Nigel Shafran’s body of work, initially “washing up” encouraged this exploration of this genre. The definition of banal is given in Macmillan Dictionary as “something that is banal is boring because it contains nothing new, original, or unusual” The additional term “Mundane” equally applies to photography in this genre, the definition of which is described as”ordinary and not interesting or exciting, especially because of happening too regularly.

Shafran’s portfolio includes projects titled: Dad’s Office, Compost Pictures, suburban garages. All of his subjects at first glance would meet the definition of “boring” “ordinary” or “not unusual” but the is the point. Shafran carefully frames and lights his subjects for the viewer to delight in an exploration of the trivial.

William Eggleston’s work also depicts the mundane. Eggleston’s use of strong colour and simple framing draws the viewers attention to the finer detail in his images.

Eugene Shinkle argues the “Aesthetic engagement with the banal … has the capacity to open up a different kind of vision, an attention to the material circumstances of looking” (Shinkle E. (2004) Boredom, Repetition, Inertia: Contemporary Photography and the Aesthetics of the Banal [online]. Redorbit.com. Available from: https://www.redorbit.com/news/health/115307/boredom_repetition_inertia_contemporary_photography_and_the_aesthetics_of_the/

In “Southampton’s Women” Magda Segal captured images of women between the ages of 20-34 years old, originally to support a health study. She captured images of the women in their own homes and also took images of the inside of the fridges. (examples below)

In all of the above works there is an intimacy. The viewer is not confronted by spectacle in order to excite the senses. Rather, the mundane, everyday, unexciting nature of the images allows the viewer to spend time analysing the imagery, inspecting the detail and recognising familiar items. I am reminded of the fascination with what is in other people’s trolley at the supermarket checkout.

References

Macmillan Dictionary (n.d.) mundane definitions and synonyms [online] Macmillan website. Available from: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/. Last accessed: 19/08/2020.

Macmillan Dictionary (n.d.) banal definitions and synonyms [online] Macmillan website. Available from: https://www.macmillandictionary.com/dictionary/. Last accessed: 19/08/2020.

Eggleston W. (n.d.) Eggleston Art Foundation [online]. Eggleston Art Foundation website. Available from: http://egglestonartfoundation.org/. Last accessed: 19/08/2020.

Segal M. (2000) Southampton’s Women: by Magda Segal [online]. International Journal of Epidemiology website. Available from: https://academic.oup.com/ije/article/31/2/333/617701. Last Accessed 19/08/2020.

Shinkle E. (2004) Boredom, Repetition, Inertia: Contemporary Photography and the Aesthetics of the Banal [online] redorbit.com Available from: https://www.redorbit.com/news/health/115307/boredom_repetition_inertia_contemporary_photography_and_the_aesthetics_of_the/. Last accessed 19/08/2020.

Referenced in the Context and Narrative course literature, David Hurn is internationally recognised in the photographic community as a successful photographer, educator  and member of Magnum Photos. 

Born in 1934 in Wales, UK. Hurn was an undiagnosed dyslexic. In the early 1950s Hurn was enlisted under the UK’s compulsory National Service program. He was successful enough in the Army to be invited to the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, where he trained as an officer in the British Army. 

It was during his time at Sandhurst that he had a “seminal moment” which would completely change his future career path. In Lensculture’s interview Hurn describes “I picked up a copy of the Picture Post, a really fine British magazine at the time. I still remember the date: February 12, 1955. I was looking through it and came across a picture—it struck me so forcefully and so immediately, I began to cry.” The image, made by Henri Cartier-Bresson, of a Russian soldier buying a hat for his wife had such an effect because of the powerful memory it evoked of his parents shopping after his father returned from the war.

From that moment Hurn wanted to be a photographer and when he left the Army in 1955 he started working in photojournalism. Hurn eventually moved away from journalistic imagery towards documentary work. This move, influenced by a chance meeting with Sergio Larrain in Trafalgar Square in 1965 led to him joining the renowned Magnum Photos. 

Hurn described his preferred work as “mundane”. He photographed everyday life, looking for “Mundane but special moments, all over the world”.  When asked to describe his approach to photography Hurn took a quotation from Michel Montaigne’s writings which had inspired him and applied it to photography;

USA. Arizona. Sun City Outdoor group fitness early in the morning in the retirement Sun City. Ages range from 60 to a 94 year old who had run a 50secs hundred meters in the Senior Olympics. The sense of fun and community was very infectious. 1980

G.B. SCOTLAND. Edinborough. Retired gentleman at the MG Car owners Ball. 1967.

