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Assignment 2 - Vice versa, Reflections on assignment 2

Reflections on Tutor Feedback for Assignment 2

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The objective of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to explore the themes covered in Part Two with regard to the use of both studio and location for the creation of portraits.

This assignment is about taking what has worked from the above exercises and then trying to develop this further in terms of interchanging the use of portraits taken on location (street) with portraits taken inside (studio).

You need to develop a series of five final images to present to the viewer as a themed body of work. Pay close attention to the look and feel of each image and think of how they will work together as a series. The theme is up to you to choose; you could take a series of images of a single subject or a series of subjects in a themed environment. There is no right answer, so experiment.

I initially looked at three possibilities:

  • Taking pictures outside in a ‘made-up’ studio of an autistic teenager I know
  • Taking pictures indoors with flash of an autistic couple and their baby
  • Taking a set of pictures of a friend in his garden (I eventually used these for one of the exercises)

The work with the autistic teenager was fraught with difficulties. The weather did not oblige (well, this is Scotland), he was ill, then his mother was. I eventually only managed to get one photo session with him. In that session I attempted to direct him, and the other people involved, getting them to stand and sit in the positions I wanted. This was only partially successful as Sam, while trying to be helpful, did not really understand what I wanted. This made for a slightly uncomfortable session even though Sam that Sam knows me well and usually enjoys being photographed.

In the session with the family I tried a totally different approach. I explained what I was doing then we simply had a conversation about their lives while I intermittently took photographs of them sitting and relaxing or playing with and feeding their baby. This gave a much more relaxed feel to the whole event.

In spite of this, because it seemed to fit better with the brief, I submitted the work with Sam for assignment 2.

See Assignment 2 – Vice versa for the initial assignment trial.

I had a formal and helpful review from my tutor, His comments are in blue, my initial response in black

  • From a photographic perspective it’s obvious, and as stated by yourself, that you encountered problems directing Sam. We discussed the notion of authorship and directing subjects as part of the previous assignment. Regarding your visual strategy, working outside with ambient light and a backdrop is appropriate, it’s clear that you have considered an external studio set-up. The backdrop and obviously Sam suggest a series but I feel that your differing camera angles breaks up the coherency. It’s quite difficult to offer a critique here upon your relationship as photographer and taking control. Clearly Sam hasn’t the cognitive skills to recognize and take direction. This is demonstrated within your images and it’s hard to be critical of your input. However, (taking sentiment out) I do feel that better planning and a more considered use of the set-up would have resulted in a more consistent series of images. I think that this also applies to your inclusion of Sam’s friends. I actually think that there is something interesting behind the dynamics of their relationship and how this could develop as a series of portraits. Maybe this is something that you could have considered further, almost like a collaborative project. I feel at the moment the images are too passive and lack a connection between you, the subjects and the viewer
    • I totally agree with this. I ended up taking the images in a rush, partly because of the endless delays on the shoot due to illness and weather, partly because Sam was clearly getting bored. I had planned on trying to redo them, but again this was delayed and then became impossible
  • I know it isn’t your assignment submission but I feel that the project you also worked upon with the autistic couple and baby is really interesting and shows great potential. I’m not sure how much you have shot (70?) and you decided against inclusion as assignment due to the studio brief but personally I find these images (potentially as I can only see 12) stronger and more engaging. They feel like they are born out of a more collaborative process and less intrusive, there is empathy but also distance and rawness to the images
    • I also felt that these images were stronger, I had a good, but not too close, relationship with the family. I didn’t use them initially in the assignment as I was trying to keep to the ‘studio’ part of the brief. I will have another look at them and work them up as a set.

Since my initial response I have spent some time thinking about the assignment and reflecting on it. I have become aware that I got stuck on one idea that seemed to fulfil the brief, while being more creative (and patient/relaxed) while taking the images of Sam and his family and friends would have given a much more engaged series.  Sam is usually easy to work with, I suspect my nerves (because I was aware that I was running out of time) rubbed off on him and made him both pull silly faces and lose his normal air of engagement. This work is something I want to try again, and I think it would be helpful to do over several sessions without the implied pressure of it ‘being for an assignment’.  I want to work long term with taking images of people with autism, so this is a skill I need to improve.

