Seizing an Opportunity

"Its one thing to make a picture of what a person looks like, it's another thing to make a portrait of who they are."        Paul Caponigro

An introduction to Street Photography

Having prepared a Time Frame using Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely (SMART) targets and a Project Brief Cycle (see below), I now needed to focus on my theme selection in order to prepare a structured project proposal by the end of February.

Project brief cycle showing monthly breakdown of project tasks

In the interim, a weekend trip to Edinburgh beckoned; the reader should be aware that such visits are a rare novelty for me, with Scotland's Capital City some 220 miles distant from the very rural Isle of Skye where I live (the nearest city to my home in the Scottish Highlands is Inverness, which is a journey of 103 miles).  I had therefore never previously tried street photography but having become aware of the genre through my course, I decided to take the opportunity to try it in Edinburgh's streets during this trip, despite it being a very cold Saturday afternoon with wintry snow showers. 

For me capturing moments of public life in urban streets was an alien concept, but I did find the experience both exciting and rather exhilarating.  I recognised during my time of portrait taking for the Image Making Unit, that I really did enjoy the interaction between the photographer (me) and the subject being photographed.  These conversations contributed to making the atmosphere relaxed and resulted in images which reflected the characteristics of the person in front of the lens.  Perhaps, living in a small rural community makes me also enjoy the buzz of city life and gives me a personal fascination for the people on the busy streets.  I also may have discovered that taking photographs of city street people encourages my empathy for fellow human beings, eg living in the Isle of Skye one does not really encounter homeless people, living on the streets.

Homeless James on the Royal Mile, Edinburgh

I believe the resulting image of James, who was homeless and sitting out on the street in the freezing winter weather, was a defining moment in my decision to develop a theme in the genre of street photography.  When a viewer remarked that he did not like the picture, as it made him feel sad, I felt that I had managed to capture the essence of the person photographed; that is, I had harnessed an emotion and was able to share it with the persons viewing the picture. 
"I had a portrait of who he was".   

A decision was made and my theme was selected.

street petition, campaigning for living wage

The following two images are a result of my investigative research of how to present my final images, perhaps in triptych style or even superimposing one shot on top of another to make a statement. 

Test triptych of LUSH shop images, taken from the street.

Double exposure shot of bus-stop super-imposed on Princes Street landscape (Edinburgh)

Statement of Intent

My aim is to photograph people on the streets of Scotland's capital cities in the street photography genre, and to develop a personal style by researching and investigating the work of street photographers such as Henri Cartier-Bresson, Garry Winogrand, Robert Frank and contemporary street photographers such as Eric Kim.  The added value of this project is the challenge of working both in an unfamiliar genre and also within the time constraints of visiting distant urban locations, which will require careful planning.  I also aim to extend my depth of knowledge and skills,  both in the development and production of images as well as in the evaluation and critical reflection of my photographic work.

Objectives are:-

• to produce a structured project proposal and action plan to support the project brief cycle by 29th February 2016;
• to complete the time frame for SMART targets, detailing tasks, resources, location, people and success criteria by 29th February 2016;
• to be able to research and investigate the influence of classic and contemporary street photographers;
• to photograph images in appropriate locations and produce sheets of test contact images for initial selection by 31st March 2016;
• to gain an understanding of and evaluate the sociological impact of my street photography;
• to use post-processing software in order to present a set of images for final selection;
• to complete the selection process for the final twelve technically competent images for submission to the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) by 30th April 2016;
• to present final images in appropriate format detailing the chosen methods;
• to critically reflect on and evaluate my photographic practice and produce a piece of text for submission to SQA by 9th May 2016;
• to submit project by 17th May 2016. 

I am beginning to enjoy the challenge!

