PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: NARRATIVE

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Exercise 2.8 The Americans

This exercise revolves around the body of work The Americans, by Robert Frank. You’ll need to do your own web research to find relevant images and background information. (Open College of The Arts, 2014:39)

PART 1 Find five images in The Americans where symbols are used. Explain what they are and how they function in the images.

Image 1:

Trolly – New Orleans, 1955. From The Americans © Robert Frank (Cobb, 2019)

Symbol: Window frames – Segregation- separation of races

This image which he apparently shot only the one of as he caught it as he turned around form shooting something else is on the surface a photograph of people on a bus. The imagery is much deeper than that as he the window panes heighten the division on the bus of white people at the front and African Americans at the back; probably the white children are in the middle as they may be between their White parents and African American carers. The expression on the first African American man is very poignant, he looks deeply unhappy, the expressions on the white boy and lady are classically stern and controlled.

Image 2:

Charleston, South Carolina,” 1955. © ROBERT FRANK (The New Yorker, 2017)

Symbol: Skin colour differences – Class – Racism

The Caucasian baby’ pale white skin is juxtaposition against the dark colour of the nanny’s, denoted by her uniform. The expression on the nanny is neutral, which would be less likely if it were her own child and similarly the child is expressionless, they seem together but separate. In the background the street edge is lined with expensive looking cars suggesting that this is a wealthy neighbourhood.

Image 3:

Parade Hoboken, New Jersey, 1955. From The Americans © Robert Frank (Frank, LensCulture, 2020).

Symbol: American flag – Stars and stripes- American patriotism

The American flag flies from the window of the woman on the left, she has a summer dress on whilst the other is in a coat; is one apartment heated and one not or has the woman on the right just come in from outside? It looks like the woman in the coat is smoking, is this another symbol of a class difference. Certainly, the brick wall denotes a separation. Was this shot chosen by Frank because the flag is obscuring their vision in some way, metaphorically?

Image 4:

Robert Frank Covered Car–Long Beach, California, 1956/1956c (Indrisek, 2018)

Symbols: Palm trees – California & Covered car- prized possession

The house looks like a small working-class house and the car is covered to keep it clean; is it their cherished car or their employers? Interestingly in Kerouac’s introduction to the book he explains that the “car shrouded in fancy expensive tarpaulin…to keep soots of no soot Malibu falling on new simonize job as who is a two dollar-an -hour carpenter snoozes in house with wife and TV” (1994).

Image 5:

Detroit River Rouge Plant, 1955. From The Americans © Robert Frank (Frank, LensCulture, 2020)

Symbol: Shiny car- wealth & factory – wealth

The shiny car seemingly glides on the empty road outside the large factory. The factory appears bland and harsh. Are the roads quiet because it is a Sunday, or quiet because the workers are all inside working? The road is angled upwards, this would have been deliberate; is it to signify upward mobility?

Part 2. Read the introduction to The Americans by Jack Kerouac. Find symbolic references that you can also identify in Robert Frank’s photographs – not necessarily the five images that you chose for the first part of this exercise. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:38)

Symbols mentioned in the text:

Coffins and Juke boxes “you end up finally not knowing anymore whether a jukebox is sadder than a coffin” (Kerouac p.1)
Cowboy “Tall thin cowboy rolling butt” (Kerouac p.1) “big hatted cowboys” (Kerouac p.3)
Roads “Long shot of night road” (Kerouac p.1), “The mad road,” (Kerouac p.2)
American Flag “American flag canopy in old busted car seat” (Kerouac p.1)
The sky and clouds “tangled night sky”, “black sheep clouds” (Kerouac p.2
Crosses “Three crosses where cars crashed” (Kerouac p.3)

References:

Cobb, J. (2019) ‘How Robert Frank’s Photographs Helped Define America’ In: The New Yorker 11/09/2019 At: https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/how-robert-franks-photographs-helped-define-america (Accessed 24/05/2020).

