Can't make a decision

I am leaving for The Gambia in 6 days and I am struggling so much to get my head around this project. I keep going backwards and forwards over what I want to show through the film, and so cannot come to a firm decision on what I am actually going to film.

I am also going to be shooting images for my MPP work, and so am I going to push myself too much by trying to film at the same time? I'm worried that if I do this my work will be too weak to use for either project.

This is so difficult !

I have a feeling that my project idea will change whilst I am out there and then even more so when I return.
The idea of making a film is getting less and less inspiring to me.

Whilst out in The Gambia, I am going to shoot as much as I can and film what I can and then I will review my work and make a firm decision when I have returned.

I hate not being prepared, but this just seems the most sensible way to do it... otherwise I think I will ruin both projects.

Photojournalism

Today I have been reading through this book - 

 and I have found a few photographers who's images stood out to me.

 Patrick Brown

Zomba, Malawi, 1994

I find this image quite problematic when analysing it against my work. Firstly, if this image where being used to try and get people motivated to donate time, money, aid to these people then it would succeed. It pulls at the heart strings in quite an obvious way.

However, in the actual print it is easier to see, the Doctors hands are white and the child is black. I feel that this really highlights 'the other'. If the purpose is to plea with white people then again it speaks volumes. 

It is a massive deal that so many people just glaze over and don't even realise when looking at photographs like this          .. a black child is dying or in need of major help

                                           .. a white doctor is giving the help

 David Burnett

Korem Camp, Ethiopia, November 1984

I personally really like this image.. it is a tender moment between what we presume to be a mother and child. The lady has a wedding ring on her finger, something that is not normally seen in photographs made to appeal for money. Having a ring, shows that she is not completely poor, even though the clothes are dirty and loose. 

I looked at this image and immediately thought 'the child is ill' 'the mother is leaving' 'they are praying' 'they are upset' 'life must be so hard'

However when time is taken.. and I started actually studying the image further I noticed things like the ring.

The caption next to this image reads 'Burnett uses his camera to demonstrate to the Wesern world the widespread famine and starvation throughout northeast Africa. He reflects: "Its still happening today, even though the West continues to generate more and more wealth.'

From this I think the image was created with the intention of pulling heart strings and trying to get Westerners to donate to these people out. Although, I can see myself creating an image similar to this, simply to document a tender moment between a mother and her child. Which shows that an image can easily be understood in many different ways, depending most probably on the background/mind set of the viewer. 

I will need to really take care in how my images are presented - to try and make sure the reason for the images is shown truthfully.

 Dan Chung

Tahoua, Niger, 2005

I personally love silhouette images in general, but I took a liking to this image because I feel it shows children at play. It shows that their lives are not just sitting, crying, suffering, posing for numerous photographs to make people feel sorry for them. 

This image really touches my heart.. but doesn't make me feel sorry for anybody. 

I personally would much rather look at a series of images of African children at play and feel like I should donate to keep things that way.. than look at dying children.

 Tim Hall

Dhewu's daughter, Tengenenge, Zimbabwe, 1994

This image is in colour, and quite bright colours. I think it shows the heat of Africa better. 

We are looking at a young child, looking at somebody else. When I first looked at this image, I felt that maybe she was looking at perhaps other children in play, whilst she washes up and does chores. Then my mind began to wonder, do the other children have parents doing their chores for them and she is orphan doing it by herself. Or perhaps, she is orphan doing her jobs, watching her younger siblings to make sure they are not leaving her sight.

There is again a lot that you can read from this image. Are we meant to feel sorry for her? What was the intention when this image was taken?

 Sebastiao Salgado

Mali, 1985

This image to me feels cold. It makes me feel so cold looking at it, especially the child with no clothes on. However, this image is taken in Mali in the drought, so actually it is so hot. The white vastness of the image though gives it a totally different feel.

Something to bear in mind when I am photographing.

 Ami Vitale

Female Circumcision, Guinea-Bissau

I find this image quite harrowing. The girls stare straight into camera, almost jumps out of the image and grabs you. The tears down her face, and the composition of the image make it such an emotional, captivating image. You almost feel compelled to stare back into her gaze, yet when you do so suddenly feel uncomfortable.

Her expression in some ways seems more like anger than anything. Like she is convicting the viewer of something bad. You feel bad for staring back at her, even though she cannot see you.

Dembel Jumpora, Guinea-Bissau

Again I like this image because it is more playful. From the same series as the above image, yet a completely different response from the viewer. There is no eye-contact, and it seems that none of the children have noticed the camera, so it is lighter viewing and you do not feel bad for being an on-looker. 

Susan Meiselas 'In History'

I found these pieces of text in Susan Meiselas 'In History' p14, an interview by Kristen Lubben.

