My Media Product. The London march December 2010

This is my media product, within my final essay I will explain my experiences and explanations of what I achieved whilst taking these photographs. Also I will include other photographers and journalists, that have covered demonstrations and strikes. I will also include one of the marches I attended in in 1986, against the rises of tuition fees, whilst studying and living in York. This is when Thatcher was in power. In comparison to the march that took place in London. I will analyse if any, the difference this made or had any impact at all. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing these blogs, that's not to say I think they are good. It has taught me a great deal, such as adding photographs, scanning images and how to post blogs. However I did have a little help to show me how to set up my account from one of my friends. This person will remain anonymous, thank you Lucy, data protection you see. I have been following other peoples posts and found there is a lot of fantastic work out their. My aim is to carry on blogging until I have reached one hundred, blogs that is not my age. I will continue this over the summer break. All in all a fantastic assignment!!.

Panic

London March, December 2010. This is a shot from the front line, the crowd were beginning to get agitated and panicky. The atmosphere was really tense, people were sensing some thing was about to happen, The horses are restless and the Police are beginning to communicate with each other. People know there is no were to run when the Police line breaks. there are so many people in the crowd and when the horses come running through, they know this could be a blood bath. The man with the green paint on his head, (bottom left) is looking really worried and concerned. The two Lady's, (middle left) are trying to make there way back, but it is two late. A few minutes after this photograph was taken all hell let loose, the police came charging through on there horses. It was mayhem people were thrown to the floor, hit by the Police and there was a lot of injuries, one police officer was thrown and trampled on by his own horse. His wounds were quite severe, he had multiple back injuries and admitted to the hospital. The use of horses was condemned by the M.O.D., quite rightly so.The use of horses in this situation is so dangerous not only for the public but also for the cruelty of the horses.

Walter Benjanin.

After reading the book, The work of art in the age of mechanical reproduction, by Walter Benjamin. I had to read the few chapters several times. He goes on to say that in the 19th century, photography replaced wood engraving, copper plate and lithography. Photographic reproduction could get images quicker than speech itself. He also says that anything that is man made can be reproducible. One of the gains for this is to make money and also for an implement for teaching. The book for me was not the easiest to read but I did grasp the morals after reading the chapters  several times.

Children hysterical.

This is one of the most repugnant disturbing images to be broadcast all around the world. The photographer is Nick Ut, Vietnam 1972. We do not want to see graphical images of this nature however they do need documenting. Ut's Image reminds us of the destruction and the stark reality's of war. The decision to cause harm death and destruction like these are made by a small minority of people, people that probably have family's of their own. Society works in mysterious ways, we cause mass destruction and death but yet in peace times we rally around to help others. The Chinese earth quake is an example of this and Iran, etc;. Images like these still fail to change the spoils of war and attitudes after looking at pictures like these. We chose to go to war in the Falkland Islands in 1982, Iraq in 2003, Iran 2011. Again a small minority of people have made these decisions for all the people of the Country. So has I mentioned earlier that images like these need documentation, they still fail to make no impact to a minority.

Valerie Berlin

At the first glance at this photograph, by Valerie berlin (untitled 2001), which first caught my attention, were the eyes of the girl. The whiteness, the purity, they look transparent almost as if they were part of the background of the image. She looks frightened and venerable, her face tells a story. It could be that of her ancestors being manipulated and beaten in barbaric ways, through slavery. You can almost sense a lack of believe within her self due to what took place some generations earlier. Her ancestors who wre treated in the most inhuman circumstances. This appears to give the girl a look of worthlessness. There could appear to be a look of disgust that all of this, was for wealth, greed, power and this is what would lead them to their demise.

Extreme

This is Lee Friedlander, from his book, Self Portrait. When I first started to read Friedlanders book, I noticed the first half of his book there are no images of his face. There are just shadows on walls, fruit machines, shadows on the back of other people etc;. When I saw this shot I could not believe it was the same photographer. It is a total opposite to the rest of the first part of his book. He has opened himself up like a fish in a bowl. The position of the shot is right in the corner, this is a very prominent spot. Then the lamp stand is positioned to emphasize the bits he wants to show the most. The image is in black and white, this gives it more of a starkness to suit the setting. He is exposing himself to the public, literally. This could be seen has pornographic and offend some viewers.

The Pinnacle Project

These are the work of Kate Mellor, After the lecture in March by Kate I was really in ore of these photographs. Kate is well travelled and has a fantastic display on her web sight.
These are just six from the pinnacle project that she did. What amazes me most of all is that they are taken through pin hole photography. They really do have the 'WOW' factor. If you were to click on the images once and then again  they will enlarge. You will see the stunning photographs a little more closer but a view of Kate's web sight is really recommended. I love the way in which the  images are leading the eye in to picture right the way through to vanishing points. I am going to try pin hole photography very shortly.

