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      • titleWhat's In A Number: Take One
      • subtitleProgramme of screenings of film and video by and about the unwaged as part of an all-day event Page 2 of 2
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      • titleNighthawks - Ron Peck & Paul Hallam
      • subtitleSynopsis of the production of Nighthawks by Ron Peck and Paul Hallam
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      • pdf_textNIGMTMAWKS A Film by RON PECK and PAUL HALLAM The origi nal impetus f o r producing N TH W S came from a d i s s a t i s f a c t i o n IGH A K with - and anger about - films representing homosexuality. most films took one o f three basic approaches: tortured, guilt-ridden pro tagonists; I t seemed that homosexuality as angst, with homosexuality as comic r e l i e f , leaving the central protagonists secure in th eir normality; homosexuality as exotica, a colourful background to enliven an episode o f a story and therefore again marginal. Even films that sought to present 'alternative' pictures o f homo­ sexuality generally s e t th e i r gay characters in rather removed professional and 'understanding' environments on the one hand, or s e t them in a dreamlike limbo far away from the familiar day-to-day contacts o f most people working. Originally, N TH K was conceived as encompassing what was c a l le d "a IGH AW S panoramic view o f gay l i f e in London", showing al l kinds o f bars, clubs, d is cos , group-meetings, demonstrations, marches, etc. In f a c t the f i r s t draft o f the s c r i p t completely gave way to the weight o f all these features o f gay l i f e . It was an attempt to get everything in, to present 'the gay scene' with all i t s contradictions and uni t i e s . . .crammed with individuals whose very indi vi dua lity would destroy once and f o r al l the notion o f a gay stereotype. But the film was always conceived too as being about one p ar ti cu la r individual, a schoolteacher, which brought d i f f e r e n t aspects o f the s c r i p t in c o n f l i c t with each other: the film could not both range fr e e l y through the gay scene and present that scene through the point-of-view o f one man, who would have his regular haunts only oc c a s io n a ll y departed from. As the s c r i p t went through several drafts, the film became more and more about this one p ar ti cu la r man, o f a p ar ti cu la r age, in a p ar ti cu la r working situatio n, in a p ar ti cu la r c i t y , who experienced the gay scene in a pa rti cu la r way, meeting other people who broke into the narrative with d i f f e r e n t viewpoints and f e e l i n g s , suggesting d i f f e r e n t ways o f experiencing the same things. In cr ea si n gl y , i t seemed important to delineate this scene, which is so central a feature o f gay l i f e in any big c i t y ; i t seemed impossible to show gay relationships without seeing them in relat ionsh ip to i t . In te re sti ng ly , both XLCJIM and SU D Y BLOODY SUNDAY, the best known narrative films with gay NA characters made in this country, acknowledge that a gay scene e x i s t s , but without actually showing i t , except as an intrusive element. In N TH K IGH AW S we tr ie d to show i t as an es s ent ia l element, and to show i t without making any moral judgements on it. The film shows only part o f the gay scene, and only some aspects o f i t s central pro tagonist's l i f e (though including his working l i f e as a schoolteacher). I t does not 'cover everything', as many people wish i t did. But such a hope, or expectation i s only a r e f l e c t i o n o f the dire s it u at io n where there are so few films with, o r about gay characters. Almost any 'gay film' s t a r t s o f f with the burden o f trying to redress an imbalance, to make homosexuality v i s i b l e in the cinema. Ron Peck W need hundreds o f gay films not half a dozen. e
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      • subtitleA letter suggesting changes to use of the building to improve the conditions for those living there
