Into the dark: A history of night photography - British Journal of Photography

Into the dark: A history of night photography - British Journal of Photography:

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The May 2012 edition of BJP had the theme of night photography so - given my interest in what they humorously call the 'Dark Arts' - I was more than usually keen to get the wrapper of this particular edition. Inside however I found a bit of a mixed bag - summed up for me by the irony of running a review of two cameras which have sufficiently high ISO capabilities that you can photograph in dark situations as if it were daylight.

A significant proportion of the photos and sets seemed to be about defeating darkness, rather than using its creative potential - one set even used 'artificial' darkness - overpowering daylight by the use of flash lighting. I'm not trying to say that some of these shots did not have merit in their own rights - but I'm not sure they live up to the promise of the headline. James Nizam's Thought Forms set is a case in point - they are extremely clever, well executed and quite thought provoking, but they are more about light than they are about dark.

I was less clear about the merits of the shots which 'reveal' secret military exercises and missile launches. Quite what I'm supposed to make of the revelation that the American military practises night fighting in the dark eludes me.

On the flip side the set by Bill Henson seem to me to catch the essence of night with his dark, murky dream worlds hinting at unseen terrors  - touching on some of our primal concerns, and maybe fantasies, about darkness. Miti Ruangkritya's portfolio of flood shots in Bangkok were given added mystery and poignancy by the dark, and the photographs of Inuit people by Donald Weber using the characteristic light of an LCD screen was a clever take on the challenges facing a people who have moved from the stone age to the digital age in a single generation.

So overall - the usual BJP mix of stunning photos, clever ideas and stuff which I don't get (yet - if ever). Plenty of food for thought though, and it  makes me wish for the earlier night-falls again (sorry).

Takehiko Nakafuji "Night Crawler" 1995

Takehiko Nakafuji "Night Crawler" 1995:

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With apologies to anyone who isn’t on Facebook, but this was the best link I could find for a selection from Nakafuji’s Night Crawler, which I discovered in the May 2012 issue of BJP. There is a somewhat smaller but more accessible selection here.

It jumped out at me for its resemblance to Daido Moriyama, in that they are night shots in grainy high-contrast black and white, so it was no surprise to find the Nakafuji had studied under him. Night Crawler 1995/2010 is about Tokyo at night and concentrates on the differences between the ‘95 set and the later set. Sadly, it’s rather difficult to make head or tail of these differences in the rather limited viewing circumstances offered by Facebook and the other galleries. However I find the individual photos themselves very striking (not least I suspect because of the stylistic similarity to some of the stuff I’m currently producing).

The lead example in the BJP article is a case in point:

 

The overall image is dominated by the contrast between the very deep blacks of the shadows and the strangely luminous – almost ghostly – face of the girl under the umbrella. Incidentally, it is placed almost dead centre in the photo, which is contrary to conventional wisdom, but serves to draw even more attention to it. She seems to be huddled against the cold or even hoping to pass by un-noticed – I can’t help wondering what is happening just out of shot. The tilt of the picture also adds to the tension, as does the hint of activity in the background. It’s unclear if the intense white around the girl is a result of the lighting or has been added in the darkroom, but it does add to the shot by hgelping to isolate her from the surrounding shadow. One final thing that stands out to me (punctum perhaps) is the size of her shoes, which seem surprisingly large.

The article does not mention why Nakafuji uses the high contrast treatment, but I’d be interested in his take on this as it might help me understand my own interest in the style. One thing the set does make clear though is that it can be used quite effectively in people pictures – something I’m just starting to experiment with.

Ralph Gibson - Master Fine Art Photographer - YouTube

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Ralph Gibson - Master Fine Art Photographer - YouTube:

This video is well worth watching for Gibson's explanation of his background and interest in black and white photography. The following is also worth a look  as he is not only a very good photographer but a competent guitarist as well. This would fit with his thoughts about needing to be 'cultured' - have an understanding of literature, music, poetry - in order to keep finding inspiration.

Marc Da Cunha Lopes Online Portfolio

Marc Da Cunha Lopes Online Portfolio:

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Discovered this guy while flicking through a book in Waterstones - the Photoshop work is peerless and the photos raise all sorts of interesting ideas and questions. My favourite section is 'Vertebrata' - the ape in the station waiting room towards the end captures the feel of such places to a tee.

