Session 4: Parts 1, 2 and 3 Photography

Session 4 Photography

Definition: “The art or process of producing images of objects on photosensitive surfaces.”

Tom Stoddart 1998 – a local wealthy man steals a young boy’s bag of mead which he has queued for hours for. Questions role of photographer, should a photographer only look at situations or should they intervene and does intervening change the situation.

I found this a very heart retching image which made me feel I was oblivious to a lot of what’s going on in the world around me. I also felt it highlighted how especially in the 3rd world countries how much the strong and rich pray on the weak.

David Bailey – portraiture – the idea that a facial image depicts something about us.

Weddings – photographs typically very staged with always the classic pictures of the bride and groom, the family, the bridesmaids, never depicting the fuelled emotions and pressures of the day.

Victorian – a Silhouette machine was often used by wealthy families. Victorian age was a time when art, chemistry and science all overlapped as one as new discovery’s were made.


Daguerre 1838/9 – “Boulevard du temple”. The photo was taken by Louis Daguerre in late 1838 or early 1839. It is of a busy street, but because exposure time was over ten minutes, the city traffic was moving too much too fast to be captured. This is the first time a person was captured, because a man was getting his shoes shined.)

Innocence/ Experience: Innocent children playing no views of right or wrong, comfortable and happy with no inbuilt inhibitions of what is seen as right or wrong about the body, adults mind sees images as indecent.


"Bandit's Roost", a Mulberry Street back alley, photographed by Jacob Riis in 1888, a target of police efforts in the 1880s and 1890s.

This image was taken over a long period of time (staged) the photographer had to speak with the people in this alley and direct them accordingly. So could this picture be seen as an un-true depiction of the people down this alley? Do we see what we want to see?

Social Realism – Recording people who were deserving/ undeserving. “Bandits alley”
Understanding places we’ve never been through photography, we making assumptions.
I think it is the artists place to question the values of society because of the powerful effect an image can have on people and the amount of influence an artist can have. But I also think that it’s their responsibility to depict the image as truly as possible and be clear about what their trying to portray.


This is another picture of Mulberry Street by Jacob Riis. I feel conveying quite a different message of colour, livelihood, hard work and hard times.

Art Galleries – day to day situations, i.e. children playing naked, homeless people, cruelty to animals, we ignore on a daily basis but when images are placed in a gallery they become a lot more visible. And in a way I think that this is a very brave and noble act by the photographer as there are too many people in society who have been conditioned to ignore or except the suffering around them, so when the image is put on display it’s like their seeing it for the first time and the instant reaction seems to be to put it back in a box and ignore it because then people don’t have to feel guilty. So I do think it’s the artists place to question the values of society.

David Hockney- documents whole situations in one photo (cubism) “history of optics”

Cotton Mill workers



In Nike I think these are very powerful images not only to look at but the reactions they caused and untimely the effect they’ve had to ban child labour.

“History of Photography” – does this show a certain snobbery of role of photograhpy being something very statuesque and only having room for beauty?

Black and White images – seem to always symbolise art throughout history, I think that black and white seems to symbolise the old and classic, therefore seems to symbolise art, as it only concentrates on the light and dark it almost only gives us half a picture, possibly symbolising some hidden meaning and therefore making us relate it to art.

Ethics

Fashion
Fur, child labour, anorexia, an unhealthy, unrealistic body image, religion, sexual, target audience is young girls, idea of perfection

Photography
Prostitution, Pornography, Glamour, Child abuse, Men or Women taking the images viewed equally? Sexual, Gay, Disease, Drugs. The biggest question is how much responsibility the photographer has in the way an image is viewed, the photographer often manipulates reality in order to produce what they want to portray.

Fine Art
Sexual, Pornography, Child abuse

Ceramics
Body image, Sexual