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.

Exercise Part 4 - Words and Pictures - Essay Review

Part Four of the module and this part is designed to hone our skills towards Assignment Four - The Critical Review.

Within the course reader the essay Words and Pictures: On reviewing photographs by Liz Wells is to be read and a number of questions answered.

1. What is the basic argument of Wells' essay

Her argument is that although the pictures are the essence of any exhibition it is not possible when preparing a review to include all the images. There may be a space for one or two and that would be all. There is therefore a requirement from experienced writers, reviewers and critics to use words to describe what was there and how the experience of being at the exhibition can be transmitted to an audience. It is possible that the words will outlive the images and in the long term act as a testament to the broad cultural discourse appropriated by the images.

2. Is the essay's title a fair indication of the essay itself

The title is in two parts, almost a title with a sub title.

WORDS AND PICTURES
On reviewing photography

I feel that it should be written the other way around.

ON REVIEWING PHOTOGRAPHY
Words and Pictures

The essay is essentially about her work as a reviewer and its contemporary practice, with reference to her early work and that of others, so the "reviewing" element is the dominant word. Beneath the title she quotes Edward Weston from 1930.

"Art is an interpreter of the inexpressible, and therefore it seems a folly to convey its meaning afresh by means of words."

By using this quotation from Weston she is saying that her work is (maybe others too) is a poor equivalent to seeing the work for yourself.

3. To what extent does the writer rely on Post-modernist doctrine

Post Modernism is a way of thinking, a movement incorporating the theory and practice of art from around the end of the second world war that treated all art with the same value. It removed the hierarchy and work was taken at its face value. Wells does talk of the changes in photography due to PM influences hijacking modernist ideals and how that PM freedom of debate included the work of writers. Her essay was written in and around 1992 and as such is contemporary with PM thinking and methods. Her work shows no signs of pandering the Modernist way of thinking, nor is it overtly PM. So, to the extent that she relies upon PM doctrines I wouldn't say it is no more or less PM any other contemporary essay.

4.The essay raises the issue of the qualifications and duties of a critic. How important do you believe it is for a critic of photography to have a deep knowledge of the practice of photography.

I don't believe a critic needs any "deep knowledge" of the practice of photography. The reason I say this and highlight deep knowledge is another question. What is deep knowledge. Photographers (including myself) have only a basic grasp of the technical aspects of how a digital camera works, or how film emulsion is applied to film. If the critic knows too much it distracts them from their real work. This is to see the finished art and interpret it, describe it, become emotionally aware of it and write about those aspects. I wouldn't think it necessary for them to comment on the process or technique, other than to say it has worked for the image or not. The detail of what paper, ink, camera format, developer etc. is for the judges of camera club competitions (where the author is waiting for praise of technique) but not in the world of fine art photography.

Assignment 3 - Tutor Report - Reflection

Tutor Report
As previously told I was apprehensive about this assignment. That statement in its self needs to be analysed a bit because really and truly there shouldn't be anything photographic that worries me too much although when having to combine the photography with copy and make an editorial I became concerned over the balance between words and pictures. If the words are too descriptive it would reduce the impact of the photography and visa versa. Add to that I was writing about myself and that was complex and outside my comfort zone.
The outcome however couldn't really be any better. My tutor was complimentary about the words and the pictures and didn't really see any areas that needed improvement. This assignment included page layouts, font selection etc. and that was all satisfactory and in harmony with the work. I had made a six page article and the tutor would have liked more images. I have more images but I don't really have any more words without changing the style of the whole piece and I am not sure how I will overcome this. The simple solution would be to add two pages of a similar style and pad it out or I would have to start again with a different approach, perhaps offering something more in the style of a learning feature rather than a newspaper supplement style.
Generally very pleased especially with one line where after describing how the photography will be styled, the response was "music to my ears"


Reflection
I am now pleased this is over and done as it did become something of a millstone around my neck. However, during the process it has led me along a path of images and imaging that I am becoming increasingly interested in. The Banal, seemingly banal. These images are often seen upon first glance as boring and with little or no substance, no content because they are not pretty or overtly interesting. Closer inspection finds that people leave statements about themselves in almost every trace of life, often through random unplaced objects. I intend to continue with this genre and develop a body of work around a number of everyday scenarios, as well as some constructions in the studio, where I will take the banal into the surreal.

Assignment 3 - Completed

It is just over 2 weeks since this assignment was sent to my tutor and I realise it has not been included in the journal.

In a break with my normal presentation this assignment was presented on a USB stick with no prints. The nature of the assignment is one of working on an assignment following receiving a commission and in this instance the buyer/editor would not need prints as they will make prints of their own for proofing etc to suit the needs of their production press.