“If you are yourself, then something of your particular personality and way of looking at the world will come out in what you do. But you only get there if you genuinely follow your own interests.”

In 1973 Hurn set up the now famous School of Documentary Photography in Newport, Wales.  He resigned from the school in 1989, some 26 years later. He continues to live and to work from his home in Tintern, Wales and in 2016 was awarded an honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. 

References

Strecker A. (n.d.) The Picture That Changed My Life: Interview with David Hurn [online]. Lensculture. Available from: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/david-hurn-the-picture-that-changed-my-life-interview-with-david-hurn. Last accessed 24/04/2020.

Magnum Photos. (n.d.) David Hurn [online]. Magnum Photos. Available from: https://www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/david-hurn/. Last accessed 24/04/2020.

In Feinstein’s essay “Meaning and Visual Metaphor” (1982) she reasons that the metaphor is fundamental to human thinking. In the abstract to her essay she states that it “elaborates on (Susanne K) Langer’s thesis, discussing symbolisation and the fundamental components of metaphor. Langer contends that metaphor is not only an essential process and product of thought, but also that art is metaphor”.

I agree with Feinstein. I believe that metaphor may be seen in every aspect of modern photography. Metaphor might not be apparent to all and might be understood differently by individuals based upon their understanding of the world. Metaphorical meaning may be intended by the photographer or incidental or accidental to the intended meaning. For example a photograph of a snowy scene denotes snow but it connotes Winter. If the image contains holly or a church or deer the connotation may move towards Christmas.

In advertising or those motivational posters that have been popular on office walls over recent decades the metaphor is helped along with anchor text, in the case of posters, or verbal anchors in television adverts. Clouds, sailing, starring out to sea, team mates playing sport and many many more are examples of regularly used metaphors in such publications. These are easy to spot. They are deliberate and calculated to produce a particular response from the viewer.

Of more interest to me however are the less obvious metaphors, two examples of which would be; intended but devised to be very subtle (subliminal) and those not intended (accidental).

Advertising is an example of the former as it contains many subliminal metaphors including but by no means limited to; the sex of the individual and the background to the advertisement. There will not be a single element of the background to an advertisement that hasn’t been carefully thought out. These subliminal messages evoke feelings of belonging or aspiration to connoted wealth or happiness. We need to look back to the advertisements of the 1950s or earlier to see advertisements that seek to sell items purely on the attributes of the item alone.

Accidental metaphors are those not intended by the photographer. Where these exist they are open to use in order to deliberately change the meaning of the image away from that which was intended. Use of anchor or relay text or description can be used to change the images meaning, however these textual tools would not work without the metaphor that connotes the new meaning being present in the image. Examples of this are shown in exercise 2.2 Image and Text (Anchor Vs Relay)

Collins English Dictionary describes Metaphor as a noun which is “a figure of speech in which a word or phrase is applied to an object or action that it does not literally denote in order to imply a resemblance“

There are very few, if any, succinct definitions of Visual Metaphor however. Collins and Cambridge dictionaries are yet to include a definition of visual metaphor.

Collins (n.d.), definition of Metaphor [online], Collins website,  Available from: https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/metaphor, last accessed 17/04/2020.

Additional References:

Stern, J. (1997). Metaphors in Pictures. Philosophical Topics,25(1), 255-293. available from: www.jstor.org/stable/43154256, Last accessed 17/04/2020

Hostetler L. (2004)  “The Structure of Photographic Metaphors.” In Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History [online], The Met Website, Available from: https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/pmet/hd_pmet.htm, Last Accessed 17/04/2020.

Siskin A. (1955) Uruapan 11 [online], The Met Website, Available from: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/266508, Last Accessed 17/04/2020.

Research point

Examples of relay in contemporary photographic practice include Sophie Calle’s Take Care of Yourself and Sophy Rickett’s Objects in the Field where clashes of understanding or interpretation work together to create a perhaps incomplete but nonetheless enriching dialogue between artist and viewer.

Look these pieces up online. Investigate the rationale behind the pieces and see if you can find any critical responses to them. Write down your own responses in your learning log.

