Brief One: Photographer Research

Following on from my proposal for this brief, I feel I have two aspects to work with here: the sense of humour element and the sense Britishness at the heart of the Car Boot Sale (obviously, Martin Parr has made a living out of fusing both of these elements). I've been researching other photographers whose work I deem pertinent to my car boot (re: 'English people doing English things') shoot. One of these that came to mind was Simon Roberts, whose work I viewed at the National Media Museum in Bradford, years before I became a real photography enthusiast (2009?).

Simon Roberts considers himself as 'part photographer, part geographer, part ethnographer', as he likes to use the visual image as a means of exploring the issues he is interested in. I can see this in his work, for some of his images look like 'basic landscapes' taken on such a large scale (making best use of a large format camera) that any human element is reduced to the miniscule. In the words of a major reviewer of Roberts' key work, We English, Chris Boot notes "many of the photographs have a style reminiscent of landscape paintings by well-known nineteenth-century English artists" (1).  This opinion strikes me as interesting, for it is as if Roberts is offering a modern day translation of a classical art form; taking from the form of traditional landscape and bringing it up to date in the activities the people in his work are busying themselves with. Below is an example:

Roberts proves that a picture can be both a landscape and a study of a people.

This is a car boot shot from We English. Its kind of what I had in mind for one of the wider shots I am planning for my brief, perhaps at Oldham, looking down at the goings-on from the mound above.

For me, Roberts' work seems more a study of the British people than Parr's almost harrowing postcard humour; more wistful than exploitative. For this reason, it is perhaps more difficult to pin-down, and for my brief I can't see, to get Martin Parr's work out of my head, though.

After 'Googling' 'Photography Car Boots', I discovered a photographer called Nick Dawe, who also seems to have mastered Great British Traditions: the work on his webpage is separated into titles such as 'Beside the Sea', 'Car Boot Sale' and 'The Farm'. Dawe's images strike me as more personable than Parr's and Roberts', and in many (example below) it is evident his subjects have been asked to pose in their natural environments, almost rendering them environmental portraits.

Will I get some of my subjects to pose? In a word: yes. I think there is a thin line between documentary ('a day at a car boot sale') and environmental portraits, like the one here. Posing is no bad thing, as long as the sense of environment and the overall message is strong.

Dawe also gives a strong sense of the items and bits of 'tat' that are bought and sold in these places.

I tend to like the more audacious type of shot where heads have been cut  off as a means of highlighting an object or activity. Dawe's car boot images are loosely based around car parts, and I think what I like most here is the concentration on the fact this is such a largely unwanted item (or at least it looks like one). Again, it strikes me as a typically masculine pastime: collecting and hoarding completely useless stuff.

For me, Dawes comes into his own in an album entitled 'Nation of Shopkeepers', which featured in Intelligent Life magazine. This is what I was aiming towards with the ones from my Hulme market sellers series, but Dawe has hit the nail on the head in terms of the aesthetic here.

The pose. The facial expression. The environment. That is all. This was no doubt still floating in my subconscious  during the London trip when I was lucky to capture the below image:

Probably too dark this, but you get the idea: I love her nonchalant look. Had I waited much longer, I'd have missed the opportunity. After all don't think she was too happy.

I love old men who've worked in the same industry since Adam was a lad.

This image really does have everything for me: composition, colour coordination, you name it. Even the muggy weather epitomises British working life.

Watch this space for more goodies!

1) http://www.zyworld.com/albionmagazineonline/photography_simon_roberts.htm