Following this I went back to the images of the family and their baby and reanalysed them. They were (as he suggested) a much ‘better’ set of images. They told a story. I had managed to get some very revealing pictures of their close relationship with the baby without being overly intrusive.  The research I had done about people with disabilities was relevant to both sets of images. This was much more the type of work I want to do, seeing people in their own environments, letting them tell their own story.

See  Assignment 2 – Anything You Can Do for the redone assignment

Learning points:

  • Do not get stuck with your first idea if it simply is not working
  • Be prepared to start again or completely change tack
  • Controlling the shoot and using a made-up studio might work in some situations – but this needs careful thinking about to get consistency of the images
  • If possible give yourself time for repeated shoots
  • If you are using a ‘studio’ set up, do not make it too complicated
    • In these images of Sam and friends the background overwhelmed the people
  • Try and be relaxed (then your subjects are more likely to relax themselves)

This was an extremely helpful feedback report and one I will try to carry forward as I felt I learnt considerably by redoing the assignment from a different angle.

Assignment 2 - Vice versa

Assignment 2 – Anything You Can Do

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Brief:

The objective of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to explore the themes covered in Part Two with regard to the use of both studio and location for the creation of portraits.

This assignment is about taking what has worked from the above exercises and then trying to develop this further in terms of interchanging the use of portraits taken on location (street) with portraits taken inside (studio).

You need to develop a series of five final images to present to the viewer as a themed body of work. Pay close attention to the look and feel of each image and think of how they will work together as a series. The theme is up to you to choose; you could take a series of images of a single subject or a series of subjects in a themed environment. There is no right answer, so experiment.

One of the possibilities I thought about for assignment 2 was to take images of people within their own house, using artificial lighting. My final choice of subject involves this. The room has become the studio. This contrasts with my earlier images for this section which were almost all taken outside with natural light.

Research:

I looked at several photographers portrait work for this including Martin Parr, Christophe Agou, Paul Graham, and Walker Evans and also researched work done taking images of people with disabilities such as Louis Quail  in ‘Big Brother’,  Siân Davey with her work on her Down Syndrome daughter in ‘Alice’, Polly Bradon’s work with the learning disabled and people with ASD  in  ‘Out of the Shadows ‘  and ‘Great Interactions’ and Lesley McIntyre’s photoessay on the life of her daughter ‘The Time of Her Life’.  I also looked at Diane Arbus’s somewhat controversial work where she took images in a home for learning disabled people (Diane Arbus).  There is a harrowing film series done by David Hevey on disability which uses the contrasting images of then and now, to tell a part of the story about disability: see David Hevey – The Disabled Century for more information.

Taking pictures of people who are aware of you is discussed further in Project 2 – The aware and Project 2 – The Aware – 2. Most of the work that I found about people with disabilities either involved people with a learning disability, severe mental health problems, or severe physical difficulties.

Background Information:

This series is about a couple who both have autistic spectrum disorder (ASD). This is a condition (I refuse to call it a disability) that I have worked with for many years and, if I have learned anything, I have learned that the people with ASD and their families are not defined by the label. Each person’s story is different, each family’s story is unique, just as for any other person and any other family. To tell the story properly takes time, a lifetime, both yours and theirs. This is just a snapshot.

Plan:

For this series I took images of a couple with autistic spectrum disorder (ASD) and their young child. Janey and Rich were kind enough to invite me into their home and give me permission to use the images.  Unlike most of the work on people with disabilities looked at above neither of them has a learning disability.  Janey is an author, rarely seen without a pencil and a notebook, and Rich works with computers. Their motto is ‘Anything you can do we can do too’ – although, as Janey went on to explain, that does not include working at a busy supermarket till ( but who would really want to do that from choice).

Practice:

  • I met Janey and Rich in their home. It was the first time I had met Rich, so he was naturally somewhat guarded with me, although eventually relaxed. We spent some time talking and then I simply started taking pictures of their interactions with each other, me and their baby. One of the difficulties people with ASD have is with eye contact, especially with strangers and this is evident in all the images.
  • I used a combination of natural light, the artificial light in their flat and a flash unit.
  • I visualised these images from the start in black and white, partly because it echoed much of the earlier work I had seen and partly because it gives a softer light and timeless feel to the images.