• How do these two pieces of work reflect postmodern approaches to narrative?
• Another way to incorporate text into an image-based project is to include interviews or audio.

Response

“Relay” Is a method of using text in conjunction with images discussed in the course material. Relay is where the text has equal status with the image. This is described in the course material as where “the Image and text bounce off each other to create a fuller picture that allows for ambiguity and various interpretations.

Sophie Calle’s Take Care of Yourself

Sophie Calle’s work take care of yourself is a mixed media work consisting of letters writings and video. The work represents Kelly’s response to a break up email from her ex-boyfriend.

Calle’s presentation consists of the research, dissection, and musings about the content of that message. Calle asked 107 different women to interpret the contents of the message and it is these responses she presents to the viewer. Relay is apparent in this work because the text is presented without external instruction on how to interpret it. The letters and writings are shown as originally created without guidance to the viewer.

Her introduction to this work reads:

“I received an email telling me it was over.
I didn’t know how to respond.
It was almost as if it hadn’t been meant for me.
It ended with the words, “Take care of yourself.”
And so I did.
I asked 107 women (including two made from wood and one with feathers),
chosen for their profession or skills, to interpret this letter.
To analyse it, comment on it, dance it, sing it.
Dissect it. Exhaust it. Understand it for me.
Answer for me.
It was a way of taking the time to break up.
A way of taking care of myself.“

The presentation embraces post-modernism by rejecting the linear timeline. This is not a presentation you walk through chronologically from beginning to end. This is not a story, it is a collection of responses from professional women. In terms of timeline, there would have been a timeline to Calle’s quest for information but the responses are being presented as a single moment. The viewer is not directed from one “piece of evidence “to the next in order to build a case but rather left to make their own judgement based upon their own life experiences or maybe their gender. it is very unlikely that a man viewing this work will have the same perspective or experience as woman.

Clare Harris described in her critique of the work in 2009 that it left her feeling frustrated and overwhelmed by the amount of information conveyed and the way in which it was presented. I feel that the creation of these feelings were intentional on the part of Calle. When I look back on times of rejection or breakup In my own life I recollect feelings and thoughts that time were numerous, diverse, and sometimes distressing. Overwhelming and sometimes frustrating sums up my experience and this is probably the normal reaction of most people. Only by resisting temptations to Anchor the meaning of her exhibits was it possible for Calle to evoke the complex emotions she intended with this work.

 Sophy Rickett’s Objects in the Field.

Objects in the field came about through Rickett’s encounter with Dr Roderick Willstrop at the University of Cambridge IoA. Willstrop in the 1980s designed the 3 Mirror Telescope which he then used for 12 years to photograph distant stars and planets. Willstrop’s historic use of photography was as a tool to support his scientific studies whereas in contrast, Rickett’s use was for artistic values.

The work seeks to find common ground between the practices of the two individuals. Something that Rickett in her interviews with Sharon Boothroyd for Photoparley, November 2013 describes as mainly failing. However, by utilising some of Willstrop’s original negatives but printing them herself Rickett adds an artistic interpretation to what were originally produced as scientific artefacts. Rickets adds a number of her own images to add context.

Again, Objects in the Field is not chronological. There would have been a timeline to Ricketts time with Willstrop and she describes this within her interview. It makes sense not to present the images chronologically because whilst research is chronological the outcome is not fully clear until the end of the process. These images allow the viewer to appreciate Rickett’s conclusion, which was only fully formed at the end of her time with Willstrop.

My Reflection.

I feel very comfortable with the postmodernist approach of rejecting a chronological narrative. A lack of chronological structure resonates with the way my own thoughts meander and jump about when taking in a scene. For me Calle’s work was the more compelling and adhered more closely to my understanding of the postmodernist rejection of chronology. She had a story to tell and she did so in a postmodernist way. Rickett’s work didn’t present itself to me as a story, it appeared to me as more a presentation of the result of her studies.

References.

