THEUNIS PHOTO STOFBERG GRAPHER

Work in Progress Portfolio

Oral Presentation:  Immigration/Integration

Bibliography

 

 

100 Photos (2015) 100 Best Photos Time [Online] Available at http://http://100photos.time.com/photos/nick-ut-terror-war [Accessed 10/08/2019]

 

Al Jazeera. (2015). Covering Xenophobia in South Africa. [Online Video] 25 April 2015. Available at http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FHMzMzMfx6I [Accessed 05/07/2019].

 

All Jazeera (2019) Photo of drowned father and daughter highlights migrants' perils [Online] Available at http://https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2019/06/photo-drowned-father-daughter-highlights-migrants-perils-190626000809202.html [Accessed 10/08/2019]

 

Alice Mann (2018) Alice Mann [Online] Available at http://www.alicemann.com [Accessed 27/04/2019]

 

Artnet (2019) Pieter Hugo [Online] Available at http://http://www.artnet.com/artists/pieter-hugo/ [Accessed 15/08/2019]

 

BBC News. (2015). Outh Africa: Xenophobic Violence. [Online Video] 16 April 2015. Available at http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWlF4lrf1Fg [Accessed 05/07/2019].

 

BBC Newsnight. (2015). Escape To Europe. [Online Video] 19 June 2015. Available at http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZqdUBpHmhM [Accessed 20/07/2019].

 

Duckrabbit (2019) 3500 people drown every year in the USA. Why doesn’t AP distribute pics of their dead lifeless bodies? [Online] Available at http://https://www.duckrabbit.info/blog/2019/06/3500-people-drown-every-year-in-the-usa-why-doesnt-ap-distribute-pics-of-their-dead-lifeless-bodies/ [Accessed 12/08/2019]

 

Edward S Curtis (2019) Edward S Curtis Gallery [Online] Available at http://https://www.edwardscurtis.com [Accessed 14/08/2019]

 

Eye Witness News. (2019). Tracking the Tension. [Online Video] 02 April 2019. Available at http://https://ewn.co.za/2019/04/02/tracking-the-tension-10-years-of-xenophobia-in-south-africa [Accessed 05/07/2019].

 

Joey L (2019) Joey L [Online] Available at http://https://www.joeyl.com/overview/category/quick-portfolio [Accessed 15/08/2019]

 

MaryCKHayes.com (2012) In The American West [Online] Available at http://https://maryckhayes.wordpress.com/2012/08/31/simply-stunning-richard-avedons-portraits/ [Accessed 14/08/2019]

 

Samaritans Purse. (2015). The Rising Tide. [Online Video] 08 October 2015. Available at http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RBjZ7kpTLrs [Accessed 20/07/2019].

 

Steve McCurry (2019) Steve McCurry [Online] Available at http://https://www.stevemccurry.com [Accessed 14/08/2019]

 

The William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue (2014) The William Henry Fox Talbot Catalogue [Online] Available at http://https://talbot.bodleian.ox.ac.uk [Accessed 10/08/2019]

 

The New York Times. (2015). Between Borders. [Online Video] 08 October 2015. Available at http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxF0t-SMEXA [Accessed 20/07/2019].

 

The Verge (2018) The End of Instagram as we know it [Online] Available at http://https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/25/17903556/instagram-founders-quit-kevin-systrom-mike-krieger-facebook [Accessed 01/08/2019]

 

The Washington Post (2019) Photo of drowned migrant child recalls an image that shocked the world in 2015 [Online] Available at http://https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2019/06/26/photo-drowned-migrant-child-recalls-an-image-that-shocked-world/ [Accessed 12/08/2019]

 

Thoughtleader.co.za (2014) The dangerous sentimentality of Alice Mann’s ‘Domestic Bliss’ [Online] Available at http://https://thoughtleader.co.za/lwandilefikeni/2014/07/01/the-dangerous-sentimentality-of-alice-manns-domestic-bliss/ [Accessed 03/04/2019]

 

Vice News. (2018). Walking to America with the Migrant Caravan. [Online Video] 21April 2018. Available at http://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZWq0v4ucav0 [Accessed 20/07/2019].

