Visiting the Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2014

One of my favourite exhibition  events is the Deutsche Borse Exhibition, not least because it always makes me stand infront of the winner and ask myself 'why?'  as I never seem to agree with the judges decision.

The Deutsche Borse Photography Prize 2014 is awarded to a living photographer for a specific body of work in a publication or exhibition format which is judged to have 'significantly contributed' to photography in Europe between
1 October 2012 and 30 September 2013.

Four artists were shortlisted; Alberto Garcia-Alix, Jochen Lempert, Richard Mosse and Lorna Simpson. And the winner? Richard Mosse for his exhibition 'The Enclave' - a multimedia installation at the Irish Pavilion at last year's Venice Biennale.

His photographs portraying  war-scarred landscapes in eastern Congo are eyecatching,intriguing and unsettling. They have an almost psychedelic appearance derived from a pink hue - he used out of date military infra-red film which used to be used to identify camouflaged targets. Reading Mark Brown's article in the Guardian at
http://goo.gl/NR4fjo   it seems the colours were all about attracting people and keeping their attention so that they watched all the films in the exhibition. Obviously the Deutsche Borse prize  exhibition can only show a small part of the prize winning body of work but what I did see may me wonder whether what Mosse's audience drew from this work. For me the colours were 'magical' but drew my eye away from the subject matter - more natural colours or even black and white would have worked better for me, allowing a greater opportunity to consider the complexity of war without the distraction of his colour scheme.

So what about the other contenders? The shortlisted works  of Alberto Garcia-Aliz, Jochen Lempert and Lorna Simpson  were all in black and white. 

Lempert has used photography to study humans and the natural world since the 1990s; his work ranges from everyday views to abstracts. I liked what I saw but it did

engage me emotionally..

In a series called 1957-2009 American Lorna Simpson took images from a late 1950s photo album and re created them featuring herself.It is difficult to work out which images are the originals and which the re-enacted ones.Is this what she intended as the outcome or rather emphasising themes such as gender, identity through the contrasting versions? Hard to say, other than it raises the question of what is actually real here.

Lastly, Alberto Garcia-Alix's publication 'Autorretrato/ Selfportrait' - black and white self portraits offering insight into his life over four decades. Standing in front of images reflecting a junkie's life,I could see the intended 'drama' of the subject matter clearly, though again I didn't feel engaged.

So this year's Deutsche Borse photography prize did not disappoint as yet again I came away wondering how you can judge such a diverse range of work..and again not entirely agreeing with the outcome - though this time I could not choose a winner myself.

Assignment 5 : The photobook - did it work?

Was the photobook the right presentation 'vehicle' for my project ? I think so. However, this was the first time I had created a photobook; it was a learning curve and the end product was not as successful as I had hoped. Both I and my tutor agree on this point.

So I shall redo the photobook now with a number of changes. 

Firstly, neither I or my tutor liked the highly glossy finish. I usually print my images on smooth pearl photographic paper and need to replicate this finish in the photobook. 

Secondly, the book needs an introduction to give the viewers  as my tutor says ' a bit of a clue ' My original instinct to write a short introduction to the photo book, setting the scene so to speak, which I originally considered and discarded, was right with hindsight. I followed advice to keep captions simple trying where practicable to hint at what the image represented to me. With hindsight, I think the need that I felt to explain images suggests a lack of success in what I was trying to achieve' 

Adding an introduction will provide set the scene for viewers whereby the images they view will trigger the experience, the idea or emotion that Roland Barthes describes as the 'punctum' - the 'element which rises from the scene, shoots out of it like an arrow, and pierces one' 
( Barthes, 2000, p.26 ).

Assignment 5 - achieving a constant look

I think it fair to say that the final selection of images did not present a 'constant look' to the photobook. Why was this? Some of those  images had some considerable post production treatment to generate a certain feel,for example,  'warm sunshine',the passing of time or an attempt to place the image back in time by representing it as an image taken many years ago that had faded with time.My tutor feels that this colour rendering and use of grain 'detracts from the quality of the image ( both technically and emotionally )'. 
This post production treatment experimenting with techniques learnt during the course approaches did introduce a degree of inconsistency across the book. How to get round this? how to achieve a constant 'look' ?  

  
 The images that I want to use do not easily lend themselves to creating the look of old photos right across the board; and given that I want the images I've taken today to trigger memories of yesterday, this suggests that I would be better sticking to printing images that I have taken in the here and now and leave them to jog memories of the past. This would work for me in  terms of my memories. For others it is less simple, but perhaps the images are not so specific that they do not trigger thoughts and memories even if these are not that personal to the viewer.  
                       