This piece I think links to my Mixed Media ideas. I am going to ask the other British people that I'm travelling with to a write down a memory of each day, at the end of each day. I also am going to try to collect some drawings or written pieces from the African children to merge together and use within my Mixed Media work.

Meiselas did this with some of her work. She took her contact prints back to the subjects within them and asked them to write about the image, she then used the text and image together.

This second piece, I felt just really spoke to me as a practitioner. I am also really interested in knowing whats behind an image. I don't enjoy photographing people on the street, because I don't want to portray them wrongly.
This also links to my MPP work, because I am hoping to know a bit of background of the people I photograph in Gambia. My work is not going to portray people wrongly, hopefully, so I really felt that this spoke into my practice as well.

Visual Bibliography

Here is a visual bibliography of the books and film that are first on my reading list. Hopefully these will lead me onto new books, websites, journals and films.

Dissertation Tutorial 1

This week, I had a tutorial about my dissertation. I had a rough idea of what I wanted to write about and research but felt it was too broad and needed to be narrowed down, however I was really struggling to do this process on my own. It really proved that sometimes getting an idea out of your head and either onto paper, or hearing it come out of your mouth can really help you to make sense of things.

These are the notes that I made during that meeting. So I will be looking at photographers; Don McCullin, James Nachtwey, Kevin Carter, Susan Meiselas. As well as watching things such as Live Aid and Children in Need.

I am going to be researching photographic truths, documentary truths and in particular the representation of African Children.

This will link perfectly with my Major Practical Project and hopefully with my Mixed Media project however I still need to have a tutorial about the outcome of that module. But I am beginning to feel a little more excited about all of my work, and hopefully each one will strengthen the others. 

Laura Pannack

http://laurapannack.com

©Laura Pannack

Both of these images are taken from Pannack's commissioned series 'Don Bosco'.  They both are documentary photographs, but at the same time they could easily be staged photographs. Seeing these images is what led me to contact Pannack, and find out.

©Laura Pannack 

I feel that the images may be similar to the images I could return with from The Gambia, and I really wanted to find out how she has achieved them, so that perhaps I could have the same way of working, or draw on her techniques for inspiration whilst out there.

©Laura Pannack

These two images (above and below) are from the series 'Saving the Cursed Children of Ghana'. They really stand out to me because in both images life is being documented, although there is 1 or 2 people (children) who have noticed the camera. Is is the camera that they have noticed, or is it the photographer? The photographer we know is a British female, so is that what attracts the attention of the children. Are we seeing the idea of 'the other', shown both through the image taken, as well as the content in the image. We are looking at 'the other' in the photograph, but they are looking at 'the other' taking the photograph.

This is a really interesting point me for to be stuck on. In my work, I don't want to necessarily show that bridge between 'the other', I don't want to make that statement. But, how do I avoid it? Did Pannack intend for this to happen ?
Also, why is it the children who notice rather than the adults? Would the (parent? is it a parent?) adult not be protecting the child from onlookers, are they so poor that they do not care, or is their work just too important to them that they are so in grossed they do not notice?

Did Pannack position these children like this, looking at the camera? Did she direct the image and only instruct those 1 or 2 children to look to camera?

From the email response I had from her, I don't feel that the image is that staged. I wonder if perhaps she had spoken to or interacted in some way with the people looking to camera, maybe she asked if she could take their photograph but didn't specifically pose them in the way that they are seen.

© Laura Pannack

Laura Pannack - making contact

I spent some time after Laura came and spoke to our class at university, looking at the aesthetics of her wok. Especially her work 'saving the cursed children of Ghana', 'home' and 'Don Bosco'. I really started to notice that her work is a mix of posed images and documentary photographs. I felt like because it is similar to what I hope to do in The Gambia, I should ask her how she achieved the different photographs and the things she maybe struggled with.

So I sent her an email. Her response included this:

"Translation will be imperative

I directed people as well as documented. I dont really have a rule when taking images . you will do fab as half the fun is not knowing how you are going to take your picture until you arrive. Keep your eyes opn, look for things that define your subjects life and character and don't rush"

So.. for me going out to The Gambia I feel that her response was exactly what I needed. 

I am not going out with a plan of what my images are going to look like exactly, so  half the fun is not knowing how you are going to take your picture until you arrive speaks directly into my project right now. I am excited and scared at the same time as to how these images are going to turn out. But as Laura says.. don't rush! I need to take my time, really think about composition. I don't to come back with thousands of snap shots, I want to take considered meaningful images that I will successfully be able to use for university work and exhibition. 

I want to represent the subjects and people in my images well, I do not want to portray them in a way that is not true to them. So I really need to take my time, be aware of surroundings and get to know the people that I am photographing before subjecting my own opinions and views onto them within the photograph.