German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans has been a photographic inspiration of mine since I first spotted his book on the shelves of my college library. His multi faceted way of working illustrates his wider interest in the art world, and breaking down the boundaries between each field. I visited his ‘2017’ exhibition at the Tate Modern which proved to be an expansive and highly important show with regards to his new works. There was a huge range of different material but the pieces I found most to my taste were his portraits of male friends and the intimate stance that Tillmans was able to take. The images demonstrate the close relationship he has with his models, as he photographs the nape of a friend, so closely you can see the hairs, or a friend stark naked in the bath. They demonstrate his biding time with the practice and the comfort he makes his models feel. It is these intimate portraits that drive the way I hope to work and progress in photography.

The way Tillmans applies his prints to galleries walls is completely unique and anything other than traditional. The classical photographic image is mounted and framed beautifully yet Tillmans nails the print straight into the wall, using cheap nails that go through the corner of the print. This takes away from the hierarchal elite style of expensive framing and gives a sense of work in progress and youth, emulating the way people apply their favourite posters to the walls of their bedroom. Tillmans applies this intimate relationship to us through this technique.

Although his work spans fine art, graphic design and photography, I find his intimate portraits to fall into the documentary column because of their closeness and the details he choses to photograph. By photographing his close friends there’s also a cross over from private to public, something that documentary challenges and attempts to do in a respectful way. The colours and focus of the images also tend to be soft and light, reinforcing the view he wants the audience to have on his subjects.

“Living room offers lushly coloured glimpses of the communal spirit, fired by the joys, mishaps and adventures of family life” Blurb of book.

The project ‘Living Room’ consisted of four years spent with working class families in Nottingham documenting their Saturday movements in their homes. The images are classically snapshot, reminiscent of Richard Billingham’s ‘Rays a Laugh’ (set in the same decade and economy). The images depict the family doing the most ordinary and banal tasks in their houses, cleaning, eating, cooking, playing, the things that we all partake in without a second thought yet Waplington allows us to find a pleasure in these shots. There is an element of privacy still attained in the images, their intimacy has been preserved because of Waplington’s dedication towards his subjects, his close relationship meaning that him and his camera are altogether forgotten by them.

As oppose to trying to collect specific exciting moments, as most photographers do, he is “not about captured moments, they are more experiential” and feel more true, which I feel is an integral part of the documentary practice. He also included a manuscript alongside the images, documenting their thoughts and feelings about the work. This adds to the documentary aspect and element of collaborative practice which I find so relevant in my current project and practice. There is an honesty in the words which gives viewers more of a connection and insight into the families photographed.

“We’re going all over the world, all of us!”

As my projects from this year aren’t fully realized yet I decided to submit some older images I had taken to a competition. I chose a series of portraits I had taken of my sister as they are telling of her character and portraits are normally quite popular with competitions. I also think the focus and colours are very crisp so the images are more successful. I looked at many different competitions but many you have to pay for and as I wasn’t submitting a fully finished project I felt that I should save competitions like Taylor Wessing etc for when I feel more confident in my images. Many of them had also already taken their submissions for this year.

The Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize and Portrait of Britain would be the two competitors I would most like to enter as I have enjoyed viewing them over the years and seeing the variety of astounding work that has been selected. I also think it comes with a legacy that would be fantastic to be a part of. My work is very focused around portraiture so it would be apt to enter this style of competition. The portrait of Britain also creates a lot of exposure, with billboards and the opportunity to have work displayed in publications.

I chose the Smithsonian Photo contest, which has 5 different categories ranging from landscape and mobile to portrait, with the chance of winning £500 for a winning category and £2500 for an overall winner. It was very simple to enter, I had to fill in the category, give a brief description and explain where the image was taken and on what camera. I am not confident in winning but because it felt so simple to do I would enter a competition again on this platform.

The exhibition itself consists of a wide range of works, filling the large building but I’m going to focus on a few I felt were relevant to my practise and exceptional to experience. I have visited previously and the space itself is perfect for installation and cinema, this exhibition being no exception.

