Britt Salvesen on New Topographics

I have a natural empathy with the 1970s as it was the time of my life when I started work, I loved every moment because there were no restrictions on how and what we did, life was a pleasure. It is not surprising then that I find New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape (NT) a part of the history of photography that is interesting and relevant to my study. Having obtained the original catalogue I can now spend time looking at the work in print, something I prefer to screen images. Britt Salvesen, Director and Chief Curator at the Centre for Creative Photography, University of Arizona is the author of the essay that accompanies the catalogue and I have used that as a guide to my research.

Salvesen opens with a look at the history of photography prior to 1975 and the formation of the New Topographics (NT) as an idea and its curation by William Jenkins. NT is an exhibition of landscape photography that opened up a new direction for photography with a title of the exhibition that is unusual and does not really explain much of its content. The survey of the land and its features are the study of Topographics and is generally associated with the work of a surveyor. Topographic surveys record the features of the land, what is on the land (buildings, walls, roads etc) and the contours of the land, often expressed as a height above a datum, sometimes from sea level. The product of this work is then represented through scale drawings and will typically include a plan and various cross sections. From this work an architect or engineer will often design and plan new works onto the landscape. The topographic photographer's work is no different although the resulting output is a series of photographs where we can see clearly what is there and how big it is. The combination of surveyor and photographer will give a complete and concise description of what was there on the dates the work was carried out. 

The exhibition shows the work of ten artists by way of 168 photographs. The artists were:
Robert Adams
Lewis Baltz
Bernd and Hilla Becher
Joe Deal
Frank Gohlke
Nicholas Nixon
John Schott
Stephen Shore
Henry Wessel, Jr.

Up until William Jenkins, assistant curator of twentieth century photography at George Eastman House brought them together they were not part of any cohort although some had achieved exposure in the art world. Their coming together however did mark a significant point in the history of photography and the term New Topographics has become a label and validated approach to landscape photography. Salvesen makes the point that at the time "neither the original viewers, nor the curator, nor the participating artists anticipated the outcome" Forty years on from this event and its significance enriches the landscape photography discourse as much as ever. It is surprising that many of the artists had never met and for many they never saw the exhibition in Rochester. In fact at the time it was seen by only a small number of visitors as it had a limited audience and it is by serendipity that it has gained such notoriety and influence. The history of NT can be traced back to the 1960s and in particular the work of Walker Evans and Ed Ruscha, both having completed work associated with the cultural landscape. John Szarkowski at MOMA in New York had sustained Evans's work from the FSA and in 1971 curated a major retrospective spanning the photographers forty year career. Some of the NT artists were heavily influenced by Evans, particularly Gohlke who found affinity with his work and that of Eugene Atget. Salvesen describes Evans work as ...."these elements of 'documentary style', a nuanced, deliberately oblique formulation that can be broached via the broader concept of the vernacular". Salvesen uncovers how the NT artists looked to the work of Ansel Adams and Minor White with a degree of scepticism while at the same time acknowledging the early impact on them by these well known names. Deal went to Yosemite and says it was like seeing everything in quotation marks, while Baltz criticised the dramatic high contrast printing style, which by the 1960s seemed overblown and embarrassingly self conscious. The NT photographers had a wish to depict the mid 1970s America without glorifying it or condemning it. Jenkins wrote of the participants as photographers who can foster ambiguity around the very issue of attachment.... the makers attachment.... the viewers attachment and a detachment of generations of the photographers expressive capacity. Walker Evans, when asked by a student to describe why he photographs billboards, Evans said "I love them". The student then asked is there as social comment here and Evans replied "Not in the least... I photograph what is in front of me...".

So photography based upon attraction, where the viewer is seduced has moved towards photography that does not reveal the motivation of the photographer and this adds a complexity that is undertaken by all of the NT photographers in varying ways.
It is to Jenkins then that the cohort were assembled. Jenkins work as a curator was not well paid but he was expected to travel and meet artists, visit exhibitions and look at portfolios. Jenkins first got to know Deal when he was photographing the art deco houses in Rochester NY. His stylised, detail orientated formal approach was heavily reliant on the influence of Evans and these images are where the seeds of an exhibition on architecture were sown in Jenkins mind. At around that time Jenkins also saw the work of Baltz in Los Angeles and upon his return to Rochester and further discussions with Deal the architecture/landscape idea grew.

Photographers had been showing architecture in the landscape since the 1839 but Jenkins and Deal found no evidence of treating the built environment as a subject on its own. Any previous attempts at showing structures and buildings were more likely to be well known landmarks with elements subjectivity installed by the photographer rather than suburban housing portrayed with critical analysis. Deal pursued this in his own work, changing the way he photographed the Rochester facades to give more space around the building and seeking out the ordinary. When shown this work was not well received. The critic Gene Thornton described the genre as lacking "technique and life". When describing R Adams Denver Views he declared "...I felt I was looking at pictures made without human direction by mere machines..."
These comments were not universal and others wrote of Baltz's Tract Houses project as making "aesthetic something that in reality has no redeeming aesthetic quality"
Salvesen points out that this form of pictorial pleasure, cerebral as apposed to cathartic, is altogether more compatible with advanced painting, sculpture and installation art than with mainstream photography. These pre New Topographics reviews point to a new attitude towards photographic innovation and as it had not yet coalesced into a style it resisted assimilation to existing critical vocabularies. Modernists were finding it difficult to relinquish the basic requirements of subjectivity.

