Finding Vivian Maier....

Intrigued to see a review of a new film about this non-professional American 'street photographer', Vivian Maier. See      http://goo.gl/0mkFC8

Again I've missed the showings but pleased to see that there will be a DVD out in November - can't wait to get my hands on it!

Looking for the light: Jane Bown (2)

 I missed the cinema showing of this film so decided to buy the DVD as I didn't want to miss out! I wasn't disappointed -this documentary film by Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte is an excellent film in its own right but also a great introduction to the work of Jane Bown. 
I enjoyed the mix of conversation, anecdote and reflection used to create a really thoughtful portrait of Bown. She worked for the Observer newspaper over six decades and the inclusion of many of her iconic photographs of the famous and well known personalities of the last century and this one are a real treat to observe on the television. 

 

As an interviewee Jane Bown reveals very little of herself as the photographer. She talks very sparingly of how she approached her images of people - we learn more from those who worked with her or who had their picture taken by her. She worked quickly using two cameras, two lenses, usually no more than two rolls of film and no light meter preferring to use the available light from the window- always in black and white. Not many of us could emulate this style of working! 
I like her images very much - her use of texture and shape really stand out. She started out as a photographer with no interest in people. Indeed, it was her study of the eye of a cow that gave her entry to the Observer which became her 'family' over the next sixty years. This study so impressed the Observer's picture editor that she commented ' if you can do a cow's eye, you can take a portrait'.


My tutor asked me a while ago why I thought that Bown was not better known and I mulled this over while I watched the DVD. Don McCullan said that she was not a competitive woman. And she was clearly not interested in photographic theory,developments or technology- she liked shape and texture which is clearly reflected in the amazing textural impact in her images. I think she treated photography and the Observer as her home,compensating perhaps for a very sad childhood. She was  happiest moving about seeing things and taking photos...

Working in a mainly male environment, quietly determined with a no-nonsense style of working, she was self-effacing, an intuitive photographer who had no desire to 'promote' her work. I think that her body of work reflects a consistency of subject matter and approach and very little experimentation to draw attention from a wider audience. But maybe her view that ' photographers should be seen nor heard', explains best why she is not better known.

Revised photobook

There were two key issues that I felt compelled to address after my tutor’s feedback and reflecting on my own thoughts about this project. These were how to achieve a ‘constant’ look to the photobook and how to present these images in a way that would prompt or trigger ideas for and emotion in the ‘viewer’. 

‘A constant look’

Returning to the images I agree 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. Post production treatment experimenting with techniques learnt during the course approaches introduced a degree of inconsistency across the book. My tutor felts that this colour rendering and use of grain 'detracts from the quality of the image (both technically and emotionally)'. For the most part I have to agree though differing in respect of one image i.e. ‘Amateur artist on honeymoon’. This image of one of my Dad’s earliest pen and ink drawings done on his honeymoon works better for me with the heavy grain…it conjures up a feeling of artistic effort.

How to achieve a constant ‘look’?  

Initially I went back to the original images and experimented to see if it was possible to process them to 'look' like old photos in a way that would provide a consistency of ‘aged’ look. This proved again to me that the images that I am using do not easily lend themselves to creating the look of old photos right across the board.

On reflection I have concluded that I can trigger memories of ‘yesterday’ through images taken ‘today’. This works for me in terms of my memories. For others it is less simple, but I believe that the images are not so specific that they cannot trigger thoughts, memories and emotions even if these are not that personal to the viewer.  

Photobook: version two

So I have reworked the photobook avoiding the highly glossy finish that neither I nor my tutor liked (I usually print my images on smooth pearl photographic paper and need to replicate this finish in the photobook). I have given this second photobook 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. This introduction sets the scene for viewers – my intention being that  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 ).

This second photobook with a number of revised images will be submitted with my assessment material. The original images for these revised images will also be included in my selection of prints for assessment.

Revised images:

P 705

 

P 701

 

P707

P704

Reading

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Chandler,Daniel (2002)Semiotics.The basics. London: Routledge

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Evening,Martin (2012)  The Adobe photoshop lightroom 4 book. Berkeley,CA : Adobe Press

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Kerstgens,Michael (2014) Coal not dole. The miners’ strike 1984/1985. Berlin:Peperoni Books

Krijnen,Marloes (ed.) (Winter2010) Foam international photography magazine.

Amsterdam; Foam magazine

La Grange,Ashley (2008) Basic critical theory for photographers. Oxford: Elsevier

Marien,Mary Warner, (2010) A cultural history. 3^rd ed. London: Laurence King Publishing

Richin,F. (2013) Bending the frame: Photojournalism, documentary and the citizen. New York: Aperture

Short,Maria. (2011) Context and narrative. London: Thames and Hudson

Spence,Jo & Holland,Patricia (eds.) (1991) Family snaps. The meaning of domestic photography. London: Virago

Sontag,Susan. (1979) On photography. London: Penguin books

Szarkowski,John. (2012)The photographer’s eye.5^th ed. New York: Museum of modern art

Unknown Bown 1947-67 (2007) London: Observer Books

Wells,Liz. ( 2009) Photography: a critical introduction. 4^th ed. London: Routledge

 
Wells,liz. (2003) The photography reader