When photographing people in a reportage style I take a lot of images. It is important to capture the emotion of the moment and it can be easily lost if the subject of the photograph is blinking or the expression on their face is not right.
For my first assignment in the Context and Narrative unit I took approximately 250 images, these images were eventually distilled down to approximately 14. To achieve this I applied the same workflow that I use for the majority of my work. It flows something like this:
Import the images from the SD card onto the computer hard drive.
Use Adobe Lightroom importer and catalogue to store the images in an appropriately named folder, such as: Pictures/Photography Coursework/PH4CAN 1/The Photograph as a Document/A1 Two Sides of The Story/
Rename the images to reflect the subject (Subject Name (HK) – 001 etc.) this is a new step suggested by my tutor.
Add the files to a new collection with a recognisable name and sync the collection with the Adobe Cloud so that I can access or edit the images from other devices.
Print (to JPEG) all of the images as a contact sheet and save in the same file structure.
Cull any poor images, such as those where the focus has been missed or the subject is blinking etc.
Double click the first image and then using arrow keys to go through every image. Images that meet the “poor” criteria mark for deletion (“x” key)
Complete the cycle twice, reviewing the decisions and then delete the images.
Repeat the process using the star ratings to identify possible selections
Use the number keys 1 through to 5 to markup each image according to the following key: 3 stars = Possible 4 stars = Good 5 stars = Best
When marking up the images consider the brief and how each image might suit it.
Repeat the cycle several times to be sure that the selection is correct
Filter out all but 5-star images and review them again as above.
Be ultra-critical. Any that may not make final images reduce to 4 stars until you have a small number of final images.
Sleep on it
Consider the brief and review the final images in the context of the brief.
Further refine the final images.
Review the 4-star images and look for any the might be promoted. Consider how these images might add further interest to the essay or improve upon it.
Review the 3-star images and look for any that might be promoted.
Sleep on it (time permitting)
Edit the “final Images” in the develop module
Export the final images as JPEGs into a subfolder to the original entitled “Finals”
I have created a preset save function to do this which sizes the images to OCA recommendations
I have found that it is easier at the initial stage to remove images that you don’t want to use rather than choose those that you do. It is far faster and it is easier to be highly critical than it is to choose “best” images.
I have stopped documenting my workflow here at the point at which the images could be used on my Blog posts. For images that are to be printed I have a separate workflow which includes image proofing, further editing and test printing for colour matching.
The following is the feedback received from my tutor Gary Clarkson following my submission of Assignment 1: Two Sides of The Story.
Overall Comments
A well progressed experimental submission whilst honest and aware of limitations and
descriptive tendencies. Some teething trouble with submissions – putting them on the blog first rather than sending as files to then revise – but really quick response to the request and refined already. Broad ‘discourses’ surrounding narrative strategies and storytelling for this level are being researched and engaged with (of course more to do). Honest self-reflection and engagement with more difficult concepts ( strait v expressionistic visual language and linear/associational modes of storytelling), as well as apt critical references (Azoulay) self-aware constructive and an imaginative interpretation working within the constraints of a reportage.
Assignment
Awareness of a good breadth of contexts and debates supporting your growing knowledge and understanding. Work through the various techniques and problems – such as use of photoshop v a more useful software such as Lightroom (if available) and consider a third person write up which also draws from the blog as research (even referencing your own blog) this will give you the building blocks for a good written proposal and self-evaluation for the formal and conceptual elements of the assignment. I’ve enclosed your reflection write up with annotations (which include artists to look at further) so won’t repeat them here but summarise below the main points.
Assessment potential
Assignment 1
You may want to get credit for your hard work and achievements with the OCA by formally submitting your work for assessment at the end of the module. More and more people are taking the idea of lifelong learning seriously by submitting their work for assessment but it is entirely up to you. We are just as keen to support you whether you study for pleasure or to gain qualifications. Please consider whether you want to put your work forward for assessment and let me know your decision when you submit Assignment 2. I can then give you feedback on how well your work meets the assessment
requirements.
Feedback on assignment
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Quality of Outcome, Demonstration of
Creativity
• Development of good visual and technical skills, and use of the reportage storytelling.
• Consider other modes (see – readings) but don’t negate the fact that it’s a worthwhile
endeavour and well handled.
• Caption images and begin to use a file name which is easier to both reference (for me) as well as in line with practice for submission to libraries/agencies etc. eg instead of
‘_K3P9811’ try ‘Neil Williams exhibition (gallery?) HK001 (where the is the first in series and HK is your initials. This will encourage and interpretation by the viewer as well as have currency in the future if it was sent to a publisher/library.
