Photographic rules: A beginning, middle, and perhaps, end. Andrew Murdoch, BA (Hons) Photography. Supervisor: Mark Dunlop. Word Count: 10,974
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Form 4 MEDI 10015 Art Research Project Honours Dissertation Final Submission To be completed in full and bound into dissertation after title page. Surname: Murdoch First Name(s): Andrew Banner No. B00211916
Session: 2011 ‐ 2012
Programme: BA (Hons) Photography Research Project Supervisor: Mark Dunlop Dissertation Title: Photographic rules: A beginning, middle, and perhaps, end.
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Contents Introduction .......................................................................................................................................... 4 Methodology Analysis ‐Combined Analysis ....................................................................................................................... 5 ‐Formal Analysis ............................................................................................................................. 5 ‐Contextual Analysis...................................................................................................................... 8 ‐Comparison...................................................................................................................................... 9 Theory ‐Post‐Modernism ......................................................................................................................... 10 ‐Formalism ..................................................................................................................................... 11 Literature Review Impressionism .............................................................................................................................. 13 Invention of photography ........................................................................................................ 15 Perceptions of Photography.................................................................................................... 17 Photographic Rules..................................................................................................................... 20 Artifact Analysis Subverting the rules ................................................................................................................... 23 Post‐war Japanese Photography ........................................................................................... 23 ‐Daido Moriyama ......................................................................................................................... 26 ‐Hiroshi Sugimoto........................................................................................................................ 30 ‐Shomei Tomatsu ......................................................................................................................... 34 Ansel Adams................................................................................................................................... 35 Photograph as a communicator............................................................................................. 37 Breaking rules as a choice........................................................................................................ 41 Photographing subjects with no form ................................................................................ 44 ‐Trent Parke ................................................................................................................................... 45 ‐Thomas Joshua Cooper ............................................................................................................ 48 Conclusion........................................................................................................................................... 51 List of plates ....................................................................................................................................... 55 Bibliography....................................................................................................................................... 57
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Introduction This research project will address the concept of technical rules within photography, the possible reasons for breaking these rules and the results of doing so. It will do this in several ways. By exploring photography, giving consideration to the definition of the photograph, it will look at the circumstances around the invention of photography and its development to current practice. Investigation will be made into the notion of rules, where these rules come from and why images are often classified as correct or incorrect. The primary thread of investigation will be to look at whether images that do not adhere to the traditional conventions of photography elevate themselves above those that do in any way. Consideration will also be given to how following the rules, or not, affects how well images are able to serve the basic function of imparting information. As such, justification for breaking rules will be explored. Parallels to the history of other types of art, namely painting, will be drawn. Contextual analysis will be used to examine if photographers are choosing to break the rules for similar reasons that caused painters to move away from striving to create ultra realistic works and adopt more impressionistic styles. Throughout the dissertation consideration will be given to the theme of context – how what is happening around photography and photographers has made them chose to work in one way rather than another. The context of the images themselves will also be considered; are photographs that adhere to the rules viewed differently to those that do not and has this influenced the practitioner’s choices. The styles of photography that are being compared will be defined by citing images from practitioners of each. Where possible, the comparisons will be made with examples of photographers who work with similar subject matters such that a direct comparison in the approach can be made.
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Methodology – Analysis Combined Analysis Images will be analysed using a combination of formal and contextual analysis. Work being analysed will include examples of images created by photographers who do follow the rules and those who do not. There will be images from photographers who make a conscious decision to disregard the rules: doing so in order to realise their creative vision, and from those who do so as a compromise; photographers working in conditions which do not allow for the creation of technically perfect images. These images will be analysed in order to determine the reasons and justifications for the approach the photographer has taken. Images will be analysed formally; taking the image itself and discussing the content, subject, tones, colours etc and contextually; looking at where and when the image was made, by whom, and for what purpose. Formal Analysis Formal analysis deals with that which can be universally accepted as definite and as such can be the most easily understood analysis method. For example, a formal analysis of an image would identify the elements within it; what is actually pictured, the colours used and in the case of black and white images, the use of light and dark tones. It could also deal with the techniques used; was a fast shutter speed used to freeze motion or a longer one which resulted in a blurred image, is the entire image in focus or is only a part of the image. Although it is not always known or obvious, formal analysis of an image could also look at equipment used, the type of camera, wide angle versus telephoto lens, image format, film or digital. Because formal analysis is so concerned with fact as opposed to interpretation its use in the criticism of photography often leads to technically concerned questions which only have a yes or no answer being asked of an image. In order to satisfy these questions photographers may choose to adopt techniques and follow rules that would ensure their images were analysed as being correct. 5
Formal analysis does not deal with why any of these things have been done. It does not look at why the photographer decided to employ a certain technique or to compose an image the way they have. It does not consider anything other than the image itself. However, D’Alleva writes, “…there’s no such thing as a pure formal analysis that is totally divorced from contextual analysis. This is because you, the viewer, do provide a kind of context.” (D’Alleva, 2010, p27). It is only through their experiences of viewing and participating in photography that a viewer or critic can identify that the approach photographers like Moriyama and Tomatsu often take is not a traditional one. i.
Moriyama, 1987, Tights in Shimotakaido [photograph] ii.
Tomatsu, 1961, Nagasaki:Melted bottle [photograph]
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Similarly, it is only because a viewer might have experienced the places they see in someone’s photographs that they can know whether they have accurately portrayed the place or not. Formal analysis will be used to identify images that appear to follow the rules and those which do not and it will demonstrate the differences between them. There will be discussion of why an entirely formal analysis of the images one makes might enable an assessment of how technically correct they are but also that a contextual analysis is often required when purely representational technical image making is not the only desired outcome. Formal analysis of some examples of similar subject matters photographed in traditional and non‐ traditional styles will be made to evaluate if there is any benefit or detriment in breaking some of the rules when you want to make an image that communicates or describes something.
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Contextual Analysis Contextual analysis is a deeper consideration of the artist’s motives, influences and messages. D’Alleva (2010 p52) writes that contextual analysis tries to “understand the work of art in a particular cultural moment”. It looks at why the artist has included certain things within the composition and why a particular point of view has been chosen? It also assesses what influence will the artist’s background and that of the patron or viewer of the work have on the interpretation of it. iii.
Adams, 1927, Bidalveil Fall [photograph]
While contextual analysis deals with things which can be said to be fairly certain, i.e. we can be fairly certain that one of the things that informed Ansel Adams’ choice of photographic subject was his living within Yosemite National Park, these things are much more open to interpretation and many of the questions asked in a contextual analysis could only be answered with any certainty by the artist or the individual viewer concerned. Contextual analysis will be used within this dissertation to look at what was happening in the world and in particular, in Parisian society, that stimulated the rise of the Impressionist painting movement and how this relates to photography. It will assess whether there are similar motives driving 8
photographers to break the rules now as there were driving painters to move away from striving for ultra realistic representations at the start of the 19th century. Contextual analysis will be used alongside formal analysis to evaluate non‐traditional photographs as communicators by considering how certain situations remove the ability for the photographer to create traditionally correct images, looking at whether the information lost to motion blur or missed focus is significant when it would be impossible to produce a more technically correct image and whether the inclusion of things like blur actually enables the viewer to better understand what was happening. Comparison As justifications for images that break the rules and images that follow them are to be considered, comparison will be used. Works will be compared formally; evaluating the content of each and how well it fulfils its purpose, and contextually; looking into the background of the author and the context of the work to determine why the chosen approach has been taken. Where possible, comparisons will be made between photographs of similar subject matter such that the effects of using different techniques can easily be appreciated.
