What is the Grey Area?
In everyday life people the use the grey area to describe something that cannot be read or understood at first glance. An example of the opposite of the grey area in when people refer to something being in "black and white", this refers to something being blatant and obvious. This can be used in photography, an example of a photographer who plays in this grey area in Jack Latham. Jack Latham is mainly a portrait photographer, in works such as Sugar Paper Theories and Parliament of Owls Latham explores conspiracies and creates stories through images.Documentary photography is photography is photographs that are in a chronological order that display historical events or everyday life events. Documentary photography is usually used in professional photojournalism and real life reportage however, now it is starting to be used more by amateur in artistic ways. Photographs have always been seen as a reliable form of evidence, this is due to the fact that a the camera itself cannot manipulate the real world. However in recent times photographs have been questioned, particularly by artists, on how reliable they can be. For example, a photographer can tell someone in the photo how to pose or where to stand, also photos can be manipulated afterwards in photoshop this is ever present within fashion magazines to makes the models to look a certain way.
Jack Latham
Jack Latham is a contemporary photographer who takes portrait, still life and sometimes landscape photos. With his recent two books 'Sugar Paper Theories' and 'Parliament of Owls' he explores complex themes and mysterious events of an unresolved double murder in Iceland (Sugar Paper Theories) and Bohemian Grove conspiracies which is a private gentlemen's club in Northern California, which don't provide much information to the public, (Parliament of Owls).
Sugar Paper Theories
Jack Latham
Sugar Paper Theories is Jack Latham discovering and unfolding a complex event that occurred in Iceland that happened 40 years ago. Two men went missing in the south-west of Iceland, the reason is unknown. An 18 year old, drunk, walked a 10 kilometre walk home. A few months later a father failed to return back home when meeting with a stranger.This soon became the biggest and most controversial murder mystery in Icelandic history. Jack Latham explores this mystery in Sugar Paper Theories by using a combination of police archive images from the investigation and of his own to describe how mysterious the story itself is.He plays with the idea of the 'grey area' by blurring the lines between fact and fiction. This is similar to what the people in this investigation may have experienced as their minds made them believe that they had done stuff they had never done. However, photographs can be used as proof, in terms of displaying the world, this is because the camera doesn't have bias, and have a perception of the world. To counter this they can also be considered as not a realistic representation of life as it is only showing less than a second of it. Also the photographer may have bias, causing the photo to not represent a real world, or a different version of the real world, to mirror their opinion and view. Historical photos can represent the past accurately for example mug shots, they are a plain portrait without many hidden meanings as they are only o show who the criminal is. However, just like referenced before, some historical photos may represent the world in a different life that isn't representative. Photographs can help us explore the grey area, this is done by only showing what cannot be seen. This means we are only shown what the average viewer can see, but also just like in Sugar Paper Theories older photos can show what we haven't been shown before changing the viewers impression, compared to if they hadn't been shown this new information.
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Parliament of Owls
Jack Latham
Parliament of Owls also follows the footsteps of Jack Latham's previous work, in the main focus of the book being about another mystery and working within this grey area of society that isn't often shown at all. Parliament of Owls is about the conspiracy of Bohemian Grove, which is a gentlemen's club in North California. The area itself is very secretive and very much is unknown about what occurs there and who is part of one of the most interesting mysteries. Men suck as former presidents are known to be part of this club. In 2000, Alex Jones ( founder of infowars ) tried to expose it by trying to film what occurs in there, This resulted in 'Cremation of Care' to come into the light, which is a ceremony which an effigy of members' ''worldly cares'' is burnt. Jones himself claims that human sacrifice occurs there. Latham himself is unclear of where he heard about the interesting rumour - '' I think I first read about it in Jon Ronson's "Them''. In Parliament of Owls uses a mixture of his own black and white photographs with 13 manuscripts from multiple sources, these are in pages that cannot be fully opened this could represent how we aren't allowed all information about the place and what happens there making us as viewers relate to Latham when he wasn't allowed to take photos of the actual place so he had to work around tis problem. The owl symbolism and imagery which is ever present in the book is the Bohemian Grove mascot. This could be used to symbolise wisdom and intellect, which is what many of the members have included within their very successful and well-known careers. Latham also plays around with the idea that the grove itself is inaccessible by taking photos of hidden or also inaccessible areas, or only showing the outside and the forest, showing what we cannot see.