 

WrongWrong.net (2018) He Gaze Back. Photography and Social Consciousness in South Africa [Online] Available at http://https://wrongwrong.net/artigo/the-gaze-back-photography-and-social-consciousness-in-south-africa [Accessed 12/08/2019]

The Earth from the Air, Yann Arthus Bertrand, 2001

Culture 24 (2002) Earth in the Open Air at the Natural History Musuem [Online] Available at http://https://www.culture24.org.uk/art/photography-and-film/art13113 [Accessed 01/08/2019]

Week 8

 

As a lecturer I have been to various workshops in the last few decades. As such I like to think that I know what works and what doesnt. Nevertheless I did find some of the ideas and pointers in the work quite interesting. There are defintely some things that I will have to pay more attention to.

As a lecturer I do tend to spend too much time lecturing and not enough time for workshopping. Since I am seriously thinking about developing a workshop about ethics in photography I have to start looking at ways to include my students work into the parameters of the workshop. This is always difficult as some students work will probably be problematic. The idea of the workshop is to try and get the students over what they did wrong but rather how can they improve in the future.

 

In the last year I have been asking myself various questions about what works in my images and what doesnt. This is especially important as we are in a time where photography and the basis of photography is heavily critiqued.   The images of the drowned child and her father from a few weeks ago and the debate that sparked on whether this image should have been published or not is something that is going to be asked more and more. Where do we draw the line and what are the ethical considerations that have be drawn from the images. Reading some f the blogs and ideas other people have about the images I am still unclear about the final conclusions.

 

The Washington Post (2019) Photo of drowned migrant child recalls an image that shocked the world in 2015 [Online] Available at http://https://www.washingtonpost.com

 

Duckrabbit (2019) 3500 people drown every year in the USA. Why doesn’t AP distribute pics of their dead lifeless bodies? [Online] Available at http://https://www.duckrabbit.info/blog/2019/06/3500-people-drown-every-year-in-the-usa-why-doesnt-ap-distribute-pics-of-their-dead-lifeless-bodies/ [Accessed 12/08/2019]

 

 

 

 

Julia Le Duc/AP, 2019

Week 7

 

I have been looking at various forms of books over the last few weeks the works of Matheiu Asselin especially. Looking at some of the work that others like Lewis Bush have also done I am currently wondering if an expansion of the portraits should maybe not be an idea. At the moment I am working with a single environmental portrait per subject. Should and expansion of the subject maybe be an good idea. To take some images of areas surrounding the area. In the end the problem I have with this is the fact that some of the collaboration of the whole project will then be negated. The whole idea behind the project is to take a photo of the subject in their environment of their choosing. If the subject is not in the picture then the questions come back to how many choices did the photographer take. The taking of random areas will be more influenced by my decisions, what angle to take, what to actually focus on.  This does break the idea of true collaboration apart.

 

I have to be honest again and say that I do think the publications in this day and age is something aimed at other photographers and as such you are sitting with a very limited market.  The main aim of doing books these days is to get shortlisted at a competition. So I really have to ask, why are you doing the book, to spread your work or as a massive marketing effort.

 

Please look at the book that my group did together.

 

https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/62726665/the-furtive-glimpse

 

 

Week 6

 

The space photographs are viewed in is definitely important. There are ways to display photography that works better than other. One of the best marriages of photography and place was looking at the Arthus Bertrand exhibition Earth from the Air at the National History Museum.  the fact that this work was part of the wider exhibition and was actually held outside was more inspirational that if it was just in a gallery. This is something that i will have to keep in mind when planning how to spread my work

 

I still have various issues with photography and photography books. Although I am currently busy with a book that I did with another photographer a few years ago the market for books are very little. We are talking about trying to sell books to other photographers in the end and that in itself is an issue that can never be completely ignored. Although we like to fool ourselves in thinking that we will be selling this book to the general public our target market is in fact very narrow. and restricted to other photographers. This is something that I have to keep in mind.

