The history of Photojournalism by Ben Thompson
As part of are history to photojournalism module we were asked to create an illustrator document, including all the work we hade done during the term. This document includes the following contents.
* Myths
* Social Commentary
* Image Acquistion history of photography
* Frozen Moment Constructed and captured
* Once upon a time (Narrative) * Propaganda * Journey * Surrealsim
Myths A myth is a sacred narrative usually explaining how the world or humankind came to be in its present form, although, in a very broad sense, the word can refer to any traditional story. Myths have been defined as “ideology in narrative form”. Myths typically involve supernatural characters and are endorsed by rulers or priests. They may arise as overelaborated accounts of historical events or as allegory for or personification of natural phenomena. They are transmitted to convey religious or idealized experience, to establish and teach behavioral models. Some myths may have been created through stories being passed through generations, alltered by a chinese wisper effect. To become these elaborated we reffer to today. Other myths such as Greek mythology define religious belifes of the past, for example how the earth came to be. The main characters in myths are usually gods, supernatural heroes and humans. As sacred stories, myths are often endorsed by rulers and priests and closely linked to religion or spirituality. In the society in which it is told, a myth is usually regarded as a true account of the remote past. In fact, many societies have two categories of traditional narrative, “true stories” or myths, and “false stories” or fables. Creation myths generally take place in a primordial age, when the world had not yet achieved its current form, and explain how the world gained its current form and how customs, institutions and taboos were established. Some theories propose that myths began as allegories. According to one theory, myths began as allegories for natural phenomena: Apollo represents the sun, Poseidon represents water, and so on. According to another theory, myths began as allegories for philosophical or spiritual concepts: Athena represents wise judgment, Aphrodite represents desire, etc. The 19th century Sansritisk max muller supported an allegorical theory of myth. He believed that myths began as allegorical descriptions of nature, but gradually came to be interpreted literally: for example, a poetic description of the sea as “raging” was eventually taken literally, and the sea was then thought of as a raging god.
Some thinkers believe that myths resulted from the personification of inanimate objects and forces. According to these thinkers, the ancients worshipped natural phenomena such as fire and air, gradually coming to describe them as gods. For example, according to the theory of mythopoeic thought, the ancients tended to view things as persons, not as mere objects; thus, they described natural events as acts of personal gods, thus giving rise to myths.
According to the myth-ritual theory, the existence of myth is tied to ritual. In its most extreme form, this theory claims that myths arose to explain rituals.This claim was first put forward by the biblical scholar William Robertson Smith. According to Smith, people begin performing rituals for some reason that is not related to myth; later, after they have forgotten the original reason for a ritual, they try to account for the ritual by inventing a myth and claiming that the ritual commemorates the events described in that myth. The anthropologist James Frazer had a similar theory. Frazer believed that primitive man starts out with a belief in magical laws; later, when man begins to lose faith in magic, he invents myths about gods and claims that his formerly magical rituals are religious rituals intended to appease the gods. Research References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythology http://www.themyths.co.uk/ Reflection For this assignment we were asked to research Myths this was fairly interesting as it was a subject I knew little about, I was interested by the information I found surrounding greek mythology as its a subject I found appealing. As well as this I found it interesting how myths may have been created through exaggerations of acctual events over time through a chinese wisper effect, turning a plausible event it to a mythical story.
Image Aquisition History of Photography 1835 – Talbot describes in his notebook how a positive image might be made from a negative if the paper the negative was recorded on was transparent and as fixed (so it was rendered insensitive to the further action of light). 1840 – First lens designed specifically for photographic purposes by Petzval Hercules Florence (a Frenchman living in Brazil) claimed he had made photographics with a camera and by contact printing as early as 1832 and provided notebooks from 1833 to 1837 which clearly documented his technique and had indedpendently used the word photographie to describe what he had done. 1855 – In America, as competition increased with more and more daguerrotype galleries or studios opening up, the price of having ones daguerrotype taken dropped dramatically in a very short time e.g. from $2.50 for a small one to as low as $0.12 each or converted to 2005 values, from approx $60.00 for a 1/8 size print to $2.50) although most of these were cheap and unsatisfactory in quality and customers were frequently disappointed. 1857 – 600 photographic prints displayed at the Art Treasures Exhibition in Manchester, affirming photographys growing importance in the art world. 1859 – The French Society of Photography finally succeeded in convincing the Ministry of Fine Arts to allow them to have an exhibition at the Palace of the Champs Elysees at the time of the annual painting Salon. It was still seen by art critics however as the servent of the sciences and arts like printing or short-hand. The First photographs in which natural action (e.g. strollers on a street) was captured with regular assurance (meaning easily on a regular basis instead of rarely to never).
