A5 prep and statement of intent

THIS IS JUST AN UNFINISHED ROUGH COPY (1/11/16)

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What am I hoping to achieve with this project?;

• a homage to Duane Michals, Andrey Rodchenko, and Walker Evans
• an enjoyable thought-provoking sequence of cohesive images
• a variety of shooting techniques
• to challenge my own photographic abilities and creative ideas
• to include/reference many inspirational artist (throughout the selection)
• stay within the brief but unafraid to push beyond it
• attempt some mixed media not just digital photos
• finish this course with an ambitious, highly conceptualised (and hopefully successful) assignment
• to preempt the next course by delving into the power of narration
• and also to enjoy doing/attempting all of the above!

What is the conceptual intention?Having been inspired by a presentation by David Hurn of Duane Michals' Things Are Queer sequence, I wanted to try something similar with my own photos for this assignment. My intention was to use the sequential power of the images and to include scenes within scenes. The idea was to show the images as having some kind of clear narrative connection between them and possibly to have some kind of stand-alone appeal too (although I don't want to get too held up with that and would rather work on the sequence itself).

The narrative style will most probably be from 'behind the camera' although I would like to try to mix styles (and hopefully not confuse the viewer). What I mean by 'mix styles' is to try to use the three main conceptions of narrative as Barthes observes in Image Music Text (Barthes and Heath, 1990, pp. 110-112). The first concept being: a narrative emanating from a person - the author, "...of a perfectly identified individual who perdiodically takes up a pen to write his story: the narrative (notably the novel) then being simply the expression of an I external to it."; the second: the narrator as omniscient conciousness - "...at once inside his characters (since he knows everything that goes on in them) and outside them (since he never identifies with any one more than another),"; and the third one where, "...the narrator must limit his narrative to what the characters can observe or know, everything preceeding as if each of the characters in turn were the sender of the narrative." Although my intention is to experiment, and as much as I find the third concept intriguing, I will most likely stick to the first concept.
I had seen and read about Alexander Rodchenko's brilliant and influential work and in particular his survival strategy of having to deface much of his work of liberals and artists or otherwise find himself 'defaced' or 'removed' under Stalin's Purges. This irony I found shocking and sad and something that I felt needed to be remembered and respected especially regarding Rodchenko's brave (or even cowardly?) sacrifice; was it his presumed pain or destroying his work and trying to survive at that difficult time in Russia, or a nod to his ability to adapt politically that is so intriguing? Whatever it actually may have been, I find it fascinating and worthy of inclusion here.
So I wanted to include defacement in each image to pay homage to primarily Rodchenko, and also to create a quite clear homogeneity between the images, a clear linking theme which I hoped would be carried along within the sequence. Also, the defacement idea could be justified as simply adding anonymity as well as attempting to create some tension, and increase visual impact. I even toyed with the idea of not having to defend or validate its inclusion as Zoe Crosher did in her interesting Polaroided series (2008) and just leave that "indecision" there, something that Lucy Soutter (Soutter, L., 2013, p18) points out shouldn't really be done:
 
"While contemporary art photographers do not necessarily reference these historical precedents explicitly, they rely on them to legitimate their work and to ensure that ambiguities are read as desirable complexity rather than as indecision, weakness or failure."

However, I much preferred the inclusion and the reference to Rodchenko's work more than Corsher's (brilliantly) ambiguous and curious approach to her project.
The gradual panning out, used so wonderfully by Michals in his photography, was something that I had always admired in the work of writer Alan Moore's graphic novels, especially his work with artist Dave Gibbons on their 1987 seminal graphic novel The Watchmen, as can be seen here:

I also had an idea to possibly develop or include Scott McCloud's fascinating observations about sequential images (and perception too) from his brilliant Understanding Comics (McCloud, 1994); here are a few snippets that I found pertinent as well as interesting:

I particularly like the final panel from page 101 of McCloud's book where he discusses the concept of "greater length" suggested by the longer rectangular panel breaking up the normal flow - something which I have recently read about (although relating to the presentation of photography and not comics) in Maria Short's insightful book Context and Narrative (Short, M., 2011, p106):
"...it can be possible to achieve a certain pace in the series by using a particular size or shape of image at a key point in the sequence, either as a recurring theme or a one-off."
This is something that I haven't discarded as an alternative approach to my intended presentation of this sequence (see below) and may use it, if not for this assignment, then for a later one perhaps - or even as a personal project in the not too distant future.
This connection between the narrative qualities of comics and photography (as with other forms of images of course) I find totally fascinating and look forward to developing a deeper understanding of this with the next course Context and Narrative.

I was looking to include some of Walker Evans' work too: The Penny Picture Display, Savannah, 1936 (simply because I like it and his work) and was inspired to make a cover for an invented magazine for one of my shots for the sequence (shots 3,4, 9, and 10). The fact that the first edition of LIFE was also published in 1936, I found serendipitous and intriguing and I thought to include some content in some fashion within the sequence - perhaps using an advertisement from it on the back cover of my fictional magazine as a homage (with an eye to deface it in some way as not to be using any actual content from LIFE without permission of course). I also thought about recreating Evans' wonderful Subway shots from New York (late 1930s to early 1940s) and attempting to put them into the sequence too (see shots 4 and 10 below).

The idea to blend Michals' and Gibbons' techniques, and a generous sprinkling of Walker Evans' magic with the brooding Rodchenko undercurrent was something too good to let slip by however ambitious and challenging to actually realise.
Here's my final idea as a storyboard (image 8) plus how the assignment took shape through some preliminary notes from my notebook:

How am I going to present these images?

The idea is to present the images as a sequence of 12 images (even if the brief says 10 - although shot 1 and 12 could be seen as the same image as could 2 and 11?) reading from left to right; I will resist my typical urge to crop to a square and use a standard 3:2 format for all the images to give the set its visual continuity (although, as mentioned above, I might use some different image sizes or formats to give the sequence some punctuation).
An alternative presentation could be to print them into a large magazine (almost broadsheet size) and have them viewed page by page to emphasize the sequential nature and to heighten the narrative effect.
Perhaps a series of four triptychs could also enhance the narrative of the images?
The assignment will also be presented online via my blog of course, and I will probably use individual images to allow a clean scroll down to help the narrative work here too, although, the idea of using triptychs in four groups in mini slide shows might also work for this.
Reading through Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics again, I came across many thought-provoking ideas and observations about images and perception which reminded me of his TED talk from 2005. It is also full of great insights one of which could be developed with this assignment (or, hopefully, at a later date) even though he was referring to the experience of comics being read through a computer monitor (13.01 on TED's useful interactive tapescript):

"We could do circular narratives that were literally circular; we could do a turn in a story that was literally a turn."

This gave me a presentation idea that could be used with this project. Whether or not I actually use any of these ideas with this assignment is by the by, what is useful here is just the thinking through it all, and, as I'm sure will happen, these ideas can be used at a later date with other assignments, projects and so on. Here are a few sketches and notes:

I am also thinking about using some rudimentary poetry under each photo as a direct reference to Duane Michal's use of text with his photography. The choice of text is a risky one, but I like the expected clarity it suggests and would like to play with that expectation to create a slight (or clear) ambiguity and doubt while trying to keep the focus on engaging the viewer and certainly not to condescend or spoon-feed them in any way, rather a playful addition in line with Michals' own quite wonderful/annoying* mischievousness.
*Delete as appropriate (watch and make up your own idea)


What about the sequence?
Shot 1
The sequence of images starts off from an almost black macro photograph of the front cover of the Watchmen (being black on the hardback edition I have). There needs to be a suggestion of the details embossed on the surface of the book, as to not keep the image totally black as well as leaving some sort of trace of the Watchmen inspired visual, namely the iconic 'blood splurge' (but mindful not to have the detail dominate).  Looking at slightly underexposing by a couple of stops or possibly just reducing exposure in post production later. (EXIF data will be added to final sequence but I have not put anything on these test shots below.)