The USB stick contained tiff files of the completed pages at A3 as well as all the individual images at 300 dpi. In addition a write up of the final work to place it in the context of the assignment.

For assessment the pages will be printed to aid the assessors viewing of the entire package.

For the journal here are :-

The six pages of the assignment produced as 3 x A3 double page spreads.

The write up.

Review your last assignment - Assignment 3

I finally sent Assignment 3 to my tutor and it is a relief. This exercise is to review the assignment once the tutor comments have come back, but I will do it now from my own perspective and once again after I receive them.

I am nervous whether this assignment is going to work well at all. Normally I would be quietly confident that I have done enough to "get by" and them make some changes before assessment, but in this case I am not so sure. When I normally work on assignments, whether they be OCA or for others I can formulate a strategy and work around that, researching what is needed to know and make some images or write an essay. In this case I am writing about myself and making photographs close to home and this is not in my comfort zone. My concern is its seen too much as "poor me" and as a result not working objectively, but in an autobiographical sort of way that is likely to happen. Only my family and friends know what happens in my life and to tell others about it is unsettling. The content aside I am not sure the images are right. I shot then two or three times, in different ways to try and communicate different feelings and ended up using some of the first batch anyway. I think there is a tendency to try and overthink the task and the first attempt is often the best as it originates from a gut feeling rather than being over planned. In the end they are not too good technically but I don't think that matters in every scenario these days. Where would post modernism be without some dodgy work being shown.

To be continued.

45th Eastern Open - 2014 - Award Winner !!!!

This time last year I was making a note to go to the 44th Eastern Open at The King's Lynn Arts Centre  and write up the visit in my journal, which I did here.

During the two visits last year I had made up my mind to enter the 2014 competition and when the Call for Entries was published I had some work to do and choices to be made. A maximum of three entries are allowed per person so this focuses the mind with the knowledge that the three independent selectors will have no background information, so no contextual references for their selection. It reminded me of the exercises a while ago in this module where the first impression was going to have a considerable part to play, while also remembering the type of work seen in 2013 and how that had an eclectic mix.

The competition is open to the residents of seven eastern counties from Lincolnshire to Essex, attracts 200+ artists who submit 400+ works, of which 80 are chosen to be hung in the three main galleries at the Arts Centre for 6 weeks during October and November. There is a Best in Show award of £2000 and 5 other awards, some specifically for painting and drawing.

The selectors names were not known to me but their CV's were obtained as a guide to who am I showing my work to.

John Frankland, teaches sculpture at the Royal College of The Arts, makes large scale public art projects and is represented by a number of international galleries. 

Judith King is a director of Arts&Heritage, an agency that is committed to developing unusual opportunities for artists. She has experience in commissioning contemporary work within an historic context and has worked for English Heritage.

Marielle Sbaihi is My Art Invest's art director working from a gallery in London that allows people to buy a share in contemporary artworks.

Knowing more about the selectors was useful but not helpful, other than they all were working in a contemporary art environment and would therefore (hopefully) not be too receptive to photography that was clichéd, poorly presented and technically flawed.

My strategy therefore was to

1. Go as big as I could, simply because I can and the works I had in mind were from MF film and my 36MP DSLR and there would be no quality issues.
2. Spend the right money on matting and framing to compliment the large prints.
3. Send 3 pieces (£12 each entry fee) that covered a number of styles and genre to maximise chances that something would catch their eye.
4. Use simple titles, some descriptive and at least one that was ambiguous, once again to spread the betting that one would work.

Some of the strategy does sound as though a broad brush is being used but I did need to cover as many options within three items with the aim of getting at least one selected.

My selection (see below) was focused but serendipity played its part, and while I like full control sometimes I believe that going with the flow can have advantages. I had been working on Assignment 3 for some while and had a large number of images that were good, a few did not fit into the set that I needed. One in particular had been causing concern and I decided this would be better used in a single image environment. It was to be titled "Day 96 - 2014". I am not sure exactly what day it was taken but in my world one day is much the same as any other and 96 seemed about right. "The Lathe" was a print I had made after an experiment with 120 film processing and while I wasn't so sure about its credentials I did like it for more "photographic" reasons than were perhaps justified. "Front Elevation" was a work I did last year with the 24mm Tilt/Shift lens on the D800 and was already framed and ready to show. Its stark graphic qualities and the lack of vertical perspective making it unusual although perhaps a nod towards clichéd and the use of manipulation.

