Research Point: Boltonworktown.

Research Point: Boltonworktown.

The Boltonworktown project was part of a larger UK project of mass observation.  It’s aim was, “..to systematically record human activity in the industrial town.”  The whole project ran from 1937 to 1960.  The reason for the project was similar to the Farm Security Administration project in the USA, but Spender was far less intrusive than Dorothea Lange and the other American photographers were on their project.

The role given to the photographer Humphrey Spender was to be, “The unobserved observer.” photographing the everyday activities of the residents of Bolton.  Spender’s innovative use of a 35mm Contax camera allowed him to capture discrete images that would not have been possible with the larger cameras in general use at that time.  His employment of a Biogen 28mm lens gave him the ability to obtain good indoor shots.

During the period 1937-8 he took 850 images.  They were divided into 13 groups: Blackpool,ceremonies, graffiti, industry, leisure, observers, politics, religion, shopping, sport, street, and work.  These were not artificial boxes into which people were forced to fit but actual categories that were constructed to explain the activities of Bolton’s residents.

It was like a breath of fresh air going through the available archive on the Boltonworktown site looking at images of people going about their normal lives. There is none of the false imagery found in the work of Sander or Avedon, who seem to put art before documentary.  These were real people in real situations and the photographs recorded it.  These are documentary photographs.

The reason for the project was similar to the Farm Security Administration project in the USA, but Spender was far less intrusive than Dorothea Lange and the other American photographers were on theirs.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mass-Observation
[Accessed: 29th. July 2015].

http://boltonworktown.co.uk
[Accessed: 29th. July 2015].

Exercise: In the American West.

Exercise: In the American West.

Avedon’s approach to documentary photography is so controlling that his images seemed removed from truthful recording and transferred directly to art.  His categorising of people into such groups as Botticelli Maiden, Androgynous Gentleman, High-Strung Matron, and Becket Tramp predetermines what image he expects to produce, even before the subject is in front of the camera.

All photographers will have a plan for each shoot, and an idea as to what they will achieve, but Avedon’s approach allows for little import from the subject other than his presence.  This is similar to the approach showed by August Sander when he was working with working people.  In Avedon’s case he appears to have brought the controlling techniques of his advertising work to his documentary work.

Avedon’s images are stunning but was the aim when taking them to tell the truth of the American West or was the aim to tell Avedon’s truth?  Was he forcing people into boxes to conform with own categories?  As it says in the piece, “The photographer and subject have different ambitions for the portrait.”   He himself said that he gave his sitters no more freedom of expression that Cezanne gave the apples he was painting.  

What is more important, the image or the lives of the sitters? 

Can such manipulated images still be documentary?

Exercise: Sander Classification System.

Exercise: Sander Classification System.

The interbellum was the last period in Europe when ones position at birth very much fixed one position for life.  It is  then not surprising that Sander used the classification he did for his project People of the 20th. Century.  It  is one that is easy to follow, with it’s emphasis on class and position.  It appears it first glance to be quite egalitarian, but a closer look shows a large degree of imbalance.  There is no division on the category women.  Were there no prominent women writers, doctors or photographers?  

The degree of freedom given to each group is very marked, with the labouring classes standing erect and looking straight into the camera, (See soldier below) with little chance of self expression.  There are exceptions to this, and the Young Farmers is the best example. (See Three Farmers below)  The professional classes are given more freedom in their chosen pose.  The study of his secretary is a good example and was selected from a number of images taken.  (Secretary below) Likewise with other professional sitters who were photographed in more relaxed poses and, at times, seated.  

Social divisions are now very blurred with the opportunity of further education and financial gain open to all, and where one would not have a single classification called Women.  

Exercise: Works of Salgado.

Exercise: Works of Salgado.

Sebastião Salgado, was born 08.02.1944, in Aimorés, Brazil, the only son of a cattle rancher.  He studied economics at Sao Paulo obtaining a masters degree.  It was during the period 1968 to 1969, while working for the Ministry of Finance, that he joined an anti Government movement which led to him being exiled as a political radical.  He took up residence, with his wife, in France and continued his studies in Paris.  It was during on a visit to Rwanda whilst working for the International Coffee Organisation that he took up the camera.  He became a freelance photographer in 1973.  He was a member of Magnum from 1979 until 1994 when he left to form Amazonas Images, which he ran with with his wife Lelia Wanick.

