The Grey Area
In our everyday life, a "grey area" tends to be something we don't really understand, or an area in which we don't have a clear grasp on the concept. The wikipedia definition states : "an ill-defined situation or area of activity not readily conforming to a category or set of rules."
Documentary photography is a style of photography that provides the onlooker with information, it is straightforward and tries to capture the whole truth. It is often used in reports and journalism. The photographs are not set up, they are taken in the moment. The photographers of
Photographs appear as though they are reliable because they capture a moment in time and seem as though they show the truth.
Photographs can be easily taken out of context. They are liable to be doctored, or can be set up entirely, so instead of showing something real that provides information on a specific moment in time, you can show something that is ultimately false. Photographs can be framed in such ways that they focus on something good while excluding the bad. Photographs can be biased.
Contemporary photographers may be suspicious of the reliability of photographs because we now have a clearer knowledge on the many ways in which a photograph can provide us with false information, for example in the media and magazines, models bodies are photoshopped beyond recognition.
Documentary photography is a style of photography that provides the onlooker with information, it is straightforward and tries to capture the whole truth. It is often used in reports and journalism. The photographs are not set up, they are taken in the moment. The photographers of
Photographs appear as though they are reliable because they capture a moment in time and seem as though they show the truth.
Photographs can be easily taken out of context. They are liable to be doctored, or can be set up entirely, so instead of showing something real that provides information on a specific moment in time, you can show something that is ultimately false. Photographs can be framed in such ways that they focus on something good while excluding the bad. Photographs can be biased.
Contemporary photographers may be suspicious of the reliability of photographs because we now have a clearer knowledge on the many ways in which a photograph can provide us with false information, for example in the media and magazines, models bodies are photoshopped beyond recognition.
Opening Exercise
Our first task was to annotate a photograph. There were multiple photographs around the room, one for each person. We had five minutes to annotate the sheet, and then we shared some ideas, had some discussions, and then we passed our photos to the left and repeated the activity with another photo.
This task reinforced this aforementioned idea of a “grey area”- we were given no context, we just had to use our brief understanding of photography to gather some ideas on these photographs. We didn’t know the artist, the body of work, if it was part of a collection; we were working in that grey area, the unknown, unveiled part before everything is revealed.
Jack Latham
Jack Latham is a documentary photographer, and has two main projects that we have given some thought to ; "Sugar Paper Theories", which is a book following an ongoing murder trial, and " Parliament of Owls", a photo book investigating Bohemian Grove, which is a mysterious gathering of the political and business elite that takes place annually. His books tend to be inconclusive; they don't have an ending, they are ongoing. For this reason, Jack Latham describes himself as operating in "the grey area between fact and fiction".
His use of the phrase "grey area" connotes to the ways in which he works with the unknown, tries to make things seem a little bit clearer through his photos.
His use of the phrase "grey area" connotes to the ways in which he works with the unknown, tries to make things seem a little bit clearer through his photos.
Hinting at a story
Our next task was to create a story using photos. I thought this was a relatively simple task, until I heard the catch; we weren’t actually supposed to create a story, just hint at one, make it out as though the photos linked in some way. We were tasked with creating photos and then curating and titling them.
Sugar Paper Theories
In the 1970s, two men went missing in two unrelated cases. One, from a nightclub, another who never returned from a meeting with a stranger after receiving an anonymous phone call. Six men were arrested, drugged, and coerced into confessing for the murder of these two men. Recently, it has been uncovered that these men had no memories of what happened on those nights. An investigation has been launched, to try and uncover the real murderers, and in the process has unearthed how police brutality and drugs have caused such serious cases of Memory Distrust Syndrome.
Memory Distrust Syndrome is a condition that is often a defence or coping mechanism to a preexisting memory altering illness such as Alzheimers or dementia. In this case, though, it was caused by the misuse of drugs, the forced reenactment of scenes of the murders, and the police constantly insisting that they were the murderers. In the end, the six convicted became so mind addled that they confessed to serious crimes that they did not commit.
Jack Latham's project, "Sugar Paper Theories", tries to piece together the events. He meets with the convicted survivors, and photographs the key sites of the investigation. His book works with the known, and tries to find and uncover the unknown.
