National Portrait Galllery photographic workshop saturday jan 29'th 2011

Like the last workshop I did here, this was a little dissappointing. Perhaps the NPG sees photography as primarily art rather than being infuenced by art? My intention here is not to discuss that but outline what happened during the workshop which overall seemed worthwhile doing. This blog attempts to be a faithfull account of what happened but the views expressed are bound to be coloured by my own view and hence may not accurately reflect what was said at the time.

It was run by Anthony Luvera, a proffessional photographer from Australia, who also teaches at universities in the UK and writes about photography. He considers his approach to portrait photography as being documentary based.

The environment in which a person is photographed is important. The exhibition can be considered as different takes on environmental portraits!

All 12 participants introduced themselves ...

a Japanese man who wanted to brush up his technique
Brazilian woman who wants to get back into photography also interested in technique.
Recently retired British male who wants to make better photographs.

AL(Antony Luvera) interjects here to say that even proffessionals end up with lots of rubbish photographs!

Neuroscientist who likes to photograph
British male who works in radio; likes to make photographs.
Female artist who loves the NPG; photography her hobby.
Female who wants to push herself in photography.
Bank worker who wants to take better photgraphs of his children.
Asian male, a beginner, interested in technique and composition.
Amano, myself, an OCA student who wants to understand what the exhibition is really about.
Mentioned I was taking notes as part of my OCA learning blog. AL responded by encouraging me to do this and sugesting others did likewise ... which they did!

AL talks of understanding contemporary portrait photography. If you want to take better photos, take lots of photographs .. then deconstruct them along lines he'll mention later.

Retired art teacher, female: given camera and this course as a present. Likes garden photography.
AL mentions the book Derek Jameson's Garden

Muslim woman dressed in black robe who works in London; is assisting this workshop. Loves wildlife photography.
Retoucher going freelance; interested in portraiture.

How much does a photographic portrait represent the person portrayed?
How much is the photograph a result of what the photographer wants to say?

AL quotes Lucy Davies from the introduction to the exhibition portfolio ...

A portrait photograph depends on the person pointing the camera.

Is a photograph more engaging when the meaning is not obvious. This approach encourages the viewer to become involved with the image!

An image can be said to be worthwhile if it helps you to see the world differently.

AL uses large format cameras and has the film properly printed rather than scanned; scans from the print if required.

For the exhibition, 60 photographic prints were selected from over 6,000

At least a couple of the judges were documentary based photographers.

When looking at photographs in exhibition, need to consider ...
camera position
composition
environment
the story within the image (what is being played out)
caption - way in which this effects our view!
biodata of photographer

We were asked to look closely at 4 images and consider those ... I found I only had time to look and write about 3! There seemed to be so much to consider when one looked closely and considered the images along the guidlines suggested.

CHARLIE WATTS (Rolling Stones drummer)

The obvious appeal of this image is that it portrays a celebrity. It also questions popular notions of what a rock and roll star might be like as this image suggests a rather conventional person who wears a shirt and tie, a smart corduroy jacket with trousers to match and inhabits a somewhat old-fashioned house with a wooden staircase, quite different to the characteristically brash image of a pop drummer who living a crazy sometimes drug fuelled lifestyle. The image seems to say a lot about the sitter, inviting us into his world, a world that is apparently comfortable.

The camera is placed directly in front of the viewer, there is no subtle angle and the sitter look straight at the camera although his gaze is perhaps not entirely direct. He manages a smile which is often considered inappropriate with portraiture.

The composition is clever. There are diagonal lines in the way the sitter has placed his legs (the caption tells us that this was a pose naturally adopted by the sitter that the photographer asked him to hold) while the staircase in the background reflects this with more diagonals. The placement of the feet, horizontally towards the viewer, is almost comic.

Although subdued, the location here does add atmosphere to the portrait with its subdued tones and lack of detail; the unexpected image of the sitter is being further deconstructed by an air of respectability.

AL comments that this photograph works not just because the sitter is well known but because there has been communication between the sitter and the photographer who was watching the sitter from the very beginning of the shoot.


WAFA

Although not a winning portrait, this photograph is being used to advertise the exhibition appearing not only on the front of the exhibition portfolio but also on brochures and other media. As AL points out, this decision is a marketing one and little to do with the curators and judges of the exhibition.

