Theater of the Face

8/3/2019 Theater of the Face

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Photography and Memory

Nature and Artifice in Image-Worlds

Jeff WallMartin Parrs world


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Nature and Artifice in Image-Worlds

Television, radio, and the Internet are always on. The media dont disappear

when viewers turn off electrical switches, just as electricity doesnt disappear

when it is not being used. This continual presence is part of a new natural and

constructed environment being built through human ingenuity and inventiveness.

These are not simulated worlds. They are the world. The distinctions

between what is natural and what is not natural have thankfully disappeared.

Vantage Point and Image-Worlds

The trees on the horizon and the stars in the sky no longer come to

viewers through a purity of process and vision divorced from the images they

have seen of trees and stars. Over the last two centuries, Western societies

have built physical and psychological infrastructures that are dependentupon images or what I call image-worlds. This pulls trees from their natural location

into a more complex mediated space that is inscribed rather than natural.

The images viewers watch are no longer just images


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Jeff Wall has suggested, images represent a technological

intelligence that shifts the ways humans see themselves, from individuals

to hybrid personae, where identity no longer resides in one particular

place, object, or person

I begin by not photographing

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yG2k4C4zrU


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In this context, there are many identities within humans performing

different functions, most of which are dependent upon the relationships humans

have with image-worlds. Inside these worlds images disperse their content

through screens physically housed within any number of technologies

or media institutions. In other words, there is no such thing as an image divorced

from a variety of media or social contexts of use and application. Most

societies use a variety of materials to give life to images. And the beauty, as

well as contradiction of this process, is that spectators become less and less

aware of the influence of those materials upon the experience of viewing(Burnett 1995). In effect, the hybrid spaces viewers occupy reflect the competence

and flexibility they have developed to handle the multiplicity of levels

of communications and interaction with which they engage to survive.

Events are no longer viewed through the simple relations of viewer and image;

rather, viewers deal with increasingly complex discourses as they struggle tomake sense of images that literally seep into every aspect of their lives.


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For example, events on television are discussed as if the event and its

depiction were one and the same or as if the screen that separates viewers

from the event were unimportant. An airplane has been hijacked, not Those

are images of an airplane hijacking, or That is a depiction of an airplane hijacking,

or even Those images are smaller than the event itself. The viewers challenge is to

describe events as if the visual field, artifice, and form actually

move language from representation to visualization. The event is internalized,

personalized, and then discussed as if the images approximate being there.

Even though the event is heavily mediated by technology and medium, conventional

categories of analysis and description, as well as conventional ways

of talking about image-worlds make it appear as if mediation is unimportant.

In this context, images seem to be powerful enough to overcome how

language is used to portray the events to which they refer

as a concept is adequate to describe how humans interact with imageworlds).


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Viewers are continuously probing the boundaries among different

levels of reality and image and among the various elements that constitute

depiction, representation and visualization. The challenge is to find the connections

and to make the experiences personal. The challenge is also to map

the experiences of interacting with images into a process that is discursive,

intellectual, and emotional so that it can be understood and applied to the

viewing process. Part of the joy here derives from the ways in which viewers

establish dialogues with images, the ways in which they talk to images, and

the manner in which images talk to viewers.

I am fascinated with the stories that are told

HOW IMAGES THINK by RON BURNETT

T H E M I T P R E S S CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS LONDON, ENGLAND


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The Theatre of the Face

They spoke to me of people, and of humanity.

But I've never seen people, or humanity.

I've seen various people, astonishingly dissimilar,

Each separated from the next by an unpeopled

space.Fernando Pessoa


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Sir Benjamin Stone

Politician Sir Benjamin Stone (1838 1914) was

interested in national identity. Being a

photographer (amongst other things) he was keen

to document the country both for historical and

educational purposes, believing photography to beboth a permanent and undeniable witness. Long

before the American Farm Security Administration

Project Stone set up the National Photographic

Record Association (NPRA). If nostalgia,

sentimentality and melancholy are a big part of the

English psyche then Stones endeavours were toexpress these anxieties and concerns visually.


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Martin Parr

How did you start your career as a photographer?I first got interested in photography when I was a

teenager and went to visit my Grandfather near

Bradford. He was a keen amateur photographer

and he lent me a camera and we would go out

together shooting. We would come back, process

the films and make prints and ever since this time Ihave always wanted to be a photographer.

You studied photography at Manchester

Polytechnic between 1970 and 72, what was this

like for you?

In these days the idea of a college was to learn to

be a photographer by becoming an assistant, sothey taught us all the basic studio techniques and

things like reciprocity failure. I quickly got fed up

with this input and started working on my own

projects.


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Martin Parr

This meant I had to justify my work and this, Iguess, was good practice for fighting for what I

believed in. In these days the idea of a college was

to learn to be a photographer by becoming an

assistant, so they taught us all the basic studio

techniques and things like reciprocity failure. I

quickly got fed up with this input and startedworking on my own projects. This meant I had to

justify my work and this, I guess, was good practice

for fighting for what I believed in.