The NT photographers, while being a disparate group of individuals, together were forming a sceptical opinion towards the previous generation. Robert Adams did acknowledge the impact of Ansel Adams while explaining that his work was essentially different with its own aims. Baltz criticised the dramatic high contrast printing. By the 1960s the Ansel Adams photographs were seen by this cohort as overdetermined, overblown and embarrassingly self conscious. It was without doubt Walker Evans who the group were looking towards as inspiration and the construction of a new style, one where, as Gohlke put it "... the photographer seems to be absent...".
The NT photographers were depicting the USA of the 70s without glorifying or condemning and transmitted this with well crafted prints with no darkroom tricks and assembling them into a unifying narrative.
As Salvesen describes it "it is about the environment and the land" with Adams being most explicitly aligned with environmentalism and possibly the one most lured by sentimentality proffered by the landscape. As Americans became prosperous they had leisure time to explore Yosemite, the Everglades, the Grand Canyon etc. and with photography becoming a popular pastimes these areas generated an affection with the public who saw them as pure and pristine. Salvesen is conscious of the possibility that NT might in retrospect be considered as environmentalist but the show was resistant to being aligned with any propaganda. One reviewer (William Wilson) did describe it as "ecologically based social criticism" but on the other hand it is possible to be critical and describe the work as not critical enough as there are images that question land use and the aesthetics of the architecture. Pictures of essentially controversial land use that engender feelings inside are difficult to be come detached from as a photographer and in some cases perhaps impossible, especially for Americans who tend to wear their hearts on their sleeves.
What I think we end up with are photographs that epitomise the paradox of being both boring and interesting. This is how Robert Adams summarises his objective, "a normal view of the landscape. Almost." What I think we are getting towards is a position somewhere between Ansel Adams and a snapshot taken by a resident of his new home. They needed to be as technically fine as Ansels but convey a detachment one gets from Roberts.

Jenkins worked closely with Deal on the curation of NT and they collaborated closely on the title. Deal it seems did most of the work towards the title and wanted something that tried to say contemporary landscape photography and indicated a break from the past. The result New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape is open for debate and asks questions over what we are to expect.
New has connotations of improvement, progress, recent or contemporary in fact anything other than the past. Topographics is nothing new although has more of a general reference to maps and the original dictionary definition of it being a detailed description of a place or tract of land. The contributing photographers had varying responses to themselves being "topographers",with Adams questioning the geographical focus and its implications of objectivity. Jenkins and Deal had agreed that there was a need for a sub title to make it more explanatory. Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape is full of words that require further investigation. Photographs simply asserts the medium and identifies a specific practise and that they are objects as apposed to the word photography. The compound adjective man-altered is gender specific although there is little feminist objection generally to the whole being described as mankind. The noun it modifies is landscape in the singular and is denoted here to be something imagined and created or used by humans. There is no reference to a before image of the landscape only the after which is then a record of construction and disruption, socially and physically, beneficial or detrimental.
The selection of the photographs and who had the final decision on inclusion is not clear although Jenkins and Deal, one as curator/author and the other as artist/designer had the responsibility for the projects realisation and final content. With ten artists it was never likely that a harmonious agreement would be across the board. Adams and Gohlke expressed reservations about the whole idea and Adams was never enthusiastic about being a part of the show. In part this was due to Jenkins having described it at one stage as a post Ansel Adams endeavour. Adams in his younger days held a deep respect for Ansel Adams' work and probably could put his devotion to landscape photography entirely down to Ansel.

Jenkins retrospectively commented "People come to me and think that I understand this because I invented it, and I didnt really understand it very well then. I think my essay (in the catalogue) reveals that" What Jenkins is reminding the reader of is that NT was an experiment. Readers of the essay may never find what they are looking for as Jenkins it seems may have rushed the writing, never expecting that a generation later it would be dissected by academics and writers wanting to find every nuance of the NT exhibition. The essay is essentially a centre around which the artists are asked to contribute and they are all quoted, so in essence it becomes a conversation. Jenkins essay is concise dealing with the themes of style, objectivity and the document although some critics at the time were less than impressed, describing the exhibition as a "Topographical Error". As Salvesen writes when he starts to finally bring the whole work into a summary "... that through style works of art have meaning... even if in NT that does not include personal, idiosyncratic or self contained meanings" The confusion of genre and subject can be considered a self conscious aspect of NT.
The problem of style is going to challenge the viewer (much less in 2015 than 1975 perhaps) due to expectations being derived from modernist examples of the genre. The straight prints, uniformity of subject matter, the built environment, perfect sharp focus, minimal grain and tonal range were features that had little aesthetic value, previously associated with expression, abstraction, narration and the unique hand printed one off example with high contrast and darkroom manipulation.
Jenkins concludes, NT may have been a "stylistic event" but the actual photographs are far richer in meaning and scope than the simple making of an aesthetic point.
The exhibition was hung in the Brackett Clark gallery in George Eastman House. The room was divided with temporary walls, some white, some grey. The artists work was presented in groups interrupted, all framed with metal section frames and white mats.
Visitors to the exhibition were asked for their thoughts and although taking into account their age, assumptions of Eastman House as a venue, experience with photography and prints the response was wide and difficult to summarise. Some examples include:-

He couldn't have been doing it for his enjoyment, because they are very dull pictures in my opinion.

They obviously didn't take it from an artistic point of view. It looks like it was their job, their project

Viewers apparently admired the lighter printing style which at a simple visual level distinguished them from the high contrast, expressive, chiaroscuro seen in photojournalism at that time. 
The exhibition was on view for nearly a year in Rochester after which it travelled to two other locations which accounts for the lack of contemporary reviews. In Los Angeles Robert Woolard drew no conclusions and said there was no way of knowing if this was a passing phenomenon or if it is avant-garde with an enduring attitude to the artistic medium. 

In conclusion, NT was a paradigm shift for photography although what is surprising is that no follow on cohort or curator took up the legacy to develop it and continue the discourse with an evolution that would provide heirs to the tradition. Jenkins left Eastman House soon afterwards to teach photography in Arizona and finds the attention NT receives to be bothersome and disproportionate. In addition none of the artists clung on to the NT and instead wanted to work on their own and have individual identities. All went on to produce significant bodies of work and receive varying amounts of support. It is not until the mid 80s and later that the true legacy of NT becomes apparent. Through the work of Thomas Ruff, Thomas Struth and Andreas Gursky (with others) they take the style to another level. Biographer and archivist Susanne Lange says that they have taken it "to absurdity" using the abstractness, serial sequences, order and structure as the actual subject matter of the image, heightened by vivid colour and immense scale. In the USA the NT artists did little to influence others in the style of NT even though most of them at some time later in life did teach at universities. Despite the recognition the artists subsequently received the NT exhibition is only one line on their CVs, .. a group show, Rochester, 1975.

New Topographics is in contemporary photography deployed as if it were a universal standard and a kind of masterclass for all photographers to aspire to. It was in reality a loose set of artists who Jenkins and Deal noticed at the time as having something to say about what they saw around them and forced the viewer to look at the present and think about the future. We may see it as a nostalgic period but the lessons from then are completely relevant in our contemporary practice today.

