“To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.” -- Elliott Erwitt
I began this investigation by looking into the concept of diptychs; why we use them, their direct effect and how the use of diptychs accidentally came about. Luke Fowler, filmmaker, generated the double image of diptychs by using a half frame camera exposing both images with a 35mm frame. Fowler spoke about the way a photograph captures what the blink of an eye may miss, however, this shot may not be entirely reliable as the eye itself has not seen this version of that split second. This made me question the concept of photography being a reliable narrative and its ability to capture ‘real life’. I also found that the diptych narrative questions photography’s authenticity to be able to capture an account in one single frame. I created my own diptychs, using the ‘Andigraff’ app on my phone - I played around with various settings, using the medium format 35mm film in colour, black and white and redscale. Experimenting this way was really enjoyable as it was so easily accessible and I didn’t really have an idea of how the diptych would turn out, so there was an anticipation to wait for the image and see if these two images had worked well together.
Following this, I researched several photographers who had made photo books. I established an interest in William Klein’s ‘Life is good and good for you in New York’. It has an informal feeling to it which is displayed through the ‘messy’ presentation of the streets of New York. Like the approach of Daido Moriyama, I believe that images being in black generates a sense of mystery and ambiguity. We are so used to seeing the world and photographs in colour that the removal of colour in photographs makes us question what we are seeing. This is, of course, the opposite of the situation of most of photography history when colour either didn’t exist or was viewed as cheap and unfitting for art photography. I particularly was drawn to the way Klein captured all of the small and large things of what New York was made of: from the people, to the streets as well as the mundane and everyday things.
The link between visual pleasure and logic is something which definitely can’t be ignored - you can see that there has been thought into putting certain images with another to fit a specific theme. I’d also enjoyed the works of Osma Harvilahti, who captures his images with a sense of intimacy and placelessness. Unlike Klein, Harvilahti uses vibrant colours within his images and there is often a visual connection between his images through colour, rather than subject itself. Both artists successfully captured the pro-active energy of a certain culture. I felt most connected to Klein and Moriyama as the passion within their images really showed through and I had always been drawn to this type of street photography.
Next came a mini project named ‘Please, please, please let me get what I want this time’. I made a sequence of images following 10 set of rules in 2 hours. Naturally, I wasn’t too sure how to start this as it was unplanned- so I looked on pinterest to see other people’s sequences. There, I didn’t really find anything that I liked so I picked up the book ‘blink’ and found 3 images which interested me: one of Marc Asnin, one of Rose Farrel + George Parkin last of Dieter Huber. I particularly liked that each of these images had an element of human touch/desire within them, which I thought would nicely link back to the title. As this task wasn’t planned, I feel that the narrative I was trying to tell wasn’t so clear as I was just going with what images I liked at that particular moment rather than planning a structure. I then realised that planning was a vital part of how my outcome would turn out, for future works. Often, I would rush a sequence without playing around with it too much.
I then went back to researching artists, and came across the work of Duane Michals. His work really appealed to me as an expressionist who captured the deeper and almost unseeable things of life and death. His images had a ‘vintage’ feel to them which I was drawn to as well as them being in black and white, which enhanced the contrast within and made the images seem quite delicate. I particularly found it interesting that Michal’s had the view of wanting his images to be quiet and ‘whisper’ as this leads the audience to go up to and question the image. Also, I liked the idea that photo books, as opposed to an exhibition or an online slideshow etc, are more effective for the audience as you are able to ‘feast’ on the book and it stays with you for a long time rather than you just simply viewing it, then leaving. After researching Michals, I watched Chris Marker’s ‘La Jetée’ where I found that the sequencing of the film was really vital in the way it affected the viewer. This film can be said to be an artistic expressionism rather than just ‘a film’. As much as the message of this film is powerful, it’s the particular ordering of images/videos that they’re in which makes it so endearing. This film helped me to understand how important sequencing your images really is and made me consider how I could possibly sequence my future images.
