'For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of happiness'

These are ways i wish to present my final piece in style of Julian Germain. His work shows a quirky and unique idea, which not many photographers chose to present their work.It shows a sketchbook and diary like look which i want to present my work, it adds a free hand and old fashioned feel to the images which makes the images work. Alongside the images of the persons daily routine i want to photographs things that make that person happy to add into the sketchbook so it really doues feel like a life documentary of someones life. The drained and vintage feel to the images gives a really unique texture in the sketchbook which i would like to achieve. the image sizes seem to be a poloroid camera size.

Brief Final Idea

After my research through 3 final ideas i have decided my most strongest idea was the Documentation of a Daily Routine of an Elderly person and a Younger person. I feel that this is the strongest idea after researching styles i could shoot in i came across two photographers; Julian Germain and Kaylynn Deveney. Julian Germain did a book called 'for every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of Happiness' which focused on an elderly man, Charles Snelling. All of the images are said to be taken over 8 years. The images show a lonely man, and the deteriation of him over the years, as he lives alone, the images give a very sad emotion when you view them. Kaylynn Deveny did a series of images called 'The day to day life of Albert Hastings which is shows simple styled images yet the subject is so strong which makes the images, it has a documentary diary style about the images which is because of the captions underneath the images on what looks like lined paper, as if the images have been stuck in a book, and the captions are wrote in pen which shows a relaxed style to her images. So after my research this is now my final idea of what i plan to do, I will photograph a teenager and an elderly man. with all the images i produce i will make small little diaries for each series of photoshoots. Some images i may put in black and white yet i feel it will be more simple and natural if i keep them in colour with only slight editing.For these images i will be shooting from the persons home to get that real life documentary feel. I am going to present my work in a diary style way in a book.

Concepts

1st Initial Idea - Life In Pictures Documentary
One of my first ideas for this project was quite a personal topic of a Life In Pictures, which i would be focusing on my own home life and documenting it, such as family events and the relationships in my family and also relationships outside of my home life. Focusing on the strong friendships which are in mine and others family and also my own friendships with people. I would document all of this and general routines at home . After looking at different artists who document their own home life as they are close to their families such as Juliette Mills who has photographed her families weddings, funerals and just social events of them together, i have seen that they like to work in black and white as it works well to get the textures an black and white also brings out the emotions from the images, especially the ones from a funeral. If i chose this as my main topic the style would be to make quite simple yet strong images in black and white.

2nd Initial Idea - Documenting The Daily Routine of an Elderly person and a Younger person
My second and I feel most strongest idea has been inspired by two photographers Julian Germain and Kaylynn Deveney. Julian Germain did a book called 'For every minute you are angry you lose 60 seconds of Happiness' which focused on an elderly man called Charles Snelling, all the images were taking over 8 years, as he lives alone at his home. Kaylynn Deveney did a series of images called 'The Day To Day Life of Albert Hastings' which is just simple yet strong images of an elderly man and his daily routines. Which have handwritting underneath the images as a caption, which has a documentary and diary feel about it, it seems very natural which i feel i could do very well, by making them simple images and probably having a style of putting them in Black and white would work well with the older nature of the images.

3rd Initial Idea- Focusing on Architecture and Building work in the city of York, the difference between modern and antique buildings and the contrasts. For the old buildings in york such as the minster and other buildings as i am aiming for a documentary style project i want to research the history of each building and write small simple yet strong captions for each building.

Ideas

Dianne Arbus

 

'Boy with a toy grenade at central park' - 1962

Diane Arbus was an American Photographer who's work was based around people with different looks and had a surreal look about them,  apart from children who may look odd and young twins she looked at people with disabilities such as dwarfs and down syndromes. Other people she looks at are transgenders and members of the circus. Diane Arbus said that photography should be 'A little cold, a little harsh' which the people she did take photographs of no other photographers did, and she believe what is wrong with it? 

She liked to look at the flaws in people, why they look different. 

The photo above shown is called 'Boy with toy grenade at central park' which is a famous photograph. By looking at the image by itself he looks like a seriously disturbed young boy, with his tiny figure, the way he clenches his hands in a claw like way, the strap of his braces handing off his shoulder and the facial expression. On first viewing you think he is seriously disturbed. Why would he be playing with a toy grenade, the image just looks odd overall. There is a juxtaposition between strength and weakness as he looks so young and fragile yet he holds a grenade which if was real he would hold so much power. When you look at the contact sheet after seeing the image, the thought of this boy being disturbed changes, as he actually looks like a normal child playing in a park as he is running around smiling and posing for the camera. Which changes the mode of the photograph completely. 

'Identical Twins' 1967

This image echoes from Stanley Kubrick's 'The shining' where the twins are shown side by side in the corridor. It may not be intentional but because they are twins stood side by side wearing the same clothing it gives a mirror symmetry effect. When i first looked at the image what i noticed the most is how the twin on the right is smiling yet the other twin slightly frowns and looks unhappy. Because of the old texture to the photograph it has a ghostly feel to it, which is what is echoed in 'The shining' as they are acting as ghosts in the corridor. Identical twins, is a surreal thing, that two people can look exactly the same. Which is exactly what Diane Arbus liked to photograph. 

The Twins from The Shining

Robert Frank

Robert Frank is originally from Switzerland, he was born into a wealthy Jewish Family, and because of what was going on during that time with being judged for being Jewish. He decided to move to America with his family, where he made a portfolio including 40 images. Due to his success in becoming a photographer he made a photography book called 'The Americans' which has been said to be one of the most famous and important piece of work since the world war. There was a series of images in this book which have become so famous due to the content and the meanings between the images. The themes he tackled in his images was the Divide between the rich and the poor, Alienation, Hardship, Racism and the Mass Consumerism. He was interested in standing outside and looking inside, which was his type of attitude.

Documentary looking into Robert Frank's 'The Americans'

Photographs in style of Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander

'Im not a premeditative photographer'

The photographs i have closely analysed are called Americas Social Landscapes, Where i found a lot of the imagery used repetition with different line and shapes. His imagery uses leading lines and he likes to include himself in the photographs he takes. 

One of the series of images he did was called 'America By car' where he took photographs every day, in rental cars in 50 different states where he took the images from inside his car. Lee Friedlander includes himself in his images, as he likes being a part of his work to show he was there, he shows he is a part of the image through shadows and reflections where you can either see him actually there with the camera or even just through a shadow with part of his body shown on the ground or wall. Which a lot of the time you may look at images and think, is the photographer a part of it? and I would always think no as there is no show of them in the image, but in this case, I like the fact the photographer wants to be a part of the work they produce, to show they were there for the events.

There are themes shown through his imagery. Which include Identity, Self Conciousness, Framing, Shadow and composition control. One of the images he took was to show hidden identity, as he takes the image and you can see his shadow on the women's body but the viewers and him know that the women is not aware of the image being taken, which is a juxtaposition. All his images show lines and reflections and him trying to complete incomplete shapes.

The images above are 3 successful images me and my group took in style of Lee Friedlander, as we are showing we are apart of the images. We took the images in the picture style of Black and White, we included Reflections and Shadows. One of the images we even showed our faces which is really revealing our identity

.