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Methodology Theory Post‐Modernism Post‐modernism is not a theory in its own right but rather a collection of theories and practices that centre around taking non‐traditional approaches to traditional ideas. Very often the post‐modern artist will use new and unusual materials or techniques to create their work, intentionally contrasting low, cheap materials with high art forms like sculpture. Sarah Lucas is an example of such an artist; in her Bunny Girl series she has taken a post‐modern approach to sculpture by using nylon tights and cotton wadding to create figures and in the example below, has clipped them crudely to an unexceptional chair. iv.
Lucas, S. 1997. Pauline Bunny [mixed media sculpture]
Post‐modernist works very often contain contradictions and are created with a view to breaking with convention very much in mind. As such, photographers who intentionally break the traditional rules of the craft could be seen as making an inherently post‐modern rebellion.
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Formalism Because images that have differing levels of realism are being analysed, it would make sense to consider, as formalist theory does, the image with no regard for that of which it is an image. v.
Still, 1947, 1947RNo. 1[oil painting]
”If Still’s largest painting, and especially his horizontal ones, fail so often to realize the monumental openness they promise, it is not only because he will choose a surface too large for what he has to say; it is also because too many of his smaller colour areas will fail really to function as areas and will remain simply patches” (Greenberg. 1962) Greenberg only ever discusses the artwork itself; he believs that the piece is all that matters. If this type of theory were applied to photography then it would not matter if rules were followed or broken as the relationship between the image 11
and the subject would be irrelevant; all that would matter would be the final image and this would be assessed in terms of how tones and colours interact on the print, the size of the print and the type of paper it has been made on. Greenberg argues that it is in the inspiration and conception that the value in artworks lie. vi.
Newman, 1949, Dionysius [oil painting]
“Newman’s pictures look easy to copy, and maybe they really are. But they are far from easy to conceive, and their quality and meaning lies almost entirely in their conception.” (Greenberg. 1962) Greenberg’s, often controversial, theories will be applied to photography, investigating if, in an age where technology allows anyone to make technically proficient images, it is the more conceptual, rule breaking ones which stand out from the crowd. 12
Literature Review Impressionism In the second half of the nineteenth century France saw a great deal of social unrest; several revolutions, the Coup d’Etat, the Franco Prussian War and the Commune. Things were changing for French artists within the art scene too ‐ in 1859 the well‐known and respected Salon exhibition included a photography section and, in 1862, French courts declared photography as an art form. “…the camera was to abrogate one of the, admittedly minor, functions with which artists…had always been entrusted: as documenters of events and appearances.” (Denvire , 1992. P14) While some painters initially met photography with disdain, the Impressionists realised that, as they were no longer required to produce realistic documentary works, they were free to pursue art for the sake of art. Impressionist painters were leaving their studios to work outside; they were working with more speed, in order to capture subjects who no longer sat rigid for them. They were becoming more concerned with time, light and space and no longer wanted to paint ‘things’ but rather, the light as it fell on these things. The popularisation of the steam engine opened the Impressionist’s minds to the nature of visual perception as they noticed how things appeared to blur when they traveled at high speed. The steam engine also found use in printing presses, meaning that books and journals became more available than ever before. Much was written about art, and also scientific advances, which opened the Impressionists’ eyes and minds to thinking about the nature of sight and perception. Further social changes happening in Paris strengthened the new Impressionist movement. An increase in levels of wealth prompted more social discourse, interest in art and the birth of the art dealer. Some painters even embraced photography as an aid for their art. Meissonier and Degas worked with scientifically concerned photographers like Muybridge in 13
order to study structure, form and movement in a way never before possible. (Denvire, 1992,. P15) From this it can be seen that even when photography was practiced with scientific intentions, it had its place in the art world. vii.
Muybridge, E. 1887. Jumping a hurdle; saddle; bay horse Daisy Plate 640 of Animal Locomotion, 1887 [photograph] viii.
Degas, E. 1878‐80. Horse Racing Before Starting. [pastel]
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Invention of photography Before rules and the validity of photographic images that break them can be discussed there must first be a definition of what a photograph actually is. Is it simply a record of a moment in time and space, a way to remember an event or a person’s face where realism and accuracy are paramount, or is a photographic image just as capable of being more significant than what lay in front of the camera in the way that a painting or a sculpture is more significant than the scene or sitter being portrayed? It is hard to answer such a question today given how widespread and commonplace the use of cameras and photography have become so it might be prudent to look back, to the birth of photography, and assess the purpose of its invention. The invention of photography was, perhaps unsurprisingly, preceded by the invention of the camera or more accurately, the camera obscura. “The term camera obscura comes from the Latin meaning dark room. The camera obscura was, indeed, a room large enough for people to enter. The room had a small opening on the top or one side and a white surface opposite the hole.” (Schranz. n.d. cited in Stroebel, 1993, p75‐76) Camera obscuras existed in one form or another possibly as early as the 4th century BC but were mostly used to make observations ‐ about the nature and properties of light and to safely view solar eclipses. In 1558 Giovanni Battista Della Porta wrote in his book, Magiae Naturalis (Natural Magic), that the camera obscura could be used as an aid to drawing and by the 17th Century artists were making regular use amongst other optical aids of the camera obscura, a practice that resulted in the increase in level of accuracy and detail in artworks of this period.
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ix.
