This is the first edit of my ‘Carnival’ series, drawn from 3 shoots. Shoot 1 / Shoot 2 / Shoot 3

Reflections on webinar feedback

People have really responded well to the portraits that I have been shooting. I too, think that these are the strongest of the series and feel that I want to expand on this for future shoots. Considering ‘Interdisciplinary Practice’ from week 2, I want to start collecting more stories and quotes from the subjects to really get a sense of who they are beyond the person in a costume. A couple of times now, I have discussed through critique and tutorial, the importance of getting past the outward ‘performance.’ It is important to continue photographing subjects either before, or after the event.

Paul suggested in the forum that I look at the work of Margaret Mitchell which I have not seen before. After reading the synopsis of the project ‘In This Place’^​†​ I am keen to also show “family and home, connections and place.” What I like about Margaret’s work is there is a real sense of the environments, even when the image is predominantly of a person (Fig. 1). Initially, my intention was to create portraits and edit the work together with the environments and detail shots forming diptychs of the work. However, a more focused approach of environmental elements showing in the portraits is something I am keen to expand.

Next Shoot

I am planning another shoot at the Salisbury Carnival on 25/10. I won’t be able to get to the location until after dark, so was originally planning to capture more of the abstract images captured during shoot 2 (Fig. 2). However, after considering the forum comments and the work of Margaret Mitchell, I will aim to shoot some night portraits (Fig. 3) that blend the abstract images into the background, or more of an ambient approach to combining the two approaches (Fig. 4). This is with the aim of including a sense of the carnival and the spectacle of the light show, together with portraiture. These examples are purely technical explorations at this stage with the hope that it will start to support and develop the contextual, narrative elements of this project in the future. Although, I could see the images taking on a similar aesthetic to Laura El Tantawy’s ‘In the Shadow of the Pyramids’^​‡​ series (Fig. 5).

Additional Planning for Salisbury Carnival shoot 25/10

Gillingham Carnival 5/10

I have spent an afternoon photographing another carnival in the Somerset Carnival circuit. Initially, I felt I was getting some really strong portraits for the series. I have started to better engage with the subjects and get a sense of why they are involved in the community event. For example, Jennie Bowie (fig. 1) had been doing carnivals since she was 16 in the 1960s. The commitment shown by the people that I have spoken to is quite impressive.

Unfortunately, I was not careful to check that my camera settings were correct during this shoot and found to my disappointment that I had been shooting in Large JPEG together with the sRGB colour space. Out of the 244 images that I shot during the afternoon, I have managed to salvage 10, not including some of the strongest of the set. Of the images that I don’t think I will be able to use, is the portrait of Jennie Bowie (Fig 1). This is due to complete highlight clipping on her hat. Overall, I am pleased with the saved shots. However, depending on the final output, it may put a limit on using them.

For future shoots, I will need to consider creating a pre-shoot checklist with the aim of safeguarding against easily avoided mistakes, such as this.

How my work relates to interdisciplinary practice?

I consider the work that I produced when freelancing for magazines. Regularly, it was my job to follow up on the trip of a writer. Many would attend ‘Junkets’ to write a piece on the destination, if commissioned, I was then sent to respond and photograph the key aspects of the text. Photography and writing work closely together and support one another. Images providing visual stimuli for the words, and words provide additional context and background that may not be ‘read’ visually. 

I have created personal work that utilises text, as I mentioned in my previous post and find it a fantastic accompaniment to the image, providing narrative, and context to the work.

To extend the use of interdisciplinary practice in my own work, I am considering the use of audio. It was mentioned in the forum this week that Susan Mesielas used audio to record interviews with her subjects for the book ‘Carnival Strippers’^​†​ that was then included in a book of the work. Jeremy Deller also used this approach for his work ‘English Civil war part 2’^​‡​ where he recorded the stories of the Miners who were at the ‘Battle of Orgreave.’ I am very keen to create a collaboration between me and the subjects that I photograph, this could potentially be a way of doing that and allowing the voice of the subject to help develop the work.

Following on from the ‘Other than Photography’ discussion this week, I would to also experiment with some of this technology. There is much potential to use my images to ‘trigger’ events using augmented reality, or as simple as playing an audio track to support the visual images.

Reflecting on 3/10 webinar with Michelle

From the webinar, I have really come to understand the importance of representing the subjects of my work in a considerate way, being faithful to them as people. Additionally, over the summer I read the book:  ‘Decolonising the Camera: Photography in Racial Time’^​§​ by Mark Sealy. It is a conversation that I am starting to see come up more and more in photography, and has led to publications such as National Geographic issuing an apology for a history of inherently racist imagery.^​¶​ It has prompted me to question my role in photography, and what I am saying when I create images. This is very much related to my images when I was freelancing as a travel and lifestyle photographer, primarily for the airline publication sector. Regularly my role was to present the ‘exotic’ back to a western audience to promote it as a destination to visit. 

My research project, I am hoping to look at the themes of ‘Community’ and ‘Social Capital’ (discussed in my previous post). My first shoot was on the Somerset Carnivals that are taking place during the run up to Christmas. When approaching the subjects for a portrait, they would automatically assume a somewhat cliche pose associated with the local press photographers they are used to posing for. This would include giving me a ‘thumbs up’ with a wide grin. I would photograph them in order to break the ice and then ask the subject to adopt a more formal pose for the images that I wanted to achieve. I have started to question this approach in how I representing my subject, if they are naturally posing in this way, does that say more about their character that the pose that I ask them to do? A counter to that discussion, however, might be the social conditioning that they have prior to my photograph that they automatically assume. Does my approach allow them to be ‘read’ in a way that is more faithful to the person behind the presented image of them? These are important questions I hope to find answers as I develop my project.

After the discussion, I was given some photographers to look at:

• Gareth McConnel – Ibiza
• Anna Fox
• Jane Hilton – Cowboys