Reflection and Learning Outcome

The research and words above are just the tip of the iceberg when looking at this phenomenon. We all know something of NT, it is difficult to have got this far in photography without some exposure to the work and most will have an opinion on how it affected them. For myself it was a step change a year ago when I finally saw past the work of Ansel Adams and wondered if there was indeed more of a narrative in the banal than the high contrast overworked expressive image. At this change point as a photographer you realise you will abandon most of your audience who liked your "nice" photographs and instead you will be working alone, for yourself and perhaps others of a like mind who will "get it" and take the time to look past the image on paper and see the message beneath. Building a narrative into image making is something I now spend far more time considering, rather than considering the viewer and their reaction as my prime objective. The craftmanship behind these "type" of images is required to be of the highest standard, similar in impact to editing, in so much as when it is done well you may not see it. Banality for some is another word for uninteresting and that is the challenge ahead, to prove them wrong.

Bibliography

Salvesen, Britt., 2013. New Topographics.Arizona: Steidl.

Deadpan

I recently read Charlotte Cottons chapter on Deadpan from The Photograph as Contemporary Art. The Deadpan is a genre that I am finding myself drawn to more and more. This is at odds with some of my previous practice where I have used overt PP, especially with monochrome work to produce striking atmospheric work that relied more on the PP than the content. In our constant search for images there is a tendency to want to be different, so I guess we get noticed and that can deliver work that is without substance and relies heavily on style. Deadpan is a word that initially denotes plain. Plain what though ? A plain message or a plain looking image. A plain image I would say is one where there is a reduced palette, reduced contrast and a simple aspect ratio. A plain message needs a plain image. Cotton uses an example on page 80. A muslin girl who lives in temporary accommodation in Amsterdam is photographed with a deadpan pose, looking straight into the camera, simple side lighting and facial expression. There is nothing the girl can say as her presence in that society is detached with little to express. That is therefore the essence of what the photographer (Celine van Balen) has captured.

Cotton starts Chapter 3 by reminding us that deadpan aesthetic  is probably the most widely used in gallery spaces around the world and that the readers of the book are at the mercy of the medium in seeing the work differently and that the typically large prints with their breathtaking clarity one associates with the genre.

For the deadpan the photographer is emotionally detached. It moves the images outside of the sentimental and the subjective so that we cannot detect the photographer. The photography becomes a way of seeing and engaging with the subject that is beyond the limitations of individual perspective and beyond a single human standpoint. It is a genre where the photographs become highly specific and nuetral, with totality of vision and large proportion.

Deadpan's popularity began in the 1990s as a reaction to the previous decades offerings of subjective art making. The desire within art for new and the gallery demanding work that is commercial drove the genre especially with landscape and architectural images.

As a style Cotton says it is often described as "Germanic". This labelling is largely due to the key figures from that nationality being at its forefront. A number were educated under Bernd Becher in Dusseldorf where he encouraged students to create artistically led and independent work. This Germanic work of the 1920s and 30s led to a movement know as New Objectivity. Albert Renger-Patsch (1897-1966), August Sander (1867-1964) and Erwin Blumenfeld (1897-1969) were the earliest to adopt the style. I would also include the work of Karl Blossfeldt that I include in assignment 5.

Bernd and Hilla Becher were highly influential beginning in the late 1950s with a series of photographs of water towers, gas tanks and mine heads. Each building being photographed from the same perspective, in similar light which creates a "system" for the typology that moves towards the deadpan. Their work first coming to prominence in 1975 as part of the New Topographics: Photographs of the man Altered landscape. New Topographics shows an investment by photographers in topographical and architectural photography and the socio political implications this has for industry and the ecology of the landscape. As Cotton points out the significance here is that these issues are being raised as a conceptual discourse in the art gallery through a neutral and objective approach.

Contemporary deadpan is led by Andreas Gursky (b. 1955). Gursky through overtly large prints  produces work of extreme quality. With dimensions in excess of five metres they are imposing pieces of work that are immense in their detail and clarity. The work brings together the traditional use of large format film cameras with the post production and printing available in the digital environment. Unlike the typologies of Becher, Gursky creates photographs that are not part of a series and stand alone within his oeuvre. He does however work with connected themes and the images stand as discreet visual experiences with a consistency of quality that is sublime, all of which contributes to his critical and commercial success.  Gursky is not style over substance, as Cotton points out on p 84. when discussing his technique "It comes from his capacity to travel the world, find his subjects and then convince us that each scene could not have been more fully described than from his chosen perspective"  Gursky has within his style an ability to choose a viewpoint, often distant from the subject that places the viewer away from the subject,, remaining detached. We see the scene as a whole made up of very small ( but detailed) parts.  Within contemporary practice Gursky is in a dominant position although by no means does he hold the only position. Walter Niedermayr (b. 1952) and Bridget Smith (b. 1966) explore landscape and architecture within a paradigm of the topographer, resisting the photographer's intervention to glamorise or inject emotion into a scene. Similarly Ed Burtynsky (b. 1955) and his photographs of the oilfields of California show a manmade landscape that has been over run with oil wells as far as the eye can see. It is for the viewer to decide on the narrative as it tells of the rise in technology and the worlds need for oil and the riches it brings and the other is of the destruction of the  once barren landscape and the worldwide pollution as a result of burning hydrocarbons. The deadpan technique employed by Burntsky offers no hint of his position on the subject, he acts as observer and recorder without opinion. The only photographer intervention is the choice of subject matter and the possible viewer analysis.

Lewis Baltz (bb. 1954) first gained recognition as one of the contributors in the New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape in 1975. Since then and after his move to Europe he has moved away from the stark monochrome to colour images representing the high tech especially in a series of photographs within the clean environs of the power industry.

Cotton p. 93 looks at the work of Naoya Hatakeyama (b. 1958). It is here that I feel uneasy with where Hatakeyama's work in connection with a large construction project in Osaka is less than art and is in reality a record photograph. The record photograph is a document produced by either the contractor or the architect to make a visual record of how the work proceeds. Largely due to the fact that much of the construction gets covered up during the process there is a need technically and contractually to know what the works looked like on a given day. These images are deadpan and should be produced to the highest resolution, but generally they would be the work of a photographer with no art brief. Cotton does not say if the photographs are used in this context. Axel Hutte (b.1951) introduces an element of mystery into his deadpan photographs by making them at night. The presentation of the large transparencies and the night photography technique is to be questioned as it detracts from the banality required for deadpan to be be consistent as a genre. The same can be said for the night images of Dan Holdsworth (b.1974). The subject is out of town shopping centres with empty car parks, but photographing them at night introduces an artistic attitude that detracts from the functional use of the landscape. Cotton in this instance becomes somewhat subjective in her analysis and when asking " one might reasonably ask what took it rather than who" I feel she is struggling with her role.

