Assignment 5 - Blossfeldt

It has become a challenge to understand where I am going with this assignment. The Blossfeldt images that I am looking at are mesmerising with an undercurrent of suspicion that I am using the wrong reasons for studying them. Given the time I can spend on this, which is limited, I will not be able to present any of my work as "botanical" due to a lack of botanical knowledge. Blossfeldt was a botanist and his work was correctly catalogued and titled with the common name and the Latin name for all his specimens. The purpose of this assignment in any case is not to mimic Blossfeldt but create a new set of images, prepared using contemporary techniques that convey the same qualities as the original work. I will make a few images that look like Blossfeldt originals so that I can compare them with my newer work and question if he would have made similar work had he lived 100 years later.

Examples below from an ever progressing studio full of leaves and twigs

In the style of Blossfeldt
 

Contemporary Blossfeldt

 

Post Modern Blossfeldt

 

Experimental Blossfeldt

 

 

 

 

 

 

Alternative vertical shooting technique.

 

 

The studio has to have a different set up for the vertical shooting. In my contemporary Blossfeldt I am back lighting the subject with a studio flash. The attempt at using a light box failed due to lack of power. This has been overcome by using a D Lite fixed to the retort stand and layers of yellow paper laid onto a Perspex sheet just above the light. The light is set to minimum power and the number of layers of paper act as a neutral density filter when achieving correct exposure. The yellow paper when converted to monochrome is providing the correct texture and it allows enough light through to back light the subject and define the veins and structure of the leaves and petals. This is of course the primary purpose of the exercise, the discovery of the designs of nature. A top light is needed to stop the image becoming totally silhouetted. A D Lite with soft box is aimed at the white ceiling to achieve this. The camera is now fitted with a 90 degree finder/magnifier to allow the accurate focusing required. The initial tests are being carried out using f40. This is not ideal as the lenses (60mm and 105mm) may be slightly soft at this small aperture. I will consider later whether I need to do focus stacking where I can then reduce the f stop to maybe 11 and still achieve a good depth of field.

The back lighting is producing a nasty outline to some images. This is being treated with a small amount of Gaussian blur applied with a very small soft brush in CS5. Initially I was concerned about retouching, especially the images that are to serve as authentic Blossfeldt. During further research however it is come to light that Blossfeldt was the master at retouching. As he was using 6cm x 17cm glass plates he had plenty of area for painting the negative and examples are shown in Karl Blossfeldt 1865 - 1932, Hans Christian Adam, Taschen. 

The two photographs below show the studio set up for vertical shooting.

 

 

A break from Election Fever



EARTH FIRE ASH - Exhibition

Greyfriars Art Space in King's Lynn hosts an eclectic mix of artists throughout the year with the current show being no exception. EARTH FIRE ASH by Tom Thompson is mixed media exhibition using ceramic sculpture and photography. As I entered I was met by Tom who introduced himself and the conversation began. But, not wanting to tie him up with me I looked around for the usual Statement or Catalogue so I could put some meaning to the work. Nothing, he explained. He had made a conscious decision to not produce anything, instead he spends all day in the gallery and takes individuals or small groups around the work and explains the conceptual thinking behind his work and to the likes of me the workflow. This is a brave and somewhat admirable way to show your work. Far too many artists set up, have the PV, chat to the movers and shakers and leave. The remaining time the gallery staff sit and provide security, with the occasional smile, while you read the Artist Statement. Tom's story made me smile as he prepared me with a short biography of his life. He is in his 60's and started out as a welder, working his way into management through the long route and when his circumstances changed a few years ago he studied for a BA in Fine Art. He had also played some music and enjoys all art. So, so far almost a copy of my biography, so after I explained this we had a mutual understanding of life and we started to look at the work. Starting with three large figures looking at a sphere. Each represented the components of the title and as they looked at the sphere, which could be the world he recounted how he had felt when making them. He had spent some time in France at the town of Oradour-sur-Glane and from the photographs he explained this connect. The town was the scene of possibly the worst SS murders in WW2. The entire population were massacred or burnt to death and the town has never been rebuilt, remaining to this day a monument to those who died. Earth, Fire, Ash is the theme of the photographs and the relationship to the ceramics is tangible, especially when standing with Tom. The second area of work is photography made with a pinhole camera, constructed by himself. He was inspired to do this while on a walking holiday in Spain. One of those on the trip was the current Leica lens designer and explained to Tom how to make his lunchbox into a camera. The photographs, often of multiple images were not easy to read and I think I need to go again to understand what is happening there. The ceramics depicting thinking, cultivation and joining of people were outstanding. They would be fabulous to have and light for photographic purposes. The textures and shapes were so tactile and reflected the engineering background Tom has, which is possibly why they appealed to me. Time was not on my side so I had to leave but I would like to talk to Tom more and hear about his time as an educator with people having learning difficulties and as an assistant in the art department at the local college. Both areas post degree that I would like to explore.