Memory Distrust Syndrome is a condition that is often a defence or coping mechanism to a preexisting memory altering illness such as Alzheimers or dementia. In this case, though, it was caused by the misuse of drugs, the forced reenactment of scenes of the murders, and the police constantly insisting that they were the murderers. In the end, the six convicted became so mind addled that they confessed to serious crimes that they did not commit.
Jack Latham's project, "Sugar Paper Theories", tries to piece together the events. He meets with the convicted survivors, and photographs the key sites of the investigation. His book works with the known, and tries to find and uncover the unknown.
Parliament Of Owls
Parliament of Owls delves into the mystery surrounding the Bohemian Grove, an annual meeting of the USA's business and political elite.The meeting is a two week trip to Bohemian Grove, in north California, and the events that occur have never yet been revealed. Many conspiracy theories surrounding this have been developed over the years, including things such as human sacrifice, et cetera.
Many people over the years have taken an interest in the Bohemian Grove. There are several references throughout pop culture and in 1989, Philip Weiss gained access to the elite summer camp as a guest, invited by a member after passing a screening. He wrote about it in an article entitled "Inside Bohemian Grove".
In Jack Latham's book, Parliament of owls, he uses photographs and text to relate the photo to the subject he is investigating. By this, I'm talking about the fact that many of the things he photographs don't have any clear relations to Bohemian Grove, and so to add context he will usually focus on the texts in the image. Every single image in his book has an explicit relation to Bohemian Grove His book has hidden pages also, that are folded into the book itself, so the only way to see the full image on these pages would be to split the bottom open.
Many people over the years have taken an interest in the Bohemian Grove. There are several references throughout pop culture and in 1989, Philip Weiss gained access to the elite summer camp as a guest, invited by a member after passing a screening. He wrote about it in an article entitled "Inside Bohemian Grove".
In Jack Latham's book, Parliament of owls, he uses photographs and text to relate the photo to the subject he is investigating. By this, I'm talking about the fact that many of the things he photographs don't have any clear relations to Bohemian Grove, and so to add context he will usually focus on the texts in the image. Every single image in his book has an explicit relation to Bohemian Grove His book has hidden pages also, that are folded into the book itself, so the only way to see the full image on these pages would be to split the bottom open.
“The idea of a context vacuum is a fascinating one,I think it’s only natural that we would want to fill these voids with theories.” Jack Latham
Jack Latham won the BJP international photography award, and said this quote about his series in question, Parliament of Owls. This reflects the nature of his books, the way that he tries to grasp an understanding of topics that are slightly ambiguous .
Jack Latham was not given permission to photograph inside bohemian grove, so therefore none of his photographs are explicit. He photographs around Bohemian Grove, the only images depicting a true photo of bohemian grove are the grainy, blown up images, taken from what looks like a cctv camera. His photos allude to bohemian grove, the text used within the book, we can only really infer what it means in relation. Latham uses a camera to photograph what he can't see, to give meaning to the unknown.
Genre Conventions
For my genre conventions photoshoot, I am planning to go on a journey, take my camera and see what I can find. I want to first have a look around my local area.
My current understanding of a genre convention is that they are all the small, intricate details that allow us to distinguish between genres; in literature, these include features, character archetypes, tropes. In photography, these include the way something is framed, the angle, what objects are featured, where they are placed in a photograph.
A conventional portrait in photography is simply a photograph, most commonly taken in a studio by a photographer, of someone where their face is the main focus of the picture. A way of making it unconventional would be to take a photo of a person but not include their face, for example only photograph legs. Another way is to distort their faces somehow; maybe use mirrors, windows, prisms.
A conventional landscape is very similar; when you think of a conventional landscape, you probably picture a photograph containing a foreground consisting of grass, a mid ground maybe of trees, or a body of water, and the background is the sky. To make it unconventional, disruption, distortion, or simply taking a photograph of a landscape, but one that in itself is unconventional; for example, a row of houses is a landscape, but it wouldn’t fit into our ideas of a landscape because it doesn’t follow this set pattern that we’ve been bought up to recognise.
My current understanding of a genre convention is that they are all the small, intricate details that allow us to distinguish between genres; in literature, these include features, character archetypes, tropes. In photography, these include the way something is framed, the angle, what objects are featured, where they are placed in a photograph.