The deadpan is a genre of contemporary photography. It may last another 20 years or it may end in 20 days, that is difficult to say. It is in fashion with the galleries and the art buyers and although there may well be other models of contemporary photography that excel it is fortunately/unfortunately (delete as appropriate) the one where the commerce of art is dictating the flow of work. This may sound as though I am cynical of the deadpan, far from it, as my practice has been influenced particularly by Baltz and Shore.

I will return to the subject at a later date and will discuss then whether my opinions have begun to modify.

Assignment 4 Critical Review - Title fixing and research

For some time (4weeks) I have been working on an idea for the essay, in conjunction with my tutor. Good practice suggests that you choose a subject that you are interested in, but in this instance I have chosen a subject that I am curious about rather than intrinsically interested in. Postmodernism or PoMo as it seems to be refereed to in some quarters (although you will be a long way into a Google search before it comes up) is a term often used but I guess seldom fully understood, simply because it defies understanding in a way we like to understand things. My lack of in depth knowledge came to light in the exercise on the Liz Wells essay when asked the question "To what extent does the writer rely upon Postmodernist doctrine?". Doctrine seemed a strange word to use and perhaps as I have had pointed out to me is just semantics and could equally be taken as belief, concept or tradition. With this in mind I have researched Modernisn and Postmodernism enough (?) to suggest to myself a few titles. The title may seem less than important but in fact that is untrue. Once the argument has been established and fixed in the introduction, it is then my responsibility to argue or defend than statement. 

1. Postmodernism - Doctrine or Theory ?
2. Postmodernism is a Theory not a Doctrine.
3. Is Postmodernism a Doctrine or a Theory ?
4. Postmodernism - Doctrine v Theory
5. Within contemporary photography is Postmodernism a Theory or a Doctrine ?
6. Is Postmodernism only a Theory ?
7. Postmodernism is not a Theory

They are all similar but I am cautious about having to prove it is not a Doctrine because I am sure there are those who think it is and if my research doesn't cover them I will be marked down. In addition there is a limit of 2000 words and to cover more than one aspect of the subject this will not be enough. It is more likely that I can provide enough cogent argument to argue that it is a theory with considerable weight and suggest it may have a doctrinal following, but not within the main stream.

I will pick one during the next few days.

My reading list to date for the essay includes or the whole or parts of the following.

Butler, C., 2002. Postmodernism: A Very Short Introduction.(Kindle Edition) Oxford University Press.

Belsey, C.,2002. Poststructuralism: A very Short Introduction. Oxford University Press.

Wells, L., 2003. The Photography Reader. Routledge.

Bate, D., 2009. Photography - The Key Concepts. Bloomsbury.

Clarke, C,. 1997. The Photograph. Oxford University Press.

plus various You Tube videos and reference to Wikipedia for secondary sources.

To illustrate the essay (2000 words without something to look at on a subject which is abstract could be boring) I will use some images that will act as visual statements.
In particular I am thinking of Cindy Sherman and Jeff Wall.

Nigel Shafran

Nigel Shafran (1964 -  )

During Assignment 3 I photographed some washing up on the draining board in the kitchen. The image was never used in that assignment as it didn’t  fit in with the style I needed although on its own it is a  strong photograph and was later used as one of my entries in the 45^th Eastern Open, where it was selected and won an award.  Another reason for not selecting it into the assignment was it didn’t say much about being a Carer, we all have washing up and it could have been the washing up from any home. What washing does show is a punctuation mark in the day. It comes after eating, which it turn comes after cooking a meal and so is part of a simple narrative of the day. What I didn’t know about this image was that it looks very similar to the work of Nigel Shafran. Such coincidences are rare and it is embarrassing to have to explain that I am not plagiarising Shafran’s work as I found him after making my image. This confirms that there is nothing new in image making and gives me confidence to continue in this genre.

Shafran began his photographic career as a fashion photographer in the 1980’s and worked on a number of prestigious magazines, only to become disillusioned with that world and has since turned his camera inward, onto his family and his own close environment, employing techniques in still life usually associated with painting than photography.

Having found Shafran and viewed his work online I obtained a book of his work, Edited Photographs 1992 - 2004, Photoworks, 2004

Shafran’s work is inspirational and he is now on a small list of photographers who are having an influence on how I think and work in photography. The shared interest is in how we can trace human activity through the statements that are left behind when the humans have gone, the placing of objects, the constructions and ephemera, as seen in washing up.

The images are simple, almost to the extent that they are banal, but there is language in them through semiotics and interpretation, often something left for the viewer to complete and an element of ambiguity.

Shafran’s images are not studio constructions, they are found objects of every day life. Similar in some respects to the work of Edward Weston who had a similar affinity with the found objects such as his toilet, peppers and a cabbage. There is however careful placing of the camera and an acute awareness of the natural light falling onto the scene. In recent years there is wide discourse on the “real” and the realist. Straight or pure photography is a strong voice with many in contemporary practice and I am one who feels at ease with this genre, in preference to work that is being described as “post photography” with its reliance on overt manipulation and the inclusion of the bizarre. Some confuse straight photography with simple photography and that is in fact far from its intention. The connotations, the signified and the semiotics within an image do not require the work to be overtly complicated.

Shafran works mainly with a large format camera (often using a Polaroid frame before the main image), making his work as life unfolds and this requires a dedicated approach with strict criteria and an artists eye for what is right and wrong to include when surrounded by endless potential. His high production values are a feature of his work I am interested in and seek  to include in my own work. I no longer have a 5x4 camera but will continues this type of work using 6x6 format film.

Shafran has attracted much critical discourse and during an interview in 2000 with Paul Elliman Shafran explains “why washing up ?”

