Own work Tourism

Amsterdam and Berlin; Tourism

From my trips to Amsterdam and Berlin I attempted to capture images of tourists. Like discussed in the previous post, as appose to capturing images of the famous landmarks themselves, I was inspired by Martin Parr to capture images of tourists taking photographs of these landmarks. I took the majority of the images here on my phone. The first reason I did this is because this concept of taking images of tourists is something I've been treating as a concept to generate other ideas. I felt comfortable and at ease using my phone to capture the images and the use of a small device such as my phone allowed me to get close to the subjects in the images without them noticing. 

I don't particularly see these images as strong images however I enjoyed exploring this concept and reflecting on the work of Martin Parr I had seen. The reason I don't really see the images as strong is because there isn't much going on in them. If I compare these images to the work of Parr I think his work so well because of the frantic and crazy feel within the images. The bright and brash colours also seem to really pay off in Parr's work, especially when capturing this concept of consumerism and tourism in todays society. 

I feel my images in this mini project seem to create more of a focus on the link between phones/iphones and tourism? Every image seems to include or really focus upon people with phones. I suppose this is quite a good and interesting thing as it shows people who are meant to be at a tourist sight are more engrossed in there phones more so than anything else. Some even appear oblivious to whats going on around them. In my documentary photography I often try to address todays society in a way if I can, so I guess these images do this to some extent.

I feel the image above is the most successful image out of all of these I have presented here. I feel the colours are more bold which makes the image look more successful and I really like the fact I managed to capture the German flag in the image as the subject takes a photograph of a famous Berlin landmark. 

After researching the work of Tony Ray Jones and Martin Parr where they photographed events and I compared that work to my own of Durham miners gala, Ive felt that direction is the direction I am best heading in for my Major project- finding more interesting and busy events to photograph as appose to more everyday situations. This mini project has helped me decide that capturing images at events is probably what is going to work best for myself. However I do still aim to keep photographing every day situations too, for my own personal work as I do enjoy and feel I have an ability when it comes to capturing street / documentary style images. 

Trip report - Alec Soth

Exhbition Report; Alec Soth - Gathered leaves


Recently, I visited Alec Soth's Exhibition, Gathered leaves, in London's Science Museum.

Alec Soth is a photographer I was slightly familiar with as I have researched some of his work before when looking for inspiration in documentary photography. Many of his images are of the documentation of people. Some posed and some candid. A lot of my work focus' on the documentation of people also, however the work of Alec Soth is a very different approach to that of my own. It is extremely to see the ways in which different documentary photographers work and to actually realise just how vast and open the genre of documentary photography can be. 

With having touched upon Soths work before in my research, and finding his work very influential and interesting to look at, I was looking forward to embarking on the trip to London to see his work actually in his own exhibition. 

The exhibition 'Gathered Leaves' presents work from several different projects spanning across Soth's  very successful career so far. The work chosen intact, spans across ten years of his career. 
The work included was from the projects; 

 Sleeping by the Mississippi (2004)
 Niagara (2006)
 Broken Manual (2010)
 Songbook (2014) 


With an exhibition at the end of my academic year at University, It was great to see this exhibition and see how another documentary photographer chooses to present their work in an exhibition.

The images varied in size depending on the different exhibitions, which was obviously understandable, as although the projects were brought together as a collective, they were images from different projects, therefore having different meanings, although all still from a documentary style, some images evidently worked better larger than others. 

The first room, "Sleeping by the Mississippi" started with small images, no larger than 12x16 frame. What struck me most about this project was the flow of colours throughout the images and section of the exhibition. The colours tended to be quite cold, with a lot of blues and greys. 

What I find great about Soth's work is the fact he shows the fact that documentary photography really does not have an boundaries. With a lot of documentary photographers you will find they focus upon just portraits, or just object or just landscapes where as Soth includes all of these different genres within documentary photography, in order to tell his story or put across his message affectively. When i personally even think of documentary images of people, i think of them as candid shots, catching people going about their ordinary life, unaware of the presence of the camera. However Soth really does show that that doesn't have to be the case. These posed shots of people sat on their beds or couches, posing for the camera are still a documentation of those people and their surroundings. 

The gentleman who showed myself and my group around the exhibition explained that the "sleeping by the Mississippi" project followed a theme of dreams. What I then found interesting was the clever way Soth had included beds in some of the images throughout the sequence. Again this is something iIfound rather clever and showed a way of working in a documentary style I would not normally have thought of myself. 

In the following room to this was the project 'Niagra', the prints here were much larger, and the concept of variations between landscapes and portraits was even more evident. The portraits in this project were much more considered and posed portraits unlike the ones in the previous project where I felt they were more relaxed, for example, a lady laid on her bed as appose to this project where one of the most striking images was a close up head and shoulders shot of a lady, in which you could see a lot of consideration had gone into creating this portrait. 

