ESSAY: The truth of the photograph

The debate of photographs being truthful and how they are used as evidence is one that is highly debated. There are many photographers, such as Louis Daguerre who state that they must be true, they only pick up what is in front of them, however, the more modern day industry shows a number of cases where the photograph has lied. I will be discussing these images and cases within this essay.
Many classic and early photographers captured what they saw through photography; such as William Henry Fox Talbot, who captured nature through photograms. The process of creating photograms means that there is no way to create a fake, or untrustworthy photograph. A quotation from Louis Daguerre shows that there is no way to capture something, which is not in front of the camera. “Art cannot imitate [the daguerrotype’s] accuracy and perfection to detail” (Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre, “Daguerrotype” in Classic Essays, p12)”. This mood towards cameras and them being truthful is mirrored throughout the early and classic stages of photography. The ways of post-production were harder than what we have currently, but artists such as Susan Sontag still states that photographs show evidence. Her quotation “Photographs furnish evidence…A photograph passes for incontrovertible truth that a given thing happened.  The picture may distort; but there is always a presumption that something exists, or did exist, which is like what’s in the picture” (Sontag, 1977; p5) gives a few different points on the subject. She clearly states that “photographs furnish truth” and show that a “given thing has happened” but also discusses the point that “a picture may distort”. This shows that possibly a photograph may not show what the photographer wants. This could be by personal experiences, a viewer who has been through a different set of experiences may see a picture differently to other audiences, but there are also other ways of distorting images.
Mainly, the classic photographers summarize the points into that the camera cannot lie, it is a machine and simply picks up what is in front of it. This leads us to believe that it is the photographer or audience that changes the truth of the photograph. Roland Barkes quoted talked about the operator, the spectrum and the spectator, in his essay titled (Camera Luicida 1980). If we cannot change the spectrum, the object, then the spectator or the operator must be the reason for the change and bend the truth of a photograph.


There are many styles of photography that can lead to the operator to change the image, such as editorial. This is to prevent upsetting and offending the viewers, however a more dramatic image may portray the message and increase sales. A BBC comment about this subject portrays this, “Audiences do believe that strong images should be used if they feel the subject demands it and if the editorial justification is clear to them” (Violence in News and Current Affairs, October 2010). However, these ‘strong images’ will often be cropped, objects will be remove and other types of editing, to make the paper more appealing to the audience. There are many images, however that changed the ‘spectators’ opinion on subjects, and often misled them. This is the case with the 1936 image, Migrant Mother by Dorothea Lange. This image was the most iconic, of the set she took, however one that seems “too perfectly staged” (Inside New York, March 3, 2010.) The image shows a mother, with two children
who are looking away and one in her arms. The Conscientious Photography Magazine, May 2013, analyses the image and pose of the subjects deeper, “while the mother’s pose seems fairly natural, the two larger children’s has always struck me as a bit artificial. Children not familiar with a stranger might show their shyness, but these poses seem maybe a little bit too posed”. This is a statement that I agree with, if this image was documentary, should the subjects be aware of the camera and adjust their actions accordingly? The photographer, Lange, knew that the subjects being aware of the camera adjusted the image, so why did she publish it, when she had taken more natural shots? Another fact about this image is the post production on the mothers right hand thumb, it is slightly transparent and matches the pole, again suggesting manipulation. This doesn’t seem a big thing to be picking up, but does pose the question on what was she trying to remove?
Another type of photography that can change or alter the truth is advertising or commercial photography. This glamourizes and blurs the lines of reality of a product, such as food photography. Often the photographed subjects are inedible and often are post manipulated.  Photographs used are often the best out of a large batch and will not show you the worst subjects, “I take between 25 and 50 photos per dish but post 2, maybe 3. Cookbook photographers would have professionally prepared dishes and likely take many, many more shots. Like agents, we only pick the most photogenic models” (The Messy Baker, August 6, 2009). She also posted a before and after post production shot, where she “adjust(ed) light, pump(ed) up the color, crank(ed) up the contrast or sharpen(ed) an image. With Photoshop, photographers verge on becoming plastic surgeons.” The end result was more appealing to the audience, but is this bending the truth of an image, or simply removing little mistakes that the photographer has made?

To conclude, earlier photographers agree that the camera can’t lie and that editing the image afterwards is the most common way to bend the truth of an image. Compared to more modern day photographers who bend and twist the truth of a photograph, to make it appeal to the audience more and too often make it more memorable or boost sales. This is true in many styles of photography, such as editorial, commercial and food photography.  To quickly summarise, in my opinion, the camera cannot lie, it is a machine, therefore it is the photographer, who changes the aspects of the photograph, such as lighting, colours, perspectives and more to appeal more to the audience and the audience can change the truth of a photograph by having different experiences and seeing objects in a different light.

