Mannay (2016) writes as follows: ‘Prosser (2006, p.17) contends that a photograph does not simply show us how things look, ‘it is an image produced by a mechanical device, at a very specific moment, in a particular context by a person working within a set of personal parameters’.
Reference
Mannay, Dawn (2016), Visual, Narrative and Creative Research Methods: Application, Reflection and Ethics. Oxon: Routledge.
‘At the end of the day it’s all about editing, scale and presentation. And that is as important as taking the photograph in the first place.’
– Camilla Brown, Senior Curator, The Photographer’s Gallery, London
FMP Mindmapping Output†
† Subject to ongoing review
The beginning of the Final Major Project (FMP) provides an opportunity to reflect on progress since September 2016.
Initial objectives for the MA were as follows:
To explore the knowledge, technology and methods employed by the old Dutch masters to control light, and how the atmosphere and aesthetics of food images are influenced by light and various lighting styles
Research the knowledge relating to the elements of design that was available to the old masters
Rationalising the symbolism used by the masters, evaluating their reasons for its use as well as the sources of their information.
Module two saw this exploration continue but with two project themes: Ten (recording the meals consumed by ten school children on the same March evening) and Junk Food, it began to take on an aspect of visual anthropology.
Module three saw a strong focus on the visual narrative – examining the process of story-telling – and its application in the development of images.
Module four’s Work in Progress, Carousel, built on research from all the preceding modules.
In my view, module four was very successful and positions me strongly for the FMP.
Research (to date) for the FMP has gone well and initial discussions regarding the concept have generated significant interest. Test shots for the project have also proved to be very successful.
How, though, do I move things forward? Does my current work meet the requirement for a critically and professionally informed, resolved body of work?
Clearly, for the FMP, there has to be continued, progressive improvement – but this is true of any artistic output.
A certain ‘punchiness’ is required of the FMP output. How can this be achieved?
I need to explore techniques which take me further away from my comfort zone, for example, by allowing my work to be informed by the early still-life images of Irving Penn.
Is it time to move away from my original objectives?
Recapping, the intention for my project was to explore the knowledge and techniques used by the old Dutch masters, and to use the acquired knowledge to produce a series of food-related still life images.
I want to retain some link to this objective. I also want to remain true to my specialism by including an element of food in my FMP images.
My objective, therefore, is to present my FMP images in still life form. However, I am open-minded with regard to this and intend to explore alternative presentations. It has been suggested that an element of repetition is creeping into my work, I don’t necessarily agree with this suggestion and prefer to take an alternative view, which is that my work is making use of the rephotography technique used in social science and visual anthropological studies.
I think the research into the work of the old Dutch masters, which has brought me so successfully to my present location, is not something to abandon – moreover, it is something to use as a foundation, it is something to build on, for example by exploring the work of Meredith Frampton and how the principles of the verism movement can be applied to my work.
In the main, happy with progress so far.
‘This year is the first time before an opening that anxiety hasn’t caused sleeplessness, irritability and restlessness. Instead there has been an inner sense of calm that is almost as frightening.’
– Lorna Dockstader
At the start of the Final Major Project module (FMP), there are two options for viable research.
The first is alcoholism, the second is anorexia.
Both provide an opportunity to explore alternative relationships with food.
The initial idea was to produce a body of work based on research into alcoholism, this was the plan for quite some time.
The following are contemporaneous notes made as I externalise my decision to instead focus research on anorexia.
—
Arguably, anorexia, as a theme, is more relatable to food photography than alcoholism.
Food is a necessity, like water and air, we need it to survive.
But what happens when we start to regard food as a prison, trapping us in a body which we don’t want to be in, what happens when the balance of mind is affected?
What happens when our relationship with food turns sour, when food stops being a friend?
—
Jo is a recovered anorexic. She is a keen journalist and her diary keeping covers the period of her illness.
Diary entries record calorific intake and items of food consumed.
Freely admitting that her life has spiralled out of control, she lacks confidence and has low self-esteem.
What she eats is the one aspect of her life that she feels she can control and not eating provides her with a sense of achievement. It also helps her work towards her goal – being thin will lead to her being popular.
Pro-Ana websites have a significant influence upon her illness, and she finds that other users, mostly girls but not exclusively, refer to this as thinspiration and to themselves as ‘rexies’ and regard Ana, the vernacular term used by anorexics for the disease, as an (invisible) friend.
Consequently, the diaries also record phrases and images which were found by Jo to be inspirational.
Jo finds the culture associated with anorexia draws her deeper into a world in which she can be someone, a different person – the person she wants to be.
But this escapism has a price – denial of the reality which is the harm she is doing to her body as she starves herself.
—
Mental illness is heavily stigmatised and stereotyped – much work needs still to be done in educating people and reducing negative perceptions.
This holds true for eating disorders.
Anorexia is not a physical illness. It is a mental illness with visible physical symptoms.
Mental illness is not a taboo, it is not something to be hidden away – the most effective help we can all offer is to bring mental illness, irrespective of type, out into the open.