Definitely worth a good look.

Ted Forbes on Brassaï on Vimeo

Episode 65 :: Brassaï on Vimeo:

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A useful if brief insight into the night photography of Brassai. Some useful historical perspective, explaining that this sort of photography was something of a novelty in its time, and that the slow emulsions on the glass plates used in the camera provided some serious technical challenge. Had to chuckle when Mr Forbes mentioned that the photos were 'not perfect' and mentioned their graininess - for me that is part of the attraction.

As one of the tutors has pointed out on the Flickr group, in response to the photo here,  there are some interesting similarities between Brassai and the stuff I'm currently doing.

I'm clearly not Brassai and Maryport isn't Paris, but if I can achieve a similar sense of place and people I shall feel reasonably satisfied.

Colour or Black & White – that is the question?

As noted in my last post I was ratching through the Ralph Gibson website yesterday evening. It so happens that I have a copy of World Photography – Ed: Bryn Campbell that also has some good quality reproductions of several Gibson prints (book review later). Several of the shots reminded me of photos I’ve taken in the past but left in colour – largely because until recently I’d had no interest in black and white reproduction – so I though it might be instructive to choose a couple – convert them to high contrast black and white and see which I preferred and what, if any changes in impact I could identify.

First up is a sandstone buttress on a local church with a blue sky behind – brought to mind by this shot of Gibson’s. In the book the stone blocks print rather brighter than the reproduction on his website so the suggestion of ‘heat’ is more noticeable. The thing that strikes me most about this particular image is that despite the simplicity I have spent significant time just looking at the fine grain in the blocks and wondering about the purpose of the building. It comes from a set called Quadrants which is loosely based, as far as I can tell, on photos containing squares or implied squares.

The image it reminded me of, and the black and white conversion are here. To get from one to the other I used the fairly obvious expedient of reducing luminosity in the blue and aqua channels and increasing it in the red, orange and yellow channels in lightroom and then adjusting overall exposure contrast black point etc.

  

The colour version feels unmistakeably British. The stone is a mellow red-orange, the blue is a nice saturated contrast, there’s no obvious glare – to me at any rate it reeks of temperate climate and summer. The b&w version, on the other hand, feels like hot climate, unremitting heat, glare and so on – so there is a quite different feel as a result of the conversion. The first version relies purely on hue for its effect as the saturation and luminosity are about the same (easily confirmed by temporarily converting to grey scale in PSE and measuring the density) – the second relies purely on luminosity. If it isn’t a strange distinction to make I would say that the colour version is more pleasing – but the b&w version is more interesting – in part because the surface textures are enhanced and, if you know what you’re looking for, it highlights the different stone dressing techniques that were employed.

There is the hint of an eye in the top right – I suspect the edge of an abutting roof or gutter – I may have to make a return trip in the summer to see if it’s practical to emphasise that aspect.

The next image I was reminded of by these two: Black Series and Deja Vu. The first of these set me trawling through all the window frames and door decorations that I had photographed when I made my book on Maryport, the second focussed my search to this one, which is nothing if not drab:

I had to work a bit harder to extract the image I was after from this one, but in the process I got a surprise result – it’s quite dramatic in minimal colour as well as b&w.To get the colour version I had to massively increase contrast in curves, push the black slider to 100% and increase exposure by 2.5 stops, it was then simply a case of Lightroom’s default conversion to get the b&w version.

  

The original, as noted above is just dull – I doubt it’s interesting enough to be worthy of a second glance. There’s not enough in it to give any real clue as to what it is, and little to attract the eye. I think the full b&w suffers a little from the same problem, although there are hints of detail in the black to suggest painting and hints of a 3-D structure at the base.

For me the minimal colour version is a significant improvement on both with hints of the colour field work of Rothko or Newman. Compared with the Gibson Deja Vu it clearly lacks the hint of narrative provided by the human presence, but is still intriguing enough to stand on its own.

I think where this is getting to is that it is not the large areas of dark or light that interest me in Gibson’s work, but the way in which his approach concentrate the eye on the detail. This would fit with some of the ‘profiling’ I’ve done at work, where it’s my interest in detail (although not my attention to it) and my ability to find patterns and connections that crops up regularly.

So for me the answer to my opening question is whichever provides me with the info I need to engage with the photo. In the first case, I’m more engaged with the b&w version – in the second the minimal colour. Nothing terribly insightful there I guess except that I’m becoming more and more interested in the potential of B&W to isolate patterns and detail.

