Elephant in the Room

The title of this blog, reflects nothing really, I just couldn’t bare writing ‘Snaps’ again. I have basically followed through with the project and taken some more pictures as is necessary and the following are the results.

Douglas just arrived back from playing football, which he does once or twice a week. 98% of the time his team lose (that is a genuine statistic), but I admire the allegiance to the team despite being, well shit really.

The war wounds. I kind of like this image and I kind of don't.  I like the way the flash is sometimes too strong and over exposes the images but detail lost here was significant.

 I decided to take a couple pictures of 'stuff' belonging to my brother, rather than just my brother. Above is a drawing a Spanish friend had made of Douglas and Trish which hangs above their bed. I love how the disposable camera creates the dark corners, which is really aparent in this photograph cause of the white wall.

 Above; Their wardrobe, I didn't open the door or anything, this is how it's generally left.

At the start of this project Douglas kind of just sat there while I took pictures of him, but now he seems to be getting a little more excitable when the camera comes out, which could potentially ruin my project, depending on how I approach his (sometimes) erratic behaviour. Anyway, he decided to pull his top over his head. 



I was sat on the stairs conversing with Douglas and Trish while taking these pictures, which is what I often do, just kind of randomly snap while we're talking or doing something/nothing. Trish mentioned she bought a new top and brought it out to show me and Douglas. What makes this photo kind of funny is that Douglas blatantly couldn't care less about the new top Trish bought and is more focused on having his picture taken. Trish dangeling it up high and his lack of interest really show through and the fact that its all genuine makes me like this picture. 

I  do like the image above, mainly due to its unorthodox composition, I haven't got much else to say about it though.

Above & Below; I ruined these two images by having my hair dangling down and coming into the frame. Although it isn't really a big deal, because it kind of plays on the fact that I'm carelessly taking the images, as if I were using a digital camera. Either way, I'm afraid they won't make the final cut.



Above; If it weren't for his hair looking ridiculous and the massive bags under his eyes, this picture would have nothing going for it.

Snaps

Below I have posted some more pictures I have taken using a disposable camera.

Above is Douglas pulling a 'funny' face. This image I think works well in representing a relationship because the subject is being silly for the photographer.

Above is a picture of Doug napping. I kind of like the picture because it's so genuine and the angle its taken at is a little awkward, which is because I slowly opened the door and quickly took the photo before he woke up.

Above; Opening a birthday present I got him.

Above; him looking at the t-shirt and it seems my finger got in the way.

Above; Douglas asked me to take a picture of him doing this, I don't know why.

It seems Trish may have gotten her hands on the camera.

Above; Douglas prancing around the house in his underwear before he goes in for a shower.



Above; I quite like the picture above cause it shows of his tattoo.

Above; I took this image to be able to get a clearer image of his tattoo. He has been a Liverpool fanatic since he was a kid so as soon as he could get a tattoo he got this one. He's had it for years and I'm so used to it now it weird. And I wanted to get it in a picture because everyone knows Douglas loves football, its a massive part of who he is and a massive part of his daily routine.

Above; He's wearing some lycra aerobics suit which he got for some 80's fancy dress party a while back.

Above; Classic mistake.

Above; In a previous post I had mentioned Douglas's feet. His feet are massive and always have bloken and bruised toe nails because of football. They have always grossed me out and he used to put them in my face when we were kids which would drive me insane. So I decided to take a picture of his feet, cause it doesn't matter when it is, they always look gross.

An Amalgamation

I have gone back to the start of my blog and re read my introduction. The main aim of this project was to produce a body of work which reflected my brother, who he is and in some way our relationship. The project however has developed beyond that as through my research and photo taking I have developed an appreciation and reminiscence of the family album. While briefly speaking to John about the project, I was relating my idea of exhibiting my work in an exhibition space which has touches of a family home and the images are small and the frames are varied. Consequently John mentioned putting the images into a family album. I began thinking about this idea and just how much fun it would actually be. I remember as a child flipping through the big bulky albums my mother had put together, slowly filling each book through the years. The images were stuck to the pages and protected by either plastic or translucent paper between each page. I even remember being instructed to be very careful with the thin paper as I turned it over, to make sure I didn’t rip it. So much importance was put to these images with the memories of specific occasions on them, because they were so valuable. My mother didn’t keep negatives, there was no intention of re printing and there were no backups, just the albums, which were stored away into a cupboard in the wall unit that is barely ever been opened really. And even more significant is the fact that it hasn’t been refilled in a long long time, moreover I wonder if a new album will ever be squeezed into that cupboard.

