challenging perceptions - lesson 1
KEY OBJECTIVES:
- To better understand the ways in which a camera ‘shapes’ our views, visually and then psychologically, and utilise them practically.
- To explore the immediate and perhaps familiar locale with a new perspective.
- To discuss/consider (compare and contrast), as a whole class and on an individual level the role of photography, and the way photographs behave, or ‘misbehave’.
Simon Norfolk has taken images of war-torn environments (such as Kabul) and, arguably, presented as seductive, film-sets, with exotic colours as ‘cool ruin’ chic. He claims that it engages viewers, which allows them to move on to asking questions, and then challenging perceptions.
Hélène Binet photographs contemporary architecture (expensive and exclusive apartment blocks), often pre-completion, but in ways that suggest extreme austerity, evacuation or foreboding danger. Colour/black and white, here there, old/new, inside/outside, near/far ...
Martin Parr (born 23 May 1952) is a British documentary photographer, photojournalist and photobook collector. He is known for his photographic projects that take an intimate, satirical and anthropological look at aspects of modern life, in particular documenting the social classes of England, and more broadly the wealth of the Western world.
RESEARCH
Look into the images of Simon Norfolk / Helene Binet / Robert Adams to better understand their photographic process. Answer the following questions:
What would these places be like to inhabit?
Does the image consolidate or contradict that idea?
What has the photographer done to shape your view?
Can you identify what has been done post-production (editing on the computer or in the darkroom)?
Spend 10 minutes on each in pairs.
PRACTICAL
Take 2 photographs within a 5 minute walk of the school or on the school grounds that differ in that:
DISCUSSION
Upload your edited 2 images onto your Weebly under the new page "Challenging Perceptions", along with an explanation of the task.
DO NOT LABEL THESE IMAGES OR TELL ANYONE WHICH WAY ROUND THEY ARE. Instead, swap with someone and list what strategies/techniques have been used to alter the viewer's perceptions. Are there any common ones, but used in different ways?
Look into the images of Simon Norfolk / Helene Binet / Robert Adams to better understand their photographic process. Answer the following questions:
What would these places be like to inhabit?
Does the image consolidate or contradict that idea?
What has the photographer done to shape your view?
Can you identify what has been done post-production (editing on the computer or in the darkroom)?
Spend 10 minutes on each in pairs.
PRACTICAL
Take 2 photographs within a 5 minute walk of the school or on the school grounds that differ in that:
- Image 1 is of something you find dull but photographed to make it look as exciting as possible
- Image 2 is something you find engaging visually but recorded with your camera to present it as unappealing.
DISCUSSION
Upload your edited 2 images onto your Weebly under the new page "Challenging Perceptions", along with an explanation of the task.
DO NOT LABEL THESE IMAGES OR TELL ANYONE WHICH WAY ROUND THEY ARE. Instead, swap with someone and list what strategies/techniques have been used to alter the viewer's perceptions. Are there any common ones, but used in different ways?
challenging perceptions - lesson 2
REASEARCH
Read the 2 texts by Matthew Biro and Nicholas Rombes. Work in pairs to annotate the text, identifying any key words and phrases. List 2 questions or concepts you wish this project to answer for yourselves.
a_level_photography_taster_photomontage_texts_2015.docx | |
File Size: | 122 kb |
File Type: | docx |
PRACTICAL
Create a small photomontage (A4) using the images provided. Think carefully about the following formal elements and how you are applying them in your work. Remember, the appropriation of imagery means you will be applying adopted connotations to your work, as well as your own.
Look at the below student examples to assist you - which ones are most effective and why? Which are not?
Create a small photomontage (A4) using the images provided. Think carefully about the following formal elements and how you are applying them in your work. Remember, the appropriation of imagery means you will be applying adopted connotations to your work, as well as your own.
Look at the below student examples to assist you - which ones are most effective and why? Which are not?
challenging perceptions - lesson 3
This project is something of an experiment. Rather than delve straight into your personal investigation, this year you are challenged to think about photography in the form of a game. There are two reasons for this:
- This will introduce you to the context of Surrealism (and subsequent artists/photographers who have been influenced by the ideas associated with Surrealists).