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Morgan Ashcom
Leviathan
Morgan Ashcom in Leviathan has created a fictional group of people who seem to be attacked and tormented constantly by a sea creature, which leaves members injured and damaged. Many if the photos allude to this beast by showing a whale tail in almost every picture, one example would be a photo of a puddle which somewhat resembles the shape of a whale. Another would be a somewhat simple and normal photograph of a destroyed recliner chair but when looking in more detail there is a photobook book with a whale's tail. This could've been done to mimic the torment that the group of people, this puts us as the viewer under a similar concept of being haunted by it like they also are. As well he uses unconventional portraits to show the wounds of battle that the people have to endure, one example would be a portrait of a man standing side on to the camera showing a cut above his eye with blood trailing down the side of his face. In another photo where a group of them seem to be attacking the leviathan with weapons that produce high amounts of light. Ashcom uses this to his advantage to hide the leviathan as the lights cover it up, stopping us as the viewers to keep on guessing what they actually are fighting.
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Aaron Schuman
Slant
Aaron Schuman in Slant uses newspaper stories from his home town in New England that his father sends, however these stories are humorous. He uses these stories to create a set of photos that only work in parallel with the stories. This makes the book interesting as the viewers have to work out how the photos and stories relate. One example is, ''2:48 am - An Ann Whalen Apartments residence awoke to find someone on her balcony looking into her bedroom. The woman later told police she thinks she may have been dreaming prior to dialling 911.'' The photo which is linked to this is a photo of a house with a figure against the wall of the front of the house looking into one of the windows. These photos work in parallel as they do not fully uncover the stories at first glance and allow the viewers to gain their own interpretations of them. But when given context, the photos change completely in their meanings.
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The Importance of Sequencing
The challenged we were faced with was to take photos around the school within an hour and try to tell a story, whether it was a real story didn't matter. I tried to tell a story of loneliness and abandonment, this is present within the photos due to the simplicity of the photos, not showing people in places where people should be for example the benches and the staircase. The decisions I made when taking the photos was to not have too much filling the frame, only showing certain subjects for example making the focus of the photo in the middle so the viewers eyes are directed there first. I Had to carefully chose what sequence to place the photos in, and with mine I worked up from having little in the photo to having more, as if the story was becoming more full and interesting as it went on. I believe what worked well is that I showed the story that I wanted to show however, what I would've doe differently is think more about how to sequence and the importance of it to tell a story. I would've moved the photos around to display what I wanted to clearer.
Photoshoot
With this photoshoot I played with the genre of still life. I have tried to play with still life by taking pictures of various objects that could or would allude to life, or objects that have been 'alive' and are now in a completely different state for example wood being turned into a toy, plant petals being used as something that gives off a pleasant smell. What I would have done differently is try to follow a theme or a pattern, with the photos I have taken there is too much variation in colour, lighting and what the photos are of. Also I would stick to the actual genre more as I have somewhat loosely stuck to the idea of still life rather than trying to challenge the idea of still life. However what I believe went well is the that there is a meaning behind each photo that adds to a story or theme created through the photoshoot, some have more meaning than others though.
Great Britain - The Patriotic
With this photoshoot I had to find a fictional or non-fictional story that is set in South East London. This took inspiration from Aaron Schuman's Slant where in this project his father sends him unusual and interesting stories from the local newspaper, Schuman took photos in parallel to the stories. By parallel I mean that the story isn't fully showing the story, but only alluding to them, leaving the viewers to wonder how the photos and snippets of stories relate to each other. With this photoshoot I tried to do something similar in what Schuman did with Slant. I went to the Royal Military Academy in Woolwich. I found this particular place interesting due to the somewhat odd combinations of architecture in the place itself, having modern and simplistic apartments right next to a church in the centre built around 1741, with that being next to buildings following Gothic style and built around 1862. But what interests me the most is how most of the buildings in the fenced off area are still around but are used for a completely different function in being apartments a place of relaxation, juxtaposing how some people were unwilling to stay there when first created. What i believed i had done well is researching an interesting story and setting for my photoshoot however, what i would've done better is that i would've maybe found a particular story about it and followed that instead.
