Where is this? Why is there only one motorhome? Why is there a picture on the motorhome? Why is it there? Where is the owner? Why does the image fade? Where does the road lead? Why are there no people? What time is it? What is happening?
What does Grey Area mean?
In everyday life, the phrase 'grey area' is used to describe something that is ambiguous, and does not have a clear answer, it is often used in photography in order to create uncertainty in the photographs, to draw the reader in.
Documentary photography is the practice of photographing a scene so that it resembles reality as close as possible, it is used for forensic photographs and photojournalism.
Photographs appear to be reliable forms of evidence as a photograph is just light reflecting off the sensor or film, however, photographs may be manipulated or staged making them possibly unreliable.
Contemporary photographers may be suspicious about the reliability of photographs as photographs are no longer the most trusted forms of evidence, as through time, photographs have proved to be fake or unreliable, on more than one occasion.
Documentary photography is the practice of photographing a scene so that it resembles reality as close as possible, it is used for forensic photographs and photojournalism.
Photographs appear to be reliable forms of evidence as a photograph is just light reflecting off the sensor or film, however, photographs may be manipulated or staged making them possibly unreliable.
Contemporary photographers may be suspicious about the reliability of photographs as photographs are no longer the most trusted forms of evidence, as through time, photographs have proved to be fake or unreliable, on more than one occasion.
Jack Latham
Jack Latham is a contemporary photographer who combines the genres of portraiture, landscapes and documentary photography into his own work. He may be using these three genres in order to give his photographs legitimacy, as documentary photographers often take landscapes and portraits, as they are harder to manipulate or fake than any other photographs. The quote "Without clearance to photograph the camp itself, Latham went on to investigate the mysteries surrounding the Bohemian Grove, as a commentary on the dangers of disinformation, media and American culture" tells our that Jack Latham's aim with the series A parliament of owls is to shed light on the activities of the wealth and powerful, so the general public can get an idea of what they do.
When looking at the photograph above, we can see a man standing in harsh light, with shadows possibly cast by the window. The viewers eyes first see the mans face, and try to make out his eyes behind the strong reflections of his glasses, the viewers eyes then travel to the background onto what appears to be a curtain. This image initially made me feel uncertain about who the man is and why he is the subject of the photograph, I still feel this way as I am unsure of who the subject is. In my opinion, the most interesting thing in the image is the mans glasses, as they somewhat his eyes, therefore hiding his identity.
When looking at the photograph above, we can see a man standing in harsh light, with shadows possibly cast by the window. The viewers eyes first see the mans face, and try to make out his eyes behind the strong reflections of his glasses, the viewers eyes then travel to the background onto what appears to be a curtain. This image initially made me feel uncertain about who the man is and why he is the subject of the photograph, I still feel this way as I am unsure of who the subject is. In my opinion, the most interesting thing in the image is the mans glasses, as they somewhat his eyes, therefore hiding his identity.
Parliament of Owls
Jack Lathams Parliament of Owls is a series of photographs taken in order to show the audience how the rich and powerful individuals meet up. Their secret meeting place in a Californian forest. Jack Latham was denied access to the meeting, as a result of this, he was forced to observe the meeting are form a distance.
My response to Jack Latham's Parliament of Owls
This photography series consisting of 8 photographs captures the essence of Jack Lathams work. This short series aspires to tell a short story, which is made up by the viewer. These photographs were made Black and White in order to make them have more contrast, which symbolises the difference between the pictures.
Stefanie Moshammer
Stefanie Moshammer is a Photographer who works mainly in colour, and captures vivid portraits and landscapes with a lot of contrast. She attempts to capture the atmosphere of a certain place by capturing her photographs with a non wide lens, focussing on a smaller area of a scene, this is done to capture the attention of the reader and to make them wonder about the bigger picture. In her latest photography series, she explores the life of a man who wrote a letter to her, asking to Mary her. This intrigues her and she decided to attempt to find out more about this mysterious man. The photography series is about finding out more and more about where the man may live and what type of person he is.
Morgan Ashcom
Morgan Ashcom works primarily in colour, and produces images of people who are occupied with their jobs or the activities that they are doing. There is a sense of uncertainty in his photographs, which makes the viewer try to imagine a backstory to the photographs, to attempt to explain the unusual activities in the photos. He operates in the grey area between fact and fiction, due to his style, where creates a sense of confusion in her photographs, which can appear as both reality and also I fiction.
Juno Calypso
Juno Calypso creates saturated colour images which make the viewer uncertain of the events taking place I the photographs. Her use of silhouettes of figures create ambiguity in her photographs, and make the audience wonder why you cannot make out their face, forcing the audience to make up a story that explains whatever is going on in the picture. In many of her photographs, we can observe, vivid colours such as pink and blue, which makes the images fit in the grey area between fact and fiction, as the colours are unlike a real house, yet the figures who appear to live in the house, seem like real people.
Aaron Schuman
Aaron Schumans recent photography work combines short stories told by newspaper articles, and photographs taken in his childhood town in Massachusetts. All the photographs are Black and White, which contrasts with the newspaper cutouts, and give the book a monotone look. The newspaper cutouts are comedic and ambiguous as they are short articles, or sections of a longer article. This means that his project is in the grey area between fact and fiction as the photographs are real documentations of his home town, yet the articles give the project a sense of uncertainty and a comedic side.
This series of still life images aim to challenge the norms of this genre of photography. Still life photographs usually do not use long shutter speeds, however, I decided to use 20, 25 and 30 second exposures, in order to get light trails from lights, a phone screen and a lighter, that are used to illuminate the different glasses placed on a cardboard pedestal. These images are similar to product photographs is many ways, such as the item being in the middle of the frame, and it occupying most of the frame. However, they are also very different as they are not well lit such as the product photographs from companies such as Ikea, they also contain light trails, and dark conditions.