Not sure how I weave any of this into the remaining assignments though :0(

Der Abend (inspired by Ralph Gibson)

1000/714: 03 Feb 2012: Die Abend (inspired by Ralph Gibson), a photo by nmonckton on Flickr.

I posted this on my photo-a-day blog but I feel it belongs here as well. Have been interested in Ralph Gibson ever since one of the tutors (thanks Clive) threw his name 'casually' into a conversation. He has a very distinctive signature style featuring very deep blacks and strong contrasts and I especially enjoy the graphic nature of his images and the way he plays with space and form. Interestingly, especially in view of the advice we usually receive, he also has a couple of mixed colour/b&w sets on his website, but even the colour sets are quite high in contrast and have the same focus on form and shape.

Anyway - to cut a long story short - I was having a good look around his website and came across a shot in Die Nacht which I liked so much I thought I'd have a stab at my own take. A couple of points – his shot was clearly of someone else's hand unless he had a cable release, and I struggled to get the range of skin tones that he managed – I suspect this may be down to the light source, which in my case was quite hard. In some ways I regret using a watch as the ‘object’ because it now feels too much like a copy – I think it could easily be brought up to date and retain the impact by using perhaps a smart phone or a PDA instead. However, in fairness to myself, it was a spur of the moment idea sparked by the website, and it’s worked better than I expected.

There are a couple of colour shots in my archive that I was reminded of while browsing his website, so I think I’m going to dig some out and compare them in colour and with this treatment to see how the impact varies. Somewhat unexpectedly I find that black and white is featuring more and more in my everyday photos and I’m hoping that this kind of contrasting of colour and b&w images will help me understand why – is it just the pleasure of the ‘new’ or is it something more fundamental?

Radical Love | toni greaves | photographer

Radical Love | toni greaves | photographer:

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Visit this site – it seems to me to capture what documentary photography is about.

I looked up Greaves’ website after seeing 4 shots by her in BJP (Issue:7795, Dec 2011). They cover aspects of life as a nun in a monastery and are as good an example of People and Place as you could want I think. Greaves obviously spent some time earning respect from the sisters as she seems to have had virtually untrammelled access to the Monastery. The set is a great mix of shots from a distance, intimate portraits and small details which manages to imply a separation from our world, while at he same time presenting quite an intimate view of life 'inside'.

She achieves this by clever use of framing and focus to distance herself from some scenes while managing to provide a balancing set of intimate portraits and shots of small details which just add to the atmosphere. It seems so familiar and so different at the same time.

Utterly enchanting!

There some other fascinating sets on the site as well – a group on ritual circumcision ceremonies in part of Kenya and an odd little set on people who like to dress up as furry animals (I’m assuming this is not a wind up). There is also a somewhat more tense set on childbirth in Nepal for the Gates Foundation.

Greaves gift seems to me to manage to distil the essence of whatever she wishes to portray into a very small number of shots – she lends the lie to the idea that its all about video and interactive experiences. Her photo essays are close to visual poetry with their contrasts and conciseness.

Footnote

After writing this I went back for another look and discovered quite how well known she is. Nice to see that my assessment wasn’t off the mark.

Cole Thompson Photography: The Ghosts of Auschwitz

Cole Thompson Photography:

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When I first saw these images, before I started out with the OCA, I rather lightly dismissed them as rather mannered use of blur and perhaps double exposure. I revisited them in the light of the current discussion on cliche and realised how far off the mark I was in my initial thoughts. They aren't about the technique, they're about the guys feelings and he's used the kit and techniques he had available to capture those feelings. I'd like to think that this represents some kind of progress in my understanding of how to read a photo.

As a set I find them very difficult to look at - they seem full of lost potential, and yet, knowing how they were taken confirms that life moves on no matter what horrors we commit as a race. We need this sort of work to make sure that memory does not move on.

Turner Prize and Side Gallery

Last weekend I joined some colleagues from the OCA in Gateshead/Newcastle for a visit to the Turner prize exhibit at the Baltic.  Jim Lloyd, who organised the visit has done a write up here Jim's OCA Drawing 1 Blog: Turner Prize so I shall try not to duplicate too much of what he has said.