"Photography for me is not looking, it's feeling.  If you can't feel what you are looking at, then you're never going to get others to feel anything when they look at your pictures."   Don McCullin

Evocative and emotional

"I think that emotional content is an image's most important element, regardless of the photographic technique.  Much of the work I see these days lacks the emotional impact to draw a reaction from viewers, or remain in their hearts."        Anne Geddes

Time to choose a theme

On completion of both the Image Making and Contextual Imagery Units (both previously blogged -  ref:  Ruraltopia and The Role of Women in Photography) our major project loomed large towards the end of January.  Now the dilemma for me was not demonstrating the required project planning, technical and creative, critical thinking and evaluation skills but the added value which would be to focus on challenge.  So breadth, challenge and application of learning come into play in terms of progression and assessment of my ability to integrate and develop the skills learned, for this final project of my photographic journey.

Ideas, thoughts and exploratory work as recorded in my journal jottings led me to consider two themes which generated initial discussion with the course lecturer in order to negotiate a final project task.  Having explored the topic of Visually Evocative Images of Rural Decay and disappearing crofting traditions, I also photographed old crofting artefacts and used the images to conduct some research as to their appeal:-

rural decay

 

foot plough, peat iron and scythe

My crofting artefact pictures were inspired by the work of Werner Kissing (1895 Germany - 1988 Dumfries).  He was employed part-time as a photographer and writer for the School of Scottish Studies in Edinburgh and between 1952 and 1961, he produced thousands of images for a photographic collection mostly of ethnographic interest such as traditional crafts and life style, as well as collecting artefacts for the Dumfries Association. 

His earlier visits to the Western Isles included a film made in Eriskay (A Poem of Remote Lives) the images of which are well documented in the books, "A Different Country" and "A Poem of Remote Lives: Images of Eriskay, 1934", both by author Michael Russell.

implements on stonework

peat iron and turf spade

While my childhood crofting background and personal links with the location of the rural decay shots below, evoked strong emotions from me, I did consider from my research that perhaps the topic of rural decay could be viewed as rather cliched and not provide an adequate challenge for me in terms of added value in progression of my photography skills.

image with Gaelic text (rusted) from my home village

abandoned tractor on the family croft of my childhood.

Following on from the theme above, I explored the idea of representing human emotions involving image and text, in order to have a set of images showing the range of human emotions.  My research included looking at Plitchick's wheel of emotions (1980) and using 

perhaps a Gaelic phrase or simile to represent basic emotion, e.g. sadness is like the ocean; joy is like a flower, etc and perhaps show this in local contexts with indigenous peoples in Skye's crofting communities.  

I liked this creative idea by American photographer Adam Goldberg,

http://www.adamgoldberg.com 

where he superimposes two different but related scenes one on top of the other, which strengthens the emotion the image he is trying to portray.

This was my first attempt at trying out this double exposure technique with Adobe Photoshop Elements 13:-

Joy is cake

I still needed to carefully consider the local contexts I would use to portray the range of human emotions through 12 different images as I wanted to make others feel the emotion when looking at my images

I concluded that I still needed to respond to the challenge in order to make an impact on the viewer. Therefore, my quest for an appropriate theme was not yet settled with either of the above ideas. 

"Photographers mistake the emotion they feel while taking the photo as a judgement that the photograph is good".                 Garry Winogrand

Let your light shine!

"In photography there are no shadows that cannot be illuminated"                                         August Sander.

A recent aspect of our course was a practical day workshop focusing on the use of studio lighting for both still life and portraiture.  Although the prospect seemed rather daunting to someone who had never used studios lights before, it was a great opportunity to try out the use of lighting in photography and being very ably supported by our tutor who had provided a plethora of resources, the class enjoyed a fun-filled practical learning day in the various studio workstations which he had set up for the class.



Resources included light stands which position the light sources away from the camera and support the flash heads.  It is usual to work with more than one flash head, with the modelling light connected to the camera by a cable from the hot-shoe which in turn triggers of the 'slave' light.  A brolly is used into which the light is directed from the flash and then reflected on to the subject, with a brolly having a white, gold or silver reflective surface.  A soft-box is a tent-like device and is more advanced than a brolly, giving better illumination and a softer light.