He specialised in photographing the worlds victims, be they victims of draught, famine, war, greed, or just bad governance.  He returned to South America in 1977 and during the following seven years put together the  49 images that were published in Other Americas.  Of this period he said, “I decided to dive into the most concrete of the unreality of these Latin Americas, so mysterious and suffering, so heroic and noble.’'  The book was not published until 1986, the same year as his second book, Sahel: Man in Distress. 

Sahel: Man in Distress was a record of the 1 million inhabitants of the Sahel region of Central Africa who died during the famine which ran from 1984 through to 1986. 

Terra: Struggle of the Landless is a combination of pictures from his books, An Uncertain Grace and Workers and additional new images illustrating the plight of landless peasants in his native Brazil.   Another campaign he avidly believes in is the protection of native forest in Brazil.  When in 1998 he inherited his fathers lands he set about returning them to natural forest.   This is now the National Park Instituto Terra.  

References.

http://www.britannica.com/biography/Sebastiao-Salgado#ref742770
[Accessed: 29th. July 2015].

http://www.bjp-online.com/2015/05/sebastiao-salgado-i-had-travelled-to-the-dawn-of-time/
[Accessed: 28th. July 2015].

www.nytimes.com/1986/09/07/magazine/.html

[Accessed: 28th. July 2015].

https://www.nytimes.com/books/97/11/02/bib/971102.rv125102.html
[Accessed: 28th. July 2015].

Exercise: Robert Frank. The Americans. Symbols.

Exercise: Robert Frank. The Americans. Symbols.

St. Petersburg 1956.

An urban setting with five elderly citizens sitting on a bench on an American sidewalk.  None appear to be smiling, one is smoking and there is no sign of conversation.  They may be waiting for a bus but there is no sign of a bus stop.  Cruising from left to right in the background of the picture is a large car, symbol of progress, self determination and power; all the things the five seated figures don’t possess.  The driver of the car chooses his destination; the five seated figures wait for the bus.  The motion of the car is indicated by a slow shutter speed that allows for slight motion blur plus a tilting of the horizon to highlight ease of travel.    

Don’t Miss Mister.

A photograph of three gay black men who are obviously posing for the camera.  One appears to be shy and hides his face behind his hand.  Should anyone miss the clues of gayness in the look and pose of the three men the sign in the background stating “DON’T MISS MISTER” gives the viewer a less than subtle hint.

National Flag.

Taken in Hoboken in 1955 it features a US flag draped across the from of a building and cutting across the buildings windows.  The two residents framed in the two windows are having their view of the street parade by the very symbol of their country.  As Frank himself said, “National emblems may provide a focus, but they also stand in the way of seeing.”

Dumb.

Christmas is a time of cheer and festivities, but only if you have the time to enjoy it.  The sullen face of the waitress nicely demonstrates what she thinks of all the good cheer around her.  The fat cheeked Father Christmas, the Western symbol for the festive season, is in complete contrast to her mood.

Conspiracy.

The picture looks to have been taken a political event where a group of powerful men, as signified by the dark glasses, the arm chairs and the cigar, are leaning in towards each other in deep conversation.  The enveloping left arm on the right hints at conspiracy.  What are they hatching up?

Second Part.  After reading Kerouac.

Many of Frank’s images are so familiar that it not always easy to look at them with fresh eyes and de-construct them afresh.  

The Bus.

This picture demonstrates nicely the racial divides prevalent in the USA at this time, with it's black citizens seen as lesser beings, forced into inferior work, and made to travel in the back of the bus.  This image captures the then situation in America perfectly.

Ford River Rouge Factory.

This factory had been the main Ford factory from the days of the Model T.  This picture shows what a soul-less place it is, with no indication as to what was being manufactured within its walls.  Frank helps us by providing an obviously American car to give us a clue.  The horizon is tilted so as to give the appearance of the car labouring uphill.  A portent perhaps of the collapse, not only of the American motor industry, but of Detroit itself.

