My Previous Work in Photography

Photos on Instagram/Phone:

Landscape

https://www.instagram.com/p/_jy1qwHCNd/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/9PHs92HCAh/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/4_5Ha8HCMh/?taken-by=gwhale69

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https://www.instagram.com/p/2Y24nhHCHq/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/xW4IRonCGH/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/xM6c98nCJk/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/sZs61YHCGJ/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/sNVkncHCAK/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/ibkD_cHCEK/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/c3yz7bHCJm/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/bT7cq9nCHM/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/Y-J42SHCNx/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/V9m2SyHCLt/?taken-by=gwhale69

Portrait

https://www.instagram.com/p/BA2KQ_LHCB7/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/5yy2fdHCND/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/bKgtRCnCPK/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/VxTU0SHCEB/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/WYC6skHCH5/?taken-by=gwhale69

Documentary

https://www.instagram.com/p/5IQLrNHCEs/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/dXDXJkHCFC/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/Z1R4LcnCEI/?taken-by=gwhale69

Street

https://www.instagram.com/p/_INOpCnCH7/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/Z3ldkMnCFN/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/UjfjgYHCME/?taken-by=gwhale69

https://www.instagram.com/p/T80oEfHCFm/?taken-by=gwhale69

Tips on Shooting Environmental Portraits - Week 9 [Project Research Notes]

Notes from 'Chapter 2: The Environmental Portrait' taken from David D. Busch, Rob Sheppard (2012) David Busch's Portrait/candid/street Photography: Compact Field Guide, : Course Technology. (page. 27-37)

Keep It Simple
Concentrate on your subject and try not to let your surroundings/environment dominate over the subject. Remember to consider your focal length and depth-of-field as this affects perspective.

Practice!
To get more comfortable with your environment, shoot and experiment with non-threatening subjects such as a friend/relative or even a doll. By experimenting, you will understand how to control the sharpness of your backgrounds before the real subject comes in front of the camera.

Smile :)
This will make any situation with someone feel more comfortable and confident so don't forget to smile as you shoot. This can create great facial expressions you can capture during your shoots.

Think About How to Best Get a Sharp Photo
Using a tripod definitely helps in this case. However, this isn't always possible with environmental portraits. If you use a hand-held camera, be sure to use a fast shutter-speed and/or anti-shake/image stabilisation technology built into your camera or lens. The most common cause for unsharp images comes from camera movement during exposure. 


Choosing Focal Length
Your choice of focal length influences three important aspects of your photograph. These are:
Angle of View
The most obvious effect of focal length choice. A wide-angle lens will show you more of with environment with your subject. A telephoto lens will narrow down that and of view to less of the surrounding in which the subject is based.

Environmetal Photography Mood Board - Week 8 [Homework Task Photos]

Using inspirational photographs relating to my own creative project theme of environmental portraits of my father, I created a mood board via the Picasa image application. Here are some examples of the mood boards that I have produced:

Photoshoot #1 @ Graveney School - Week 8 [Photoshoot Notes]

Environmental Photography - Week 8 [Project Research Notes]

During our workshop after the Easter break [Week 8], our class's tutor, Paul Vincent brought up the topic of environmental portrait photography. I was intrigued by this style of photography as I noticed from the photos projected in class that, in some way they related to the project I was undergoing regarding the subject of my father. Since I wanted to take photos of my father in different locations to signify his lifestyle and identity I took upon myself to do some research into this area of photography and find an online journal to review which related to this approach of photography.

Environmental Photography

This is a genre of photography by which subject's are photographed in their usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject's life and surroundings. It is most commonly used by magazines/newspapers as including background detail and elements of someone’s environment through props and the mise-en-scene tells more of their story than a plain portrait shot in a studio.

"By photographing a person in their natural surroundings, it is thought that you will be able to better illuminate their character, and therefore portray the essence of their personality, rather than merely a likeness of their physical features. It is also thought that by photographing a person in their natural surroundings, the subject will be more at ease, and so be more conducive to expressing themselves, as opposed to in a studio, which can be a rather intimidating and artificial experience."