The opportunity to mix with a small number of people from other disciplines was one I’m glad I didn’t miss – there was plenty to talk about all day (I know – shutting me up is the trick – sorry guys) and even then I think I only really scratched the surface of the opportunities an enhanced understanding other media might bring to my practise.

As Jim noted the early start was definitely a good idea because even though we had a decent chat over coffee as we all arrived we still managed to miss the queue and the crowds.

Turner prize exhibits
Martin Boyce – not sure what to make of this. The litter bin and wind blown ‘leaves’ was an interesting execution but I wasn’t quite sure of it’s purpose or message, similarly the ‘table’ which reminded me of an old school desk with its oddly angular graffiti. The display was brought to life for me by a small child , who looking at a similar bunch of angular letters stuck to a board on the wall said: ‘Mummy, those letters look so sad’. And they did. Perhaps sometimes we need to set aside the intellectual baggage we bring to these events and just let our emotion do the work. Whoever she was – I’m grateful to her.

Hilary Lloyd – I thought this exhibit was very cold, consisting as it did of projector boxes and TV screens in a brightly lit white room. We were assured by the attendant that the almost obsessive attention to neatness in the cabling was an integral part of the work which led me to the thought that the message was easily subverted by simply walking behind the TV screens and viewing them from the wrong side, or using the projector beams to cast shadow puppets (one I tried, one I didn’t) We did observe that the adults were strangely reluctant to break the beams – very few crossed the imaginary line which linked the projectors. Obviously the same was not true of the kids – which leads me to wonder if the aim was not to get us to question our relationship with art. In some ways I wish I’d made the rabbit shadow with my fingers – she might even have approved if we’re to believe this bit of blurb: “Foregrounding the apparatus of viewing and choreographing our physical relationship with the work, she proposes a rethinking of the ways in which we engage with the moving image”

Karla Black – this was the standout exhibit for me. The main work looked like the results of a primary school craft session after the kids had left but before the teachers had cleared up only 100 times larger. At the far end of the room was a huge mound of paper (you could walk under it – it was not solid) which flowed down like left-over papier mache to an area full of paint powder, paint bombs , small coloured blocks, cellophane etc. At the risk of a rather trivial comparison, in Ratatouille they win over the cynical old restaurant critic by serving him a simple ratatouille that takes him back to his days as a child – and this had a similar effect on me. I didn’t want to stand and look at it, I wanted to be in there turning it into a papier mache dinosaur or something. From Jim’s notes I’m perhaps glad that I didn’t go to her talk – this hit me at the emotional level and it would have been a shame to spoil it.

George Shaw – perhaps the most disappointing exhibit for me. Not George’s fault I hasten to add – I saw ‘The Sly and Unseen Day’ back in February and was mightily impressed so I brought rather high expectations with me – perhaps too high. The much smaller number of paintings and wider spacing reduced their impact, and the content was not something I found particularly easy to identify with.

Overall my money would go on Karla Black – so that’s presumably ruined her chances :0)

Side Gallery

Three of us – myself, Michael and Sarah – didn’t attend the artists talk, preferring instead to make the short walk to the Side Gallery across the river which was showing two exhibitions, one of John Heartfield posters/artwork and one of August Sander photos.

The gallery itself is quite small and intimate almost to the point that it feels like viewing the images at home. Heartfield was downstairs. I was not previously familiar with his very striking work which uses elements of photomontage and design to put across fairly blunt political messages. Given the anti-Nazi tone of much of the material on display it is no surprise that he was banned for a considerable period in Germany before and during WWII. Technically I think much of the work must have been cutting edge, and is still worth looking at today – even if it would now be easier to achieve.Some of the anti-war and anti-racist rhetoric had a surprisingly modern feel but some of the messages were simply too unsubtle – I suspect that is my modern sensibility kicking in.

Upstairs was an exhibit of August Sander prints – which is what the two photographers amongst us had come to see. I was surprised how small they were, but as Michael observed they were probably contact prints from a 4x5 plate or similar. Much of the writing about Sander talks about his attempts at objectivity and categorising, but I saw photos that had a genuine sympathy for their subject. Yes, they were formally posed – particularly the shot of the artisan and peasant classes – but I sensed a genuine love of people coming from the shots. It would be possible to read quite a lot into the poses and dress – the bohemians in the shots tended to prefer angled poses in relaxed clothing and appeared unconcerned by the camera. The poorer people on the other hand, had clearly gone to some trouble to find their Sunday best and very often looked straight into the camera – which must have been a weird and wonderful piece of kit for some of them.

