Sam Mellish - Roadside Britain

Late last year on a trip to Brighton I encountered a really interesting exhibition from the Photographer Sam Mellish, that I encountered at Brighton's Phoenix Building. 

Entitled "Roadside Britain" and shot over the course of four years, this body of work documents the the culture of roadside Britain though it's inhabitants and locations. This body of work I would say is very appealing to anyone who has a lot of experience of travelling long distances and knows what it's like to spend time in roadside cafes. 

"Some of it’s tongue in cheek, some of it’s quite funny, but my main reason for doing it is to document the social changes that have taken place on the road in the UK". - Sam Mellish (1)

    Fig One - Inside the Phoenix Building

   Inspired by the work of Paul Graham and his early 1980's series "A1 The Great North Road", it is quite easy to see the similarities in how Sam Mellish from a structured point of view, can be compared to Paul Graham's work. In particular the images from Sam Mellish that shows the subjects gazing away from the camera can be compared to some of Paul Graham's portraits. I personally find some of these style of portraits to sometimes be a bit stronger than ones that show the subject gazing into the camera, duly because sometimes they can come across as overly posed. 

Fig two - Paul Graham: Portrait from the series A1 The Great North Road

    
Unfortunately I can't seem to upload a video link to a video on Youtube of Sam Mellish talking about his work. However, you can still find a couple links below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LaNhVeNfdhI
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts8Xt1iypdg

Sources

http://www.sammellish.co.uk/#a=0&at=0&mi=2&pt=1&pi=10000&s=2&p=9

Quote: http://wearelookingsideways.com/events/roadside-britain-book-launch-sam-mellish-interview/
http://www.paulgrahamarchive.com/a1.html#a

Ansel Adams exhibition - London's National Maritime Museum

This past week I had the great experience of viewing the work of Ansel Adams for the first time at London's National Maritime museum. From seeing Ansel Adams work throughout books over the years, this exhibition was something special in the experience of seeing Ansel Adams work as the real thing within a life size scale directly in front of you.  The work featured within this exhibition is a documentation timeline of over 100 of Ansel Adams prints that were hand produced by the man himself over the course of his long and celebrated career.

Within all of the prints on show at this exhibition, what stood out to me most were the incredible large scale works from Ansel Adams which documented America's Gravel Bars river. The sheer scale of the print itself did a fantastic job of making me feel as if I was standing in the spot that Ansel Adams was when he fired the shutter capturing this image. In the next week I will have a full review posted on my thoughts on the exhibition.  Until then, if your a fan of Ansel Adams work the head down to London's National Maritime Museum before the 28th April.

                                    Fig 1 - Ansel Adams: Gravel Bars, American River (1960)

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait prize

After recently visiting London's National Portrait Gallery back in March of this year, within the galleries' gift-shop I discovered a hardback copy of the results of the galleries' recent "Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait prize" which was on show from the 8th of November last year up to February of this year. The work on show in this book stood out to me so much, that I had to buy myself a copy from online. Recently, as I have just started a new project for my University course that relates to portraiture. This book was a great source of research towards gaining knowledge of what a portrait is and about.

When you think of portraiture, a lot of questions regarding the topic in general come to mind if you look close enough. To what degree do we perform in front of a camera when being photographed?, What makes a good portrait?, among other questions.

Fig One: Spencer Murphy - Laurie

One portrait that caught my eye in particular from this book was a portrait from the work of the British Photographer "Spencer Murphy" entitled "Laurie" from his body of work "The abyss gazes into you". The way that the portrait has been structured has been done in a way that makes us the audience try and  pay attention to compelling appearance of the subject being photographed.  What is so strong about the subjects compelling appearance is the way that the subject staring away from the camera in what looks like a form of trance. The strong contrast within this portrait comes from the scarring around the subjects mouth and the smoothness of the sitter's head and skin. Through all of these features, there is an idea of a phycological look and feel to how they subject has been represented. According to Spencer Murphy, the marks visible on the sitters face come from some surgery that the sitter had after an accident. What I find interesting about this is that before reading any background information on this portrait, I the viewer got the impression that courtesy of the subjects portrayal through his gaze along with the marks on his face. My initial thought was that the subject might have been in some form of physical altercation in order to look the way he does. It's this kind of idea of studying portraits in detail that make's them more stronger.