Total 1040 words.

References:
Louis-Jacques-Mande Daguerre – Classic Essays – Daguerrotype- p12.
Susan Sontag – On photography, - 1977 -  p5
Roland Barks – Camera Luicida – 1880
BBC. (2010) – Violence in News and Current Affairs – available here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/editorialguidelines/page/guidance-violence-news/ - [Accessed 17/11/14]
Inside New York (2010) – Picturing Dorothea Langue’s Life and Work – available here: http://insidenewyork.com/2010/03/03/picturing-dorothea-langes-life-and-work/ - [Accessed 17/11/14]
The Conscientious Photography Magazine (2013) – Migrant Mother – available here: http://cphmag.com/migrant-mother/ - [Accessed 17/11/14]
The Messy Baker (2009) – The Truth about Food Photography – available here: http://themessybaker.com/2009/08/06/the-truth-about-food-photography/ - [Accessed 17/11/14]

William Eggleston - "The colourful Mr Eggleston"

 When asked what he photographs, he simply returns with "Life today". He is an banal photographer, who is based in Memphis, Tennessee.

We can gain more ideas and context about the word banal by looking at its synonyms, shown under his portrait. Words such as 'ordinary', 'routine' and 'dull' can be used to describe his subjects, however his images are 'challenging', 'stimulating' and 'imaginative'. They capture the audience and get them thinking about what he has photographed and what does it mean?

He was born in 1939 and still photographs his home town, on the everyday theme. He has had over 50 years of career time but hardly ever titles or gives more details about his images. Speaking about himself, he told about his personal disciplines  one being that he would only take one picture of one subject. Anymore is then confusing to him and that if he cannot decide which is the better image. Gaining his first camera at 18, he started using black and white and home printed his work.  Self teaching himself, he first looked at the kodak manuals, which were scarce. He is also interested in the work of Henri Carter Bresson, specially his composition and his photojournalistic style.

"Never take any object for granted" - All the components and individual details to an image add meaning and depth. You cannot ignore them.

His use of colour film in the 60's , this changed and shaped photography. Before this, art photography, which his work was, was black and white. He was also the first to use dye transfer for his prints, this again shaped photography.

His famous 'Red Ceiling' picture, shown to the right, was done out of habit. He was with his friend to the image.  The lack of the detail, except the roof, gives the image a mystery and anxious feel. This is because you cannot see the rest of the room. Another point is that the poster to the left of the picture, also adds context and can lead the audience to think differently.

and his wife, picked up his leica and his flash. Took the picture and then went back to talking. However, there are so many aspects of this picture that make it compositionally pleasing. Firstly the highly saturated red makes it alluring. Right away the audience is attracted to the picture and the contrast between the red and the white of the power lines. The image itself does show its age, by using the flash. This illuminates the bulb, but also adds a vignette to the picture, aiming the audience to the light bulb.

In 1973. Andy Warhol introduced Eggleston to video cameras. He then picked up a Sony PortaPak and documented not only his kids but bars and clubs. His style here is very similar to his pictures, very banal and ordinary. They are around 40seconds long, but do make me very confused and want to know more about the situation, similar to his pictures. "Natural, organic and one shot only" In the video we were told he often woke his kids up in the middle of the night, any time, to photograph them and their emotions. This is shown in video form as well <. We were told he often didn't do portraits, but when he did the models often didn't know he was there. But obviously this was very different, but the style is the same.

Never graduating from university, Eggleston spent the time perfecting his techniques and developing himself.

The first book of colour photographs that Eggleston showed was titled 'Egglestons Guide'. It was published by John Szarkowski, who also gave Eggleston his first exhibit. The guide was very much aimed at showing his private moments; his house, family and his life through pictures. He captured the perfect moment, banal images that became iconic. The exhibit, in 1976, along with the book, was dubbed the "worst exhibit of the year", the critics were harsh, often saying they 'didn't understand what they were looking at'. However, later they apologised, once the public loved Eggleston's work.

The modern day influence of Eggleston has spread to film, music and fashion, two examples are shown below.



Purpose: "Contemporary art photography" - inform people that anything can be interesting and show things around his daily life.
Audience: Anyone that's interested in contemporary photography - family, those interested in his private life.



My 4 images, inspired from Eggleston:

(Above) This image took the idea of photographing everyday places and places that seem banal to me. This scene is one I see everyday and something I personally think is ordinary, routine and dull. In colour, this image was very saturated and bright, i found that this didn't work well with the theme and inspiration of Eggleston. I also wanted to use compositional factors to make the slightly boring theme seem interesting. The use of a frame within a frame directed the audience towards the middle of the shot, to where the most subject is. I also used leading lines to direct the audience around the page.   A few differences compared to eggleston include the fact I used black and white for this image, and that I chose still life and inside location.    