Frank, R. (1994) THE AMERICANS. Vol. 1. In: The Art Book. Directed by Frank, R. (1994). pp.31–31. At: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-8357.1994.tb00040.x

Frank, R. and LensCulture (2020) The Americans – Photographs by Robert Frank | LensCulture. At: https://www.lensculture.com/articles/robert-frank-the-americans (Accessed 24/05/2020).

Indrisek, S. (2018) How Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’ Broke the Rules of Photography. At: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-robert-franks-the-americans-matters-today (Accessed 24/05/2020).

Kerouiac, J. (2020) ‘The Americans INTRODUCTION’ At: https://www.oca- student.com/sites/default/files/Kerouac_Americans.pdf (Accessed 24/05/2020)

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

The New Yorker (2017) ‘Eight Photographers on Their Favourite Image from Robert Frank’s ‘The Americans’’ In: The New Yorker 25/04/2017 At: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/photo-booth/eight-photographers-on-their-favorite-image-from-robert-franks-the-americans (Accessed 24/05/2020).

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: NARRATIVE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

RESEARCH POINT: SEMIOTICS

Context and narrative (Short, 2011)

I have read this chapter before during Context and narrative. It was interesting to re-read this 2 years later, these are points that I find salient now:

Chapter 4 Narrative:

Visual narrative techniques are used as punctuation to create frames of reference and context for an audience to give meaning and coherence – a thread to follow or a concept.
In photography narrative may not follow the traditional beginning middle and end, it may look to the past or future, be cyclical, make cross references or be in just one image
The artist citing their method of production is important to convey their intention The way images are presented gives subtle visual clues to an audience and so it should be considered: Is it a typology, an installation that requires interactivity, a photo essay, a sequential story or standalone images.
The size of an image in a series can be visual punctuation
Remember the role of the of the camera as the eye of the viewer, which can be from another perspective
The narrative within a photograph can be drawn from all components of it and breaking it down into these components to help think about what you ae showing an audience.
Photographers that construct images photographers like Gregory Crewdson are deciding what to show an audience
I was interested to learn that many well-known single images have been extracted from larger bodies of work. Short suggests that because these emerge from immersion in a subject overtime, they often convey the essence of the photographer’s intention; their personal response combined with the meaning in a scene that are brought together I a moment.

In summary Short suggests considering when presenting images:

• Will the audience see all the images at once?

• Do you want them to follow an identifiable sequence?

• Will some pictures take more prominence than others?

• Do you need a lead picture that sums up the intention?

• Do you want to use visual punctuation? (size or shape)

“Ultimately the aim of narrative technique is to provide or anchor meaning and coherence for the image and its audience” (Short, 2011:109).

Chapter 5 Signs and symbols

The study of signs is calls semantics and can be used to illuminate visual language and the context of these must also be considered. Ferdinand de Saussure (1857-1913) Swiss linguist and American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce (1839-1914) developed models of semantics on which much of this terminology is based:

Symbol: something that represents something else.
Signifier (the form a sign takes)
Signified The concept represented)
Studium (general interest in the photograph)
Punctum (that which arrests attention)
Representamen (the form that the sign takes)
Interpretant (the sense made of the sign)
Object (to which the sign refers)

The photographer may introduce these accidently or in a constructed way. A signifier can be:

A symbol – is something that represents something else

Indexical– physically or causally linked to the signifier: smoke, footprints

An Icon – resembling the signifier

Signs and symbols can be constructed by the photographer as they respond to their environment. Practical techniques such as aperture, shutter speed and lighting can be used to bring signs and symbols into photography.

Short suggests these points should be considered with signs and symbols:

What is their function?
Are you introducing a new twist on an existing sign or symbol?
How do you introduce the meaning of the symbol?
Is it a reoccurring motif or symbol?
Should the audience have prior knowledge of the meaning of the sign or symbol?
How are you framing their context?
Using any dynamics such as juxtaposition?

The pace and flow of narrative can be orchestrated by signs and symbols either significant in an image or a looser link in the overall visual language between images (Short, 2011:141).

References:

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

Short, M. (2011) Creative Photography: Context and Narrative. Lausanne: AVA Publishing

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: NARRATIVE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.7 Martin Shields part 2

Download from the OCA student site the tear sheet of the newspaper in which the Shields photograph was originally published. Read the accompanying text and answer the questions below:

Does the text relate to your initial deconstruction of the image? If so, how?