Garden Party.

A lovely scene of apparent equals at a garden party.  A closer look reveals who is the higher socially.  The women on the left are clearly displaying deference to the woman on the right with raised glasses and rather nervous smiles.  The woman on the right has her head lowered and cocked to one side in what I would term the Mrs Thatcher "interested" look.  She looks far more assured; making the effort to listen before passing on to the next group.  She demonstrates the fact that she is not out impress by being the only woman not wearing a hat.  Her jewellery is high quality and her clothes tailored.   The male companions are taking subordinate roles in this encounter as demonstrated by their positions away from the centre.

Cab Fare.

I don’t know who this woman is but she clearly does.  She reads, or appears to read, her New York Times as a distraction to her journey.  Her eyes look as though she is looking out over the paper at the city, but doesn’t necessarily wish to demonstrate any interest in it.  The wearing of the gloves is a sensible precaution when reading a news paper but the affectation of white gloves is symbol of her not wanting to be polluted by the city.  The presence of the paper is almost acting as a veil, hiding her from the world but allowing her to look upon it.

Reno Nevada.  Seated Figures.

There are only two things I know about Reno; one is gambling and the other is quicky marriages.  As this was taken in the Town Hall I am guessing they are there for a quick wedding.  The man is looking nervously out of shot, as if waiting to be for some invitation or action.  The girl looks pensive and unsure of herself.  Is she pregnant and already regretting the forthcoming marriage?  They are clearly dressed up for something important, with him in a smart suit and tie and with his shoes highly polished, and her in a fine dress and carrying a quality handbag.  They are holding hands in what what seems to mutual support rather than mutual love.

Exercise: Martin Shields. Change of perception.

Exercise: Martin Shields.  Change of perception.

Pity I did too much research on the photograph before I completed the last exercise.  That said I think the additional information adds to my conviction that this is a contrived shot set up to put a positive spin to what was happening in Glasgow at the time.   As someone who knows Glasgow fairly well I just cannot see such a friendship as the one portrayed happening.

Exercise: Analyse Martin Shields’ photograph of two young footballers.

Exercise: Analyse Martin Shields’ photograph of two young footballers.

Before I start to look at the picture I need to understand the terms Denotive and Connotive.

Denotive: What the picture is showing us. The image.

Connotive: The message behind the image. The hidden message.  What the photographer intended the image to convey when he took it.

It wasn’t until I read the blogs below that I got a date for the photograph.  In earlier versions of the exercise the whole newspaper article was shown, which not only showed the date, 2002, and place, Glasgow, but also the reason for the dereliction of the area, which was the demolition of old tenement housing stock and its replacement by new and modern housing.

Denotive view.

• Derelict and obviously empty tenement housing.
• An empty and potholed road.
• The area nearest the road already cleared of houses and made level.
• One remaining lamp-post.
• Two boys in football kit, both carrying balls, walking away from the camera.
• There is an obvious friendship between the boys.

Connotive view.

• As I now know this is Glasgow I can assume that the boy on the left is in the green hoops of Celtic and the boy on the right in the blue of Rangers.  This choice of shirt would indicate a religious division that in older supporters would likely prevent such a friendship.  
• The fact the boys are in the colours of the teams they support and not in the colours of a youth team would suggest they are on way to a kick-about rather than organised game.  This is supported by the lack of football boots; both boys are wearing trainers.  At an organised game balls would be provided, so why are they carrying footballs?  
• The clean kit hints at a pride in their colours and at caring mothers.
• The demolition of the tenements represents both the breaking up of old neighbourhoods but also the building of a better future.  
• Having the boys walking away is short hand for walking towards the future.
• The message I draw is that this image represents a promising future where poor housing and religious division can left behind and Glasgow can grow anew.
• Last comment.  I think this is a set up shot.  The half tucked in shirt is rather contrived.  In Glasgow, where the religious/football divide runs so deep, it is highly unlikely that this apparent friendship could survive.  Why are they not walking in the road rather that the rubble strewn demolition site?  

Others views.

