Repetitions - Dan Graham

This image is the work of a photographer called Dan Graham. In his work titled "Homes for America" he took a series of images showing "the issue of such row houses as a new form of urban living" (Media Art Net) He shot them using a very basic camera and  "Graham intentionally ignores certain techniques and uses standard, cheap color prints, like a photo journalist" (Media Art Net).

What attracted my interest in Dan Graham's work was the colours used in the images which almost gives the sense of each house hold has a different personality and by shooting the image like this, he is showing a neighbour of different personalities but the uniformity of the houses show how they relate together in space.

Bibliography
http://www.medienkunstnetz.de/works/homes-for-america/ - (Media Art Net)

Positioning Statement Task

This photograph above is the work of photographer Rory Doyle. The brief was Location Documentary and he went down the route of social documentation. He took a series of photographs of the model on a typical night out wanting to divulge people into, at least one persons, night out in town. Rory's aim was to be an outside perspective and simply record what was happening rather then influence it in any way.

Rory is very interested in the idea of the Gaze and he took this into consideration when shooting. He wanted his images to almost feel as if we are spying on the model without her realising.

Here's what his artist statement said when he choose to exhibit this particular photograph:

"Rory Doyle                      Nightlife

This piece is one in a series of three which I have chosen to represent "Modern Nightlife"
I chose just this image because I believe it holds all the subtle details of today's young adults
nights out; from the concentration of the face trying to focus on lighting the cigarette to the
choice in clothing and from the fact that she looks like she's in the middle of no where by herself,
which hints at the risk young adults put themselves in when they walk outside for a cigarette.
To me, what makes this image is the anticipation. That moment where she is just about to light the
cigarette but has yet to do so, and the wave of the lighter almost pushing away from the cigarette.
It makes for quite a dramatic image. "

The Gaze/ Voyeurism

"Jean Shrimpton in coat, 1964, by London of Sloane Street (British, founded
1920, British Vogue, January 1964, Photograph by David Bailey (British, born 1938), Photograph courtesy of David Bailey."


Different forms of the Gaze evoke different structures of power. This particular gaze is classed as the “extra diagetic gaze” which is where the person in the image is looking back at the viewer. Unlike the “intra diagetic gaze” where the gaze of the person in the image is looking at another person in the image, we are complicit because the extra diagetic gaze brings us back to reality; it’s personalises the image because the model is looking at us rather then us looking at her. When we look at her it’s like an invasion of her private space and by looking at us she is throwing this back at us, making us feel self-conscious, even guilty for wanting to invade her space. It’s a very powerful, dominant gaze.

Documentary Task

Arthur Fellig, also known as “Weegee”, was a famous photographer back in the 1930s.  He became famous “by monitoring police and fire-department radio calls Fellig was able to obtain a large number of dramatic photographs. The ability to be the first photographer on the scene of a major incident, resulted in him being given the nickname, Weegee (a reference to the fortune-teller's Ouija board).” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Weegee) 

This photograph immediately connotes to me that the person on the floor is dead, but is this due to the way the photographer has taken the image? Because the guy could easily just be someone who has passed out outside a pub, but because of the crop and the angle of the photograph, we come to the conclusion that this is a dead person. Weegee was a social documentary photographer (press photographer); he wanted people to see his photographs to rid them of their ignorance of the real word and using his “4x5 Speed Graphic camera preset at f/16, @ 1/200 of a second with flashbulbs and a set focus distance of ten feet” (wiki) he created “stark black and white shots” to do this. 

Weegee took a photograph called “The Critic 1943”; “The two women were Mrs. George Washington Kavenaugh and Lady Decies entering the Metropolitan Opera as a "critic" watches.” But this turned out to have a negative impact on Weegee because it turned out the photograph was staged even though Weegee claimed to be.  “The assistant released the drunk woman into the vicinity.” (http://iconicphotos.wordpress.com/2009/06/01/the-critic-the-fashionable-people/)

This is a photograph is from the “Independent News” website which was done by Rebecca Giffen.  “The photo shows a fake crime scene that I personally set up. The idea behind it came from looking at old crime scene photos from the 1940s ect. I found them fascinating to look at often not even paying attention to the violent crime that has been committed but the surroundings of the location and how peaceful yet disturbing the whole image feels”. I like the way Giffen talks about how the old crime scenes are so fascinating to look at, you don’t pay attention to the crime that’s occurred which I totally agree with, they seem to be more of a fine art photograph rather then a shocking documentary photograph due to their “vintage-ness”, this is probably due to their stark-ness. http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/caught-on-camera-britains-best-crime-photography-1696256.html?action=Gallery&ino=36

Similar to Weegee, Giffen has used the press to reproduce her work to the public but admits it’s staged but in today’s time (unlike weegee’s) I believe it wouldn’t have as much negativity or less purpose because it is staged due to people’s understanding of digital manipulation and due to the fact, the image still holds it’s meaning about “What's more harmful – prejudice or war? Pollution or bullying? The finalists in a major new art contest tackle these difficult issues in arresting style”