Does the text change your perception of the image? If so, how? (Open College of the Arts, 2014:37)

My response:

The text both changes my response to the image and confirms some of my initial thoughts, in particular the connotation, overall, it adds to my interpretation:

It confirms that it is a dilapidated estate but in addition states that it is a council estate
It was new information that it was Glasgow.

If I had to guess what article the image accompanied as the boys in football strip were central to the image I would have expected the story to centre around the boys or football: friendship in hard times, friendship across a divide, or a hope for playing fields;. It was a surprise to find that the article is about regeneration of public housing.

My Learning:

A reminder of the power of text to anchor an image and also the power of an image to be used perhaps out of context and have its meaning misappropriated.

Reference:

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: NARRATIVE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.6

Analyse Martin Shields’ photograph of two young footballers. What are the denotations and connotations of this image? You can write your answer in descriptive prose or make a bullet list if you find this easier. Compare your findings with those of other students via the OCA student forums. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:37)

Response:

Denotations:

Two children with different outfits on
Walking with their arms round each other with footballs under their arms
They are walking past a housing estate
They are walking on a rough pavement
A road is on their left
The weather is grey but not raining

Connotations:

Two boys with different football strip on
They are friends
They are probably walking to play football as their clothes look clean
Their body language signifies that they are happy
It is a low-income area as the houses look run down

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.5 CONTINUING THE TRADITION

Read the interview with Marcus Bleasdale in Eight magazine (V4N3, Dec 2005). See also the article in the Guardian magazine 16 January 2010. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:34)

Notes: Marcus Bleasdale is a documentary photographer who uses his work on human rights and conflict to influence world decision makers and global policy makers around the world. The last ten years he has covered the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo, highlighting both the reasons for and the effects of that conflict on the Congolese population. He has published two books: One Hundred Years of Darkness in 2002 and The Rape of a Nation in 2009, he believes that photography can bring positive change.

Points of particular interest:

He doesn’t believe that photojournalism and conflict go hand in hand and cites the work of Eugene Smith and the Spanish Village abut a country doctor and midwife as events such as famines and natural disaster that aren’t conflict but have a conflict edge to them.
Following the talk Anna fox gave where she explained how fiction affects her photography, I was interested how Bleasdale takes inspiration from writers such as Conrad saying that his language is very visual
His disappointment that media conflict of conflict is often ended due to financial reasons and that foreign news is often limited in favour of the lucrative celebrity market.
He explains that he shoots what he wants for NGO first and then edits towards their brief later
When asked if he thinks people understand both individual and series of images he says yes, but particularly cites the impact of the single image particularly “the one moment of clarity or the question raised by the work that touches people” and this may motivate people to do something
He says that respect for those you work with and them for you is paramount for the success of an image and that he spends a lot of time with subjects to achieve this.
When asked which of his work represents what he wants to achieve as a photojournalist he cites his work in Sakura Lisi in the Congo, where he showed the desperation with dignity. This image below I think shows the way that he has gained the respect of the people to capture an event:

The washing of the body at the burial of the eight-month-old Sakura Lisi, the daughter of a gold miner in Mongbwalu, northeastern Congo. 2004

(Congo. Bleasdale, 2004)

My response:

Having viewed his website, I was amazed at the aesthetics in his images as well as the strong portrayal of desperate realities. I particularly saw this in his colour images such as the one below and yet I can see that when he presents in black and white the images seem more gritty and dramatic, somehow more honest and stronger– I should bear this in mind when choosing between black and white and colour.

*Child miners* from the series Unravelling

(Congo. Bleasdale, 2004)

My Learning:

At a simple level I was amazed at his work and will follow it carefully.
Consider taking inspiration from writers and fiction
Be aware of the power there can be in a single image when it comes from a part of a longer project
I come back again that respect for those you work with and them for you is paramount for the success of an image

References:

Bunyan, D. M. (2020) Bill Brandt Packaging Post for the War – Art Blart. At: https://artblart.com/tag/bill-brandt-packaging-post-for-the-war/ (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Marcus Bleasdale – Photographer (2020) At: http://www.marcusbleasdale.com/new-gallery/xkmh9vpp30pcmk22247v95ws62wljk (Accessed 21/05/2020).