I intended that all the work should be matted and framed with exactly the same board and moulding so that should I wish to show them together at some time there is a synergy within the presentation style. This didn't quite work out as planned. The framer had all the details of the previous work but when I went to collect the two I was astonished to see an off white matt board and the wrong moulding. The moulding was black and the correct width but had no depth and therefore my vision of the three being the same was gone. There was no time to even complain yet alone have it changed. On further inspection however all was not bad, especially Day 96 which seemed better suited to an off white matt board.

For this exhibition there were clear rules about fixings (none allowed) and how to present the work so that the selectors could see without bubble wrap etc in the way. I decided that as mine were behind glass all that was needed was bubble wrap to the frame edges and corner protectors, leaving the front and back clear. There was another rule about the organiser being able to remove the work from the frame for catalogue photography. This I ignored because the framer completely seals the back with tape and it is impossible to take apart. I included a note that should they need an image I would provide them. I am not sure what happened in the end because they never asked for an image but they did make their own for the catalogue. Award winners get their work in the catalogue and you are not advised of that until the exhibition has opened so I can see why they didn't ask for one. 

All the work in the exhibition can be for sale if the artist wishes. Pricing work is a difficult process and having read in last years visitors comments people saying they though the works were too expensive I decided on what I considered a reasonable price, bearing in mind the organisers take 35% commission. Framing was costing £75 per piece so I went for £300 each as a sale price for monochrome and £320 for colour. This will be a net revenue of £195 leaving about £100 for me after costs, which seems far too cheap but this is a regional arts show, not Mayfair.

Once delivered to the arts centre there is a 2 week wait for the results and I am amazed at how during that time I could not settle. OCA assessment is a tense time but with only three pieces, unknown selectors, mixed media etc, it was a huge relief when the result came and I had got two selected of the 84 in the show. A few days later I had to collect the unselected work and while there was asked if I would be attending the opening. They seemed smiley when I said yes and that gave me a glimmer of hope for something more.

Last Saturday was the opening and at 2:30 the awards were presented in a little reception typical of any gallery PV or opening night. "Day 96 - 2014" won the £100 Kings Lynn Signs sponsored award. This is an award by the selectors as a runner up to the main award and as it wasn't a painting or drawing the next best available award a photograph could have won.

The exhibition runs until 29th November.

 

Day 96 - 2014 (Selected - Award winner)

 

Front Elevation (Selected)

 

The Lathe (Not Selected)

 

 

Conclusion

 

In this instance everything about the exercise is positive. At the start I was doubtful that I would get any work selected. Over 400 entries, mixed media and being a newcomer were aspects that were against me. My strategy started by looking at last years show and seeing what worked for them, although this year there were different selectors I entered on the basis that if it was work that I had enjoyed making, was good quality technically the there was more than a half chance. It does take time to prepare and my assignment 3 has got way behind in the process but I believe that entering work into juried exhibitions is another way of gaining exposure and having your work assessed in a different environment. It is costly but there is no gain if no pain and I just might sell a piece which would be amazing.

 

I will visit the show at least twice during the next few weeks and look closer at the other work. The winner was a very special piece by Viki Simpson from her The burning times set.

 

 

Looking pleased at the opening (photograph by Richard Fletcher)

Assignment 3 - First Draft - Part One

The first drafts of this assignment are really the page layout exercise on page 68 and as I have already looked at mock ups I am incorporating these into this posting.

The opening page below has monochrome images and I am not happy that they convey the correct feeling of a caring environment. There is a starkness to my processing that has a coldness and that is not my intention. I am showing it here so that there is a record of it existing and maybe during further discussion it will reveal itself and what that may connote.

 

 

Some colour photographs instead of the black and white proved difficult when seen together. The colour content within a series did not have a synergy, they were just a set of individual photographs being shown together. To introduce a feeling of warmth I am thinking of sepia toned images. I am conscious that this is a bit clichéd, but here for a magazine page I think the readership will not be judgemental, instead seeing it as an appropriate "feel" for a story of an old person. The page above has then be redrafted into a single image opening page, allowing more space to contextualise the story. The title has changed and becomes precise with a bracketed subtitle and to fill some of the blank space on the opposite page a quotation from Stephen Hawking on the wheelchair as icon.

 

 

 





On reflection (this posting is being constructed over a number of days) the sepia will not work. I have never liked sepia toning in contemporary photography and although this connotes a warmth in the image this editorial has no warmth, it is a matter of fact, not a work of fantasy. This totally contradicts my early thoughts and the change has come about during the writing of the main body text.

 

The process has become iterative. backwards and forwards with alternative images and texts. The Page One below is cleaner and closer to how I want it to look.

 

 

 

The page within Photoshop, showing the use of Guides for layout. Here in particular to check that the in focus part of the photograph was on the Focal Centre

 

 



 

 

To be continued.