• Layout of images on the blog doesn’t do them justice. Use comparison of inner/outer
outside/behind the scenes juxtaposed perhaps?
• Would be good to see all the images you shot (if there are more) in a contact print and
show why you selected them. Eg, _K3P9656 and _K3P9892 are essentially saying or about
the same thing. Similarly _K3P9659 and _K3P9661 (do you need the close up – its about
context). Stepping back (if able) to show the champagne in context with the gallery space
too would have worked (_K3P96860)
Coursework
Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills, Demonstration of Creativity
• Use the study of others to influence your own work and self-reflections of that work.
• For example, you could have shown your work for this assignment in the same way as the Sarah Pickering to show comparisons.
• It looks like you have read Barrett’s contexts with your statement that ‘external context is, I think, intrinsic to how these images are viewed’. Do reference these in your self-reflection
• Include an indication of process records in your blog such as contact prints (annotated)
and lightroom/photoshop records of how you corrected selected images.
• There are two levels of research here: visual/process and contextual/historical.
• They are both working well and well documented in your learning log.
• I would encourage you to engage with your peers via OCA’s discuss site if not already done so. OCA blogs: an outline of the different storytelling modes such as Chloe Dewe Matthews using a more associational visual language rather than a strict linear narrative: https:// http://www.oca.ac.uk/weareoca/creative-arts/photography-that-gets-people-looking-thinking-
and-talking/
• Your reflections on the blog are critical and appropriate.
• Particularly enjoyed your reflections on ‘Do images of war provoke change?’ it was
insightful and shows confidence with critical references. Use this similar research to delve into debates or processes particular to the assignment – such as storytelling modes, process/selection or representation of the ‘artist’. You can then reference this in the self-
reflection. See ‘visual stance’ below.
• Make comments on the OCA blogs which match this on going research so that you are
talking part in the discourse. See weareoca in ‘readings’ below.
Suggested reading/viewing
Context:
‘Visual Stance’
‘Strait’ v Snapshot or ‘Reportage’ Gaze
Although beyond this assignment, for the future reference. In order to get the ‘dichotomy’ between a ‘reportage way of working and a more ‘considered’ view: Tod Papageorge: Frank and Evans, An Essay on Influence. On ‘American Suburb X web site: http://www.americansuburbx.com/2010/07/theory-walker-evans-and-robert-frank.html
Consider the main readings on this concept (if you haven’t already done so).
Walker, J (2009) Context as a determinant of photographic meaning PDF Enclosed.
Barrett T (1986) Photographs and Contexts PDF Enclosed.
Pointers for the next assignment/assessment
• Continue Learning log that records your ‘artistic journey’ and matches assignment with
critical readings.
Strengths Areas for development
Strong technically with considered formal
coherence.
one or two images ‘say the same thing’ so include
other contextual images
Reportage storytelling is well formed use your research (such as David Hurn and Joel
Colberg) to discuss alternative narrative.
Links with your own work Consider third person writing for the essay showing an analysis of why the practitioners you mention use the strategies they do.
Tutor name Garry Clarkson
Date 01 August 2019
Next assignment due 10 October 2019
This assignment is designed to give your tutor a feel for your work and won’t count towards your final grade if you decide to have your work assessed. However, the assessors may wish to see it so that they can gauge your progress across the course.
Create at least two sets of photographs telling different versions of the same story. The aim of the assignment is to help you explore the convincing nature of documentary, even though what the viewer thinks they see may not, in fact, be true. Try to make both sets equally convincing so that it’s impossible to tell which version of the images is ‘true’.
It might be interesting to consider the project as evidence for a court case. What conflicting stories can you make your images convincingly tell? Would it stand up in court? However, you choose to interpret the brief, ensure the images are candid and ‘taken from real-life’. Be experimental and take some risks. Perhaps you could make a list of ideas and choose the most challenging or absurd option to stretch yourself.
Send your sets of images to your tutor by the method you’ve agreed to. Include an introduction of 300 words outlining what you set out to do and how you went about it. Also, send to your tutor the relevant pages of your learning log or your blog URL.
Approach:
I struggled with the use of the word “truth” It suggests that there is only one truth and the alternative is lies. The world contains many “truths” all of which may be an accurate summary of events but from a different perspective or a different time. Ariella Azoulay (B. 1962) establishes in her work “Civil Imagination – A Political Ontology of Photography” that whether an individual, seen as a terrorist or as a freedom fighter, is merely a judgment based upon the perspective of the observer, or upon the time within which events take place.