Shot 1 - Quis Custodiet Ipsos Custodes?

Here is my preliminary shot - darkened by using levels in post production (exposure/contrast and blacks). Are they gonna sue me? I suppose I could clone out one of the eyes or something - make it clearly different yet still recognizable?Shot 2
As we pan out (just as Michals did and as Gibbons was instructed to do by Moore), we see the next frame (shot 2) revealing a close up of Alexander Rodchenko. This portrait is blacked out across the eyes, (one of the main recurring themes of this sequence) with, perhaps, enough contextual clues as to be recognizable as Rodchenko himself. My idea is to take a picture of the portrait and then print this shot onto photographic paper. My reasoning being that the defacing would be more authentic and look more like the original scratched and burned out images by Rodchenko himself.
Shot 2

I really like the unintended profile ghost shadow formed by my shading; almost looks like he is 

turning away, in anguish.

Shot 2 - Rodchenko
I'm thinking that the first shot should be connected here somehow, and not just with the black, possibly include the Watchmen smiley? Like so:

Shot 2 - with poorly edited "splurge" inclusion? Possibly some better editing... 

The smiley face to the top left here is almost like a thought to the Watchmen which, amongst many 

other things, has a series of cover-ups woven into its plot; relevant as this is exactly what Rodchenko

  was trying to do: cover up his past allegiances and look towards a different, brighter future perhaps; 

which is exactly what Moore and Gibbons did with the conclusion to their groundbreaking - 

although admittedly dated - graphic novel.

Shot 3
The third image will be of a close up of a magazine cover (inspired by the Walker Evans cover from the Penny Picture Display, Savannah, 1936). The cover will be different to Evans' one: there won't be 15 blocks of fifteen portraits repeated on the cover as he used (the portraits would be too small for my intended idea), whereas my intention is to include twenty inspirational artists (for me) as well as some iconic portraits. These portraits will then be blacked out with a black strip slashed across the eyes although Rodchenko needs to be slightly different and clearly represented in the frame to link back to the second shot as well as work as a cohesive sequence. The back cover will be only slightly visible (as it plays a larger part and will be revisited in shot 9). I want the whole frame filled with the cover which will be held at an angle as if someone is reading it (they will be in the next frame) with Rodchenko's portrait blacked out and clear within the shot.
This shot can be taken whilst shooting images 4-5 as well as shots 9-10, hopefully on an underground train as explained below. The shot could equally be taken in a studio set up (meaning my front room not an actual studio) although the lighting would have to be pretty close to shots 4-5 and 9-10 to keep the technical aspects homogeneous.

Shot 3 - close up

Shot 4
This shot is a blatant reenactment (a tableaux possibly?) of Walker Evans' pioneering New York subway shots from 1938 through to 1941 where he hid his fast Contax 35mm beneath his coat and shot random people (mostly unaware of his camera). Genius. I'm thinking of actually using the London Underground as I will be there for a short holiday in early November. But looking at Evans' shots, we can see that the background is the old wooden structures that are no longer used. Possibly this shot could be more appropriately staged in an old English pub where the dim light and wooden windows could be similar to Evans' 1938 work? Have I just justified me being in a pub? Excellent!
Although saying that, A trip to the London Transport Museum might bear promising fruit regarding dated carriage backgrounds (even the old buses could be useful for this).
The much more modern trains in use in London might add another interesting effect to the homage though, something that needs to be experimented with - after all I don't think I want to faithfully copy or imitate Walker Evans' work to the letter, but rather just be inspired by it for this assignment. The model will be sitting reading my fictional magazine. The magazine will be clearly seen and the model's face will be blacked out with a black strip (to be added once printed); the idea of keeping some sort of continuity with all the images, as well as the connection to Rodchenko again.

Shot 4 - Train shot homage to Walker Evans (this amazing model was in my front room).

 In this practice shot I think I'll keep the WRONG framing of having a window frame 

coming out of the top of the reader's head alla John Baldessari!
 