As well as Soth's images being framed on the walls of this exhibition his research, work and gatherings were presenting in the centre of each room in a glass cabinet. Soth is a fan of the photo book and has made several books of his own work. Just from the one previous project I have made in which I created a mock up paper book, I can understand and relate to just how much paper research and gatherings one collects in order to create a project. From my own personal experience of making a photo book I made several paper and hand made versions first, some which i drew and wrote on and some which I made more professionally. This style and process can also be seen here in Soth's exhibition. Love letters and other pieces of information or research he found and used in order to create his projects are presented in the centre of the room. For a young aspiring photographer such as myself it was so helpful and incredibly useful to see these pieces as part of the exhibition. As often when looking at final images upon a wall, I wonder how a photographer managed to get to that point, and what work was behind the scene of creating these final master pieces. 

own work abroad; Simply Doucmentary

Documentary Abroad; Exploring Ideas.


Following my recents trips to Amsterdam, Berlin and London this month I have decided to present a select few pieces of work I have created in my own time while visiting these countries. Most images tend to have been taken on my phone or a compact camera. They're documentary images however none of them tend to be anything that relate to the path I intend to take for my major project, however visiting these places and creating my own work in my own time has definitely all been part of the thought process leading up to my final decisions and ideas for my major project as I have been finding out what works and what doesn't. 

Many of these images would not be suitable for the brief I have originally set myself in this Major project of Documenting an event and create a book from it. However they are images I feel are successful and definitely something I can use outside of this project. 

Photographer Research; Martin Parr

Martin Parr: Tourists


When looking at my previous work from my Minor project and trying to pick up what worked well in that work, I noticed how the images which created interest where the ones in which I chose to photograph the actual people involved and the less obvious aspects of the day. I discussed this in my previous posts, where I have chosen to look at work other photographers where I have felt they do a similar thing in their work and it works well. 

When looking further into the work of Martin Parr, I found work which he has produced that really focus' upon this concept of facing the camera on whats going on in the foreground of an event or occasion as appose to whats happening as the main attraction. To explain this a little better I will present some images here by Martin Parr, in which he shows a different take on the documentation of tourism.

In January 2016 I am travelling to Amsterdam, London and Berlin, so I am therefore thinking of ways I can take these trips as opportunities to create work which will relate to what I am aiming to produce in Major Project. Following the work I have created so far, I have tried to focus on capturing images of people. A lot of my work tends to be documentary and street style photography but almost all my images seem to create a focus upon the people in these places. Following my Minor project where I chose to turn my camera round and capture images of people rather than the actual event that is occurring, I have been inspired to carry on trying to do so but try and find some work of photographers whom could maybe inspire me or show similarities to my work in their own.

When looking through varies documentary books in the library, looking at famous photographers I know of, I came across the work of Martin Parr once again. Already in this project I have studied the work of Martin Parr, but here I have found yet another completely different project of his which I felt i could relate to when it comes to thinking of ideas or concepts about photographing people in different countries.

I came across the book and project my Martin Parr; 'Home and abroad.' in this project Parr, as the title suggests, captures images of situations at home and situations abroad. Obviously with looking for the inspiration for photography abroad these were the images I focused upon.

It appears that Parr has traveled abroad quite a lot over his career. Ive found many images taken abroad by Parr which are recent and older. As Parr always seems to do, and why I really take to his work myself is because of the way he takes a different approach to things. For example, most whom would go to photograph in forigen countries one would imagine would photograph the typical sights, views and people. Parr goes to these situations with a fresh and different approach in mind. 

Here I have chosen some of his older and recent work, from different projects, some from a book I have come across and some from his website. All of these images focus upon the concept of 'Tourism'. What Parr does is rather than photographing typical tourist sights like everyone seems to do, he turns the focus around on the people who go to these sights, the obsession with photographing these places, the obsession with posing next to these places for a photograph. His focus upon these people really makes you step back and think of what tourism really is. These projects show exactly what I tend to do and really want do carry on developing in my own work. 