This photograph tends to rely on a more traditional and less challenging notion of what portrait photography might be. There is beauty here not just in the woman's face and look back also in the architectural background. Her attire suggests the Muslim religion and her appeal is bound to attract the male gaze, still a predominant force in advertising.

The camera angle is straightforward as is the case with many other images in the exhibition.

The composition contains the curvaceous lines of the subject body, face and hands, as well as clothes that contrast with the straight largely vertical lines of the architecture around her in the background. There is also some ornamentation in the detail behind her. The sitter's makeup is barely visible yet adds to the subtle tones of this image.

The caption informs us that this is a "daring" look. One wonders where this daring may lie! Is it because Muslim women are traditionally bound not to show their face in public or does the danger lie in the seductive nature of the glance?

The Spanish photographer is undertaking an art history course at a university.

AL mentions the lovely interplay of detail in the background.


UNSAFE JOURNEY

As a visitor to India, this image strikes me as a clever image but not out of the ordinary as riding on the tops of trains is quite common. On learning it was taken in Bangladesh, the reading of the image changes as Bangladesh is a predominately Muslim country in which traditionally, the place of women is subservient; here the woman is down below, in a potentially dangerous position. She looks upward not with confidence but with the air of one who is lowly.

The angle of the camera is unusual for a portrait since it is above the subject who looks upward.

The composition contains blocks of blue and green while the at the centre there are the warmer colours of the dress. Also, across the centre, is the diagonal of the woman's arm which is she is using to steady her body; it has a similar effect on the image. The rounded form of the woman sits amidst the hard lines of the sides of the gtrain that is the surrounding composition.

The Swedish photographer who made this ordinary yet striking image is a photojournalist so this was apparently never intended as a formal portrait.


After seeing the exhibition, there was not really enough time to absorb it, and making notes on a few photos, it was back to the studio to listen to AL again and enter into some discussion.

A point to note, is the way a photograph has been constructed to portray a subject. In regards to the woman on the train, the construction was largely predetermined while often in portraiture, the image can be quite carefully constructed.

There was some objection to the winning photograph which shows a young woman on a horseback on top of which is also a dead deer. The subject was considered to be too central. I felt that the subject was not just the person being portrayed but also hunting, a controversial issue; as with many of the portraits in this and previous exhibitions, there is something else going on in the picture that can compete with the sitter.


Yet the image of a huntress, a real life Diana, contains beautiful natural lighting as well as the colours of a muted palette in the woman's auburn hair, the brown of the horse and the slain animal, in the mountains of the background. Interestingly this winning image is not on the NPG website likewise another winning photo entitled My British Wife which looks up the dress of a woman to reveal her private parts. The newspapers did not print all of this photograph probably because they thought they might be prsecuted for lewdness! The photographer is Greek and as a nude, it challenges the accepted more of the Western classical art tradition since the vagina is not shown. The image is well composed with beautiful light and a beautiful model. Eyeline in the photo is slightly higher than in most of the other photographs. There is an intimacy! Shades of Gaugin and since the photographer has studied art, he was aware of the contexts and ripples of this photograph.

There are only a small number of black and white images in the exhibition about 10% of the total. Colour did not start as an acceptable medium until the mid 1980's.

The use of colour in the images is often subdued though a few contain stronger colours.

When photographing, it is good to look for interesting colours as well as tonal range, different kinds of light and con contrasts of different kinds (whether of form, colour or texture etc).

Film still used a lot by professionals; the kind of film used is important. Some are better suited to portraiture.

3 basic types of camera ... 35mm, medium format (e.g. Hassleblad) and large format (e.g. Linhof also field cameras). Still used quite a bit; gives forensic style quality. Use of both negatives and positives also prints in image processing.

What about the use of the rule of thirds, off centre placement? Better to be more aware of background elements! (maybe the rule of thirds has become a little cliched)

One photograph that people did not seem to like was that of a couple of American GIs; the female is pregnant yet one needs a caption to tell us this. There seems to be little sense of composition.

AL mentions the "freaks" of Diane Arbus.

95% IS ABOUT COMMUNICATION WITH THE SUBJECT; THE RAPPORT THE PHOTOGRAPHER OR OCCASIONALLY THE SUBJECT, ESTABLISHES!