 

 

 

 

Images from the exhibition

Exercise Part Five - The Vertigo of Displacement - David A Bailey and Stuart Hall

The final essay for analysis is from The Photography Reader and is The Vertigo of Displacement by David A Bailey and Stuart Hall.

David A Bailey, MBE (1961 - ) is a British Afro-Caribbean curator, photographer, writer and he was Co-Director of the African and Asian Visual Artists Archive at the University of East London. Bailey was awarded a MBE in 2007 for his services to visual arts.

Stuart Hall, FBA (1932 – 2014) was a Jamaican-born cultural theorist and sociologist who lived and worked in the United Kingdom. a professor of sociology at the Open University he was well respected in the world of cultural studies.

The module asks for me to look at the following questions.

1. In one sentence, what is the central argument of this essay

2. The discussion in regard to photography is set within a larger socio-political framework. Do you feel this is justified by the evidence presented.

3. To what extent is the argument limited to Britain in the 1980s, and do you think it would be useful to refer to related movements in other countries.

4. The essay raises the question of eligibility - in this case, whether or not a photographer of black subjects should be black themselves. What are your views on this ? What are the wider implications of this issue?


1.
Society and those who dominated it were predominantly white and the work of black photographers was not widely seen until the 1980s when black photographers due to their skin colour gave a legitimacy to their work.

2.
Yes. The issues of black photographers is one of many similar issues where a particular socio political group are being marginalised. The group that Bailey and Hall refer to though is narrow and I was concerned that the issue they are raising is not unique to black people. They justify their argument by including a small sample of other groups, such as gay and handicapped although their sample is very small.

3.
This essay is short and therefore deliberately confined to a small part of the world. To include movements from other parts of the world would have expanded the argument into other areas of culture. Predominately the treatment of black people in North America and Africa is at odds with the somewhat more liberal thinking in Britain. To widen the argument would be a worthwhile project especially in the light of how the world now merges multicultural groups much better than the 1980s. 35 years is a long time in cultural development.

4.
This is probably the most interesting issue of the essay. The concept that you would photograph differently as a black person is of course a relevant discussion when the genre is documentary and the subject a black related one. It is difficult to imagine a black photographer in the Soweto riots of 1976 making images that promulgated the views of the white people of South Africa. That however is no different than the actions of a white photographer. On a wider issue I am asking myself the question of how does a blind black person, or white person know they are their native colour. On the broader issue of black people photographing black people Bailey and Hall state that it is unlikely that a single photographer cannot capture all aspects of black culture.

The essay was interesting but I found the issues dated. We acknowledge the relevance of the history and how that as recently as 1980s the world was a different place. In contemporary practice we would not be suspicious of the colour of an artist skin making them prejudice. There may be practical issues when working in some neighbourhoods of New York or Delhi where being a non white would achieve better access. This is evident with TV news gathering where foreign correspondents are often chosen for their low profile look.

While annoying to the specialist (whose demands may be extreme) there is good reason to allow photographers to cross the boundaries of their natural comfort zone and work on subjects that they know little of. This editorial control will develop new images and a world seen from a different perspective and broaden our understanding of social and political arenas that we are curious of and maybe frightened of.