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.
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
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.
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