The images below appear on Martin Parr's website under the title 'Too Much Photography'. These are his more recent images of tourism. He uses the travel to another country to focus his photography on this desperate obsession we as a global society seem to have with visiting famous landmarks in countries just in order to snap an image either of it or with it. A lot of Martin Parr's work across all of his projects address modern day society, the societies we live in and often the large consumer society we now live in. His images of tourism make me feel disappointment, that this is what peoples main focus is when visiting a country. Its like a sad reality. But as Parr shows, this typical tourist culture is booming.

http://www.martinparr.com/2012/too-much-photography/


Parr's images really make me stop, think and actually come to terms with modern day life. Phones with cameras are such a prominent part of our society now, enabling this modern concept of tourism and obsession with capturing images to show off where we have been to carry on flourishing. 

http://www.martinparr.com/2012/too-much-photography/

http://www.martinparr.com/2012/too-much-photography/

These images are from the book 'Martin Parr Home and Abroad' Introduction by Ian Mcewan. I feel not only from Parr's abroad images or the concept within his image are something I can take from his photography, as the way in which he photographs is something I feel I can really take note of for my own skills and work. For example, 

I really like this idea of photographing people who are photographing. The use of a camera is so very essential in almost all tourists essentials. The heavy focus Parr creates on this concept of people photographing really makes myself as a viewer stop and think about tourism. It can seem that tourists value more taking an image of a land mark as a keeps sake as appose to actually being there and experience it through their own two eyes. 

Another point which Parr leads me to start thinking about in his work is the obsession tourists have with going to landmarks. Capturing images of landmarks, getting photographs next to landmarks to prove they've been? It seems to really be a sad reality as why would people not just enjoy the experience of being in that country, and experiencing the culture rather than being desperate to just capture photographs of landmarks almost in order to prove they've been? 

This particular image above, captures what one would guess is one foot of the Eiffel tower. Personally my eye is straight away drawn to where i think the image is taken due to the leg of the Eiffel tower, then to the male on the right frantically taking an image of the land marker. As the viewer takes time to look at the image longer however, one may notice the couple stood cuddling and what looks like kissing? Paris is known as the city of love, and especially round this particular land mark one would be led to think of romance? Parr manages to very cleverly capture this contrast and point out the obliviousness tourists have to the real culture of a place as they frantically capture images of landmarks. 

I now intend to use this concept as some inspiration for my own travels. I feel I am still trying to work out what will work and what won't in terms of documentary photography and my own individual style. The images I capture in the countries I visit in 2016 may not be an images I use for my major project however I deffinately will see them all as a help along the process of my major project.

Documentary Photographers

Photographer research:

Tony Ray Jones



In 2015 in the Science and Media museum in Birmingham, England. A photography exhibition was held called 'Only in England.' The exhibition presented work by two famous British photographers, who although had never met, their work fitted well along side each others in this exhibition. I came across this information about the past exhibition when researching a photographer called Tony Ray Jones. The reason I had began to search this photographer is because I wanted to carry on my research from the very famous British photographer Martin Parr. The reason I, and quiet evidently the makers of this exhibition saw a link and similarity between the two photographers was because of the  sense of humour their images seemed to portray, whilst always still working in a documentary style, documenting British people as they were, much like what I tend to also do within my own photography.

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/Plan_your_visit/exhibitions/only_in_england

What I find similar in this image to what I've been attempting to do in my work of Durham Miners Gala, is not just capture the main event but what is going on in the background. Tony Ray Jones shows amazing talent and a great eye for spotting an interesting image opportunity in this image, as he has done well to notice and then capture this interesting and some what comical moment on camera.  The images are made interesting in the way the viewer doesn't exactly know they are supposed to be looking at an image of a beauty contest, without the title below the image, it is down to the viewer to work that out from some small clues themselves. The way the typical perception of a beauty contest being all about glamour and falseness is brought back down to reality by Tony Ray Jones very cleverly catching this natural moment. I feel a very British sense about this image as well, which is something which really reflects on Tony Ray Jones work and Martin Parr's work. Compared to what I've previously looked at. This concept of 'Britishness' in their images is exactly what both these photographers manage to capture and portray very successfully in my opinion.

Similar to the last image, but now even more so, to the viewer who has no clue what event Tony Ray Jones was photographing here, the image can come across very strange, confusing and humorous. "What on earth is that man doing stood half dressed on some step ladders" is exactly what I as a viewer find myself asking. With having clues in the image as to what the man is doing or looking at, wouldn't make the image as interesting, as the viewer would probably then understand and no longer find it strange as to why the male in the center of the image is dressed like that or doing what he is doing. This concept of turning round and photographing the onlookers or the background of an event is exactly what I feel I need to take from this research and try work on in my own work as I feel it really does create interesting and quirky images, which we don't often see.  

Events such as Durham Miners Gala are something which Tony Ray Jones and myself have both photographed. This image may not be as interesting or confusing as the previous images i have presented in this blog in which Jones have photographed at events, but the image still shows the concept of turning the camera round and photographing whats going on in the background such as the people stood watching and or like here, the band stood on the path practising before the parade. To someone who may not know the title of this print or understand what Durham Miners Gala is about, this image would raise many questions or queries. 

