I found this unit (Part three) very interesting, informative, and as always discovered things about photography, photographers, art and and about myself! I had never really thought about images as windows or mirrors and found it fascinating to see how much of these ideas were in my photos quite unconsciously. Trying to do this the other way round seemed far harder than it should have been, but I think this was down to me not quite knowing what I wanted to show and what part of me or my personality I wanted to show reflected in the community. This seems to be a theme for me and although I am very prepared to be open minded about what I find when I start taking shots, I do need to be firm about what I want the images to say – even if that changes over time. I think this will help and great deal moving forward.

I am also finding the idea of coming back to images more and more helpful. It really does allow a fresh look and the appearance of things that couldn’t be seen originally. Time is an issue with this method, but it is definitely worth doing.

I am really enjoying researching other photographers and during this unit when I was researching editing images for a series, I ended up listening to Spike Lee taking about the way in which he goes about some aspects of his film making. It was fascinating and gave me a bit of a different perspective. I am discovering photographers that I never would have come across and learning a great deal by reading and watching their methods and processes.

Because I have always hated taking “portraits” I have seem to have stayed away from looking in any detail at portrait photographers. I have my favourites such as Annie Leibovitz and I love looking at her portraits. I had never spent time going into her methods or processes for shooting, editing and processing and really wish I had done this earlier. I also discovered a wonderful Boston based photographer called Tyler Mitchel who also creates amazing portraits. I found his explanations of what he was trying to achieve in his images very helpful. This is an area I struggle with and tend to be either far too literal or far too subtle. I looked at some of his images first and then listened to him taking about the idea behind them. When I analysed my feelings and thoughts when I first looked at them, there is no doubt at all that it worked. Quite amazing! (Fig 1-3)

Fig.  1 Tyler Mitchel

“My take on men can get specific. I’m usually always with groups, especially black men. I’m trying to unlock some sort of freedom with them in certain portrait sessions. In this picture, which was cast in England, the five men are gathered together and blended into the landscape and also create a landscape of their own. That speaks to freedom within the group. It was nice because they all formed a shape of unison. There’s one boy turned toward the camera with that silver chain. The other four boys have more optimistic body language. His is more stern or repressed with the chains around him, which are, of course, such an important symbol. It causes you to think about the idea of bling, and posturing and dress and fashion with jewelry in the black community. This picture relates to “Topanga” in that way” Mitchel (2019)

Fig. 2 Tyler Mitchel

“I knew I wanted to make something that was about visualizing unity, but I also wanted a break in that at the same time. The two boys are both Senegalese. I was looking to create a unified image of them, styling them together with one blazer supporting each other. The element of the jacket also ties into my fashion work. Their emotions and their expressions were also totally intentional in terms of making sure one had this look of disdain and the other had a more optimistic look of freedom. This shoot was great because it was the day after I did a very embarrassing commercial shoot, so I was like, “I need to just go make something right now that I really, really care about.” Mitchel (2019)

Fig. 3 Tyler Mitchel

“This one is similar to “Safety Blanket” in that is has a very protective vibe to it, and also because of the orange workers’ coats. This was on a fashion shoot. The subject is actually my best friend, who had twin girls about a year ago. I had also photographed her while she was pregnant. This was our first photo shoot with her twin girls and her boyfriend. I knew I wanted to make this specific American family portrait. It was taken in Howard Beach, which if you know anything about Howard Beach, you know about some of the race riots that were going on in that area in the 1980s. So that’s the subtext. But, again, there’s that same focus on togetherness, family, comfort, caution, safety. All those things for young black families” Mitchel (2019)

Bibliography

Figures 1-3
Nytimes.com. 2022. Tyler Mitchell Wants to Make You Feel Good (Published 2019). [online] Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/us/tyler-mitchell-interview.html&gt;
[Accessed 15 April 2022].