1880s – Hand cameras (that did not require a tripod) became widely available. They were mass produced and there was a bewildering variety to choose from. They dramatically increased the potential output of images of photographers. The halftone plate was invented and made possible and revolutionized the pictorial magazines. Photographs could be reproduced very economically. 1888 – The most famous early hand camera, the Kodak invented and manufactured by George Eastman (a box camera that used roll film long enough for 100 circular exposures initially paper coated in light sensitive gelatin, the paper stripped from the base after processing) You click the button we do the rest. (the cameras were sold for $25 including processing and printing of all good photos). 1891 -Transparent film on a clear base of nitrocellulose was introduced (eliminated the need for paper negatives, and eventually, glass negatives). 1896 – The first X-Ray photo is taken when Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen noticed that a bit of barium platinocyanide emitted a fluorescent glow. He then laid a photographic plate behind his wifes hand. Previously, physicians were unable to look inside a persons body without making an incision. Roentgen was the recipient of the first Nobel Prize for Physics in 1901. 1898 – Kodak introduced their Folding Pocket Kodak. 1911- Edward Steichen began taking fashion photographs for Art et Decoration 1913 – Stieglitz waxed his prints for a glossy surface, something that was earlier considered to be Òunartistic. Alvin Langdon Coburn starts shooting abstract photos (strange perspectives used e.g. birds eye views looking straight down from many feet up), and then created an optical devise based on the kaliedescope to create his images. Vogue magazine began publishing fashion photographs by Baron Andolphe de Meyer. He founded a style in which the elegance of fashions is displayed with photographic feeling for textures. 1920s – Photographs and text started being used together extensively in magazines (especially initially in Germany). In this decade and the 1930s, The way photographs and text were integrated with each other came to be called photojournalism. The minature cameras with high speed lenses were designed to create images that brought the viewer into the scene. 1924 – The Ernox (the Ermanox) camera with an incredibly fast lens of f.2 came onto the market allowing widespread existing light photography. Lens speeds soon increased to f 1.5 and shutter speeds on these cameras were as fast as 1/1000 of a second. First Leica put on the market with a 50mm f3.5 lens. Shortly afterward a model that allowed the lens to be easily changed while shooting. 1930s – Ansel Adams (arguably one the greatest photographes of all time, or at least its greatest pioneer) begins to devote all his time to photography. His prints were made to be reproduced using the halftone process. 1933 – Henri Cartier-Bressons work was first shown in the Julien Levy Gallery in NYC. It was initially called Òantigraphic photography. They were so spontaneous they seemed accidental. He showed the unreality of reality. He was able to capture the split second when the subject revealed itself most fleetingly. 1934 – Fuji Photo Film founded. 1936 – The first issue of Life Magazine appears on newsstands (a publication designed to harness the optical consciousness of our time). This magazine differed from past photography magazines in how the photos were carefully chosen and sequenced by the editors it was about the mind guided camera. Issues are published weekly. Kodachrome, the first multi-layered colour film is developed by Kodak
1937 – Margaret Bourek-White of time magazine is one of the first photographers to make use of the multiple sync flash technique. Photographers had true and complete control over the lighting in their shots for the first time (to sculpt their subjects or only illuminate certain things or generate enough light for comfortable, posed photographs). The first major disaster was captured by photography as it happened: The Hindenberg Zeppelin was photographed as it burst into flames, photos that are still very moving and memorable today. 1938 – Electronic flash technology is born (replacing flashbulbs that can only be used once) when Harold E. Edgerton of MIT invented the gas filled tube. 1941 – Kodacolor negative film introduced. 1945 – Nikon F SLR introduced followed by the Contax S SLR 1946 - Zoomar introduces the zoom lens, the invention of American Frank Back. 1947 – Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, and David Seymour start the photographer-owned Magnum picture agency. 1948 – Hasselblad offers the first medium format SLR camera. 1960 – EG&G develops the first extreme depth underwater camera for the US Navy. 1963 – Land introduced the Polaroid color camera. Color photographs were developed in 50 seconds. Kodak introduces the Instamatic line, the first point-and-shoot cameras. 