RESEARCH: WEDDINGS

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When thinking about and researching into the use of disposable cameras there was one thing that kept popping up; weddings! This was also the case when I was hunting for the cameras I wanted to purchase for the project, a lot of them were designed to be used at weddings. 

Couples buy a bunch of these cameras and leave them around for people to take pictures with and this is sometimes instead of having a professional photographer there. 

This again is taking the pictures of this day out of their hands and into all of their friends and family. It's the same idea and I definitely thought it was worth touching on because I can imagine there would be a lot of self portraits included!

RESEARCH: ROLLS TOHOKU

'When the earthquake hit on March 11, I was running my art exhibition entitled, "ROLLS of one week."
At that time, I felt so powerless, being in the same country yet unable to do anything to reach out and help directly. However, I realized it was not the time to feel weak. I grabbed many disposable cameras and headed toward the location of damage.
"ROLLS TOHOKU" is a document of the area that was hit by the earthquake, through the perspective of the victims, taken in a certain period.
For reconstruction, it should take much longer than we think.
If seeing these photos make you want to do something to help the victims of the earthquake, please take action.
Using an approach/system that you can trust, please continue to support the victims as much as you can, for a long period of time.'

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This is a total new way to look at the idea behind each of the projects that I have been talking about and looking into. It's a much more moving and emotive way. It almost feels more real. The project is looked at in a positive way, it is showing these people after such terrible things have happened but they still smile, they still are happy. They're pulling together. It's beautiful to see. 

Although this isn't the same subject matter as mine it is really interesting to see the other ways a project like this can go. It's interesting to see all of the different ways a project can go, when you put someone else in charge of the images and this is what I am really interested to see. 

RESEARCH: TEPSIC MAGAZINE

'Tepsic Magazine (pronounced: TEP-SICK) is a poster-sized music magazine that documents what it’s like to live a day in the life of your favorite rappers, singers, MC’s and groups. All artists’ pictures are taken on their own personalized camera given to them by the magazine. No interviews, no reviews. Just pure photo verité to create your own visual commentary between yourself and the artist.'

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Again this is a very similar idea but through selecting a specific group of people and in this case it is musicians.  I like the fact that there is no text alongside it as it allows you to create your own story around the images which will be the case with mine also.

RESEARCH: DISPOSE

Dispose are doing a similar thing to that of 'The Disposable Memory Project' as they are giving cameras out to people around the world. This is more of a chosen photographer type situation as they are choosing who gets the camera where 'The Disposable Memory Project' are letting the people choose the camera. They have chosen photographers like Alec Soth and musicians like James Murphy but also others that aren't already photographers like a weed dealer and a human rights worker.

'We at Dispose distribute throwaway cameras to a wide range of people living across the world. We ask contributors to document one day in 27 exposures. From the time they wake up to the time they go to sleep, these individuals shoot a minimum of one photo per hour including one self portrait. '

I really love this idea. It is again about the person behind the camera. You are getting an insight to that persons life within those 27 exposures for that day. You don't know anything but that. You can write your own stories behind the images, think about who that person could be. In the case of this website they are giving you an insight into that person for a day, for the 27 exposures that they take but in the case of my project it will only be the one. The self portrait.

Photos by Alec Soth

(Photos by James Murphy)

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RESEARCH: LINDSEY BOCCIA

Lindsey Boccia is a photographer and on a trip she forgot her camera bag. She bought some disposable cameras and turned them into lo-fi toy cameras. 

Boccia wanted to add custom 'filters' to alter the look of the resulting images. She modified the lenses by scratching them with her car key and applying chapstick to the surface to give a dreamy look to the image. She peeled off the labels over the camera and cracked the cases open to add some light leaks.

Below are some of the images she produced by doing this: 

 

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I really like the idea of changing the cameras to change the effect of the image that will be produced. Obviously in this case I am not taking the pictures myself and I don't want to alter the images because I think the beauty of my idea is that this is down to them. I don't expect them to do anything like this but its a similar idea of alteration. They change the image to how they want to portray themselves and how they want to be seen within that image. 

RESEARCH: THE DISPOSABLE MEMORY PROJECT

'The Disposable Memory Project is a global photography experiment.

Since April 2008, we’ve been leaving disposable cameras in public locations around the world. Each camera contains a message, inviting its finder to pick up the camera, take some photos and then pass it on. At the end of its journey, the camera is returned home, and we upload the photos to share with its followers.

In the three years since that first camera, people across the globe have taken part, either through finding an existing camera, or creating a new one to introduce into the project. We’ve visited over 75 countries, released over 410 cameras, and travelled over 500,000 miles – that’s to the moon and back.

Of those 410 cameras, we’ve had 30 return home, with amazing images, stories and journeys, all of which you can see here.

Our project is not commercial, doesn’t aim to make any money, and has no goal other than wanting to get cameras into as many hands as possible, in order to see what stories are captured on their film.'