Other tools available were a snoot which narrows the distribution of light and a honeycomb grid which spreads the distribution, both which help in focusing light and isolating part of an image being photographed.  I found it useful to learn the labels for the various studio lighting items by having hands-on experience in using them.

changing a background for a still life 

Backgrounds were also set up using stands and different backdrops provided in the form of specialist material as well as simple materials brought from home (e.g. table linen, shawls, sheets) in addition to card, white paper and perspex.

miniature china teaset on black shawl background

Students were asked to bring along appropriate items artefacts to photograph.

Corgi model truck photographed in light tent on table-top

A small light tent, which is translucent and sits on the table-top, which creates even light for small product photography was also provided.











When using studio flash your camera should be set to manual mode and the shutter speed set to the fastest flash sync speed available own your camera, which for most cameras is 1/200.  A low ISO such as 100 should be used and an aperture middle value such as f/8 chosen, though this is usually adjusted in accordance with the overall exposure.

Blue glass photographed on white background using side lighting from soft-box

Flowers in ice reflected on black perspex using snoot to focus light

Tutor posing for low-key portraiture

Crofting artefacts on black velvet background 

I found this workshop very valuable as it was a great introduction to the use of lighting equipment for studio photography with the interactive experience enhancing the learning process.  I now wish to add a light tent to my photography kit as an inexpensive way to harness even natural light but also to make me consider lighting more in the photographic process.

"Light makes photography.  Embrace light.  Admire it.  Love it.  But above all, know light.  Know it for all you are worth, and you will know the key to photography."   George Eastman

The Influence of Women in Photography

“I don’t think there’s any such thing as teaching people photography, other than influencing them a little.  People have to be their own learners.  They have to have a certain talent”.Imogen Cunningham

 Unit:   H4KT 76  -   Contextual  Imagery  - Outcome 1:

 Analyse factors that influence photographers and their work by:

 Investigating the influence of major historical, scientific, social and cultural factors  on photographers and their work

 Analysing the specific impact of these factors on photographers’ work and practice

 Expressing justified personal opinions on the photographers’ work.

My response to this outcome is detailed in the essay below:-

The Influence of Women in Photography

Since its invention in 1839, recognition of the role played by women in the history of photography has been marginal compared to that of the male photographer. Early examples contradict photography being totally a male domain at its inception, e.g. Constance Fox Talbot (1811-1880), wife of Henry Fox Talbot (1800-1877) the inventor of the positive/negative process, had herself tried out the process as early as 1839  (Buckland, 1980).

Peter E Palmquist (1936-2003), founder and curator of the Women in Photography International Archive (Palmquist 1976) cites that in the nineteenth century 10% of all American West photographers were women, this increasing to 20% by 1910.  Though many women were amateur photographers, some worked along with their husbands as print-finishers or camera operators and any woman working for money was seen as rather bold  (Palmquist, 1976).

Within the context of these factors, this focus is on two renowned women photographers and the influence of their work - Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879) and Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976).   Cameron worked in the genre of straight portraiture in addition to allegorical, historical or mythical themes, while Cunningham’s variety of photographic styles embraced the genres of Fine Art, nude, f/64, portraiture and documentary street photography.

Julia Margaret Cameron (1815-1879)

Julia Margaret Cameron took up photography, aged 48, receiving a camera as a gift in 1863 on returning from Ceylon to England. “It may amuse you Mother, to try to photograph during your solitude at Freshwater.” (Gernsheim, 1948).  She began to experiment with the wet collodion process, which involved wet chemicals and made it difficult and hazardous to work with these combustible materials in darkness. Cameron broke the rules of both composition and focus; as an amateur her unconventional efforts were regarded as experimental and technically flawed.  