“I wanted to start the New Year with something optimistic. And Personal. Something with lots of shapes, where shapes would change, keep changing. Also something in which the light was important, the kitchen window or the overhead kitchen light, I mean, I really wanted to have one lit by lightning, havent got that yet. There are signs of ageing in it, like signs of time, of course”

Charlotte Cotton talks of his work and its intuitive nature.

“With an understated photographic style, use of ambient light and relatively long exposures, he transforms these scenes into poetic observations about the ways we conduct our lives through our unconscious acts of ordering, stacking and displaying objects. There is something highly intuitive in Shafran’s way of working”   (Cotton, 2009, p.121)

Shafran’s work is widely published. He has six books, numerous awards, five solo exhibitions, many group exhibitions and has lectured and a number of  universities and art colleges.

References:

Cotton, C., 2009. The Photograph as Contemporary Art. Thames and Hudson

Photographs to be added when permissions received.

 

Edwin Smith (1912-1971)

Edwin Smith (1912 - 1971)

A recent posting on www.weareoca.com  by Andrea Norrington has brought to the fore the work of Edwin Smith and an exhibition at the Royal Institute of British Architects.

For some Smith is almost unknown but I have been familiar with his work for over 30 years and  one of the first monographs I ever acquired was Photographs - 1935-1971  1984  Thames and Hudson a large hardback with 254 duotone plates and an introduction by Olive Cook.

His work attracted for a number of reasons back in the 1980s and that same attraction continues today, although my understanding of why has probably matured and elements of his style are to be hopefully found in my own work.

Born in London in 1912 he was educated in building trades and later as an architectural draughtsman, becoming a freelance photographer in 1935 in the same year he married Rosemary Ansell. This marriage lasted 2 years and he later married Olive Smith, a successful writer and photographic book producer. Smith was also a prolific artist working in water, oil and linocut/woodcuts.

Smith’s life, his love of painting, his ambivalence towards his own work is in many ways similar to that of Eugene Atget, a French photographer with who he felt a profound sympathy. Smith only conceded to describe himself as a professional photographer late in life preferring to speak of himself as an architect by training, a painter by inclination and a photographer by necessity. Endorsed by (the church loving) Sir John Betjeman as “a genius at photography”.

His main body of work was made in the 1950s and 1960s, photographing barns, churches, houses, streets, shop fronts, gardens and statues. This urban documentary style is without doubt after Atget, both in its style and technical excellence.

I don’t want to make this posting into a long biographical piece on Smith so while accepting there is much more that could be written on the circus photography, his meeting with the artist Paul Nash, World War 2 and his experimentation with colour photography. These and other personal issues can be developed in the future.

Where Smith (and to some extent Atget) influence my photography is the silence and stillness. Two concepts that on the surface are always inherent in a photograph as apposed to a video of movie film, so why do I see this as necessary. I adore peace and quite, love silence, stillness, I even dislike wind which has a noise. Olive Cook (Smith’s wife) describes in the introduction to Photographs - 1935-1971  how Smith would “Calmly, deliberately, discreetly  he would walk round  a church, a garden or a great house relating to the needs of the camera to his own visual responses and only starting work when he was certain of the possibilities of the material and the natural lighting” This description of him working  is exactly how I feel when looking at image making today. In the past I would rush around too much, grab a shot and move on too quickly often in the style of a press photographer (where I have had some experience) who has to grab whatever you can because the opportunity way vanish and nothing in the can. My return to working with film and a medium format camera and a hybrid film/digital workflow also slows down the making process and I find this preferable in so many instances to digital work.

Silence and stillness in imagery comes from two sources. The content and the photographer. Clearly a long exposure shot of a fairground ride whizzing around, bright lights, people clearly screaming, HDR technique and overt saturation is not going to convey silence and stillness at one extreme. I prefer no people or machines in my photography and that is my starting point for silence, preferring instead for lonely places where nothing moves. This does not have to be some wilderness location; in fact a lonely place can be in your own home.

The photographer must also be “silent”. I am not referring to how much noise they make although I don’t condone loud music at these times but that the presence of style should be silent.  A photographer has at his disposal a large set of techniques and tricks to enhance and process the image. I refer here to graduated filters, 10 stop filters, lensbaby etc. These should all be left alone. What I need is the very basic elements of straight photography, including perfect exposure, maximum tonal range, good viewpoint, corrected verticals and work that requires minimal post processing. The photograph should be a demonstration of good basic technique without the viewer thinking, wow this guy is good, I bet he has a good camera.

The viewer should not notice the photographer. Too much time can be spent asking questions on technique, wondering how he did that, does he use Lightroom or Photoshop, is this such and such paper etc etc.

I want my images to say something other than this is a photograph, am I any good? I want the viewer to be interested in what is signified, asking questions on its connotations, be concerned whether there is ambiguity rather than simple reason.

Smith made seemingly simple images and for me many of these resonate with these type of questions.

Photojournalism and the Tabloid Press

Photojournalism and the Tabloid Press

In this exercise we asked to look at Karen E. Becker's essay "Photojournalism and the Tabloid Press". An essay contained within the PWDP course reader "the photography reader" edited by Liz Wells.

Basic contention is that

Photography as a part of the world of journalism is considered by some to be a distraction from the intellectual application of the serious press and its use is to be limited within the industry. It is thought that the use of photography (in a trivial sense) is to gain popular appeal amongst tabloid newspapers which are seen as entertainment.

The conclusion is that

Photography in the elite press has attained a status of popular art by the use of well edited photo essays, with high quality imagery. However within the tabloid press the output is often heavily overworked with flat composition or haphazard candid shots by impulsive photographers consumed by events. Tabloid press photography is populist, is a vehicle for the news, and often supports and contradicts the standards of journalistic practice.

The Conclusion adds to the opening statement ?

Becker uses the conclusion to bring together the researched elements of the essay to justify her opening statement. Her thesis is that the tabloid press uses photography in a popular sense rather than through the intellectual discourse of the elite press. Her conclusion has clearly set out examples of how she believes this is taking place.