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I love this idea, the idea of the unknown. The idea of what you will find if you recieve the camera back. In a similar sense it is similar to my idea as I won't know what will be depicted in the photographs. I don't know whether the cameras will be given back to me in time. I can only hope! When you take something out of your hands and put it into someone else's that's when it gets complicated. It isn't down to you anymore, its down to them. Its their choice. And that's what I'm interested in - their choice. How they want the image to be seen!

I chose a selection of the many images that they had on their site. I tried to take the images of people as I felt that they related most to my project. 

RESEARCH: MICHELLE BATES

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Bates uses a Holga camera to get this effect. It much reminds me of images taken through the use of Instagram, which I will look into further later on. The use of the statues is interesting, perhaps at another point I could look into portraits which aren't actually portraits. I like this idea. I also like the use of colour, which will be the case for my images. 

'Michelle has been a passionate photographer since she was young, and learned her way around a camera in 1991 at the Maine Photographic Workshops, where she first discovered the Holga. Since then, Michelle has shown work in solo exhibitions in the Pacific Northwest, New York, Los Angeles and Israel, and in group shows around the US, Italy, Germany & Thailand. She has photographed for weekly newspapers, album covers, performers, artists, and many others. Michelle loves teaching, and has given lectures on plastic and toy cameras to groups all over the US, including the Society for Photographic Education, SF Camerawork, Powell's Books, and the Creative Center for Photography. She has taught at many photo schools & centers, including Photographic Center Northwest, Newspace (PDX), Maine Media Workshops, the Julia Dean Workshops (LA) and International Center of Photography in New York, among others. Her book,"Plastic Cameras: Toying with Creativity" was published in late 2006 by Focal Press and the second edition in October 2010. Michelle is a member of Freestyle Photographic Supply's Advisory Board of Photographic Professionals.

Michelle lives in Seattle, and also frequents Vashon Island, Bellingham, Portland (OR), San Francisco and New York. She loves to road trip and fly away with her Holgas whenever possible.'

RESEARCH: MARK SINK

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Mark Sink uses a Diana Camera to produce his work.

'To sum this up this funny camera and her sisters has become far-reaching. Is it pop or a serious art movement? Is it a gimmick or a serious tool? Is it in a round of dismissal by the purists similar to the pictorialists being rubbed out by Newhall and Adams? I have struggled with negative perceptions of work by the camera throughout my career and to this day I still struggle including my own critical retrospection.

As most now know the Diana and her relatives to date have an immense cult following. I came in unknowingly well after the first wave peaked in the early 80s. Since then the movement has turned into a tidal wave. Over the last few years there has been dozens of toy camera exhibitions. Some of the shows I participated in included the Hayward Arts Center in California that included a catalog, the Benham Gallery in Seattle that included works shops and Plastic Fantastic at E3 in NYC that has a wonderful web site. Most recently I was a juror for the terribly named Krappy Kamera show where I combed through thousands of stunningly beautiful submissions.

It is a very romantic tool. The Camera can be a tool to become an instant pictorialist. Many successful toy camera users don’t like to be associated with the romance of the pictorialist photographers that once were and they like to use the camera with a modern vision. Nancy Burson is one great example Nancy Rexroth is another. Many use it for very personal visions and ideas and use a standard camera for most of they're other work. There are countless success stories with users of this tool. But through the decades I am finding I have refined my eye and become much more selective of what I consider successful.

You can not make a bad picture; the camera is too easy. Sadly many use it because they can’t make a good picture with glass so they depend on the effects the plastic creates.it can often make very cute weak pictures look serious a seemingly much stronger. I see a dangerous similarity with Polaroid transfer. It's too easy to be arty; the majority of work I see is often empty of vision, personal style and craft. It started as a teaching tool but has spread into the a dangerous realm of interesting gimmickry with little previsualized concept among young photographers.

Ansel Adams once said most people have sharp lens but fuzzy concepts.'

RESEARCH: SUSAN BURNSTINE

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'Susan Burnstine portrays her dream-like visions entirely in-camera, rather than with post-processing manipulations. To achieve this, she created twenty-one hand-made film cameras and lenses that are frequently unpredictable and technically challenging. The cameras are primarily made out of plastic, vintage camera parts and random household objects and the single element lenses are molded out of plastic and rubber. Learning to overcome their extensive limitations has her to rely on instinct and intuition... the same tools that are key when trusting in the unseen.'

Although Burnstine's work isn't taken using disposable cameras, it is a similar sort of idea as the cameras ar made out of plastic etc. This leaves her one photograph to get the shot which is much like the position my subjects will be put in. 

RESEARCH: ERIK KIM

After researching into the use of disposable cameras I came across the work of Erik Kim and his documentary photos using disposable cameras.

