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This is a series of 35 photographs to be presented in a 5x7 grid system. My aim is to consider if photographic work that has had processes imposed on to it to change and alter the appearance, subject meaning or structure and do not fall under traditional or digital photography take away from it being a photographic response. I plan to manipulate and experiment with other ways of presenting my work both in subtle ways and push the boundaries as to what can still be classified as photography. I plan to cut and combine materials, apply paint to surfaces and destroy and rebuild a photograph.
Through my enquiry I looked at 4 artists/photographers, Anna Barriball, Jonathan Kambouris, Mauricio Guillen and Stephen Gill. All worked in very different ways to represent their photographic responses. My enquiry led me to produce work that highlighted the issue of boundaries and barriers which was first developed through the studying of Mauricio Guillen. Boundaries and barriers organically grew from the issue of imposing processes onto my work as naturally they caused a barrier that you had to cross or go behind to get into the photographic work.
For my final piece I took a manual shoot of which I eventually developed 35 A3 sized manual images that had a strong emotive connection to me. The images I took were very selective and caused me to reflect upon my life and the boundaries and barriers that I encounter that both support and stop me. I took photographs around my home and my Nan’s house who has been a massive influence on me as I grew up. Within my life barriers have been formed that have shaped who I am in both positive and negative ways. When I talk about boundaries, I see this as influences out of my control that just happened and I naturally respect. Like the way my Nan has looked after me and given me love and time. How she is always there for me and I take her for granted. People in my family who live miles away, but still influence and shape who I am. My parents who tell me what to and enforce barriers both positive and negative but have my best interests at heart. All these are present in my immediate environment, if it be an item which holds a significant memory, or a trinket or photographs that record a family event. They are all evidence to who I am. Within my work I took photographs of areas that contained strong memories for me, photograph’s hanging on the wall of people who have died or events that I have attended, trinkets to represent a family connection and my Nan. My Nan isn’t well and although I am not conscience of the fact when I made my work I noticed that I didn’t manipulate her photographs at all because she is so important to me. I never took her photograph direct on but showed her character and her ways in abstract shots, including slippers, over her shoulder and from other angles. I naturally have been brought up to respect her as I see her as the head of our family although frail and ill.
In the majority of the manual shots that I took I developed them imposing a process to alter them. I see life as constantly changing and at times unpredictable. Nothing is straightforward and now I am older I don’t have to listen to advice and I can go out and make my own mistakes. I have incorporated the processes that I developed and interpreted throughout my enquiry.
The way I have presented my work is my own idea and though I have taken influence from various photographers and artists, the end result is based on my own concept. The tape I used in the work was coincidentally seen in the work of an artist I came across on a visit to the Saatchi Gallery. I had already ordered and begun working with the tape as in my enquiry I saw physical tape as an immediate symbol of a barrier. The idea of using tape came from my flour work where I was amazed how powerful the line that I had drawn on the floor created a barrier that caused people to stop and think about before crossing. The barrier seemed to stop people, although I saw it as inoffensive and at ground level. I understand how a barrier at waste height automatically would stop someone but not at ground level. Saying this, an edge of a pavement is a barrier. I decided to use the tape as a barrier to stop the viewer entering my photographic work and to enhance and highlight barriers within my personal photographic shoot. The way I have used the tape is completely different to the way that it was used by Isa. They used it to give importance to and give an impression of infinite depth by using it over a metallic and reflective surface. This work was impersonal and didn’t relate to any issue that I was dealing with. I feel my work exposed my life which actually made me feel very uncomfortable as I am a very private person. The processing of my film took 5 hours to achieve as I wanted to represent the correct depth and contrast. I developed each of the shots on a filter 4 to create heightened contrast. I didn’t want to use a filter 3 as I thought this would represent them as too real. I wanted them to be slightly hidden and darkened. Again this is a reflection of my own lack of confidence in showing everyone who I am. The taping up, the spraying, the cutting and the part development made me feel more comfortable as I could hide my identity as I see this work as so personal. What I stopped at was altering my Nan. I just couldn’t do that. I used all my interpretations and experiments that I observed throughout my enquiry to mess up the surface of my final piece photographs.
Going back to my question, I do feel that a photograph can fall under a photographic piece of work even though the surface has been manipulated. The work is just reflective of the ever changing technology. Manual doesn’t have to be lost but should sit along side the changes and boundaries that can be pushed now. Everything changes and I see the combination of techniques and processes as a more contemporary form of photography.
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| Author |
| Toby Bowles , 17 yrs |
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| School |
| Sir William Ramsay School |
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