Bridgetown
The town of Bridgetown is an imaginary town, set in the north of England. The images that were used in the project, were taken in Shoreditch, Richmond park, and Epping forest, and combined, they create the imaginary town. The town I created is inspired by the many northern mining towns that had a rapid population decrease after the mines were closed in the 1970s, leaving residents without a job, living in poverty. Bridgetown is next to a large forest, which you can get to after walking through the town centre, and the small outer suburbs, many of which is abandoned. The town is situated next to a lake which is one of the things that the residents are most proud of. Since the 1970s, the economy of the town has improved a lot, the number of jobs and the population of the town has increased every year since 1980. Many of the old abandoned homes of the town remain, reminding us of the towns past, as we walk through the town, however, although still a long way, the town is slowly getting closer to its glory days in the 1960s.
Stephen Lawrence series
I believe that the Stephen Lawrence murder series was the most successful set of shots I have taken in the grey area project. The concept behind it was to revisit the places of the murder around 20 years after it happened. The murder became well known around London, due to the police having handled the case badly. Due to the murder happening at 10 pm, I took the series of photograph at night. I used long exposures to represent the time that is constantly passing since the death of Stephen, and how, even though the murder happened years ago, it still affects the everyday life of his family and friends. The lack of human absence in the photographs represents how Stephen is not alive anymore. The photographs were exhibited in a line, at the height of car headlights, due to the presence of long exposure headlights in almost every photograph. The pavement is also present in many of the photographs, which is representative of the many people who walk on it every day, without experiencing anything negative, which makes the death of Stephen Lawrence worse, as emphasis is placed on how low your chance is to be harmed, walking on the pavement, making Stephen's death more tragic.
Bristol Photography trip
The first exhibition was Jack Latham's Sugar paper theories, which is a series of images taken recently, based on the original police photography files. This exhibition was set up in a dark room, emphasising the mysterious nature of the series. The exhibition was also behind closed doors, representing the mystery surrounding the disappearances that to this day are unsolved. There are many elements in the exhibition that were not photographs, yet revealed lots about the nature of the investigation. These included books and many files from the conspiracy theorists.
I believe that most of the images that I took at the exhibition were successful, and I managed to complete most of the tasks on the list given to us. I believe that the photographs I took in the exhibition were successful as they have a level of mystery and ambiguity, just like the investigation.
The Tony Ray-Johnes exhibition was in a much brighter and friendly space, similar to a cafe, this could have been done on purpose as the subject of all the photographs were people in social situations, such as the cafe type environment that the exhibition was set up in. His photographs summarise the people who live in England, and the attitude they have towards things. Everyday activities are photographed by him, showing what ordinary English people do, and their response to things.
I believe that most of the images that I took at the exhibition were successful, and I managed to complete most of the tasks on the list given to us. I believe that the photographs I took in the exhibition were successful as they have a level of mystery and ambiguity, just like the investigation.
The Tony Ray-Johnes exhibition was in a much brighter and friendly space, similar to a cafe, this could have been done on purpose as the subject of all the photographs were people in social situations, such as the cafe type environment that the exhibition was set up in. His photographs summarise the people who live in England, and the attitude they have towards things. Everyday activities are photographed by him, showing what ordinary English people do, and their response to things.
Final photographs for the Grey Area exhibition.
These images are a combination of photographs I took at Trellick tower, in London, and photographs I took on the school concourse. Whilst all of the Trelick tower images are long exposures, and the school concourse ones are photographs taken with a fast shutter speed, containing areas of high contrast, further enhanced by post production, most of the photographs have trees in them, which connect the images. The grey area theme can be seen as
Final Piece
The photographs I took for my final piece were taken at Trellick tower in Kensal Town, London. Trellick tower was completed in 1972, and was designed by Ernő Goldfinger. It was designed in the brutalist architectural style, which was seen as very forward thinking and innovative thought the 1960s and 1970s. Now, however, it is seen as an eyesore by many, considering brutalism as another failed architectural style, that failed to change the world. It is still, however considered as one of the best architectural styles, showing how raw and brutal the world can be, reflecting not only the good that happens in the world, but also the bad. This creates a grey area, a some people hate the style of architecture, whereas, some admire it a lot, creating conflict amongst those who want a brutalist structure to be torn down, and those who want to preserve it. Today, brutalism is no longer an ultra modern style the architects aim to create, leaving it half abandoned in the world of architecture. This now forgotten dream of brutalism, is what inspired me to take images of Trellick tower, attempting to capture the building the way it many have been in 1972, when it was built.
The Photograph as a document
- Documentary photography is used to record and survey things.
- Its perceived indexicality made it a reliable resource.
- 'Democracy of the image' means the people have aright to view the world a way - this is aided by documentary photography.
- It is used to document and order things.
- Its meaning moves around and shifts over time.
- Its a subjective fact.
- It should allow the user to contemplate without the effects of sensationalism.
- It can be both professional and amateur.
- A higher quality image should not be perceived as more valid than a low quality image.
Documentary and Storytelling
- Documentary photography freezes moment in time, signifying a future event and a past event it was caused by.
- It reveals a fact, it is not vague or metaphorical.
- Good documentary photography is when the sight of the photographer is replicated exactly for the photographer.
- Documentary photography is always a point of view.
- It is not perceived as reliable as an amateur snapshot, eg the 'Abu Ghraib prisoner images, taken by U.S soldiers.'
- Documentary photography is a result of a desire for recognition of reality.
- The emotions the are evoked in people when they are looking at the image affects the validity of the image meant for documentation.
- " 'Narcissism' is what helps to maintain the human subject."
- Documentary photography makes social classes transparent.
- Documentary photography renovates itself, due to the changing demands and values of the audience.