 

My project will have become a book sooner or later but that will not be soon as I generally don't know if I will be able to take 100 portraits in the near future over the next year (I can certainly try though).  What I am ending up with in the end is an exhibition. For that purpose I have to make sure that there is a certain amount of similarity in the images so that the images can pull from each other. In other words, do they form a coherent whole?  All Valid questions to ask.

 

Week 5

 

Asking myself about my audience is difficult.

The sad thing is that the South African audience for photography barely exists and consists of photographers buying each others works. I have to question these days in the international audience actually exists? Instagram is becoming a fast fading option. With almost monthly changes to their algorithm I really don't know if it is a viable option to sell yourself anymore. The days of fast gaining followers is also gone as the market is now overstimulated and frankly mostly just over it. Social media has furthermore become a den of weaponised anonymity and i really don't know about the long term effects of it.

 

What I have decided though is to start something new. With a number of other photographer friends we are considering doing an online collective. A website featuring the works of a select number of photographers. Using each others collected pool of connections and social media we will be able to connect to more people, wether it is through emails or social media, our reach will be wider and we wont have to start from scratch every time.  As such the website should then act as our own agents.  The problem still omces in gettign people to visit the website. there are a number of ways to do that via email or social media. The problem will be in recoginsing the right avenue to get people there. The old adage of “if you build it they will come” might be ok for ghost baseballplayers on fields in minnesota but it eficacy for photographers are debatable.

(The Verge, 2018).

(The Atlantic, 2019).

The Verge (2018) The End of Instagram as we know it [Online] Available at http://https://www.theverge.com/2018/9/25/17903556/instagram-founders-quit-kevin-systrom-mike-krieger-facebook [Accessed 01/08/2019]

 

The Atlantic (2019) The Instagram Aesthetic is Over [Online] Available at http://https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/archive/2019/04/influencers-are-abandoning-instagram-look/587803/ [Accessed 01/08/2019]

Week 4

 

As someone that has switched between film large format and 35mm digital format for the last few years the idea of the equipment has always been interesting to me. It is a fact that people, when seeing a large format photo printed properly always seem to be interested in the fact the image seem to be more realistic than other images. The fact that the older camera ages the images make them more interesting as there seem to be a percieved inherent truthfullness to the large format images that viewers dont get from normal digital images which they are exposed to daily.  I both love and hate both formats. The large format is cumbersome and expensive even though the results can be unbelievable at times. In the end the fact that I can only take 20 photos in one sitting does become problematic though. This is especially a problem when I use paper negatives as the process in not 100% foolproof and the results do vary quite a lot sometimes. Working with very small DOF also means that the smallest movement by the subject can throw the whole image out of focus.

 

Adriaan Diedericks, Theunis Stofberg 2015

Shany van den Berg, Theunis Stofberg 2015

The value of  truthfulness that people subscribe to large format cameras has been interesting to me for a while.  What I have decided on is that to truly understand it I have to have separation between fact and truth. Truth as used in the art and creative world can used to back up whatever narrative you need to portray. No two people have the same truths. Just like poetry the image will speak to each viewer differently and as such will be different.  The factual is what you can see and what the image portrays but, and that is a bit butwe should always questions which facts are employed and how. Peter van Agtmael talks about this problem when he looks at the photography depicting the refugee crisis in Europe. That the same images keep on repeating themselves is clear and the medias preliforation of them is now standard practice. As Van Agtmaelen states “The very nature of what is photographed and how is heavily affected by the influence of admired photographers with distinct personal visions, patterns of success in contests and the traditions and expectations of the commissioning body. “ (Time, 2016).  This basically  boils down the fact that truths in photography is very dependant on the photographers vision and choices. As such it is a truth as percieved by the photographer and something that can exist during only that fraction of a second.

