RayKo - The Best from Photographers with Plastic Cameras and Film

Every year Rayko hold a competition for photographs taken with basic plastic cameras (https://www.lensculture.com/articles/rayko-the-best-from-photographers-with-plastic-cameras-and-film). The entries have an unsurprisingly low-fi feel which brings a consistent appeal to the entries. The photographer would have had to leave a lot to chance, unsure of what the resulting photograph would be and unable to apply changes in the processing stage - this is clearly part of the appeal. It gives the photographs a magical and fundamental quality, an originality which would be lacking if we knew that the work was digitally manipulated.

I've been attracted to the idea of doing some "lomo" photography for a while, but worried that it was too gimmicky and the seeming offer of high integrity was itself false. However, this work inspires me that it would be worth taking a more lo-fi approach and leaving part of the outcome to chance.

Martin Bogren

I've seen Bogren's series "Tractor Boys" previously, possibly in British Journal of Photography, I was intrigued but I didn't comment in the blog because I just put the work into the category of reportage which didn't really interest me. However, I now see the work in a different light and I'm more aware of why I find the work intriguing (https://www.lensculture.com/articles/martin-bogren-tractor-boys).

The subject matter is that of young men in Sweden who spend their time racing their cars against each other. However, the work has more drama and character than would normally be found in documentary photography. The photographer is adding an additional layer of artistic interpretation here and it is in the combination of the interest of the subject and how this is used and built upon by the artist that the unique character of these photographs is derived.

There is a narrative here, which at least in part is derived by the contrast (juxtaposition), of the raw and macho nature of the subject and the sensitive and poetic nature of the resulting photographs.

Shigeru Yoshida

More inspirational work on Lens Culture - https://www.lensculture.com/articles/shigeru-yoshida-border . At first glance I mistook the work of Shigeru Yoshida as being little more than the long exposure beach shots that appear frequently on Flickr and which I attempted to take myself until I started this course. However, in practice this work has a subtlety to it that far surpasses the gaudy Flickr counterparts.

I think it's the subdued and delicate tones which makes the images so interesting. Levels of contrast are very low and the compositions are simple and understated.

Frank Hallam Day

I'm increasingly finding Lens Culture (www.lensculture.com) to be an excellent means of finding interesting and inspirational photographic work. The photographers included seem to be creating imaginative, original and artistically interesting work.

Frank Hallam Day's series "Nocturnal" (https://www.lensculture.com/articles/frank-hallam-day-nocturnal) was shot in Florida and consists of night shots of various motorhomes parked up in the countryside. The photos are unposed and taken without the awareness of the inhabitants. There is staged feeling to the work which I think comes from the light which emanates from the caravans - it creates a quite a unique atmosphere. There is an element of the voyeuristic here, but also of the hunter - the motorhomes are hidden within the foliage and look almost like hiding animals.

The work raises questions about man's relationship within nature, particularly in terms of how we to choose to enjoy it, but on our terms.

Magnum (narrative)

Not surprisingly, many of the photographs in the Magnum Millenium book I recd are relevant to considerations of Narrative. Here are some more comments on some of my preferred shots.

Many of the photographs in the book make a beautiful image out of a horrific subject. 2 good examples of this are Erich Hartmann's photo of a dissection table in a concentration camp (pg 179) and Paul Lowe's image of footsteps in blood soaked snow in Chechnya. Both photographs have an aesthetic beauty born of their use of shape and tone, which both transforms and are transformed by the realisation of what they portray.

In other photographs we are presented with images which are open to multiple interpretations. These images play with and challenge our preconceptions, prejudices and social views. As an example Patrick Zachmann's image from Jerusalem (pg 240), raises far more questions that it answers.

Juxtaposition is often an aspect of photographs which tell stories. Harry Gruyeart's image of a desert taken from inside a taxi juxtaposes the traditions and bright barren opennness of the desert with the dark, cramped nature of the taxi (pg 227). Via the extreme perspective in Guy le Querrec's image of a Native American on horseback the man is made to look extremely small and quite absurd (pg 460). Another image which has juxtaposition by including a number subjects which don't seem to fit with each other is Abbas' image of a hekmatyar fighter guarding access to kabul. The fighter is sat on a bed in a middle of a barren scene, he looks bizarrely out of place with his machine gun. His bemused, stilted expression and mannerism just adds to the surreal (pg 525).

I guess another example here would be Martin Parr's photo of a tourist on the back of a pony on holiday in Turkey - filming the view on his camcorder (pg 529). In this instance, the components of the photograph not only raise questions but also amuse us.

Starting Part 5

I'm now pleased to be starting Part 5, I've read through the course notes for this Part already and even started thinking about subjects for the Assignment. I think there would be a tendency for this Part to lean toward Reportage photography, but as I've said previously, this style of photography doesn't inspire me greatly. However, I think an interest in narrative could also lead to Tableau - I'll be trying to lead my exercises and considerations in that direction.

I'm intending on finishing this Part fairly quickly, but then again I always say that....

Magnum (lighting)

A few images which show an interesting use of light in the Magnum book I got for my birthday.

Harry Gruyaert's photograph from inside a room in Mali. The scene has high contrast with the bright light outside showing through the window in the scene outside and also the light shining through from the window to the side (pg 296). The image has wonderful warm tones.

The sunlight through the shutters create a myriad of patterns in Gueorgui Pinkhassov's image of Japanese business men. Combined with the out of focus shapes of the men, the image takes on a beautiful abstract quality (pg 387).

The backlighting in the image of the forest canopy in Stuart Franklin's photograph creates a wonderful silhouette pattern of pure black and white (pg 508).

I was suprised to see that Bruce Gilden was part of Magnum. His approach to photography which subjugates and almost humiliates the subject seems quite counter to the humanitarian ethic of Magnum - at least in terms of approach, if not output. However, the results are powerful, striking and unique. The literally "in-your-face" flash bleaches out and freezes the subject and leaves the background darkened and blurred. The expressions on the faces of the subjects range from the shocked, to the confused, to the defiant. (pg 484).

Assignment 4 - conclusion

I've now submitted Assignment 4 to my tutor, I've captured my reflections within the submission, so I won't add much more here other than 2 say that I enjoyed Part 4 and I'm looking forward to completing Part 5 and then moving on to the next course!

My full submission for Assignment 4 can be downloaded here - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/104013160/Assignment%204%20-%20Steven%20Briggs%20-%20510812.zip