Quote from Jonathan Hilton in his book:Hilton, J. (1999) Special Occasion Photography (Pro-Photo Series), : RotoVision.

Tips on Shooting Environmental Portraits

1. Get Candid
Warm up by snapping some candid shots of your subject going about their normal routine. Try not to be too intrusive as the less your subject notices you’re there, the more relaxed they’ll feel. It takes people a few minutes to stop feeling awkward in front of a camera.

2. Add Props
Add a prop to show more personality and to give your subject something to pose with. his is also a great solution if you’re working with an uninspiring background; tools of the trade or even pieces of uniform, such as a chef’s hat, instantly add interest and detail.

3. Monochrome
Black-and-white has timeless appeal and is also a great way to make a busy shot like this one more restful to look at. This post-production technique further enhances the reportage feel of the image. 

4. Strike a pose
When you’ve taken a few candid shots, ask your subject to pose for you. Position them in their surroundings in a way that keeps them in the foreground as the main focus of the shot and keep chatting to them while you snap to keep their face animated and natural.
- If the background feels too busy, dial down to an f-stop like f/3.5 to blur it.

5. Widen up
For a different look, whip a wide-angle lens like our Sigma 10-20mm out of your camera bag and try including more of the surroundings in the shot. This is an especially effective trick if there are multiple people milling around as you’ll be able to capture them all in one photo.

6. Use the light
If you’re shooting indoors, like us, position your subject near a natural light source. Another option in low light is to ask a friend to use a golden reflector to bounce more light onto your subject’s face.

Taken from: 
Meyer, J. (13th November 2013) Environmental Portrait Photography: How to Shoot Candid Reportage-style Portraits, Available at: http://www.digitalcameraworld.com/2013/11/13/environmental-portrait-photography-how-to-shoot-candid-reportage-style-portraits/ (Accessed: 13th April 2016).

Week Six [Workshop Notes]

Student Presentations:

Connotation and Denotation - Stadium + Punctum

In Language Analysis
- Words are not limited to one single meaning, most of them now have more than one which are categorised as Connotative and Denotative 


In Image analysis

Denotative - "It is the literal face-value meaning of the sign" which means that it refers to the literal meaning of the photo, the elements we can see

Connotative - "It is all the social, cultural and historical meanings that are added to a sign's literal meaning."This means that it refers to the associations and emotional suggestions that are connected to a certain word. It is adding attitude to the a word. 

Value of a photo
The image reveals what the creator wants us to see.


Studium - A kind of education (civility, politeness) that allows discovery of the operator (Provides a range of meanings obvious for everyone.

Punctum - An object/image that jumps out at the viewer within the photograph.


Studium - Similar concept of denotation, to study and understand the meaning of the photograph

Punctum - Similar concept of connotation, rare details that attract an audience to an image that is compelling to the spectator.


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Ethics of Representation in Photography

Ethics are principles reflecting values of a society. Issues arise in interpretation and and application.

Key Ethics of Representation: Representation, Profit, Conformity, Ownership

Ethical Considerations when taking your photos:

- Autonomy - 
In what way can I show respect for a person's right to decline or consent to photography? How do I handle informed consent

- Non-Maleficence - 
(Do No Harm) Am I creating and using photos in a manner that will do no harm to persons appearing in photos?

- Beneficence - 
(Do Good) What is my intention or purpose for taking this photo? How can I use a photo to promote a good cause while ensuring that I do no harm to individuals in photos?

- Fidelity -
Am I using photos in a context that fairly represents the real situation, subject identity, or physical location of the image?

- Justice - 
Am I photographing people and communities with the same respect I would show to neighbours and strangers in my home country?

Profit Making - Diane Arbus
"A world in which everybody is an alien, hopelessly isolated. immobilised in mechanical, crippled identities and - Sontag

Kevin Carter "Struggling Girl" Sudan 1993



Manipulation - Check the work of Brian Walski on the Iraqi War. He crossed-over images and made a huge photo hoax from it

Portrait and Fashion Photography

The most 'photoshop' form of photography today. It takes the spectator aware from the 'true' image by the manipulation of certain elements in the photo.