Chen Wei ‘In the Waves’ 2019

Wei’s focus is on photography, film and installation, which is what you experience the moment you step foot into the space, a smokey hue makes the room and only neon backlit images light the concrete interior. The exhibition successfully reconstructs the Chinese club scene of 1990’s, an urge to relive the sense of freedom and power, which feel so relevant as a contrast to the China and its conflict today. The images depict an escapism and freedom which I feel can only be captured through dance , the images placed on light boxes so they act as the light source for the space.

Whilst the images appear staged, they add to the surreal sense of reconstruction and nostalgia, a dreamscape that viewers are supposed to fall into. There were also posters containing uv text that could only be viewed in the exhibition and not in natural light, alluding to the secrecy of the club scene and this feeling of escapism again.

This work relates to my interests because of the sense of place, space and time, transforming an interior into something it was years ago. whilst the work is installation and conceptual, this idea of revisiting memory speaks to me as documentary, as Wei attempts to tell a story of a time once passed. I also feel the collaboration of viewer and artist is something that should be relevant in all art, a conversation should begin which informs and teaches.

Jenn Nkiru ‘Rebirth is Necessary’ (2019) 

Nkiru dual cinema installation focuses on afro surrealism and the Black arts movement. The use of the large screens encapsulates viewers and beckons them in, there is an instant draw to the images and sounds the cannot be ignored. The film explores a sense of awakening in black culture, as mentioned in its title. There is a strong use of archival imagery and sounds as well as poetry and literature, which I find so essential when teaching others of a different culture and researching a topic. It also enriches the film and gives context to viewers, as we watch the old turn into the new.

I loved the piece because it taught me of celebration and took me on a journey through history. It also made me think about exploring cinema and archival imagery in my own practise as documentary work looks at this focus on history and sometimes the archive, and if I am focusing on family and introspective work then this seems integral to building an image and adding context.

Harley Weir and George Rouy ‘Blindly touching the flood’ (2019)

Weir has been a key figure in the shift towards female gaze in fashion photography yet this exhibition moves away from the traditional fashion image and leads us to the more traditional practise of analogue photography. To enter the space you must walk through the huge vault door of the 180 Strand to be surrounded by red velvet covering every surface in the small room. Placed leaning on the walls are life size prints depicting human silhouettes on black paper, contrasting against the plush red of the interior space. After studying the prints I realised they were huge photograms, the practise of placing items on photographic paper in the darkroom and exposing them for an amount of time to simply document the silhouettes. This camera less photography is normally small so to view it on this scale was impressive. The work is about love, liberation and human expression, illustrated through their production, by body heat and the exposure of a disco ball, adding a playful and sexual tone. When re examining this we start to see the room around us as womb like, the vault as the treasured place of the strand and now the womb as the treasured place for rebirth. My interest in this installation is fuelled by the use of such an old technique being used to create something new, and to liberate women.

Whilst this isn’t inherently documentary, I still find it relevant to my practice as it explores space and collaboration between viewer and artist. I want my work to make people feel something and to feel an affiliation with what they see. the presentation is something I could think bout as well, as I have never presented a print over A1 but the size of Weir and Rouy’s prints confront the viewer and allow them to see every detail. The process is something I am highly impressed by and find inspiration in using analogue tools to create something perhaps not so traditional.

I recently contacted Documentary Magnum photographer Mark Power for a brief interview. I have followed Mark’s Work for the past few years and feel he is the perfect example of the documentary photographer, with projects taking him all over the world, his most current is a book series named ‘Good morning America’. His work focuses on landscape, whether that be urban or rural, as well as the people and objects that occupy these spaces. He has also produced some more personal work, more recently ‘Home’ about his daughters move to university, which I feel is reflective of the kind of work I wish to create myself, with a focus on family, change and dynamics involved.

Thanks again to Mark for his honesty and time.

B: What do you think is important about the documentary practise?
M: Well, I’d like to answer that is by telling you how it feels to walk around ParisPhoto these days, as I did a couple of weeks ago. Documentary, per se, doesn’t seem very fashionable at the moment, but this has happened before and it always comes back. Of course, I don’t try to follow fashions, but make documentary work because I think it’s important, and because, without it, we would be missing a crucial visual history of the world. 
Back to Paris, I had to ask myself what most of the work on show (very fashion-orientated) would ‘mean’ a few years time. Probably not very much. Whereas documentary work, when good, is invariably interesting, and generally becomes more so as time passes. 