- This short, intense mini design project will encourage you to think imaginatively about what you already know.
|
|
Look at these previous student examples to assist your own ideas:
challenging perceptions - lesson 4
Breaking the 'rules'
Rules are made to be broken. Yes, but not knowing the rules renders broken rules as just mistakes. Deliberately breaking the rules, getting things wrong, is a creative choice. Once the rules have been understood, they can be questioned and undermined. The author James Joyce famously eliminated the majority of full stops from the long last chapter of his novel Ulysses but not because he was unfamiliar with the conventions of sentence punctuation. Ivar Gravlejs has had some fun with creating instructions for photographers keen to avoid making obvious mistakes. Here are some examples of photographers/artists who question some of the 'rules' associated with photography's relationship to the Formal and Visual Elements. In each case, a knowledge of the conventions or 'rules' has informed the photographer's creative choices and helps the viewer make some sense of the resulting pictures. Activities:
|
The below concept's are here as potential starting points for your next investigation. You can either start from these, or build your own one entirely. Additional starting points can be found by using the boards on the attached Pinterest link (do not use the GCSE ones).
photography concept 1
Photographs warp our sense of time. All photographs present us with the past and present at the same time. Photographs remind us of people and things that have gone. Photographs record what has been lost, what no longer exists, or what still exists but will be lost at some point in the future.
There is in fact no such thing as an instantaneous photograph. All photographs are time exposures of shorter or longer duration, and each describes a discrete parcel of time. This time is always the present. Uniquely in the history of pictures, a photograph describes only that period of time in which it was made. Photography alludes to the past and the future only in so far as they exist in the present, the past through its surviving relics, the future through prophecy visible in the present.
-- Jon Szarkowski, The Photographer's Eye
Some initial questions:
There is in fact no such thing as an instantaneous photograph. All photographs are time exposures of shorter or longer duration, and each describes a discrete parcel of time. This time is always the present. Uniquely in the history of pictures, a photograph describes only that period of time in which it was made. Photography alludes to the past and the future only in so far as they exist in the present, the past through its surviving relics, the future through prophecy visible in the present.
-- Jon Szarkowski, The Photographer's Eye
Some initial questions:
- If you could only keep a physical copy of one photograph, which would it be and why?
- What motivates you to take photographs?
- In what sense are your photographs an attempt to stop time?
- Would you rather have a photograph or a video/film of an important event in your life? Why?
This is one of the most enigmatic photographs in the history of photography with a fascinating legacy. This version is heavily cropped. You can see on the right that the negative contains some significant contextual information. By removing the edges of the object and zoning in on the odd textures and patterns in the bottom right hand corner, Man Ray deliberately confuses our sense of time and space.
However, two facts about the picture help us to make sense of it:
Dust is a physical representation of time. Just like a photograph. |
Suggested activities:
- Think carefully about what you can see in the world around you and subjects that remind you of time having passed - peeling walls, rust, layers of graffiti, smudged whiteboards, rotten fruit, faded clothes, marks, stains and traces of various sorts etc.
- Attempt to make a single still photograph that suggests the passage of time. You may wish to make several different photographs of this subject, choosing the one that you think best captures the idea of time. To crop or not to crop...? Will you give your image a title or caption?
If you are interested in exploring the history of photography's relationship to dust (and time) I strongly recommend getting hold of David Campany's wonderful book.
Suggested activities:
- Experiment with photographing moving objects using a range of shutter speeds. What happens if you attempt to use extremely long shutter speeds - the length of an entire film, for example?
- In a dark room, explore the range of effects that can be achieved with long shutter speeds, various light sources and a flash gun. If available (ask me) experiment with stroboscopic light and long exposures.
- Create a solargraph, tracking the path of the sun over several weeks/months - you will have to do this digitally as we don't have a darkroom.
photography concept 2
Photography has many genres, some of which are borrowed from painting (e.g. still life, portraiture, landscape). Some are special to photography (e.g. photojournalism). Artists/photographers often play with our expectations about genre for creative purposes.
...in the same way that a [film] poster creates an expectation for the film, so a genre in photography - portraiture, landscape, still life, documentary etc. - creates an expectation for the meanings to be derived from that type of photograph. Each genre creates an expectation for particular types of understanding. Whether the photograph gratifies that expectation is another matter.
-- From Photography: The Key Concepts by David Bate
For quite a while after its 'birth' in the 1830s, photography played second fiddle to painting. Despite Fox Talbot's claim that photography was the "pencil of nature" it took a while before artists began to see the creative potential in photography, suspicious about its mechanical and chemical processes. Photographers were keen to compete with painters and often printed their images to look like paintings or drawings. Eventually, photography began to create its own genres, reflecting the particular abilities of the camera - photojournalism, documentary, fashion etc. However, the relationship between art and photography has always been a contested issue and continues to be a source of frustration and inspiration for many contemporary artists and photographers.