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: RESEARCH

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

SOCIALLY COMMITTED B&W PHOTOGRAPHERS

Do your own research into the work of the socially committed B&W photographers discussed so far, both British (Exit Photography Group, Chris Killip, Nick Danziger, Bill Brandt) and American (Jacob Riis, Lewis Hine). Was this social documentary work their prime focus? How does it fit with other work done by these photographers? Make notes in your learning log or blog. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:34)

As I have previously researched the Exit Photography Group: https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/coursework/part-2-the-bw-legacy/project-legacy-for-social-change/exercise-2-2-survival-programes/

and some of Bill Brandt’s work https://nkssite5.photo.blog/category/exercise-2-3-brandt/

which I add to a little here. Then I will look at those I’ve not researched before……

BILL BRANDT (1904-1983)

He had a multifaceted carer, shaped initially by a circle of friends in the surrealist movement in France, including spending time in the studio of Man Ray; he later moved into fine art photography.

His work The English at Home exposed ironies in the British Class system (Johnson, 2012) and his book A Night in London also looks at the British class system. Brandt also photographed the depression compassionately in the North, especially the miners in Northumberland:

1937 A Snicket in Halifax (Bunyan, 2020)

Northumbrian Miner at His Evening Meal 1937 (Bunyan, 2020)

He was commissioned to take photographs of the many underground bomb shelters during the second World War:

Liverpool Street Underground Station Shelter (Bunyan, 2020)

After WW2 he investigated themes portraying poetic sensibilities displayed in contemporary art photography and as he increasingly arranged things for the camera, he took the nude from the studio and placed in domestic situations , even on the beaches of England and France. He used a wide angle camera lens so that he could photograph whole rooms; and was recommended one but he found that it distorted and the images of distorted abstract nudes came from this accident, he describes them as abstract sculpture. His surrealist abstract photographs were not popular at the time but are now. He describes some of them as lucky finds but I believe it is down to his eye.

(Bill Brandt, 2020)

However despite his photographs of the Depression and social class, I’m not convinced that his work went beyond the artistic portrayal of their sooty blackened bodies and wouldn’t label him as socially committed.

Chris Killip (b1946)

Photographed the heavily industrialised areas of the north during the 1972 and 80s, steel works, shipyards and coal mines; these were published in his book “In Flagrante” (1988). He spent a long time in a place whilst photographing, sometimes years, often in closed communities, but not always of those he knew. He says his photographs changed as he got to know people. He says “history is written, my pictures ae what happened” ( Smyth, 2017) ). Killip says that he was interested in recording people as part of history rather than to blame politicians. He seems to me to be a socially committed photographer as he portrays in an unromantic straightforward way what he sees and knows from learning about a place and people.

Father and Son Watching a Parade, West End, Newcastle; Chris Killip (British, born 1946); Newcastle, England; negative 1980; print 1986; Gelatin silver print; 34.7 × 26.5 cm (13 11/16 × 10 7/16 in.); 2014.36.22

(Smyth, 2017)

Nick Danziger (b1958)

Danziger’s Britain was published in 1996, it focused on under privileged members of society; he lived among the homeless and unemployed in many of the ruined manufacturing “no-go” areas of Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and England where he slowly won the trust of the street children and got to hear the stories of hundreds of society’s outsiders; it was a powerful and disturbing documentary.

The British (2001) contrasted the worlds of the upper and under class, showing the inequalities and polarisation in the upper and underclass; a vivid portrayal. In 2003 Danziger travelled with Times editor Peter Stothard for a month to document visually the Prime minister Tony Blair; here President George W. Bush and Blair make eye contact as if both are looking into a mirror, taken the day before American troops had entered Baghdad, this was an important document of history.

President Bush and Prime Minister Blair at Hillsborough Castle, 2003 (Nick Danziger | Widewalls, 2020)

He establishes close relations to his subjects, though not impartial; however he does aim to give those who rarely feature in the media a voice. He believes that photography can bring positive social change for individuals and local communities.

