Daisy Goodman

  As already stated in my 'inspiration' piece of writing, I was massively inspired by the work of Eve Arnold, and her images - particularly the Joan Crawford shoot - inspired me to produce images of a similar subject matter. I noted, when researching Eve Arnold and her work, that in this particular series, she appears to focus mainly on Joan Crawford’s facial features and reflection, and I took a lot of my inspiration from this, for my own shoot. 

  The depth of field in this image is what I find to be one of the most interesting elements of the photograph. Everything in the image, with the exception of Crawford's eye, is out of focus - even if only slightly. This draws all the attention of the viewer to her eyes. This shoot is particularly famous due to the fact that Arnold was documenting Joan Crawford's preparation for a role, and in this image her application of make up is implying a sense of vanity - a theme which was rife in the late 1950s, when there were great expectations for women to be beautiful, especially in the move industry. I was particularly intrigued by the repetition of eye imagery in this shoot, and decided to replicate it myself, in my own shoot inspired by the work of Arnold. 

  The covering of her eyes in this image with eye pads links not only with the concept of vanity - an apparent motif in the work of Eve Arnold - but also with the idea of eyes being windows to the soul. If this is the case, then it would seem as though Joan Crawford was trying to keep something out. This image allows the viewer to see her in a much more vulnerable state, something which would have provoked a sense of shock in viewers of the time, because in 1959 there were no such thing as video diaries or twitter, so seeing such an iconic figure in such a vulnerable state, without make up or script, would have come as a shock to many people at the time.

  In my own images, I wanted to use a similar technique to Arnold by photographing specific facial features and, similarly to Arnold, I elected to focus majorly upon the eyes. However, in my images, instead of presenting a sense of vulnerability in my subject, I wanted to present other emotions instead. This image is probably my absolute favourite of the entire shoot, because it is evident from a single shot of the eye, that my subject is smiling, and not only smiling, but smiling with a genuine sense of happiness. Once again, I took inspiration from Eve Arnold in regard to the depth of field of the image, and took the photograph in such a way that the eye of my subject was the only thing in sharp focus, as I wanted the rest of the image, surrounding and framing the eye, to be slightly out of focus, to make the eye 'pop' even more, and draw more attention of the viewer, as the main focal point of the photograph.

  The work of American photo-journalist Eve Arnold has appealed to me from the very outset of this unit. Her fine imagery is utterly iconic, and she is renowned for her friendship with Marilyn Monroe, who modeled for many of Arnold’s most famous pieces. 

  However beautiful Arnold’s photographs of Marilyn Monroe are, I personally was much more intrigued by Arnold’s work with another famous Hollywood actress – Joan Crawford. Instead of doing the much more conventional job of photographing Joan Crawford professionally, Arnold instead was asked by Crawford to photograph and document her getting ready for a film role in 1959. I found this series particularly applicable to my own work and ideas because at the time that I discovered the work of Eve Arnold, I was torn between the two areas of portraiture and documentary photography. 

  When I carried out my own shoot based upon Arnold’s Crawford shoot, I was still uncertain as to which discipline was most appealing to me, yet I found it an extremely beneficial learning curve, as without it I may have delved into an area of photography in this unit that would not have been the area that would have been the most successful for me. 

  Similarly to Julian Germain, the work of Kaylynn Deveney has effectively shaped the work that I have produced for this unit. Influences from Deveney’s work are evident in the work that I myself have produced so far, and there are a number of very similar elements in both my work and the work of Kaylynn Deveney.

  Tea. Undeniably an extremely British concept (and one that I even considered exploring in depth in response to the ‘British Society’ summer brief). Both Kaylynn Deveney and I have explored this theme within our two separate series.

  Deveney has focused more upon tea in her imagery as an object, something to focus on in a photograph, a still life aspect almost. I, however, have tried to focus more on the holding of the cup or mug, and almost considering it to be an extension of the hand.