One photo is of two scantily clad women on a doorstep. Is this how they would like to be photographed?  Ethical question!
People on the fringes of society, under-represented. Subdued colours ... not natural, awkward look.

Another photo is of an elderly lady who wears a blue jumper; the face looks away, downcast. The use of a larger format permits greater detail and feeling of texture; great detail in the hair. The caption tells us she is blind! The colours are pastel.

Another photo is of two elderly golfing ladies; they both look directly into the camera.

Captions can be enormously important and effect the gaze of the viewer; for example, my seeing the oppressed woman in the train photo as soon as I heard it was in Bangladesh. Possibly though, my view is a stereo-typed one.

CONTEXT
the way the photo is being used
the words that anchor the photo

manipulation of colour saturation
evident in some images such as that of Tony Blair
does not mean its' a bad image rather a statement
muted colours

naked male torso of person who has Parkinson's disease .. impressionistic
done by using a long open shutter with a torch being flashed a few times
mistakes OK if part of the creative act

interesting light, interesting colour
placement of subject
communicating  with subject
environment - way it relates to the subject
fill the frame - make sure all detail is relevant

Examine the whole frame; notice the edges, take more than one photograph

depth of field - amount of photograph that is in focus - usally less rather than more as it helps to concentrate the eye of the viewer rest on the subject

series of decisions made by the photographer; examining the photograph in this manner deconstructs them and is the best way to improve one's own work

photos from National Portrait Gallery workshop

PHOTOS MADE WITHOUT SUBJECT'S CONSENT

males

council sweeper who said "you are not allowed to photograph people working"

young couple

male with dreadlocks

man outside gallery listening to music

PHOTOS MADE WITH SUBJECT'S CONSENT

council officer

young male in Leicester Square

male, Leicester Square

Big Issue seller

(made with subject's consent)

Big Issue seller

(image made before previous one and without consent of subject)

alteration : another street photograph

This is a photograph I picked out from my database, an image I took a couple of years ago, that stuck in my mind as a street photograph; it shows an alteration between two people, possibly father and son, who apparently seemed unaware of my presence ...

Alteration : Russell Square, London

I was actually photographing the surveillance camera visible in the background (upper left)!

Aimlessness - a street photograph - (and the question of aggression)

I decided to participate in a Street Photography project ...
http://streetphotographynowproject.wordpress.com/about/

The current topic was aimlessness and the photograph below was made by asking a friend to kick an empty carton from a waste bin along the edge of the pavement ...

my choice from a little over 100 photos made

While I was engaging in this simple photographic act, a security guard came out at one point and can be seen talking through a talking device of some kind. I did not notice this at the time!

A security guard checks on my activities

The photographer Andrew Glickman who studied with Joel Meyerowitz (whose instructional video on street photography is worth seeing ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Qjym5uliDw&NR=1) remarks that "Photographing people, particularly people you don't know, is an inherently aggressive act. I had to break through my comfort zone to make some of the pictures I've made. You can't worry about whether you have permission or whether you may be inside your subject's comfort zone. Believing completely in what you are doing is critical."

Does this kind of attitude explain the appearance of the security guard who thinks that I might be up to something? The extent to which photography is aggressive (a sentiment aired by Susan Sontag in her book On Photography) surely depends on the disposition of the photographer. I do not enjoy being invasive and am of course, in this instance anyway, just photographing someone I know who is happy to be photographed.

Bruce Gilden is an example of a street photographer who is up front and aggressive though one does feel he is also often being playful!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IRBARi09je8&NR=1

here he talks about the "ethics" of what he is doing ...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWEzm2disjM

A People and Place photograph

I made this image during a performance of a play in a Somerset village; I like it partly for its' eccentric design (the signpost means that this photograph is pointing in different directions!) but mostly because it is full of people of whom none look at the camera and are hence caught unaware without the manufactured expressions sitters so instantly adopt!

The Indians : 150 years of Indian Photography

The term “master photographer’ is open to abuse and although it is not a term I really like to use, it is not easy to find a word to describe someone such as Raghu Rai, an Indian photographer of international repute. Photography maybe American but when one comes across it in a place like India, it is certain to be worthy of interest at the very least. Raghu Rai knew Henri Cartier-Bresson well so it is not as though his work is just Indian yet his subject matter often is; I know of no one who describes the country and its’ people so well, who seems able to squeeze out the essence of its’ meaning.