Our visit was over all too quickly – and I wont get a second chance to go and see the Sanders – which is a shame – so I’m glad I took this opportunity.

The Side has recently had much of its funding withdrawn. On the basis of the evidence I saw it is worth supporting, so my plea would be – get yourself along there and make sure you put something in the donation box.

Ben Lewis - Gursky World on Vimeo

In the light of all the recent interest in the sale of Gursky's 'Rhein' this is an interesting overview. The presenter is a little too in love with the subject for it to be neutral, but it's no less intersting or informative for that.

Ben Lewis - Gursky World on Vimeo:

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Steve McCurry: A Retrospective on Vimeo

Leading on from my previous post this would seem to confirm that documentary photography is the natural home for 'People and Place'. This selection contains some stunning portraits as well.

Steve McCurry: A Retrospective from leica camera on Vimeo.

Joel Grimes – Portraits with a difference

As part of the Assignment 1 feedback my tutor suggested a couple of photographers to investigate – one being Joel Grimes. By happy coincidence Joel’s work had featured in Photo Professional magazine only a couple of weeks earlier so I was already a bit familiar with his signature style. In addition he has a very modern if rather complex and slow-to-load website and a well populated photostream on Flickr: Flickr: Joel Grimes Photography's Photostream

His current signature style is very striking – using a three light set up (one overhead, two side lights) to light his subjects who he then drops into an HDR treated background. The magazine interview suggests that this was a relatively recent change to his style, which was previously based on a one light slightly off-set set-up to produce a gradient wrap around the subject. There are examples of both on Flickr – the single light set-up is in the older material and produces a very classical look. (photos not reproduced here because of request on Flickr)

I have a preference for the more classical look of his older shots – the HDR look seems a bit overdone to me, but it is undoubtedly a success for him.

The website also features a couple of portfolios called ‘Everyday Life’ and ‘Desert life’ which are more conventional – Desert Life in particular is reminiscent of Ansel Adams in the tonality of the shots included.

Batiment des Arts Contemporain, Geneva

Been in Switzerland on holiday for two weeks. While in Geneva I took the chance to visit the Centre d’Art Contemporain, the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain and the adjacent Centre de la Photographie , which between them had a couple of photo exhibitions as well as a couple of shows by other artists and a punk and minimalism exhibition from their archives.

The Idea of Africa (re-invented)

The Centre de la Photographie was hosting a curated exhibition featuring photography from Nigerian photographer J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere and the artistic collective ‘Invisible Borders’ who appear to be a mixed group of photogs and film-makers.

J.D. ‘Okhai Ojeikere  has some international renown for his fashion photography, in particular his interest in hairstyles, but these works were drawn from his private photography taken over the last 60 years documenting modern Lagos. The ‘Invisible Borders’ contribution was captured on a road trip from Lagos to Dakar and focussed on the ‘humiliations, bureaucracy, corruption and crime’ experienced when crossing Africa by land.

According to the press release which accompanied the exhibition ‘The Idea of Africa’ is a book by Congolese philosopher (V.Y. Mudimbe) which shows how the way we conceive Africa can be traced to Western colonial ideology. The (revisited) references the exhibitions attempt to to trace another history – one not framed on Western assumptions.

I’m afraid I struggled. With this introduction I was expecting something that would make me look again, perhaps even re-evaluate my perception of Africa.

Unfortunately, what I think I got was a selection of black and white photos from the urban documentary school. The press release talks of beauty – I saw concrete flyovers and brutalist office blocks mixed with urban poverty. I felt you could have achieved the same in some poorer areas of major British cities – so I’m not sure where the re-invention fits in. If anything it reinforced my - presumably Western colonialist – views of the consequences of the overlap of western commercialism and poverty.

This is not to say that taken on their own face value the photos were anything other than interesting and they were certainly beautifully printed. I’m just not convinced they were ever intended for the purpose that the curator has put them to.

Contraband – Taryn Simon

This exhibition – in the Centre  d’Art Contemporain – was the first solo exhibition by Taryn Simon in Switzerland. It featured 546 photos from a set of 1,075 photos of items detained or seized from passengers and overseas mail over a 5-day period at JFK Airport Terminal 4. All the items were classified as prohibited, undeclared, etc.