A conventional portrait in photography is simply a photograph, most commonly taken in a studio by a photographer, of someone where their face is the main focus of the picture. A way of making it unconventional would be to take a photo of a person but not include their face, for example only photograph legs. Another way is to distort their faces somehow; maybe use mirrors, windows, prisms.
A conventional landscape is very similar; when you think of a conventional landscape, you probably picture a photograph containing a foreground consisting of grass, a mid ground maybe of trees, or a body of water, and the background is the sky. To make it unconventional, disruption, distortion, or simply taking a photograph of a landscape, but one that in itself is unconventional; for example, a row of houses is a landscape, but it wouldn’t fit into our ideas of a landscape because it doesn’t follow this set pattern that we’ve been bought up to recognise.
extra photos that i took around my house
My afterthoughts:
I think that this defies the classical genre conventions of a portrait in a number of ways; A portrait is supposed to allow the reader to gain a sense of recognition with the person in it, and i dont feel like this does. For one, the mans face is not shown. And secondly, he's unrecognisable as an individual due t his corporate clothe, his smoking habit. These things add up to portray him as a stereotype of a buisness man
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Slant
Slant is a photo book made by American born photographer Aaron Schuman. Aaron Schuman moved abroad and now currently resides in Bristol, and the photo book was made on a trip back to visit his hometown. On the first page is a poem by Emily Dickinson, an elusive poet who grew up a few towns away from where Schuman lived in Massachusetts. The poem uses a form of rhyme called slant rhyme, which uses half rhymes. It creates an effect of an invisible link, almost a diagonal line connecting all the half rhymes. The poem states that we should "tell all the truth but tell it slant" , and this is what Aaron Schuman has done with his book.
Tell all the truth but tell it slant --
Success in Circuit lies
Too bright for our infirm Delight
The Truth's superb surprise
As Lightning to the Children eased
With explanation kind
The Truth must dazzle gradually
Or every man be blind --
- Emily Dickinson
Photoshoot
My plan is: Photograph around Manor House Gardens
Photograph the people
photograph the places.
To start off my research about the history of my local area, I found a website detailing the ins and outs of hither and lee green throughout the years. I then stumbled across some pages about air bomb shelters, and how my local park was once the site of three shelters, supposedly meant to fit 300 people at once. These air raid shelters have mostly since been removed, as they were situated in locations that weren't very accommodating, such as on the sides of roads in the streets. These public ones were not actually protective, and many people still died in the direct hits. I plan to photograph at the sites of where the shelters once where, to talk to the people at the cafe in the park and see if they know anything, and photograph the local area for any unnoticed remainders of the war that struck the area so disastrously.
Photograph the people
photograph the places.
To start off my research about the history of my local area, I found a website detailing the ins and outs of hither and lee green throughout the years. I then stumbled across some pages about air bomb shelters, and how my local park was once the site of three shelters, supposedly meant to fit 300 people at once. These air raid shelters have mostly since been removed, as they were situated in locations that weren't very accommodating, such as on the sides of roads in the streets. These public ones were not actually protective, and many people still died in the direct hits. I plan to photograph at the sites of where the shelters once where, to talk to the people at the cafe in the park and see if they know anything, and photograph the local area for any unnoticed remainders of the war that struck the area so disastrously.
If you look realy closely, painted on the walls are the words 'Shelter for 600' and 'Shelter for 300'. These are a few of the last remaining signs around the area, barely visible due to age. The sign on Old Road seems to point towards the park, where there were three shelters. The sign on Lee High Road points towards the Alms houses on Brandram Road, which was another location of an air raid shelter, that was recently dug up.
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The old ice house that is currently situated inside manor house gardens is the only remaining known structure of a shelter. On some days you can visit the inside of the ice house, however I was unable to, unfortunately. The reported two other structures are currently unknown, although one is said to be situated under the field, a photo of which I have disclosed >
During the dry summer of 2018, the outline of a structure was visible on the field, next to, but separate, from the ice house. |
Juno Calypso
Juno Calypso is a British photographer who appears to operate in the grey area.
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Attempting to sequence
I gathered some photos to attempt to tell a story...
Experimenting with overlaying: I tried to obscure and create this sense of confusion by making the images as obscure as possible. To do this, I still wanted my photos to be similar to how they were before, just with a little bit Moore abstraction, so I decided to place images over the top, combining them with others of a similar nature, that have abstract links to each other.