Harris C. (2010) Sophie Calle’s Take Care of Yourself [online], A-N [website] available from:  https://www.a-n.co.uk/reviews/sophie-calle-take-care-of-yourself/, last accessed 03/04/2020

Tate Shots. (2007) Sophie Calle: Dumped by Email [online], Tate website, available from: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/sophie-calle-2692/sophie-calle-dumped-email, last accessed 03/04/2020

Chrisafis A. (2007) He Loves me Not [online] The Guardian website, available from: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/jun/16/artnews.art, last accessed 03/04/2020

Franchi D. (2014) Exhibition Object in the Field by Sophy Rickett at the Grimaldi Gallery, London [online] London Art Reviews Website, available from: https://londonartreviews.wordpress.com/2014/03/13/exhibition-object-in-the-field-by-sophy-rickett-at-the-grimaldi-gallery-london/, Last accessed 03/04/2020

Rickett S. (n.d.) Objects in the Field [online], Sophie Rickets.com, available from: https://sophyrickett.com/objects-in-the-field-1, last accessed 08/04/2020

https://holliwomble2.home.blog/

Brief

Findings

Paul Seawright is a Professor of Photography and Head of the Belfast School of Art at the University of Ulster. His work is held in many museums and he has written multiple books on photography.

Seawright’s work Sectarian Murders revisits some of the sites of Sectarian attacks that took place close to where he grew up in the 1970s. He provides context to each of the images by using clips of the editorial from newspapers of the time.

I found Seawright’s work challenged my idea of what constituted fine art photography. The images do not appear to be carefully composed, they appear in the main to be snapshots of the fairly unphotogenic areas of Belfast. The images are at times uncomfortable viewing but I am uncertain how much of that is created by the context supplied by the newspaper clips, or by my own recollection of the reporting of events at that time.

At first viewing, I could only see the documentary nature of the images, the obvious message being “these are the sites of historic sectarian murders”. When I began to see these images as art was when I recognised how they were conveying to me far more than the initial message. I noted that these locations include scenic locations as well as decaying, economically deprived areas. Overall the images capture the poverty and social conflict of the time. I started to reflect on how the victims felt and what they would see at the time of their death. I remembered the locations and the people that I met on my visits to Belfast in the 1990s which contrasted so strongly with the reported atrocities of the time.

Considering Seawright’s core argument that documentary photographs need to convey their message very quickly because they will not be viewed for very long. That there will be an obvious meaning within an equally obvious context that can be manipulated by the photographer or the editor to direct the viewer to what they want them to see or understand. I agree with him.

I also agree that fine art photographs, much like paintings from some of the old masters, allow the viewer to take their own meaning from the image. I believe that ultimately you may uncover a similar meaning to that intended by the photographer but you may not.

Where I struggle with a clear definition, as offered by Seawright, is that many of the “fine art” images we see today were originally created as a documentary photograph. Dorothea Lange’s image “Migrant Mother” which was created whilst she worked for the FSA is a very well known documentary image that is now considered fine art.

By taking a documentary image and redefining it as fine art there is a risk that the original meaning of the image will change. By changing the external context the viewer’s response to the image will change. A documentary photograph’s meaning will be affected by the publication or media that it is shown in. It will be affected by the time that it is published. Events of the time or social background of the viewer will change how the viewer interacts with the image.

By removing much of the original context the fine art image will become something else. However, if the viewer is aware of the original context to the image, some of the original meaning may be experienced but there is a risk that it will be diluted, either by time or the viewer’s life/social experience.

Bibliography

Seawright. P. (2019) Paul Seawright. [Online] Available from http://www.paulseawright.com Last Accessed 18/06/2019.

Furness L. (2012). Art vs Photography My Photo-philosophy and Inspirations. [Online].  Furness Photography. Available from http://www.furnessphotography.com/blog/art-versus-documentary-my-photo-philosophy-and-inspirations. Last accessed 18/06/2019.

Research:

Early adopter’s of colour photography include Saul Leiter, who is one of my favorites and Ernst Haas. Both were experienced, professional photographers, making a living from commercial (black and white) photography before embracing colour film. In the sixties and early seventies colour was not accepted for documentary or “serious” photography. It was regarded by many as being too close to advertising and distanced from the reality of the moment. Saul Leiter’s early colour work was purely personal images that he captured for his own pleasure. Leiter experimented with colour. One exaple of this is his using overheated or aged film stock. His photobook “Early Colour” showcases the results.

Where Leiter’s colour images used soft and muted tones Haas used far more saturated colours and more contrast. Some of Haas’ work is showcased on the website: http://ernst-haas.com/homepage/ 

• What difference does colour make to a genre that traditionally was predominantly black and white?

From the sixties through to the beginning of the eighties colour photography was the domain of amateur snapshots and advertising. Bate (2009) stated “The argument in documentary cinema as much as in documentary photography was that colour was “too easy”, “superficial” and “cosmetic”, too close to advertising (as openly fake).”