The press release makes an issue of Simon’s scientific methodology – which falls under the category of ‘trying too hard’, as far as I’m concerned. Each photo was captured, we are told, using ‘a labour-intensive forensic photographic procedure - large format camera and the same neutral backdrop for all items.’ This is ‘reinforced’ by presenting the series alphabetically from ‘alcohol’ to ‘wood carvings’.

As it happens they were hung in batches which could be viewed in several different orders and they were reproduced at about A5 so the point of all this escapes me. They certainly benefitted from being grouped under headings though, because many of the items were not easily identifiable.

Irrespective of my issues with the ‘science’, they were a fascinating set of images. I doubt a much smaller group would have had the same impact, but the sheer number and variety of items was memorable in itself. There are some samples on Taryn Simon’s website. People smuggle or carry odd things. In between the obvious – viagra, heroin, gold-dust, counterfeit handbags etc – there was dried deer penis, dried guinea pigs, cow dung toothpaste and horsemeat sausages. It was difficult to decide whether to be appalled or amused.

The work itself fits with some of Simon’s previous work which seeks to document unknown parts of daily life in America. Should you ever wonder what customs officials are handling every day this exhibition would be a good place to start.

In the press release Simon is quoted as saying that she was interested not just in the cataloguing, but also the ability of the photos to transcend boundaries –the goods were denied entry but have made it across the border as images. An interesting idea – especially as they have now been re-exported to Switzerland! I can see her point though – without the photos the objects would float in international limbo until they were destroyed and most of us would be none the wiser.

Taryn Simon currently has an exhibition at the Tate Modern in London. A rail trip is tempting.

Museum of Photographic Arts Collections' collections on Flickr

Just adding a bookmark as this looks like an interesting resource.
Museum of Photographic Arts Collections' collections on Flickr

Daido Moriyama

The official Daido Moriyama website can be visited by clicking the link below. Note that it contains a lot of flash content and will be slow to load if your broadband is as crummy as mine. :(
Daido Moriyama official web site|DaidoMoriyamaPhotoFoundation
According to Wikipedia Moriyama is renowned for his high-contrast black and whites of the less attractive bits of Japan, and his official website certainly bears this out – although he takes some high-contrast b/was of the less attractive bits of New York as well. His technique – which according to this site is to underexpose at high ISO then overdevelop to produce a very high contrast, grainy end result – is perfectly suited to much of his subject matter. In fact, I’m left wondering if some of the shots would have nowhere near the ‘under-belly’ feel if the film had not been so harshly treated.
To me his shots illustrate the sterile nature of a lot of debate on camera forums about lens sharpness/pixels/ISO etc. It seems the secret is to understand your equipment and use it to deliver your vision. Moriyama’s work is interesting in part because of the imperfections and because of the way they gel with his chosen subjects.

Update (03 June 2011): Found a brief interview with Moriyama here. A couple of points worthy of note are that he continues to produce work on film - which I guess best suits his style, and his more recent shots offer more 'clarity' than his earlier work. From the interview it seems clear that he is trying to produce photos of what he sees as the real Japan, perhaps even trying to strip away a veneer to show the real thing.

Thinking out loud about Cindy Sherman and the meaning of ‘portrait’

Cindy Sherman is an American photographer who is renowned for her self-portraits in styles borrowed from other genres – ‘50s American movies, centre-folds, historical portraits etc. Much of her work is considered to draw attention to the stereo typing of women.

It’s the self-portraiture that attracted me to her work, as I’ve been working on self-portraits for assignment 1. Her Wikipedia entry attributes a quote from her in the New York Times as follows:

"I feel I'm anonymous in my work. When I look at the pictures, I never see myself; they aren't self-portraits. Sometimes I disappear."

This is an interesting statement – if a photo of her, taken by her, is not a self-portrait, then what is it? This website, which is an unofficial Sherman tribute site proposes that her photos are not portraits because they do not represent a real person, simply a type.  I can see that this suggestion has some parallels with acting. If I go to the Royal Shakespeare Company I am clearly not watch King Lear in the flesh, but equally I am not watching the actor. I am watching an actor who has had part of his personal character subsumed by the role, but at the same time he has developed Lear by adding some of his own feelings and reactions to the part.

