Examples of some of my images from the Hairdressers shoot were I tried to get shots from different perspectives and angles in order to appear more unusual or ‘exotic’ as the brief asks. The images are not necessarily my strongest but I wanted to show how I tried different ideas to fulfil the brief.
Although some of the images aren’t as a strong as others it was essential for me to tryout new things in order to learn what works and what doesn’t work.
For the religious images i also took some video clips of what was happening in the church my intention was thinking about my work as if it was going to be exhibited and the fact that to heighten the understanding of the culture I thought snippets of sound would work really well to accompany my images. Some of the sound I have used in a short video clip that I made in order to test my theory. (The video is on the usb)
For me I think the sound works well with the images and I definitely will be using the sounds if i am to have an exhibit.
My epiphany and a bit of how i feel about this module….
I realised why I really didnt like this module and the briefs, there so restrictive. If i were to truly apply for a job or get noticed by magazines etc i would want it to be for me. Judging from past successful photographers they all were noted for being different within their time so rather than me moulding my work to suit the requirements today i should really be challenging myself to stand out and think differently. I felt really overwhelmed by the briefs almost as though i had to stop my progression in other areas to fullfill it…
Adam Jalloh is a recent(2015) photography graduate of Arts university Bournemouth. She is London Based. (Gives you a sense of context)
You fit the description
A series that focusses on the individuals (black and asian men) who are more likely to be stopped and searched and also the area they are from. I love this idea as it is very much an issue in Black culture. I love that she has addressed this issue through photography by empowering these young individuals to show themselves in a different light and take control of how they may usually be portrayed in the media.
Probably my favourite portrait from the series. I think knowing the context of the series the shadow of the photographer in the image brings a different meaning. It almost feels like someone who has approached and stopped the subject and it echoes the cause of the photograph. Whats more interesting is the positioning of it all because the shadow belongs to the photographer and the viewer effectively takes the place of the photographer it looks as though the viewer is in fact the culprit who is stopping the individual.
Identity
A project quite similar to my own. I love that the title explains to those that wouldn’t know that Hair and Hairstyles amongst the black culture play a huge role in our identity. This is heightened by the fact that all the faces of the subjects (the people getting there hair styled) are either partially or not visible at all. We cannot connect with their eyes we can only know their narrative through their hair. Its a very interesting view and I think it really works for these images.
I wanted to start interacting abit more with people that I would photograph, so that I can hear their stories and share it with people who can relate.” – Adama Jalloh
I think I like the fact that her work rings true with how I feel about certain issues and I aspire to be addressing issues in a unique way also. The more I see film photography the more I love of it and it really makes me want to go out and do the same.
Adama Jalloh uses photography to fight preconceived notions and show a more genuine picture of South London life.- Alex Taylor Huck Magazine
“Photographs are a way of imprisoning reality…One can’t possess reality, one can possess images–one can’t possess the present but one can possess the past.” – Susan Sontag A quote that is making a true point in a negative way. I like the thought of being able to capture a moment in time but her wording […]
From looking at Black british photographers I knew that there work was about taking control of their own narrative to change the mass produced story of themselves. I came across a group of photographers who are doing just that in the Congo.
“To show my photos here is also to show everyday life in Brazzaville and to counteract all the different cliches that lots of people have about Africa. There are always a lot of images of war, so i want to show another image of Africa thats why we have for example the series Pavement of Knowledge” Baudouin Mounda
http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1&isUI=1
I loved this video and really really love the idea of the collective. I think its key for me to understand the power that comes with my photography to transform a narrative or even just preserve a narrative. i love that there are photographers out there doing this and I definitely want my photography to follow suit.
With the deadline looming and my scheduled shoot times only two weeks before the deadline I am in a state of Panic. As a result I have spent my spare time photographing Warley woods opposite me and Chaddesly Woods in an attempt to capture the Sublime and as a back up plan in case my cultural images don’t work.
These are the best of the bunch, in no way enough for the brief, but I feel quite pleased with them as Landscape photography is not my natural style or skill.