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My idea:
I started to think about how to display photos, how we see images in or everyday lives, and how we communicate on a large scale to the masses. The first thought i had was advertisements, and the different ways that these are done, for example electronic signs, rotary signs, tri-vision boards and billboards. I decided on the penultimate option, as it is a way of displaying multiple images, conveying multiple messages at once, that I could create on my own.
I took inspiration from these two photographs, but instead of making it rotate, i decided that making it stationary would add an edge to the idea, and make it harder for the audience to make out the final image.
My reasoning behind the idea of advertisement is that one of the images I thought was crucial to the overall project was the photograph of the sign pointing towards the air raid shelter. In the modern day, the signs would not be written of the walls in paint, but broadcast in a way that would make it unmissable, in the way that modern companies advertise nowadays.
I took inspiration from these two photographs, but instead of making it rotate, i decided that making it stationary would add an edge to the idea, and make it harder for the audience to make out the final image.
My reasoning behind the idea of advertisement is that one of the images I thought was crucial to the overall project was the photograph of the sign pointing towards the air raid shelter. In the modern day, the signs would not be written of the walls in paint, but broadcast in a way that would make it unmissable, in the way that modern companies advertise nowadays.
To Practice Making This I...
Used paper, and
I began to refine this idea, working on a slightly larger scale, and using smaller prisms. The reason for this was because I decided the affect of using larger ones made the image more disjointed, and difficult to make out. I decided I wanted this effect to not be emphasised to such a large extent.
I decided to use card and a scalpel and to score down the sides to create a neater, sharper prism, whereas before I had simply been folding it which proved difficult.
I decided to use card and a scalpel and to score down the sides to create a neater, sharper prism, whereas before I had simply been folding it which proved difficult.
I took photos and attempted to super impose my attempt at a trivision sign onto the billboards around the area in which I was photographing for this project. This was fairly difficult, as I only had my phone and PicsArt to do this in, and I couldn’t get the right angle to fit neatly inside the billboard. My first attempt is shown as well as my second attempt.
Feedback:
- The picture changes when you move from one side to the other
- Forced us to have a physical reaction in order to work out what the image is
- Disorienting- the first thing you see in the images on the floor and the work above it and then you have to switch back to look at the wall behind- work is kind of connected due to the similar patterns
- The image is blown up on a secluded billboard
- Digital composition
- Not the kind of photos you’d ordinarily see on a billboard
- A story of regeneration maybe - a shop once thriving, now desolate and turned into housing.
- Immersive experience- surrounded by the work in the way you would be walking down the street in an urban environment being bombarded by posters and billboards.
What the living carry
Morgan Ashcom's book 'what the living carry' is based upon a fictional town named Hoy's Fork, which Ashcom 'photographs'. He brings the audiece ona journey around this town, with a map for added affect. He creates a foreboding and ominous feel to the place,.
What the living carry
https://mossless.com/post/2685380604/morgan-ashcom
I really wanted to photograph rural america
I really wanted to photograph rural america
Paintworks, Bristol
Our Final Exhibition
To wrap this project up, we were assigned the task of creating a set of images that embodied all of the work we have been doing throughout this ' grey area ' project. I was inspired by the photographers that we had looked at, specifically Morgan Ashcom's 'What The Living Carry' and another photographer that I have looked at, Alec Soth who created a book called 'Sleeping By The Mississippi'
Documentary and Storytelling
- Documentary photography aimed to show the everyday lives of ordinary people.
- The modern notion of social documentary is a media product of the twentieth century
- "Even the sequence of pictures on a page can radically affect the story told."
- Self representation is a form of self knowledge.
- "Documentary can refer to a category so wide as to be meaningless"
- Documentary inevitably creates a"prurient voyeurism", an unethical desire to look into the lives of others.
- The idea that seeing is equal to knowing, and therefore vision is equal to knowledge, is how photography became a popular synonym for the truth.
- By the 1930s, there were two types of photography emerging, within the genre of documentary photography: An "objective" style and the "subjective style. The latter is strongly associated with Henri Cartier-Bresson, because it was more focused upon the instant capturing of a moment.
- Documentary photography can embrace different modes of practice.
- Good documentary is when the photographer replicates real life, rather than a bad interpretation of it.
The Photograph as Document
- Documentary photography was used to provide evidence of what was in front of the lens.