Image Theft
Richard Prince - Plagiarised other people's work on Instagram and pulled the images off their accounts for one of his exhibitions

It's important to consider the bigger picture and the aftermath of your photographs. What does it represent and express.



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'The Other' in Photography

19th Century photography focused on the documentary mode, this tendency came out of social criticism and journalism.

Things that photographers may represent:

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Sebastiao Salgado - Culture
A documentary photographers where his worked aimed to uncover and show the 'other' to a westernised audience. His work tells the truth inn order to get recognition on an under privileged society.

Michael Chelbin - Identity
Aimed to capture human stories in everyday life, those that exist in the space between the odd and the ordinary.

Diane Arbus - Sexual Identity
Her photos "flaunt and humanise abnormality" of her works from 1968.

Matthew Brady - War
Jacob Riis - Slums of East NYC Shows scenes in the ghetto for his middle class lantern slide audiences and newspaper readers.

Lewis Hine - Child Labour
Photographs children in their working environment, he promoted photography as a tool of social criticism.

August Sander - Identity/Social role 
He developed a taxonomic model of portrait photography where the identity of the sitter was defined, in their social role.



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The 'New Aesthetic'

The new aesthetic is a native product of modern network culture from London and it was born digitally, on the Internet. The New Aesthetic is a 'theory object' and a shareable concept.
The New Aesthetic is a collaborative attempt to draw a circle around several species of aesthetic activity - Drone photography, Ubiquitous surveillance, glitch imagery, street-view photography.

Drone Cameras
Drone cameras can fly close to the ground, through a tree, along a wall and then climb high for an amazing panorama. BBC's Earthflight demonstrated just how valuable a drone can be. It's quiet rotors allowed the camera to shoot a flock of flamingo's that a helicopter could never have done with it's loud propellers.

Street-View Photography
You can take a virtual walk down almost any street in the developed world

Presentation Script

Lutz, C., & Collins, J. L. (1993). The Photograph as an Intersection of Gazes. In Reading National Geographic (pp. 187–216). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

What is the 'Gaze'?

‘The gaze’ is a technical term which was originally used in film theory in the 1970s but which is now more broadly used by media theorists to refer both to the ways in which viewers look at images of people in any visual medium and to the gaze of those depicted in visual texts. According to Schroeder, the gaze "signifies a psychological relationship of power, in which the gazer is superior to the object of the gaze"

We'll focus closely on the Lutz and Collins article on 'The photograph and the intersection of gazes' to help structure this presentation. Their article talks about how the National Geographic magazine is of a tremendous potential cultural importance, where its photographs have voraciously focused on the third world scenes. 

A majority of their photographs are of the non-westerner and can be seen not simply as captured view of the other but a dynamic site at which gazes or view points intersect. This intersection creates a complex and multi-dimensional object. It allows viewers to negotiate a number of different identities both for themselves and those pictured.

The article explores the significance of the gaze, and the 7 kinds of gaze that can be found in the photograph. The 7 are...

1. The Photographers Gaze
2. The Institutional Gaze, magazine gaze.
3. The Readers Gaze.
4. The Non-Westerners Gaze.
5. The Explicit looking done by westerners.
6. The Gaze returned or refracted.
7. Our own academic gaze.


[Next Slide]



AN EXPLICIT WESTERN GAZE

The effects of this type of photograph on readers are potentially important and complex, both in representing and teaching the National Geographic audience about that relationship and perhaps allowing for a kind of identification with the Westerner in the photo and through that allowing for more intensive interaction or imaginary participation in the photo.

Throughout the years National Geographic has been publishing articles on the non-Western world. Their photographs show the westerners engaged in a variety of activities: they view the local landscape from atop a hill, hold and closely study an artifact, show a local tribal person some wonder of Western technology, such as a photograph, mirror or the camera itself, or interact with a native, in conversation, work or play.

[Next Slide]


The pictures of westerners can serve a validating function by proving that the author/photographer was there. The reader can be convinced that the account is a first hand one, brought from the field rather then from the archives.