Unbelievably, I manage to arrive almost half an hour late for our meeting. This is largely my fault as in spite of the traffic and my driver needing to carry out an errand en route, it took me too long to pack my bags for the flight I was about to take. This had to be done judiciously so that I would not have to pay too much extra in luggage charges.

When I arrive, slightly breathless having jogged up to Raghu’s fourth floor office in Merauli, a suburb of southern Delhi, he is not there so I sit for awhile, scanning the books on his shelf, eventually picking up a volume he once did on the Taj Mahal where I had been the day before. His images, made in the days of slide film, are atmospheric, the Taj looming out of the morning mist, seen from across the river or from the top of a nearby building; it may be that he used a helicopter for some images. There is one image though that echoes the kind of image I strive for, that of two people with the Taj Mahal as their backdrop. Here, one man is gesturing to the other as if in the depth of some debate or in the act of making a philosophical point; this echoes the guru-sila or teacher-student relationship that is such an important part of Indian life; all this is seen against the detailed façade of the Taj Mahal dome, a backdrop which occupies at least 90% of the photograph. Another image revealing intricate architectural details, is carefully composed with one building cleverly juxtaposed behind another.

Raghu appears. “That is old stuff!” he remarks of the Taj Mahal book, suggesting it is dark and almost dingy in places and almost makes him feel uneasy to look at nowadays. A new volume on the Taj is expected from him in the near future that will be much better printed than this volume from a quarter of a century ago and will also contain new photographs. He hands me a copy of one of his latest books.

The new book is called “The Indians; 150 years of Indian Portrait Photography” and contains old photographs of which some 80% come from his private collection. These are images from a largely bygone era yet one of fascination for one sees images of people that once loomed large; the cover is of a Nautch girl (Nautch is an English corruption of the Hindi word for dance, nachan) possessed of a beauty that can only be Indian while other photographs reveal characters such as Jawahlal Nehru and Mahatma Gandhi. The second half of the book contains images of people that Raghu has photographed personally and although some are now dead such as Mother Teresa and Srimati Indira Gandhi, there are others such as the Man Booker prize-winning novelist Arundhati Roy who is very much alive. There is a good selection of people from different walks of life. The images are all in black and white except for a couple of group photographs at the end that are entirely digitally produced colour images.

One portrait makes me laugh. It is of India’s urine drinking former prime minister, Moraji Desai, who lived to be almost 100 years old. Here he stands as if looking down his nose at the photographer. These portraits are likely to resonate with the viewer in a way that depends on what the viewer thinks or knows of the person being represented. For instance, probably my favourite portrait that contains a triptych of images, is that of Jiddu Krsnamurti, an extraordinary philosopher of Indian origin, whose teaching is known around the world. He started a school called Brockwood Park in southern England that still operates as well as other learning centres throughout the world. The first two images reveal to a certain extent the virtual frustration Krsnamurti seems to have experienced in trying to communicate his teaching to others as he is seen not looking at the camera but with his hand to his face; the final full page image shows the sublime beauty of the man Krsnamurti as he beams silently at the camera. Such sublimity is also seen in the faces of the classical musicians Raghu Rai has photographed. The image of Arundhati Roy is another that catches my eye as she gazes at one from the sunlight and shadow of her room. A number of the portraits are set up with sunlight and shadow since they have been taken inside and are directly lit by window light providing an ambience that helps create an atmosphere which flash or an overhead light bulb can so easily remove.

There are photographs of musicians, the magic of their work revealed in their expressions. The cartoonist Laxman looks out at one with a deadpan expression. The book is an impressive testimony not just to Raghu’s photography yet also to Indian portrait photography if not photographic portraiture as a whole.

Raghu also talks about different bodies of work and the way exhibitions, in particular, tend to gather together a jumble of images to represent a theme or topic rather than allowing a subject to naturally arise out of a photographer’s work. Hence, there are books and magazine articles done to cover a particular topic that use photographs to illustrate the chosen theme while there are books done to illustrate a particular photographers work and it is these latter that are likely to be of more intrinsic value.

