduce diagonals into your work the "Dutch Tilt" technique where you tilt the camera just as you take the shot helps to create this effect.
7. SPACE TO MOVE: despite being static, photographs convey a strong sense of movement and you should always leave a little more space ahead of a subject than behind it as a viewers always looks to where the subject is going towards not where it came from.
8. BACKGROUNDS: don't just concentrate on a subject, take note of what is in the background, you cannot exclude it completely, but you can control it. Using a wide liens aperture and a longer focal length throws the background out of focus to create a good effect.
9. CREATIVE WITH COLOURS: bright primary colours are what attract the eye and including a splash of colour across a monochromatic background helps create colour contrasts. The key is to be selective of how you isolate and frame subjects to exclude unwanted colours.
10. BREAKING THE RULES: once you get a better understanding of the rules, its best to start breaking them in order to create interesting images!

I found these rules extremely helpful and cannot wait to put them into practice!