Document Stuff

Project Pressure: Photography in the name of science

“This series was taken on a recent trip to India. When I touched down in Delhi, I wasn’t sure where I was heading – I had no final destination in mind. For me, photography is an organic process. I often I set out not knowing what it is I want to shoot because I like to be surprised by what I see and discover new things. The connection I make with a place or person is the most important aspect of photography.”

“I came with the idea of a lonely hermit who ran away from the world because of some heavy drama, but it wasn’t true. He doesn’t get lonely at all. He kind of disappears into tundra, into the snowstorms. He doesn’t have a sense of self the way most people do. It’s as if he were the wind, or the weather itself.”

Evgenia Arbugaeva

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Black Square XI,” 2012. In captivity, many birds develop Feather Destructive Behavior as a result of conditions including lack of psychological and emotional stimulation, stress, lack of companionship, and limited freedom. Amiga is a blue-and-gold macaw suffering from this condition. Image created using large-format view camera with Phase-One digital back.

Photograph by Taryn Simon, whose work appears in “From Darkroom to Daylight,” by Harvey Wang, edited by Amy Brost and Edmund Carson, out this month from Daylight Books:

Film in many ways allowed bad taste or bad decisions to still look good, because it had a forgiving and beautiful baseline. In digital, bad taste or bad decisions are glaring and rampant.

Dornith Doherty

I’ve previously looked at Doherty’s work when researching the seed vault, however after discovering their website and their projects I am revisiting the photographer.

The images I looked at before and that were used in the article are from the series ‘Achieving Eden’ which consists of two sets of photographs: The Vaults, and a set of images made from x-rays showing pigments of plant specimens. I find this very interesting that they’ve gone down both routes on approach to this project and not used them together. These images are from a variety of seed banks across the world, including KEW London, which I hope to photograph. I think the images alone are very strong and I’ve included below a few, which I have not yet used. I think above all the edit of these pictures; use of colour and composure along with accompanying text is what makes the project strong, which is something I will have to consider well whilst shooting.

http://dornithdoherty.com/gallery/vault/

“Spurred by the impending completion of the Svarlbard Global Seed Vault, I initiated Archiving Eden: the Vaults in 2008 to explore the role of seed banks and their preservation efforts in the face of climate change, the extinction of natural species, and decreased agricultural diversity. Serving as a global botanical backup system, these privately and publicly funded institutions assure the opportunity for reintroduction of species should a catastrophic event or civil strife affect a key ecosystem somewhere in the world.

Taken at the world’s largest and most comprehensive collections including the National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Fort Collins, Colorado; the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Wakehurst Place in Sussex, England; the N.I. Vavilov Institute for Plant Industry in Russia; and the Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway, these photographs trace in precise detail the spaces and technology of involved in this important effort.

Since 2008 I’ve worked in an ongoing collaboration with renowned biologists the most comprehensive international seed banks in the world: the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service’s National Center for Genetic Resources Preservation in Colorado, the Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in England; and PlantBank, Threatened Flora Centre, and Kings Park Botanic Gardens in Australia.  In this era of climate change and declining biodiversity, by collecting, researching seed biology, and storing seeds in secure vaults, seed banks play a vital role in ensuring the survival of genetic diversity in wild and agricultural species.

Utilizing the archives’ on-site x-ray equipment that is routinely used for viability assessments of accessioned seeds, I document and subsequently collage the seeds and tissue samples stored in these crucial collections. The amazing visual power of magnified x-ray images, which springs from the technology’s ability to record what is invisible to the human eye, illuminates my considerations not only of the complex philosophical, anthropological, and ecological issues surrounding the role of science and human agency in relation to gene banking, but also of the poetic questions about life and time on a macro and micro scale.  I am struck by the power of these tiny plantlets and seeds (many are the size of a grain of sand) to generate life and to endure the time span central to the process of seed banking, which seeks to make these sparks last for two hundred years or more.

We are very lucky to have photographer Jem Southam join us for an interview, no need for introductions, Just enjoy!

Could you describe your earliest experiences with photography, both as a viewer and an artist?

I became interested in photography aged 15, I wasn't particularly good at academic subjects/or just not that motivated, early influences were the fashion photographers of the mid 1960’s.David Bailey and Donovan, the film BLOW UP had a huge impact!

Who or what influences you?

Once studying in London I changed from the influences of fashion photographers when I saw 2 exhibitions by Paul Strand and Bill Brandt. That got me going on the ART side of things. I had always been interested in functional uses of photography - recording etc. I wanted to be a archaeological photographer at one stage.

The Bechers - when i first came in touch with their work I knew that it would always be very important. When my generation grew up we had few places to see work, so Creative Camera was one site where interesting work was available. Much of it was American, partly because of the quality of the work but also because of the affluence in teh USA which meant that many photography books were produced. Then as we grew up we all influenced one another and the culture grew.

What is your current project about?

My current work is complex. I usually am working on 8/10/12 pieces at the same time - though one or two will always be uppermost. So I continue to take pictures along The Red River, maybe only one visit or two a year but there is POSSIBLY a new work there. I have also been taking pictures of inconsequential plants in varying locations for 15 years, with a 6x7 analogue camera, I have never even printed them! In the near future I am planning to review ALL this, 100’s of films worth and begin to scan, print and archive. I continue to look at Rockfalls at about 4 sites in the UK and Normandy and though I have not been active with a camera there recently I know it will come back into focus soon. They are created with a 10x8 analogue camera.

Last year I published a book called the river Winter with Mack books, where I made a body of work along sections of the River Exe near where I live. This winter I have made another work following the cycle of a single season.

Recently I have just taken possession of my first digital camera and I am beginning to think about completely new ways of working and new themes etc. Excited by that, though it is daunting……

What do you hope your audience will come away with after seeing your work?

Audiences reactions are best not to judge. I make work because I am driven to pursue ideas and interests of my own and have no idea at all how others will react to the pictures.

So I spent 8 years photographing rockfalls before I showed any to curators etc. had no idea whether they would want to show them but they did! Having had several shows, goodness knows what people make of them. If they have been reviewed the reviewers have all drawn different thoughts out about the work - some of which were surprises to me.

If I had a wish, it is that I make pictures which are engrossing to look at.  I like to make pictures that are complex to look at, So they provoke someone looking at them to spend time with them, to let the pictures infiltrate their imaginations.

Each body work has different ambitions. These are never there at the beginning, as the work progresses what it is about for me this becomes apparent slowly. Bizarrely it often is the case that it will be years after something is finished that I come to realise what was going on in my mind, my psyche, when I was making the work.

What’s your plans for the near future?

I have many things in progress at the moment, I want to push them all forward as hard as possible, hoping to make more books with the works. I have about 500 sheets of 10x8 film left in my fridge, not sure if I will ever buy any more…..Thats about 5 years of photographing.

Still working away on 6x7, took some new pictures at Gurnards Head yesterday, not planning to stop that. So apart from that I want to see if there is anything for me within the spectrum offered by digital working. Today I take delivery of a digital printer, it will take me a year or so to begin to learn how to use it. In need for a scanner so I can begin to scan and work on all my 6x7 negs……I have so much to do. The other thing I am working on is getting all my life’s work into an archival order.

Any advice for students currently studying?