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

Brief Two: Interior Location [Original Idea; no longer doing]

You will notice from the very first post on my blog, that in the not to distant past, I shot some images of an Action Man toy I bought from a car boot sale in a host of human and 'action' situations. This is what I find most fun about photography, as it seems an ideal way to show my sense of humour. For this reason, I aim to come up with more situations to shoot Action Man in, and really develop the theme/sense of narrative.

Below are some examples of the ones I shot of him in the summer.

f4, 1/125th, ISO100, 50mm, Flash.
Upon uploading the images onto my photography Facebook , I wrote captions for some of them. This is what I aim to do for the interior images also. Example: for this: "Action Man really regretted drinking a full bottle of vodka down the legion last last" (only wittier than this).

f5.5, 1/80th, ISO400, 150mm, flash.
On some shots, a shallow depth of field was of the essence (esp as I used my Polaroid Close-Up filters to get real close), but for others the background detail was equally important in placing the 'toy' in recognisable human context. More about this later. 

f5.6, 1/200, ISO200, 200mm, flash.

The caption for this read: "When I asked him whether he would mind recreating the punishment he suffered at the hands of the Taliban for my own artistic aims, he was more than happy to obliged. In this instance I have replaced the tarpaulin sheet with plastic potato bag from ASDA. Needs must".

I possess a questionable sense of humour.

Since the course started, however, I have taken this concept a little further. With the help of a friend's ultra powerful, industrial torch, a lamp from Ikea, a black apron for backdrop, my tripod, close-up filters and the use of my camera's self-timer and manual focus setting, I think I have created something really special below:

f16, 1/8th, ISO400, 52mm, x2 close-up filter.
Why such a narrow aperture for what is ostensibly a portrait shot? Well, I wanted the torch and the long exposure to do all the work. I wanted the image crisp, and the background as dark as possible.

f8, 1/60th, ISO400, 55mm, x2 filter.
Went for the Bourne Ultimatum look here. I love the result.

I know this is lit on the other side, but you get the idea. Iconic? Maybe!

f8, 1/60th, ISO400, 55mm, x2 filter.
Least favourite of the three, but included it to get the message across. Dark, moody etc. Worries me that these won't fit with the others I plan to shoot, though.

All these practice shots really whet my appetite for the whole genre of toy photography. So, as is usually the protocol for this type of thing, I did a Google image search to see what else has been done. Below are the ones I found most exciting.

This is another Action Man shot taken by someone called Mon McAuley. Here we can see the effects using an immensely shallow depth of field lends to this sort of image. According to the website I found this: "The challenge of Toy Photography is to make the toy “lifelike”; to remove that “plastic-feel” to it and to make it more human" (1). Hopefully, when I get my 50mm f1.4 I too can create images like this.

The same photographer has recreated a typical scene you would see in Indiana Jones. This was used to stress that taking toys outside can be even more fun than indoor, although let's not forget this is my interior shoot. This reminds me of another of my Action Man shots taken outside when the weather was clement enough (below).

f5, 1/80th, ISO200, 135mm.
Shame I won't be able to take advantage of the great outdoors this time round. Conversely, thank God I don't have to go outside. Used my 50-200mm here to intensify depth of field, here, making him look more human in this wider context.

Watch this space for more examples and further research. Fancy recreating Leonardo De Vinci's Vetruvian 'Action' Man, for instance.

Postscript: I will not be doing this now. I have been informed I am not allowed to use flash or any other artificial light sources. Watch this space for a new brief, very possibly a set of portraits of Service Users from the dementia hospital I often work at.

1) http://digital-photography-school.com/getting-started-in-toy-photography