Conclusion:

This was a fascinating piece of work to do. It fits within a much longer work I am planning about the lives of people with ASD and that of their families. I am planning to mainly concentrate on work with adults with ASD as little has been done photographically with this group.

The difficulties were:

  • Working inside with limited light
  • Allowing enough time for the family to relax without being there so long that I risked overwhelming them

The positive aspects:

  • Building a relationship
  • Exploring a new (to me) type of way of working

Images:

Rich
Rich
Janey
Janey
Mother
Mother
Sustainer
Sustainer
Father
Father

Learning points:

  • Be confident that you can do things
  • Relax and the subjects will also relax
  • Take enough images to allow for problems with the light

With sincere thanks to Janey and Rich.

Reference list:

Arbus, D. et al. (1978) Diane Arbus. London: Gordon Fraser Gallery.

Braden, P. (2016) Great interactions : life with learning disabilities and autism. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Bradon, P. and Williams, S. (2018) Out of the Shadows. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Hevey, D. (s.d.) Viewing. At: http://davidhevey.com/viewing/ (Accessed on 6 April 2020)

Mcintyre, L. (2004) The time of her life. London: Jonathan Cape.

Quail, L. (2018) Big brother. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Siân Davey (2015) Looking for Alice. Great Britain: Trolley Ltd.

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Assignment 2 - Vice versa

Assignment 2 – Take 2

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Following my tutor’s response and suggestions for assignment 2, I am going to shift the images to my alternatives. Under more normal circumstances I could simply redo the original images, taking on board his comments, but that will have to wait for another time.

The second set of images tell a (very) small part of the story of Rich and Janey, an autistic couple I met as part of a long-term project on autistic people and their lives. They were kind enough to let me into their lives and their house. I was not originally going to use it for A2 as they are not studio (either inside or outside) images, but, as pointed out by my tutor, I could consider their living room as the studio, and I did use flash (so artificial lighting).

Janey’s life is not easy, but her principle is “(almost) anything you do I can do too”. The exceptions are things like working a till in a busy store – but who realistically wants to do that. She is an author, and rarely seen without a pencil and a notebook. Rich works with computers. Their most important role is that they are parents and are determined to give their child as much love as possible.

Practice:

  • The images were taken inside with a mixture of artificial light and flash.
  • I visualised these from the start as black and white – but (as usual) can see both colour and B/W working
    • B/W seems to fit with the narrative tone of the images and reflects early images of people with difficulties, but without (I hope) the negative connotations
    • B/W avoids the concentration latching on to some of the random items in the room such as a very blue bucket
    • Colour is more current, and, possibly, shows more about their surroundings – but do I want that?
  • I took some time chatting to them both as it was the first time I had met Rich (and only the second with Janey). Then just started taking pictures of what they were doing and how they were interacting.
  • I have shown the images to Janey and Rich and they were pleased with them and agreed to their use.

Where I am:

  • I think I have chosen my preferred 5 images, having originally cut down from 68I to 19 (19 shown in contact sheets below)
  • Need to decide on colour v B/W
  • Need to add some more research about photography of disabilities

Choices – interestingly the B/W images and the colour are not identical pictures:ChoicesChoices

Contact sheets of 19 preferred:

Black and white or colour?:

Contact sheets of all images:

Assignment 2 - Vice versa, Reflections and tutor reports, Reflections on assignment 2

Assignment 2 – Response to tutor’s report

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I have now received a very comprehensive formal review on assignment 2 from my tutor. Usually I find a face-to-face feedback (via hangout or similar) more helpful, but that was not possible this time, however the amount of information given was extensive.

Overall, he seemed pleased, but with some caveats.