(Niépce, 1826,View from the Window at Le Gras. [photograph]
At the start of the 19th century, as the camera obscura was being developed as an artist’s tool, discoveries were being made in the world of chemistry relating to how certain materials behaved when exposed to light. Nicéphore Niépce, an amateur scientist, had been experimenting with the light sensitive properties of bitumen and had used light to make some etchings. Niépce’s hand was too unsteady to trace the image that the camera obscura projected and he sought to create a permanent image from the projection of the camera obscura using what he had discovered about bitumen. Using a pewter plate coated with bitumen dissolved in lavender oil and exposed to the image created by a camera obscura created the first ever photograph. Later Niépce went on to experiment with silver compounds based on Johann Heinrich Schultz’s discovery that silver nitrate darkens when exposed to light and he worked with Louis Daguerre, the inventor of the daguerreotype. (Alinder, n.d., cited in Schranz, 1993, p154‐156)
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Perceptions of Photography While it took some further development until the image created by using photosensitive materials could equal the levels of detail that an artist working from the projection of the camera obscura could achieve, Niépce’s chemical solution immediately removed the artist, and thus their interpretation, from the image making process. “…it was possible to make a record of visible reality not limited by the patience, skill, and understanding of the maker, a record not filtered through the habits of his trained hand, his eye, and his visual memory.” (Thompson, J. 2003. p5‐6) In his book Truth and Photography, Thompson also touches on the concept of inclusion in the photographic image; he cites an essay by photographic pioneer William Fox Talbot which talks about details which might have been left out of a painting or drawing but which the photograph, by its mere nature, includes. “It frequently happens…‐ and this is one of the charms of photography – that the operator himself discovers on examination, perhaps long afterwards, that he has depicted many things he had no notion of at the time. Sometimes inscriptions and dates are found upon the buildings, or printed placards most irrelevant, are discovered upon their walls: sometimes a distant dial‐plate is seen, and upon it – unconsciously recorded – the hour of the day at which the view was taken.” (Talbot, 1844 cited in Thompson, 2003, p5) Because of its mechanical nature photography was immediately seen as being more objective than painting and in pursuit of developing its impartiality many people have sought to develop both the equipment, and the craft and practices involved with the medium. There were some photographers however who sought to negate the increased accuracy associated with photography. Edward Steichen attached a vibrating motor to his camera and printed using the bromoil process – a highly skilled technique that application by hand of ink to a hardened gelatin print and very 17
rarely produces two identical prints – to obscure fine detail in his images. Thompson (2003) writes that Steichen and his contemporary camera‐artists aimed to capture “the beautiful – a quality which resides in the viewer and not in the thing viewed.” x.
Steichen, 1904, The Pond – Moonlight [photograph – bromoil print] xi.
Steichen, 1903, Self Portrait [photograph – photogravure print]
In this self‐portrait Steichen looks more like a painter than a photographer as he poses with his palette and brush and this perhaps suggests that he saw himself rather as an artist than as a technician, working the camera to make realistic documents. Steichen would be but one example of many practitioners who, at
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that time, were producing images using photographic techniques but who saw themselves as having more in common with painters. xii.
Mortensen, 1935, Fragment [photograph] Mortensen, a photographer derided almost into oblivion by the group f64 for his pictorial approach, was particularly fond of working over his images with a razor blade; in Fragment he has applied a masking fluid to the negative to photograph his model without her head or arms and later added the nicks and scars with a blade.
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Photographic Rules Although the modern camera is a hugely advanced piece of technology and can produce reasonably good images at almost anyone’s hands there are still lots of photographers who choose to learn the craft of photography and set things such as exposure and focus themselves. There are numerous reasons for choosing to do this and these could include, wanting to have the ability to deal with difficult lighting conditions which the automations in the camera might not be able to adequately handle, to feel more connected with and responsible for a work or to have the ability to produce an image which is not just the camera’s idea of a representation of a scene but rather in which the photographer has more of a hand. It would be almost impossible to consider the rules of photography without referring to Ansel Adams, a photographer who wrote extensively on the subject of the craft of photography. Such are the popularity of Adams’ books that they are still considered to be a ‘first port of call’ for those who wish to learn their way around a camera and though Adams makes regular reference to negatives and prints it should be noted that, in general, his teachings are as applicable now as ever because the basic functions of the camera, shutter speed, aperture, focus, focal length etc, are just the same now as when Adams was writing. xiii.
Adams, 1942, The Tetons and Snake River [photograph]
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In his book The Negative, Adams states that, “If there is such a thing as a perfect negative, it is one exposed and developed in specific relation to the visualized values of the functional or expressive print.” (Adams, A.1981.p29.) That is to say that the camera should be set such that when the photographer fires the shutter, the image captured (be that on film or by a digital sensor) is appropriate to the way the photographer visualised the end image. It should be noted that Adams here refers to the final output, “print”, being either functional; illustrative of how the subject or scene appeared, or expressive; possibly not as the photographed scene or subject appeared but as the photographer desires it to appear. In another part of the book Adams refers to visualisation as “…a conscious process of projecting the final photographic image in the mind before taking the first steps in actually photographing the subject.” (Adams, A.1981.p1) He claims to be “…convinced that the best photographers of all aesthetic persuasions “see” their final photograph in some way before it is completed, whether by conscious visualisation or some comparable intuitive experience.” (Adams, A.1981.p1) The simplest form of visualisation, and one which relates directly to the functional intention of the print, as Adams calls it, would be to look at the scene or subject being photographed and aim for as accurate a representation of that as possible. While Adams and his contemporaries had to remember what the scene looked like and wait until they were back in the darkroom and had developed and printed their images to view them, the modern photographer using a digital camera can view the image immediately, almost missing out the visualization part and drawing direct comparison between the image and reality. As such a photographer looking to assess how ‘correct’ an image was might consider: 21
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Focus – Is the image in focus? If selective focus (only part of image is in focus) is used, is the correct part of the image in focus?
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Blur/camera shake – Was the shutter speed sufficient to ensure there was no blurring from camera shake or motion blur?
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White balance/colour rendition – Are the colours in the photograph the same as they were in real life?
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Exposure – Is there a good mix of light and dark? Is there detail in all the areas of the image including the lightest and darkest areas?
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Simple composition – Is the horizon straight?
If a photographer can answer yes to all those questions then the image in question would most likely be an illustrative and realistic representation of what lay before the camera when the shutter was fired and if this was the aim of the photographer they could be said to have ‘correctly’ composed, focused and exposed that image. In the case of the photographer who aims to create an image that is a realistic representation it is easy to determine what is and what is not correct and decide whether the image is a success. It is much harder however, to assess the successfulness of an image when the photographer has aimed to do something other than be as realistic as possible.
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Artifact Analysis Subverting the rules As mentioned previously, while some photographers did all they could to further the realistic and illustrative qualities of the photograph, others worked to make photographs which were less illustrative. Steichen did this by employing techniques that made an image that looked less like a photograph and more like a painting; however some photographers sought to maintain the photographic qualities of the image but to subvert the relationship between the image and reality and still others have investigated techniques which remove the camera from the photographic process entirely. Post‐war Japanese Photography xiv.
Moriyama, 1986, Midnight [photograph ‐ gelatin silver print]
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xv.
