Brief Two: Interior Location: Broughton House: Research

Aside from the Auden Court shoot of two years ago, a big inspiration to me was an image (below) taken by my tutor, Richard Gaskill, that he showed to us during one of our Friday sessions. It was taken as part of a project Richard did on young single fathers for his Photography Scholarship, supervised by none other than Mr Beesley himself (still not replied to my email). For me the image represented how 'the community' provides a worthy subject for a  photographic project, and how shooting people in their own space using the available light by far supercedes that of the use of flash. It also reminded me of an image that I wanted to take whilst shaving one of the residents at one of the homes I work at (lacking in capacity due to dementia, therefore deemed unethical to photograph).

Untitled, 2008, Richard Gaskill

Taking this as a starting point, I started to research other photographers who had carried-out similar projects; those who had set out to photograph the pockets of society that are often overlooked by photographers, lest they be the ones seeking truth, or else giving birth to a different kind of aesthetic (without going as far as likes of Arbus and Goldin).

I started researching people who'd photographed old people, and came across a few things I liked. The first was a blog by documentary and fine art photographer called Jonathan Desmond. What I first noticed about is his evident love of photography, and the way he makes full use of the blog format to cover moment of his life, from weddings to bike-rides (all enthused with everyday idiosyncrasies). What caught my eye the most, though, was the post he made the day after his grandma's death, which I found both moving and inspiring. After all, death  comes to us all, so I don't see the point in shying away from it when it comes to photography. Indeed, it struck me that the biggest compliment I could glean from this project would be if these images are looked upon as memoirs of these men after they died (as morbid and/or conceited as this sounds). Below are some of my favourites:

Great sense of environment and mood. Exactly what I'm going for. Good use of depth of field in the way the couch in the foreground is blurred. All topped-off by the contemplative expression of the subject, made more poignant by the knowledge of her passing. My own back-story will be based around the former positions in the services.

Again, the sense of environment and what gets left behind when a person dies. Would this image have the same effect had the person still been with us? I doubt it. One of the things I liked about Richard Gaskill's image was how he sat his subject on a two-seater sofa, showing the empty seat nest to him where his late wife once sat, making the image more poignant.

This one holds the same sentiment, but I think the colour takes something away from the overall effect. It is a good picture of a selection of objects associated with a person, but it doesn't signify someone's passing quite as profoundly.

After this I stumbled across another photo journal (1) by a Vietnamese photographer with the handle Ki?n Ho?ng. These were high contrast monochrome images of a nursing home in Saigon, the relevance being that the Vietnamese usually look after their old people at home. The framing and composition is something that I aim to go for, although this person seems to have erred more towards documentary rather than environmental portrait. Below are my favourites of his/her's:

Other residents in the background will invariably help when it comes to conveying  exactly where the subject is.

From my time spent working in the homes, I have noticed various elements of resident's rooms that can be used for creative effect. Mirrors are undoubtably one of them. Here, I think it adds to the sense of contemplation of its subjects. Almost as if a reflection is all these people leave behind. This reminds me of the Korean film, Poetry, about a woman suffering with Alzheimer's (1).

Like I said, some the photographer's shots in this series errs towards documentary. Nothing wrong with this, of course, but- since I covered this in my exterior- I wanted to do something a bit more personal here. Nevertheless, I think the use of light and framing works really well here. The use of framing here also reminds me of another I had noticed, by the Florida Times photographer, Rick Wilson (below):

Nothing more conveys the place more than shooting a much wider shot from outside the door, showing the actual room number. The number itself makes a comment on identity, and how these people are reduced to just that. It is not my intention to pay heed to this, but I feel it somewhat unavoidable, especially since my subjects used to fight in wars.

I didn't just look at old people in researching this project. When a course mate was looking at more general stuff, I came across documentary photographer and environmental portraitist  J.A. Mortram, and especially his project entitled 'Small Town Inertia'. Like I mentioned in my previous post, this guy specialises in people on the outskirts of society and those forgotten about. You only have to look at the layout of his website (with its links to the Oxfam, Shelter and Mind) to see exactly the type of subject that most interests him. Indeed, this is where my passion lies also, and this is why he is my core source of inspiration at the moment. Below are just some of his individuals, which he devotes whole series to, breaking the page up with pieces and doodles by the individual's themselves (I aim to ask my residents questions, or at least make a note of their rank in the services).

You can tell from this (Tilney1, a man on a community section) just how close the Mortram got to his subjects. In some of them, its almost as if he slept in the same house as them, which is ironic, since this person is said to be completely isolated due to his mental health.

Perhaps more relevant, this, due to the age of the person and how the environment is as important as the subject. I like the way the chair in the foreground is almost in the way. I almost want to move it, but by the same token it absolutely wouldn't be the same without it. This is definitely what I'm after at Broughton House. But at Broughton House, the rooms are pretty much the same, so I'll have to play on the things that make them different all the more.

Admittedly, some are quite harrowing, but Mortram doesn't exploit, nor does he sensationalise. Although he is photographing an epilepsy sufferer here, in no way do we feel sympathy for him. Well, maybe a little in this one, but in his work as a whole this is definitely not what he is about.

This is another favourite of mine because its not your usual composition: the subject is dead central, and the fact he is turned away from us, yet looking round, makes for a more interesting picture. Add to this, his shirt hanging on the door in the background representing his environment.

This is enough to be going on with in terms of research now I feel.

1) http://www.photojournale.com/search.php?search_user=Ki%3Fn+Ho%3Fng+L