1962 – National Geographicpublishes its first all-colour issue in February 1966 – Larry Burrows was the first important photographer to photograph an entire war in colour ( as he photographed the Vietnam war). 1969 – The Vietnam war was brought closer to civilians than any other conflict before it by courageous photographers and TV cameramen. This was the most graphic photographic representation of the horrors of war (the wounded, the dying, and the dead) in history. The Internet is created as ARPANet (Advanced Research Projects Agency) for the U.S. Department of Defense. The network was designed to break information into separate packets and send the packets over various routes from computer to computer, rerouting the information as necessary to circumvent the breakdown or failure of parts of the system. In the first year, there were four host computers connecting Stanford, UCLA, UC-Santa Barbara, and the University of Utah. 1980s – A system called DX coding was introduced for 35mm films. The cassettes have an auto-sensing code printed on them which enable certain cameras to automatically set the film speed, this information can also be used by processing laboratories. 1985 – Minolta markets the world’s first autofocus SLR system (called “Maxxum” in the US). This is a significant advancement that starts a new debate over whether it is still necessary to be skilled in the mechanics of photography (f stops and depth of field, shutter speed, focusing skills etc.) now that cameras are equipt to do all the technical thinking for us, freeing us to concentrate on our creativity and vision. 1986 – Fuji introduces the Quicksnap, a disposable camera that revisits the original Kodak principle: the user sends the camera into the manufacturer, which then develops the film. Kodak invents the world’s first megapixel sensor, capable of recording 1.4 million pixels that could produce a 5 x 7-inch digital output in print.
Apple Quicktake digital camera announced (developed jointly with Kodak). It was the first consumer level digital camera It boasts 640×480 (0.3 MP) resolution, a built-in flash, and could store 8 photos in its internal memory. It connected to an Apple Macintosh computer via a serial cable. 1990 – Adobe releases Photoshop 1.0, an image manipulation program for Apple Macintosh computers. 1992 – Kodak releases Photo CD, the first method available to the public for storing digital images. 1993 – NCSA releases the first WWW browser. 1995 – Kodak announces the release of their fourth generation professional digital SLR, the DCS 460, a 6.2 megapixel camera with an ISO sensitivity of 80. It used the N90s (Nikon) body as a base. Its original list price: $12,000 US. 1996 – The short-lived APS format film was introduced. Microsoft releases their WWW browser called Internet Explorer 1998 – The first consumer level megapixel cameras are introduced Kodak DCS 520 professional digital SLR released using a Canon body and (for the first time in a pro digital SLR?) an LCD allowing the user to view photos immediately after they are taken. 1999 – Seth Resnick founds E.P. (Editorial Photographers), an organization and online (internet) community for freelance editorial photographers. The message board on Yahoo! Groups became active on April 11th. By 2004 membership grows to almost 4,000 photographers worldwide. 2000 – Fuji releases the S1 professional/pro-sumer SLR digital camera based on the Nikon F60 body (a prosumer level body). It boasts 6.13 MP. The starting list price was $4,000. The worlds first camera phone released by Sharp (the J-SH04) in November: ÒThe J-SH04 was the industry’s first mobile phone to feature an integrated 110,000-pixel CMOS image sensor for taking digital photos. It was followed by the industry’s first application of a 65,536-color semi-transmissive TFT LCD on a flip type phone (J-SH05). Both models were supplied to J-Phone Co. Ltd., and raised Sharp’s presence in the mobile phone market”. 2002 – Digital SLRs almost completely replace 35mm cameras in Western dailly news coverage. 2004 – Sales of new point and shoot cameras are 90% digital. Nikon completely stops new production of point and shoot 35mm film cameras. Research References http://photo.net/history/timeline http://inventors.about.com/od/pstartinventions/a/Photography.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_photography_technology http://www.ausphotography.net.au/forum/showthread.php?19220-History-of-Photography -(A-Timeline-of-significant-events Reflection For this assignment we were asked to create a timeline in regards to the history of photography. I found this difficult as my research provided me with so much content it was hard to siphon out the information I thought was inportant, however I waded through the information I had gathered and created a fairly in depth timeline. Hopefully I didn’t miss many significant events.