Whether or not Westerners appear in the picture, we 'are' there, but in pictures that include a Westerner, we may see ourselves being viewed by the other, and we become conscious of ourselves and relationships. The act of seeing the self being seen is antithetical to the voyeurism which many art critics have identified as intrinsic to most photography and film


[Next Slide]


THE REFRACTED GAZE OF THE OTHER
(To see themselves as others see them )

The film theorist Christian Metz made an analogy between the cinema screen and a mirror (Metz 1975), arguing that through identifying with the gaze of the camera, the cinema spectator re-enacts what the psychoanalytic theorist Jacques Lacan called 'the mirror stage', a stage at which looking into the mirror allows the infant to see itself for the first time as other - a significant step in ego formation. 

Extending this observation to still photography, in a small number of National Geographic issues, a native is shown with a camera or mirror.  These are both tools of self-reflection and surveillance. Each creates a double of the self, a second figure who can be examined more closely than the original — a double that can also be alienated from the self, taken away, as a photograph can be, to another place. For many Americans, self knowledge is a central life goal. On the other hand, there is a childish naivety when a native gets to see his reflection.

[Next Slide]



There have been changes, Take a look at this photo, where the Indians may have stood unwillingly for photographs they are now charging 80 cents a person as they pose. It depicts the act of looking at unwilling subjects, suggesting two things. The first, voyeurism of the photograph of the exotic.  The camera gaze is doubled in this picture, not the native subject as in the photos above where the camera enters the frame in some explicit sense, and this doubling underlines the western gaze.


Success in avoiding boredom is key to retaining readers interest the photographer is always trying to colonise new experiences or find new ways to look at familiar subjects–to fight against boredom. For boredom is just the reverse side of fascination: both depend on being outside rather than inside a situation, and one leads to the other. Thus, images are constructed rather than found in some cases.



[Next Slide]

[Next Slide]


THE ACADEMIC SPECTATOR 

This gaze is simply a sub-type of the readers gaze.  We read a National Geographic magazine with a sense of astonishment and wonder, both as children and, in a way that is different only some of the time as adults.

We aim to make pictures tell a different story than they were originally meant to tell, one about their makers and readers, rather than their subjects.

This seventh kind of looking is guided by the idea that an alternative gaze is possible, one which is less dominating, more orientating toward seeing how a scene and its viewer might be changed than toward its imagined essential, unchanging and unsatisfactory form.

As we are invited to dream in the photograph, we are also invited to forget and be lost in it.
Our reading theory has also tutored our gaze at the photographs in distinctive ways, it has told us how to understand the techniques by which they work. We are captured by the temptation to view the photographs as more real than the world or at least a substitute for it.

Through attention to the dynamic nature of these intersecting gazes, the photograph becomes less vulnerable to the change or illusion that it masks or stuffs and mounts the world, freezes the life out of a scene. While the gaze of the subject of the photograph might be fairly lost in the heavy criss crossing traffic of the often more privileged producers and consumers gazes, very contemporary stories of contestable power are told there nonetheless.

[Next Slide]

THE GAZE AND GENDER THEORY

Laura Mulvey discusses feminist film theory in relation to the gaze in her essay "Visual pleasure and narrative cinema". She focuses on way in which looking in patriarchal society is "split between active/male and passive/female. The determining male gaze projects it's fantasy onto the female figure which is styled accordingly." Women are to be looked at and put on display; both the camera apparatus and the male gaze regulate their gaze and thus women can only identity with the self as an object. Mulvey concludes that the gendered gaze of the cinema systematically determines who sees and who is seen, and the gaze serves as an aggressive medium for male domination.

The gaze can also be seen by some as masculine.  John Berger points out in his book Ways of Seeing (1972), contemporary gender ideologies and envisages men as active doers and women as passive presence, men by what they do to others and women by their attitudes towards themselves. (men act and women appear). 

Both Mulvey and Berger alert us in the ways in which the position of the spectator has the potential to enhance or articulate the power of the observer over the observed.


The unique vision of the female spectator is explored, and seen as multiple because it can move between identification with the object and with the spectator in comparison to the male gaze. For example, there is no single masculine spectator position for viewing the ethnic representations in the National Geographic. While the image makers at National Geographic are overwhelmingly white and male, the magazine's readers come from a wide range of social positions within American society.