Brief

Choose ONE of the following:

1. ‘Mirror’

Choose a community that you’re already a part of. It could be your child’s nursery or your regular gym class, but it should be something that takes up a substantial amount of your interest and time.
Create a photographic response to how this group informs who you are as a person.

• What aspects of this group or community reflect on you?
• What do you share?
• How does it function as a mirror reflection of who you are?

1. ‘Window’

Use this opportunity to find out about a community that you don’t know much about and tell their story. Get to know them and talk to them; learn by listening and understanding. 
Your aim here is to become an insider. You’re beginning as an outsider so it is important to choose a group that you can spend a lot of time with. Negotiation skills and respect are intrinsic to working well with your subjects and are invaluable skills for your development as a photographer.
Be clear about your intentions and involve your subjects in the process in order to obtain the best results.
What window into this world can you access through your role as a photographer?
In either case you can create as many pictures as you like but, in your reflective commentary, explain how you arrived at the final edit. The set should be concise and not include repetitive or unnecessary images. Be attentive to this aspect of production. Spend some time researching how other photographers seem to edit series of works. There’s helpful advice on editing and sequencing in Maria Short, ​Context and Narrative​ (2011) Lausanne: AVA Publishing.

Some questions to consider are:

• What order should the images be shown in?
• Are there too many repetitive images?
• Do you need to let go of earlier images because the project has changed?
• Are you too close to some of your favourite pictures and they don’t fit the
• sequence?
• Do you need to re-shoot any for technical reasons?
• Are there any gaps that need to be filled?

Send your final series of images to your tutor together with your reflective commentary (500 words) on this assignment.

Assignment Three Research and Planning

I chose the community in which I live, which consists of wide-open green spaces and water ways with playgrounds for children, small independent shops and restaurants and other services such as doctors and dentists. I don’t know many people in the community which is think is often the case these days, but I do know my immediate neighbours and some of the people that work in the shops that I use on a regular basis.

This community is a mix of high-, middle- and low-income households but I would guess that if the whole area or ward that it would come under was scrutinised then the majority would be middle to high (not including students).

During my research and planning, I looked at a definition for the word Community and came up with:

1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage
2.  a locality inhabited by such a group

and would say this is quite close to describing this community.

I tried to put a caption on each image to indicate the connection, but I found this extremely difficult. I went back to some of the questions from the brief instead and answered them in a more general way.

What do you share? We share a love of outdoor spaces and nature, which is evident by how well these areas are looked after and how much they are used. This is also the same for the small shops and services which seem to be thriving and thankfully all survived the lockdown. There is a shared love for things quirky and artistic! Examples of which could fill a photo book by itself!

How does it function as a mirror reflection of who you are? I am very independent, and I have come to realise that this small community is very independent too and has everything it needs for the people who live in and around it. There is a strong sense of family priorities, a love of nature and looking after the environment. These are things I would very much see in myself.

 

Final Images

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Additional work after feed back can be found here

Mirror

The brief for this assignment started with the words “Choose a community that you are already part of” My first thought was that I’m not part of any community! I had a look at a definition for the word Community

1. a social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage
2.  a locality inhabited by such a group

Even though I don’t go to the gym or are part of a group in that sense, I am part of the local community where I live.

The brief asks us to “create a photographic response to how this group informs who you are as a person”
and
“what aspects of this group or community reflect on you?”
“what do you share?”
“How does it function as a mirror reflection of who you are?”

I was a bit confused as to what these questions meant! I decided to think of them in my own terms which was to look at me / my personality and the community and how they fit, does anything about the community mirror who I am?

Going back to the references and photographers mentioned in the student notes for project 1 (Mirrors), they all use themselves in some shape or form in their images. I really don’t like seeing myself in photos

The Finish photographer Elina Brotherus uses self portraits in series of images that are often autobiographical. She deals with deeply personal aspects of her life in her images, often detailing upsetting, and life changing events.