I was thinking about the family album idea and the exhibit idea and I couldn’t really choose. I then began to think, perhaps I could do both, where the images are published into an album but they are also exhibited in a space, yet still I wasn’t content because I wanted it to be just one main thing for some reason, even though I know people exhibit work and publish books all the time. I was heading down that road when I finally came up with an idea which is my favourite and it’s an amalgamation of the two. The idea is again to produce an exhibition space which has similar touches to a living room, this time sofas and arm chairs. In the room viewers will be able to pick up a copy of the photo album, which they then take over to the sofa sit down comfortably and look through, just as I used to as a child. This idea I believe relates best to my projects and works best in capturing the essence of the photo album, the changes which have occurred with technology and kinship.

Above I have quickly created another image on Adobe Photoshop to use as visual aid. The room is filled with comfortable seating, a couch, an arm chair and a bean bag; a variety of seating for viewers to take the album sit down, relax and view. In the corner of the room I have placed a wall unit, on the shelves of the unit I could place knick knacks from my actual wall unit at home and perhaps a framed family photograph or two. The viewer of the exhibition however is meant to retrieve the album from the cupboard themselves. The exhibition space becomes as important as the album itself, working together in making the project something of sentiment, of the home and of the past.  

Concepts On How the Work Will be Viewed

Seeing as my work is coming together now, I have been thinking about how I will be displaying my final images. At the start of the project I had contemplated the idea of producing a book, however now I feel as though with the way the project has developed a book would not work well in the way I want the images to be read. Primarily, I’ll start by making concise points as to what one is meant to extract from the images and project as a whole, points which have previously been mentioned over different posts throughout the development.

-         A notable sibling relationship between the photographed and the photographer.

-         An account on how family images are changing with the introduction of digital photography.

-         The fact that the family album is disappearing due to the massive success of social networking websites.

-         In connection to the last point; recognition of the fact that images are being taken using a somewhat ‘dated’ medium.

-         A sentimental appreciation of the chosen medium.

The reason why a book would not work is because it would take away from the experience and the affiliations I hope for the viewer to make, a book is too formal, too standard and commercial and families don’t publish their images into books, which is what put me off the idea of publishing the photographs in such a manner. The idea which I then had in mind was to develop the selected images on a large scale, perhaps 12X16 and present them in an exhibition. However again I struggled with the idea for a couple of reasons. For one, I started to think about the blankness and cold environment an exhibit space has the tendency to be in, I resolved the matter however by realising I do not have to conform to the traditional exhibit space, the ‘white cube’. On the other hand, I thought it would be more interesting if the walls were painted a warm colour like yellow and a sofa was placed in the room to give it more of a family/homely feel when in the exhibition space. Next, I started to re-think the photograph sizes. Families did not used to print their images on such grand scale, so why should I do so now? I wondered. Smaller images, as we printed them in the past seemed more appropriate.   To take it a step further, I was thinking it would be interesting if the images weren’t framed in the traditional manner either. Rather than using identical, simple frames for every image, I thought it might be more appropriate to use a variance of different frames as one would have them in their home.

Below I have posted an image I quickly made on Adobe Photoshop, just to be able to better visualise the concept. The idea that the exhibition space looks like a living room filled with pictures on the wall, which the viewer then walks round and views. The arm chair is there to add to the experience more than anything.  

"Most people don't take snapshots of the little things. The used Band-Aid, the guy at the gas station, the wasp on the Jell-O. But these are the things that make up the true picture of our lives. People don't take pictures of these things."