Shot 5
I'm looking to pan out again from shot 4 where we can see someone holding a mobile phone
and using it to take a picture of the scene in shot 4. I could set this shot up by taking an actual
picture of someone taking a picture (with a phone) of the scene in shot 4, or I could do this
 somewhere else and have image four on the phone's screen - although I'm sure there will be
 some exposure issues with that - so I may just cut and paste this image in post production
(even if I'd actually like to do it literally not with the computer?).
Or just a hand reaching out for a phone with shot 4 on it? Something like this:

 

Shot 5 - A homage to no one. Yeah, there aren't any blacked out faces in the photo

on the phone.

Shot 6
For this shot I would like to insert a slightly panned out version of shot 5 onto a cinema 

screen - a direct and clear reference to Sugimoto's Theatre series of photos. I recently 

managed to get inside a local theatre hall (they were very kind and let me snap away 

during maintenance and even offered me coffee!) and have been able to get some 

decent shots of the screen which was off, so some issues there if I want to get a lifelike 

dark effect illuminated just by the screen - similar to that done by Sugimoto -

 but that is not such an issue as I have already played around with some software and 

get the effect pretty close to Sugimoto's light. The slight issue may be trying to put 

(copy and paste, literally or digitally) my image onto the cinema screen

 (although my first practice attempts have been fun and semi-successful.)

fun and semi-successful.)

Shot 6 - Sugimoto eat your heart out, er, maybe not.

These practice shots, although a far cry from Sugimoto's impressive and suggestive moods, 
are close enough for me to be used in the sequence. The model (if in the shot) that will be 
holding up the mobile phone will also have their head defaced to keep in theme with the 
 previous shots - even if the darkness present (added by me) within the 
 theatre hall keeps the photos relevant. 
Probably easier to use this type of shot with just the reaching hand and the 
phone on a table or something.

Shot 7
Here, I would like to shrink down shot 6 and put it in a frame which 
will then be seen on a shelf with some other pictures - possibly 
other iconic images or some other relevant symbols from 1936, or of Michals, 
Rodchenko, Evans, or something new? Or a load of my books and bits and bobs?
 (The bullet from my "response" to Edgerton's Bullet Through Apple shot had to go in!).
My idea with this shot is to print the shot and place it in a frame.
The frame could be hand-made by me, or I could just use an
appropriately sized one from somewhere (store-bought, made, borrowed).

bought, made, borrowed).

 

Shot 7 - The idea with this practice shot is to add lots of detail, not to  

lose the "picture frame" shot, but seeing as this will then be inserted 

into a Thomas Struth gallery shot, I thought it would be appropriate to 

include detail seeing as those ex-Becher students tend to crave its allure. 

Not that my tiny sensor could ever dream of matching those view cameras  

that they all seem to use for their photography, but the idea still works in 

my view and without totally swamping out my Sugimoto homage. 

Please note the Watchmen inclusion too, as well as Scott McCloud's 

fabulous book Understanding Comics.

 

Shot 8
Would like to pan out again from the framed photo of shot 7 and we find ourselves 
looking at a picture on a gallery wall with the framed photo within it. I think I need 
to take a picture of the full scene from shot 7 (which will only be a section of the full 
scene showed in shot 7) to reveal where the photo is? I'm still not 100% clear how 
to do this bit yet, need some trial and error. For the gallery shot, I was thinking about 
using one of Thomas Struth's gallery series, in particular Art Institute of Chicago II,
from 1990, as the base and then paste my full gallery picture in one of the large
paintings that he captured.

Here is an example of what I am hoping to do. Here we see my cover portraits 
pasted onto Sugimoto's theatre screen (this image would actually be my shot 6 )
 which is then pasted into Struth's main painting in the Chicago Institute.
 I'm not even sure I understand it, need to do a practice run with it first.
Here's an experimental shot and what I would actually like to see incorporating shot 7:

Shot 9
Zooming out from the gallery (institute) scene we discover that this is 
actually an advert on the back cover of a magazine which someone is holding. 
So this shot is very similar to shot 3 - this is 100% intended. 
Only this time the back cover dominates the frame with only a slice of the 
front cover (the opposite of shot 3) visible. Shot 8 (meaning the pasted shots 6-7)
 I think still needs to be visible, as does the blacked out portrait of Rodchenko possibly? 
Although he will be revealed in shot 10 so that may not be necessary.
Something like this?