Humber bridge

This is one of my favourite spots, the river Humber in Hull, East Yorkshire. I took this shot in February, 2010. It was between 4-5 PM. It was really misty and just turning dark. The shot was hand held as I forgot to take my tripod with me. I am really happy with the end result, However it is far from perfect, so I am planning another trip shortly. I want to take more shots from other angles and have an object in the foreground to show the scale of the bridge.

Identity

This too is from semester 1 about self portraits and I D. I took this a while after the project had finished. After looking through various books, I particularly like the work of Lee Friedlander. One of his books I find interesting is 'self portraits' . It depicts Lot's of shadows of the head and torso. In this shot I was trying to represent the shape of the human eye. However the collar from my cardigan and my ears sticking out, kind of ruin the shot. I can not do anything about my ears, apart from taping them back, but I can take my cardigan off. All in all I am satisfied from the first result. therefore I will  attempt this once more, hopefully with better results.

Self portrait

This was part of my first semester, 'identedy'. After finishing the project I carried on with the theme, this is one of around forty. I came up with the idea of shadows, with strong studio lights behind me and a screen in the foreground. One of the problems I experienced was not having enough hands, so my wife pressed the shutter button. I set the whole seen up, exposure and shutter speeds etc; even with self timer I found it difficult to get right and a remote for the shutter would have been of no use either.

A DAY IN THE LIFE OF

This is a photograph taken from semester one project two. This was taken on the training tower at sheffield fire station. I was attempting to take some realistic and dynamic shots. I quite like the mood of this shot, it shows movement and action. It was taken at 1/60th of a second. This allows blur and movement. The rope shows a lot of movement which really makes the photograph for me.

pilgrimage

Something I disagree with Berger  is that he said  “Pilgrimage is a thing of the past” After recently watching a documentary about the shroud of Turin; people were out raged when scientist deemed the cloth as a fake. People from all around the world still flock to see the shroud. Then it was later discovered that the cloth that had been tested, was a piece of cloth that had been added to the shroud after being damaged by a fire. 

"The shroud allegedly was in a fire during the early part of the 16th century and, according to believers in the shroud's authenticity, that is what accounts for the carbon dating of the shroud as being no more than 650 years old. To non-believers, this sounds like an ad hoc hypothesis."

" The shroud, however, has many defenders who believe they have demonstrated that the cloth is not a forgery, dates from the time of Jesus, is of miraculous origin, etc. It is claimed that there is type AB blood on the shroud."

In 1925 Bishop Dudley Carey-Elwes led the first Northampton Diocesan Pilgrimage to Lourdes. Since then it has become an annual multi-Diocese event run under the auspices of the Catholic Association. 

 

Lourdes is a town in the French region of Bigorre, in the foothills of the Pyrenees, where in 1858 the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God, appeared 18 times to a simple teenage girl, Bernadette Soubirous, in order to draw people into a deeper relationship with her son Jesus. 150 years later, the Lourdes shrine attracts over six million visitors every year, which , of course, includes our own pilgrimage.

Just a boy

I have scanned this photograph from one of my books ‘The Great Photographer’.

Photo by John Florea 1945.  A 15-year-old German prisoner of war, Giessen, Germany.  This is one of the most heart wrenching images I have ever seen. When I first saw this photograph I felt deeply disturbed. Even the hardest of people could not help but feel some kind of compassion towards this boy. He looks totally heart broken, terrified and bewildered; his clothes look to be the only thing that he owns. He is just a boy that has been ordered to be a man and nobody knows what he has just witnessed or what could happen to him. The terror on his face really shows the stark reality of war. He looks hungry, cold and tired, a feeling of no hope and despair. many  poems are said every year on Remembrance Sunday, and yet after the two minutes silence this is easily forgotten. Society today has all the essentials and nessessitys we want but this word want soon turns easily to need. It seems we have not learned any lessons from the spoils of war, even as I write these words people are dying and suffering from conflicts all over the world.

Hysterical

This is one of Diane Arbus’s photographs from her book published in 1972. After becoming a student in New York, she worked mainly as a freelance magazine photographer, in the 1960’s. After first seeing this photograph I was somewhat bemused. I could not make up my mind whether or not it was staged, or if it was just a stroke of luck  for Arbus. The boy looks hysterical and militarized; His left hand looks like it is in some kind of spasm. I personally think the photograph works well, the scene is split. The boy looks so threatening but behind him it looks so ‘normal’ and idyllic. People are just going about there daily business; the sun is shining casting shadows from the trees. There is a sense of calm, peacefulness; serial has if it is an idealized world. The violence promised by the boy is disturbing and you could begin to wonder what kind of future there is for him.