  Rather than photographing the mug on the table and captioning the image with a short description of the events that were taking place at the time, as done in Kaylynn Deveney's work, I instead began to explore body parts (such as hands, before leading on to my work with areas of the face - inspired by Eve Arnold), and see how they functioned when it came to something as everyday and trivial as having a cup of tea or coffee. However, this idea of hands does link somewhat to the work of Deveney herself, as she has focused in her 'Albert Hastings' series upon hands, with a specific focus on Albert's left-hand, the hand on which he still wears his wedding ring.

  The work of Kaylynn Deveney appealed to me in a similar way to how the work of Julian Germain appealed to me. I felt as though Deveney’s work really reflected the type of photographs that I myself wanted to produce following my development from the start of Unit Three and expanding my ideas further, in order to create interesting and unique images. Kaylynn Deveney was the second documentary photographer that I elected to research in preparation for my documentary style shoot, and her work has proven to be extremely influential to me throughout the course of this unit.

  I particularly love the small notes at the bottom of Deveney's photographs from her series 'the day-to-day life of Albert Hastings', as it introduces a sense of personality in the photographs, allowing the viewer of the images to delve even deeper into the life of this man.

  I think that Deveney’s series is quite intimate, as it lets the viewer into the life of another, which creates a really interesting effect. There is almost a lack of boundaries in Deveney’s images, and the viewer is let not only into Albert Hastings’ home, but also in to his life.

  I also really like Deveney's presentation style! The type of book that she has produced to present this series is very simple, and doesn't take away from the quality or message in the photos, which I think is a very important aspect of presenting images that are so personal and intimate.

  The work of Julian Germain has proven to be extremely significant to me during this unit, as it has partially shaped the direction in which my work has been heading. The style of photography used by Germain is one that has a particular appeal to me, as a documentary photographer. The themes within our work are rather similar too, documenting the life of an elderly widow/widower. Exploration into the history of our subjects is another common factor between my work and Germain’s, which has actually provided me with the opportunity to discover more about my own family history due to the fact that I have been documenting my grandmother throughout this unit. 

  Much of the subject matter and composition in both my work and the work of Julian Germain is similar, allowing for a comparison to be made between the two series. The above image is by Julian Germain, taken from his 'for every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness' series. I really liked this image when I was initially carrying out research into Germain and his work (especially this series) and I feel as though this image is a brilliant embodiment of the concept of documentary photography. Personally, I feel as though looking into someone else’s cupboards is like taking a look into someone else’s life – a concept commonly accepted within documentary photography. 

  The above image is my own spin on the 'photographing the interior of someone's cupboard' concept. Instead of focusing on an almost empty food cupboard like Germain, I instead began to focus on my grandma's full-to-bursting kitchen cupboards. Though the styles of the two images are undoubtedly similar, there are differences in framing, as I have tried to avoid the negative space around the cabinet that has featured in Germain's image, and I have tried to include more things in my image in order to create a busier, more cluttered feel, which is how I feel best portrays my grandma's flat.

  The work of documentary photographer Julian Germain has an element about it which really appeals to me, and although I can’t put my finger directly on it, I can point out a number of elements of his work which makes it appeal to me as a whole. The most poignant of his series is – to me – the photographic series documenting the day to day life of Charles Snelling, an elderly man living alone since the death of his wife. This series particularly resonated with me, because I could come up with a number of parallels between his life, and the life of my grandmother – who I eventually decided to present as the main focus of my own documentary photography.

  Julian Germain's work has influenced my own in a variety of ways, including composition, focus, and lighting. Although the subject matter differs, there are undeniable similarities between the two series, and it is evident that Julian Germain has been a key inspiration to me and my work during this unit.

  I also like the way that Germain has delved deeper into the life and history of Charles Snelling, including scanned pages of photo albums and old photographs of Charles’ wife. I found Germain’s presentation techniques (especially at the Baltic in Newcastle) extremely interesting, as he presented his work in such a way that it would let the viewers feel almost as though they were intruding on the life of someone else.