My favourite of my images…(The quality of image has been deliberately reduced)
I love the wide angle of view and how the person in the image provides the viewer with a sense of scale. You really feel as though the forest is extremely vast. The trees are beautifully gnarly and there silhouette highlights the beauty of them. The composition s interesting as it breaks some rules but I feel it works.
Neil kenlock
‘Untitled [Young lady points to ‘Keep Britain White’ graffiti at the International Personnel training centre in Balham]’, 1974
“If I didn’t take it, they would say it never happen, its not true”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-31660553/embed
Neil kenlock was an official photographer for the Black Panther Movement, from the statement alone you can already understand how important it was for him to document this side to the everyday life of black people at the time. His statement exclaiming how important the images he took were, I feel is really important in my understanding of the power of photography. We still even today hold this idea that if there is a photograph, then it must be true. I also listened to a separate interview where Neil went into detail about the image. In it he said that if he had taken the image on its own it may lose its meaning, people may believe he put it up there and the point would be lost, so he asked the receptionist of the building to come out and point at the graffiti, as sort of a proof I suppose. I think that was clever of him as on its own its less powerful, having Barbara Grey in the image highlighted who the graffiti effected, it added a personal touch to the image. We connect with Barbara as the viewer and therefore are forced to sympathise with her in the image. It is very powerful.
The statement about photographs being perceived as the truth made me think of this Prime Example:
I came across this on my Facebook feed with a lot of complaints about the well being of the lion etc.
Captioned “I’ll never look at the MGM Lion in the same way”
It is quite obviously a fake as I am very sure this level of high tech equipment as not around when the logo was being created, yet still the amount of people who blindly believed was astronomical. If its in a photograph it must be true…
For me personally this again makes me realise how much power I have as a photographer and why documenting my experiences is important.
So for those that don’t know my intention is to photograph a specific religion in the black culture. This would be Pentecostal/Apostolic christians.
Does it make a difference?
Yes as for me I feel the traditions of these beliefs are quite unusual to that of those who don’t understand it.
Ok…
Also I have a specific church in mind for this as the church is very traditional and old fashioned in some of its beliefs. I feel the images will work because their praises are seen as ‘alien’ not only to those outside the culture but also to some of the more modern people within it.
Why is that important?
The intentions of the brief are to produce images that are ‘exotic’. For me my images will need to be exotic in nature and this subject will be something unusual.
A branch that grew from Romanticism, would be Orientalist Paintings. This idea of exploring and painting foreign cultures (of people) is definitely something that could have inspired National geographic ‘Human Story ‘ – [Exploring where we come from, how we live today and where we may find ourselves tomorrow(Taken from the national Geographic About us page).]
Alphonse-Etienne Dinet/Nasreddine Dinet 1861-1929
French Orientalist painter who’s work stands out for me. A lot of historians say his understanding of the arab culture he painted set his paintings above so many others.He later converted to Islam and his work then reflected this. He started to paint more on the subject of religion (Islam). I personally like the idea that his work was something exclusive to him because of his ‘insider’ Knowledge of the language and culture. And I feel my work is similar in that sense because of my upbringing in the particular church I am going to photograph. I was trusted by the congregation and so could witness and document things that others weren’t able to.
Girls Dancing and Singing 1902
Oil on Canvas
The Snake Charmer 1889
Oil on canvas
I love the detail in the lighting of this image. I wonder how long it must of taken to paint and how awkward that would of been with the changing light of the scene. The painting feels like a tightly cropped photograph to me.
Imam Presiding over Prayer. 1922
Oil on canvas
The image feels up close and personal. Again quite tightly cropped rather than a vast scene. This images were made with the intention of going back to France to show those not lucky enough to travel to Algeria. This painting was produced well after Dinet’s conversion to Islam(announced in 1908) and also after he brought a house in Bou Sada Algeria. This shows how there was such a sense of trust again between the painter and his subjects as he would of been more accepted through living there and being of same religious beliefs. For me a lot of documentary photographers have to live and breathe their work in order to get the photographs they require and I definitely think these pieces of work highlight the need to be accepted by our subject.
shivniv01 