The tutor’s comments are blue, my responses black

The assignment:

  • However, (taking sentiment out) I do feel that better planning and a more considered use of the set-up would have resulted in a more consistent series of images.
    • I totally agree with this. I ended up taking the images in a rush, partly because of the endless delays on the shoot due to illness and weather, partly because Sam was clearly getting bored. I had planned on trying to redo them, but again this was delayed and then became impossible
  • I know it isn’t your assignment submission but I feel that the project you also worked upon with the autistic couple and baby is really interesting and shows great potential. I’m not sure how much you have shot (70?) and you decided against inclusion as assignment due to the studio brief but personally I find these images (potentially as I can only see 12) stronger and more engaging. They feel like they are born out of a more collaborative process and less intrusive, there is empathy but also distance and rawness to the images
    • I also felt that these images were stronger, I had a good, but not too close, relationship with the family. I didn’t use them initially in the assignment as I was trying to keep to the ‘studio’ part of the brief. I will have another look at them and work them up as a set.

Research:

  • A positive response here. Helpful to know that the ‘regular reflections’ make sense.

Learning log:

  • My only concern is that there is so much of it in different folders and the future assessment team would have difficultly viewing it all. Make sure that the more relevant folders such as research are kept up to date with the most relevant information
    • I struggle with this. Maybe everything that is directly related to the assignments should go in the ‘research’ folder, and everything else divided up.

Suggested reading:

  • Lots of useful links given here. More reading!

Thanks to my tutor for his helpful advice.

Assignment 2 - Vice versa, Reflections and tutor reports, Reflections on assignment 2

Initial reflection on Assignment 2

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Assessment Criteria

 Demonstration of Technical and Visual Skills:

  • The images are sharp and stand out against the backdrop
  • I was looking for a range of expressions on Sam’s face whiich I obtained – but it was limited by what he was prepared to do
  • I considered both black and white and colour images
    • I have gone for colour; but I am concerned that the faces can get lost against the highly coloured background and am still wondering about the advantage of black and white to minimise this effect

Quality of outcome:

  • There are a range of images taken of a difficult subject
  • The images do tell a story about Sam although somewhat limited

Demonstration of creativity:

  • I spent considerable time planning this exercise both in organising the shoot and the necessary pre-work
  • These are fairly straightforward portrait shots and I don’t think I have been overly creative in the actual pictures

Context:

Assignment 2 - Vice versa

Assignment 2 – Vice versa

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The objective of this assignment is to provide you with an opportunity to explore the themes covered in Part Two with regard to the use of both studio and location for the creation of portraits.

This assignment is about taking what has worked from the above exercises and then trying to develop this further in terms of interchanging the use of portraits taken on location (street) with portraits taken inside (studio).

You need to develop a series of five final images to present to the viewer as a themed body of work. Pay close attention to the look and feel of each image and think of how they will work together as a series. The theme is up to you to choose; you could take a series of images of a single subject or a series of subjects in a themed environment. There is no right answer, so experiment.

 My initial thoughts on this assignment can be seen here: Assignment 2 – Initial Thoughts (and problems) and my planning, research and practice work here: Assignment 2 – Vice Versa – planning and practice

The images I have chosen for this assignment are those of an autistic young man, Sam – age 14. Sam has very little language and so everything that was done with him needed to be carefully explained and directed by example. I set up an outdoor backdrop of a large painting of big cats that I thought would appeal to him and took a series of images of him by himself, with his sister and with a friend. I had planned to also include his mother but was not able to do so on the day. Sam was very co-operative, but found it amusing and insisted on pulling faces at me.

We took the images outside rather than making up an indoor studio as that would have necessitated the use of flash which Sam might not have tolerated. Prior to taking the images we had a practice session where Sam familiarised himself with my garden to reassure him. Sam generally enjoys having photographs taken and likes looking at them afterwards.

I could not get formal consent from Sam because of his lack of language but discussed the situation and the use of the images with his mother and she gave consent on his behalf.

I chose to attempt this series as I have not previously done any formal studio work. It built on the portraits taken both for assignment 1 and those taken for the exercises in part 2 however in this case I used an artificial background to mimic a studio. I tried to avoid getting the ‘automatic smile’ that most people give when faced with a camera – but in reality, I had little control over Sam’s facial expressions.

 I am pleased with the outcome although I would have liked to manage a greater range of images, possibly including other members of Sam’s family and this is something I will continue to work on.