Having completed the above I went back and read the blogs listed below.  The posed nature of the picture was picked up by others.  What was not picked up was the lack of boots nor the fact that they appear to be heading for a kick-about rather than a game.  The message of the life journey that these boys represent was highlighted by all.  

References.

https://mattjamesphotos.wordpress.com/2014/07/19/exercise-martin-shields-two-young-footballers/
[Accessed: 18th. July 2015[.

https://annasocablog.wordpress.com/2014/12/05/p-41-exercise-analyse-martin-shields-photograph-of-two-young-footballers-what-are-the-denotations-and-connotations-of-the-image/
[Accessed: 18th. July 2015].

http://www.gaslight.me.uk/blog/archives/3253
[Accessed: 17th. July 2015].

http://www.gaslight.me.uk/blog/archives/3253
[Accessed: 17th. July 2015[.

https://www.nineelmsphotography.com/blog/?p=1828
[Accessed: 18th. July 2015].

http://cookingupaphoto.blogspot.co.uk/2014/12/exercise-analyse-martin-shields.html
Accessed: 18th. July 2015].

Research Point. Committed B&W Photographers.

Research Point. Committed B&W Photographers.

Exit Photography Group.

The Exit Group of Photographers were three socially aware photographers, Chris Steele-Perkins, Paul Trevor and Nicholas Battye, who worked together from 1974 to 1979 on highlighting the privations of England’s municipal poor.  Up until 1974 there existed a looser group that included Diane Olson and Alex Slotzkin, who in 1974 published a slim volume group called Down Wapping that contained black and white photographs of London’s East End poor.

In 1974 Diane and Alex left to be replaced by Chris.  The Gulbenkian Foundation was so impressed by Down Wapping that it offered support to a project to extend this style of work out into other Metropolitan areas of the UK.  

The three divided up the work so that Paul concentrated on Liverpool, Nicholas in Birmingham, and Chris Newcastle, Middlesborough and Belfast.  They shared the London work as they still lived there.  

The use of black and white was carried over from Down Wapping into the new project.  This allowed them to load their own cassettes, process their own film and control the editing of the images.  The resulting work, published in 1982, Survival Programmes: In Britain's Inner Cities, was split into four chapters, Growth, Promise, Welfare and Reaction.  

In 2011 Paul Trevor exhibited a number of previously unseen images from his time in Liverpool.  The exhibition, called, Like you’ve Never Been Away, raised a lot of interest from people, now in the 40s, who had been photographed back in the 70s.  In the Guardian video link Paul talks fondly of his time in Liverpool and how, on visiting Liverpool for the exhibition, he hardly recognised it.

Here is good example of photographs crossing from the documentary sector to the gallery and the art sectors, as well as being historical documents in their own right.

Paul Trevor. Born, London 1947.  

Worked as an accountant until the age of 25.  Turned to the camera and in 1973 co-founded the Exit Photography Group.  He set up the Half Moon Workshop in 1978

and co-edited the Camerawork magazine from 1976 to 1980.  His photographic achievements are too many to list but are to be found on his website www.paultrevor.com.

Chris Steele-Perkins. Born, Rangoon, Burma 1947.

Started as a freelance photographer in 1971.  Joined the Exit Group in 1975.  

Nicholas Battye.  Born, NSW Australia. 1950. Died 2004.

Joined the Exit Group but became disillusioned with photography after the publication of Survival Programmes and became variously a teacher, therapist and poet.

Down Wapping. The Exit Photographic Group. Publisher: East End Docklands Action Group (1974).

Website: http://Photoworks.org Exit-Photography-Group. 

[Accessed: 16th. July 2015].

Magnum Photographers. Chris Steele-Perkins. 
www.chrissteeleperkins.com

[Accessed: 18th. July 2015].

www.paultrevor.com

[Accessed: 17th July 2015].

http://embed.theguardian.com/embed/video/artanddesign/video/2011/jun/08

[Accessed : 16th July 2015].

www.5jt.com/articles/nbsources.php

[Accessed: 18th. July 2015]. 

