My first research began with Alec Soth, a photographer known for his poetic way of making series work, Soth was my first inspiration to look much deeper into the sequencing of photographs, looking for metaphors and connections that the photographer has put into the pictures to let the viewer explore and make up there own mind to how it works, which is what i'm learning how to do at the moment. I wanted to try and find Soth's views on why he makes work like he does so I can try understand a little better myself. I found a real nice interview on the Seesaw magazine website.
THE MISSISSIPPI: - An interview with Alec Soth / August 2004 / By Aaron Schuman - http://seesawmagazine.com/soth_pages/soth_interview.html
He talks about his work being more lyrical like Poetry, than it being documentary based, which I find interesting, when you view his series I struggle to see a story, the images feel to cluttered & have big gaps with in, so they no longer become a documentary based, which is not what Soth try's to create anyway, but I find as soon as you read the title of his works, it makes sense. I also went on to read a piece of a writing in ' From here to there: Alec Soth's America ' that he would struggle to make photographs if he didn't have a title to work from. the exploration is such a huge part of everything, we spend so much time looking for what we want to photograph and then making the image is everything, its a really nice feeling to find what your looking for and feel a connection with the meaning you want make a picture off. Alec Soth explores the area's he wants or is commissioned to make work on and creates his own visions in a very considerable way using a type of connection we are all very much intrigued by, Soth speaks about the type of photographer that he is, he mentions how we become to have a trademark and we stick to that trademark photographing in the same way year after year, Soth doesn't want to do this, he creates new ways of shooting imagery and sequencing his work. I really want to try and work towards this type of workflow, creating new & interesting photographs as I move throughout time.
I began to route around in search of other people making series with similar ways of making work, I came across a photographer called Peter Watkins, he made a collaboration on a series with Tereza Telenkova called ' Index of time '. They created a collection of images exploring some caves off boundaries to the public with a team of cave explorers who meet up on the weekend to have a few drinks and a bbq and then head in to enjoy earths creations. I sent an email to Peter Watkins to try and gets his views on why he likes to mix still life with landscape, he was incredibly nice enough to reply and helped a lot with my research. The still life images within the series are recreations of objects from the bronze age which where discovered in the cave many years ago by previous explorers, these still life's are mixed with beautifully made landscapes inside and out of the cave, some using flash and some natural light. Unlike Alec Soth, Peter Watkins and Tereza Telenkova chose to stay with the theme of black & white though out the images and as a series I think it works incredibly well, things don't feel as cluttered as Soth's work, the story of exploration & documentation of the exploration feels very clear, I feel like I could fall into an exhibition showing this work and make a clear understanding of what the photographer was trying to show
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in Peter Watkins words:
" A local blacksmith crafted these for an annual exposition they have in the first cavern of the cave, they all lend themselves to an idea of truth and concrete history of the cave "
The items found, photographed with a studio style environment give the idea of truth, and story, the thought of how these items got in such a place, and create a feeling of exploration, retrieved items found by intrigued minds.
So after a little research and trying to get a structure together to base work upon I went out to explore the local area taking snap shots on my 35mm to build upon and into a subject matter. I started looking at bricks left behind by builders that I found interesting, in the ways they was stacked & formed but it wasn't strong enough. I didn't want to get to sucked into the form of waste as literally as it sounded, I wanted to use the word ' waste ' and create it into something more meaningful to myself and structure it around something that described more of a personal feeling that someone might share with me and make there own personal connections in there own mind on the matter.
I decided to explore further out and went for a ride in Strood, I was getting some speed down a large hill and suddenly spotted a Volkswagen camper van looking very sorry for itself, sitting on its own half covered in tarpulin. All these feelings came rushing out, Im very enthusiastic when it comes to classic vehicles, they have so much character and love locked with in them, straight away I linked this to a feeling many classic car enthusiasts would share with me, that see'ing a car in such a state pushes your feelings towards a left article which in the right hands could be restored and made beautiful again.
The connection you see between a person and there car is very pleasing.
Bricks and Campervan below:
So that was my idea, The love and infatuation a person has to restore an object ( in my case, classic cars ) into its former glory, and not let it sit to rot and be replaced by this modern world.
In my spare time I work at a local Garage called ' Ml Motor sport ' I help restore and fix classic cars, Andy the owner was nice enough to let me help out and I go 1 day a week purely for the love, no money involved. it tied in really nice with what I wanted to do as it allowed me to include a portrait and also landscapes around the yard and within the garage to help bring the project into a series. I went on to making a portrait of andy in his workshop surrounded by the tools he uses on a everyday bases and also how messy he is! but everything adds to the character of who the person is and how they use there workspace. I went on to make images around the yard of vehicles waiting to receive work and attention.
After a made a few images I had a tutorial with Steffi who'm I mentioned to that I wanted to join in a black and white image within the series mixing with the colour photographs, everyone disagreed and said they felt it wouldn't work as a set as I had to much of a short time to work in so I scrapped the idea and went onto make more images in the series and base the project souly on andy which turned in into a documentary based piece on his life and work.
I continued on in my research, Steffi told me to look at the way Simon Roberts makes his work, so I went deeper into that area, researching how he went from a news photographer into a story teller using photographs. He comes across as a real adventurer, he made month long trips without returning home as he felt the metaphor of a continuous journey worked so well and that the rhythm of a trip would be broken if he was to return home half way though a commission or personal related piece, he went on to make vast landscapes speaking about how understanding the place helps read the photograph, the history of the area or place related to what its being used for now. his work doesn't link directly to what i'm trying to create, but the aspects of a story line do and discovering new places by exploring and pushing yourself further into a landscape to find relations of whats happenings. I need to continue more into Simon Roberts work to try make a better understanding.
Iv'e been taking references from Irvin Penn, who made a beautiful series of workers, shot against a very interesting textured backdrop, and the subjects would portray there work through the objects they where holding, I find it interesting how he's taken them out of there workspaces and environment they would usually be in and how the posture plays in how the subject poses to the camera, playing a part in proudness and in some cases what looks like boredom and lack of motivation.
During a lecture, Steffi went on to introducing us to a photographer called Ricarda Roggan,, who made a series called garage, they are images of damaged cars photographed in a black room and lighten by a harsh lamplight, almost as if there sitting lonely under a street light outside in the cold & damp. this made my infatuation for the loneliness of cars grow, although these aren't classic cars, they where still once owned by someone who was proud to both drive and own it. In the images Roggan transforms the still life's of the cars into the representation of the human face using metaphors such as a broken headline for downcast eyes and the bumper suggesting a frowning face, it all arrives back to what I feel when I am confronted with a vehicle and represents death and abandonment as these cars will not be making there way back on the road.
After this I returned to the scene of the camper van to shoot it on medium format, it was a very cold morning around 7am, with a warm lighting on the subject, plus there was still signs of snow sitting around after it all hit us in the South East, I then went onto visiting andy to take his portrait in his garage and make images around the yard where all the mini's are kept, plus images of tools and on-going projects. I suppose the Camper van was more of a starting point in the series to set that feeling of a objecting in dying loving need and then as the project flows through the other images in the series I try to turn it all around to a good aspect to show there are people that care.
The final images in the series consisted of a portrait of andy within his workshop surrounded by the tools and materials he uses on a daily bases, the pure organisation of a workspace shows the audience the type of person he is.
Second image is of the camper van that inspired the projects path, I hope one day the owner starts to spend time on it and put it back on the road where it belongs.
Third is the interior of a customers time trial car ( mg midget ) which has just had a engine rebuild and carb setup, I love the tape and signs of ware on the steering wheel.
The fourth image is off 3 mini's ( including my own which is awaiting a new engine ) awaiting further restoration work to keep them on the road for time to come.
Lastly Andy's snap-on tool box showing off a piercing red colour which I really feel hits you with vibrance and structure, plus the large amount of untidy tools ready to be put away nicely by myself.