Narrative (The story within an image) In photography, narrative is related to the idea of context. No matter how complete or comprehensive a narrative appears it will always be the product of including some elements and excluding others.
http://www.adammarelliphoto.com/2012/08/from-the-front-robert-capa/ Robert Capa D-Day The narrative of a photograph can be formed by a viewer through a number of means, for example Knowing where an image was taken and what it is of may relate the image to the story, for example knowing this photograph is of soldiers on a beach during D-Day, allows the view to relate what they are seeing to what they know about the event. Narrative can also be suggested through connotations that may be related to by the viewer, for example, military uniforms in the image could suggest war which in turn could relay something else to the viewer. Narrative can be portrayed as either liner or non linier, when the photograph is an image of an event, it seems a linier narrative is more easily portrayed.
http://nancycdibenedetto.wordpress.com/2010/10/12/documentary-photographer-2-eddie-adams-andworkshop-information/ Photo by Eddie Adams As the view can see clearly what is happening within the photograph in this case ( an execution ) the viewer can easily conclude the basic narrative, therefore persive the story in the image. As well as the primary narrative a secondary conclusion may be made through connotations, such as Fear, War, Violence this then widens the narrative within the image.
http://weheartit.com/entry/24048339 Photo by Philippw halsman
Surrealist photography, such as this image by Philippe Halsman often attempts to portray the subconscious, there for relaying a non liner narrative to its viewer. A narrative can still be concluded through what is being portrayed and connotations the viewer may make to what they see and the narrative is likely to vary amongst viewers. Reflection For this assignment we were asked to look in to the narrative of various images. I found this intresting as a photograph can portray both a straight forward narrative as well as a more complex indepth narrative through its connotations. I also found it intresting how the narrative portrayed through a photograph can vary between its viewers.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2194660/Malcolm-Browne-dies-Journalist-took-iconic-photos-monks-suicide -self-immolation-dead-81.html I think this image tells a great story. On June 11, 1963, Thich Quang Duc, a Buddhist monk from Vietnam, burned himself to death at a busy intersection in downtown Saigon to bring attention to the repressive policies of the Catholic Diem regime that controlled the South Vietnamese government at the time. Buddhist monks asked the regime to lift its ban on flying the traditional Buddhist flag, to grant Buddhism the same rights as Catholicism, to stop detaining Buddhists and to give Buddhist monks and nuns the right to practice and spread their religion. While burning Thich Quang Duc didn’t moved a muscle.
Propaganda Propaganda is a biased form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude and opinions of a community toward some cause or position. Propaganda often presents facts selectively with the aim of influencing its audience through various tecniques such as slogans or a brief, striking phrase that may include labeling and stereotyping.
http://mad-dog-manifesto.blogspot.co.uk/ This image was an American wartime propaganda poster created by J. Howard Miller in 1943 for Westinghouse Electric as an i nspirational image to boost worker morale. The poster was rediscovered in the early 1980s and widely reproduced in many forms often known as “We Can Do It!” but also known as “Rosie the Riveter” after the iconic figure of a strong female production worker. The image was used to promote feminism and other political issues beginning in the 1980s. The image made the cover of the Smithsonian magazine in 1994 and was fashioned into a US first-class mail stamp in 1999. It was incorporated in 2008 into campaign materials for several US politicians, and was reworked by an artist in 2010 to celebrate the first female prime minisister of Australia.
http://questgarden.com/52/16/0/070606152240/process.htm This image is a piece of American recruitment propaganda for the U.S army the image portrays Uncle Sam a common national personification of American government that apparently came into use during the war in 1812.
http://www.sterlingtimes.org/memorable _images53.htm This poster was designed by Alfred Leete, it first appeared as a cover illustration for the London opinion on the 5th of September 1914. During the outbreak of the First World War the prime minister appointed Lord Kitchener as Secretary of state for the War, he was given the task of recruiting soldiers to fight German forces. The Poster is believed to have been one of the main influences bringing millions of men in to the army. The month the image was first published had the highest number of volunteers. As requests were made for reproductions, the magazine issued post-sized copies and the Parliamentary Recruiting Committee obtained permission to use the design in poster form. The Image of Lord Kitchener sternly pointing towards the viewer, exclaiming ‘I Want You” was posted nation wide helping to recruit military forces.