...in the same way that a [film] poster creates an expectation for the film, so a genre in photography - portraiture, landscape, still life, documentary etc. - creates an expectation for the meanings to be derived from that type of photograph. Each genre creates an expectation for particular types of understanding. Whether the photograph gratifies that expectation is another matter.
-- From Photography: The Key Concepts by David Bate
For quite a while after its 'birth' in the 1830s, photography played second fiddle to painting. Despite Fox Talbot's claim that photography was the "pencil of nature" it took a while before artists began to see the creative potential in photography, suspicious about its mechanical and chemical processes. Photographers were keen to compete with painters and often printed their images to look like paintings or drawings. Eventually, photography began to create its own genres, reflecting the particular abilities of the camera - photojournalism, documentary, fashion etc. However, the relationship between art and photography has always been a contested issue and continues to be a source of frustration and inspiration for many contemporary artists and photographers.
Jeff Wall is a Canadian photographer who has played a key role in establishing photography as a contemporary art form. At first glance much of his work might be filed under 'documentary' or 'snapshot'. However, all is not what it seems, which makes for an interesting starting point when considering photography genres.
[Jeff] Wall divides photographers into two camps, hunters and farmers, the former tracking down and capturing images, the latter cultivating them over time. -- Charlotte Cotton, The Photograph as Contemporary Art At first glance Untangling appears to be a documentary shot of sorts; a plausable enough scene of mechanics in a workshop. But the heightened sense of stillness and melancholy - emitted from the mechanic on the left - begins to creep in and raise doubts. A perfect tangle indeed. |
Jeff Wall has explored a wide variety of approaches to image-making but is perhaps best known for staging elaborate scenes - often using actors - comparable to theatre or film sets. These are then developed as large transparencies presented in lightboxes.
Consider the 4 images above by Jeff Wall.
- What types of photographs are these? (You might consider genres such as Photojournalism, Street Photography, Still-Life, Snapshot, Candid, Abstract)
- Which (if any) seem obviously staged? And if so, why? What are the clues that suggest these might be 'constructed' images?
- Why might the artist want to mislead the viewer (but perhaps not fully)?
- Do any/all of the images leave you with questions or wanting further information?
- What role do the titles of the photographs play in shaping your understanding?
- Do some/all of the images have a similar style?
Now consider the 4 images on the right. These include:
Pair these 4 images with those by Jeff Wall.
|
Exploring genres, playing with expectations...
Below are some other artists/photographers that have played with our expectations of genres. Research the ones that stand out the most to you further.
Below are some other artists/photographers that have played with our expectations of genres. Research the ones that stand out the most to you further.
Still Life - Peter Fischli and David Weiss, Thomas Demand, Ori Gersht
Staged / Tableau - Philip Lorca Di Corcia, Tom Hunter, Gregory Crewdson
Snapshot Lies - Trish Morrisey, Amalia Ulman, Gillian Wearing
Staged / Tableau - Philip Lorca Di Corcia, Tom Hunter, Gregory Crewdson
Snapshot Lies - Trish Morrisey, Amalia Ulman, Gillian Wearing
Appropriated - Richard Prince, Joachim Schmidt, Mishka Henner
Aletered Landscapes - Andreas Gursky, Todd Hido, Matthew Brandt
Aletered Landscapes - Andreas Gursky, Todd Hido, Matthew Brandt
Practical investigation avenue - interrupting the picture
''To me, photography is an art of observation. It’s about finding something interesting in an ordinary place… I’ve found it has little to do with the things you see and everything to do with the way you see them.'
Elliot Erwitt
'The arts equally have distinct departments, and unless photography has its own possibilities of expression, separate from those of the other arts, it is merely a process, not an art.'
Alfred Stieglitz
- - - What happens when "stuff" gets in the way? - - -
The formal and visual elements that constitute part of the 'grammar' of photography (such as line, shape, repetition, rhythm, balance etc.) are not exclusive to photography and are shared with other works of art. But photographs also have a specific grammar - flatness, frame, time, focus, etc.
‘Mistakes’ in photography are often associated with breaking the ‘rules’ and expectations of this grammar e.g. out of focus, subject cropped, blur etc.