 - Anonymous - Movie:One Hour Photo

Point Look Out 1915

Point Lookout 1915 (photograph by LBM)

An early snapshot, displaying how photographs were not being taken spontaneously, rebelling against the rules which painters had passed on. The image has caught a fleeting moment, through which the subject may or may not be entirely caught within the frame. 


Micheal R Peres, The focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Focal Press (2007) p.726

A Little Snapshot Trivia

Seeing as I'm producing an entire project on Snapshot photography I thought it would be necessary to have a quick look at some Snapshot Trivia.


So, I'll start by revealing the obvious; the snapshot style is that of careless framing, harsh flash and an element of fuzziness in the photo. A little interesting fact is that the term snapshot was coined in 1860 by Sir John Herschel who was relating the aim and snap of the camera to the aim and snap of a gun trigger when hunting, now that's an interesting comparison isn't it. Anyhow, although Herschel had the vision early on, the actual product of snap shot photography didn't come through till around 20 years later, when film speeds were increased, allowing both movement and picture taking to take place at the same time.


Snapshot shot photography would soon  effect the work of painters who during the 19th century were strugging to come up with new ideas seeing as photography had turned the painter's professional and creative world upside down.

The Glass of Absinthe, Degas 

Degas painting, The Glass of Absinthe above is an example of such influence. "The design of this picture, at first glanceseems unstudied as a snapshot..." [H.W Janson, History of Art]

Kodak made snapshot photography available to the masses, people started taking pictures on special occassions, like biths, birthdays, weddings and holidays for family albums. 

And although the snapshots were was initially resented by professional photographers because of their unorthodox composition and poor quality of the 'snapshot aesthetic', eventually professional photographers and painters alike joined the world of the 'snapshot aesthetic' producing proffessional pieces in the mentioned style.


Micheal R Peres, The focal Encyclopedia of Photography. Focal Press (2007) p.725

Overlooked

I realised one of my pictures what missing when I was looking at them and it was one which I really liked (below). The picture shows Douglas with his head resting on his hand, as he leans over his girlfriend. I can't remember what happened here, it's hardly important either, but I do like this picture.

Some More Snaps

I am finding using disposable cameras fun, I am much more at ease with using them than I was with the Polaroid camera, which is allowing my project to evolve more as I hoped it would. I hope for the photographs to be interesting in regards to the close relationship between photographer and the photographed. I want the viewer to also feel a sense of nostalgia in rememberance of our past photographic method and results it produced. The complication I find myself encountering however is whether certain images attract me more because I know the subjects so well. Moreover this further elaborates one of the elements of the project on one hand, all the same I still find myself debating whether or not an outsider would be able to relate and engage with the images I am taking.

The banality of what I am capturing is what arouses the conflict in my mind. The above photograph is of my brother drinking juice from the carton. I like the simplicity of the image and the way his eyes have wondered to the camera when he noticed I was taking the pictures. It is common for us to just bring the carton of juice through to the living room and pass it round rather than dirtying any glasses, which is quite comical. However is it my knowledge of what happens when the camera isn't at play which evokes a particular engagement between myself and certain images? Furthermore an engagement others may not experience due to their lack of knowledge?

I really like the photograph above. Douglas is fully aware of the image being taken and is looking at the camera and giving a slight smile, he seems comfertable although aware. Trish has her eyes closed and is leaning back on him, I feel as though this photograph expresses the corrolation between us. 

One my favourite pictures of my brother above, it has a true snapshot quality to it and authenticity.

For some incomprehensible reason, Douglas thinks its ok to pee with the door open. 

Above; Chris and my brother have been friends since they were kids, they even moved to Devon together around four years ago. A lot of people think they're brothers, perhaps it's cause they've spent so much time together and that they that tend to keep their facial hair and hair similar. Chris came over to the house one evening and I was adamanet to get a picture of them together. As you can see from the expressions on their faces, they weren't as enthusiastic which is what makes me like this picture. They are unwillingly made to stand against the wall, whining at me to hurry up even though it took no more than a minute to take.  They merely had to stand where they were told and have their picture taken. Their lack of patience and the fact that they were fed up is blatant which makes the photograph interesting.