B: Whilst projects like “Leaving Home” are obviously very personal to you, with focus on your immediate family, do you feel your other work such as ‘Good Morning America’ still hold that personal perspective?
M:The Home project was an excuse to make something deeply personal, which of course I don’t usually do. My work in America might seem somewhat detached, which is a strategy I employ as an outsider… I’m looking at the country from a discrete distance although, conversely, the equipment I use means I get extraordinary detail at the same time. You might call it an ‘intimate distance’. Of course, the fact that I am here in America as I write this implies that the work is deeply personal… I have to be here to make the work and although it may seem objective there is (of course) a good deal of subjectivity involved. The work is diaristic as much as anything, so, yes, in its own way it’s as as personal as anything I’ve ever done. If it’s not pretentious to say, my work is (among other things) largely about my relationship with America. 

B: How is it that you select your subjects, whether it be a space, building or individual when you’re travelling through not just cities but countries, with so much to record?
M: That’s a difficult question, but I have many ideas without the time to work on them all. Therefore I must make certain decisions that are based on logic as well as a kind of gut reaction. In the end, I photograph subjects, places, individuals, that interest me. Luckily not everyone is interested in the same things!

B: What effect do you think the widespread use of the smartphone and instagram is having (or will have) on photography, is it positive?
M: Personally I welcome the democratisation of photography. There is such an interest in the medium now. Of course, it’s no longer glamorous, as it used to be, to call oneself a photographer, but I can live with that. One benefit of smart phones is that the rise in ‘citizen journalism’… Almost everything newsworthy that happens in the world is now photographed by someone. This takes pressure of the likes of myself to try to chase these kind of stories and instead leaves me free to work on broader subjects over longer periods of time. Believe me, it wasn’t always like this.
B: I read that you studied life drawing and painting, do you feel they have influenced how you work?
M: Definitely. In essence, when you’re standing in the life room making a drawing you begin with a blank sheet of paper, usually a rectangle. I learned that you have to use all the space of the paper and not just plonk the figure in the middle. All the corners are also important, which is of course true in photography as well. So compositionally it was useful, but I would also say it taught me how to look hard at something, to make visual decisions, and to concentrate.
B: How did it feel documenting the ‘Leaving Home’ project and delving into the intimacies of family and your personal life, did you enjoy this way of working?
M: I loved doing that project, but it only worked because the rest of my family agreed to be open and honest. This was especially true in Chilli’s case. There was only one moment when she flatly refused to be photographed, and I perfectly understood why that was. I’m surprised the work resonated with so many people, but having been involved in teaching for 25 years, I know how important it is to somehow make deeply personal work more universal. So many people have experienced children leaving home while others live in dread of it. Perhaps, one day, if/when you have children of your own, you’ll understand this better.

B: I really enjoy your project ‘Camera Buff’ and the use of archival imagery, it made me think back to an image on your instagram depicting you and Jo leaving your parents house for the final time. I found the image so poignant and personal, is this focus on family something you would potentially revisit, with a new perspective on your personal archive?

M: I don’t feel the need to do any more family work at present. The ‘Camera Buff’ project was extremely traumatic to make (but also cathartic; it was a strange mix of the two) since it followed closely after the death of my mother. When my father died last year I didn’t feel any need to make work about that, even though I am now officially an orphan. That said, I did bring home a huge bag full of all his ties – a kind of history of my dad. One day, perhaps, I might do something with them, but it has to be done in the right way. At the moment I don’t know how that would be.

B: You’ve worked in some amazing places (Russia, Poland and America). Where would you like to explore and document next?
M: To be honest, I want to work more in Britain now. I’m tired of travelling long distances and I feel it’s time to come home.

