Monthly Archives: Mar 2022

Project 1 – Exercise 1: Analysis

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From the Documentary Traditions Course Note:

Exercise 1: Humanism

● Becker, H. S. (1974) Photography and Sociology, Studies in Visual Communication. Pg 3-26.

Reflect on the similarities (and differences) between social research and photography and documentary’s combination of a “journalistic and ethnographic style with a self-conscious and deliberate artistic purpose” (Becker, 1974: 5).

Follow the ‘reading images’ exercise as outlined by Becker (1974) in the above essay using any well known documentary photograph you wish or, as Becker advises, one that is presented in the essay.

  • ●  Use key words to describe the content of the image. What exactly is in the picture? What is it about? Note these down in your learning log / blog.
  • ●  Make a list of what you understand the ‘visual grammar and syntax’ of the picture.
  • ●  Can you identify and compare a number of images which show “pictures of something that was not done just for the photographer’s benefit” (Becker, 1974:14). Can you give an example of a picture which shows something or someone that was done for the photographer?Add notes and reflections to your learning log

Reflecting on Social Research and Photography

As the Documentary Traditions notes begin by directly quoting Becker[1], sociology and photography have been around for a similar amount of time. This opening line in Becker’s paper indicates that one methodology for exploring society is no more advanced or developed than the other, which appears to me to be a rare occurrence. Other genres of art that have been assigned to photography have their origins in classical art, which was the standard for all visual representations of subjects. Photography was the newcomer, so perhaps the assignment of traditional ways of looking at a subject from classical painting was to be expected. Photography could be used to ‘capture’ the scene, which Becker suggests is the root of the plausibility of photography for documentary – the myth that the camera merely records whatever is in front of it. While Becker goes on to suggest that photography as a tool can be turned to any avenue in the right hands (his typewriter analogy being that the machine doesn’t determine how it used), but the inherent believe of the photographic image as being objective underpins it. By contrast, ethnography which is defined as being way of qualitative research by immersing oneself in the culture or society[2], relies on observation, empirical proof of behaviours and traditions that take written form. Both approaches contain potential for ambiguity, photography tends to be influenced by how the photographer sees rather than what they see. Research as a science tends to avoid such bias. Becker goes on to make the point that as photography advanced, it was used more and more to highlight the societal or cultural issues that the public weren’t aware of. Photographers such as the group assembled by the Farm Security Administration to photograph the migration of the poor from Depression hit communities to the cities of America, were highlighting the situation that the subjects faced. However, as we also know they were not representing the suffering of the people alone, but documenting everything that they encountered which resonated with them. The editorial as the function that determined the ‘correct’ messaging for publication, which resulted in images being rendered unprintable [3]. The ‘conscious’ view of the photographer results, according the Becker, in the the separation between sociology and photography; photographers don’t back up their visual representations with research and sociologists don’t support their findings with photographs. For me, the two approaches to exploring society are essentially trying to achieve the same thing, a better appreciation for societal or cultural behaviours and problems, but from different directions. Both involved a deep understanding of their subject and reflect the real events, but sociology doesn’t ask the viewer to bring their own knowledge or experience to the reading of research, where documentary photography hasn’t really moved far from it’s artistic leanings. I wonder what the FSA series would have looked like with a few of the Walker Evans images, particularly the happy farmer and the young, middle-class black couple walking in Chicago, both of which were real observations, but were ‘killed’ by the editor[4]

Reading Images Example

For my reading example, I’ve chosen this image by Don McCullin taking in London in 1963.

Fig 1. Don McCullin, Protester, Cuban Missile Crisis, Whitehall, London (1963)

Visual breakdown

The image contains a man sitting with his back to the camera, holding what looks like a placard. He is facing a line of British police officers in constable uniform, forming two lines across the frame. They are facing him. To the right of the scene, the line is one deep and has a gap in it. The last ‘complete’ officer to the right of the frame is reaching across to another who is partially out of frame. The scene is clearly a city street with the background detail blurred out of focus. The only other element is the partial view of a car in the broken line of police.

In interpreting what the image is about, we are immediately struck by the contrast of the characters. The police in their uniforms that appear black because the image is black and white, appear menacing when compared to the single man dressed in lighter, casual clothing. We cannot see his placard, so without the context of the title of the image, we cannot be clear on what it might say. When we include the title context, we assume it is a protest placard. I was struck by this image, because my immediate conclusion was that the barrier of police were somehow threatening the man, for reasons that include the above. However, I wondered why I had jumped to that conclusion. The man looks peaceful and in no way a threat to the police. My interpretation takes into account the way the police line isn’t complete. This raises the idea that the police feel vulnerable without that gap being filled, yet there are no other protestors present. It looks like an overreaction by them to a minimal threat. Of course, what is happening is that I am bringing to the reading, my own perspectives on the way that the police ‘manage’ protests, particularly peaceful ones. McCullin was documenting a protest during the Cuban Missile Crisis but Britain’s role was relatively small, with agreements being made for US arms to be located in nearby British colonies. The protest was therefore fairly distant., but without the context of what is written on the placard, we cannot know the strength of feeling at the time. My own perception is defined by protests that have occurred in my lifetime, some of which have been documented by photographers and film makers in a similar way to McCullin’s approach in this image. The protestor is being oppressed by the state via their police force. The identical uniforms and extreme visual contrast summon images of Nazism, even though there is nothing to suggest any trouble. In fact, when we look more closely a the image, the police officers look fairly relaxed, some are in fact smiling. The meaning of the image could just as easily be that the police were in the process of closing a street when the protestor arrived, perhaps being the first one to arrive. The visual language of the man being outnumbered by the police, the tonality and the way the composition allows for just the interplay between the people in the frame as context, evokes social post-memory which could be argued was as powerful then as it is now. I think this image is definitely more about the photographer’s perspective on the strength of the oppressed man than an actual document of the protest.

Examples of images that were not done for the benefit of the photographer include other work by McCullin. The image below was taken in Belfast during The Troubles. This shot is more in keeping with Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment, with the two sides of the conflict about to clash on the street. The picture is one of a triptych of the ensuing confrontation.

Fig 2. Northern Ireland, The Bogside, Londonderry 1971, printed 2013 Don McCullin born 1935 ARTIST ROOMS Tate and National Galleries of Scotland. Purchased with the assistance of the ARTIST ROOMS Endowment, supported by the Henry Moore Foundation and Tate Members 2014 http://www.tate.org.uk/art/work/AR01189

This image contains similar elements to the previous one. A small force of riot police approach the edge of a wall, behind which a young man waits with a plank of wood. Unlike the previous photograph, McCullin has no control over the composition as the events are unfolding in front of him. We don’t know what has transpired before the sequence frames, but we can deduce from the scene that some form of pursuit is likely. McCullin is capturing the events unfolding but not approaching the image in the same pre-visual way.

In Becker, the comparison between socialolgy and documentary photography is described in terms of the approaches taken. The former is the based in scientific gathering of empirical data and its interpretation through analysis, while the latter tends towards the photographer’s reading of a scene. McCullin’s triptych, taken over a period of a few seconds, documents the impending ambush on the police in a way that lends itself to a more scientific data gathering than the first image.

When it comes to the photographer creating something for the benefit of themselves, I immediately thought of Walker Evans’ Subway series. The shots, taken using a hidden camera, are documents but are very much how Evans saw his fellow passengers. If he had shot them at regular intervals, say every 10 minutes, the resulting series would have been more methodical and arguably more ‘objective’

Image References

Fig.1: Sheehan, S. (s.d.) Don McCullin: Photographs you can’t look away from. At: https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/art-and-design/visual-art/don-mccullin-photographs-you-can-t-look-away-from-1.3792696 (Accessed 21/03/2022).

Fig 2: Tate (s.d.) ‘Northern Ireland, The Bogside, Londonderry’, Don McCullin, 1971, printed 2013. At: https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/mccullin-northern-ireland-the-bogside-londonderry-ar01189 (Accessed 22/03/2022).

Bibliography

[1] Becker, H. S. (1974) ‘Photography and Sociology’ In: Studies in the Anthropology of Visual Communication 1 (1) pp.3–26.

[2] A guide to ethnography (2020) At: https://www.scribbr.com/methodology/ethnography/ (Accessed 16/03/2022).

[3]Sucker punch: destroyed images of 1930s rural America – in pictures (2016) In: the Guardian 18/04/2016 At: http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2016/apr/18/bill-mcdowell-ground-photography-fsa (Accessed 30/03/2022).

[4]Rejected & 3000 Killed | William E Jones (s.d.) At: https://www.williamejones.com/portfolio/rejected-3000-killed/(Accessed 30/03/2022).

Project 1 – Exercise 2: Recreate

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  • Recreate a well-known image in any of the 4 genres you have explored. Consider the conventions, styles and themes specific to the genre and how the image you choose to re-create speaks to those. You are free to interpret ‘re-creation’ as imaginatively as you like, subverting conventions or adhering to them.
  • Using the Challenging Genres Forum share your work, including; your image, the image that inspired it and a short paragraph explaining your process.
  • Write up the activity on your learning log. After sharing the image and receiving some feedback, reflect on the experience in a short post on your learning log.

Introduction

“What all portraits have in common , in their overlapping and different ways is the central point that the portrait is a means employed to establish the identity of the sitters, regardless of whether they are viewed as a social problem or as human beings with positive features”.

David Bate, Photography: The Key Concepts, p 89.[1]

When I read Chapter 4 of Bate’s Photography: The Key Concepts, I was struck by this quotation. It followed an explanation of the evolution of the portraiture genre from early 19th Century societal pictures that demonstrated wealth and influence, through the working class use of it to establish identity or true likeness whether on one side of the law or the other, and onto the portrayal of someone’s personality. The quote essentially says that the establishment of identity of the sitter is common to all uses of portraiture to some extent.

For this exercise, I decided to look at a non-human portrait with the quotation in mind and read the image in terms of the 5 elements of portraiture that Bate describes. In doing so, I wanted to test whether the same conventions used with portraits of people apply with images of, say dogs.