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After looking into the work of Erik Kim it made me think about the way of which I would like my photos to be taken - portrait or landscape or whether I would want a mixture of both. This would definitely not be the case and I would want them all to be taken landscape - this made me realise that I will need to draw up the photo guidlines soon.

I have also ordered a large number of cameras and hopefully they will be here soon!

PROJECT PROPOSAL

BA (Hons) Photographic Arts

Module: 2PHO558 Perspectives in Photography

Project proposal + guidelines

Name: Lorna Patrick

e-mail: lorna.patrick@my.westminster.ac.uk

Project title (or working title)

‘Selfies’

Introduction (What is the project about? Briefly describe the project that you have in mind, considering the proposed audience and the context in which the work would be seen.)

I am interested in how people take pictures of themselves, the poses that they pull when it is just them and the camera. It is this relationship that I am interested in. Things change when someone is there taking the picture but when they take the picture themselves they are in total control. They can delete the pictures and take a number to choose their favourite from. It is also generally the same age range of people that take these pictures. I want to break each of these conventions and give a group of people from different age ranges, one image to take a ‘selfie’ from. I’m hoping to get much younger and older people involved as it will be interesting to see what comes out.

I can imagine this sort of piece in a gallery space. I think it would work effectively if there was a large group of images as the effect would be much stronger as there would be more people to see and more people to compare with. I can imagine the project could become quite comical and actually there are so many ways of going about this and after this slightly more general branch of this project it could definitely be interesting to branch it out further and select specific locations to give the cameras to and see how different locations can differ.

Aims (What are you hoping to achieve? What outcome can be expected?)

I can’t say exactly what will happen as in some ways it is a sort of experiment. An experiment to see who will help out with the project and to see what they will do. Facial expressions will be different and some people may get confused and take pictures of different things. They may also decide to take a picture of something completely different. There is also obviously the possibility of not getting all of the cameras back if giving to unreliable sources that I don’t know. I can’t predict the exact outcome as the project isn’t solely in my hands, but I think in this case that is what makes it so interesting. It’s the unknown. Such a simple idea could become so much more than that. I really like that no matter how many times you would do this project the outcome would always be different as different people will always interpret it differently.

I hope to get a decent amount of people to take a picture to allow for that comparison as I do think that it is needed.

Methods (What techniques - visual and conceptual - will you utilise to achieve the aims of your project?)

I will be using disposable cameras to take the images. I thought that this would work effectivlely as I can use more than one camera at a time without it being too complicated. I also thought it would be easier for the subject to use as everyone has used one before – even the older ones, even if the concept of  a ‘selfie’ is confusing to them they will at least be slightly more understanding with the camera. Its relatable and I really like the effect that disposable camera gives.

Schedule (What plans do you have to successfully complete the project on time? An action plan will help you to create your own deadlines throughout the semester, and enable you to monitor your progress through the project.)

I have just received the cameras in the post and have started dispensing some of the cameras out in my hometown, Andover. I am going to create an email address and post flyers through some doors local to me in hope that some people will contact me willing to help with the project. I will do this more locally to me at the minute so that it is much easier for me to collect the cameras.

Research (What sources – visual, textual, other - have inspired your project, and how will you embrace these in the production.)

I have been documenting my research through the blog - http://perspectivesinphotography.blogspot.co.uk/

I have been looking into others who have worked with lomography cameras but more so disposable cameras on similar projects including:

• The Disposable Memory Project – An on-going project where disposable cameras are left around the world and when they are returned with the images on you can see where they have been. Again it’s the idea of the unknown but mine is a lot more selective. I have a choice with who gets the camera in some ways but with this project they wouldn’t.
• Dispose – Cameras are given to people around the world but in a more selective way. They are told to document one day of their life in 27 exposures. They must shoot a minimum of 1 photo per hour including one self-portrait.
• Tepsic Magazine – This is a music magazine showing what the life of singers, rappers etc are like. The magazine is solely images. These musicians are given a disposable camera and what they take is completely down to them.
• Rolls Tohoku – This is a document of an area hit by an earthquake. A photographer took out disposable cameras and gave it to the people to take the photos with. A moving piece.

Each of these ideas are so interesting and show completely different ways of going about putting others in the position of the photographer. More information on each of these along with other examples can be found on my research blog. I think it will be interesting to compare my final images with what they have found, to see whether the outcome will be similar. 

PREVIOUS DISPOSABLE CAMERA IMAGES

Here are some images from some disposable cameras that I have used previously showing the snapshot quality. These haven't all been taken by the subject and obviously the idea isn't the same but it shows the images and how they have a lovely cast and finish to them - again showing that snapshot idea.