With this I attempted to create some sort of history book to represent the history of the military academy itself. The photos are also placed in the specific way it is as it was to emulate how history books have small photos on each page with large amounts of text around them, with the text being the main focus rather than the photos themselves. However with my book I wanted the photos to be the main focus and only have small minimal hints as to what the place is, what the story is too and to let the viewers create their own interpretations of the book and story. Some of the interpretations were that there was a kidnapping due to where the book was placed, inside a locker full of rubbish. The placement was to somewhat represent the political atmosphere of modern times as well as too represent how people who didn't want to be in the military were locked in the life of being a soldier and couldn't leave easily.
Morgan Ashcom
What The Living Carry
Response
With this photoshoot I had to face the challenge of taking photos in various locations to create the sense of an actual town of place that actually exists. I took photos in Welling, Eltham and Woolwich. Morgan Ashcom does this too in What The Living Carry, he took photos in various locations a created a fake town that looked like a very real town in the way that he sequenced photos to make it seem like the viewer is taken on a journey or a walk through that place. If I did this again i would've made the photos flow better and also take different photos in even more lacations to make it more of a challenge for myself.
Description of the Town
The fake town is named Guy's Village, it I meant to be a town on the cusp of London and Kent. It is also only got a few small shops and a few houses and apartments. The town is connected to London by only a small range of buses that bring you to Eltham, it is connected to Orpington and Petts Wood by the motorway and the buses. |
The next part of the task was to create a map of the town. I would've improved this by making the map more professional looking by using pens and labelling it, showing what's there and what the name of the roads are. Overall, I believe I have demonstrated the task in creating a fake town and sequencing them to seem like, as a viewer, you are taken through a journey of the town itself. However, what I would've improved on is the flow of the photos, the variation of photos and also more of a variation of where the photos were taken. And a better map of the town to make it seem more realistic, or just like an actual map of a town.
Jack Latham
Sugar Paper Theories Exhibition
On the Bristol trip we went to two exhibitions, the Jack Latham's Sugar Paper Theories exhibition and Tony Ray-Jones' The English. With the the Sugar Paper Theories exhibition everything was like a discover. Before even entering the room there is a door, this made it seem like you were going into something or you were discovering something which is meant to be hidden to the public. Then once you enter you are introduced to the photos placed on the walls with a spotlight over each one. This again seems like you are discovering something new, with only the top or a bit of the photo being shown up properly. Also in the middle of the left and right half of the rooms are the books that Latham used which inspired Sugar Paper Theories, enclosed in a glass case on a table. This could be to preserve what page and state he wants them to be in, but also could show how there is something about the story that is unattainable.
Tony Ray-Jones
The English Seen Exhibition
As mentioned earlier, we also went to the Tony Ray-Jones exhibition The English Seen. This was an exhibition where older photos of his were re-printed, photos from around the 1960s which were photos that displayed how the people of that era were and from this we can see how different people of that era are compared to now. For example, he took photos of people at the beach, market and streets. In his photos of people at the beach people wore big coats and warm clothes, whereas now people would where the opposite of that.