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      • pdf_textAN OPEN LETTER FROM THE TENANTS AT 113 - 115 ROMAN ROAD TO FOUR CORNERS Over the past, few months we have felt that there has been an ongoing stressful situation at 113 — 115 between the tenants who have their home here and the activities of Four Corners. We - the tenants - felt that the ad hoc sharing arrangement^ between house and Four Corners was not working and had a number of meetings to try to find ways and means of making our own living situation here more tolerable and overall a more positive relationship between house and Four Corners. We came up with the following suggestions, which we would like to be brought up and discussed and decided upon at the next Four Corner meeting. 1. The Kitchen We felt that the kitchen is the room in the building most used and most under pressure and the.most neglected (by all of us), to the point of becoming a ' no man’s land'where no one takes any proper responsibility for it and where there is little, if any ■sensitivity to people's needs of it. > From our side, we wanted to suggest that for two hours every evening on weekdays (7.30 - 9.30) the house have a very private use of the kitchen, so that we can cook there, eat there and, if we want, invite people socially there. We are otherwise put in the unpleasant situation of feeling like interlopers in our own kitchen, have to cook as best we can and, very often, have to rush upstairs with our food. It has become an impossible place to invite friends for a meal and turns upstairs into a real bedsitterland. We also' suggest that on Saturdays there be a real effort to keep the kitchen from becoming a sitting-room for workshops. (Our gold star awards for 1982 go to Sally and Mandy's workshops I). 2. Washing-Up We suggest that a much greater effort be made by house and Four Corners to clear up mugs, plates, etc. We will make sure that the kitchen is clear first thing in the mornings for Four Corners. Can Four Corners do the same at the end of every working day (either the last person leaving the building or someone taking responsibility)I It should also include straightening the room up a bit and not just leaving things (chairs, milkbottles, pieces of food, etc.) lying all over the place. 3. _____Cleaning We suggest that the kitchen be cleaned on a weekly rota system (again because an ad hoc system hasn't worked — the kitchen is usually in a disgusting state). * It seems fair to us that, once a week,(probably at the end or the beginning), someone should take responsibility for cleaning the kitchen floor (washing it), surfaces, the bathroom and the floor in the lower hallway. And that anyone who uses this building must take a share in that. Four Corners should organise its own rota or delegate someone to do its share of the cleaning. If, say, Ron, Peter, Maureen, Wilf, Jo, Mary Pat and Felicity were on this rota (and some arrangement made with Caroline, Sally, Richard and Margaret and whoever else uses the building), it would amount to a 'turn' coming up only once in two months. 4. Security A greater effort made to lock up at the end of the day (doors and windows are constantly left insecure at the end of the day and house inevitably 'caretakes ') . 5. Sundays We feel that Sundays should be a day when the building is not used for public activities (workshops, editing, etc.), with exceptional instances being negotiated with the house rather than just imposed (Notice in the kitchen saying 'There will be a workshop. ..) . ' It's the only day in the week when we can enjoy some quiet here. Would suggest that it is reasonable to ask that December 2 5, 26 and 27 be treated similarly. 7. Billeted Guests When Four Corners invites someone to stay the night at Four Corners (because they are editing, printing, etc.), it is the house who has to share kitchen, bathroom and company with them (Four Corners have gone away to their own homes). Yet we are usually not told about it at all (and meet peojjle on the stairs first thing in the morning) or only after it has been arranged. We suggest that it is only reasonable and fair to ask us - Ron, Maureen and Peter - and not just impose a situation. 8. Bikes in the foyer ' It is often difficult to get in and out of the front of the building because there are so many bikes in the foyer. Apart from being a fire-escape hazard, it is often dangerous because there is an urn of boiling water there too. We suggest people be told to secure their bikes in the street outside. These are all suggestions only. But they seemed to us not unreasonable. By making them we hoped it would clear the air for everyone who uses the building and make.this a more pleasant environment for all of us.