Another rough copy which I am hoping to tweak...
Shot 10
Here we are back to familiar territory with a shot of someone reading my fake magazine
 again (thinking of using a different person reading it this time); again their face will be
 blacked out. This shot, along with shot 4, needs to be taken at the same time which
creates some creative challenges: how will I get the intervening shots that I need to
 shrink down onto the back cover advert if I haven't even taken them when I take this shot?
 Meaning, if I have to take shot 4 and 10 at the same time (in London), then I logically
 will not have shots 5,6,7,8 and neither shot 9 which needs to be on the back cover,
bearing in mind I still have the idea of shooting on the Underground when I am there,
which is causing the problem, I suppose, so I could just set this all up locally...But that
would take away half the fun if not all of it!
I need to do a dummy run, see if this is viable. I know it is, just can't see it yet.
 After all, I could just create the images I need by editing the sequence once 
I have all the shots - I could then just paste in the blanks so to speak, 
but again less fun and seems like a short cut too, one that I do not want to take, 
but may have to eventually if my practice run fails. Be adaptable, just like Rodchenko was!
Here's how this shot is shaping up:

No shot 8/9 inclusion here yet, will be pasting that in at a later date...
Shot 11
This shot we start to zoom in as opposed to constantly zooming out (why the change?
Can I do that? Why not?) and it will be almost identical to shot 2.
This could just be Rodchenko again, or perhaps zoom in to someone 
else from the cover, Alan Moore perhaps? What about zooming out again - 
to keep it cohesive - only this time the blacked out figure is Buddy Holly 
(born 1936) and we see shot 10 reflected in his glasses? But then where 
would we go for shot 12? And surely this would deviate from Michal's idea - 
not that I have to stick rigidly to that.

Paul Strand - Young Boy, Gondeville, Charente, France, 1951. Gelatin silver print.
Thanks to Paul Strand as always. 
 A nod to the glorious work of Paul Strand perhaps here?
 Or possibly a different 'symmetry' to this set by using another Michals' inspired 
surprise shot? Like so:

Shot 11 - About to Be Switched Off. Probably final idea.

Here, we see someone about to switch a monitor off with shot 10 being displayed. 
I like the idea of this shot, something that I had thought about in my original notes
 (page 4 from the above notes), and a good way to 'get me back' to the black last image.
 I could have easily avoided any issues with trying to return to the black shot, 
but I really like its closure and how it mimics Michals' Things Are Queer, 
but also how I can then play around with Scott McCloud's "Circular Narrative"
 idea when presenting the work (for this assignment but also for the future).
This way shot 11 would merge nicely with my intended ending of returning to the 
black image from the beginning of the sequence, again, just as Duane Michals had 
done with Things Are Queer.

Shot 12
Close up again of The Watchmen cover, this time from a slightly different angle,
or possibly the same shot? The idea is to bring the sequence to a close with the final
 shot being the first shot, possibly indicating an infinite repetition, the cycle of life,
or just the concept of cycle.
Or perhaps without any justification (thinking of  Crosher again!) because that is
how I want it to end? And who is to tell me that I can't do that? Am I thinking too 
much? Do I have to justify every bloody breath I take? We'll see how the practice/dummy 
run goes before we go there.


With shot 12 - returning to the beginning of the sequence - I stay faithful to 
Duane Michals' style, and yet not just a blatant copy. Although I think it should be darker,
 meaning blacker, as the Watchmen smiley seems to be a non sequitur here - too evident, 
needs to be more subtle perhaps. I'm thinking something like this:

 

More on the way...(17/11/16)

Sources
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