It is clear from the collaboration of these three men that their motivation was to highlight the living conditions of people living in the poorer parts of inner cities.  Their motivation was never money as their lack of it shows, living as they did on friends charity or in cheap B & Bs.  

Their commitment to social causes took different routes with Paul Trevor continuing his work in highlighting the inequalities of life with exhibitions such as As We Are: Photographing Britain (2007), and No Such Thing as Society (2008).

Chris Steele-Perkins looked further afield for his inspiration and worked in Beirut, Afghanistan, and Tokyo as well as Britain.  He remains a socially aware photographer.

Nicholas Battye left photography behind and took up a life as a Sufi mystic, teacher, therapist, and poet.  He died in 2005 following a long illness.

Exercise: Marcus Bleasdale.

Exercise: Marcus Bleasdale.

The Marcus Bleasdale interview in Foto8 featured a man who wants to reveal the truth through photography.  He fits in well with the tradition of the driven left wing photographer mentioned in the Heuvel piece, caring more about his trade than his own future or security.  

The link to the tear sheets revealed only one image but I found others on the web that illustrated both the high quality of his work and the dangerous situations he put himself in to obtain them.  The images are both powerful and personal.

The link to the Guardian Magazine 16 January 2010 was too vague to be of any use.  

Exercise: Heuvel. Discussing Documentary.

Exercise: Heuvel. Discussing Documentary.

Heuvel opens with a comment about how surprising the discussion is surrounding the inclusion of documentary images in art settings.  He says that this is a result of ‘visual literacy’ and is a result of our viewing the word, not by personal experience, but through the lens by way of visual media.  Artists are just as likely to create a visual world through their pictures as they are to reflect the actual real world.  

The language required to read this new visual representation of the world has to be learned, and the best way of learning it is by viewing the images.  

Documentary images are only part of modern culture.

Heuvel limits his essay to documentary photography, starting with  militant eye-witness photography.  He discusses the main influences, the one from the West and one from the Communist East.  The West was human interest led while the East was country and party led.  The term Documentary Photography was coined by the film critic John Grierson in 1926 to denote non fiction films.

Documentary photography had its roots in socially aware photographers wishing to highlight the living conditions of the poor, especially in inner cities.  The FSA in the USA employed documentary photographers to record the effects of  the great depression by highlighting the conditions of farmers and their labourers. They were used as evidence for the New Deal in America,

The tradition continued into the post war years with the rise of popular illustrated magazines which were to be found in all Western countries.  

There grew up under the totalitarian control of the extreme right and extreme left the same tradition where pure art was seen as outmoded and the camera was employed to support the state.  The Communists used it to highlight the struggle of the worker in his fight for equality.  Hitler put a stop to any such images when he came to power.  

The documentary photographer of the ‘60s and ‘70s was typically a left wing activist armed with a 35mm camera loaded with black and white film.  The adding of an often biased commentary made for reportage which guided the viewer to read these images in a particular way.

During this period a gulf grew up between documentary photographers authentic portrayal of real life and photographers employed in advertising who put a gloss on life.  

The perception of documentary photography being independent was undermined by the arrival of mass television coverage and the availability of multiple channels.  The concept of visual literacy spread.

The loss of belief in the veracity of documentary photography opened up new uses for it in advertising and docudrama.  Images that were once considered only as documentary were finding themselves in the gallery and sold as art.  

This use of documentary images opened up new paths of criticism and acclaim.  This led to artists becoming involved with documentary photography bringing with them the techniques previously found only in art photography, such as colour and fine detail.  The pictures taken by these art led photographers were aimed, from the outset, at the glossy book and art circuit and were far less likely to tell a story.

The subjects covered by this new breed of photographers were wider than the poor and dispossessed and included all levels of society.  A level of objectivity was also lost with photographers becoming involved with their subjects.  

The shallowness of some of this work led to more traditional documentary photographers returning to their roots and producing work of true depth and honesty.  The mass coverage by general media outlets has let to a number of documentary photographers focussing on lesser subjects with more intensity.  

There is a belief that some stories are better told by the very people who experienced them rather than by outsiders.   The mixing of sources for presentations has become more accepted.  