Taking this back to the original question I’m not sure the photos are purely ‘type’. Presumably she brings part of herself to them (since she is essentially acting the type) and they impose some of themselves on to her for the duration of the photo. If we take her statement above at face value we could argue that they so successfully impose themselves on her that her personality disappears from the image. Even so I am still left to wonder why she chose those ‘types’ – her input is in the choice of type unless they were simply random selections based on available props.

Is it unreasonable to assume that the types might tell us something about her in spite of the absence of ‘her’ from those shots? Bringing this question back home, could it be that a careful selection of ‘types’ or other substitutes for my personality could produce a valid series of photos which provide an insight into the way I think and feel?

I’ve got an idea forming for a series of which involves merging my face with statues of people or objects that particularly interest me. I’ll be submitting the first with Assignment 1 in the next couple of days, but there’s a germ of an idea here that seems worth exploring further.

The Baltic Gateshead – Dan Holdsworth, George Shaw and Jesper Just

Went to the Baltic today to see Dan Holdsworth’s  ‘Blackout’ (last opportunity before it closes). The exhibition feature seven very large (probably 8ftx6ft) prints of a mountainous area of Iceland. Holdsworth’s technique appears to be to print negatives of his pictures so the sky is jet black. In some cases this works really well -  in others things come about a bit wishy-washy.  Some seem almost like a computer generated image through the glaciers – others, for me at least miss the mark. I’ve been to Iceland – and I understand what he was talking about in the guide in terms of the timelessness of the landscape - this is not how I’d choose to capture it, but we’re not the same. I’m certainly glad I made the effort to see them. reproduced at the size they are they are almost monumental – so hat’s off to the guy.

By way of fascinating (and unexpected) contrast on the floor above was an exhibition by George Shaw - The Sly and Unseen Day . This, more than anything I have read, has convinced me that for my first Level 2/5 course I shall try Landscape. It doesn’t have to be long exposure shots of water. In the exhibition Shaw revisits the social housing estates of his youth and paints them with Humbrol enamel paints – the kind you use for model kits. They are, quite simply, delightful. Our second house, while not ‘social housing’ was in a near identical estate, and I suspect the collection of terraces, semis, back alleys and neglected community centres and shops that Shaw presents will be familiar to a significant proportion of people in Britain today.

The icing on the cake (almost literally as it was the top floor) was a series of three videos by Jesper Just – Sirens in Chrome, A Vicious Undertow and Bliss and Heaven. The three videos – about 10 minutes each – adopt Hollywood/music video production values – but leave you with a whole range of questions. it’s a shame that Sirens in Chrome is not available online, as for me it was probably the most intriguing, although Undertow was almost equally engaging as in asks questions about the relationship between an older and younger woman (mother and daughter perhaps) and a young man who appears to have the younger woman’s affections.

Sadly it’s too late if you want to see Holdsworth (at the Baltic anyhow) but Just and Shaw are there until mid-May, and in my view worth the visit.

August Sander (Getty Museum)

A collection of 87 prints by August Sander held in the J Paul Getty. It’s going to take a while to go through all of them as they each have a contextual paragraph or two.

August Sander (Getty Museum)

Robert Mapplethorpe Profile

Mapplethorpe’s life and career are summarised here - Mapplethorpe Profile – and on the Mapplethorpe Foundation website. He is famous for his portrait, still life and nude photography, and somewhat notorious for his homo-erotic and S&M imagery.

Given the latter I was rather surprised by the humanity of his portrait work. This is most obvious, and perhaps predictable given their relationship, in his shots of Patti Smith, but is well displayed in the portrait gallery on the Mapplethorpe foundation website. Particular favourites are this one and this one which seem to be at odds with my previous impression of Patti Smith as a somewhat edgy rock singer/poet.

His male and female nudes are equally fascinating for their tonality and for their classical feel – it is unsurprising to see a range of shots of classical statues in the sample of his work on the Foundation website. His obvious delight in playing with the colour of skin comes through in shots such as this, where the visual effect is purely down to clever lighting, this delightfully tender nude study of two young women and this stunning double portrait which reminds me of the cut paper silhouette portraits popular in the 1800s and earlier.

I struggle a little with some of the more blatantly sexual material, which is as much, if not more, a reflection on me than anything else – even here though there is a quality to the work that makes it difficult to look away.