Phonar contributor David Campbell takes a step back from the furore surrounding the World Press Award winning image by Samuel Aranda to consider what the debates tell us of how we understand such images.
If you go through all the posts discussing Aranda’s photograph collected by Kleppe, the variety and richness of the interpretations is remarkable. People have understood it as a Christian icon, a 19th century orientalist painting, a sculptural form, a depoliticization of the Arab Spring, evidence of the hegemonic Western eye, a sign of a bloody conflict, a rendering of universal humanity, a personal moment of compassion, an affirmation of the strength of Islamic women, and an image whose beauty forces us to look. #
This range of readings demonstrates neither a problem with the photograph nor a failure of criticism. To the contrary, it shows how photographs are polysemic and polyvalent – as part of their condition, they are inescapably open to multiple readings, and can often sustain different if not contradictory readings. The proliferation of clashing interpretations demonstrates the naturalist faith is untenable. If a photograph were just what it ‘is’ there would be nothing to discuss and the pictures’ public role would be minimal at best.
Our class discussion took place here but you can more read the rest of this post and more from David over on his blog.
Amongst other things, we will be doing a basic introduction to bookbinding this week. If you would like to make your own books you’ll be able to follow our walk-through demonstrations (check back here). The materials you will need are listed below:
Japanese stab bound book (easy peasy) – you will need at one pack of A6 cards (white), two A6 cards for covers (any colour), a needle and some thread for binding.
And a Hardback Beauty(bit fiddly with some stickiness) – You’ll need paper, card (for the covers), covering (for the card), muslin (to glue the spine), paint brush (to apply glue), bull-dog clips (big ones, to hold the wet books whilst they dry), a sharp blade and a straight-edge (metal rule).
Thanks to all of you who gave feedback on the #picbod App beta, from this feedback we have developed version 1.1 which adds the ability to upload images into flickr (either from your phone camera or gallery) as well as being able to share to Facebook and via Email. Plus – you can now search all of the #picbod posts easily to find exactly what you need.
You can download the #App for iPhone/iPod and iPad by clicking the link below
The New #picbod App!
Even with this update we are keen to hear as much feedback from you, good or bad to help us improve your experience, please send any feedback our way by emailing Matt.
These photographs depict people whose lives Strömholm shared, and whom he believe he understood; they are images, he would write, ‘…of women — biologically born as men — that we call “transsexuals.” As for me, I call them my friends of Place Blanche.’
Newman’s oeuvre is marked by reoccurring themes, notably his portraits of artists, such as Braque, Miro, whom he had met in New York in the 1940s, and Warhol, Frank Stella, Claes Oldenburg and Louise Nevelson, who he photographed throughout the 1960s and 70s.
As we explore the archive, images and stories begin to emerge, each vying for the viewers attention. A tear sheet from a magazine grabs my attention. It shows a black and white studio portrait of a young girl looking directly into Grey’s lens, as I study the image which was made in January 1964, a sense of familiarity begins to take hold…
Working exclusively in black-and-white Høyland presents a poignant and sensitive visual essay in The Brothers, which reflects a rapidly evaporating way of life. From the first photograph in the book, of the defiant and bare chested brothers, arms crossed, and eyes firmly focused upon the photographers lens; to the pair stood high above the hamlet, binoculars raised as they enjoy their favourite past-time of birdwatching; to their return from the weekly supermarket trip, their laden backpacks bulging, as they make their way home along the footpath that winds through the small community of log cabins that cling to the hillside of Tessanden; we enter a community of simplicity and purity, that remains almost forgotten, where the brothers eked out a living by turning their hands to a myriad of odd jobs.
Whilst we experience the same simplicity of form and composition in both Ciaparra’s personal and fashion photographs, the latter is marked by a painterly chiaroscuro, that gives these portraits a distinct warmth and visual vitality.
Here in this rarefied world of research, where the visual arts and science collide, Maisel became captivated by the x-rays of art objects from the Getty Museum’s permanent collection. As he studied these ghostly, haunting images, the x-rays appeared in his view to surpass the power of the original objects, as the ‘spectral renderings seemed like transmissions from the distant past, conveying messages across time,’ and connecting the contemporary viewer to the pulsating core of these ancient works.
At the end of the Lecture session with Grant Scott, Jonathan asked him for tips and advice for aspiring fashion photographers:
Have a Personality – You need to create a backstory or demonstrate your personality, especially in a world where we spend more time interacting through technology than face-to-face. Some photographers have been really successful in utilising social media to create this personality.
The marketeer succeeds – Often it is the marketeer that will succeed over the photographer in a fashion environment, it’s 90% who you are and 10% your photography (although that had better be good!)
Cater your portfolio – Your portfolio is like a CV, you wouldn’t send the same CV to two different jobs, and you shouldn’t send the same portfolio to different magazines. If you want to work of Vogue then prepare your portfolio to be judged by Vogue and their standards.
Have a good team – make sure you work with a great team, the clothes, the hair, the makeup, the models, it all needs to be perfect.
This week’s session was a departure from the scheduled one and saw the students debating the merits of the World Press Awards winner. We’re keen to hear your voice on this, the class decided almost unanimously that the image was unsuitable and should not have won. Discuss.
No task for next week, you’re in charge of that now ….. only three weeks to go…. but after having done a mural printing workshop today the attending students will be considering scale for final pieces.
Thanks to Grant Scott of Hungry Eye Magazine for this guest talk, and also for providing this week’s task (“The White Shirt”) which can be found below the lecture.
Last week’s guest task was set by HUNGRY EYE Magazine
Take a white shirt, it can be any form of white shirt. It can be a £1000 Prada white shirt or a £1 t-shirt, the emphasis is on pairing the process down to it’s ‘bare-bones’.
Your direction then is to make a series of images using a white shirt and a body, exploring the relationship between the two and consider shape, form, texture and light. Consider the environmental context , what does that say about your shirt and subject? Does it reveal a fragility, a nervousness, a confidence, perhaps a dissonance?
Please make your images posting on your site or flickr, tagging them ‘picbod’ and link to the work on the Facebook page. If you talk about the project on Twitter then use the hashtag #picbod