Fig Two : Spencer Murphy - Ruby Walsh (2013)            

Fig Three: Rineke Dijkstra - Bull Fighters from Vila Franca de Xira and Montemor o Novo in Portugal





















Upon looking more into Spencer Murphy's work, I can't help but compare some of his work to the work of Rineke Dijkstra and her Bullfighters series. An example of this is through one of Spencer Murphy's most recent portraits which he produced produced for a commercial based assignment for advertising the 2013 Grand National on Channel 4. Within Rineke Dijkstra's portraits, the art of performance can be seen within her work. Her Bullfighters series in particular because of how her subjects have been photographed after taking part in an event.

Sources


 http://spencermurphy.tumblr.com/
http://www.spencermurphy.co.uk/#/portfolio
Book: Rineke Dijkstra - A Retrospective
http://www.npg.org.uk/photoprize1/site12/index.php

Photography And The Law

Forum 1: Photography and The Law

Between 1999-2001 Philip-Lorca diCorcia photographed pedestrians in Times Square, NYC.
The resulting works were shown at Pace/MacGill Gallery in Chelsea. When Erno
Nussenzweig, an Orthodox Jew and retired diamond merchant from Union City,
N.J., saw his picture in the exhibition catalogue, he sued diCorcia and Pace
for exhibiting and publishing the portrait without permission and profiting
from it financially. The suit sought an injunction to halt sales and
publication of the photograph, as well as $500,000 in compensatory damages and
$1.5 million in punitive damages.The suit was eventually dismissed by a New
York State Supreme Court judge who said that the photographer's right to
artistic expression trumped the subject's privacy rights.

Mr. Nussenzweig's lawyer, Jay Goldberg, told The New York Law Journal that his
client "has lost control over his own image" he went on to say
"It's a terrible invasion to me," Mr. Goldberg said. "The last
thing a person has is his own dignity."

When is it right or ethically wrong to make an image? Think of yourself in the
position of the subject and ask yourself, am I happy to be photographed and be
unaware of it?

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/17/arts/17iht-lorca.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/0/21532400

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This was the starting point of a group discussion that myself and some peers were set regarding the topic of Photographers rights. When you think of Photography as a whole, what are our rights as amateur and professional Photographers when it comes to doing things such as producing photographs in public places?

When you think of a controversial body of work that relates to this topic of the law and Photography. Philip Lorca Dicorcia is the first person who's work springs to mind with his series "Heads" (2002)

The subjects in this body of work were unaware of themselves being photographed and then exhibited. One of the subjects displayed in this body of work went on to claim $1.5m in punitive damages for being unknowingly featured in this body of photographic work. 

   

Philip Lorca Dicorcia - #Head 10 from the series "Heads" (2002)

 Image Source - http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/philip-lorca-dicorcia-head-10-2002

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Controversy: Free Speech vs. Privacy Rights

"DiCorcia’s Heads series was at the center of a debate between free speech advocates and those concerned with protecting an individual’s right to privacy. In 2006, one of diCorcia’s subjects sued the artist and his gallery for exhibiting, publishing, and profiting from his likeness, which was taken without permission. While critics claim that the project violated his subjects’ right to privacy, diCorcia explained that he did not seek consent because, “There is no way the images could have been made with the knowledge and cooperation of the subjects.”

Free speech advocates argue that street photography is an established form of artistic expression and that the freedom to photograph in public is protected under the first amendment to the United States Constitution. The lawsuit was eventually dismissed, but the presiding judge suggested the complex nature of this issue, stating, “Even while recognizing art as exempt from the reach of New York’s privacy laws, the problem of sorting out what may or may not legally be art remains a difficult one.”¹ The debate rages on"

http://www.moma.org/learn/moma_learning/philip-lorca-dicorcia-head-10-2002

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Ryan Wilson: Whilst the body of work is interesting. It's wrong to a degree due to how they image's have been taken. The idea of being photographed without permission or having any knowledge of later having your face displayed on exhibition, is a wrong move for a Photographer if they intend to not be persecuted. Whilst the actual look and technical aspect of each portrait is unique and clever. Coming from a UK citizen's point of view, it just reminds me of the everyday typical paparazzi shots that we see on the front of gossip magazines. I used to actually like this piece of work, but after looking over it more and more. My personal feelings towards the work has changed. 

Regarding the statement of how one of the subjects photographed in this body of work, requested $1.5m in punitive damages. I do question the idea of how the situation would have been dealt with if the series was shot in the UK rather than the US. 