A:  Lightroom colour preset

P700: Daylight WB

                            

        Same image but different treatments to try and achieve the  sense of hot sunshine within a glass greenhouse.....

              

P701 :: Cloudy WB

P702:original image AWB

              However, if I were to opt for the idea that the images were taken a while ago and have changed over time, for example, started to fade  or some colours fading, how would this be achieved, how would it look and could it or should it be applied across all images to provide the consistency that I feel is needed?    Looking at the images above I think Image C comes closest to what I was trying to conjure up..This was achieved by  using the cloudy white balance setting ( P701).

        I also experimented with some differing approaches to 'aging' photos  to see whether there was any approach that would work across. 

 P703 : Photochrome  version

        I have come  to the conclusion however, that this project is better served by using the original images to achieve a consistency of look  rather than processing them to 'look' like old photos.

    

       



Tutor report (2) - Assignment 5 Challenging the interpretation concept ....

P682

The image above is a recapture of a photograph of my Dad working in a greengrocer's taken by a passing professional photographer sometime before decimalisation. The original was placed against a black background to bring out the lovely customer friendly quality that Dad had, so expertly captured in the original image. The image below (P681) is an attempt to recreate the original photograph  by a modern version which conjuring up the same sense of my Dad...

My 'model' here was a very patient and obliging Portsmouth market stallholder happy to help try to create the same pose...

P681

Tutor : The problem is will the reader realise it is a more or less random stall holder? Does this matter?  A very helpful and insightful comment. Looking back again at these two images I think it matters only in that the sequence of reading the images is perhaps the wrong way round which suggests a stronger link between the two men that was intended. Reversing the images would underline the idea of the modern image conjuring up the 'memory' i.e. the eye travelling left to right from the modern  to the 1950s picture and be more consistent with the rest of the work. Another reason for reworking the images into a new version and reviewing the captions.

P686

 'Amateur artist on honeymoon...'

An unexpected side of my Dad was an artistic streak that stretched way back to before the war. P686 below shows the earliest example that I have - one of two pen and ink drawings that he made on honeymoon.
I used a heavy grain to give an impression of a painting. Tutor : Do you think this is necessary? Has it worked?

 Here's the original  image without the heavy grain ...

                           

         I prefer the heavy grain version - it works for me as I think  it refers back to the 'artist' in that it looks more like a painting. However, the question being asked suggests that it might not work for  other observers. Should I then make a change here? My instinct is to stay with my original choice but I will revisit this when I review the concept of achieving a 'constant' look to the photobook. 

I 

Punctum v stadium - looking again at the final images

My tutor asks how does what Roland Barthes’s has to say about punctum vs stadium relate to the images in my project; in particular that image ‘Nearing Retirement’. An intriguing and very pertinent question that drove me back to Barthes’ work (2000) Camera Lucida  London: Vintage for a reread of his writing here.

I wanted to remind myself what Barthes had to say about how he was affected or not by the images that come under his gaze.

'Nearing Retirement '

First a definition of both:

Barthes distinguishes two elements in a photographic image- the studium- the factual content of the photograph which may ‘provoke only a general and so to speak, polite interest ‘(Barthes, 2000, p27) and the punctum. This he sees as breaking (or punctuating) the studium. He says ‘ This time it is not I who seek it out (as I invest the field of the studium with my sovereign consciousness), it is this element which rises from the scene, shoots out of it like an arrow and pierces me’. ( Barthes, 2000, p26).

‘A photograph’s punctum is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)’. (Barthes, 2000, p.27). 

So I when I or another look at say the image ‘ Nearing Retirement’ what happens? For me there is a punctum as the flower itself is invested heavily with memories which come through my consciousness, in a sense ‘piercing’ it with a strong sense of connection to my Dad at a certain time of his life.

But I am the first to recognise that this may well not happen to any other observer as the punctum is going to be different for everyone – it may be there for some but not for others? So, you could, and maybe I do argue that you cannot consciously or deliberately create an image which contains both stadium and punctum. If this happens, it happens. Even if the observer can be headed in a certain direction by wording the caption in a more self- explanatory way, it still comes down to the reading of the image having a certain effect. In this case triggering memories held by the observer which I, as the photographer, are unaware.

So this particular image has a stadium but I think that only the observer can say whether it has a punctum. And this would apply to all the images in this project ……ideally they should have both elements and I conceived and composed them to achieve both for me as the observer. Self-indulgent you might say but again only other observers can really comment. And lastly, does the lack of a punctum detract  from enjoyment of the image critically or otherwise? 