Before I leave, Raghu shows me some prints that have been lying on his desk; they are from a recent trip to Goa. One view is of people interacting with the sea; he points out the subdued use of colour that is there but not shouting at one. Had it been one of my photographs, I would probably have worked it to create a more optimised image, lifting shadows and making the whole scene more bright and breezy, in tune with what is normally considered a good image. However, for a moment Raghu invites me into his world, one of more burnished colouration, deep and sensitively passionate. He shows me an image where there seems to be too much magenta yet for Raghu it needs more yellow rather than more green to balance the magenta. The final image is of a couple of tourists on a Goan beach; the image has an asymmetrical composition that seems to mirror the awkwardness of the two women as they make their way into “Shams Shack”.

Then there is the rush to the airport. I have spent a little longer than I expected with Raghu yet a few moments with him seem more worthwhile than a flight I could catch another day if necessary. It is not easy to put into words what Raghu is saying through the medium of photography; that is something only the images can tell.

acquiring permission to photograph with a tripod at the Taj Mahal

Its' a three o'clock in the morning start from Delhi; we reach Agra at about 6.00 a.m and I ask the driver to take me to Mehtab Bagh, which is part of the Taj Mahal complex but lies on the opposite side of the river where it was rediscovered during the latter part of the twentieth century by an American scholar called Moynihan.

My driver seems to be going the wrong way but insists no less then three times that he is in fact correct. When we arrive at the Eastern Gate entrance to the Taj I realise he is bluffing and find someone to explain to him where I really want to go. After this, we retrace our steps but are soon at the Mehtab Bagh which is owned by the Archaeological Survey of India who won't allow any tripod on their premises, a fact that I am only too aware of.

Photographing the Taj Mahal from the north side in the early morning does not produce much more than a silhouette yet the mist rising from the river is atmospheric while the rising sun's first rays also help to create drama particularly as it hits the east facing wall of the mosque that lies west of the tomb. Further interest is added by birds flying along the river below.

At about eight o'clock we leave for the Oberoi hotel, Amarvilas, that is said to have a superb view of the Taj Mahal. I eat breakfast here and afterwards ask to be shown to the terrace upstairs to make my photograph. Permission to do this is however refused.

The next stop is the office of the Archaeological Survey of India where a few weeks before I had been to sign and fill in the necessary documentation. On arriving here, I am told that permission will not be granted but when I point out my earlier visit, an officer suggests I come back after an hour. This is how I find myself sitting in an internet cafe in Agra, somewhat taken aback at the difference between the opulence of the Oberoi Hotel and a slum I have just seen from a nearby bridge.Such an observation might be considered western or foreign yet one can not avoid the disparity.

In an hour, I expect to be meeting Mr.Dwivedi at the ASI to see whether permission can be granted. If not, I shall visit the Taj Mahal and make my architectural style photographs without a tripod, focusing only on the buildings I have researched rather than the fascinating life that goes on around the monument during the day.

Sometimes, I wonder if I might make a book of my Taj Mahal photographs but the ASI (Archaeological Society of India) would probably block such publication unless perhaps they got some kind of royalty from it. Almost certainly, they would want to control the content but that would ruin the project as my photographing at the Taj Mahal is about envisioning a contemporary Taj Mahal rather than a monument from the past as this has been done and done and redone more times than one would like to remember. The Taj Mahal is more than an architectural marvel, it is a world icon.

I return to the office of the Archaeological Survey of India and am lead in to meet a woman who tells me point blank that it won't be possible for me to get permission to photograph today. She then asks me to be shown into another office where I meet someone else who in response to my enquiry, looks up for a split second to look at me, then looks down at the papers he is presently dealing with, offering me no reply.

I point out that I have been to this office before, almost a month ago, and filled in the appropriate form; the man asks me to wait which I do.

After about a quarter of an hour, I am shown a form with my name on it and asked if this refers to me. I reply in the affirmative and take out my passport as proof. Another ten minutes or so of paper shuffling, people coming in and out, and with a flourish, a form is presented to me which just needs signing. Against all the odds, I have acquired the necessary permission.