It took until the eighties for colour to make it into the documentary photography. I remember the first newspaper coming into print called “Today” with colour images. I believe that the newspaper failed in the nineties, but by then other newspapers had followed Today’s lead and adopted colour printing. I remember how odd it seemed to have colour pictures in a newspaper and I would have to agree at that time that colour images carried less gravitas. Today this has completely changed. Colour images are the norm.

The images of Leiter and Haas show “how” street photography embraced the use of colour. Colour has the ability to lead the eye, the reading of colour images is very different from monochromatic ones. When used correctly it adds to an image even perhaps making the viewing experience more enjoyable. Haas’ images of bullfighters in his collection “motion” puts colour to great use, pull our eyes towards the swirling of the cape. Our eyes seem drawn to vibrant colours especially the red tones.

• Can you spot the shift away from the influence of surrealism (as in Cartier-Bresson’s work)?

Cartier-Bresson’s “decisive moment” photography created images that conveyed a meaning beyond the image itself. His images have an almost staged feel due to his eye for the geometry that is so appealing to the viewer. Many of his images show humour others capture emotion. They are all very slickly composed.

I considered the question, if Cartier-Bresson’s images had been taken with colour film would the compositions feel as perfectly created? I doubt that they would. These images were made in monochrome, monochrome excludes the distraction of colour and allows the viewer to observe the subjects and the geometry just as Cartier Bresson had intended. Imagine the brightly coloured poster in “Derrière la Gare Saint-Lazare” it would have ruined the image, distracting from the subject and his decisive moment of suspension above the puddle.

Helen Levitt’s colour work is different from Cartier Bresson’s in two obvious ways; Firstly her style is a much straighter documentary style. She appears to be recording her surroundings rather than looking for a decisive moment or a scene in which she waits for the right person to come along. Secondly she uses the colours in the scene to creative effect, and she is equally careful not to allow colour to detract from her subject.

These differences are not a surprise. Colour street photography is very different to monochrome because of the strong colours present in everyday life. Compositions must take account of colours and the effect that they will have on our perception. The “Decisive Moment” has become less fashionable today and Levitt’s colour work reflects this. Her images remind me more of Robert Frank’s “The Americans” but in colour with their gritty realness.

• How is irony used to comment on British-ness or American values?

We are seriously good at irony here in the UK. Verbal and situational irony is intrinsic to our sense of humour and daily communication. Social media is overflowing with ironic memes poking fun at politicians, celebrities and anyone who really ought to know better.

Examples of ironic street images taken from google images include:

References/Bibliography:

Blott. U. (2018). Isn’t it ironic?. [Online] Mailonline. Available from:  https://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-5234441/Hilarious-pictures-irony-best.html. Last Accessed 08/06/2019.

Forbes. T. (2013). The role of colour in photography. [Online]. The Art of Photography. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y6y9PUB69VM

Forbes. T. (2013). Saul Leiter. [Online]. The Art of Photography. Available from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJdIJkt3Gz8. Last Accessed 08/06/2019.

Haas E. (2019) Homepage. [Online]. Ernst Haas Estate. Available from: http://ernst-haas.com/homepage/. Last accessed 08/06/2019.

Kim. E. (2019). Henri Cartier-Bresson was a Master Surrealist Painter. [Online]. Eric Kim Photography. Available from: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2017/12/25/henri-cartier-bresson-was-a-master-surrealist-street-photographer/. Last Accessed 08/06/2019.

Kim. E. (2019) 7 lessons Helen Levitt taught me about street photography.  [Online]. Eric Kim Photography. Available from: http://erickimphotography.com/blog/2014/06/06/7-lessons-helen-levitt-has-taught-me-about-street-photography/. Last accessed 08/06/2019.

Leiter. S. (2016). Early Colour. Fr Ed. Gottingen: Steidl.

Leiter. S (1957) Red Umbrella. [Online]. Museum of Fine Arts Boston. Available from: https://www.mfa.org/collections/object/red-umbrella-499028. Last Accessed 08/06/2019.

Levitt H. (2008). Helen Levitt 2nd Edition. [Online] Powerhouse Books. available from: http://www.powerhousebooks.com/books/helen-levitt-2nd-edition/. Last Accessed 08/06/2019.