Main part of the essay 

The early picture press

Becker takes us through the early history of illustrated publications stating that the earliest illustrated magazines were launched in the 1840's. They included The Illustrated London News, L'Illustration and Harpers Weekly to name a few. Although photography arrived in 1839 the techniques for reproduction in newsprint had not been invented and the method of illustration was from wood engravings up until 1873. Artists covered news events and a team of engravers would work through the night to meet the press deadline. Photography was being used for image capture although the cameras “likeness” was considered too stiff and the camera too much of a machine. The engraver often using a photograph as a referent with a note attached describing the process as being “from a photograph”. With the invention of the half-tone process for newsprint the immediacy of the photograph became prominent. Colliers Weekly employed English photographer James Hare as its primary correspondent during the Spanish American War (1898) and it was his success together with technical innovation that promoted growth and the potential for advertising in newspapers and magazines. Becker does however state with reference to Kahan 1986 and Hassner 1977 that there is little evidence that photography had increased magazine sales although advertising revenue had increased from 360 million to 542 million dollars during the period from 1890 to 1900. Becker does not state why the sales increased.

The tabloid = sensationalism=photography

In this section Becker describes a number of instances where the early tabloid press starts a trend of using photographs to deliver sensational coverage of news events that were to many outside of the established ethical practice.
It was in the 1920's when large sensational photographs first appeared featuring violence, sex, etc. which according to press historians in the US was a low point with loose morals and loss of ethical standards that could threaten public and private life with the New York Daily Times being the main culprit. At around this time with increasing sales figures it became clear that a divide existed between the elite and the tabloid press, the tabloids profiting from the trite, superficial and the tawdry through events and personalities. Ever on the lookout for news worthy events the tabloids looked at the world of the judiciary and legal bodies where photography was banned. Examples are given by Becker of a photomontage being made of a semi naked woman in court and the trial of Ruth Snyder in 1928 when a photographer smuggled a camera into the press area and photographed her execution. "DEAD" was the heading over the image in the Daily News extra edition which sold one million copies. Becker quotes William Taft in 1938 who believes that "the free use of photographs in picture newspapers and magazines has in measure defeated their own object, presumably that of disseminating news" His contention is that photographs are glanced at, the journal thumbed through then thrown away and that the pictorial press must address this if they are to command the respect of intelligent people.

The daily press 'supplements' the news.

Becker reiterates some of her previous text with a note that photographs were rare in daily newspapers in Europe and North America up until 1920 with the exception of the tabloid press.
The daily newspapers of the late nineteenth century had begun to print weekly supplements that were illustrated predominantly with photographs and the major New York newspapers all had a Sunday supplement printed on the rotogravure presses and were a response to the popularity of photography. An interesting comment is how the daily editions developed a format for their supplements to insulate them from being downgraded by the photograph.

The picture magazines' legacy

Although not a part of the history or study of the tabloid press Becker takes us through the history of the mass circulation picture magazine, discussing its photojournalistic discourse through practice and aesthetic values. Most notable (during the 1930's) they introduced the genre of the photo essay as a way of documenting both the ordinary and the extraordinary in the same light. Previous assumptions that 'high' culture was the home of the aesthetic were now challenged and the photography of these journals was accepted as popular art and became a subject for museum collections. The status of  photojournalism had reached unprecedented heights with rising circulation and the acceptance of the mass produced as popular art meant the photojournalist was considered an artist. This elevation of the genre had done nothing for the tabloid press whos work was still considered as 'low' culture.

The contemporary domain of the tabloid.

This short section looks at the elite and tabloid press, their 'look' and content and how the overlap is differently presented. The news stand is a common ground for selling the elite and the tabloid and it is here that they share a look. The front page in each is almost always a poster like format with a large photograph, a headline and a single story. The tabloid look will often be brash with typically a celebrity being revealed with a style associated with a tabloid. The broad categories for a front page are; ordinary people in a newsworthy incident, celebrities and an event and it is within the style of photography used to depict these that one can make an analysis of its value. The following three sections look at these categories in more detail.

Plain pictures of ordinary people.

Very plain photographs that present ordinary people. I think Becker is referring to the working class but she does not elaborate on 'ordinary' only indirectly by reference to living room, taxi driver and woman losing job discrimination suit. However, Becker is making the point that when the extraordinary occurs to the ordinary person it is a news story and the type of photograph presented is often taken in their house, on a sofa or in the kitchen. People upset or happy by the event looking straight into the camera have a resonance with the viewer and establishes them as equals, assuming the viewer is a tabloid reader. These type of photographs dominate although we are reminded of the I.D photograph, often used when there is tragedy and loss, and the action image where the ordinary person is involved in an event, thus making them newsworthy.

Celebrities

The celebrity photograph is often a behind the scenes look at the ordinariness of these people, often taken in their home, in a manner that shows them happy and relaxed. Becker assumes that we know the person is famous, although we need not know who they are, which is a strange assumption. The view into a famous persons home is seen as a privilege, and again I am confused by this, as a view into anyone's home is a privalidge. The recognisable photograph is often one of them in performance as either an actor or sportsman and  places them in context. The tabloid press are interested in the candid image although it is often less candid than may appear, being semi staged to give this impression and the hope that they will be seen and photographed. True candid images are not generally used on the day by the tabloids, this being the market for the paparazzi who market their work to a wider audience (and income) in weekly publications. The true candid image is often poor technically, due its grabbed nature but fulfils the need to have that moment when the celebrity was off guard. Sekula (1984) states that there is ".....higher truth of the stolen image". The grabbed candid is used by the tabloids in the news event.

The news event.

News can be defined in many ways but our general perception (for national tabloids rather than the regional press which Becker does not mention) is the core national and international events that receive universal coverage. Photographs of the event as it happens will have people acting totally unaware of the photographer, although it is likely the photographer will have a strategy on how they will cover the event. Candid news photographs will often have the trait of being less than technically perfect, especially when looking at events of famine, natural disasters and war. In addition the photographs may be taken in poor light and bad weather, rendering them grainy and poor focus. In the tabloid this distinct "look" is part of the tabloid style.

Reframing the picture in words and layout.

