Return from The Gambia

I returned this week from my trip to The Gambia. It was amazing !! I feel renewed and my energy levels are refreshed, and I feel excited to finish my degree and do these projects.

I took almost 800 images during my trip, most of these are for my university projects. I hoped to have many more images but it is so difficult, when you are around the children they want to hold your hand and give you hugs and they want your attention. So it is increasingly difficult to turn your back on that, or say no to holding a child's hand to take a photograph of them instead. I tried to do both, hold their hand to start with and stop let go and photograph them and the area around. However, this means you do lose some shooting time.

I think in order to be able to shoot the whole time, you need to separate yourself from any group or bond with the Gambian people. The whole reason I went there was to be with the families and children and give them hope, the university work happened on top of that, so thats where my compromise came in.

Saying that, I am very very excited to start working with the images I did take. I have had a quick look through them and I just feel so excited. This is good, because hopefully it means I will really push myself to do well, because I put so much effort into getting the images, I don't want to let myself or the children/people in the photographs down. I have a responsibility now to represent them and show them correctly through my work.

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. 

David Goldblatt

Whilst looking at the work of Samuel Fosso, I came across David Goldblatt. He is a south african photographer working in Johannesburg.


"Goldblatt focuses on critical explorations of South African society. While he uses photography as a means of accessing and exploring people and societies, David Goldblatt is acutely aware of the ethics of photography, and has used the camera as a way of capturing the complexities and intricacies of the specific conditions and situations that he photographs. His photographs are neither propaganda nor violently provocative, but rather become far more complex, meditative documents that are open to interpretation and that permeate far more deeply, and for longer than the initial shock and violence associated with documentary and news photography." (http://www.goodman-gallery.com/artists/davidgoldblatt)

I particulary am drawn to the exhibitions titled 'Some things old, some things new and some much the same' and 'Fietas'

©Zulu woman salvaging bricks for a white contractor from Indians' houses demolished under the Group Areas Act, Fietas, 1982

© Hassimia Sahib's

©The Methodist Church (natives), City and Suburban, August 1961 (3_3216), 1961

©27 April 2007 (4_A0508), 2007

 

 

I feel that these images are what I may have gained after my trip to The Gambia. They are documenting an area, a time and a people. They are not staged, and I don't feel that they are biased.
I think there may be a sense of 'the other' coming through, but not in a way that makes them less than the photographer. He keeps their dignity intact. As the statement above says, he is aware of the ethics of his photographs, he knows that he could offend somebody very easily if he photographs them in a demeaning way. But he doesn't do this. It is obvious I feel that he is documenting that time, making record of it rather than exploiting it.

Stop Procrastinating and Get on with it

Here goes my first blog post of the year...

I have been sat staring at the computer screen for a while now, unsure of how to start. I suppose sort of scared to start because it means third year has officially started, time is going to whizz past at lightning speeds and I feel like I want to cry. However, it has to happen at some point and why keep procrastinating? Lets just do it!!

This first week of term has been exciting, yet at the same time scary and daunting. I have 3 modules to pass this year, these being: Dissertation, Mixed Media and Major Practical Project. The advice given is to merge the 3 together in some way, make threads stronger and stop my brain become a massive tangled mess of stress and excitement.

As many people are aware I am travelling to The Gambia in November of this year and so I have been wanting to merge that into this years work. If I didn't then I would be very mixed up and stressed and not very dedicated to my work. However, by combining the two things together I hope it will help me out and allow me to be more organized.

So... my first ideas are:

Dissertation - Looking at photographers who have photographed in difficult areas. For example, war photographers, photo journalists, photographers who have photographed in Africa. This needs refining and needs a lot of work put into it but is my starting out idea.

Mixed Media - We were shown a film in lecture 'Days like this - Washing of hands' by Joel Simon. It spoke volumes to me ! (I will do a separate post about why it spoke to me later on as initial research) So I think I would like to do something similar to this for my work. A video, kept anonymous, about the things that strike you when in a foreign place. This may include sound pieces, illustration, text, spoken word, etc etc.

Major Practical Project - I had the idea of documenting my journey to The Gambia, in an anonymous way by photographing the journey my feet take. I really don't like my feet at all, but in a weird way they are one of the most important things to me because they get me to the places I want to go and allow me to see things by taking me there. I like the idea of representing someone or something, without actually showing them/it. This would be a challenge, but as a first idea it has really got me excited and I want to do it now. That has to mean something right? If I want to just run and jump and shout and do research into it then it must mean I have truly clicked with the idea!

So.. now to have a tutorial with lecturers and do some research and see what happens!