THE SQUARE MILE
Tom Hunter
Tom Hunter the Hackney, East End photographer is an artist who immediately stood out for me. His extensive biography and list of achievements and awards are a true credit to his work. Born in 1965 this talented guy is only 5 years older than myself; to have achieved so much in what seems such a short space of time is incredible.
In his Persons Unknown collection he is inviting people to look at his life from the outside, a kind of through the looking glass effect. This collection and my recent research into the legal restrictions of photography (members of the public and the media do not need a permit to film or photograph in public places) has inspired me to produce a body of work along the same lines; I can stand in the street and photograph inside a home. But this will be reserved for a future project.
I also looked at “The Ghetto” street; Hunter produced a 3D model of Ellingfort Road, the street in which he once lived. This piece of work has inspired me to create my own body of work along the same lines; photographing my own neighbourhood from outside at twi-light. A couple of the images of the model for the exhibition are below. The model now has permanent residence at the Museum of London.
Gawain Barnard
Gawain Barnard’s “Journey by Train” images show a mixture of skill and either impeccable timing or sheer good luck. All taken as a passenger from the inside window of a train traveling at varying speeds, framing and capturing his subjects. I get the impression that the train was moving whilst all the images were being exposed therefore consideration was given to the shutter speed in order to show some subjects with movement and others with none.
If you look closely you will see a reflection within the window; I get the impression that this is Gawain Barnard and from the position of his hands I would guess he is shooting from chest height. It appears that being able to see the approaching palm trees he has given thought to the composition adding the trees to the window that he has used to frame the ocean and add interest.
Perhaps Gawain only ever travels in the window seat of the train, that would explain how he can be ready to take an image when he sees it approaching. Is the motion blur in this image created because the man is walking or because the train is moving slowly past him. I would guess the first option since the stones/ground are clear.
Tina Barney
http://www.gallery339.com/html/artistresults.asp?artist=49
This American born photographer is best know for working close to home by choosing family and friends as her subjects. Her images, in my opinion, are documentary, documenting family life from the outside. Her work although similar to Tom Hunter’s differs in that her subjects are from a more opulent background. Her family became accustomed to her shooting them; she tells David Corey* in an interview for BOMB Magazine (see link) that she “reached a point in her life where she realized how precious certain things were to her and decided she had to record them”. Shooting pictures of them is her the equivalent of a diary.
*David Corey is a freelance writer and critic who lives in New York. His recent work on the photographer WEEGEE has appeared in Talking Pictures (Lookout/Chronicle), Newsday, and at the International Center for Photography. He is the author, with photographer David Levinthal, of Small Wonder, which will be published by Smithsonian in 1995. He also teaches comparative literature and film at Brooklyn College.
From Tina Barney’s image titled “Jill & Polly in the bathroom” (above) you get a feel that she is shooting in a grandly decorated house and the occupants are wealthy. The image was taken in 1987 but the decor and style of the clothing makes this image look like it was taken much earlier, perhaps 60’s or 70’s.
This Tina Barney image is from her “The Europeans” collection. There is the same family connection of her subjects yet the surroundings are more minimal and less colourful however you can still gain a sense of wealth from their clothing and furnishings. This image titled “The Brothers in the Kitchen” was taken in 2004.
Jodie Taylor
http://jodietaylorlog.moonfruit.com
Having researched several photographers Jodie Taylor’s work titled Memories of Childhood inspired me the most and my work in this assignment, I feel, is nearest to the style of hers than any of the others. To me Jodie’s pictures say “council estate”. Although her images appear to be captured in an area akin to a council estate Jodie has found by framing her images well she is able to distract the viewer from the less aesthetically aspects of the images other photographers researched focused mainly on people. Jodie returned to her childhood area and chose to shoot on 35mm film as she felt this medium best fit the era she was trying to depict. Her images are not what you would call “classically beautiful” but are framed well; and in being so she was able to distract the viewer from the rundown nature of the content.
10/10/15 – Diptychs and Triptychs
I hadn’t appreciated the brilliance of working with diptychs/triptychs. My tutor suggested I do some research around this style of editing and that I may want to consider displaying some of my images in this way when reworking my Square Mile assignment.
Diptych & Triptych are words derived from Greece meaning “two” or “fold”:
Diptych: Images/objects (usually art) attached as if hinged.
Triptych: A work of art divided into 3 sections, the centre image typically being the larger.
There are several reasons an artist may choose to display their work in this way, among which are story telling, e.g. before and after; showing different elements of the same scene e.g. wide angle, then zoom shot and showing time lapse e.g then & now.
Story Telling
Wide Angle & Zoom
thejapaneseeye.blogspot.com
Time Lapse
Copyright: Tracy Law
All in all using diptychs and/or triptychs is a fun way to display your artwork and tell your story. You may want to include borders or you may not. There are may software packages and even apps for mobile phones available that will do all the hard work for you by arranging your images to pre-built templates and enabling you to choose the border colour and style you require. I chose to make my diptychs in Adobe Photoshop using a 75 pixel white border for each image
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