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      • titleOrganisational - Four Corners
      • subtitleInformation about Four Corners
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      • creditsGreater London Arts Association, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, Tower Hamlets Arts Comittee, BFI, Manpower Services Commision
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      • pdf_textFOUR CORNERS ----------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- I_____ 113-115 Roman Road London E2 OHU 01 981 4243 SSST" Pour Corners, an independent film-making group, has been in this building sinae 1975 and up until now we. have used it mainly as a base lor our own film-making activities,. In 1977 we learnt that the building would not be pulled down (as. we had thought when we first moved in) but would probably be around for another thirty years.' On the strength of this, information, we applied to Tower Hamlets Council for sponsorship of our application to Manpower Services. Commission (Job Creation programme) to convert the ground floor of the building into a small cinema open to the public and a cinema workshop. Our application was successful and the building work started in April 1978 and we hope it will be finished this summer. In programming the cinema, we intend to show 'all kinds' of film, from independent work, made outside of the commercial industry structure., to full-length feature films made within it, older xilms, television films, newsreel and information films, experimental work and film installations. Through -dered programming, we want to provide new ways, and a ion context for viewing thes.e films in an active, and critical way. Our first season of films, grouped under the title 'Acting?', will look at the ways in which people (actors and non-actors) are used in different kinds of filmmaking„ 1.01 instance, what are the implications of people being asked to ’act' themselves - or of being asked to act to predetermined patterns, as in high melodrama - or of people being filmed without their knowing they have been filmed? All these questions can be investigated through extensive programme notes available before the screenings, through the screenings themselves and through informal discussions afterwards, he want screenings, to be, in the first place,, enjoyable and informative and we hope people will stay after performances for tea and discussions, he would also welcome suggestions for films, that you would like to see here and encourage you to fill in and return the questionnaire available here. Our workshop activities, which will begin here in September, will include the formation of a cinema workshop group, which will involve itself in the question of what to show people and how to present it,, devising, its own programmes to show' in the cinema, as well- a . actual film-making. s We are also working on a youth programme for the workshop which will be particularly concerned with Saturday morning film shows, for young people, as well as building film-making kits for use by young people outside this, building. These workshop groups are. open to all those interested and no previous film-making experience is needed. Alongside these activities, we will have a workshop equipped with Super-8mm and 16mm 'equipment for use by independent film makers for work on their own productions. Access to -phis equipment will be based on a scale of charges yet to be worked out (or possibly through an annual subscription'to V- become a member of the workshop). These facilities will not I be available to those working within, a commercial context. Within the next few months, we expect the building work to be completed and to be able to begin our activities. Watch, the window of this building, What's On in Tower Hamlets and posters throughout the borough, to find out what is going on. he look forward to seeing you here when we open. Our activities are partly made possible with financial support from London Borough of Tower Hamlets Greater London Arts Association Tower Hamlets Arts Committee British Film Institute Manpower Services Commission (Job Creation Programme/S.T .E.P„ programme).
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      • titleAspect Of A Place, Video Weekend
      • subtitleProgramme for the video weekend workshop, 'Aspects of a Place'
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      • pdf_textThursday 18th April. Aspects of a place - video weekend Further Information The base location for the weekend is to be The London Film School in Langley St,Covent Garden. ( Covent Garden tube, cross over Long Acre, go down Langley St - The Film School is on the rht hand side at the bottom - if you enter the yellow door turn 1ft into the canteen area, you will find us there) Revised Programme Friday April 26th. 1Opm - 11pm. Meet at London Film School- introduction, coffee etc. 11 -lj.50 r - Divide into three groups, each group will have one cassette recorder,and three stills cameras with a 36 shot colour film for each camera (we hope that each participant will shoot 18 colour stills). This equipment will be used for initial exploration of Soho, 1.30 - 2.30 Lunch at The Film School, (each person will be required to contribute 15p to the cost of a bread and cheese lunch) 2.30. Collection of exposed stills films, which will be taken to labs for processing to be ready by 5pm. 2.30-5pm. Technical introduction to video equipment +practice. Group discussion on direction of video recording. Sat April 27th 10' - 1 Video I- i Meet at L.F.S - each unit to collect video equipment. recording on location. 2. . . Lunch at L.F.S* 2 . — 5 . . Editing and preparation of slides tapes and video recordings . for presentation. Sunday April 28th 2-5. Presentation and discussion of results. 5. Possible meeting with Liberation Films- or Film show at L.F.S. Could those of you with 35mm stills cameras please bring them along. We hope that it will not be necessocryto charge for the weekend, but but all participants should bring, enough money to cover fares and their contribution to coffee, meals etc. We look forward very much to seeing you on Friday. Four Corner Films. Aspects of a Place A weekend using video-recorders . stills cameras tape recorders to explore the life of Soho from various standpoints, using different criteria for each approach. We hope that the weekend .will stimulate some thoughts about the bias of mass media and provide opportunity for participation in some practical experience of how material can be manipulated to achieve a specific end. The weekend will also serve as an introduction to the use of available equipment. Participants will be confronted with a public situation to which they will have to react in a positive way. For example, Soho might be presented from the bias of advertisement, anti-advertisement, or social document. The provisionary programme would be as follows? Friday 26th April 11am. General-coming together and introduction. 2pm. Exploration of Soho in small groups, or individually, using stills cameras (and tape recorders) to gather material for forming an attitude to the subject. 5pm. Discuss findings and i impressions and form jgroups. Discuss approach to video recording. Evening film show? material on Soho. Saturday 27th 10am. Technical introduction to the use of video, and practice. lunch. 1pm» Video recording on location. 7pm. Di inner. 8pm. Editing and preparation of slides, tapes and video­ recordings for presentation. Sunday 28th 2pm. Presentation and discussion . of results, their implio ati ons, eto. Relating results to television, the press, mass media in general. 5pm. Meeting with Liberation Films. Could anyone interested, please submit names and addresses and mention whether or not they have .stills cameras.and/or cassette-recorders. It may be necessary to make a charge for the weekend, but this should he minimal, ie. just enough to cover expenses of stills film and processing.