Becker starts to bring together the elements of her essay in this section with the explanation of how the text and its relationship to the image is important especially when in the tabloid press. The text can be dramatic and often more so than the image, with sensationalism at its core. The text, often large with punctuation marks consists of one word as a statement of fact. The I.D. photograph, the source often being the police used in a news story connotes criminal activity is enhanced by text anchoring the meaning in an event. Text when used with the ordinary subject tells us of the reality of what is behind the image and eludes to the truth. Text associated with the celebrity is of a varied nature and has less of a pattern. The tabloid press often use text that is a direct quotation and this is seen as having an added nuance as it becomes a testimony if it is of the person in the image. The photographer can also become a part of the text, with quotes from them or description of how they worked under dangerous conditions to bring the images to the press. This however is at odds with the ideal role of the journalist as one who is completely detached from the event as the photojournalist becomes involved. The image we see on the page is not always that seen by the photographer. The rectangular frame is often changed to suit a page layout, arrows and circles added, text overlaid and the montage the most extreme of manipulation. It will after substantial modification no longer be a window looking out to form a natural representation. Most of these contradict what the reader will believe as unmediated and as such not a true representation of the facts. The tabloid press have no regard for the original image (and sometimes the truth) and persistently overturn this notion.

Conclusion.

Becker believes that "contemporary photojournalism has attained the status of popular art, outside the margins of the daily press", with the tabloid press inverting this cultural capital. Becker is looking for " cleanly edited photo essays" but instead finds "heavily worked layouts of overlapping headlines". She refers to the "decisive moment" (I assume as a HCB quote) with its idealised grace but instead finds flat, ordinary, haphazard and the awkward. The tabloid press therefore present us with photojournalism that is work of the serious and emotional while being against all the established standards and practices of the elite press.

My Conclusion on Becker's essay.

Becker has written a well thought through and realised essay. Her research backs up her claims and at no point is she entering into the unsubstantiated. My concern is that her collective use of the "press" has tried to encompass all daily, weekly and monthly printed output into one category, referencing the standards of the elite and the lack of acceptance by the tabloids. Her argument is seen from within the press industry with its standards but seldom does she refer to the commercial pressure being exerted on the tabloid press to sell copies and increase revenue and make a profit for the shareholder. Owners will be influencing the editorial content to achieve this and that influence is outside of a tabloid versus elite context and not referred to by Becker. In her defence on this issue it has to be noted that the essay was published in 1990 and was researched in the 1970's. Twenty four years separates Becker's essay and contemporary thinking/practices and this has resulted in my analysis being aligned to a contemporary view of the tabloid press.

On Photography - Susan Sontag

In Plato's Cave

"In Plato's Cave" is the title of the first essay in Susan Sontag's seminal work On Photography first published in 1977 in the USA. Susan Sontag (1933-2004) was a well known intellect, playwright, author and political activist who spent the later part of her life as the partner of Annie Leibovitz

Sontag begins by arguing that photography is flawed and a false way of seeing and we cannot deduce anything from photographs, an allegory to what the prisoners in Plato's Cave saw as shadows cast onto a wall from a fire. Viewing photographs in Sontag's terms comes with a caution. The viewer will never know exactly what was happening when the photograph was taken and as such should it be believed ?. "..being educated by photographs is not like being educated by older, more artisnal images" (Sontag p 3) is perhaps true but without this we are deprived of the the experience of others on a worldwide scale.
Sontag soon moves her thesis towards an acceptance of photography, with caveats that, it can fiddle with the scale of the world by cropping retouching etc., revealing the falseness of photographs and requiring the viewer to accept it for a purpose, even if false.
Having (somewhat reluctantly it seems) accepted photography into the world of visual seeing Sontag relates the problems photographs have in being objects. They age, get bought and sold, are in newspapers and books and how we look at them is an influence on their worthiness, extolling the virtues of photographs in books as it has an order for viewing.
"Photographs furnish evidence. Something we hear about, but doubt, seems proven when we're shown a photograph of it" (Sontag p 5). Sontag's initial reluctance to believe in the authenticity of the photograph is reversed with this statement and she goes on to explain how the State and the Police can use photographs as evidence. "A photograph passes for incontrovertible proof that a given thing happened" (Sontag p 5). Given that with modification a photograph is never accurate I believe that Sontag remains ambivalent on the subject and before she moves on to write about why we photograph she states "Even when photographers are most concerned with mirroring reality, they are still haunted by the tacit imperatives of taste and conscience" (Sontag p 6). As a statement of fact this view has been under attack since 1977 with imagery (especially from war and famine) in the 21st century often being without taste or conscience in a ever present need to gain commercially through extreme imagery.

Sontag spends some time explaining the uses of photography from 1840 onwards with an assumption that although "....it was a gratuitous, that is, an artistic activity, though with few pretensions to being an art" (Sontag p 8) it only becomes an art after its industrialisation and the introduction of social uses. She continues "It is mainly a social rite, a defence against anxiety, and a tool of power"  (Sontag p 8). This industrialisation is therefore the democratisation of the act and allows a large number of people to own and take an image. Sontag makes a point that travellers will want to make an image while on holiday, to make the experience real, and is an act of work while on holiday for those who have a high work ethic. She references Germans, Japanese and Americans with this ethical state. Sontag warns us that the act of picture taking is in some way predatory. The end use is after that point in time in the domain of the photographer and can be used in a positive or negative way. "After the event has ended, the picture will still exist, conferring on the event a kind of immortality (and importance) it would never otherwise have enjoyed" (Sontag p 11)

Sontag cites Diane Arbus as having said "I always thought of photography as a naughty thing to do - that was one of my favourite things about it". Arbus is referring to her genre of work which centered around the taboo, marginal and sexual fantasy. Sontag refers to Blowup (1966) and Peeping Tom (1960) as two examples of films where the photographer is seen as a predator and the camera as an inescapable metaphor of phallus, a predatory weapon, a means of violation. Her assumptions here are as true today as when written and perhaps worse with the insatiable desire of the tabloid media for ever more intimate paparazzi type images of the rich and famous.

Sontag makes a point of comparing film (as in a moving image) and still photography with one of her most relevant statements. Each still photograph is a privileged  moment, turned into a slim object that one can keep and look at again. (Sontag P 18) and she uses the image from 1972 of a naked South Vietnamese child just sprayed with napalm as a justifiable example enabling a catalogue of cultural and ethical issues to be discussed.