When you think about it though, how different is being Photographed without permission any different to being caught on camera on television like whilst at a Football match?

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The following screenshots below are screenshots of some the Photographers rights that we in the UK are entitled and not entitled to. 

   Source - http://www.photographersrights.org.uk/page6/page6.html

  Useful articles and online videos

  http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/14/arts/art-in-review-philip-lorca-dicorcia-heads.html
  http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/2002/jan/30/artsfeatures4
  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpawWn1nXJo

Is it all about Instagram?

Facebook's purchase of the Instagram application for iphone's brought a resurgence of debate about the value it does or does not add to photography. Perhaps even more importantly it questioned the very value/contribution to photography that the application makes through its use. 

If you use any social networking it is hard to avoid Instagram. But what does an ongoing plethora of images that show peoples meals throughout the day shrouded by a vignette to give it a 'retro' look mean in terms of photography as an art form? Should we seriously be looking at these images and giving them the same consideration we give to photography in an art gallery made with a camera rather than a mobile phone? 

The top 10 instagram 'photographers' of 2012 consisted entirely of celebrities and not a single actual photographer made the list

http://www.petapixel.com/2012/05/01/the-10-most-popular-photographers-on-instagram/

This was the starting point for a group online forum that I was set the task of taking part in this past week.

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When being set the task to take part in this forum discussion, it was an interesting new experience for me because I had until doing a bit of research into what Instagram was. Only had a tiny amount of knowledge as to what Instagram was through it clogging up my Facebook through my contacts posts. After doing my share of research, I discovered that the talking point of Instagram being referred to Photography was a highly discussed one across the Internet. A lot of people, including my fellow course peers feel that whilst Instagram is a good thing. There is a line in which the photographs being posted on the website and photographs being produced professionally should be drawn. The term Photographer is thrown around a lot today through how many people believe that taking some form of a photograph through any device (Smartphone's in particular) seems to make you an instant Photographer. Whilst their is a photographic medium in taking a Photograph and adding a funky effect to it. This does not count anyone in any right as a Photographer. If we all said this about any person who owns a camera then it would just be silly. 

Below is an example of an Instagram image that I have picked out from Google Images 

(all credit goes to who ever it belongs to)

According to our brief, the top 10 Instagram users are Celebrities. People like Justin Bieber due to their popularity would get more views, feedback and likes for their posts over any professional that would host their work on this site. This is one reason in which real Photographers should just avoid posting their professional work on a gimmick website like this and leave Instagram for people who use it as a social networking approach and hobby. 

The way I see it, people shouldn't take Instagram to heart as photographic tool. The base of it is not to bring down professional Photographers but rather just as a quirky way for people to combine imagery with Twitter and Facebook. It's interesting to know where people are in the world and what they are doing and eating (Well..... not to me but other who religiously follow famous folk online)

With the ever changing pace of how Photography and the world is changing via technology among other things. It's best to embrace the change as their is nothing we can do about it. 

I will finish up this post with my one post from this week's debate....

Also for those of you who are interested.... I found this interesting article during my research of Instagram in which the article covers reasons why Instragam is a good thing. 

http://www.petapixel.com/2012/10/15/why-photographers-should-embrace-not-scorn-tools-like-instagram/--

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I have never used Instagram and nor do I ever intend to. I only know about it through Facebook so I can't say that it ever attracts my attention or bothers me.

That being said though, after doing some research into the background behind Instagram, I support Amy's statement regarding how Instagram should be seen as a fun online version of Photoshop rather than something that should be taken so seriously. If Instagram is cutting down the amount of work for freelance Photographers then of course it's a negative thing. That being said though I would say that what that is showing is just a sign of our times. The advancement of photographic technology over the course of the next few years due to things like Smartphones, will most likely continue to effect the workrate for freelance Photographers and change people's perspective of what Photography is. We can't do anything about it though. 

What I will say though is that if everyone thinks that creating images with funky effects through Instagram is not original and should not be seen as cool or Photography. What does that say about any images that are processed through Photoshop itself without the need of Instagram. Does that make Photoshop just as bad as Instagram.

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Image source - http://content.photojojo.com/reviews/instagram/

Is There Really Such A Thing As An Original Image Or Idea

Recently me, a bunch of my classmates and one of my lecturers had a group discussion on the topic of whether we could argue that when it comes to Photography, the days of there being an original image or idea have long gone. This was a highly well pointed debate that brought up a lot of interesting opinions and statements that I would like to share with you all.