Despite this criticism, in the short span of her photographic career, her commitment to soft-focus formed the basis for the Pictorialism movement at the beginning of the 20^th century, some twenty years after her death.  (Barber, 1999).

As well as mastering the complexities of the collodion process, Cameron’s use of the unwieldy large wood and brass camera should be, of course, evaluated in terms of the limited Victorian technology:

“It is about 8 cm (3”) in diameter, has a fixed stop of 5 cm, telling us it would have been virtually impossible with such a lens to get a close-up portrait in focus on the 28 x 23 cm plates used in Julia Margaret’s camera”. (Ford, 2003).

Cameron’s images portray great insight into her subjects’ personalities, as in Sadness - Ellen Terry aged 16 (1864), captured at Freshwater, Isle of Wight:

  

I believe that Cameron has successfully captured the unhappiness of the young 16-year old bride, realising her mistake in marrying the much older painter George Frederic Watts (1817-1904).  Ellen Terry (1847-1928) a successful Shakespearian actress would be skilled in adopting this pose, but Cameron has caught her contemplative stare and sets a dreamy scene with the cameo style print. She catches the emotional mood effectively, by using soft lighting, shadow and soft-focus at the edges.  I think the placing of the subject’s hand on her necklace may symbolise the wealth and status brought by Terry’s marriage though her face reflects impending doom. Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) English writer and Cameron’s great niece wrote the amusing satire Freshwater in 1923, the plot being the real-life story of the departure of Terry from her one year-old marriage.

In The Red and White Roses - Kate and Elizabeth Keown (1865), Cameron’s subjects are shown as tragic heroines - sad, beautiful and pure.

I personally enjoyed its viewing in the exhibition at National Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh, November 2015 as part of the Photography: A Victorian Sensation. Cameron’s subjects filled the frame giving a direct, close image with limp poses and faraway looks. The soft light (in the glasshouse studio, formerly a henhouse) and soft-focus made me feel its spiritual and theatrical quality. I learned that the roses are a metaphor of youthful beauty shown by the young girls, flowering in summer and then withered by winter or age and am of the opinion that by showing her subjects out of focus, Cameron creates a melancholy mood. (The two girls were Kate and Elizabeth Keown, the daughters of an artillery officer living near Cameron's house at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight).  Cameron’s works are compatible to “tableaux vivants” or living pictures and became esteemed for their eccentric and artificial qualities (Lynden, 2015).

Her photographs usually focused on females but she also took portraits of eminent males, among them the aforementioned painter George Frederic Watts (1817-1904), the scientist Charles Darwin (1809-1882) and the

Poet Laureate Lord Tennyson (1809-92).  In  1865 Cameron began using a larger format camera, which held a 15 x 12 negative and began taking large-scale close-up heads, with her long lens/wide aperture (which would have been slow) as in

Lord Tennyson - Alfred Tennyson, Poet Laureate (1869).   I think the use of light, shade and dark background help to accentuate his face and contrasts with his long curly hair and facial beard. In studying the portrait, I get a sense of Tennyson’s impatience with the photographer. The collodion process used by Cameron required “long exposures” testing the patience of the subject by having to sit for an inordinately long time and causing frustration for the photographer.  I suspect this may apply here, as Tennyson is quoted as having remarked: “I can’t be anonymous by reason of your confounded photographs!” (Morrison-Law, 2015).

Cameron consciously set out to ensure that photography became an acceptable art form and achieved this when her work later became popular and inspired others, such as Imogen Cunningham, to start emulating her portraiture style.  Writing a letter to the British astronomer Sir John Herschel (1792-1871), who had introduced her to photography in 1842, she stated:-

“My aspirations are to ennoble Photography and to secure it the character and uses of High Art”.  (Cameron, 1864).

Although defying the conventions of Victorian photography, Cameron indeed met these aspirations with this verified in her work being so widely appreciated, right into the 21^st century.

Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) 

Imogen Cunningham was one of the finest women photographers of all time, a pioneer of modern photography and contributing significantly to its being regarded as an art form. Born in Portland, to a freethinking father, she was encouraged to be independent and self-reliant.  In 1901 she acquired a 4 x 5 inch format camera with a rectilinear lens by mail-order and began her liberal explorations, resulting in some remarkable work in a variety of genres, in which she was active until she died, aged 93 years.   Steve Meltzer, writes for Imaging Resource how Cunningham drove through gender barriers to redefine modern photography:-

 “She photographed the world with a woman’s eye, from a viewpoint far different than that of the male dominated photographic world of her time and ours.  Cunningham was a true original….” (Meltzer, 2013).

She was a spirited person with many ideas and her photographic inventiveness led her to state, “You might say I invented the nude” (Lorenz, 1998).  This remark is perhaps justified in that Cunningham did a self-portrait of herself nude in a meadow in the year 1906 which was considered very daring.

She wrote her senior year thesis on the chemistry of photographic processes, after studying chemistry and botany at the University of Washington.  On discovering the work of the famous pictorialist Gertrude Kasebier (1852-1934) Cunningham was inspired to become a photographer.  From 1907-1909, she worked as a darkroom assistant in Seattle for Edward S Curtis (1868-1952) making platinum paper prints and then went to Germany to study photography, something unheard of previously, returning in 1910 to open a portrait studio.  Drawn into the blurred, romantic aesthetics of Julia Margaret Cameron and Pictorialism at the beginning of the 20^th century, her first images were staged allegorical studies. Cunningham married Roi Partridge in 1915, a Seattle artist and they lived a Bohemian lifestyle, being more concerned with art form than with commerce and her nude photography including images of Roi were widely criticised as being vulgar, causing a scandal when printed in a Seattle newspaper. 

By 1917 when confined to home raising three young children, she took up gardening and photographed plant species in the modernist style with incredible clarity and detail, using her 5 x 7 inch Century view camera with sheet film.  By the 1920s she became a proponent of photographic modernism capturing sharp-focus pictures.  Edward Weston, (1886-1958) subsequently exhibited ten of her plant studies in the Film and Foto exhibition in Germany in 1929.

Included was the iconic Magnolia Blossom (1925) platinum print with its crystal

detail, which I think, clearly displays the art in nature.  To me, the photograph is appealing because of the closeness of the capture, with the single flower isolated from the surrounding plant life.  The use of light and shade and soft gentle curves in the solitary study make it a sensual photograph with the emphasis on the intimate core of the subject.   In my opinion, the bloom takes on an almost “human life form”.

Cunningham photographed widely in various forms, e.g. the “Shredded Wheat Tower” (1928) of an industrial structure resembling a plant or an abstract design. 

She also continued her nude studies, approaching the body as she did plant life.  In Triangles, (1928), a minimalist study of two friends (Jackie and Helen Greaves)

Cunningham makes the image abstract and almost out of context by using geometric shape along with light and shade. The perspective is quite transforming and I perceive it as classic and in good taste, especially for a subject which would have had men posing women in the nude and photographing them more for prurient interest than for any artistic gain at that time.  Evaluating this photograph makes me personally more open to the photographic potential of the physical world, including an appreciation of the human body.

Cunningham had a friendship with Ansel Adams (1902-1984) long before the Group f/64 was formed aiming to capture the reality of the modern world with hard-edged images. 

 Despite disagreement and differing personalities, (hers liberal, his conventional) she was invited by Adams to join him in the Art Faculty of the Californian School of Fine Arts in 1945 along with Dorothea Lange (1895-1965). 

It was then she started using the first of three Rolleiflexes, cameras she used increasingly for the rest of her life.  (Partridge, 2001). 