Reading the terms of the agreement, I notice that there does not seem to be too much in the way of copyright restriction; the ASI seem happy for one to use photographs of the monument in any publication, they do however request three copies free of charge. This seems quite reasonable. Formerly, they wanted three copies of every photograph one took which in the days of negative film was not really practical.

Now to the Taj Mahal and it is not long before I am outside the Eastern Gate, the first of the buildings that I am photographing as part of my assignment. Of course, photographing from the road outside the Taj Mahal complex, does not need written permission from the ASI yet it is not long before a security guard comes over to let me know in no uncertain terms that I am not allowed to photograph at this place. Although it is effectively irrelevant, I pull out a copy (I have had it photocopied 5 times) of the permission granted to me and the guard seems happy even congratulating me on having the permission. He hands it to another guard who also responds in an enthusiastic manner.

Once I have done my tripod mounted "Eastern Gate from the outside photograph", I enter the complex and am immediately challenged again. I present a copy of the permission granted to an officer who scrutinises it for a moment before disappearing along with one copy of the permission. Slowly, I make my way through the security check, emptying my pockets and taking everything from my bag to show the guard. In the background, I notice the guard who took my permission form, talking to one officer and then another, moving from one room and then another. Once through the security check, I am asked to wait awhile, not near the wall but next to the end of the line then again to wait near the wall as I would otherwise be blocking the flow of people coming in and out. After a few minutes, I am handed back the form and told I can proceed.

After making a few photographs of the Eastern Gate from the inside without any challenges, I move into the courtyard to photograph the second of my subjects, the Great Gate, which I do without any other challenges. Then moving through the Great Gate I setup the tripod and camera to photograph the mausoleum, to make the photograph that people associate with the Taj Mahal. As I am just starting to fine tune the focus and have the remote shutter release in my hands, I again experience the sound of someone shouting in my ear, "Not allowed! Not allowed! You can not use a tripod here!" and there seems to be no way to just finish the operation of making my photograph in spite of offering the permission form. Instead, I am lead to an office within the precincts of the Taj Mahal where a man behind a desk is ready to tell me that I am not allowed to photograph in the precincts of the Taj Mahal. On seeing my permission form, he insists on taking the copy for himself, which might have been problematic had I not had four others! I am now told that I shall be only allowed to photograph from the Great Gate and not venture from here into the gardens. My request to get closer to the Central Pool is ignored and at this point, I try to phone Mr. Dwivedi at the Archaeological Survey; his phone is switched off yet I sense this gesture has an effect on the official I am now confronted with. My form of permission is handed back and I am told that I can venture into the garden and that if there is any trouble, I should let him know.

For awhile, I make a number of photographs from the Great Gate platform, then I venture down the steps into the garden but have not taken more than one or two steps before I am again confronted by a guard of some kind; this one is dressed more informally and looks not unlike a gardener yet acts with the same kind of authority as the security guards. He does not want to see my papers so I suggest we return to the office in the Great Gate where the official is ready to confirm that I can photograph in the garden up to the Central Pool. Again I set off with this guard in tow and he helps me to make my photographs pointing out some rather cliched viewpoints. After an hour or so, I have finished and offer him some rupees which he refuses; probably not enough, possibly he considers it inappropriate, yet as I leave the garden complex, he gives me a warm handshake.

That seems to be the end of my troubles apart from noisy youths who try to get my attention and make jokes when I do not respond. Another photographer, who says he is a professional from Mumbai, asks me how to get permission to use a tripod; I mention the office nearby in Agra and give him the address but point out that he is unlikely to get it for today. He does not seem concerned but thinks he'll have time to visit the office before it closes. I wonder if he'll fare better as an Indian but I can't help but think he'll be met with glum looks and told to come back tomorrow; of course, on the morrow he'll be able to fill in the forms but won't get the permission.

I want to chuckle but find it hard to laugh. I had spent a lot of time to make a few photographs and been unable to really cover the subject as I wished. For that, more negotiation and forms would presumably be required. Of course, the ASI are right to act to protect the monument although tripods are unlikely to cause damage, rather it would be the even greater confusion of a mass of people swarming over the Taj Mahal trying to get past a sea of tripods that would further clog up the flow of people. The jostling on the Great Gate platform from where one can make a good photograph would be more than chaotic.