He has done much of his work abroad often in war torn places, recording the ordinary people caught up in the conflicts; here you can see his social commitment.

References:

Bill Brandt (2020) At: https://www.houkgallery.com/exhibitions/bill-brandt-the-nude-a-centenary-exhibition?view=slider (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Bill Brandt | The Nude: A Centenary Exhibition – Exhibitions – Edwynn Houk Gallery (2020)

Bunyan, D. M. (2020) Bill Brandt Packaging Post for the War – Art Blart. At: https://artblart.com/tag/bill-brandt-packaging-post-for-the-war/ (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Johnson, W. et al. (2012) A History of Photography: From 1839 to the Present. Taschen.

Nick Danziger | Widewalls (2020) At: https://www.widewalls.ch/artists/nick-danziger (Accessed 06/07/2020).

PhotoVoice (2016) Ten Questions with… Nick Danziger – Ethical photography for social change | PhotoVoice. At: https://photovoice.org/10-questions-with-nick-danziger/ (Accessed 06/07/2020).

Rob Hooley (2013) Bill Brandt BBC Master Photographers (1983). At: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3KuY0quBsk (Accessed 19/05/2020).

Smyth, D. (2017) Now Then: Chris Killip and the Making of In Flagrante. At: https://www.bjp-online.com/2017/06/now-then-chris-killip-and-the-making-of-in-flagrante/ (Accessed 06/07/2020).

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

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Exercise 2.4 Discussing Documentary

Read the introduction and first section (pp.105–10) of the article ‘Discussing Documentary’ by Maartje van den Heuvel (Documentary Now! 2005). Write a short summary in your learning log. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:33).

Mirror of visual culture

A summary:

The author believes that the debate about documentary in an art context should take visual literacy as a starting point to enable the value of documentary photography in art to be better assessed; are these practices effective and legitimate or has the border into fiction been blurred too much?

Much of our experience is not direct but found through the media so we are becoming more visually literate and able to interpret things
Documentary images are part of a wider movement including journalism, advertising, games, pop culture and film where art is functioning increasingly as a mirror of visual culture

The author reviews the classical documentary tradition and then shares examples that show a documentary remix, as artists free themselves from traditional documentary images:

2 historical visual traditions: Western Anglo-Saxon human-interest film and photography and the Eastern Communist/socialist Russian and German.
Documentary as a militant eyewitness, from around 1900: Jacob Riis (1849-1914), Lewis Hine (1874-1940) with reformist ambitions
Documentary was connected to film, when John Grierson designated a film non-fiction. Documentary as a realistic counterpart to fiction as film a recorder of social conditions: FSA, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange. Magazine images in Life, Picture Post magazines, and the investigations of the Magnum agency.
Documentary as a picture tradition in communist and socialist countries to support revolution for the working class.
Documentary for left wing activism in the 50s and 60s with coarse grainy black and white 35 mm film images
Documentary as art as from the 1970s moved from a belief in realism and transparency with the easy accessibility of TV and advertising in different forms as people learnt that media images could be manipulated. A move away from the traditional black and white grainy images previously associated with authenticity awareness of subjectivity in documentary
Documentary with technical, stylistic or narratives, sharp detail and colour: Thomas Struth, Andreas Gursky and Thomas Ruff. This included functional directions such as topographical or architectural photography.
Documentary with social narratives: martin Parr on the middle class, Karen Knorr on the wealthy. Nan Goldin on her own surroundings
Documentary with depth: Allan Sekula’s project on economic and trading routes, Fazel Sheikh on people (Ramadan Moon). Giles Peress on the genocide in Rwanda (The silence)
Documentary photographers focusing on the publicity and distribution channels of photography: Susan Meiselas on Kurdistan (In the shadow of history)
Documentary using inside knowledge: Julian Germain collaborating with Don McCullin (Steelworks)
Documentary questioning images: Hiroshi Sugimoto on how the suggestion of reality is constructed, and any artificiality that simulating documentary images in artificial surroundings such as waxworks and any artificiality that suggest reality
Documentary that is staged: Jeff Wall imitating media pictures.
Documentary through re-enacting: Pierre Huyghe Third Memory; it has three layers of time and imagery, original journalistic media about a bank robbery, the 1975 film (Dog day Afternoon) and his own images of a re-enactment of the robbery. Christoph Draeger (Catastrophes) where he imitates disaster scenes, and his Black September on the terrorist hijacking and murder of Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic games