Final Images:

Sam (1 of 5)
Reflective Sam
Sam (2 of 5)
Sam and his sister
Sam (3 of 5)
Sam and a friend
Sam (5 of 5)
Sam, sister and big cats
Sam (4 of 5)
Curious Sam
Assignment 2 - Vice versa, Learning Log, Progress Reports, Reflections and tutor reports

Assignment 2 – Initial Thoughts (and problems)

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For some reason this assignment has been one of the hardest I have tackled so far. Part of the reason has been outside issues – the weather, health, family deaths. However, part has been pure procrastination on my part.

I initially planned to use some images that I had taken when doing exercise 2.3  – Exercise 2.3 – Same model, different background using some of the other images of Martin and his wife, either inside the house or more close up portraits in the garden – however it didn’t really fit the brief. I did make it into a newspaper, which I am moderately pleased with, and which was an interesting experiment. See Newspaper trial

I then decided to try and take some images of an autistic boy (Sam). This got delayed over and over for practical reasons, and I couldn’t seem to get past it.  I then took some separate images of another autistic family – which seemed to work well.

But still I was stuck!

I finally decided to just do it, work up both sets of images and see what happened.

Learning points:

  • Read the brief carefully
  • Get on and take the photographs
  • Have a backup plan
  • Take risks – it might not be perfect (in fact, won’t be) – but just do it.
  • Spending too much time reading and researching the possibilities is only useful if you have infinite time
Assignment 2 - Vice versa

Assignment 2 – Vice Versa – planning and practice

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The objective is to explore the themes in Part 2 and develop them further, exchanging portraits taken on location with ones taken within the studio or inside developing a series of 5 images, either of one person or of a linked series.

In my earlier exercises for part 2 all the work was done outside, with the exception of a few trialled images inside our local abbey. They were also done in daylight and without a flash.

Research:

As part of the background work for part 2 I have looked at several photographers and how they went about their portrait work. This included looking at images that were taken while people were not aware of what you were doing (see Project 1 – The Unaware 1 and Project 1 – The unaware – 2) and other, more formal images. These have been described in Project 2 – The aware and Project 2 – The Aware – 2 The ones I found most interesting were the images of Alice by Siân Davey, (Davey, 2015) which tell a very clear story, the images by Paul Graham of his mother, taken inside in very subdued lighting and the images by Clare Strand in Gone Away (Drew et.al, 2009) where she uses a painted back cloth to relate the images of people to  Victorian photography and to contrast idealism with distress.

I thought about several options for extending the work:

  • Make an outside studio with backdrops
  • Try more images within the abbey
  • Take some images within someone’s house
  • Set up a ‘studio’ within my own house using backdrops

Outside in a made up studio:

 I decided to enlist the help of an autistic young man I know, his sister and my son who he is friendly with. Sam is fascinated with animals, especially the family of big cats so I decided to set his images against a backdrop showing two big cats which I hung in my garden. This was fraught with problems:

  • We had difficulty arranging a photo shoot because
    • Sam was unwell and we had to delay it on several occasions
    • The weather was not obliging (Scotland in winter)
  • When we did get together Sam insisted on pulling a series of silly faces. In the end I just went with that as it was a way of getting his cooperation
  • I had trouble getting focus on Sam and the other 2 people and tended to focus on the backdrop – I think this was because Sam moved a lot.
  • It was not very good light, but I could not use additional flash as it would have upset Sam

Planning:

  • I organised time with Sam’s mother to give her a chance to explain what was happening to Sam
  • We did a preliminary visit to my house and garden to allow him to be comfortable
  • I had a trial run of taking pictures against the backdrop to find the best position to put it up in the garden

Outcome:

  • I eventually obtained 40 images, using 2 different backdrops. One backdrop of a tree on a brightly coloured background was not successful as I managed to get the tree growing out of Sam’s head. I should have positioned him more carefully.
  • Out of these 24 were in focus and showed Sam engaged with the game (how it was explained to him).
  • 11 were landscape and 13 were portrait. The portrait images were more successful as they showed Sam engaged with the other people and also with 2 toys (a car and a toy cat).