 

Truth in photography can even be more difficult to define as cultural preferences come to light. Beauty is very different depending on what culture you come from. What is considered beautiful in Africa is different from what is considered beauty in Europe. Mullen makes it clear in her thesis where she states “Beauty, however, is based on the beliefs of a culture, and does not necessarily define truth.” (Mullen, 1998).

 

As a photographer I have to ask myself what do I do that is different from the rest. This is a difficult question and also one that is slightly depressing. I dont think there is truly something that anybody does that cannot be copied by someone else. The uniqueness of photography is something that is mercurial and in an age of image saturation something that will only exist for a few seconds.  So the only place you can be different from others is in the empathy I use to portray them.

 

 

 

 

 

Time (2016) Why facts aren’t always truths in photography [Online] Available at http://https://time.com/4326791/fact-truth-photography-steve-mccurry/ [Accessed 01/07/2019]

 

Mullen, Leslie. (1998) Truth in Photography: Perception, Myth and Reality in Postmodern World. Unpublished Dissertation. Florida: University of Florida.

 

Week 3

 

As an ex fashion photographer I have never had issues with collaboration. The collaboration between photographers, models and stylists is a model that has been used for ages.  As such it should not be difficult for me to collaborate with others. This is different for when you are taking photos of individuals though. There are always and imbalance of power in that relationship. the one holding the camera will always be in charge of the situation, have most of the input in the final outcome. In the past i have had a look at different approaches that other photographers use but as yet have not found a way that would really work for me. in the end I do think that is mostly that true collaboration depends on choices. When you as the photographer give some of the choices to the subject then there is a stronger form of collaboration than before.

 

 

When looking at photographers like Avedon it is clear that collaboration was never something he wanted. He does have a point when he says “A portrait photographer depends upon another person to complete his picture. The subject imagined, which in a sense is me, must be discovered in someone else willing to take part in a fiction he cannot possibly know about.” (Goldberg, 1994).  In her article Goldberg discusses the problems inherent with portraiture in photography and how the choices the photographer makes can have repercussions as the power balance rests with the photographer.  She quotes Avedon again when she states "A portrait is not a likeness. The moment an emotion or fact is transformed into a photograph it is no longer a fact but an opinion. There is no such thing as inaccuracy in a photograph. All photographs are accurate. None of them is the truth.”

 

Richard Avedon, In the American West, 1985

This is a problem as it means that both photographer and subject is now perpetuating a lie.  This is true even in collaborations where now not only the photographers lie but the subject also has the ability to project their own truth onto the image. With my current project I have learned how my different subjects seem to be integrating into their new lives in a new country. One of the biggest things i have noticed is that they dont seem to have a lot of stuff in their houses almost as if they are able and willing to pack up everything and move again at the drop of a hat. The detritus of small things that seem to clutter  the living spaces of other subjects do not seem to exist for them.

 

I always worry about taking advantage of my subjects. by giving them some kind of power I am trying to negate the fact that i am taking more than they are receiving.  This is something that has been on my mind for a while and something I will have to think about further. Avedon, which I have been reading up on has another great quote for this "A portrait photographer depends upon another person to complete his picture. The subject imagined, which in a sense is me, must be discovered in someone else willing to take part in a fiction he cannot possibly know about. My concerns are not his. We have separate ambitions for the image. His need to plead his case probably goes as deep as my need to plead mine, but the control is with me”  (Van Riper, 2004).  Avedon’s point here is that the subject does have a choice in the photograph. No-one is holding a gun to their head and forcing them to do it. For a portrait photo you need a willing subject so I should really not worry about exploiting them.

 

Bibliography

 

Goldberg, V. (1994) 'In the Portrait game, the photographer wins'. New York Times [Online] 13/04. Available at http://https://www.nytimes.com/1994/03/13/arts/art-in-the-portrait-game-the-photographer-wins.html [Accessed 01/07/2019].