Research References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Can_Do_It http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-wwii-propaganda-posters.php http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Kitchener_Wants_You Reflection This assignment tought me more about propaganda and the ways it can be used. It was interesting researching propaganda images I was already familiar with and finding out more about their origins and why they were created. For example In the “Your country needs you” poster, I had no idea who the image was of, my research went on to show me it was in fact Lord Kitchener and I learnt about who he was.
A Journey Almost 2 years ago I travelled to Africa to help volunteer at a slum school in Kenya. It was a great experience as it allowed me to absorb a totally different culture, whilst meeting people from all over the world. Unfortunately for me during my last week in Kenya, a Norwegian girl by the name of Anna, managed to reformat my camera whilst taking a drunken photo of are group. I lost all the 900 odd photographs I had taken on my journey, although I suppose I still came back with some pretty decent memories. The Photos I have Selected, although not my own, help to tell the story of my journey. Like all great journeys mine started in my local pub, haveing one last pint with friends and family before jetting off for a month and a half. The New Inn is a great village pub and has been a home away from for as long as I can r emember, the type of pub that you can walk into and providing it isn’t to busy, they’ve already pulled your pint by the time you reach the bar.
http://www.fylderamblers.org.uk/2009/7thoctober 2009leisurely.htm After the pub it was a long blast down the Motorway to my uncles where we stayed for the night before I was dropped at the airport the next day. Just to clarify I wasn’t the driver.
http://www.121ds.co.uk/3.html After six hours or so I was sat in my uncles living room with another beer. Both tierd and excited I soon took my self off to bed.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews /8245582/VAT-rise-will-not-stop-Britons-travelling. html The next morning I eagerly boarded my plane at Heathrow accompanied my huge bag rammed full with football shirts, crayons and anything els I could give to the far less fortunate children I would be working with.
http://beyondthebottle.org/?p=70 The plane I was on looked nothing like this plane. Thow I suppose unless its a private jet, they all look pretty much the same to me. I travelled coach working my way through the in flight movies excited to land 9 h ours away in a much warmer climate.
http://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article /0,31489,1974866,00.html I arrived in Nirobi, Kenya’s capital city, and was greated by the wide cheek to cheek smile of the dreadlocked fun loving local Chomlie. Chomlie Worked for the organization I was volunteering for and drove me from the airport back to what would become my home for the following month. The small house was situated just out side the slum I was soon to be working In, it was shared by people from all over the world. Familiar faces would change as volunteers from other parts of the country passed through and others moved on. I spent my first night playing football out on the street with a few local children before heading to a close by bar with an American soon to be teacher by the name of Rory.
http://www.time.com/time/travel/cityguide/article /0,31489,1974866_1974860_1974816,00.html Tusker was my drink of choice through out my stay, along with Kenya cane, a cheap spirit distilled from sugar cane. Being out at night in this area was advised against as many volunteers had been robbed most of which at gun point. During my stay I was told various stories of this happening the most extream case I heard of was a girl being put in the boot of a taxi at gun point, driven to an ATM and told to withdraw all her money. From what I heard She walked away unharmed although a little worse off and continued her stay in kenya. Luckily you can only withdraw so much at any one time. Despite the various stories, we drank after dark in multiple bars on the edge of the slum over the course of the next month, and never ran in to any serious trouble, thats not to say there was’nt a few questionable moments, although over all the mojority of the people we came across were increadibly friendly. We spent our first night out sipping Tusker whilst playing and betting on pool games with a group of locals. The pool table was increadibly wonkie, and I won only one of the many games I played that night.
http://vefadventures.blogspot.co.uk/2010/04/from -countryside-to-nairobi.html The conditions in the slum we’re extreamly bad and for many of us this was are first glimps at real poverty, seeing this in real life as apposed to on the charity tv adverts we are all used to was a real eye opener and really made me appreciate what I have and the things we take for granted. Despite this people in the slum seemed happy and content. I would find my self in random convosations with passers by daily, as I walked through the slum towards the school. It was increadible to see how many people spoke good english there. Making me realise how ignorant we are in the U.K when it comes to different languages, just because English is such a widely used language dosen’t mean we shouldn’t learn a few more are selves.