What photographers were you influenced by in

these early days?

Before college I had seen the work of Bill Brandtand Cartier -Bresson, as well as seeing copies of

Creative Camera magazine with images by Frank

and Friedlander and Winogrand. However it was

while I was at college that Bill Jay came round and

showed the work of Tony Ray-Jones and this for me

was a real moment of inspiration.


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Martin Parr

What did you do after leaving college?I first worked at Manchester Council for

Community Relations for about 3 months and then

started working towards my Home Sweet Home

exhibition at the Impressions Gallery in York.

When and why did you change from black and

white to colour?I did do some colour within the Home Sweet Home

project in the early 70s, but it wasnt until 1982

when I moved back from Ireland that took to

colour in a serious way. This was sparked off by

seeing the colour work emerge from the US from

photographers such as Joel Meyerowitz, WilliamEggleston and Stephen Shore. I had also

encountered the post cards of John Hinde when I

worked at Butlins in the early 70s and the bright-

saturated colour of these had a big impact on me.


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United Arab Emirates. Dubai. DIFC Gulf Art Fair 2007

De la srie "Luxury"


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Martin Parr

How do you achieve these bright colours?I use amateur film, currently Fuji 400 Superior for

the 6/7 cm camera and Agfa Ultra or Fuji 100 asa

film for the ring flash and macro lens. This

combined with flash gives very high colour

saturation, there is no Photoshop used.

What cameras do you use?For the 35mm it is a Nikon 60mm macro lens

combined with a SB29 ring flash. This gives a

shadow on both sides of the lens and is like a

portable studio light...For the early black and white

work it was a Leica M3 with a 35mm lens. When I

moved to 6/7cm in The Last Resort it was a MakinaPlaubel with a 55mm lens. I later bought a

standard lens Plaubel and more recently Mamiya

7s. I now own a Canon 5D. Mark 11 (see later

question) and a Canon G11.


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Martin Parr

Do you think your work is exploitative?I think that all photography involving people has an

element of exploitation, and therefore I am no

exception. However it would be a very sad world if

photographers were not allowed to photograph in

public places. I often think of what I photograph as a

soap opera where I am waiting for the right cast to fallinto place. In more recent years I have photographed

much closer where bits of people and food become

part of the big picture, and one advantage of this is

that it means people are less recognisable.

How do you get so close to people?

If you photograph for a long time, you get tounderstand such things as body language. I often do

not look at the people I photograph, especially

afterwards. Also when I want a photo, I become

somewhat fearless, and this helps a lot. There will

always be someone who objects to being

photographed, and when this happens you move on.


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Martin Parr, Ascot. 2003. Martin Parr / Magnum Photos


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Martin ParrTell us about your problems when you joined

Magnum.It is no secret when I joined; there was opposition

from the more conservative wing within Magnum.

However I eventually got the 66.6% required to be a

member. In politics, this is regarded as a landslide!

And your spat with Henri Cartier-Bresson?

Henri came to my Small World opening in Paris in1995 and said I was from another planet! I always

cherish this remark, and wrote back, I know what you

mean, but why shoot the messenger?

Whose work do you admire from contemporary

photographers?

I am a great fan of the work that emerged from theBecher school, indeed these photographers changed

the way in which the art world viewed photography

from a marginal activity to being a central player, and

I guess we all benefit from this. I also like

contemporaries such as Lorca Di Corcia, Paul

Shambroom, Joan Fontcuberta and many

Martin Parr, USA. Hollywood. Attendees at a charity

function, 2000. From the series "Luxury". Martin

Parr, Magnum Photos / Kamel Mennour


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Martin Parr

photographers from Japan. There aremany of my colleagues in Magnum I

admire like Bruce Gilden, Alec Soth,

Gilles Perres and Jim Goldberg.

Talking of Japan, why are you so

attracted to this country and their

photographers?I started going to Japan in around

1990 and have been virtually every

year since. Araki for example has

explored more ideas in book

publishing and exhibiting than any

other photographer I know, and Iwas particularly struck by his

Banquet book in the mid 90s. They

also have made some of the best-

designed and printed photo books

since the war.

Martin Parr, image from a project documenting the beach

culture of South America


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Martin Parr

Why did you start to use digital?I guess it is one of those things that

eventually catches up with you. So

in 2006 I took the plunge by buying

a small digital Sony and in 2007 a

Canon 5D, later upgrading to a

Canon 5D Mark 11. I am nowconversant with the Canon and I

guess I really like the way you can

balance the ambient light with the

flash. I do this with the aid of my

Gary Fong diffuser which I find

invaluable. I also have a Sigma ringflash, so with one camera and 2

flashguns, I can virtually replicate

any of my previous techniques. The

thing people do not realise with

digital is that what you should be

constantly adjusting is the iso.

Martin Parr


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American artist Philip-Lorca DiCorcia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bpawWn1

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