I have avoided differentiating between truth and falsehood. Both of the sequences shown are, from my perspective, true, but I have to leave it to the viewer to take from the images whatever they perceive as the truth. I will have subconsciously created connotations or suggestions within the compositions which expose my thoughts and feelings about the subject matter.
The objective of this work is to contrast the opening of a brand new gallery space in the center of Cowes on the Isle of Wight and its pomp and ceremony with the “behind the scenes” reality of the hard work necessary to make it happen. Both sets of prints are the truth, but the perspectives are very different.
The gallery space was created within three dilapidated buildings on Cowes High Street and required significant physical effort, financial risk, and determination on Neil’s part in order to make it happen. The buildings have been combined and transformed over a period of six weeks into a functioning gallery, printing and framing space.
The intent was to capture the physical effort and stress involved in creating the gallery but also to include a subtext about the daily workload of a local fine art photographer. The work includes images that show the making of frames and stretching of canvases as these are a major part of Neil’s workload. Images of Neil with his family provide background context and an image of the entire team responsible for the work is included for further context.
The Opening Event images capture a party atmosphere but also attempt to show the necessary gloss applied to the underlying hard work. It was equally important to capture the celebration and pride in the achievement of Neil, his family, and a small team.
Revised Image Selection:
Contact Sheets:
Bibliography:
Azoulay A. (2015), Civil Imagination: A Political Ontology of Photography, Verso, London.
This assignment is designed to give your tutor a feel for your work and won’t count towards your final grade if you decide to have your work assessed. However, the assessors may wish to see it so that they can gauge your progress across the course.
Create at least two sets of photographs telling different versions of the same story. The aim of the assignment is to help you explore the convincing nature of documentary, even though what the viewer thinks they see may not, in fact, be true. Try to make both sets equally convincing so that it’s impossible to tell which version of the images is ‘true’.
It might be interesting to consider the project as evidence for a court case. What conflicting stories can you make your images convincingly tell? Would it stand up in court? However, you choose to interpret the brief, ensure the images are candid and ‘taken from real-life’. Be experimental and take some risks. Perhaps you could make a list of ideas and choose the most challenging or absurd option to stretch yourself.
Send your sets of images to your tutor by the method you’ve agreed to. Include an introduction of 300 words outlining what you set out to do and how you went about it. Also, send to your tutor the relevant pages of your learning log or your blog URL.
Approach:
When I read this brief I struggled with the use of the word “truth” It suggests that there is only one truth and the alternative is lies. I believe that the world contains many “truths” all of which may be an accurate summary of events but from a different perspective or a different time. Ariella Azoulay (B. 1962) establishes in her work “Civil Imagination – A Political Ontology of Photography” that whether an individual, seen as a terrorist or as a freedom fighter, is merely a judgment based upon the perspective of the observer, or upon the time within which events take place.
In my assignment, I have avoided differentiating between truth and falsehood. Both of the sequences shown are, from my perspective, true. There may be connotations or suggestions in the images that I have subconsciously created within the compositions. I have to leave it to the viewer to take from them whatever they perceive as the truth.
Last month I started a new job, working for a Neil Williams, a landscape photographer based on the Isle of wight. This fantastic opportunity allowed me to be involved in the creation of a new gallery space in the center of Cowes. The building was very dilapidated and required significant physical effort, financial risk, and determination on Neil’s part in order to make it into a functioning gallery, framing and printing space. I took my camera to work over the first month and photographed the preparatory work and the resulting gallery at its official opening.
My objective has been to compare the perspective of those looking at the completed gallery and the pomp of the opening night with the behind the scenes reality of Neil’s hard work to make it happen and to make it a successful business. Both sets of prints are the truth, but the perspectives are very different.
Images:
The Gallery Opening
A Photographer’s Reality
Bibliography
Azoulay A. (2015), Civil Imagination: A Political Ontology of Photography, Verso, London.
Instead of using double exposures or printing from double negatives we now have the technology available to us to make these changes in post-production, allowing for quite astonishing results.
Use digital software such as Photoshop to create a composite image that visually appears to be a documentary photograph but which could never actually be.
To make a composite image you need to consider your idea and make the required amount of images to join together.
Upload the images and decide which image you’ll use as your main image and background. Use the magic wand to select sections of an image from the others you wish to move into your background image. Copy via layer and drag into the background. Do this repeatedly until you have all the pieces of your puzzle in place. In order to make it more convincing, use the erase tool on each layer to keep the edges soft and to create a better illusion. Be aware of perspective and light and shadows for the most effective results.