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      • titleAll Our Yesterdays
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      • creditsTower Hamlets Information Research & Resource Centre, Tower HamletsYouth Unemployment Project, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, The Greater London Council, Greater London Arts Association, Saxon HallYouth Club, George Green Centre, Docklands Community Poster Project, Rio Cinema Tape/Slide Newsreel, Tower Hamlets Arts Project, The Side Door
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      • titleWhat's In A Number - Take One
      • subtitleTHIRRC Bulletin including information about the all-day event for the unwaged at Four Corners
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      • titleOrganisational - Four Corners
      • subtitleDetailed proposal for funding for Four Corners, including the creation of the cinema at 113 Roman Road and associated facilities
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      • pdf_text\ rO u K C O h N E n rn_, 113 ROMAN ROAD LONDON E.2. 0 1 ^ 9 8 1 -4 2 4 3 General alms of our proposal To create a personalised cinema/film gallery which comes from and is used by working film-makers as a contact point with their audience. , , To devise programmes and events which are in the' first place enjoyable for both the presenter and the audience1 ,'.which do not overwhelm and alienate but provide 'w&ys. i n ’ 'on mhny levels. To find groups and organisations within, the communi-ty, to devise programmes covering their area of interest and .make available to them the venue of the cinema and our- known sources of film hire. To create a dialogue through the selected presentation and com­ parison of sound and images, to phallange the ‘ traditional re­ lationship between the screen and the audience, by contextualising programmes and to encourage active viewing rather than passive reception. " To work towards crossing the society divisions of age, sex, and class, while accepting that this process will have to start by a recognition of those divisions. f t Audience We would attempt to attract a wide and mixed audience, but particular energy would be directed into drawing an audience from T ower Hamlets and especially from those people who have no access to or knowledge of the usual cultural and educational channels. Our siting on a busy shopping street means that a our audience could be random. These people could the appearance and accessability of the space and will not have made any previous decision to see a hibition. large element of be attracted by programme as they film or ex­ A^art from the random audience, particular programmes will require drives towards particular sections of the community. This would be the case when special programmes were devised for the old, the young, and for particular trades and professions. Here we would need to go out and generate an audience from their meeting places or places of work. Where there are cheap and effective means of advertising out-side the Borough we wouxd use them ( Time Out, Film-makers Europe, and Joanna Davis M ary Pat Leece Ronald L. Peck W ilfrie d Thust FOUR CORNER FILMS 113 ROMAN ROAD LONDON E.2. 0 1 - 981-4243 the Acme Gallery monthly listing of'events). But our concentra­ tion would go into local advertising using already existing local channels; Tower Hamlets Arts Iroject, their newspaper and bulletins. Borough Libraries Free Film Foster, and the local press. We also plan to use our shop window as a constantly changing,notice board oi events, programmes, and documentation. v uie problem of generating an audience"is .complex and- requires extensive research in itself. As a starting point we would need © investigate the make-up of Tower Hamlets - -its copulation, j^a our Force, social services, housing,* etc.— to bec'ome familiar local groups and activities and be' preoared/ to go and find ou i v at people would like to see.' As a basis for this survey and , ior our own future planning we will' refer to the nine Borough Plan Topic Papers, having acquired a set for our own reference. PROPOSED AREAS OF ACTIVITY' As a preamble to the following list of potential projects we feel i?PJr^fntut0,!t?ess that our ,vision' Of the cinema/film gallerv a that u should begin in a modest vay and grow, not according , ^ n S151y predetermined plan, but to the expressed aims and desires of both film-makers and audience. This is not to say that we see the space as totally open-ended and directionless, but flexible enough to accomodate the various nee* of contemporarv film-makers and film-viewers. i'?