Our chosen A&D
activity is Photography and we therefore look at the contexts in which
photography is produced. We break this down into 3 different types and look at
the associated context and the characteristics. Two of the contexts along with their characteristics are detailed here...
Commercial Photography Context
(Context - the situation in which something happens or exists).
You have to demonstrate when discussing, deconstructing and analysing your research/images the context of the photography. What kind of photography is it, how do you know it's that type of photography and what are the characteristics of this type of photography.
(Context - the situation in which something happens or exists).
You have to demonstrate when discussing, deconstructing and analysing your research/images the context of the photography. What kind of photography is it, how do you know it's that type of photography and what are the characteristics of this type of photography.
We discuss and look at the
context of 'Commercial Photography' and the example we use is that of a
campaign for a big sports trainer brand such as Adidas.
The point that we try and
get the students to grasp is that when Adidas or another company of similar
stature want to run a campaign to advertise and promote such products, the role
of the photographer is relatively insignificant... The mechanic at the end so
as to speak.
Adidas would go to an
advertising agency with the product and get them to do all the clever stuff
such as come up with the ideas and concepts that will ensure the product is
bought by it's audience. The Ad agency would mock up the initial ideas and
present them to focus groups and slowly work out a strategy and plan to
sell the product. In addition the Ad Agency would have a list of Photographers
that they would have previously seen the portfolios of and would have some
sense of who would be suitable to produce the images. The same might apply to
all the other creatives that are involved in the actual manual side of getting
the images together... Set Builders, Food Economists, Make-up Artists, Hair
Stylists, Model Makers, Model Agencies, Location finders etc.
The Ad Agency would then
put tenders
out for the job and work through the tenders and make a choice as to which
Photographer wins the commission. The Ad Agency would then send 'Roughs' of the
idea and concept in the form of images (Graphics/drawings/sketches) to the
Photographer and the in conjunction with an Art Director make the images for
the campaign.
Decisions about what
materials, what cameras and formats are used will have been made in conjunction
with the photographer and the Ad Agency.
The Key Point is In this
operational context the majority of the clever stuff, coming up with ideas and
concepts and planning the whole things is the job of other people - not the
photographer. So as an example of the photographers whole skill set and some
indication of what the photographers is actually about, commercial work gives
us very little to work with. The Photographer is the bloke at the end of the
process with a wrench.
The Personal Project
The next context is the 'Personal
Work' scenario.
Photography in most
instances becomes a job like any other job. Imagine the student that goes on to
set up his own studio and wins a massive client like Asda or Tesco and produces
every year new images for a specific product... All their photography that
includes glassware perhaps? So for weeks possibly months they might not do
nothing but photograph glass products - bowls, wine glasses and so on, 8 hours
a day everyday week after week. Whilst this is fine and they might be paid in
tens of thousands of pounds, it's probably a long way removed from their
aspirations as a student?
It's hardly likely that
they'll ever be called up by the British Journal of Photography or Aperture and
asked to do an interview for a feature in their Journals because the work is of
no significance. But all is not lost. In their spare time if the 'Day job'
hasn't sucked all the life out of them, they may still be passionate about
something else that the rest of the world might be interested in... Their
own personal work. This work often forms the back bone of their portfolios and
is used to gain access to other areas of photography, but quite often it is a
long way removed from their day job work and it may reflect their political and
social leanings and therefore is of interest to the wider photographic community.
If the work is promoted by
the photographer and is complex and has something about it, there is a chance
that the wider community will pick up on it and start to discuss it and talk
about it. It may then find it's way into the art magazines and art pages of
newspapers. Promotion through showing and selling the work privately through
galleries increases the profile of the work and it starts to snowball. Once the
work is in this domain interviews follow and the work then is critiqued,
analysed and reviewed and becomes a point of discussion and debate.
For us in education it's
this type of work that is most valuable for our research because the work is
analysed and discussed. The photographer often offers up insights into the
reasons and meaning of the work and we get to see and understand what the work
is about and means. Quite often we'll be able to research and find how the work
is made, what it means, whose work it is inspired by, what equipment and
materials are used, how it's used and how visual language is used in the images
to convey meaning, message and narrative.
The key point is Every
aspect of the work is the photographers, he/she came up with the concept, the
idea, the plan, the process, the decisions as to how and what it's shot on,
what materials and techniques are used and who he/she chooses to collaborate
with to produce the final product. Therefore the work for us studying and
learning about photography is that much richer and valuable because of the way
it is discussed and analysed by the wider photographic community.
Examples of Personal Work
v Commissioned work with the Personal work challenging for the place of being
more significant include...
Richard Avedon - In
the American West v his fashion work.
Daniel Naude - Africanis
v his commissioned editorial work.
Stephen Gill - Billboards
v his commissioned work.