  The experience of presenting my imagery in an exhibition was definitely beneficial to me, because it has allowed me to receive feedback and constructive criticism from the people viewing my work in a gallery setting. It has also allowed me to give feedback to my peers and help others to further develop their ideas.

  In preparation for the exhibition I made a number of interim final pieces and practised a variety of different techniques including book making/binding and window mounting. I liked all the practise final pieces that I made, but some of the books made with a sewing machine could have been executed in a better manner, as some of the stitching lines were uneven, which made my books look quite unprofessional. I decided to use window mounting in my final piece because I think that if the images are strong (which I believe mine are), a simple presentation technique can work much more effectively.

  I decided to use the images that I used because I felt that they were the best representation of my work within this unit so far. I also thought that they were strong images that worked well in combination. I had looked into which images to use and in which combination in detail in my sketchbook. I eventually came to the conclusion to use the images that I used in the exhibition because I thought that they worked the best together. The idea of “perspective” is also evident in my work, through both the imagery and the presentation of the word as part of the exhibition piece.

  Putting the exhibition work up myself was definitely helpful because I actually changed the presentation style so that it was slightly different to what I had in my head. I’m glad that I got the opportunity to tweak it, because it meant that I was even happier with the final result. 

  The decision I made in regard to changing it was to change the presentation from being three frames on top of each other to being the two photographs above each other on the left and the text frame being on the right between the two photographs (hopefully that makes sense).

  I definitely feel a sense of achievement seeing my work in an exhibition, and I am extremely happy with the feedback that I have received in relation to my work from both staff and fellow students. This exhibition has allowed me to develop my skills in presentation techniques (especially window mounting) because I had the chanced to practise these techniques a lot in preparation for the exhibition.

  After exploring outlets of photography similar to and including documentary photography, I came to the realisation that I wanted to work with different viewpoints and perspectives in this unit. A major focus of one of my shoots (a documentary shoot following my grandmother) was perspective and how other people view the world. This shoot was successful, and it was the shoot that the images in this piece came from. From this, I developed my ideas and focused more on windows and eyeglasses. This idea particularly stood out to me, as it meant that I could communicate through my imagery a literal representation of seeing the world "through someone else's eyes".

  In my view, documentary photography isn't as interesting or successful if the photographer doesn't have at least a basic understanding of other people's perspectives. 

  In regard to the presentation of my work, I wanted to use framing, despite the fact that these images have natural framing within themselves. I wanted to window mount these images, because I am intrigued by the concept of physical boundaries of images in the presentation of them.

“Be yourself; everyone else is already taken.”  - Oscar Wilde.

My work so far during unit three has been particularly focused upon the outlets of portraiture and documentary photography. The idea of documentary photography appealed to me more and more following research into photographers such as Julian Germain and Kaylynn Deveney, whose works were particularly inspiring to me.

Eve Arnold, another inspirational photographer who I researched earlier in this unit, had an interesting technique of befriending her subjects, which was remarked upon by Elliot Erwitt in an article written about her in ‘Magnum Magnum’, a book written about the Magnum photographers.

This made me begin to think; what if I were to document someone who I already knew? I knew that Kaylynn Deveney’s series ‘The Day to Day Life of Albert Hastings’ spanned from her moving in to a flat near his, and I personally feel as though documentary photography is much more effective if the photographer is developing or already has developed a kind of relationship with the subject. It is for this reason that I began to explore my options. My initial thoughts included photographing my immediate family (which I did, but this was in my exploration of portraiture rather than documentary photography). After thinking about my options for a while, I realised that my best option for documentary photography would be my maternal grandmother. By using a family member rather than a family friend, I thought that I would be able to make my unit three work more personal to me.

So far, I have succeeded in producing a series of images that I feel are particularly strong. For my final piece, which will be presented as part of an exhibition in November, I debated about using a variety of different techniques in order to present my images. I aim to produce a number of practice final pieces prior to the exhibition, which will allow me to come to a conclusion of which technique to use.