Sugmoto, 1997, Chrysler Building [photograph ‐ gelatin silver print] xvi
Tomatsu, 1969, Untitled [photograph]
Moriyama, Sugimoto and Tomatsu are all photographers who seem to be unhindered by any need to make their images conform to rules. They have a few other things in common also ‐ they work mainly outdoors in urban surroundings, in the street, they are all Japanese, they were all prolific in the 1960s and 70s. “Economic recovery was not the only thing happening in the 1960s in Japan. Like elsewhere around the world, life changed, and the Information Age – or Post‐Modernism, or other unfriendly terms – suddenly dawned. In art, ideas were big (Conceptualism), and some 24
Japanese were thinking very hard about recovering their native traditions in a contemporary manner, and by acknowledging their locale, having international relevance.” (Davis, 1995, p100) The social and political context that surrounds post‐war Japanese photography could be seen as very reminiscent of that which surrounded the emergence of Impressionism. The Impressionists had lived through several revolts and a war; post‐war Japanese photographers, like those mentioned above, had lived through the Second World War and, in particular, the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Impressionists left the studio and started working outside to capture changing light and people going about their business amongst a developing city; the post‐war Japanese photographers were fascinated by the regeneration of their country after the devastation of the war and the influence that occupying American forces had upon the population. The Impressionists benefited from technological developments through the increase in circulation of books and journals and the ability to travel faster and farther than any era of artists before them; post‐war Japanese photographers were experiencing the beginnings of the Information Age which brought with it a new wave of increased communication and knowledge. The idea of recovering native traditions could be related to Sugimoto’s seascapes paying homage to Katsushika Hokusai ‐ Sugimoto’s compositions are extremely simple and minimalist, echoing the traditional Japanese minimalism that manifests itself in Hokusai’s crisp line‐work and selective palette. The subject matter itself, the sea, is present in much of Hokusai’s work. Denvir (1992. P12) writes that the Impressionists were labeled politically, and morally, because of how they painted, “to be a revolutionary in art was to be a revolutionary in everything,”. Post‐war Japanese photographers may have hoped for a similar reception, by breaking the rules of photography, which would have been very much a Western construct, they were rebelling and being seen as rebelling against the people who had destroyed their country and then occupied it.
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Daido Moriyama Whether with his highly contrasted visions of the seedier sides of Japanese city nightlife his images of his conquests in Tokyo’s Love Hotels intentionally defocused or blurred to obscure identities or with his re‐photographed images from newspapers and adverts, Moriyama’s images differ from the traditional, rule following photograph, most notably in their lack of fine, discernable detail. Moriyama’s images tend to be of quick moments; indeed Kazuo Nishii cites him as having said, “…most of my snapshots I have taken from a moving car, or while running, without a finder, and in those instances one might say that I am taking the pictures more with my body than with my eyes” (Moriyama, n.d. cited in Nishii, 2001. P13). xvii.
Moriyama, n.d., Untitled [photograph]
In this image Moriyama uses the light from the stairway entrance to a subway or underpass to contrast with the darkness of the street. The subway entrance is very angular and has cast large shadows on a nearby wall. The image is highly contrasted with large areas of pure white and pure black where no detail can be seen and the image is slightly blurred from the camera being moved during the exposure. The high contrast in this image gives it a mysterious quality; the bright light emanating from underground seems almost otherworldly and when compared to 26
the darkness of the street it is almost as if the stairway is an escape from the griminess and seediness of the city. Moriyama has included no details of location here ‐ there are no signs or shop fronts which would allow the viewer to identify whether it was shot in Japan or a western country. This gives the image a universitality, this escape to a purer, brighter place isn’t a singularity, existing only on one street in one city, it is something that anyone might find in their city. The contrast also obscures details with the result that the viewer is drawn into the image as they try to decipher and understand it. The blur in the image suggests Moriyama was on the move as he shot this, perhaps walking briskly or being conveyed in a car. Moriyama might have used this blur to tell us that he passed by the escape to a lighter, purer place. Perhaps he feels, or wants the viewer to feel, trapped in the city. xviii.
Moriyama, n.d., On The Bed II [photograph]
On The Bed II is part of a series of intimate portraits where the subject’s identity is always hidden. The portraits in the series all appear to be taken in hotel rooms. In this, intentionally defocused piece, the female subject is lying naked on a bed with her legs spread in quite a sexual pose. The image is defocused to the point where the subject’s identity is completely obscured, as are the details of their body and the hotel room. Moriyama might be using blur to protect the subjects identity – Nishii writes that Moriyama told another photographer who questioned him on his approach that he left the women in this series unidentified as he preferred not to brag about his lovers – but he might have taken it to the extent he has in this image in order to 27
depersonalize the subject and thus make an image of a subject which would normally stir feelings of voyeurism in its viewers more universally acceptable. This image is indicative of Moriyama’s detail‐less style and this approach has again here created an image that is less about one particular woman in one particular hotel room and more something that any viewer can probably relate to. The approach also leaves us with the feeling that while this scene is something that Moriyama has experienced, he perhaps feels disconnected from it. xix.
Moriyama, 1969, SmashUp [photograph]
This is a photograph of a poster promoting road safety. It is of high contrast, probably more so than the original image and in the upper left corner the glossy surface of the poster can be seen reflecting a light source. Moriyama may have included the reflection in the upper corner of the image in order to make it clear that this was a re‐photographed image, a practice that was unheard of at the time. Warhol had been appropriating images found in newspapers and magazine, indeed very similar types of images, and reproducing them in print but Moriyama was one of the first photographers to use photography to appropriate photographic images (Nishii, 2001. P34).
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xx.
Warhol, 1963, Orange Car Crash Fourteen Times [silkscreen print] A
Just as his other work very often breaks rules of composition and focus, by pioneering re‐photography Moriyama was going against what was seen as a normal use of the camera.
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Hiroshi Sugimoto xxi.
Sugimoto, 2009, Lightning Fields 131 [photograph]
Of his Lightning Fields series Hiroshi Sugimoto (2009) writes, “The idea of observing the effects of electrical discharges on photographic dry plates reflects my desire to re‐create the major discoveries of these scientific pioneers in the darkroom and verify them with my own eyes.” Sugimoto’s approach is one of camera‐less photography and the images produced break so many rules that they almost do not qualify as photographs. This is an extreme example of a non‐traditional approach to photography and Sugimoto’s Lightning Fields images are so different to any other photography that it is difficult to analyse them in the same context. Infact it is difficult to analyse them in any sort of context. The images are not well or poorly focused; they are not focused at all because no lens was used. The degree of realism with which the subject is recreated cannot be analysed because there is no subject. These are images for their own sake and the only type of analysis that can really be made of them would be a formal one, to look at the shapes and tones contained within them. Of course as D’Alleva (20120, p27) writes, the viewer brings their own context to every image they view and this can be seen in the 30
way that anyone who views one of Sugimoto’s Lightning Fields images tries to find familiar shapes within the chaos that his process has created. Sugimoto is no stranger to breaking with photographic traditions, more than two decades before he was making his Lightning Fields images he was paying homage, in his own way, to a much earlier Japanese artist, Katsushika Hokusai with his seascapes series. xxii.
Hokusai, c1820, The Breaking Wave Off Kanagawa [colour woodblock print] xxiii.
Hokusai, 1834, Fuji Seen From the Sea [colour woodblock print]
Hokusai was a Japanese painter and printmaker, working from the late eighteenth century into the early nineteenth. Hokusai’s work has, although it would not have been possible to say when it was 31
being made, a very photographic nature. His images, particularly of the sea, show life frozen, sharply and with great detail. At its inception photography required exposures of hours and as such, fluid, fast moving things like waves would have been rendered as an indistinct blur. Not until the development of higher sensitivity photographic emulsions many decades later could the camera be used to create the type of image that Hokusai had made. xxiv.