The Unmade Bed (1957) was Cunningham’s response to Lange asking students to photograph their surroundings, resulting in this atmospheric image.  I find it very attractive with the dark bedroom, the softly diffused light and the defined focus on the hairpins gaining attention. To me the formation of the crumpled sheets represents the curves of a female body while the absence of the person is thought provoking.  Cunningham has succeeded in making an ordinary every-day scene significant and extraordinary.  For me, the image evokes gentle and tender emotions making me irresistibly drawn to its timeless quality.

In 1964, Judy Dater (1941-) an American photographer met Cunningham, finding both her lifestyle and photography inspirational and resulting in a friendship lasting until Cunningham’s death.    In the biographical book published three years later, Dater writes:  “…. she was certainly a courageous woman, one with a mind of her own, who worked hard all her life.  The fact that as a young woman she chose to go into chemistry as an avenue to photography, both fields that were traditional male preserves apparently did not seem remarkable to her.” (Dater, 1979).

In 1975 Cunningham created a trust to continue the preservation and exhibition of her work, which is much revered today (Patridge, 1975).

Therefore, from the female perspective, Cameron and Cunningham were critical in shaping historical, cultural and social change, and also in influencing the evolvement of photography as an art form, which clearly impacts on today’s photography in the 21^st century.

Bibliography

Barber, K.  UCR/CMP staff. (1999) Artistic Portraiture: Julia Margaret Cameron. California Museum of Photography’s Women Photographers Independent Visions Exhibition. Available at: http://138.23.124.165/collections/permanent/object_genres/photographers/women/cameron.html                                                                                                                          (Accessed 15^th January 2016).

Buckland, G. (1980) Fox Talbot and the invention of photography. Michigan: D. R. Godine.

Cameron, J M.  (December 1864)  Letter to Sir John Herschel, discussing her aspirations as a photographer.   National Portrait Gallery archive document. NPG P201 (1a). Available at: http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/about/primary-collection/documents-relating-to-primary-collection-works/npg-p201a.php    (Accessed 15^th January 2016).

Dater, J.  (1979) Imogen Cunningham: A Portrait.  Boston: New York Graphic Society.

Ford, Colin, (2003) Julia Margaret Cameron: 19^th Century Photographer of Genius. London: National Portrait Gallery Publications

Gernsheim, H. (1948) Julie Margaret Cameron: Her Life and Photographic Work. New York: Fountain Press.

Lorenz, R. (1998)  Imogen Cunningham: On the Body.  Boston: Bullfinch Press.

Lyden, A. (2015)  International Curator, National Galleries of Scotland. Photography: A Victorian Sensation – Amateur Photographers – Julia Margaret Cameron.  Available at: http://www.nms.ac.uk/explore/collections-stories/science-and-technology/victorian-photography/victorian-photography-pioneers/   (Accessed 15^th January 2016).

Meltzer, S.  (23 August 2013) A Woman’s Eye:  How Imogen Cunningham drove through gender barriers to help redefine modern photography. Seattle: Imaging Resource article.  (Accessed 15 January 2016).

Morrison-Law, A.D. (2015) PHOTOGRAPHY A Victorian Sensation.  Edinburgh: NMS Enterprises Limited – Publishing.

Palmquist, P. E. Women in Photography Archive: Essays.  Available at: https://www.cla.purdue.edu/waaw/palmquist/Essays.htm#Preface        (Accessed: 15th January 2016). 

Palmquist, P. E. Women in Photography Archive: Essays.  Available at:  https://www.cla.purdue.edu/waaw/palmquist/Essays.htm#Preface    (Accessed: 18^th January 2016).

Partridge, M.  Official Site For The Imogen Cunningham Trust.  Available at: http://www.imogencunningham.com/page.php?page=about&menu=chronology                                                  (Accessed 15^th January 2016).

Partridge, R.  Official Site For The Imogen Cunningham Trust.  Available at: http://www.imogencunningham.com/page.php?page=provenance&menu=cameras (Accessed (15^th January 2016)