®+ j dea £?r ; cinema gallery originally grew from the series of p tographic exhibitions we mounted in our shop windows. The eftenti0n of this is to invite the oublic and other filmnu° °Ur f P 08’ t0 see what we 3X6 doing and to contribute m whatever way they see as right for themselves. This mist gives examples of the various uses that we anticipate for the cinema/film gallery: 1. —-- invite other film-makers to use the space to present their P esent work, ana to oacx up the screenings with*their cresence and any other means they might choose (to give the film-makers the eedom to decide in what way they wish to relate to an audience, 2‘ — * Pr°gramme films in series: films which either follow a Joanna Davis Mary Pat Leece Ronald L. Peck W ilfrie d Thust FOUR CORNER FILMS 113 ROMAN ROAD LONDON E.2. 0 1 - 9 81-4243 particular theme or are the choice of an individual. These films could run fot short seasons and could be supported by information and related visuals on the walls around the cinema. 3. 4. 5. 6. the space as an audio-visual exhibition/installation gj- 3 with provisions lor continuous bacm projected~ programmes P3 s^1^ es’ slides and film, tapes, multi-screen projections, in , which the screen would be at the other end'of the space opposite the street entrance. During these exhibitions the space could be open all day and viewed on a wandering in and out basis. _the cinema available to lochl groups and organisations who want to arrange their own-screenings but lack facilities. To,devise group related screenings: to go out from the space to s p e c m c groups wixhin the community - people in an old people’s home, workers in a clothes factory, etc. - and to find out wnat they would enjoy seeing and to locate films which related to their situation. During these visits to make recordings ana tame slides, and from this material, information, and^ research to create a number of sessions in the cinema to loci a . the material and begin an exchange. < Tri, a -^'-:a^ur<^ay morning children’s programmes, gathering m films iroia tne many existing sources of'children1s films (.including cartoon and animation films) and including back­ ground iniormation, both educational and technical. SiL^se.the-space as a forum for people who have made or would l u e to maie thtir own super-8 films, run as a series of sessions to which people brought films they had made, showing them and discussing them together. Information wou d sto,0EbeoaIal^ le °n + equipment, cheap sources of film + V * (£kis CuUld tie in with the super-8 workshop tutor scheme being devised by the Greater London Arts A*ssociation G.L.A.A. are_employing a numoer of travelling tutors with specialised skills - animation, super-8, documentary, f - M V i + i * 0 te^°n ln venues which can provide space and basic fo? this Sind"§fWSorkshSp“ raSe 8. US* °f °Ur oinena sPaoe ^ C!!ate ^ f f cinema: to video record a selection of t M f ? C e? n f ^ m -the JIeninSs -television and show extracts from tnis the following afternoon in the cinema. The presenter of the extracts wouxd be well informed about how T.V. programmes Joanna Davis Mary Pat Leece Ronald L. Peck W ilfrie d Thust t OUR CORNER F IL M S i 13 ROMAN ROAD LONDON E.2. 0 1 - 9 8 1 -4 2 4 3 are put together and any comments, questions and opinions from the people could be backed up andr enlarged upon. These should be informal sessions on a wandering in and out basis. The T.V. selections shouxd be concentrated on the more popular shows and news bulletins. (Video recording of T.V. programmes is per­ mitted under an educational umbrella.) i 9• To open up the cinema as a venue for-already existing .sub-sidised courses and programmes. (This -would! b^ * very important'in t e r .ms of minimising the weekly overheads/of the cinema/film gallery.) Pour Corner Films would remain, the-filter for such programmes and would anly show those that it felt wfere of value and interest to the potential audience. For example: Greater London Arts Association Short Films Circuit. This