Thabiso Sekgala was a South African photographer whose work concerns post apartheid, an interest in identity politics and moving away from ‘struggle’ photography. His exhibition at the Southbank centre was his first in the UK and documents two former homelands, the tenure established by Aparteid government to house black South African’s forced to leave urban areas and the former homes. The focal point of the exhibition was the idea of home, with Sekgala commenting “The idea of home is very complex and changes depending on who you are and where you come from”, initiating an individual perspective through his lens.

The show was a very small space, adding an intimate feel for viewers as they confront the close portraits places on the walls. On the walls and ceiling hung thin cotton sheets of fabric against dark lighting, setting of seriousness and of a different landscape, perhaps reflecting the home land of Sekgala and the lack of luxury these people attained during apartheid. -The Images and hanging were very simplistic and I enjoyed that, there was a sense of being down to earth and a work in progress. He used square format and colour film to “express his acute sensitivity” (fellow South African photographer), this format adding a symmetry and uniform feel to the room, the shape composing the images.

The intimate feelings between subject and photographer are instigated by his attitude towards the creation of the portrait. he spoke to his subjects “demonstrating empathy and engagement”. His work is also different to others of the time, it “symbolizes when documentary photography was shifting to look a the self, rather than others” something which we see as a norm today but was a whole new concept back then.

The image above was my favourite form the exhibition with regards to light and composition, she appears alone in the vast outdoors and out of place, yet she faces the camera with a defiance and anger, only her clutching Hans giving away any sort of anxiety. I also enjoy the size of the image, it’s not overwhelming and the lack of frame adds again to this idea of work in progress and reflects the political and social elements of the time.

The reason I found this exhibition so relevant to my own field of work is because without documentary photography, iconic and important moments in time would not be documented. The horrific and violating time of apartheid is something that the world needs to be aware of when taught history and reflecting on the past. Sekgala’s images depict this but they also also viewers to delve into each subject within the portraits and feel a more personal attachment to them, it makes each one of us question the idea of ‘Home’ and where it is that we feel this comfort.

We recently had photography graduate Alexander Mourant come to give us a talk about his practice and process of photography which I found to be enlightening.

He deferred his final year to work for war foundation creating charity images in Africa as he felt he wasn’t ready for his final year. The idea of going and working in the real photographic world before graduating seems very relevant and a good move to me, as it gave him experience and a wider knowledge of the world he would soon be entering into. Whilst he was away he also contacted a magazine and asked if they oddly want to feature some of his images and wiring which they agreed to. I had never considered contacting the magazine first, I presumed you would always have to be spotted yourself, so this has given me the confined to consider doing in the future. This time in Africa significantly impacted and inspired his work to this day.

His final year project ‘Aurelian’ 2017 came from researching early conceptualism, land art and time. His interest in elemental practice pushed him to create butterfly house images, relating to colonialism and naturalistic ideas, bringing him back to his time in Africa. Furthering this point he also used film from Africa to picture the butterflies, illustrating the focus on re-experience and reminiscing. I found his images beautiful and felt they had so much depth to them. Although his practice is very fine art and conceptual, the idea of always reverting back to previous experience is something I explore through Documentary work and feel its integral to the creation fo a body of work. He also spoke about his in depth reading and studying as he photographs, illustrating the combination of literature and art and their importance together. I think writing and prior research are so important to documentary works as they explore feelings, history, time and place.

Overall I found his talk to be so enriching and telling, of the commercial world, how to enter competitions and to persist in work and draw inspiration form past experience, which ultimately shapes who we are and our practice.

Documentary photographer and alumni from Kingston Sophie harris-Taylor recently came to give us a talk concerning her personal and editorial works, which I found deeply interesting and relevant to my own practice.

Her initial interest in lay in banality, inspired by the works of Nan Goldin and Elinor Carruici because of the honesty and truth of their work, something I feel is so important in the documentary practise, especially when completing something so personal. Her work focuses on memory, time and place, shot on 35mm in the snapshot style, documenting something there and then, with no poise or staging, which adds to this sense of honesty. Her work involves natural lighting and the homes environment, even when doing more editorial work. This tells me of her need to make subjects comfortable and her understanding of how important the home is as a place of memory and domesticity, thus perfect as a backdrop. Her 2014 project ‘Sister’ illustrates this introspective of family, as she looks at understanding her own flawed relationship through other people as she photographs sisters around the country in their homes, with accompanying captions of what they were saying.