Because of the flattening effect of photographs, things in reality can be juxtaposed in unusual ways. For example, things in the distance (in reality) can appear to be on the same level as things closer to the camera. Some photographers have exploited the inherent surreality of this effect, what we might think of as a deliberate attempt to disorientate the viewer for artistic purposes. Other photographers and artists are more interested in the accidental disorientation caused by this phenomenon, a feature of the equipment (or apparatus) being used.
Take these examples by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joel Meyerowitz, Saul Leiter and Matt Stuart. These photographers have exploited the flatness of photographs to make witty, gently surreal images that generate a smile in the mind.
Do you believe their intentions were comical? Justify your interpretations with visual evidence.
‘Mistakes’ in photography are often associated with breaking the ‘rules’ and expectations of this grammar e.g. out of focus, subject cropped, blur etc.
Because of the flattening effect of photographs, things in reality can be juxtaposed in unusual ways. For example, things in the distance (in reality) can appear to be on the same level as things closer to the camera. Some photographers have exploited the inherent surreality of this effect, what we might think of as a deliberate attempt to disorientate the viewer for artistic purposes. Other photographers and artists are more interested in the accidental disorientation caused by this phenomenon, a feature of the equipment (or apparatus) being used.
Take these examples by Henri Cartier-Bresson, Joel Meyerowitz, Saul Leiter and Matt Stuart. These photographers have exploited the flatness of photographs to make witty, gently surreal images that generate a smile in the mind.
Do you believe their intentions were comical? Justify your interpretations with visual evidence.
Some questions to consider:
TASK 1
You will now take a look at some other photographers who seem interested in deliberately interrupting our view of the world.
How do they deal with a whole range of stuff that gets in the way?
Why are they attracted to interruptions, obscurity and ambiguity?
How do they help us get to grips with how photographs work?
- What skills does a photographer need to make pictures like these?
- What do pictures like these tell us about the characteristics of photographs?
- How important is humour in photography?
TASK 1
You will now take a look at some other photographers who seem interested in deliberately interrupting our view of the world.
How do they deal with a whole range of stuff that gets in the way?
Why are they attracted to interruptions, obscurity and ambiguity?
How do they help us get to grips with how photographs work?
Ray Metzker 'Pictus Interruptus'
Metzker is known for his unconventional street photographs. More abstract than either Cartier-Bresson and Meyerowitz, Metzker exploits and exaggerates the properties of still photography - odd framing, multiple exposures, deep contrast, and, in this series, the interruption of various objects placed between the lens and the 'subject'. Metzker seems to want to deliberately disorientate the viewer and question the "truth claim" (the pursuit of capturing reality) between photography and the world.
"It becomes clearer...that I am looking for the unknown which in fact disturbs, is foreign in subject but hauntingly right for the picture, the workings of which seem inexplicable, at the very least, a surprise."
-- Ray Metzker
-- Ray Metzker
Stephen Gill 'Talking to Ants'
Stephen Gill is exactly the sort of photographer who might keep moths in his camera. Gill's practice is rooted in the urban landscape of London's East End. He has utilised a variety of strategies for capturing the beauty of mundane reality, offering viewers new visions and surprising perspectives. In this series he disrupts his chosen views by introducing small objects into the body of the camera itself. The resulting photographs are chance arrangements of photogram-like abstractions seemingly superimposed on unremarkable sections of the Hackney landscape.
Stephen Gill 'Talking to Ants'
Stephen Gill is exactly the sort of photographer who might keep moths in his camera. Gill's practice is rooted in the urban landscape of London's East End. He has utilised a variety of strategies for capturing the beauty of mundane reality, offering viewers new visions and surprising perspectives. In this series he disrupts his chosen views by introducing small objects into the body of the camera itself. The resulting photographs are chance arrangements of photogram-like abstractions seemingly superimposed on unremarkable sections of the Hackney landscape.
The photographs in this series were made in East London between 2009 and 2013. They feature objects and creatures that I sourced from the local surroundings and placed into the body of my camera. I hoped through this method to encourage the spirit of the place to clamber aboard the images and be encapsulated in the film emulsion, like objects embedded in amber. My aim was to evoke the feeling of the area at the same time as describing its appearance as the subject was both in front and behind the camera lens at the same moment.
I like to think of these photographs as in-camera photograms in which conflict or harmony has been randomly formed in the final image depending on where the objects landed.
-- Stephen Gill
I like to think of these photographs as in-camera photograms in which conflict or harmony has been randomly formed in the final image depending on where the objects landed.