Sugimoto, 1990, Ionian Sea, Santa Cesara, [Photograph]
For most of his career Sugimoto has been making simple compositions of the world’s seas for part of his Time Exposed series. Although most of his seascapes are much more traditionally photographic in appearance than his Lightning Fields work, they are hardly what would be referred to as a typical subject matter or composition. With the horizon placed centre of frame Sugimoto’s Seascapes are split into two halves, one occupied by an empty sky, void of any detail, and the other by a calm sea. These are the only elements in the images; evidence of human, or animal, presence is never included. This work of Sugimoto’s is almost the antithesis of photography. Often with his camera focused past infinity so that the image is incredibly blurred, with dark filters in front of the lens to cut down the amount of light entering the camera and make exposure times hours and hours long, the images are not at all about capturing what was in front of the camera but more about capturing the time that surrounds and passes by the camera. The irony of using the camera, a piece of apparatus more than capable of 32
freezing the motion of the sea, to create an indistinct and blurred image, arguably more painterly than the images of an artist working before the camera’s invention, will not be lost on Sugimoto. xxv
Sugimoto, 1982‐1996, Seascapes, [photographs]
While some critics might say that water and sky, especially the still water and empty skies of Sugimoto’s seascapes, are subjects so unremarkable that they do not merit photographing once, never mind over and over in the course of one’s career, Sugimoto would argue that “they vouchsafe our very existence.” (n.d.). By repeatedly photographing the sea and sky, always composed the same way, horizon dividing the frame in two, Sugimoto reveals nuances and subtleties impossible to comprehend when viewing just one image. Sugimoto has exhibited and collected these images under various headings and titles ‐ 7 days / 7 Nights, Twice as Infinity and End of Time to name but a few ‐ all of which point to the elements of air and water being deeply linked with the passage of time and creation in his mind.
33
Shomei Tomatsu xxvi
Tomatsu, 1969, Kadenacho, Okinawa, 1969 [photograph]
In this image, made during his first visit to Okinawa in 1969 as a correspondent for Asahi Camera (Jeffries. 2001. P108.), Tomatsu has intentionally introduced blur by moving the camera during the exposure. The image is highly contrasted, like much of Tomatsu’s work – and that of many of his Japanese contemporaries ‐ it borders on chiaroscuro. The silhouette of a plane dominates the frame and Tomatsu has included some trees or bushes in the lower right corner of the frame. Although blurred, the plane is identifiable as a B‐52 from its shape and the presence of the trees implies this image was shot in countryside or, at least, not in an urban setting. Tomatsu is not using blur here to describe anything about what is happening in the image itself but may have been hinting at something not pictured ‐ the turbulent nature of the American occupation of Japan at this time. His use of such a high contrast film has resulted in an image that is inline with the minimalism often seen in Japanese arts and crafts historically. The composition is also minimalist, there is a plane and some ground and some trees. The simplicity of the composition means that as with much of Tomatsu’s work, although details are indecipherable, little information is omitted that would be present in an non‐ blurred version of the same image.
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Ansel Adams Adams was a master of the craft of photography. This is well known, and should be obvious from what Adams calls the “optical‐image accuracy” (Adams. 1981) of his images. What is less well known however is that Adams often used his mastery of the photographic process to create what he termed “departures from reality” (Adams. 1981) in the tonal values of his images. Such was Adams’ ability with his equipment that, before making an exposure, he could set the camera such as to produce a negative which, when printed would render specific areas of his composition the exact shade of grey that he desired. Adams created his departures from reality by choosing the tones of his final print not to provide the most accurate representation of reality but instead, to realise his vision of the scene. In the following excerpt from his book The Negative(1981) Adams demonstrates the differences in tonality that can result from using different colour filters when shooting with panchromatic glass plates and discusses how he chose the filtration in the second exposure to better capture the visualisation he had. xxvii
Adams, 1981, The Negative, p4‐5
In the first exposure, made through a yellow filter, there is less contrast. The difference in tone between the furthest away ridge, on the left hand side of the frame, and the sky is minimal. Adams writes that he realised, without yet seeing the developed plate, that this exposure, 35
“Would not express the particular mood of overwhelming grandeur the scene evoked. (He) visualized a dark sky, deeper shadows, and a crisp horizon in the distance” (1981, p5) Adams made another exposure through a red filter and achieved the result he desired. Best known for his black and white landscapes Adams was of course immediately departing from reality, for we see the world (which Adams was photographing) in colour not monotone. Given the time when Adams was working it would have been perfectly possible for him to shoot in colour, in fact, he often did so for commercial clients. However, Richard Woodward (2009) writes that Adams “once likened working in color to playing an out‐of‐tune piano” and that the colour films of the time were so complicated that even Adams had to rely on labs to process his colour film for him. Adams (1967) is cited by Woodward (2009) as having written, "I can get—for me—a far greater sense of ‘color' through a well‐planned and executed black‐and‐white image than I have ever achieved with color photography,”
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Photograph as a communicator This chapter of the dissertation will look photographs that aim to inform. It will consider the work of two photographers who worked concurrently during the Second World War. xxviii
Capa, 1944, Omaha Beach [photograph] xxix
Rodger, 1945, Boy walking in Bergen, Belsen [photograph]
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Similarly aged, Capa and Rodger often worked closely and eventually together, to form the agency Magnum. As witnessed in the above examples however, they often produced images of very different styles. Based upon the purely technical aspects as previously discussed in this dissertation, George Rodger’s image on the left would be more ‘correct’. It is sharply focused, shot with an appropriate shutter speed that has ensured there’s no camera shake there are a wide range of tones and detail in most areas of the image. The aperture used has created a depth of field sufficient to render the whole image in focus so the details of the scene can clearly be observed. In contrast, Capa’s image suffers badly from motion blur and camera shake; a large aperture has been used which results in the background being out of focus and there is little discernable detail there. The image is of much higher contrast than Roger’s and the water and sky do not hold much detail or texture. There can be no doubt that ,visually, Roger’s image contains much more detail and as such, more information. The location is clearly identifiable as a forest, the bodies that lie at the side of the road are evidence of the atrocities that have occurred in this location and the way the boy is approaching the camera suggests the photographer to be a friend rather than a foe. Capa’s image on the other hand, shows little more than a soldier wading through water. In fact, it is only the soldiers face and helmet that can be positively identified. There are objects and structures protruding from the water in places but it is impossible to tell what these things are. It is only once where and when this image was taken – the context – is known, that it really has any meaning. Of course, it is not necessary that this information is explicitly supplied with Capa’s image and this is because, as D’Alleva (2010 p27) writes, the viewers supply their own context. They are able to identify the man’s helmet as that of a soldier, as the soldier is only partially visible it can be deduced that he is wading through water and that he is involved in some sort of landing. Some viewers may even have previous experience of this image in a context that supplied more information about it. These things can all lead a viewer to interpret Capa’s image as one of an American soldier landing on a beach, probably during WW2. 38
Similarly, it is a combination of the viewer’s knowledge and experience and the nature of the composition, the boy walking past the corpses as if it was the most normal thing in the world for dead bodies to be laid out at the roadside, which leads you to understand that it is a photograph of a concentration camp. Context can also justify why one image is more technically correct than the other. By knowing that Capa’s image was made in the midst of a beach landing, when there was a very real and definite risk to his life a viewer might forgive his less than perfect focusing and the blur which has been caused by the camera and subject moving during the exposure. To look at whether either image communicates more to the viewer we must consider context and as such, realise that, while Roger was working in the relatively peaceful and safe setting of a liberated concentration camp and had the time to properly compose and focus an image and was free to use slower, lower film, longer exposures, smaller apertures and to possibly even use equipment such as a tripod, Capa was working under immense pressure, taking his life in his hands to dodge bullets and landmines in order to photograph soldiers as they engaged the enemy. Had he not made the choice to use a faster film with more contrast, to prefocus and hope he was close enough, to shoot at a wide aperture and use a shutter speed that resulted in a blurred image then his image would not, could not, exist. It is also necessary to consider what Capa’s image as it is conveys, that it would not if it was sharp and detailed. The blur indicates motion and this tells us that the landing was a fast paced and frenetic event. Capa’s subject or target was the soldier and he has made him the most prominent part of the image, the rest of the scene is an indeterminate blur and this allows the viewer to connect with the soldier more directly. It also allows the viewer to relate to how the soldier might have been feeling, looking up the beach focusing on the enemy. In Roger’s image the impact comes from the detailed description of violence gone before; in Capa’s the impact is from the urgency and frantic nature of the event as it happens.