INITIAL IDEAS

When thinking about the project, I started thinking about identity and how it reflected on me but this was when I decided that rather than thinking about my own personal identity I wanted to look into others. I started thinking about portraits and how when taken by someone else it doesn't necessarily reflect the person within the picture but how the person behind the camera wants them to appear. This is visible within the majority of pictures taken by someone else, whether this is a generic school picture where the subject of the photograph is being told to sit in a certain direction with their hands on their laps and the perfect smile. There is no element of choice.

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This is also visible within pictures taken by photographers as the subject is only there to model and not to reflect their own identity. Identity is shown solely through how they look, the rest of the image including the positioning, what they are wearing etc. may not necessarily be down to them. 

I want to challenge these conventions and I want to look into the world of the self taken photograph, also currently known as the 'selfie'. I am interested in how people photograph themselves or how people want to be shown - whether this is literally by taking a photograph of themselves or getting someone else to do it for them in a way that they want to be shown. Each of these pictures generally have a 'snapshot' kind of quality about them in contrast to the set up images before. 

I started thinking about the type of images that these would be taken on and generally nowadays they would be taken on the phone, and although this is a possibility I would want the images to be taken for this purpose giving the subject only one image to take their image - giving them a lack of choice between their pictures which would be the case if the image was taken digitally. When a self taken portrait is created it is usually one of many, where the subject has chosen their favourite and the one that they have deemed that they look better in. I'd be interested in taking this out of the equation and giving the subject only one photograph to do this in. 

I was thinking about how this could be done and I think the most natural way to get the effect that I am looking for would be to send the subject off over night or for however long to take the picture or have someone take the picture for them in a place that feels comfortable to them and how they want it to be shown. I think if I was there myself yet again the picture would be slightly contrived as they wouldn't feel as relaxed as not everyone would feel comfortable doing this in front of others - which is why I think giving them the option of taking the picture themselves or having someone else to do it for them works well. 

The construction of the whole image is down to them completely. 

I have been thinking about what this could be photographed on, which would give the snapshot quality that I want, while being easy to use. I thought about sending off a camera, but as I have previously stated I'm not sure that I want it to be digital. I think the use of disposable cameras could work really well for this as they are easy to use - everyone has used them before so it is likely that the images would come out well. It wouldn't work if I had to ask people to re shoot their image as it would give them chance to recompose it and change their mind. I also think this project would work effectively with a large number of images. It would be interesting to see a general consensus of a large number of different people, rather than just the students around me currently. It would be easy to send the cameras off to others and have them return them.

BRIEF

This practical part of the module works alongside two others; a presentation and essay that works along with specific texts and the idea of identity and the construction of otherness which should inform the practical piece.

The project brief is as follows: 

'You will be working as individual photographers, producing a piece of photographic work, which engages with debates related to identity and the construction of otherness. Your work should be informed by the lectures, research presentations and tutorials, as well as your own independent research. You are encouraged to interpret identity and/or otherness in the widest possibly sense, exploring conceptual and visual strategies new to you.

You can photograph in any style or form and are strongly encouraged to explore uncommon practices to you. Take risks, explore the possibilities of your camera, use a different format to the camera you normally use: build your own pinhole camera, create moving images, projections, image & text – the more you explore the medium the more exiting the outcome will be. If you are using your DSLR make sure that you use it in an uncommon way. There are no restrictions on the number of images you produce. This depends entirely on the nature of your project, and how many images you think are required to communicate your idea. It could be, for example, a set of images implying narrative, a triptych, or a collection of discreet shots which work as a series (all have to be printed and presented to appropriate standard). 

PROPOSAL

You are asked to present your ideas and work in progress to your tutor group in week 4. This presentation should take the form of a 5 minute ‘pitch’, to show test shots, research done and convey your ideas. Following this session you are expected to develop a written proposal (submitted electronically in week 5). In these, you clearly have to state why you have chosen the proposed medium and how it will help you to communicate your ideas. 

SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

You are expected to write a statement for your work for the crit (and included in the final submission), which should contextualise and support the work produced. This should explain what you were doing and why you were doing it. It should be written as if you were presenting your work to a gallery or publisher. Your proposal may be a good starting point from which to develop the statement. The statement should be around 300 words and doubles spaced. In addition you are asked to produce a mock-up which demonstrates the environment/audience the work is intended for. This should indicate location, scale and the level of engagement with the audience.

  

WORKBOOK/ONLINE BLOG

This is central to the development of your work, as both a personal resource and as a means of documenting your progression. It should be a commentary on all aspects of your project from beginning to end and should contain visual references and inspirations, ideas, experiments, successes and mistakes, and all other documentation. It should include discussion of your photographic and digital techniques and an analysis of the project as it develops: how well it work, how it could be better. Entries are chronological but additional comments can be added at any time.

It may also be useful to include technical notes on camera settings, lighting set ups, Photoshop tools, keyboard shortcuts, and accumulated tips. This can be continually updated as you develop your skills and tools into the future. This is NOT an assessment requirement but a resource for your continued development.