http://www.africayogaproject.org/pages/outreach-classes I tought daily in a class room alot like this one. Despite signing up to coach football I wound up also teaching English, Maths, and Science to years 3 – 6 the children we’re great and increadibly willing to learn. I was most deffinatley under qualified for the job and was out smarted by the children regularly, trying to recount work you did in primary school was no easy task, although I tought them what I could and focused on having a bit of a laugh with my students. I was working at the School with another english guy by the name of Ben, he was in his late 20 s and had recently married his australian wife. They had come out to volunteer before moving out to Australia. Between us we had dug a well, created a vegetable patch and fixed the school gate by the time we both left.
http://travel.befan.it/safari-in-kenya/ During my time in Kenya, me and some of the other volunteers spent a long weekend on Safari. Are guide was known as Safari Mike, in his white matatu identical to the one’s in this picture he drove us across country to t he maasai mara. For those of you that don’t know what a matatu is, its a van that is often used for low budget safari’s, but more so used as taxi’s throughout Kenya, for a small fare you dive in an oftern over crowded van and get to where you need to go, whilst the fare collector hangs off the side jumping on and off at each stop. During are Safari we saw all the animals you would excpect to see as well as stopping of to meet a maasai mara tribe. Mike was a great guide he seemed to know the area like the back of his hand and was constantly providing i nteresting facts about the animals. As the rest of the group were all girls that wanted to go to bed early in order to make the most of their days out on Safari, Me and Mike spent the nights getting drunk with other tour guides he intruduced me to. Me and mike got on we’ll. Upon are return to nairobi we dropped the girls off and headed out to a local bar, where he promised me if I ever come back to kenya he’ll take me and a friend on a free safari. Providing we hide in the boot whilst entering the game reserve, as the guide pays a proportion of their fee to gain enrty.
http://travelgabble.com/2012/11/02/planning-a-safari-south -africa-vs-kenya-part-i/ This image shows tribesmen performing a jumping dance, whoever can jump the highest supposedly gets their pick of the women.
http://sabahionline.com/en_GB/articles/hoa/articles/features /2012/03/12/feature-01 Soon my month of volunteering was up, but after hearing about Ukunda a small island off the coast of Mombasa I decided to extend my stay. Me and 3 norwegian girls by the names of Hennrietta, Anna and Tiriel were all kean to cheque out the island. They had a week of work left in Nirobi so I decided to go ahead and meet them there. The organization we were working for arranged a place for us to stay, putting us intouch with a family that accomidation for volunteers to stay in. Chomlie dropped me off at the bus station in Nairobi and I got a 9 hour night bus across the country to Mombasa.
http://greg365.mcmull.in/day-357-loading-the-mombassa-ferry/ I didn’t sleep on the bus unlike the heavy set kenyan that used my shoulder as a pillow for half the journey. The sun had come up and I wasn’t quite with it when the bus came to a hault on a busy street in Mombasa. Suddenly the doors opened and people stated getting off, all of them leaving their luggage on the bus. I grabbed my bag and followed the other passengers. On my way off the bus I asked the bus driver whats happening to which he replied by simply pointing at the sea of people outside. I got off the bus and followed the huge crowd of people down hill, desprately trying to stick with passangers I recognised from the bus. When I saw the Warter and a number of over crowded boats, it became pretty obvious we were getting a ferry, Although which boat to get on and how to find my bus on the other side i had no idea. Luckily in the hustle and bustle of the crowd I bumbed in to a group of canadians, who looked just as confussed as me. They were heading to the same place so we boarded a ferry together. I found my coach after the crossing easily enough and continued on my way.
http://www.mombasa.travel/ali-barbours-cave/ Ukunda was a great way to end the trip, In my first few days there I befriended a local guy named Clinton we became good mates and he attempted to teach me Swahili, although I wasn’t very good at it. The Girls arrived a week later and soon after that Rory also found his way on to the Island with Hanna, another volunteer from Brighton. For two weeks we spent every day on the beach, the tranquil island seemed worlds away from the madness of the capital. We would drink at Fourty Thives beach bar throughout the day, whilst in and out of the warter or playing football on the beach. Then head back for a shower and some rest before returning at night. Fourty Thives was often filled with people from all over the world, all their for different reasons. It was a spectacular two weeks, although sooner or later I had to return to England and my mondane 9 to 5 selling business insurance.