39
This surely proves that when a photographer breaks the rules by necessity, it does not necessarily mean the resultant image will be any less successful in its purpose. In the images discussed above it can be seen that Capa had to make certain choices about his technique in order to get any image at all. Given that we can see from other of his photographs that Capa is very able and willing to take ‘correct’ images, these choices could be considered as compromises but compromises without which the images of the Omaha landings could not exist.
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Breaking rules as a choice xxx.
Moriyama, 1981, Untitled from Tokyo series [photograph] xxxi.
Winogrand, 1969. Los Angeles, California [photograph]
In the previous image comparison the rules had been broken as a compromise in order to record an image ‐ following the rules would have probably resulted in the photographer losing his life. In the comparison above, it can be seen that breaking the rules has been a creative choice. Moriyama’s image is highly contrasted with many areas of solid white highlight and solid black shadow while Winogrand’s is more traditional in its tonal range. The sky and the highlights created by the bright sun in Winogrand’s are pure white or at least close to it, but the rest of the image has clear detail in it. It is 41
sharply focused and un‐blurred while Moriyama’s image shows clear signs of camera shake or movement while the exposure was being made. Although the two images appear to have been taken in similarly urban environs and with similar numbers of people included in them, Moriyama seems much less concerned with the people than Winogrand who has chosen to face the group of females as they walk along the street and has composed the shot to include a beggar slumped in a wheelchair to the left of the frame and a group of people sitting on a bench to the right. Neither photographer has held their camera straight, both images are tilted though Winogrand’s more so, a fact that might seem to be at odds with his image being the more considered composition. Moriyama’s trademark lack of detail means that in his image there are no recognisable people or locations. This results in an image that can be universally related to. The lack of detail also shows that Moriyama isn’t trying to describe the place or the people in the image to us, nor are they important to what he wants the image to say. He is trying to tell us something about that place or those people. Moriyama is perhaps trying to stir a feeling in his viewer, an emotion that the viewer attaches to being in the city at night. Because it is hard to pinpoint things in Moriyama’s image and positively identify them it has a sense of disconnection, of not being entirely in control. Winogrand’s image on the other hand, as with much of his work, is all about telling the viewer about the location, about the people in that location and about how they are interacting. A master of the art of surreptitiously photographing his subjects Winogrand has not chosen his viewpoint to distance himself from the people so as to go unnoticed taking this image, he would have chosen his viewpoint meticulously for the composition he desired. The inclusion of the celebrity stars clearly identify this as Hollywood Boulevard and the street sign in the top right further pinpoints where this image was shot. The glamorous context of ‘Hollywood’ is hugely important to Winogrand’s depiction of the how people from different walks of life mingle and interact. Winogrand has chosen carefully the direction in which he is shooting in order that the females in the middle of the frame are flatteringly lit and highlighted while the beggar in the
42
wheelchair and the families at the bus stop are left in shadow. He has also used the long shadows created by their legs to enhance their elegance and sexuality. In stark contrast to Moriyama’s image there are many details to absorb in Winogrand’s. While the viewers might immerse themselves in Moriyama’s emotive depiction of bustling nightlife they would be more likely to pick their way through Winogrand’s, appreciating the fashions being worn, the way the females are looking at the beggar, the clues to the location, the types of car in the image and so on. Thus Moriyama’s image could be said to be more about the feeling, the emotions and the experience of being in the city at night, whereas Winogrand’s is more a document of how people were behaving and living in Los Angeles in 1969. Moriyama’s image describes the experience of being in a city at night and Winogrand’s describes the things that were happening at the junction of Hollywood and Vine when he pressed the shutter in 1969.
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Photographing subjects with no form The images that have been previously compared are mostly concerned with that which can be included in the image ‐ objects, people, and places. Capa’s and Roger’s images are mainly documentary in purpose. They were taken as a record of the war. Winogrand’s image is also quite documentary; it is a good record of how the different parts of society were interacting at the end of the 1960s. Moriyama’s image is more conceptual, it deals with the idea of ‘the city’ in a universal way and it is made in such a way that there are hints of themes like disconnection and loneliness in it but it does all this, much as the other images do, in a very self contained way. That is to say that, for the most part, the concepts that underpin the images have physical manifestations that can be photographed ‐ the danger and violence of war is manifested in the soldier in Capa’s image, the death toll of war in the dead bodies in Roger’s; class divides in society are manifested in the people in Winogrand’s image and isolation in the way everyone is turned away from the camera and lack of detail in Moriyama’s. Some concepts however, cannot be so easily represented or are more suitably represented by a subtler and more contextual approach. That is to say that the viewer is left to interpret the signifiers in the image in their own way. It is of course possible to photograph the accoutrement related to these concepts but many photographers try to capture the essence of things like spirituality or travel rather than the things associated with them.
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Trent Parke xxxii.
Parke, 2001, White Man [Photograph] (Minutes to Midnight series).