I love this use of words to narrate and add context, it brings me back to the work of Sophie Calle, an initial inspiration for my work since I began photography. The words also allow us to build more of a portrait of the person depicted and add to this documentary component of telling a story.

Harris-Taylor also brought her own personal stance into her editorial and commercial work, with ‘Epidermis’, a series about people with skin conditions. It came about after feeling an anxiety herself about her skin and doing touch ups on images, bringing us back to her initial interest in honesty and wanting to show the truth. It was shot like beauty campaign to juxtapose conventional standards, and led to a piece for ID and an exhibition. For me it was enriching to hear about someone creating work that they still enjoy and felt was their own but in a more commercial and editorial sense, which gives me hope for the future.

After a lot of consideration and looking over my previous pieces of work I’ve come to the conclusion that documentary photography is the practise I would like to specialise. Throughout my years of studying photography I have had a keen interest in fine art and conceptual work, yet elements of documentary projects were always drawing me back. With documentary there’s room to be a fine artist, to used mixed media and not only a camera. To me being a documentary photographer means following a project for a long time, whether it be something personal or something I have an interest in, and trying to depict the truth of the matter to my viewers. Truth has always been something I find integral in my work, as so much editing and experimental work occurs nowerdays that’s its hard to decipher what’s real and what’s not. All I know is that documentary projects such as David Spero’s ‘Settlements’, about a group of people living waste free in the woods in the early noughties, inspire me to illustrate something new and no usually seen by the public. but also to be respectful to those photographed and documented.

I think my work itself will be more personal, I have a very introspective attitude towards photography, with all my work revolving back to my own family and life. This is something I hope will continue to thrive as my experience develops in the field.

15th October, Conducted by Bryony Merritt and George Thomas

I have been an avid fan of Shafran’s work since discovering his book ‘Dad’s Office’ in the library. His subtle images using natural light and depicting the everyday objects and scenarios that we normally fail to notice inspire me daily and his work and process is something I try to emulate myself. I decided to reach out and conduct as interview to speak about his experience in photographic world and his journey to documentary practice and how he balances that with the commercial world.

Bryony: What is important to you about photographing the quiet observations of daily life and how is it that you make the banal beautiful?

S: Its what I do I guess. I suppose I did start in the commercial field where people thought about extraordinary and amazing locations, going places but I’ve never really been into that and I kind of like to believe in what’s in front of me I suppose but I don’t know its difficult to answer, its just I don’t really think about it. Just something in my mind clicks when I see something and it’s suddenly like my subject, you know what I mean. I don’t know I suppose there a little politics in all that we do, every choice, so maybe that it. Everything that’s ever happened to you in your life I guess informs what you do, you’re formed by your parents and your upbringing and where, what country, the weather, everything. So it’s a bit of a everything. Everything informs us in a way doesn’t it. Your fuck ups, your mental state, how you’re brought up. 

B: There was a quote by Walter Benjamin that says ‘will not that caption become the most important component of the shot’, with regards to dads office, the reason for the empty office is left rather ambiguous. How important are titles, captions and text in your work?

S: I guess its different projects, different work. I did this book recently. A body of horrible images, which is called the people on the street. I intentionally did not explain it and I didn’t justify it. For me it sounds like a term for people on the street, you know, I don’t know if people get that, here more than other countries. And its photographs of, horrible photos of me taken by people living on the street, homeless people. And I didn’t explain it at all, I didn’t write anything but then again the use of materials and I hope that people might get it in a way, the angle of the work, how I am in the pictures, the transient spaces, the names of the people who took the pictures I don’t really want to justify it, it just felt a bit wrong. And also that book dads office, what am I gonna write? I think people make their own assumptions; they can make their own narrative about some things, not always. But I did a set of pictures called washing up 2000 where I actually wrote all the date and the food we had eaten the night before so I don’t know I don’t think there’s a right and wrong really but context and text does change the meaning or the understanding.

G: I guess you want people to create their own meaning?