The author suggests though the artists differ as to how much their work reflects upon he documentary tradition, what these works have in common is that they analyse and comment on the structure and effect of documentary images in the mass media which testifies to increased visual literacy amongst the artists and appeals to the viewers to be visually aware also.

MY LEARNING

I should consider carefully visual literacy and how much the viewer has.
It was really useful to have these suggested stages/categories of documentary set out, it helps to clarify things for me. I may use this as a starting point to develop some ideas for assignment 2, in particular to research further, documentary as art and manipulation and documentary for questioning images.

Reference: Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY DOCUMENTARY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

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Exercise 2.3

Read ‘Bill Brandt’s Art of the Document’ by David Campany. Write a short summary in your learning log. How did B&W become such a respected and trusted medium in documentary? (Open College of the Arts, 2014:32).

This article illustrates how on image can play different roles at different times especially when presented in different ways, or as Company calls it “mobile images” (Company, 2006: p51). It also gives an insight into the career of Bill Brandt.

The image that the article discusses is shown above “Parlour maid and under-parlour maid Ready to Serve Dinner”. It first appeared in Brandt’s first book “The English At Home” (1936) a pictorial survey across the social classes. The book presents images from across a social divide through pairings of images, though it is not an in your face revolutionary document as the previous work I discussed “Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities”, Brandt clearly presented these disparities in one book for a viewer to see if they wished to see. Company calls this “poetic realism” pictorial artfulness that tried to assume social authority. However, in this one image in particular you can see the tension between classes contained in one photo. Company says that The English at Home was a picture of the English that they struggle to recognise themselves (Company, 2006:54).

In 1938 Brandt published in Verve photo- essay styled as “day in the life of” though this image was not included essay style, possibly as he thought the image too powerful; these images work together but not on their own. After the 1940s Brandt moved away from the photo-essay either to singular images or those juxtaposed to add strength to his meaning. This image was reprinted in “Shadow of Light” (1966) and placed opposite an image of a Kensington drawing room, emulating the juxtaposed images in his 1936 book.

I was interested to read that Brandt changed to a more surrealistic approach to the photographic document as he was not convinced that a photograph could give straightforward social description and was wary of its use for social reform. Surrealists approached documentary in a more ambiguous way leaving more room for viewers to make their own responses. Company explains how Brandt is sometimes viewed as a historical and sometimes a contemporary artist, sometimes a documentary photographer and sometimes and artist though he would call him documentary artist.

I’m not sure how this article relates to the back and white document, though it does mention that black and white defines the details in a photograph. Also, perhaps to say that there is no such thing metaphorically as a black and white image and that as Brandt always worked in black and white. It has however reopened my eyes to Brandt’s work and reminded me of the fluidity of images over time.

MY LEARNING

Remember the ability of a photograph to be presented for different purposes
Research Brandt further
Research Surrealist photographers further

References:

Bill Brandt | Parlour maid and Under-Parlour maid Ready to Serve Dinner | The Met (2020) At: https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/265464 (Accessed 14/05/2020).

Company, D. (2006) The career of a photographer, the career of a photographer: Bill Brandt’s art of the document

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY DOCUMENTARY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2:2 Survival programmes

Read the article ‘Survival Programmes’ in Eight magazine (V5N1, June 2006). (Open College of the Arts, 2014:32).

Between 1974 and 1979 three British photographers Nicholas Battye, Chris Steele-Perkins and Paul Trevor set up the Exit Photography Group to record life in some of Britain’s inner-city areas. This work was published their work in the book Survival Programmes in Britain’s Inner Cities (1982). They chose black and white photography as they thought its seriousness and visual authority would add to the seriousness of their message of the need for social reform for race, religion, class and justice. the medium would strengthen the message.