(Above) This image is again slightly more styled compared to Eggleston's work. In his portraiture work, often the models are facing forward into the camera, with a lot of space around them. Here, due to my style, I have tried to get closer to the model and to mask their identity via the arm and shadow. I like this effect as also it looks like the model is unconfident with the camera and is trying to hide themselves. Again, I have used black and white to stop the colours distracting and making the image less banal and relatable to his work. The narrow depth of field draws the audiences attention to the one spot of detail to the image.  

(Below) This image is similar to the one above, in the way it is distracting the audience away from the models identity. I have tried to use a vast amount of space, to make the image less interesting and to also direct the audiences eye to the model. Again I have used black and white to not allow the audience to be distracted from the colour. 

(Below) This image is a still life of a light. This shows an exposed ring of light, illuminating the lamp and un-exposing the ceiling around it. This gives the ceiling a black colour, which contrasts with orange and pink of the light. I gained inspiration for this image from the quote 'Never take any object for granted'. A light is in each room and is often not looked at or noticed. There is a rule of thirds in the image, making the light the middle of the image and the main focus. There is also leading lines within the shape of the light which drag the audiences eye around the page.  

Sheffield Hallam open day:

Date visited: 03/11/2014
Lectures attended: Photography, Media culture and practise
Additional visits: Student union building (The hubs) & two clusters of accommodation (Liberty works, Liberty court, The Trigon & Opal 1, Victoria Hall and Devonshire courtyard.)

Photography lecture notes: (including facilities)
This course was very keen to state that they welcomed a variety of photography styles (photojournalism, fashion, documentary, portraits and advertising). They use a mix of traditional and digital productions, having the facilities for colour and black and white film processing, among many film camera formats (35mm, large and medium). There are open briefs, to allow each person to develop ideas and interests and also the relationship between theory and practise is explored. Here, practise is 60% and theory 40%. There are many trips, to galleries etc and also overseas and UK residential trips. Including an landscape residential where you are given cameras and workshops and sent out to photograph landscapes. This is something different to other universities, gives more excitement and adventure. Another difference to other universities, is that she was much more knowledgeable on the course and went through the credit system. There are often 35 - 40 places, with rate of 1:7 getting in. You don't get to use the studios until year two, however these were high quality and very big. The opportunity to bring anything in and even merge the two studios into one for bigger shoots. This appealed to me greatly.
Another thing I need to think about is studying an Mart? An integrated masters, which from what it was explained, is a postgraduate and an undergraduate combined, however it is missing 20 credits from the post grad.
300 points for BA - Both around DDM
320 points for MA - ^
They will accept some of my A-Level with this, if I don't get enough points.

Media and culture notes:
Simply, not the course for me. Not enough photography.

Student union notes:
Bar was cheap and big, the general atmosphere seemed busy, noticeboards were full of things to do. Many societies.

Accommodation notes:
Really loved Victoria hall - Big- looks friendly - A lot of windows - locked kitchen (safety higher), cheapest one for what you get, being 100pw for double.
Next was Opal 1 and The Trigon - these will be my options, if I get in.

Victoria Hall:

Victoria Hall is a purpose built modern complex. All flats contain either three, four or five en suite bedrooms. Each bedroom provides a bed with under-bed storage, desk, desk chair, bedside cabinet, two bookcases, wall heater, pinboard, wardrobe and full length mirror. A fully equipped communal kitchen is provided, in addition to a comfortable lounge and dining area. Each communal living area comes complete with satellite TV, direct dial phone, corner sofa, a coffee table and a breakfast bar. There is a door entry and intercom system, management suite and a team of 24/7 caretakers. Wifi broadband internet access is included.

You need to supply your own bed linen (duvet, duvet cover, sheet, pillow and pillowcase), 42 weeks contract. Internet access inc.

________________________________________________________________________________


Opal 1:



This modern residence, in the heart of the Devonshire Quarter, consists of four to five bedroom flats. The residence has a shared common room with Sky TV, pool table and vending machines. The property is accessible by a secure key fob entry system and is supported by a site office during the day.

You need to supply your own bed linen (duvet, duvet cover, sheet, pillow and pillowcase), towels, crockery and cutlery.

________________________________________________________________________________

Trigon: 


The Trigon is a modern development. The residence comprises cluster flats of three to six bedrooms, each with their own open plan kitchen and lounge area.

All bedrooms are en suite, there is a common room with pool table, widescreen TV with Freeview and vending machines. There is also an on-site management suite and a security guard.

________________________________________________________________________________

Additional:
Student ambassadors got paid for the work, received an email before they enrolled. This is a way of gaining money in the long term - an extra bonus for easy work. Also good on CV's and if applying to post graduate.


Pictures taken on visit of city: