Assignment 1 | Nationhood - Proposal / Research Portfolio/ Presentation
Action points: research needed in conceptual photography about portraits for nationhood and what this means. And also project management techniques for deciding when and where each shoot will get the best results (busy places to make sure there are enough people to photograph). Mention the time of year and how busy it is (or is not). Research places that people will go to that shows their nationhood or identity (Blackpool was a good place because it is very British). Think about the questions below and where you could answer these.
Blackpool in the evening would be good to photograph for the contrast to the daytime shoot. Project management things to think about are how would you get there and home safely. Include travelling times etc. Think about Birmingham and what you can find that shows national identity. Liverpool would be a good place to look at nationhood and what this means to the city.
Introduction to Brief
How I define nationhood is finding ways to show off what makes us a nation and how we are a nation. I believe due to our history and what we have gone through as a country in all the years, we are a loving and caring country this is shown by all the charity work and live aids events we set up to help other places in the world.
I love the fact that I can say that I am proud to be British as we are a culture that is happy to accept many different changes to society (multiple race\cultures, religions and languages.) secondly, we have a long rich history that goes way back just to the end of the Roman Empire. From this, it leads to having a growth of a royal family that reign across our land for many centuries right up to today, each one having a different and big impact on us for better or worse each one has helped to shape and form us as a nation. Our history also includes us being involved in many different wars over the years which has to lead to becoming a union and stronger country. Furthermore, why I am proud to be British is because we have a language that is the most spoken across the world, our morals and conduct are recognised throughout the world, such as the way we speak, the way we act and still keep traditions. Having these things is what makes us a great nation as it is well known across the world including our mannerisms, etiquette, the love of waiting in line, fashion and our architecture.
The big thing that makes me feel proud of being British is our pop culture the things we have on the tv (Harry Potter, Narnia and James bond and tv shows like EastEnders, Doctor Who and Children In Need) and our music (for example, The Beatles) the people who represent sporting events, going to the theatre, these are some things that are considered as being British not just drinking tea and eating cake.
Being British means looking back at our history and how we became the nation we are today. However, as history has moved on people today have even stopped traditions or given up on or even sadly have been forgotten, such as shops closing on a Sunday, families going to church on Sundays, carol singing in the streets/ going around the neighbourhood at Christmas, or even watching the Queen's speech on Christmas as time goes on fewer people know the lyrics to our national anthem, unlike other parts of the world who still learn their national anthem in schools today. The fact that such things like this and other traditions are being lost and forgotten I feel that it is a big shame for our pride of being British however, on the other hand, the fact that we are made up from different ethnic groups from different parts of this land but also built up from other countries (England, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales) from this helps us to stand out from other nations. We still have a royal family ruling over the people of Britain. Sadly right now I can't say many good things about the political situation of the UK at the moment as it is a bit with each political party having a go at each other like a lot of little school kids where they should be just setting an example of leadership and some times putting differences aside for a common goal by doing what the people want when we vote on somethings such as Brexit.
How photographically do you want to process this extended project?
Below is my project proposal where I am outlining my intentions. I am looking forward to having an extended period of time to really engage with my plan and produce strong imagery for the end of year exhibition.
Following in the footsteps of great British documentary photographers I will try to emulate their style and let their work influence mine. For example, Martin Parr and Tom Wood both shoot very close up shots that are very detailed and make you feel like you are there in the moment the photograph was taken. They have shown the British culture of the seaside and I will try and put this into practice in my photographs by getting up close to my subjects by doing a contemporary take on their concepts.
Artist 1:Martin Parr
During the spring of 2019, I managed to visit one of Martin Parr's exhibitions in Manchester showing the lives of Mancunians over a span of 40 years by revisiting the city. The exhibition features a wide range of photography from the black and white film to the use of colour and detail photography.
Born in 1952 Martin Parr is a British documentary photographer Since 1994 parr has been a member of Magnum photo. He has had around 40 solo lt photobook published and alongside that he been featured in over 80 exhibitions worldwide. In 2017 he opens the Martin parr foundation in Bristol. He chose to open it up there because he was where he grew up, and he likes the idea of Bristol being an up and growing town when it comes to cultural life. He sees photographers like Tony Ray-Jones as a big influence when he was studying photography.
Parr published a book in the 1980s titled ' The Last Resor' documenting a close-up feel of how people in New Brighton was living, he started this off because he wanted to show the changes that have happened in New Brighton.
A seaside resort that hit the peak of its popularity in the first two decades of this century even having a tower that was higher than Blackpool's but now been demolished after world war 1 due to neglect. which has now lead the seaside town being turned into an urban seaside resort, run-down but still kept alive by the visitors of people who come across from Liverpool for a day trip and even on a hot summer day New Brighton can still draw a large crowds
Artist 2:Tom Wood
Tom wood became known locally as Photieman, due to him going out every day with a camera, people on the streets started shotting at him saying things like "come over here 'Photieman' " most of the images that are featured and ended up building most of the collection in his book 'Photieman' (published in 2005 )these were taken within a 5-minute walk from his house in New Brighton. His photos mostly focus on the public in the town, regular visitors of people who are perhaps on a day trip out or even people who were going clubbing around the resort
Tom wood lived in New Brighton for 25 years..... Some people have gone to think that his photography can be mistaken for Martin Parr work
Artist 3: Vivian Maier
Vivian Maier ("who took nanny pictures?") Maier's was born in New York 1926 but spent most of her youth in France, then in 1951, and she moved back to the US where she spent most of her life being a nanny and photography going between Chicago and New York City. In 2008, her health started to get worst which ended up her being forced into a nursing home and always pass shortly in 2009.
Her work was never seen besides from through her viewfinder all one hundred and fifty thousand of them "secret street photographer" before street photography was a big thing. She didn't like talking about her photography, but she was very focused on creating photography, she didn't even know about any photographer also she had no hope of her own, so she just put her photography into storage unit but in her old age, she had to sale the storage lockers to pay for her rent.
Vivian Maier's work was a project that was self-motivated which gave her the freedom and independence that she wanted. Within her work, you can easily tell that she liked to capture and document, just being in the moment alongside that you can say she had to either get up close to the subject matter or wait for the subject matter to walk close her and step into the space of the frame of the camera. She was just a shy close of a person who was a nanny but also photography.
all three photography that I looked for research I feel that they show the theme of nationhood as they managed to define the topic in their own way. Martin Parr and Tom woods stand out the most to me due to the fact they both did a shoot in the same location however Vivian Maiers shows nationhood by documenting everything around her and taking photos of everything on she saw during her everyday life, Vivian was well known for always having a camera up against her eye showing everything that went on during her time in New York etc.
Artist 4: Tony Ray-Jones
Tony Ray-Jones died in 1972 at the early age of 31, he was a massive influence on the development of British documentary photography that now continues to be reflected in the work of Martin Parr, who himself even sees Tony Ray-Jones as a big influence way back when he was studying photography in Manchester 1972.
The National Science and media museum made a short film called 'Only in England' for their 2014 exhibition. the is a part of in the film that featured Martin Parr having a look at Tony Ray-Jones work that was put together to make postcards and ended up featured in his own postcards collection. Parr makes a comment about the photos saying how it manages to show that time has really changed from the beaches being full and really busy and now they are not really busy compared to how they were doing back when Jones took the picture and they are not even that busy on bank holidays.
His career only spanned for only one decade where he defined a new look on his society with irony, nostalgia, compassion and humour.
Jones was the first person to photograph the beach or the streets creating a characteristic view which the Americas were doing but only for things like family days out and memories. He learns this during his time in America studying as part of the Brodouitch circle this lead him to bring that approach of an idea back with him to the UK for the first time.
all of my photographers that I had a look at have I see them all as time capsule photos from a different era that show what life was like years ago that can't redone likewise with my images they will be like a time capsule showing life today for people who view it in years to come. through my portfolio or any books that I might publish from this unit.
Moodboards
Range of different images of New Brighton put together to build a mood board. To help me build ideas and remind me to offset I can and should be looking out for when am shooting
all three photography that I looked for research I feel that they show the theme of nationhood as they managed to define the topic in their own way. Martin Parr and Tom woods stand out the most to me due to the fact they both did a shoot in the same location
Project Planning
So far for this unit, I did a few mindmaps doing an overview of the theme Nationhood and what I had in mind to shoot this project. I looked at different themes and approaches that I can make from the theme then start to branch out from it. For example, I started off what makes us British, this then lead to me thinking on what can I shoot and the style to shoot in
From doing this mindmap it leads me to think of retracing the steps of the likes of Tom Wood and Martin Parr with a modern-day take on. So I need to push myself do go down to New Brighton and spend the day walking around with my camera documenting the different lifestyles of the people around the areas.
Project Management
Timescale - identifying barriers
One idea to keep to Timescale is to perhaps try and go down to New Brighton once or even a few times a month document the area and the lifestyles and at the same wanting recreate the Tom wood and Martin Parr but with a modern-day take.
I wanted to use these images to help build a small photobook at the end of the year.
My creative strategy is to recreate the style of all the photographers that I had looked at for this project but do it in the modern-day how I believe that I will be able to achieve this is to go different places and carry on practising and improving on documentary street photography
Shoot 1 - New Brighton - October 31 2019
Final outcomes from my first shoot at New Brighton to try recreating the work of Martin Parr and Tom Wood and their approach to the theme of nationhood.
I went down to New Brighton on what I thought was a fine day until I arrived at the location and it had just turned cloudy. The tide was in which made it hard to find subject matters close to the other photographer who I have looked at, so after a walk around I managed to get some ideas together on what I wanted to photograph. I tried to look out for the place where both photographers were when they were doing the project in New Brighton.
During my walk, I wasn't fully sure what setting I needed to change my camera setting to so I had some outcomes with overexposure and due to the cold weather, I started to shake once I worked. However, I managed to carry on shooting and reduce the camera shake. When I was stuck on what to shoot I tried going into places to copy the types of images Martin Parr took and take pictures of shops and other things around the seaside resort.
After the shoot when I was reviewing my images, I was surprised at how great they turned out, especially as I was not prepared for the change in weather.
Next time I might take a different lens so I can zoom in and shoot from far away from the subject matters but yet I still make it feel like I was standing close to them. Also, I should try to be better prepared for the different weather changes and perhaps change the seaside location for different outcomes.
Shoot 2 - Blackpool - November 8th 2019
This shoot was done in Blackpool another seaside resort. I chose to go here as it was somewhere that is a well-known place for our nations. I spent the whole day there walking around the main attraction areas of Blackpool.
Blackpool is well known for being very lively filled with holidaymaker and people on a day trip to going on the beach and visiting the many different attractions from Sandcastle water park, the theme park rides at the end of each three pairs, Blackpool zoo and tower this also includes the live shows. Blackpool had one of Britains most famous theme park Pleasure land. during this time of year, Blackpool is normally at it busyness with the Blackpool light been turned on. So during my time there was hoping that it would be busy with people however it turned out to not be very busy until the evening but sadly I had to make my way back home via a train so I needed to get back before the nightlife get busy because of my safety and Blackpool is known to be a rough place.
This is my first edit and these pictures are straight out of the camera ready for later on when I will do a more in-depth edit to see if any of the images will make the final cut towards my final outcomes or if any images might need a small adjustment in Photoshop.
During the photo shoot, I needed to work out and change accordingly the exposure compensation to make the image darker or lighter depending on the lighting conditions of each shot.
I think that this was one of my strongest shoots that I have done for this unit as I feel that it helped to give the feel of Parr and woods.
shoot 3 - Liverpool - February 2020
I wanted to do a photoshoot in a city to show off a different side the nation and to show that it, not a seaside resort but we also have a fascinating city with it own type of lifestyle and I wanted to show I different side to our nationhood so I picked out to go, Liverpool, a city close to New Brighton.
I found that this shoot was interesting to shoot as I wanted to try out a different size lens so can shoot from afar but look like I was shooting very close once I made my way to the city centre I happened to notice a big crowd of people standing just a shop where I saw this as an opperturntiet to document this event which turns out to be something related to LGBQ+ which wasn't my main focuses wanting to shoot however it was a great moment to feature in this unit.
My main force was looking at people in place also to use the zoom lens and for them to not be aware that I was taking their photo.
the is some pictures that I really like from shoot which is firstly the image of the guy on his phone and the poster in the background also I enjoy looking at the image with the couple eating and a Seagle putting it head up wanting to see if they will share some of their food with it
Shoot 4 - Berlin - February 2020
I was lucky to be able to go on an educational trip to Berlin where I managed to get some capture some images in a documentary street photography style during my time there however after reviewing the pictures when I got back home I was disappointed that some of the outcomes started to look like images that would be collected together for a family album recording members instead of being a collection of photographic images that shows a likeness to documentary street photography style which I wanted my attempted to be.
Shoot 5 - London - March 2020
Pechakacha presentations
what is a Pechakacha Presentation?
A Pechakacha Presentation of a collection of 20 images shown of each image for 20 seconds then it will move on the next image this will carry on until the end the presentation of all 20 images.
Presentation 1
The images that I used for this presentation are a collection of a body of work that is only made up from my first two shoots that I undertook
Presentation 2
The images that I used for this presentation are a collection of a body of work from shoots 3, 4, and 5
End of year show exhibition.
due to event coursed by the pandemic outbreak of COVID 19, we as a class are unable to showcase the end of year show however if we were able to do the end of year displaying our best work we have produced this year for all of our units. However, I can still make a photobook with the use of my photographers I am willing to try out different software to create this photo book with the images that I. have used for this unit so far.
Photobook
LO4: Evaluate the success of photographic work by reviewing the response of the intended audience.
The project wasn't limited to the different locations that I was able to travel to the throughout the timeline that I had to respond to the project brief. The audience was made up of people on my course, their feedback was positive and it showed them that I had a great and easy response to the brief when they were reviewing my Pechakacha Presentation. On the other hand, once we went into lockdown it prevented me being able to carry out more shooting tasks as I planned to carry on building a stronger collection of work.
when I was viewing all of my photoshoots I needed a little bit of direction to help select a stronger body of images. if I had more time without being in lockdown I would have liked to have revisited the same location which would have given me the chance to spend a longer time to capture the changes in seasons which would have developed the theme of nationhood. I was happy with the project overall and learnt that throughout doing each photoshoot I managed to develop my knowledge on how to do better and what lens I would have of benefited us on getting stronger outcomes. This lead to me becoming happier with my final outcomes which gave me the confidence to produce a photobook.