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When you think about it, everything has developed from something or other. if you look at the invention of the lightbulb and take note of how light bulbs are filled with gas that emits light when connected to electricity. You could say that this invention was copied from the sun.  Other things from the invention of the computer ( developed from a typewriter) , the invention of the television (developed from the projector) or even the invention of paper from the carvings on stone. There are all sorts of things that have been created from inspiration from something else.

My take on where Photography stands in this topic is that the days where it is easy to think of an idea that has never been done before and run with it have passed us. There are so many Photographer's in the world today, that it is so hard to actually be able to come up with an idea that no Photographer somewhere in the world has come up with already. Whilst it is easy for someone to take inspiration from someone's concept and make one of their own in response to that Photographer. It still mean's that they has to rely on the idea of someone else in order to make their work. The question is, Is it wrong though? Is there a line between taking inspiration from an idea and plagiarism?

After the debate was over, me and a couple of my peers continued this debate over lunch. Some highlights from the talk included comments such as....

• How in some people's eyes, even though a lot of ideas are copied from other things. There are still a lot of original things to be found that haven't been discovered as of yet. 

• One person statement that they believed that they couldn't be convinced that an idea can be original. You can think of something creatively and uniquely but at the end of the day it's still not an original idea. 

With two different opinions like this and the debate being an unresolvable one. Is there any such thing as an original idea?

How does the media effect people's privacy in Photography?

Following on from my post a few days ago regarding the work of Barbara Probst and her body of work entitled "Exposure" and how it could relate to the current era of Photography in which the media/ paparazzi dons the meaning of the term breach of privacy. I thought it would be interesting to look more deeper into the subject via any forms of books, online videos that I could find in relation to the subject of "How the Paparazzi effects how Photography is viewed upon nowadays?

The following extract is from foreword section of page 6 of the book "Exposed - Voyeurism, Surveillance And The Camera".

"Have we become a society of Voyeurs? The Proliferation of Camera Phones, Youtube videos and reality television would certainly suggest that this is so. At the same time , amid endless political debates about terrorism , the ubiquitous security camera has become one of the icons of our age. We watch , and we are watched" 

Ever since the mid 1860's the concept of exploring the art of how people can produce forms of images that showcase spying on others, has been evident.  

One of the first painting's to represent this was the paining "Tintoretto, Susannah And The Elders" from 1650.  In this painting two men are shown observing the undressing and unaware subject as she gets ready to bath.  The painting shows that back then you didn't need long camera lens and other equipment in order to breach someone's privacy. 


                                             Fig one: Susannah And The Elders - 1660

  When you look at paintings like this and compare it to what a modernised version of this painting portraying the breaching of one's privacy in todays standards would be like, you could sense how different the meaning of the image would be with how technology has advanced with the invention of long camera lens etc. Dirty Paparazzi tactics. The two men in this painting would today probably be seen holding cameras for some form of purpose like trying to get a snapshot for a newspaper. 

Continuing on with this topic. I want to talk about the idea behind what the invisible Photographer is when it comes to celebrities. In todays generation of Photography, Photographers are looked on negatively by some people due to the how the ever growing trend of Paparazzi imagery fills our newspapers and magazines. Celebrities whether they like it or not are deeply effected by this. 

"When Tazio Secchiaroli shot a handful of embarrassing photographs of the actress Anita Ekburg and her husband in Rome in 1958, he couldn't have foreen the phenomenon that he was helping to create" - Extract from the opening chapter of "Original Sin, The Birth Of The Paparazzo" from "Exposed - Voyeurism, Surveillance And The Camera"
                                       

Fig two - Franco Pinna, Paparazzi ante litter am (Tazio Secchiaroli and Luciano Mellace, Rome (1952)

Useful website links

  http://uk.phaidon.com/agenda/photography/picture-galleries/2010/october/20/exposed-at-     san-francisco-moma/?idx=1- Slideshow link for a range of images from "Exposed - Voyeurism, Surveillance And The Camera" being shown in San Francisco.

     Image and book References

     Fig one - http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks?term=Susanna+and+the+Elders+

     Book - "Exposed - Voyeurism, Surveillance And The Camera" Pages: 221 and 6
     Fig two - Page 221 - "Exposed - Voyeurism, Surveillance And The Camera"