COMMON OBJECTS

Common Objects 

Here is a follow up from my post 'Personal Culture'- I have finished my portfolio of final images so I thought I would show you all!

The title of the project is Global Cultures and I have decided to make the work on self representation, focusing on my home and how my family and I live. I have  portrayed this in still life form and tried to show everyday objects and around the house.

All the compositions are exactly how you would see them in the house and haven't been altered in any way.

This was my final submission- A photobook

The next few images have been continued in a similar theme, however I have focused more about our every day lives and routines and objects which we associate with domestically or in our normal environments.

Can we find these objects interesting when they have become the subject in a photograph, or do they still read the same connotations they are normally associated with?

Below is the work of a few photographer's that have influenced me in producing this work, who make work with the idea of 'straight photography' in mind, and focus on the every day and mundane lives of others.

NIGEL SHAFRAN

WOLFGANG TILLMANS

A HOME TO BE LIVED IN

A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME-

A HOME IS TO BE LIVED IN

(Global Cultures- A Domestic family home)

I am currently studying a unit called Global cultures, which is something totally different and soo hard to get to grips with, but we have gone into detail with a few topics, such as globalization, multicultural, ethnography (study of humans), British culture, self exploration and many others, it's a very broad subject!

We have to produce a body of work for a small portfolio to submit and I have to chosen to represent my own culture but making images of still life around my house which show aspects of my home and how we as a family live in it. I will try to include quite quirky and unusual views/perspectives of the objects and try to show that a 'home is to be lived in' and people live and experience different things growing up which causes the individuality in us all.

As you may have noticed, these images are not great quality and this is because I have used a phone camera. I thought about how phone cameras are widely distributed nowadays and it has become part of everyone's culture and has become an easier way for people to produce photography. I am not looking to produced large prints for this project and with these images that won't happen, it is about the content of the images and not about presentation, a photograph is a photography no matter how big or small or great of quality it is.

I'd also like to stress that it's not about how good your equipment is it's how you use it that counts! It's quite hard to get sharp images when your against time, for example shooting these images inside with natural light meant I didn't have a lot of time until there was little light left in the house, therefore creating the grainy images, you don't really have any settings you can change on the camera which makes it more challenging-I am going to try to get sharper images when the light is better.

I'm hoping people will find these interesting, looking at someone else's house in relation to their own or finding similarities.

I have found this unit difficult to understand, and that is why I have thought about my own culture, because it's something I can relate with.

Please tell me what you think, I have only just started shooting and would love some feedback, good or bad I am open to critique as this is what I expect of feedback- Thanks for looking!!

AN ALL TIME GREAT!

Perspectives - David Suchet - 

People I Have Shot ...

ITV 1 Sunday 25Th March 10:15pm

Watch now if you missed it!

David Suchet follows in the footsteps of his grandfather, Fleet Street photographer Jimmy Jarche, in a quest to capture on camera how Britain has changed in the past century.

I am so glad I watched this documentary as it was so interesting and inspiring. To see this work of a photographer I haven't been familiar with until now, has also given me an insight to what modern news photographer's were like nearly 100 years ago. David Suchet investigates his Grandfather's portfolio of images and goes on a journey to recreate a few of those photographs, with the same Leica camera.

I am particularly interested in Jarche's portraits of the minors and many famous people, because of the intimacy and comfortable presence they all possess. What is interesting here is the darkness of their faces against the pale innocence of the children represents this hard, long life that most of these people lived through.

 

Image taken from: http://balletnews.co.uk/the-royal-ballet-lower-school-in-itv-show/ 

This is David Suchet getting in close to capture the true essence of the Ballet dancer's, the show really does demonstrate the level of skill and determination news and documentary photographer's have to produce such natural and expressive work.

 Construction workers on the Shell Building, London, 16 June 1932

This image taken by James Jarche, clearly marks a moment in history, showing a working process of the building and the view of the Thames. David Suchet recreates this image, (although no image has been found) and is amazed to be standing in the exact same spot.

At the end of the show an exhibition is held for James Jarche's work and he has now become, for me, one the master's of news and documentary photography of that time. 


"I was just thinking now, if he was there, listening to this, I think Jimmy, would have gone-Wow, thank you very much I really didn't expect that, and if he had met me at the bottom of the stairs he'd probably go- YES!!" (with thumbs up)- David Suchet met with four photography professionals to discuss Jarche's portfolio and they were amazed at the work.

DEFINING TERMS

Coming to terms with relevant words...

There are some words that are important to the subject of Art and Photography and here is a couple that spring to mind!

Allegory and Metaphor are used every day and especially in the arts to express the obvious without being too literal. Artists use these terminologies/ terms to start thinking about the differences between them and how images can represent them in various ways.

It became apparent that I had never come across the term allegory/allegoric and it was very interesting to explore its' meaning fully. A metaphor is a very challenging but creative tool which is used to create multiple concepts within an image or piece of writing. Looking at the work of Sarah Lucas and Simon Patterson helped to analyse these terms and gain a better understanding of them.

 Sarah Lucas, "Self-Portrait with Fried Eggs" 1996

Here you see Lucas slouched and quite confrontationally posed in this seat which immediately suggests a male presence in the room. Linking the fried eggs and position she's in you get the feeling that this is metaphor for "looking like a man". Her clothes also suggest "masculinity" and like many others, the first thought when viewing this image was that she was a man. Another suggestion was that the floor was also placed deliberately underneath her, like a makeshift kitchen, stereotypical of a woman perhaps? The idea of this exercise was to pick the image apart and make sense of it in a more analytical way, instead of just looking and then moving on, you look deeper into all the different objects and find your way round it.

More work by Sarah Lucas visit:
http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ArtistWorks?cgroupid=999999961&artistid=2643&page=1

Sarah Lucas, Au Naturel 1994 Mattress

It is clear that Lucas refers to the male and female genitals, quite expressively with the use of fruit and a fire bucket. Although you don't see the male and female physically in the room, your mind automatically tells you, through experience (semiotics, http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html)
that these are in fact male and female representations. These representations are visually allowing your imagination to wonder around the subject of male and female roles in a relationship. It could also represent a more open and erotic representation, for example prositution. This image is meant to represent married life, and is showing you the reality of what's to come, a few years down the line.

Simon Patterson, 'The Great Bear’, 1992

This image at first glance looks like a reproduction of the London Tube map, which in a way is, but with a subtle twist. The names on the map are those of famous people, some being artists, actors and musicians, these were on the forefront of major world developments. The different professionals are given their own tube lines, on which their names are gathered. The name "The great bear" represents a constellation of stars in the sky which are simple and an effective title for this piece of work.

Visit: http://maeveconwayfried.wordpress.com/texts/the-great-bear-by-simon-patterson/

for a clearer view of this image and more information.