References

Barthes,Roland. (2000) Camera Lucida. London: Vintage

Revisiting 'Traces of my Dad' reflecting on the key issues..

Re reading my own reflection of this piece of work together with my tutor's feedback, I can see a number of issues that I want to address over the next few weeks before I prepare  my coursework for assessment:

Punctum v stadium - looking again at the final images

Can a 'constant'look be achieved? 
Can a more  constant look be achieved and would this be more desirable?


Did the Photobook work as a vehicle for the concept underpinning this project?
What worked in terms of design and quality of production - what could be improved? Do I want to have another 'go' at creating a photobook? 

Tutor report (1) on Assignment 5 - my initial response

Here's my tutor's feedback with my initial response in red...

 
Feedback on assignment 5

Most of what I want to say in general is in the annotations/notes that I have added to the documents you sent in and these are good, they really do help to understand what you were setting out to do, how you went about it and what you think of the result.

You have done some very thorough research which is evidenced by the good reading list you have included for this assignment.  You seem to have all the key texts and it is good to see a student engaging well with the theoretical side of the subject.  This practice should stand you in good stead for the rest of your degree.

I mentioned that I am not a fan of gloss for books (in fact I am not a great fan of high gloss at all!); in general I like to see some sheen on images, perhaps semi gloss, lustre or semi matt, as I think it tends to give the tonal range the best chance.  Gloss has a tendency to have reflections and I find matt rather lacking in tonal range but sometimes it is important to give the images a textural feel (and look of course)  I also think that glossy books just look cheap!

I'm not surprised here as my own view after getting the photo book back from the printer was that I should have opted for a more matt finish ( see my reflective account posted on 29 April).

I think that you need to think about a constant ‘look’ for the images in the book.  If you are trying to create an old photos look then you need to think about what old colour photos look like and whether you want your images to look as though they have been on a frame on the piano for years (faded some of the colours disappearing and so on) or whether you are trying to make them look as though they have just been taken but at some time in the past.  The other approach is to clearly separate the old (and ‘old) images from the new ones that are portraying a memory.

Fair comment...my initial attempts to try one kind of 'look' for every subject suggested that this would not work across all subjects but hindsight is a marvellous  thing..and I need to revisit this again
.

For me some of the treatment you have applied post production, colour rendering, grain and so on, detract from the quality of the image (both technically and emotionally) both in the book and the separate image that you have included.

Definitely worth revisiting my approach here ..

Also you should look at the different ways of cutting out a subject from its background.  In my experience different subjects work better using different techniques, but which ever you use try to make the edges as un-obvious as possible by feathering or whatever.

Interesting  as I did try some feathering but  a new technique for me and I need to go back and try this approach again.

You might want to think about making a new set of prints or at least preparing a new set of digital images (depending on how you are planning on submitting you work for assessment) that address these points.

I have decided to revisit my approach here and produce a new set of digital images. I did not like the glossy photo book and think my concept worth a second attempt using a semi matt finish.

You have Camera Lucida in you reading so you should think about what Barth says about punctum vs stadium in the image and how this relates to your images. I think; if only because of the way Barthes has written about it, his context for the explanation; the sort of subject that you project is dealing with makes these things particularly pertinent.  For example how do these concepts show in the Nearing Retirement image?

Hmmm...I need to go back to Barthes'  'Camera Lucida' ..

For me, and I get the feeling for you too, the final book is not a successful as the research and preparation work might deserve.  I think you could fix this by thinking about the overall ‘look’ of the images as I discuss above and perhaps by including either a foreword or afterword that give at least some of the background to the project.  I don’t think that a viewer coming cold to the images would realise what is going on but given a bit of a clue the images could give rise to all sorts of ideas and emotions in them.  You should at least discuss all this in your log/blog as trying to fix things that don’t quite go as right as you thought they would is the way we learn and is central to the purpose of these modules.  Credit is given for critical assessment, proposed remedies, and suggested ways forward.

Learning Logs/Critical essays

I mentioned Harvard referencing.  It is not vital that you use it for informal log/blog entries but you must use it for formal essays and critical reviews.  I have given links to help you in this for the future.

I have now researched this referencing system and from now on will use it in my blog and also for any written work if providing references or a bibliography. As a trial run, I have revised my Reflective Account as best I could given that my approach to recording detail such as the chapter / page number was not as consistent as it should have been. Won't happen again!

I think that the content of your blog is fine and makes an interesting read.  You might want to give it the final once over to check that it is as easy as possible for the assessors to find what they will want to see.  The index should be clear and there should be the minimum of clicks to find anything.