Some photographers have investigated the way these images are displayed and show them in places not normally associated with photography, while others are presenting staged charades as documentary photographs.  

Yet another method is to re-enact a actual event, even using the original participants in those events.  One such installation involved three layers of time in the final presentation.  The original footage of a bank robbery, the subsequent cinema film of the event and the staged re-enactment of it.  

The way these new artists and photographers reflect on the way their images are displayed and analysed and their place in the media testifies to the level of visual literacy being brought to the understanding of the documentary image.

Exercise: Elizabeth McCausland essay.

Exercise One: Elizabeth McCausland 1939 article.

• Documentary photography has a long history separate from other photographic movements.
• Photographers are at their freshest when taking in the new.
• Documentary photography is the application of photography direct and realistic, dedicated to the profound and sober chronicling of the external world.
• Documentary photography is hard edged.
• Documentary photography is different from the picturesque in that it includes the whole sordid picture not just the pretty bits.
• The camera is a liar.  It is the role of the photographer to reveal the true image.
• Even  when taking documentary photographs there is nothing to prevent the photographer making a pleasing image.
• In 1939, when this article was written, the opportunities for publishing documentary images in the USA was limited by a system of self imposed censorship.  Surprisingly the main users of documentary photographers were the Farm Security Administration and the Federal Arts Project.
• The first use of photography was merely to record, only later did it confuse itself with art.  Photographers lost interest in this fairly quickly and realised that there was a whole new world which could be photographed.
• Photography is related to reality but is free from the literal truth.
• As times change so do art movements.  At the time of writing emotional art was out and literal art was in.  Both were seen in photographs in all their gory detail.
• Some artists and photographers are incapable of documentary images while others revel in it and must tell the truth as they see it and communicate that truth.
• Nothing is better than the camera at capturing the truth.  Everything in the frame is recorded.
• The subjects for photographer are limitless and is up to the photographer’s skill and imagination to make a successful image.
• The documentary photographer must seek to reveal the truth without adding his voice to the image.

It would be easy to say that documentary photography is photography with the art taken out but that just isn’t true.  Images that reveal the truth can still display a pleasing aesthetic quality.  Truth need not be artless.  This as true today as it was in 1939.

Assignment One: Local Communities.

Assignment One.

Local Communities.

The brief was to produce ten images demonstrating my engagement with the lives of people in my community. 

In 2014 The Telegraph named Deal High Street as The High Street of the Year.  Deal High Street is unique in that it mainly contains privately owned shops.  These are the shops we use every day and we were justly proud of this award. 

Add to this lively high street three weekly markets and a monthly farmer's market and we are well served without recourse to supermarkets.

My plan was to feature some of the people I do business with on a daily basis and photograph them within, or outside their shops and stalls.  I have tried to show them as we see them.  The three men in the bar Bloody Mary’s are always laughing and their bar reflects this, the man outside the hardware shop invariably has a look of suspicion about him while the mad hatter at the market stall, who sells everything from old clocks and silver through to tools and toilet rolls is the archetypical market trader.

This was one of a number of ideas I looked at.  Another was the shrinking beach fishing fleet but found that it had all but died already and there was insufficient in for ten useful images. A third was the lively music scene but ran across the problem of light, or rather the lack of it.  The use of flash in a pub is rarely welcome. 

It was important for me to show these guys in their environments and to highlight the independent shops of Deal.

Technical:- Camera an Olympus E330 with a 25mm fixed focal length lens (50 mm equivalent).  Images presented as taken without cropping.  Exposure and colour correcting carried out in Photoshop.

  

The images.

Where everybody knows your name.

The Mad Hatter.

Just ask.

Black Pig.

No Name Bakers.

Women in red.

David.  Glazier at John Corley Glass.

Heath food.

Are you being served?

Best fish in Deal.

Reflections.

The brief was to produce ten images demonstrating how I interact with my community.  Deal is a small community so the interactions are not going to be on a grand scale.  The largest section of people I interact with are the towns shop keepers so it was this group I chose to photograph.  

The images I have produced represent this group well and I am pleased with the result.  I have lived in Deal for less than four years, having moved down on my retirement, but now feel like a local.