S: I think so yeah, I think people can come into the work if they can put their own understanding so sometimes I like to leave it open. Sometimes my work is abit too poetic which is abit shit. I did a project called Ruth on the phone, what am I gonna write, I don’t know its in the pictures I guess, like ageing and things changing like technology. Some work it helps to add context and change the meaning, if you want to drive the work in a separate way.

B: In the Benjamin thing when we were looking at it it was referring to the side of fake news, how giving something a caption changes it but I thought it would be interesting to ask that alongside photographic work. With dads office you could’ve just written at the start and explained everything but actually the fact you didn’t…

S: But whats explaining? Some people think my dad died, because its quite melancholy, the book is. I think a lot of my work often is. And also the colour scheme, palette is also quite dark but then again I always think it to me is almost like a portrait of a relationship using still life images as metaphors and how things change as well. They kind of make sense to me but I don’t pursue that in a way.

G: When it’s someone you’ve had such a relationship with for so long and you already know the relationship do you then just allow the photos to become their own thing or do you try to push them in the certain direction?

S: No I don’t push them, I do stuff and then it’s about editing afterwards and what fits the slight peculiar narrative that you might want to pursue. There’s a narrative in that book of the roof leaking to me, and never being dealt with and that runs through the book of not dealing with stuff. I never ever say this because it sounds abit shit, I don’t want to. It’s abit menial, poor me. I kind of like mystery and ambiguity as well I think. 

B: Your work has primarily been described as documentary and snapshot. How do you take this approach into your more editorial campaigns? I saw your Jil Sander one and I really enjoyed it.

S: Well thank you, I don’t like things to be too professional, not keen on really professionally looking stuff, I very rarely use lights. Often I don’t give a lot of thought to much in all honesty but uh I guess sometimes I take a picture and then I’ll look behind me and think that’s more interesting to me so I don’t really just stand there taking a picture of something, I like to look in different ways. I am more commercial when it comes to commercial work because its selling stuff as a product, I’m not going to cry about it because that’s the job. I guess I work in different ways when it’s a commercial job, I have to produce something for a date with people around, it’s a lot different to me waiting for something to appear.. The big difference is that I don’t choose the subject because someone is paying me to take a picture of something for them to sell. The Jil sander was a little different as I got to choose the location but they chose the clothes. One I choose the subject and one they choose the subject. 

B: What do you think in general about the fact that everyone now has access to being a photographer?

S: Its how it is I guess. I don’t really do social media, I don’t do instagram. It’s a distraction, too many distractions. We are looking here and looking here, theres so many images.

G: But I mean sometimes you can dilute it with so much poor work, if there are more people taking then the standard is worse. On social media you’re bombarded with so many photos, people trying to be photographers and thinking its established work. You can get drowned in it.

S: An interesting thing you said is you want people to like it or have likes and all that, doesn’t that change it because it should be about the work and the subject, not about the insecurity of people looking at your work. It’s abit x factory, abit starry, ‘I want success and I want people to see my work’, which is probably true for me too but it does feel slightly more vacuous to me now and I don’t want to sound like a grumpy angry old bloke but it is veering towards this weird place, kind of sci fi dystopia now.

B: What advice would you give to someone graduating soon?

S: Depends if you want to be a commercial person or you aren’t that bothered, do your work, make sure it survives and back it up if it’s commercial, I don’t know. Be into your work, do it if you’re paid or not.

G: Do you still feel it would be a valuable thing to go and be an assistant before trying to jump straight into it?

S: I don’t know, it depends for each different person, if there’s work you’re happy with and you want people to see it I wouldn’t wait for other people, do a zine. I used to print stuff and send them to people and give people stuff. Pretty ambitious, editorial and personal. Or you can do a body of personal work and ask for it to be published, better to produce something so you’re really happy with it before its printed. Capture a different viewpoint. 

B: Are there any practitioners that you are inspired by?

S: Rembrandt, Rodger Fenton, Phillip Roth, lots of writers, Walker Evans, Stephen shore, Brassai, Carravagio, Vermeer, Agnes Martin, Richard Hamilton, millions of people, Saul Steinberg, Irving Penn, Robert Adams.