The only Photograph I have of my Time in Kenya, Taken and sent to me by Lina Garcia.
Surrealism Surrealism is a cultural movement that began in the early 1920s, and is best known for its visual artworks and writings. Surrealist works feature the element of surprise and unexpected juxtapositions, many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost, with the works being an artefact Surrealism developed out of the Dada activities during World War I and the most important center of the movement was Paris. From the 1920s onward, the movement spread around the globe, eventually affecting the visual arts, literature, film, and music of many countries and languages, as well as political thought and practice, philosophy, and social theory.
Examples of Surrealsit Photography Jerry Uelsmann
http://eglalili.wordpress.com/2010/02/26/jerry-uelsmann-other-realities/ http://archive.mocp.org/collections/permanent/uelsmann_jerry.php
Jerry N. Uelsmann (born June 11, 1934) is an American photographer, and was the forerunner of photomontage in the 20th century in America. Uelsmann’s photographs are not meant to depict a familiar place, but rather allow the viewer to transcend the frames and take them on a journey through the unfathomable. Through the picturesque representations of his subject matter, this becomes possible. Like the Pictorialist movement in the twentieth century, Uelsmann’s work played on big ideas, and because those ideas are so vague, the artist did not allow room for literal interpretation of his work, but rather left the interpretation to the subjective.
Martin Stranka
Martin Stranka A self-taught professional photographer, born on April 13, 1984 in Czech Republic. Martin’s distinctive vision of photography etched as a unique space located in a balance and serenity, while his sophisticated and rewarding images exists in that narrow space of a few seconds between dreaming and awakening. During the last two years Martin has gathered over 30 remarkable international photography awards, from different competitions including: Professional Photographer of the Year, Emerging Talent Award in Nikon International Photo Contest, International Photo Awards, Sony World Photography Awards or Digital Photographer of the Year two times in a row.
http://www.nonsensesociety.com/2009/03/photography-by-martin-stranka/ http://unccphotography.blogspot.co.uk/2010/08/martin-stranka.html http://martinstranka.tumblr.com/post/8191395937/between-light-and-nowhere-by-martin-stranka
Some of my own surrealism work
Research References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surrealism http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/inspiration/modern-surrealism-and-history/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerry_Uelsmann http://www.pem.org/exhibitions/140-the_minds_eye_50_years_of_photography_by_jerry_uelsmann http://martinstranka.tumblr.com/post/8191395937/between-light-and-nowhere-by-martin-stranka http://www.martinstranka.com/ Refelction Surrealism as a subject for phtography, is some thing I was already farmiliar with as it was the subject I based one of my final A- level photography projects around. For this assignment I went over various research I had already done, although it would have been handy to of had my A-level sectch book to hand. As I had previously done extensive research into the subject. Unfortunately for me I didn’t so I looked into a couple of artists I remebered being interested in and posted some of my own surrealism photography work.
Social Commentary Social comentary is the act of using rhetorical means to provide commentary on issues in a society. This can be done through all means of comunication from, art to wrighting. Using speach, imagary, and often in contemporary society the internet. This is done to express feelings towards a certain aspect or nature of society and is often done with the idea of promoting change. Here I have looked at work by both the photographer Camilo JosĂŠ Vergara and the street artist Banksy.
Camilo JosĂŠ Vergara
http://www.photographyblog.com/articles_photography_events_exhibitions_july_2006.php
Camilio Jose Vergara (born 1944) is a Chilean-born, New York based writer photographer and documentarian. Vergara is best known for his photographic documentation of American slums and decaying urban enviroments during the 80s. He would photograph the same buildings and neighborhoods from the exact same vantage points at regular intervals over many years in order to capture the changes over time. Using this tecnique of rephotography in New York, Detroit and Chicago as well as other cities across America. Trained as a sociologist with a specialty in urbanism, Vergara applied his systematic documentation methods at moments of extraordinary urban stress. Whether his work was done with the goal of influencing change or simply to document the dyer conditions of American ghettos at the time, his work reflects social issues of urban neglect during this period.