The Image

USA. New York City. 1946.[2]

This is one of the most famous images from Elliott Erwitt’s book Dogs (1998) and it shows a chihuahua standing on a sidewalk on New York City. The first question to consider is whether it is a portrait or documentary photograph because although there is a clear subject in the frame, Erwitt was a respected street photographer (a sub-genre of documentary). The image was also a severe crop from a much larger 6×6 frame – the crop is shown below:

Contact Sheet Print: Chihuahua New York [3]

When we look at the rest of the images from the roll, we can see the variety of angles and the natural movement of the owners being captured as if in a street photography style; only when the dog is isolated by the crop does the meaning change. I hope to demonstrate that it is a portrait by discussing the elements as laid out by Bate and how my process of recreating further established it for me.

Bate considers the 5 elements of a portrait as face, pose, clothing, location and props which all have an impact in this image. When we look at the dog’s face, we see the lively expression of a content animal. Our cultural understanding and appreciation of dogs as pets tells us that the panting expression means exercise, thirst or excitement. When I read the dog’s expression, my tendency is to see the latter, particularly given his gaze at the photographer. His pose tells us more about his character. Chihuahuas are small dogs, which is further borne out by his location and the scale of his owner’s feet. His pose, however connotes confidence with his wide, head-on stance. Combined with his face, he looks like a dog squaring up to something or someone, as if he doesn’t fear them. Now the face takes on the potential meaning that he is mid-bark, which further emphasises that he’s a confident dog. The clothing is a simple coat (black and white robs us of knowing if it was brightly coloured or not), but when considered with his surroundings and the seemingly elaborate shoes for dog-walking, the coat may connote a privileged class pet. The location of the image is clearly an American city sidewalk and we are informed of its actual location by the title. The location and what we know of NYC’s skyline plays a further part in emphasising the dog’s diminutive stature. The position of the dog with respect to his owner’s feet and legs completes the idea of his size belying his large personality. The props in the image for me are the shoes his owner is wearing. While they don’t really add impact, I think they work with the setting to connote their social standing.

My Image

Chihuahua, Great Malvern (2022)

My approach to this image was to take a portrait of the dog (called Togo), with the same or similar conventions from the original image. The first difference is that I shot this picture while lying the ground and attempting to frame them in the same way. Togo is taller than original chihuahua but shares the relative scale that the breed is known for. His direct gaze, alert expression and stance are all similar with the exception of the panting – this image is defintely all about him. His coat when considered with the glamorous shoes suggests a cherished pet as in the original. The location is a street similar but much smaller than the original, so the scale isn’t as clear. To shift the establishment of location I included the context of the Stars and Stripes details on the shoes. Finally, the high heels and below-the-knee skirt emphasises Togo’s size in a similar way to the original image. However, it’s clear that the dog in Erwitt’s picture is smaller and stood a little behind his owner, which makes that difference much more impactful. I made the image black and white because I didn’t feel that including colour (dominated by the shoes) really added to the aesthetic and made it further from a recreation of the original picture.

Peer Group Feedback

I’ve now received some feedback from my peers. The image was generally seen as being a good recreation of the original. As I didn’t directly copy the picture (I wasn’t in the right city, didn’t have exactly the same dog, shoes etc), my interpretation of the picture from a portraiture perspective appears to worked within the conventions. When viewing the picture, the reaction is one of humour, both at the stature and personality of the dog and the choice of shoes as a prop. Moving the location of the picture from the background context to the prop in this way has added to the sense of fun in the overall image.

Reflection

In reflection, my objective was to take a non-human portrait and demonstrate that it does work with the conventions of portraiture. What Erwitt saw in the dog’s face and posture combined with his relative size to the surroundings, takes into account the conventions of portraiture as postulated by Bate. How these conventions balance is very important in terms of how the picture will be read. The viewer brings the vital interpretation of each element and the importance placed on each will determine the overall reading of the image. For example, an American might see the shoes as something patriotic in terms of the dog and owner’s identity rather than a signifier of the location. This actually happened when an American follower of mine on Instagram saw the picture – his first reaction was to express his being impressed by the shoes. In my recreation, there is a visual element that I removed in post processing in order to make it look more like the original. In my version Togo was on a short lead and a small piece of it was visible in the unedited version. I elected to remove this digitally to match the dog in the original who wasn’t being restrained. If I’d left it in the picture, the context of the dog’s pose changes, as well as his interaction with his location. An alternative reading of the image is now likely – some might see the dog as being less confident in some way. Either way, the elements that are being read are present. In cropping his image the way he did, Erwitt draws our attention to them rather than any other distractions such as the woman’s hands in the full frame.

Bibliography

[1] Bate, David (s.d.) Photography: The Key Concepts. (s.l.): (s.n.).

[2] Chinese Year of the Dog • Elliott Erwitt • Magnum Photos Magnum Photos (s.d.) At: https://www.magnumphotos.com/arts-culture/art/elliott-erwitt-dog-dogs/ (Accessed 13/03/2022).

[3] Contact Sheet Print: Chihuahua New York (s.d.) At: https://www.magnumphotos.com/shop/collections/contact-sheet-prints/contact-sheet-print-chihuahua-new-york/ (Accessed 13/03/2022).