Images:

12 preferred images

Inside a house (leaving the house as it is):

For this series I took pictures of an autistic couple  and their new baby in their house. It was the first time I had met Rich, and while keen to engage he was very shy about having photographs taken, however he did eventually relax. These images were taken with flash as the light inside their house was not adequate by itself. They were very keen to tell me that everything a ‘neurotypical’ person could do they could also do if they wanted to. They were very proud of their baby and that they could look after him well. Janey was especially proud of the fact she was breast feeding.

Planning:

  • I contacted several autistic people and their families though a local autism network. This is part of a larger project that I am working on
  • We arranged to meet in a neutral place (a local cafe)
  • I explained who I was and what I was aiming at to Janey and gave her the opportunity to choose to engage or not

Outcome:

  • I obtained about 70 images of the family – which was far too many
  • As is typical of autistic people eye contact was an issue, and so in many of the pictures they were either looking away or partially hiding their faces
  • 30 images showed them either in typical positions or interacted with the baby
  • All were landscape – possibly because of the flash unit

Images:

12 preferred images

Final Choices:

Having thought about both pieces of work I decided to use the outdoor ‘studio’ images. This was partly because I thought they fulfilled the brief better, in that they were taken with an artificial background and, while using some of the portrait skills I had experimented with earlier, they were clearly different in the way they were set-up. However, I am not convinced about the painted background, which, although it references Sam’s interests, could be considered too intrusive. I have since made my own backdrop from a painted sheet and plan to take more images of Sam against this to compare them.

Colour or black and white?

I then had to decide on the final 5 images and also whether colour or black and white gave a clearer view of who Sam is.

To decide about the issues of black and white versus colour I had to think about what I was planning to show. Colour is more ‘contemporary’ in feel. Black and white could be considered a more traditional take on portraiture. Most of the photographic portrait series I have looked at on people with ASD and other mental health issues have been in colour – Polly Braden in Great Interactions (Braden, 2016) and Louis Quail in Big Brother (Quail, 2018) are examples of this.. Equally there is the work by Clare Strand on Gone Away (Strand, n.d.) where the portraits are taken against a backdrop which are in black and white as are many of her other images. I suspect (although I have not been able to find out) that the images were taken using black and white film.  My digital camera takes the information in colour even if I set it to black and white. Black and white is what I see – until I download the images at which point I get the colour image. So, to get a black and white image I have to convert it – this does seem somewhat counter-intuitive – but is what happens.

Having looked at the series both in colour and black and white I then asked for opinions from the OCA group (the Critiques site, the Facebook pages and the IAP email group). The general opinion was for colour – more contemporary, why use black and white? too flat a light and one interesting comment ‘colour rather than black & white, moves them away from being a documentary-style observed-type/ teenage wildlife captured on safari sort of thing…”. I also asked for the opinion of Sam’s mother, she is not a photographer, but I was curious about what she preferred. She immediately said colour. Sam himself was also more interested in the colour images.

Eventually I settled on the colour images:

  • They do give a more contemporary feel
  • They echo the age of the person more appropriately
  • Sam looks much older than he actually is in the black and white images (however I process them)
  • Although this was a ‘formal’ attempt at a series it turned into a game with Sam – and this is better reflected in the colour images.

Learning Points:

  • Thinking is useful but actually doing is more useful
  • Have a back-up plan
  • Have a second back-up as well!
  • The weather is not your friend
  • ‌Ask for help and ideas from other people if you are stuck

References:

Braden, P. (2016). Great interactions : life with learning disabilities and autism. Stockport, England: Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Davey, S. (2015). Looking for Alice. Great Britain: Trolley Ltd.

Drew, R., Chandler, D., Eskildsen, U., Jeffrey, I., Mullen, C. and Strand, C. (2009). Clare Strand : a Photoworks Monograph. Brighton: Photoworks ; Göttingen, Germany.

Graham, P. (2019). Mother. S.L.: Mack.

Quail, L. (2018). Big brother. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing.

Strand, C. (n.d.). Clare Strand ~ Photographer ~ works. [online] http://www.clarestrand.co.uk. Available at: https://www.clarestrand.co.uk/works/?id=100 [Accessed 26 Feb. 2020].

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