Parke, the only Australian in the Magnum group, is a street photographer whose work makes regular use of weather conditions and he works masterfully with natural light to create images that have a sense of wonder and the fantastical. In White Man, Parke has composed a scene of everyday life on a city street. The scene is quite dimly lit; possibly it is on a covered plaza and there is a narrow shaft of light, presumably the sunlight being flagged by buildings out of frame, cutting through the scene. Parke has made an exposure as a man walks through the shaft of light and has completely overexposed this man. The over exposed man is the only overexposed part of the scene; the rest is well exposed with detail in the highlights and shadows. The scene would be rather unremarkable was it not for the over exposed man; there is nothing out of the ordinary happening in the scene and the person that Parke has chosen is also unremarkable and isn’t doing anything out of the ordinary. The man is casting a long shadow so it can be deduced that this image was shot in the early morning or in the evening. Other than the number of people included in the image suggesting it to be an urban setting, there are not really any clues as to the location of this image. Parke often picks one or two people out of many within the scene he is photographing and he uses weather and light to give these people presence and 45
suggest importance. His work often incorporates religious symbols and signifiers. In the case of White Man, the overexposure of the man not only draws the viewer’s attention to this figure but also suggests something about him that a more normal exposure would not. The man is over exposed to the point that he appears to be glowing and he is an almost completely white shape. This could suggest purity, innocence and perhaps even that this man might be a spirit or angel. The decision to make the exposure when that particular man was stepping through the shaft of light would not have been coincidental; Parke would have selected his subject carefully. In choosing an elderly looking man, Parke might have been playing on the concept of death and afterlife. The over exposed man is creating a long and very solid, dark shadow. Parke would almost certainly have chosen the location he did in order to include the shadow. The shadow is a popular metaphor for the dark side of the psyche and is in stark contrast to the pure, white light emanating from the man himself. The use of this symbolism further strengthens the numinous aspect of the image. xxxiii.
Parke, 2003, Clothes Line [photograph]
In Clothes Line, Parke makes much more obvious use of religious symbolism. Again using over exposure to draw attention to the most important element of the composition, Parke has also incorporated the use of weather and included 46
plenty of rural context to create an image that speaks of struggle and religious belief. In most of Parke’s images it would appear to be fully possible for a more standard exposure to be made where there is no over exposure. However, it can also be seen that there is no important detail lost where Parke has over exposed. It is impossible to tell how the man in White Man is dressed but we can determine that he is elderly by his posture and stick and that he is male by the general shape of him and also by the image title. We don’t really need to know any more. Similarly in Clothes Line there are no important details omitted. Without the over exposed elements Parke’s images would not be as powerful or successful and they certainly wouldn’t contain the same sense of other‐ worldliness and presence. The elements that Parke uses as symbols and signifiers could still be included at normal exposure but they wouldn’t catch the viewer’s attention in the same way or have the same power.
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Thomas Joshua Cooper
xxxiv.
Cooper, 2004, Last Light – Furthest Southwest – The South Atlantic Ocean. The Cape of Good Hope # 2 [photograph] 143cm x 108cm.
This image of Cooper’s is a dark composition mainly of the sea with a little bit of rocky land at the bottom of the frame. The sea is dark and blurred and the rocks are also in shadow and have little detail visible. Were it not discernible from the dark tones in Cooper’s image, the title makes it clear that this was shot at dusk. Cooper has attached a long and detailed title to this image and this is because it belongs to a series of images made from the extreme edges of the landmasses that surround the Atlantic Ocean. As with the work of Moriyama, Sugimoto and others already discussed, Cooper’s images of the Atlantic Ocean are sparse on detail. Anomalous to the majority of landscape photographers, Cooper does not use a particularly wide‐angle lens so his images of the Ocean contain little context and his compositions are almost abstract. The geographic location is indiscernible from the image ‐ the viewer relies upon the title to know where the image was made and the location is 48
important ‐ Cooper himself is making a journey, around the world, to complete the project and many of locations have ties to historical shipping routes or memorialize significant journeys such as Magellan’s round‐the‐world voyage and Columbus’ maiden explorative journey. Cooper uses extended exposure times to introduce movement into his images of the Ocean and while it does create an aesthetically pleasing image he does not do so for purely aesthetic purposes, neither does he do it to document anything about the Ocean at that time or place. He uses the extended exposures to bring concepts like time and travel into his images, things that cannot be physically represented in an image. xxxv.
Prior, n.d., Rock Hall Fishing Station, St Cyrus [photograph]
While this Colin Prior image bears many similarities to Cooper’s Atlantic Ocean images it is very different in its purpose and its meaning. Prior has photographed a similar location to Cooper, with similar extension of the exposure to blur the waves and introduce movement. Prior’s is a more traditional landscape composition; horizon is level and middle of frame and a wide‐angle lens has been used so more of the location is visible and as it is in colour there is not the immediate departure from realism that Cooper has made by using black and white. The use of an extended exposure to blur the waves does however mean that Prior’s image is not a true representation of the scene; Prior has used a function of the camera to capture something not visible to the naked eye and
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similar to Ansel Adam’s work, it is probable that Prior’s image is quite different to how the scene actually looked when he made the image. Both photographers have chosen a rocky shoreline location and both have used a long exposure to bring movement into their images ‐ however the two photographers produced their images for very different purposes. Cooper’s image was made as part of a very personal project through which the photographer hopes to acknowledge and pay respect to the history of western culture (Auping, p44‐47), whereas Prior’s image, as with most of his work would have been destined for mass reproduction and retail in the form of prints and calendars. Because of the commercial nature of his work, it could be surmised that Prior’s only concern when making this exposure would have been how well it would appeal to his potential buyers.