Next came a small task where I wrote down several random things which I had thought about throughout the day, despite unimportance, and then photograph. The smallest details had been processed in my mind that day: my friend's bra strap, somebody's eye which had caught my eye in the canteen, painted lines on the floor which were somewhat tarnished, my friend's camouflage coat, plants, the length of a friend's hair, the cracks on a friend's phone. There were many other things which I wasn't able to capture, such as the irregular breathing of a peer. I then sequenced these images which I found slightly difficult as I didn’t instantly find a link between each image. I made 3 diptychs with the link of tone, lines, colour and subject matter. I found that doing small tasks like this helped to build my confidence in sequencing and taking images that related, in less obvious of ways.
After this came two mini projects which I worked on named ‘The photolist’ and ‘The Art of Instruction’. For ‘The photo-list’, I had to capture 36 images of a specific list of things. I could interpret these in any way and capture the images as I wish. This task really allowed me to explore what kind of photographer I was/intended to be and showed me that each image I chose had a quirk to it, making the images really particular. I thoroughly enjoyed experimenting on this task as it allowed me to build on what I already enjoyed: taking images of day-to-day items, with a quirk. For ‘The Art of Instruction’, my instructions were:
1. Go to a dark alleyway 2. Press yourself up against a wall. Capture every detail you can see in a series of photographs 3. Jump 18 steps in one direction and spin whilst taking photographs 4. Find a forest and capture the spooky/eerie atmosphere. Make a diptych.
At first, I found this to be quite an odd set of instructions, however, when actually taking the images and putting everything together- I really appreciated the outcome of the task. I didn’t struggle to approach this task as it was very straight forward and detailed in itself without me having to question much. Typically being a spontaneous photographer who often photographs by chance, this was quite a different experience for me as I was given specific guides to follow. All in all, this task was really enjoyable and I definitely believe it helped me become more confident about my final outcome. This task also let me see the beauty of simple, everyday objects that we take for granted. At this point, I realised that my images typically steer towards street photography and this is what I wanted my photobook to be inspired by.
I then started to look into the process of making a photobook, and how the photobook came about. I found that there were two types of photo books: ‘zines’ and ‘on demand’. As zines can be made at anytime by hand, and done so quite easily, I make a mock of my photobook which allowed me to have a rough idea of how my book would turn out. I spent a lot of time thinking about how to sequence the images and what images to even include in the book. This task was really insightful in the way I was able to see how my real photobook would turn out. The hardest part of this was deciding how to sequence my images, but it was good practise before I did the real thing. I really liked the concept of my photobook which essentially captured ‘nothingness’ and the gritty, tough bits which are missed by people on a day-to-day basis. The images worked really nicely together, however, could have been a better quality. As the images I ultimately chose for my photobook were taken from both a digital camera and my phone, the quality throughout the book remained unstable.
After this photo book, however, I wasn’t too keen on photographing what I initially chose for the book therefore decided to change my project theme to the body, and posture in a sense. I decided that I would rather put my energy into something that I was genuinely interested in instead of doing something that I was only interested in for a small while. I realised that street photography was something that I was naturally comfortable with, so I always steered towards photographing that. I’d never really given other types of photography a chance, and at this point I got quite bored of street photography. I started by researching Bill Brandt’s work, alongside Francessca Woodman who I really liked the works of. I then interpreted the work of these artists and created a series of images which I wasn’t particularly keen on. Like most of my first experiments, I find that the images tend not to turn out how I ideally picture them. I then develop/refine my thoughts and ideas, where my experiments seem way more fitted and expressive of my thought.
Stumbling across Katie Cooke’s pinhole self portraits ‘slowlight’, I was inspired to make my own pinhole camera and take some images motivated by these. Despite some struggles along the way making this camera, I was incredibly happy with my first outcomes as they were perfectly exposed and actually worked. Along the way of taking these images, I’d lost a few of my pinholes which was quite frustrating as they worked really well, however, I continued to take more. I found taking a break from digital photography was really refreshing and almost quite needed at this point. Sometimes, photographing digitally can get repetitive, thus seemingly boring. Which is another reason I grew fond of taking pinholes, there’s this excitement of not knowing exactly how your image will turn out straight away. Whether good or bad, you’re able to divulge in a process from start to finish, which for me was really satisfying. There’s also a particular abstract expression which pinhole cameras give to an image, I feel.
Despite this, I did end up taking more images digitally and these were my final selection of images to choose from for my final piece. I did, however, have an aim for these images to be extremely abstract of the body and in no way easily identifiable. Using these images, I picked out a final selection of images