Such diseases are not something shameful, it is the way society regards mental illness that is shameful.
I believe that as photographers we have a duty to highlight social issues, to raise awareness.
‘Above all, life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference’ (Robert Frank)
I find food as a subject for photography enormously aesthetically appealing. The various ways in which we relate to our food fascinates me. Mental illness, how we regard those with mental illness and how we go about their treatment is a subject close to my heart. It is an area of considerable discrimination, ignorance and inadequate resourcing, all of which I have experienced first-hand as partner of, and carer for, someone with mental illness – including an eating disorder.
I want to know more about this mental illness and to understand more.
Jo-Ana is a way for me to extend my knowledge and understanding, and that of others, through photography.
Based on such close personal experience and a desire to further both my understanding and that of others, the project is being undertaken for both emotional and intellectual reasons (Scott, 2014).
I believe that this will be a cathartic process in addition to the outcome being a body of work which may help raise awareness.
—
What is the trigger? Are there multiple triggers?
Is there peer pressure before the influence of pro-Ana websites?
—
What – journal entries of a girl suffering from anorexia
How – still-life images
Why – raise awareness of the link between food and mental health, help remove the stigma associated with mental health issues
Reference
Scott, G. (2014), Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained. Oxon: Focal Press
Penn, 1985. Still Life with Triangle and Red Eraser
Irving Penn’s Still Life with Triangle and Red Eraser (1985) is a collection of largely incongruous, disparate objects.
The subjects, placed on a plain off-white surface, appear to be illuminated by a single light source.
Lighting is harsh with sculpted shadows and an immediate transition from light to dark – a trait seen in many of Penn’s still life images.
Why did Penn produce this image in this way?
The innovative, experimental nature of modernist art is clearly visible in this abstract image.
Characteristic throughout his career, with this still life, Penn is producing new imagery, in a new way for a new age.
As much as I like this image, it jars with me – there is a strong sense of dissonance in this image, I feel that this is largely because of the claustrophobic arrangement of subjects which, touching or overlapping, are left without space in which to breathe.
I don’t think this image, in terms of style, could be further removed from my photographic practice.
The suggestion that I examine the early work of Penn has been made.
Why? Phrased differently, how is this relevant to my photography?
I think the key point is to produce work which takes me away from that with which I feel comfortable, to take my photography in a new direction.
So, on the way to producing my final major project, there will also be some experimental photography.
My intention is to analyse Penn’s images in order to understand the techniques he employed so successfully. I will then endeavour to recreate some of his images before finally producing my own version.
To learn from such a master is first to analyse, then to imitate, then to apply in one’s own creations.
‘Theory developed by Edmund Burke in the mid eighteenth century, where he defined sublime art as art that refers to a greatness beyond all possibility of calculation, measurement or imitation’ (Tate.org, 2018).
–
Tate.org (2018) informs us:
‘The theory of sublime art was put forward by Edmund Burke in A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful published in 1757. He defined the sublime as an artistic effect productive of the strongest emotion the mind is capable of feeling. He wrote ‘whatever is in any sort terrible or is conversant about terrible objects or operates in a manner analogous to terror, is a source of the sublime’.
This would appear to be in direct contrast with the definition provided by the Oxford Dictionary for the word sublime:
‘Of a feature of nature or art: that fills the mind with a sense of overwhelming grandeur or irresistible power; that inspires awe, great reverence, or other high emotion, by reason of its beauty, vastness, or grandeur’ (Oxford English Dictionary, 2018).
On one hand, sublime is seemingly used to refer to strong emotions associated with terror, on the other hand it is used to refer to awe inspiring greatness relating to some physical attribute including, but not limited to, beauty.
The two seem very much at odds, both statements cannot be correct.
How do we reconcile this dissonance?
Before attempting an answer, I need to determine how this is relevant to my practice?
Previously I have described the observation and craftsmanship shown by Vermeer in producing the light fall-off in The Milkmaid as sublime. It has been suggested that my use of the term is incorrect.
I didn’t agree with this notion on the occasions that the suggestion was made, and I don’t agree with it now.
For me, the important thing is to recognise and accept that one definition of the sublime does not preclude any or all other definitions.
Use of the term, that is to say which definition of the term is used, is very much context dependent. And this brings me very nicely to my final point.
I think this discourse is also relevant to my practice from the point of increasing my visual literacy and associated vocabulary.
Vermeer painted in such a way that light has a presence, a vibrancy all of its own – it is awe-inspiring and, for me at least, retains the right to be described as sublime.
References:
“sublime, adj. and n.”. OED Online. Oxford University Press, January 2018 [Online]. Available at: https://goo.gl/SHcQgL (Accessed 25 January 2018)
Tate.org ca. 2018. Art Terms entry: ‘sublime’ [Online]. Available at: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/s/sublime (Accessed: Thursday 25 January 2018)
The Photographic Art of Food - An MA Photography Project 