The Bristol Trip
On the trip we were given a challenge to take certain images from a checklist. These images were:
- A posed head and shoulders portrait photograph of a stranger
- A still life photograph of a brick in shallow focus
- A wide angle landscape photograph of the city
- A photograph taken of the motorway out of a moving coach window
- A portrait photograph of someone looking carefully at something
- A photograph shot from above of your shoes standing on the edge of something
- An architectural photograph of a corridor or stairwell
- An abstract photograph of light on surface
- A photograph of the corner of a framed photograph hinting at, but not fully revealing, its subject
- A close-up photograph of the word ‘fact’
- An architectural photograph of a brick wall so that the lines of bricks are parallel/perpendicular with the picture edge
- An installation shot of the ‘Sugar Paper Theories’ exhibition, demonstrating an interesting aspect its design
- A photograph of a section of the introductory wall text accompanying the Tony Ray-Jones exhibition
- A still life photograph of the ‘Sugar Paper Theories’ book
- A landscape photograph that is 95% sky
- A still life photograph of the inside of a dirty coffee cup
- A still life photograph of one wheel of the coach
- A low angle photograph taken underneath something
Photoshoot
Similarly to one of my other photoshoots I attempted earlier which was to create a fake place. Instead of it being a town however I tried to combine multiple parks and roads to create the feeling of one big park. I used Eaglesfield park, Oxleas Woods and Eltham Park. I also tried to tie in similar colours so red, orange and green to make it seem more like one continuous place. However if I had done this again I would've probably left earlier so more of the parks were visible as I couldn't take many photos with natural light. That would have allowed me to follow my aim more easily so I could take photos of the parks more with people in them, rather than the areas looking isolated from people.
Final Piece
In my final piece for the exhibition I chose to limit the amount of photos at create more focus on a limited amount of the photos. As well I appreciate the use of blank space in the frame as it allows the viewers only intentions and focus to be of the images in the centre. The sizes of the images were somewhat intentional and accidental as I wanted smaller images so the viewer would have to go close up to them to distinguish what is in them, but also when some were printed larger they would come out to pixelated and low quality. The way the photos are arranged makes it seem as though the focus is in the centre and spreads outwards, rather than it being a conventional left to right, top to bottom format which is sometimes very common.
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Exhibition
I believe that the presentation of my work was good. I liked the fact that it was portrait rather than landscape, as it almost imitates a book in how you read it from left to right. This is how i viewed my final piece as I was ordering the photos. As said earlier, the photos give the feeling that they are spreading outwards from the middle. This leaves a lot of room for blank space, making the viewer only have to concentrate on a concentrated area of the frame. If I had done this again, I would have maybe put more thought into linking each photo better.
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The Photography As Document Summary
Both of these chapters in their respective books take a different view on analysing the history and the present of documentary photography and what it has represented since its very first use. In the Photograph As A Document, Stephen Bull approaches it in how it was used formally for police investigations, war and how photojournalists used the idea of documentary photography. He mentions how in 1844 police would use photographs to only show what has happened and not alter a situation, for example, crime scenes. He also mentions portraits being used as mug shots and a way that people in societies throughout history used mug shots to identify what they believed was a common look between criminals. This lead to classification of people as they believed in these theories physiognomy and phrenology as they would, as mentioned earlier, would make classes in how these people looked and related it to something now would seem almost irrelevant as we know it doesn't correlate. Later in the chapter we see him analyse how documentary photography morphed into photographers using this genre to show how the real world is and not use a set or studio to try to replicate the world. He explains how photographers did this to bring up issues in society and put it out for people who wouldn't usually see it to actually take notice of these issues. Later , he mentions how photographers would use this genre for war, this being similar to before, showing what its really like, having no barriers in the way on how they can represent war. This links to in modern times people would use their phone cameras to take photos or video some situations, he uses the terrorist attacks of London in 2005 as an example.
Documentary and Storytelling Summary
Documentary And Storytelling has a similar analysis of documentary photography. David Bate describes its beginnings to be part of the emergence of popular photo-graphic illustrated magazines, many of these magazines (Life magazine, Post, Drum) would have a flow of news stories that represented normal everyday life. He goes on to mention how documentary photography isn't just about the pictures themselves but it is about how they are displayed, this is due to the fact that the way photos are sequenced can create a story and if sequenced differently could alter an already existing story or even display/ create a perceived new story. This could include cropping, captions and titles, and as mentioned before, sequencing, all of these factors can establish the overall context of a series of images. As well as this, he says that the motivation for this genre of photography is to inform and audience creatively about another part of the population which isn't exactly shown in a particular light. The photographer's aims could be support, celebrate, support or attempt to trigger change in society. Later in the chapter he goes on to describe the different methods of composing a photo. For example using a tripod or hand-held methods can create a rather large position in the photo creating either subjective or objective "witness" views. Hand-held being more like a person being in that situation , a tripod being more like someone only displaying that situation.