 Reflecting on the work I have already produced, I feel as though my work consists of relatively strong images that work well together and link effectively to my starting point. I hoped to convey a journey depicting my development as a photographer, especially a documentary photographer.

Now, I have to work out which of my images work the best as a series. I intend to think outside of the box when it comes to producing a final piece (for both the unit, and the November exhibition). However, in order to produce an interesting, engaging, and successful final piece, I must establish which of my images are most effective together.

What is perspective?

“A view or vista.” “A mental view or outlook.” 

I intend to combine these two definitions of ‘perspective’ in order to produce imagery, which effectively conveys the concept and idea of perspective.

I could potentially experiment with a variety of subject matters. Some of these may include more a more literal portrayal of ‘perspective’, such as eyes and glasses. I could also potentially incorporate items such as mirrors etc into my imagery, and include reflections.

I have developed an interest in perspective for this unit, and have experimented with this concept in a number of ways. In my opinion, documentary photography isn’t as successful if the photographer doesn’t have an understanding of different perspectives. Documentary photography is, in my opinion, an outlet which allows a photographer to delve into a number of different perspectives. In my own work, I have experimented with the perspective of my grandmother. There is a sense of this throughout the series of images, yet I have also photographed through her glasses. This depicts a much more literal definition of perspective within photography.

The concept of glasses is an idea that I find particularly interesting, because I particularly like the idea of photographing the world from someone else’s perspective, and by photographing glasses and through lenses, it allows me to do this in a literal sense.

critical analysis of an image

artist: Elliott Erwitt

title: Untitled

date: 1950

medium: Photograph

relevant information: this image depicts segregated water fountains with a black man drinking water. This image was also taken in North Carolina, where many people were discriminated against due to their skin colour. Racial segregation in the United States has meant the physical separation and use of separate facilities (especially during the Jim Crow era). This image depicts this – a man being forced by the unwritten rules of society to use the “colored” water fountain, which is noticeably worse quality than the “white” fountain.

critical analysis of an image

artist: Nikos Economopoulos

title: Untitled

date: 1992

medium: Photograph.

relevant information: this photograph was taken in Yemen, at a Somalian refugee camp. Towards the end of 1992 (the year in which this photograph was taken), 700 Somalians fled their homeland as a result of civil war, eventually bringing the number of Somalian refugees in Yemen up to c.60,000.

critical analysis of an image

artist: Micha Bar Am

title: NORTH SINAI. October 1973.

date: October 1973

medium: Photograph

relevant information: Micha Bar Am documented the Yom Kippur War, and later returned to cover Israeli operations in the Sinai. This photograph shows Israeli soldiers on their way to the "Budapest" stronghold in the Sinai desert.

documentary photography: “usually refers to a popular form of photography used to chronicle significant and historical events. It is typically covered in professional photojournalism, or real life reportage, but it may also be an amateur, artistic, or academic pursuit. The photographer attempts to produce truthful, objective, and usually candid photography of a particular subject, most often pictures of people.”

  I like the idea of documentary photography and a photojournalism style, as it would allow me to combine the two approaches to photography that are of interest to me – portraiture and still life. Within the still life approach, I hope to incorporate the concept of nostalgia and memories, in order to produce a final piece, which is poignant and reflective of my ideas within this brief.

I have developed several ideas along this path and following the same idea, and intend to explore each of them along the way, all the while keeping the ideas for potential final pieces in the back of my mind.

The images used here are by Kaylynn Deveney, a photographer who I intend to research in preparation for producing my documentary photography style images. Her series of images, entitled 'The Day-to-Day Life of Albert Hastings', are particularly appealing to me, as she manages to beautify the simplicity of a seemingly dull life.

“If a photographer cares about the people before the lens and is compassionate, much is given. It is the photographer, not the camera, that is the instrument. ”

eve arnold (1912-2012), who’s intention in her work was “to record the essence of a subject in the 125th part of a second”.