From a technical aspect, I like the way this image has clearly quite quickly been shot. The small girls feet to the left are not in the image and a male to the right hand ride is slightly cut out, seeing a successful photographer produce images like this reassures me. As I often feel put off my own images when I see parts being accidentally cropped out when I've been capturing an image in the moment. However seeing these images remind me as a documentary photographer I do not have to have everything completely perfect.

Martin Parr

Tom Greenwood cleaning, 1976 Martin Parr

http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/plan_your_visit/exhibitions/only_in_england

This piece is very different to Martin Parr's more recent work, as for one, the image is in Black and white and for anyone who knows much about Parr's current work, will know that his work now very heavily focus' upon coloured photography. However similarites can be seen between Parr's work here and Tony Ray Jones'. It is evident how Parr was influenced by Ray's work in the way the photographers clearly intend to document more unusual scenes of ordinary British people, where the images cause some confusion and some humor. 

Previous work

Previous Work



Looking at my previous work and noticing I have a particular style about my work is becoming rather  important in this final project as I want to focus upon this and carry on to show my unique style through the work I produce. With Durham Miners Gala, I chose to photograph what was going on during the day in the background as appose to what most would typically associate with Durham Miners gala. Instead of photographing the banners used to represent the pit villages or the well known people giving speeches on the day, I chose to focus my images more upon the people surrounding me, focusing upon the drinking and the celebrations which were carried out in the background. I found by doing this I was able to produce some really interesting images, as well as images that are slightly more unique to the images produced by many of the other photographers there on that day, as they all tend to be more journalist type photographers reporting on the days events for local news papers or websites.

Looking back at my previous style in these images, I wanted to start to research photographers that may have a similar style to my own, or look to be trying to take a similar approach to my own.

Martin Parr

A photographer that I have always taken great interest is Martin Parr. Some of my peers discussed in class how some of my work can tend to remind them of this photographer because of the bright and bold colours or sometimes even the objects or people I tend to photograph. I have chosen to look at some of Martin Parr's work for inspiration to carry on photographing in this acquired style.

http://www.martinparr.com/recent-work/recent-5/

What I thoroughly enjoy about Parr's work and the way in which I feel I can see links to that of my own is he completely ignores the focus of what a day at the races is typically thought of. Rather than photographing the horses running he chooses to photograph everything else that makes up the atmosphere of the races, the people, the outfits, the drinking, betting, the celebrations and commiseration's. This portrays very clearly the natural style I seem to have when photographing and the style I definitely want to carry on and focus upon in the future events or subjects I photograph.

Major Project

My concept


Following on from my minor project I am now starting my major project. I throughly enjoyed making the documentary / photojournalistic style photographs I produced for my major project. I felt the work produced was what I found I had a natural interest in as well as a natural ability. I therefore want to carry on this style of photography, into my Major project. 

For my Minor project I shot images of my day at the yearly event of Durham Miners gala, in County Durham. I produced a series of images as prints and as a maquette book, where I told the story of the days events from begging to end. The way I portrayed this days events was through a documentary style, by capturing off guard shots of the people are the days events. 

What I found worked well when shooting the days events of Durham's Miners gala, was that because it was such a busy event, and an event which happens once a year, I was able to use my camera comfortably, among the other many photographers that were there that day, without a batter of an eyelid by anyone else. I've always enjoyed documentary photography, however I have often found difficulty and challenges when it comes to the likes of street photography or any documentary photography involving people. When photographing in an every day situation, I tend to find people looking, questioning or being weary of the presence of a camera. At busy events such as Durham Miners gala, this was never the case.

Something else I throughly enjoyed about photographing this day, was that when it came to making a book of my images, I had images that told a narrative. The viewer of the images would be able to be lead through the days events from beginning to end, through the use of my images. This concept of telling a story with my images as appose to just having one or two stand alone successful images, was something I felt I wanted to carry focusing up on in future projects.

When thinking into the future, about what career path I may want to take on following this degree, I have thought about the possibility of photojournalism. I feel I would enjoy is the idea of being employed to then be sent on projects where I would have to document particular events, such as events like these. Therefore in my Major project, with around 4 months to work with, rather than focusing upon one vast subject matter, I intend on finding several events or various subject matters to experiment photographing in this documentary style way with the intentions of being able to possibly make another book from. I feel trying to find particular events to photograph or interesting subject matters which I can photograph in this documentary style will be suitable practice in improving my natural ability to capture interesting documentary shots. This should also then hopefully hold me in good stead upon graduation as I will have a portfolio of numerous successful documentary photographs which I could take to a future employer. 

I am not going choose what events I photograph as of now, as I intend to keep researching to find up and coming events or interesting subject matters I feel will be most suitable for me to photograph. 

The kind of events I have in mind as of now are the up and coming Junior doctors strikes, or any strikes for that matter or possibly being able to photograph a day at the races.