What concerns Sontag it would seem is the ubiquitous nature of photography and its effect on the population. Cameras having come from a time when she states "... had only inventors and buffs to operate them" (Sontag p 7) and they have since become tools for the citizen to enjoy with an addiction as Today everything exists to end in a photograph (Sontag p 24)

Conclusion
Sontag's work is considered by many to be one of the most influential and important works on the subject, and is a particular favourite of the writer and commentator John Berger.
As a student of photography I find myself having a need and a willingness to understand and agree with her while on some levels being offended by her naivety. I try to think back to 1977 and put myself in her position, not knowing the extreme and wide ranging developments in digital awareness, therefore excluding from my understanding the last 37 years and how that will influence my response. I am not sure how accurate her findings are with regard to her factual evidence because at no point does she cite and source to validate her claims, which makes me nervous. Her need to compare the number of people practising photography with the number of people "dancing or having sex as an amusement" is attractive writing but the statement without some statistical evidence is undervalued. The undervalued throw away remark can taint the writing, offering the reader a notion that the whole piece is peppered with such remarks to gain a popular readership, albeit amid the serious academic work.
I will continue with the remainder of the book (the audio version does help before note making is required) but wonder if contemporary writing is more appropriate.
As a photographer any source of opinion is to be explored, notes made and upon reflection a considered view (if any) that this may or may not have an influence on my work. This was certainly the case after having read the day-books of Edward Weston and the general reading around "The New Topographics" but it is here that the difference is exposed. Sontag (as with Berger) are not photographers. They write well on the subject as analysts of art and that is without doubt a worthy pursuit and it is my inability to connect with them at every point that concerns me. This concern may be unfounded, perhaps I am (along with others) too entrenched, too bigoted, too old to see the wood from the trees. 

Actions

Continue to read widely (and write about it !!). Now back to the coursework.

References

On Photography, Susan Sontag - Penguin 1977
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Susan_Sontag

Assignment Two - Feedback and more

I have to admit that there are times when I wonder if (even after all these years) I am at one with my photography and in the early hours of some mornings consider selling up and moving on. However there are other times when I get inspired and can do little else other than look at photographs, make images, print, read and feel that learning rush we all had as teenagers when first exposed to something new and exciting. The feedback for assignment two arrived in the email this morning and once again I am feeling good about my work. The constant self doubts, the nagging little voice, the inner knowing that maybe you could do better are to some extent banished for a few minutes with the favorable comments. 

The first few comments were about my online reworking of assignment one, which when first submitted had a few issues relating to it that needed my attention. I am pleased that the second set of photographs were seen as more personal. Upon reflection I am sure that my lack of conceptual thinking was due in part to my year away from the degree and with PWDP you start straight off the start line with an assignment rather that a few exercises to warm up with.

Assignment two was thought of as "considered and thoughtful"  with a "strong ability for lateral thinking". This is encouraging for me as I did enjoy the book cover problem solving and realised soon after reading 1984 that there was unlikely to be a simple solution and that the way forward would be with manipulated images that related to the underlying message of the book.

Our tutors do of course look at our learning journals and this where I know there is more work to do. I love books and buy far too many, the result of which is a lack of structure in my reading. This module has a bias towards essays and critical theory and while I have looked at and read much so far there is little evidence of this in the blog which gives the impression (quite rightly) that I haven't been busy. I will address this by way of more mini critical reviews of books and comment on the BJP and Source magazines, both of which I subscribe to. 

I have made a start on assignment three and posted a few images in a recent post. My tutor is happy that we are on the same wavelength with this as it is self directed and moves away from the written requirements of the module. Once again a small comment from the tutor has made me aware of my shortcomings when I write the journal. The comment relates to keeping the prints consistent as my examples varied in size and style. One monochrome and the other colour, both with different aspect ratios. My error here is that I did not explain that the example were of two differing styles and I would never see myself putting them together for that very reason. This reminds me of my time studying law and remembering that the prosecution have to back up their claims with "evidence" rather than wishful rhetoric.

So, on refection I need to smarten up my journal writing and remember that apart from a wider public who may have a look, it is being assessed continually by my tutor and ultimately by the assessors. I need to be precise and offer detailed explanation of my choices backed by how the end products are influenced by my conceptual thinking. 

Something and Nothing

I find it difficult these days to come to terms with how banality has taken over my life. Personal circumstances can change so quickly and we have to follow a path through life sometimes not of our own making. I wont go into the detail of what happened a year ago but family matters took over and now as a carer the days are different as my world condenses into a semi medical/domestic routine. A trip to the supermarket for an hour being taken as a rest and the chance to see the world. This lifestyle has had an impact on my photography. No longer can I come and go as I please to places I view as interesting or inspirational. Initially I saw these restrictions as the end of my photography and for a while there was a low point with no activity and when I did force myself to make some images (Assignment One) they were not perhaps my best and I reverted to type and made work reminiscent of the past and inside my comfort zone.

Life has now settled down, I dont find the daily chores so daunting and unattainable anymore and photography is once again making its way back into my life. Assignment Two has been sent off to my tutor and between us we have agreed upon a way forward for Three which is very encouraging.

Something or Nothing is the title of chapter 4 in Charlotte Cotton's book "the photograph as contemporary art" and is one of my favourite long term reads. In this chapter she looks at and explains how non human things that are often seen as being ordinary can be made extraordinary when being photographed. There is nothing extraordinary about our house or the garden so by definition everything is ordinary and is my world photographically for the foreseeable future. As Cotton reminds us we pass by the ordinary or keep them at the periphery of our vision and automatically give them no credence within visual art.

For Assignment Three I intend to make a set of images of the generally non photographed items from my close everyday life captured simply with little post production. The brief will be to capture the banal and foster a curiosity in the item by leaving out some of the visual clues and inducing contemplation with the simple.

Maybe on these lines

Or this.

Reading List

Quite a few new books and some old favorites that have well thumbed pages.

Photojournalism - Photography with a Purpose - Robert L Kerns - Prentice Hall, England c 1980
Context and Narrative - Maria Short - AVA Publishing
Behind the Image - A Fox and N Caruana - AVA Publishing
The Photography Reader - Liz Wells - Routledge
After Photography - Fred Ritchin - WW Norton and Co
Understanding a Photograph - John Berger - Penguin Books
Ways of Seeing - John Berger - Penguin Books
Photography at the Dock - Abigail Solomon-Godeau - University of Minnisota Press
Paris - Eugene Atget - Taschen
The freelance photographers market handbook 27th edition - BFP Books
Digital Stock Photography, How to shoot and sell - Michal Heron - Allworth Press
Photography A Critical Introduction - Liz Wells - Routledge
Digital capture and Workflow - Tom Lee - Amhurst Media
Stieglitz, Steichen, Strand, - Malcolm Daniel - Yale University Press