Fig. 1   Annonciation 7, Jour de l’Annonciation. (Brotherus, 2011)

German artist Esther Teichmann

“Esther Teichmann calls for a new way to look at photographs, not as mirrors of, or windows into the world, but as portals between the personal and universal, reality and the supernatural and photography and other mediums. Through the layering of memory, desire, fear, fiction and fantasy, Teichmann uses and extends the photographic medium as a passage between realms of experience and artistic creation. Her work exploits the tension between photography’s relationship to reality and a sense of otherworldly power. For Teichmann, this complex, even troubled relationship with the medium yields a passionate foray into others”  Jessica Brier

Fig. 2  Untitled from Mythologies. (Teichmann, 2015)Both Cindy Sherman and Nan Goldman use themselves in many of their images.  They create provocative and, in some cases, shocking images to try and cut through the blindness of society.

Fig. 3 Nan one month after being battered (Goldin, 1984)

“Cindy Sherman takes pictures of herself that make us feel unsettled. For Cindy the ‘selfie’ is not about looking good: it is a way of making you think” (Bennett and Thapp, 2019)

Fig. 4 Untitled B (Sherman, 1975)

I must admit that while researching these photographers, I found myself starting to feel down and a bit depressed! I certainly wouldn’t want to dismiss any of their work, but after coming through a pandemic, after losing several family members during this time (not related to the pandemic but made harder because of it) and all the other current terrible events (Ukraine) close and further away from home, I suspect I am at saturation point when it comes to life and its realities!

I certainly don’t want to include myself physically in any of the images for this assignment, but that doesn’t mean I won’t! I would very much like to cheer myself up at this point and perhaps at the same time create a series of images that reflects some aspects of me, but in a way that is pleasing, informative and interesting. I do wonder also if some humour is required at this point? I am also not sure if I want to include any people in the images.

When I was thinking of whether to include people or not, I started wondering how including people could help, or indeed hinder. Could I use other people to represent me and how I am reflected in the community? This took me on a rather unexpected journey relating to age and expectations within age groups. I am 61 and it turns out I’m not sure what that is supposed to mean. (I think this issue might be a whole different project!)

I took a few initial shots around the local area with my phone just to get started. I have discovered that if I take a few shots with my phone and don’t think about taking shots with my camera, it helps to reduce the pressure to get shots for assignments and exercises. I decided not to focus too much on the way in which it reflects me or I reflect it but just to spend some time wandering. I realised that there would be parts of the area that I hadn’t paid much attention to before.

My initial shoot reminded me of the first assignment I did a year or so ago (The square Mile).  I do find myself being distracted by all the photo opportunities around me while wandering and I wonder if I don’t push the reflective element, it will come out intuitively?

My next day out and a selection (contact sheet 002) from a great many photos taken (trying out the intuition idea!)

contact sheet 002

I think this might have worked on some level. I can see quirky (365, 367) old fashioned (321,319) Adventurous (348). Camera shy (a few of them have my reflection) In fact I see something about myself and the community in quite a few of these images!

I intend to take some more shots in the same way but have been thinking about the way in which I need to create a series, the editing and sequencing. As suggested in the student notes I had a look at Context and Narrative by Maria short. I found a great quote from British Magnum photographer Marilyn Silverstone. It makes so much sense in relation to so many of the aspects if this unit and this assignment.

“A photograph is a subjective impression. It is what the photographer sees. No matter how hard we try to get into the skin, into the feeling of the subject or situation, however much we emphathize, it is still what we see that comes out in the images, it is our reaction to the subject and in the end, the whole corpus of our work becomes a portrait of ourselves” Silverstone (nd)

Something that kept popping up during my research was the “audience” and that it can often be important for a photographer to know who that will be and in what context the photograph(s) will be viewed. For all the assignments so far there has been a “brief” In some cases a very detailed one. This means that everyone viewing the images will probably know what that brief is. Any series already has this as its narrative.

I found looking at how other photographers work once they have taken the shots very useful. This included a wide range of different types of photographers and photography, including single portraits and series.