-- Stephen Gill
Akihiko Miyoshi 'Abstract Photographs'
Miyoshi is fascinated by the relationship between analogue and digital photography, between the indexicality of light and the abstraction of pixels. In this series he uses a large format camera, a mirror and coloured tape, creating disrupted self-portraits. Our sense of spatial relationships is confused. Initially, we are unable to trust what we see. Slowly, we are able to disentangle the visual clues in order to make sense of the picture. In the process we are reminded of the elements of photographic grammar. Abstraction can often be more effective way to remind us that we are looking at a photograph, an artificial construct rather than a faithful facsimile of the world.
Akihiko Miyoshi 'Abstract Photographs'
Miyoshi is fascinated by the relationship between analogue and digital photography, between the indexicality of light and the abstraction of pixels. In this series he uses a large format camera, a mirror and coloured tape, creating disrupted self-portraits. Our sense of spatial relationships is confused. Initially, we are unable to trust what we see. Slowly, we are able to disentangle the visual clues in order to make sense of the picture. In the process we are reminded of the elements of photographic grammar. Abstraction can often be more effective way to remind us that we are looking at a photograph, an artificial construct rather than a faithful facsimile of the world.
The photographs are taken facing a mirror with coloured tape adhered to the front of the camera's lens as they attempt to unpack the structural mechanics of photographic representation. The tapes obstruct the lens creating a field of colour that cloud over the frame and the reflection of the artist. The photographs are on the verge of becoming abstract recalling colour field paintings. Yet paradoxically it simultaneously reinforces its photographic origins by insisting on its own indexicality.
Akihiko Miyoshi
Akihiko Miyoshi
Adrian Diubaldo 'Broke Work'
Diabuldo is Bipolar. This series of photographs is a deliberate attempt to capture the fracturing of reality that occurs when he experiences a manic episode. It is interesting, in the context of this project, that his chosen technique was to disrupt ordinary views with an object, itself a fractured optical device. In these pictures, we are looking at the world through two pieces of glass which return a recognisable but warped and disturbing view of the world. It's a reminder that reality is largely subjective, affected by our mental states and relative wellbeing. We all see the world differently and photography can be a useful means to communicate our individual visions.
Adrian Diubaldo 'Broke Work'
Diabuldo is Bipolar. This series of photographs is a deliberate attempt to capture the fracturing of reality that occurs when he experiences a manic episode. It is interesting, in the context of this project, that his chosen technique was to disrupt ordinary views with an object, itself a fractured optical device. In these pictures, we are looking at the world through two pieces of glass which return a recognisable but warped and disturbing view of the world. It's a reminder that reality is largely subjective, affected by our mental states and relative wellbeing. We all see the world differently and photography can be a useful means to communicate our individual visions.
When I shot these photographs, I used a piece of broken glass brick to interrupt a sense of full verisimilitude in the images. The visual effect is meant to signify the trouble with getting back to a sense of “reality” that those faced with Bipolar constantly re-learn to achieve, each time they heal from a manic episode.
-- Adrian Diubaldo
-- Adrian Diubaldo
TASK 2
Use the following suggestions to inspire you to create a photoshoot in response to your most relevant artist. However, at this stage of the course you are expected to input elements of your own unique investigation into your work, but how can you do that?
Could you:
Use the following suggestions to inspire you to create a photoshoot in response to your most relevant artist. However, at this stage of the course you are expected to input elements of your own unique investigation into your work, but how can you do that?
Could you:
- Attempt to take a series of photographs in which you alter your viewpoint, camera angle and framing in order to juxtapose two or more objects that are distant in reality but become closely associated through the flattening effect of photography? If so, why?
- Creatively explore one of the cardinal mistakes of photography by deliberately placing your finger or a relevant object in front of the lens? What effects can be achieved by this intentional disruption?
- Apply strips of coloured tape (or similar) to a piece of clear plastic e.g. acetate, then take a series of photographs looking through this disrupted surface, experimenting with focus and depth of field? Mirrors could be used to create abstract self-portraits and paint could provide a less structured alternative or addition to the strips of tape.
- Gather a selection of small scraps of paper that may contain random text or graphic elements and take a series of pictures in which the scraps of paper interrupt the view? Further experiments could be undertaken with other small objects.
- Find a window on which to stick a post-it note so that you can photograph through and around this obstacle? You should experiment with the arrangement of the notes and with focus and depth of field to make this successful.