“In aiming to create a lasting testimony that would resonate beyond the immediate political circumstances of the time, the three Exit photographers developed a complex and multi-layered response to the situation” (Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities – Exit Photography Group, 2020).

Sharing the same position that inner city poverty was endemic and leading to social disorder, they used oral evidence (people’s interviews) to capture such experiences. They worked in different cities, contacting community groups, walked around deprived districts, talked to people on the streets, and knocked on doors; Nicholas Battye commented that back then people were happy to talk to photographers. The images were sequences from frustration to anger on 4 chapters: through growth, promise, welfare to reaction. The book gave the same space to the interview transcripts as images, which they discussed and chose from together. I was interested to learn that they shot in black and white to save money. Their work certainly brought viewers really close to the truth.

MY LEARNING POINTS

Although times were different then they still must have worked hard to build relationships and trust with the communities that they photographed to get so close to them
Reminds me again of the responsibility of the photographer to shoot with Integrity, the images are intimate but respectful.
The benefits of working as a team and having a shared ethos
The impact that sharing the truth can have when laid bare

References:

New Writing: Exit Photography Group | Photoworks (2014) At: https://photoworks.org.uk/exit-photography-group/ (Accessed 13/05/2020).

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

Survival programmes in: Ei8ht magazine 5 (1) pp.12–19. Available online at: https://www.oca-student.com/sites/default/files/Foto85.1_SurvivalProgrammes.pdf (accessed 13.5.20)

Survival Programmes: In Britain’s Inner Cities – Exit Photography Group (2020) At: https://www.amber-online.com/collection/survival-programmes/ (Accessed 13/05/2020).

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PART 2 THE B&W DOCUMENT: LEGACY DOCUMENTARY FOR SOCIAL CHANGE

July 3, 2020July 7, 2020 / niki / Leave a comment

Exercise 2.1

Read the 1939 article on documentary photography by Elizabeth McCausland. Write a short bullet list of McCausland’s main points in your learning log. Explain in your own words, in a single paragraph, why this article is relevant to this part of the course. (Open College of the Arts, 2014:31)

Notes on Elizabeth McCausland’s article:

Documentary photography has arisen from “creative impulses”
It uses photography to chronicle the external world, to expose serious issues, unlike previous applications which were comparatively romantic
Documentary photography uses realism using new eyes
Facts are more important to represent than a photographer’s personality though he can control the aesthetics by giving the facts a form
There are many opportunities for publishing honest images of everyday life
The work of the Farm Security Administration and the Federal Art Project “changing New York” series by Bernice Abbott ae the strongest precedent for documentary photography as the government has been the best sponsor of knowledge
Photography may have been confused with painting, is it art for instance; however, it is bound to realism, photographs give us truth.
Society now wants truth and even in art wants content and something that has something to say to an audience.
Photography can reveal much all at once and is not limited
Every subject is significant, and a documentary photographer should use technical ability to present in a simple and modest way the wider world, to inform people in a serious and sometimes shocking way.

My response: The premise of McCausland’s beliefs about documentary photography are that truth and honesty are paramount and that this takes precedence above a photographer expressing his personal voice. It must be recognised that this comes after the relaxed period of the 1920s before the serious times of WW2.

Nevertheless, this is mostly how documentary photography is perceived today. Truth, honesty and a message to communicate in the work holds true. I do believe however that we are now aware that it is naïve to believe that camera cannot lie and that a documentary photographer will always present absolute facts; in fact even in the work of the FSA cited as an exemplar by McCausland editorship and purpose was used to drive a certain narrative. Today we are more alert to the possible influences of purpose, editorship, audience and presentation on the bald facts. This article does however remind me of the importance of holding to an intention and my responsibility to the subject as a documentary photographer.

References:

McCausland, E. (1939) ‘Documentary Photography’ At: https://www.oca-student.com/sites/default/files/oca-content/key-resources/res-files/photonotes.pdf

Open College of the Arts (2014) Photography 2: Documentary-Fact and Fiction (Course Manual). Barnsley: Open College of the Arts.

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