I really enjoyed listening to how the Brooklyn based photographer and film maker Tyler Mitchell shoots and selects his images, particularity those where he has a clear intent. Ensuring that everything in the frame has a positive influence on the intent of the shot was something I am beginning to realise is so important. I suspect this is not always possible when shooting in situations with little control, however it is something that I am now thinking about when I look through the viewfinder.

More photos, and this time I was aware that I was taking shots that I liked as well as shots that I thought might work for the assignment. There were also shots that fitted both categories. It was clear that I would have to be careful that I wasn’t just saying something about the location.

Contact sheet 4

My next task is to look at them again and rule out any that are not saying anything about the connection between this community and me. I also need to ensure that I am not including images that say the same thing as other images in the series or are not saying anything at all. It’s very hard not to just select the images that are pleasing to the eye without thinking about the brief!

I used a Adobe bridge to review and rate each image until I had reduced them down to 7 images that I felt reflected me as a person and aspects shared with the community.  It was a tricky process and I got quite confused as to what aspects of me I was looking for! I found that If I categorised the images, it made the selection process a bit easier. I also found that not looking at them for a day helped to clarify my thoughts.  I realised that I hadn’t included many people. This wasn’t a conscious decision, but it just didn’t happen very much. I seemed to be focused on the physical aspects, appearance, and different types of areas within the community. I decided to leave them for a day or so to allow me to take a fresh look.

The student notes asked us to consider the following when looking for the final images

Some questions to consider are:

• What order should the images be shown in?
• Are there too many repetitive images?
• Do you need to let go of earlier images because the project has changed?
• Are you too close to some of your favourite pictures and they don’t fit the
• sequence?
• Do you need to re-shoot any for technical reasons?
• Are there any gaps that need to be filled?

The images don’t need to be in any order as they are not representing a sequence. Any order will be purely down to aesthetics. I don’t believe there are any repetitive images although images 3, 5 and 7 are showing similar open spaces, they are saying something different about how they reflect something about me. None of these images were favourites so I am happy I have managed to steer clear of that trap!

Looking again at the set of images I have so far, I’m not happy with the way the first and last images sit within the series. They seem to be a bit jarring. I think it is because they are so different. Moving them around hasn’t helped so I may need to look for replacements or add in some more to balance them out.

Experimented with a few more images, bringing some new ones in and taking some of the originals out (see below)

I am happier with this last set, but I need to retake the second image (watering cans) I want to get a more interesting angle and get a bit closer so that it fits better with the images around it and it is clearer what they are.

I removed the unicorn image and replaced it with the shops which I’m not sure about, perhaps its too literal. I replaced the watering cans with a closer more interesting shot and I think it works better

Getting the final set and then getting them in an order that looked right took quite a long time. I found that leaving them and coming back was really helping but there are only so many times that can be done! Still not sure about the shops (Img.9)

See Assignment 3 for final versions

Bibliography

Figure 1
Brotherus, E., 2011. Annonciation 7, Jour de l’Annonciation. [image]
Available at: <http://www.elinabrotherus.com/photography#/annonciation/&gt;
[Accessed 5 April 2022].

Figure 2
Teichmann, E., 2015. Untitled from Mythologies. [image]
Available at: <http://www.estherteichmann.com/work&gt;
[Accessed 5 April 2022].

Figure 3
Goldin, N., 1984. [image]
Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/goldin-nan-one-month-after-being-battered-p78045&gt;
[Accessed 5 April 2022].

Figure 4
Sherman, C., 1975. Untitled B. [image]
Available at: <https://www.tate.org.uk/search?type=artwork&q=cindy+sherman&gt;
[Accessed 5 April 2022].

http://www.estherteichmann.com/biography

Bennett, S. and Thapp, M., 2019. The bigger picture. Tate Publishing.

Short, M., 2011. Basics Creative Photography 02. AVA Publishing, p.88. (Marilyn Silverstone)