http://www.popphoto.com/photos/2008/12/camilo-jose-vergara-30-years-documenting-american-ghetto
http://nymag.com/news/intelligencer/48944/
Banksy Banksy is an anonymous street artist known for his politically based, Social comentary artwork. Mostly done in the form of graffiti using various stencils and paint work, his work has been compared to Blek le Rat who began to work with stencils in Paris around 1981 although Banksy denied the artist was of any influence to him. Banksy’s work has caused masses of controversy not only due to its subject matter but also due to the way the artist chooses to present various ideas to his audience, for example painting a live elephant at his first U.S exhibition. Various pieces of Banksys work have been sold for thousands at auction, for example his piece titled Simple Intelligence Testing sold for 363,500 GBP.
http://www.artsjournal.com/artopia/2011/ 02/banksy_loses_oscar_bid.html http://www.eurotriptips.com/finding-banksy -art-in-london/ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/ americas/banksy-makes-his-mark-acrossamerica-1993251.html
Research References http://arrestedmotion.com/2011/09/banksy-top-25-most-expensive-works-ever/ http://www.lessonplanet.com/article/language-arts/understanding-social-commentary http://www.ask.com/answers/95806421/what-is-the-definition-of-social-commentary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_commentary http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camilo_Jos%C3%A9_Vergara http://camilojosevergara.com/ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banksy http://arts.guardian.co.uk/pictures/0,,1543331,00.html Reflection This work tought me about Social commentary found within art work and photography something I was aware of although I didn’t fully understand the concept. The research I did helped me get my head around it. Looking into work by Camilo Jose Vergara taught me about the tecnique of rephotography some thing I found interesting as it allows a photographer to document a subject over time. As for my research into Banksy, I was already rather familiar with the artist, As I have been a fan of his work for some time dispite this it was interesting to find out a few facts I didnt already know about the artist, such as the incredibly high sales figures of some of his pieces.
Frozen Moment, Constructed and Captured A frozen moment can be described as a story frozen in time, this may be portrayed through an image, a song, literature and much more. Photography allows for a freeze frame of history, pausing time, to be reviewed, reassessed and in some cases reveal what the eye didn’t see.
http://funzday.com/attractive-high-speed-photography/high-speed-photos-12-2/ n 1957, MIT electrical engineering professor Harold Edgerton developed a special photographic strobe that allowed the camera to freeze an object that would normally be to too fast for the human eye to see.
http://theorange.co/blog/2012/10/10/high-speed-photography-of-exploding-food.html
http://funzday.com/attractive-high-speed-photography/high-speed-photos-12-2/ Research References http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-speed_photography http://ddunleavy.typepad.com/the_big_picture/2011/05/alan-sailers-frozen-moments.html Reflection This research allowed me to look in to a different area of photography I previously new very little about, I learnt about its origin whilst viewing various images under the topic of high speed photography. It also gave me an insite into photographing a subject in a different way.
Overall reflection This assignment has taught me various new skills, for example learning how to use illustrator, a piece of soft wear I had never previously used. I taught my self how to do the things I needed by watching various youtube tutorials and playing around on the softwear. The hardest thing for me was becoming familiar with a mac. I usually use a PC and have little expirience with mac computers, as I had no accsess to a PC with the softwear I had to learn to use a mac book. This began as an extreamly tedious experienceas I had to learn to do all the basic commands such as copying and pasting ect. eventually I picked it up and am now much more confident on mac computers.
Through this terms work I have learnt about many various tecniques used in photography as well as the uses for them. My research has helped me come across many great photographers and allowed me to look in depth at their work. Looking into the history of photography has showed me the origins of photography as we know it today. I especially enjoyed the work I did on a photo journey as it brought back some great memories for me. I also found the work we did on social commentary extreamly intresting as the ability to touch on contemporary clutural issues through photography is something that has always appealed to me.
http://dzinetrip.com/high-speed-photography/ High-speed photography is defined as any set of photographs captured by a camera capable of 128 frames per second or greater, and of at least three consecutive frames. In common usage, high-speed photography may refer to either or both of the following meanings. The first is that the photograph itself may be taken in a way as to appear to freeze the motion, especially to reduce motion blur. The second is that a series of photographs may be taken at a high sampling frequency or frame rate. The first requires a sensor with good sensitivity and either a very good shuttering system or a very fast strobe light. The second requires some means of capturing successive frames, either with a mechanical device or by moving data off electronic sensors very quickly.
http://digital-photography.wonderhowto.com/inspiration/do-yourself-high -speed-photography-tips-tricks-0114026/