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Conclusion At its invention photography took over from painting as the de rigeur method of visual documentation. Because of this and as established in chapter 6, the rules of the medium were developed with the intention of furthering photography’s illustrative and documentary functions. Where a record was required, photography was preferred for its objectivity; because its mechanical nature removed the influence of the artist from the final image, and its reproducibility; multiple copies of photographic images could be made much more easily than had been possible with the types of media used previously. When this is photography’s purpose it can be seen that rules help to produce images that best fulfill the brief. However, by looking at the work of practitioners like Adams and Prior it can be seen that even when all the rules are seemingly followed, the resulting image is not necessarily a true representation of reality. Thus one might ask that if following the rules doesn’t result in a realistic image, why bother with the rules at all? When Adams’ teachings are further investigated though, it can be seen that while his own work was very realistic, the thing he considered most important was that the final product of the photographic process be in line with the photographer’s pre‐visualised image. For a photographer to be successful in realising their visualisation they must have a good knowledge of how the camera works and it would be here that rules were important, not from the point of view that they need be meticulously followed, but more that one must know things like what shutter speed will create camera shake with what focal length and what dynamic range their medium has in order to be able to accurately predict the outcome of their own photographic practices. In this case it would be more appropriate to consider the rules not as rules but as guidelines. It can also be seen by looking at many practitioners’ work that there is a difference between bending the rules (one might consider Adams to be bending the rules when he uses different coloured filters to change the contrasts and 51
textures in his images) and breaking them (when the camera is moved during the exposure to introduce blur). More importantly, it can be seen that breaking a rule does not mean an image is bad or wrong. When Capa’s Omaha Beach was analysed it became apparent that context of where and when the image was made meant that rules had to be compromised in order for any image to be captured. It was also discovered that Capa’s rule breaking image tells a very different story to Roger’s more traditional one. Although Capa’s image contained less information than Roger’s it made its point just as clearly. When rules are bent and broken intentionally it can be for different reasons too. In both of the following images the camera has been intentionally moved during the exposure, both images could have been captured with a stationary camera but the each photographer has chosen to use movement for their own reasons. In the first image it has been done using a technique called panning ‐ the resulting image gives a much better idea of the speed at which the chicken is running than an image which completely froze all motion would. In the second image the blur has been used to symbolize turbulence in the social and political context the photographer was working in. If we consider Adams’ (1981.p29.) adage that the perfect negative “is one exposed and developed in specific relation to the visualized values of the functional or expressive print.” then neither of these images is more or less perfect than the other. However, to the uninitiated, Gaspar’s image is more easily interpreted, Tomatsu’s requires more of an understanding of the photographer’s context and intent and as such, might be more readily dismissed as poor technique. This misinterpretation might also occur because a small part of Gaspar’s image does conform to the rules; the chicken’s head is sharp, whereas Tomatsu’s image is blurred in its entirety.
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xxxvi.
Gaspar, n.d., A Chicken Running [photograph] xxvi.
Tomatsu, 1969, Kadenacho, Okinawa, 1969 [photograph]
Photography is a technology rich industry and there are cameras and software options available today to everyone that enables them to produce technically proficient images. The ability to take sharp, high resolution photographs even in poor or difficult lighting conditions are no longer the realm of the well studied and long experienced professional. Many photographers believe that this dumbing‐down of the photographic industry is a bad thing, others are realising, as painters did at the turn of the last century, that this rise in new technology is freeing them from producing purely documentary, realistic images. Just as painters were freed to produce art for art’s sake, photographers are no longer 53
constrained to produce images that strive for ultra‐realistic representations of the things they photograph. Greenberg (1962) stated that Abstract Impressionist works might, “look easy to copy, and maybe they really are. But they are far from easy to conceive, and their quality and meaning lies almost entirely in their conception.” The photographic equivalent of this is that while proper techniques are now easy to copy, it is not so easy to conceive and create images that are more about concept and meaning than technical checklists. Where once the masters of photography made images that were unique in their technical brilliance, today’s photographers must look for other ways in which to make themselves stand out from the crowd and one of the easiest ways to do so is to rebel against the norm. This research has shown that while rules are a valid part of photography for many people and useful to know, if not adhere to for most, they are not the be all and end all of photography. Rules can form a basis for new photographers to build their understanding of the craft upon and any photographer who visualises their final image before or as they shoot must understand how what they are doing will affect the image ‐ rules are a good way of doing this. The word rule however has very negative connotations, and this dissertation has shown that successful images can be created whether rules are followed or broken.
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List of plates i.
Moriyama, 1987, Tights in Shimotakaido [photograph] 43 x 36cm.
ii.
Tomatsu, 1961, Nagasaki:Melted bottle [photograph] 21cm x 20cm.
iii.
Adams, 1927, Bridalveil Fall [photograph] 15” x 12”.
iv.
Lucas, 1997, Pauline Bunny [mixed media sculpture] 950 x 640 x 900 mm
v.
Still, 1947, 1947RNo. 1[oil painting] 175cm x 165cm.
vi.
Newman, 1949, Dionysius [oil painting] 170cm x 124cm.
vii.
Muybridge, 1887, Jumping a hurdle; saddle; bay horse Daisy Plate 640 of
Animal Locomotion, 1887 [photograph] approx 19” x 24”. viii.
Degas, 1878, Horse Racing Before Starting. [pastel] 40cm x 88cm.
ix.
Niépce, 1826, View from the Window at Le Gras. [photograph] 20cm x 25cm
x.
Steichen, 1904, The Pond – Moonlight [bromoil photograph] 16” x 20”
xi.
Steichen, 1903, Self Portrait [Photogravure] 21.4cm x 16.2cm
xii.
Mortensen, 1935, Fragment [photograph ‐ bromoil] dimensions unknown.
xiii.
Adams, 1942, The Tetons and Snake River [photograph] 20” x 16”.
xiv.
Moriyama, 1986, Midnight [photograph ‐ gelatin silver print] 23” x 18.5”
xv.
Sugmoto, 1997, Chrysler Building [photograph ‐ gelatin silver print] 14” x 11"
xvi.
Tomatsu, 1969, Untitled [photograph] 11.4” x 9.6”
xvii. Moriyama, n.d., Untitled [photograph – gelatin silver print] dimensions unknown. xviii. Moriyama, n.d., On The Bed II [photograph – gelatin silver print] dimensions unknown. xix.
Moriyama, 1969, SmashUp [photograph –gelatin silver print] 24.2cm x 16.8cm.
xx.
Warhol, 1963, Orange Car Crash Fourteen Times [silkscreen print] 13’ 8” x 8’ 9”.
xxi.
Sugimoto, 2009, Lightning Fields 131 [photograph] dimensions unknown
xxii. Hokusai, c1820, The Breaking Wave Off Kanagawa [colour woodblock print] 10” x 15”. 55
xxiii. Hokusai, 1834, Fuji Seen From the Sea [colour woodblock print] dimensions unknown. xxiv. Sugimoto, 1990, Ionian Sea, Santa Cesara, [Photograph] dimensions unknown. xxv. Sugimoto, 1982‐1996, Seascapes, [photographs] dimensions unknown. xxvi. Tomatsu, 1969, Kadenacho, Okinawa, 1969 [photograph] dimensions unknown. xxvii. Excerpt from Adams, 1981, The Negative, p4‐5 [book] xxviii. Capa, 1944, Omaha Beach [photograph] 34.1cm x 22.6cm. xxix. Rodger, 1945, Boy walking in Bergen, Belsen [photograph] dimensions unknown. xxx. Moriyama, 1981, Untitled from Tokyo series [photograph] dimensions unknown. xxxi. Winogrand, 1969. Los Angeles, California [photograph] dimensions unknown. xxxii. Parke, 2001, White Man [Photograph – gelatin silver print] (Minutes to Midnight series) 30cm x 45cm. xxxiii. Parke, 2003, Clothes Line [photograph – gelatine silver print] 30cm x 45cm. xxxiv. Cooper, 2004, Last Light – Furthest Southwest – The South Atlantic Ocean. The Cape of Good Hope # 2 [photograph] 143cm x 108cm. xxxv. Prior, n.nd., Rock Hall Fishing Station, St Cyrus [photograph] dimensions unknown. xxxvi. Gaspar, n.d., A Chicken Running [photograph] dimensions unknown.
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