Approach:
This exercise came about at a time when I have been looking carefully at alternatives to Adobe CC. I used Affinity Photo on an Apple iMac some time ago before moving to Adobe and I have a fondness for it because it was the first of such applications that I had ever used. So when I purchased an iPad and pencil last week I wanted to use it, together with Affinity Photo. to work on this exercise.
I felt that this exercise came at an extremely early stage in the degree course as to successfully fool the eye with a composite image is quite a skill and one that is perhaps honed over many years. The online tutorial videos make the manipulations look easy but clearly, the presenters are experts in their art. I, unsurprisingly, am not! Be prepared to be underwhelmed.
For me, the obvious choice of subject matter was the current political protagonists in the latest elusions and delusions being presented by those that feel they know what is good for us. The latest theatrical event being the election of a new Prime Minister which brought me to my choice of candidate.
I selected just one figure for my composite image but in creating it I had to apply rather a lot of manipulation. I chose a background as far from the nature of this individual as I could find, that of a Buhdist Monk. I intended for the image to have a level of contextual humour that could be supported by any number of backstories.
My opinion of this work is that I do not show any kind of flare for image manipulation . But I enjoyed trying, enjoyed attempting humour and caricature and if I have more time later in the course I might try and improve on this one.
Look at some more images from this series on the artist’s website.
How do Pickering’s images make you feel?
Is Public Order an effective use of documentary or is it misleading?
Findings
Images from Sarah Pickering’s work “Public Order”
Pickering’s images evoke complex emotions. At first glance they remind me of the lesser successful of 1960s and 1970s urban constructions. The streets are eerie, possibly because they are unpopulated or perhaps because we subconsciously notice the small indicators that all is not as it appears. The areas of scorched buildings and scorched ground suggest the aftermath of rioting or civil disorder. This generates a feeling of foreboding.
The images where the detail of the fabrication can be seen, for example the top lefthand picture above where the viewer can see the scrubland through the open front door, are strangely less eerie. Once we see the nature of the constructed reality our subconscious concerns evaporate.
Pickering’s Westworld-esque compositions are enjoyable viewing because they present as both documentary, in their straight representation of the police training ground and artistic, through their toying with our emotional response. External context is, I think, intrinsic to how these images are viewed. If viewed without this knowledge some of the images may be considered misleading. However, the longer I have viewed them the more I have been amused and delighted by the subtlety of Pickering’s clever compositions.
Research point: Look online at Paul Seawright’s work, Sectarian Murders.
How does this work challenge the boundaries between documentary and art? Listen to Paul Seawright talk about his work athttp://vimeo.com/76940827 [accessed 24/02/14]
What is the core of his argument? Do you agree with him?
If we define a piece of documentary photography as art, does this change its meaning?
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.
Find a street that particularly interests you – it may be local or further afield. Shoot 30 colour images and 30 black and white images in a street photography style.
In your learning log, comment on the differences between the two formats. What difference does colour make? Which set do you prefer and why?
Approach:
I chose Sandown’s Esplanade and High Street as locations for this exercise. It is not an area that I frequent but I felt that it may be busier than my home town of Ventnor. The towns on the Isle of Wight are often rather quiet. As it transpired it was a good choice with a wide variety of subjects.
Equipment was a Pentax APS-C DSLR with a 50mm f1.7 vintage lens. This required manual focus and a calculated exposure. The Pentax DSLR keeps the lens aperture wide open to aid focussing, until taking the shot. I therefore had to calculate the exposure in full stops based upon the difference between the aperture set on the lens aperture ring and the the lens aperture when wide open (f1.7) then adjusted the exposure compensation accordingly (AV mode, Manual ISO) This is a slower process than with a modern lens and is complicated by the large dynamic range we get on the coast. I shot in RAW which gave me greater flexibility to recover details and post processed in Adobe Lightroom.
When composing, I looked specifically for situations where colour would add interest and also situations where texture and context might be more. important. This may have been less spontanious than composing without thinking and deciding on the format later, but I feel that it made for a better comparison between the differences.
Unfortunately my mobile parking app wouldn’t work on Sandown Esplanade and the parking meter only gave me one hour. So this exercise was also a test of what I could achieve in a fixed timeframe. (Hence the very similar images towards the end)
Images:
Reflection
I have tried to arrange the images to give a direct comparison between similar scenes so that it is possible to look at how colour changes the way in which we see the image.