 

 

Van Riper, F. (2004) 'Unblinking Avedon: He made us see ourselves'. Washington Post [Online] 08/11. Available at http://http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/photo/essays/vanRiper/041005.htm?noredirect=on [Accessed 01/07/2019].

 

Week 1

 

One of the most interesting things about this weeks work was when we discussed the use of old photography and positioning it over the exact same place but currently. This immediately interested me as my father, who was a bit of an amateur photographer, took a large amount of photos of me and my siblings in different places a we went on holiday.   Looking at the different images I was immediately drawn to them and the places they point back at. For my subject this week I therefore decided that I should try and find some of the exact places that these images were shot and then try to digitally impose the images unto the newer photos. For the first set of work i decided to look at some of the images my father took in a small seaside town called Hermanus. This was our holiday town of choice for decades and a large number of photos was shot here. Trying to recreate the images bit by bit seemed the easiest thing to do on short notice.

Image 1. My cousin and my sister taken circa 1975

Image 2. My sister and I circa 1979

Image 3. My mom and sister circa 1972

Image 4. My mom and Sister circa 1973/4

I had to start looking at other peoples images. Although I know of the recent phenomenon of people recreating their toddler images with their siblings it has always felt a bit hackneyed to me.  As hilarious as some of it was it was not really what I was interested in. As can be seen from the photos below from awkwardfamilyphotos.com  (Awkard Family Photos, 2019) the original images have to be funny in the first place to be effective as a recreated image. My father took his photography seriously and would therefore have spent time trying to take the best photo and thus this type of setup would not work for my images. Looking at images using old images like that of Hughes Photography (Hughes Photography, 2019) I took some note of how they used the old photography. I would really like to look a bit further than just holding up an image as I think some of my fathers images deserve a bit more respect than that. Blending in the image the way Sergey Larenkov (SergeyLarenkov, 2019) does in his images is also not something that appeals to me

 

Images from  awkwardfamilyphotos.com

Recreating the images proved to be a bit  more challenging than I thought. Knowing my fathers old cameras knew he used a Pentax K1000 most of the time with a standard 35mm prime on the camera. Even knowing this did not make it easier though. Finding the places was the first problem. So far I have two places that I can be a 100% certain that it was the same place. Especially the one place (Image 6) was emotional as this is the year that my father has been dead for 20 years and  I found the little steps he took the photo from and stood in exactly the same place he stood nearly 40 years ago to take an image.

 

Things that I further found out is that although mountains and rocks looks mostly the same the sand on the beach has shifted a lot and this complicates the angles. Further taking the images at the right time of the day is also something that I will have to look at in the future as the difference in the direction of light does make a big difference in the images. It was mentioned to me the other day that this might be a potential future FMA project for me as I have lost of a bit of faith in my original proposal. Only time will tell I guess although there is an emotional connection to these images that I never had with the other images.

 

Further consideration for choice of lens and time of day will also have to be made. One image i realized only after that i need a lot wider shot to complete the background of the image. In the end I think the image I take need to be a lot wider than the image I currently have. Should I therefore take it standing further from the the focal point using the same lens or should I just use a wider lens even though that might have more distortion in the image. This might prove to be quite complicated.

Image 5. Photos of my Father

Image 6. Photos of my father

Bibliography

 

Hughes Photography (2019) Hughes Photography [Online] Available at http://https://www.hughes-photography.eu [Accessed 10/06/2019]

 

SergeyLarenkov (2019) Sergey Larenkov [Online] Available at http://https://sergey-larenkov.livejournal.com/ [Accessed 10/06/2019]

 

 

Awkard Family Photos (2019) Awkward Family Photos [Online] Available at http://https://awkwardfamilyphotos.com/these-people-went-all-out-recreating-their-childhood-photos/ [Accessed 10/06/2019]