I enjoyed the challenge of looking for images that suited both format but on occasions I was unable to see what would work best and just took the picture. To my eye, both presentations work. The last two images demonstrate this quite well. The security guard image on the left benefits from the colour pallette. The colours complement each other and add interest without overpowering the subject. The elderly lady image looks beter in monochrome. The colours of the shop front and the vehicles, in what was already a busy scene, distracted from the subject and clashed in an uncomfortable way. In monochrome there is still interest in the background but it does distract.
I found that the colour images allowed blurred images to still be pleasing. The one image that is completely out of focus was a mistake, but when I reviewed it I found the colours and abstract nature pleasing (that might be just my personal taste)
I enjoyed the way that similar or complimentary colours could be used to guide the viewer’s eye through the composition, whereas monochrome images relied more on depth of field, leading lines or other composition rules.
I cannot say that I have a favorite presentation. However, prior to this exercise almost all of my street photography was processed in monochrome. From now on I will be actively looking for opportunities to use colour as I really enjoyed what was for me a new way of seeing.
I have a few favourite images, each for different reasons. My least obvious favourite is the image of the woman in the green top passing by the green construction fence. This image made me feel good because I saw her walking down the street saw the fence and moved into position just in time to take the shot. I also enjoyed the irony of the “kitchen closed” signs on the fenced off demolished building and monochrome. And loved those amazing reds in some of the colour images and how they lead you in.
Do some research into contemporary street photography. Helen Levitt, Joel Meyerowitz, Paul Graham, Joel Sternfeld and Martin Parr are some good names to start with, but you may be able to find further examples for yourself.
What difference does colour make to a genre that traditionally was predominantly black and white?
Can you spot the shift away from the influence of surrealism (as in Cartier-Bresson’s work)?
How is irony used to comment on British-ness or American values?
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.
Haircut – Saul Leiter
Red Umbrella – Saul Leiter
Newspaper Kiosk – Saul Leiter
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/
Pamplona, Spain 1956 – Ernst Haas
Pamplona, Spain 1956 – Ernst Haas
Pamplona, Spain 1956 – Ernst Haas
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.
Helen Levitt 2nd Edition Photobook
Helen Levitt 2nd Edition Photobook
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:
Do you think images of war are necessary to provoke change? Do you agree with Sontag’s earlier view that horrific images of war numb viewers’ responses? Read your answer again when you’ve read the next section on aftermath photography and note whether your view has changed.
My Initial View:
[CAUTION] this article contains a graphic image that some people may find upsetting or disturbing.
In short No! In my limited experience of the times when our country has been at war the photographic evidence from that war, whether action or aftermath has stirred the social conscience but society had very little to do with any decision regarding war. I watched both Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair take us to war. In both cases “the people” did not have a say. We had no say in when the wars ended either. My personal perspective is that I shied away from the terrible images of war shown on television news because they were upsetting to see yet I was powerless to do anything about it.
I agree with Susan Sontag’s opinion that our species suffer from “compassion fatigue” or numbness when continually confronted with images of death, destruction, violence or natural disaster. In a very short space of time, it seems that everything exists has been photographed at least once. In fact, everything that exists has probably been photographed numerous times. Such is society’s need for stimulation that from one “terrible” image to the next we demand “better”, be that more detail, more suspense or more horror and when better isn’t possible we turn to the next best thing – “more”.
Compassion Fatigue appears now to also have become a possible medical diagnosis. (Carter S. B. 2014) This use of the term is different from Susan Sontag’s in that Carter describes the compound effects of the stressful life we live in the world of 24/7 news and media and how this impacts our entire life. Upon reflection, I wonder if this numbness and ability to normalise abnormal sights, events or positions is part of being human. It protects us from distress and helps us to function in difficult moments of our lives. Perhaps it is this capacity and our ability to adapt that has made us such a successful species? The medical diagnosis of compassion fatigue appears to address those of use for whom the natural protective response to one situation followed by several more accumulates to overburden us.
The image below, of 7 year old Jewish boy Sieg Maandag walking through the Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp past lines of dead bodies, apart from showing us the appalling things that we humans can do to one another, demonstrates just how we are able to become numb to and to normalise the atrocities we see in order to survive. This boy was well aware of his surroundings but he had come to accept them.
A small boy strolls down a road lined with dead bodies near the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, 1945. George Rodger—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images
As I view this image today seventy years after the event from my relatively cosseted comfortable existence I am truly horrified and struggle to look. But I recognise that if I was confronted with another image and another on a daily basis I would eventually normalise the scene as did this young boy.
References:
Sontag, S. (1973) On Photography. Kindle Edition. Picador. New York.
Holli Kalina - Photography Coursework 