is a new venture by G.l .A.A. to provi.de subsidised programmes of short films (with the additional option-of a feature film) for the use of local art centres. The programme will be fortnightly and sent as a pac-age to the venue. Greater London Arts Association Film Tutor Programme. (As out— lined above.) British Film Institute Sixth Form Film Study Course. This is a course of film appreciation devised by the British Film Institute for groups of sixth form students as their liberal studies option. The screenings^ are centralised, normally at the National Fiiin Theatre, out our aim would be to screen the course down here, providing for four local sixth form groups of ten students each. The contacts would be made through the English and Art teachers of the local schools. From initial contacts our involvement with the schools could expand and ws would encourage the use of the cinema by teachers for their own schemes. Arts Council Film-Makers On Tour. This is a scheme which sub­ sidises showings by artist film-iuakers to come to locations with their films, set up the screenings and personally present their worm to an audience. In the case of complicated projection needs the Arts Council will provide the necessary projectors, cable, etc The above proposals cover a wide range of possible uses for the cinema/film gallery. As ^.ted before, the members of Four Corner Film have quite diverse interests in film and these projects indicate the expressed areas within which individual members have said they would lixe to work. oanna Davis Mary Pat Leece Ronald L. Peck W ilfrie d T hust v/ FOUR CORNER F ILM S 113 ROMAN ROAD LONDON E.2. 0 1 - 9 8 1 -4 2 4 3 Documentation and Evaluation The project should be viewed in the long term and should be allowed time to evolve and change and evaluate itself. The evaluation of the different, events seem-s an bePk e ^ o f Pth^ ? L thf VTOiect and a simple analytical record should event °f the attendance» response, and- materials used for each gome notes about the design of the- spacer is v ®ry small; there would be seating for . Pe 7_40 people within a formal viewing situation. Prom ou own experience of showing films and trying to begin a disWlth t rf. audience afterwards, we see the smallness of the ] space as a positive feature allowing an intimacy and an atmosphere h o ° " ? ^ f f 8 lmPosslble an a_ larger space. This contact and P a ©rora-PS. familiarity between the audience and filmmake- is essential if we are to progress in any real way. a c t i v ^ t M ^ arrangement must be flexible to accomodate many varied ’p V l00K: of the sPace should be comfortable. to £i?f t L P-rpip t0 seatin€ of lightweight armchair type Alnni L ti cxnema a sitting room, or pub-like atmosphere. spotSli'htin?1f?n^f+ S i he cPa?aa wl11 be provision for'display, with information?^ f be Celllng' to ^ang exhibitions and "supporting p?e^?inemi+®h0Uld Provide f°r both bacx and front projection as we 11 a would hpU+ k scr|en and expanded cinema performances. The aims r o S i S j the°comfort K Joanna Davis e ^ ^ Mary Pat Leece e ! 3 fleXible aS P°SSibl* *ith0- Ronald L. Peck W ilfrie d Thas: FOUR CORNER FILMS 113 ROMAN ROAD LONDON E.2. 0 1 - 98 1-4 24 3 Neighbouring Projects f The Half moon Photography Workshop, due to open 'next summer is housed a few doors, doy/n from us on Roman--Hoad. '' B oth groups have agreed that, although;;!*! no way do 'our areas _^p!ivity duplicate each other, there will be many 'ways in » wnich we c^ul djoin forces in the organisation of projects and use of facilities and complement bach others efforts. 5 0plns t° make us? of the printing facilities in the ■tsucUhist centre, as they provide a qheap- service of good Quality. i Joanna Davis M a ry Pat Leece Ronald L. Peck W ilfrie d Thust
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      • archivehttp://www.georgesolomonides.co.uk/
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      • titleMike Goldwater Collection
      • subtitleJan 1975; Setting up the Half Moon Theatre for the first Camera Obscured? seminar. Mike Goldwater tests out the set-up. All six seminars were video-taped using a two camera setup and vision-mixed live. Photo by George Solomonides
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      • titleOrganisational - Half Moon Photography Workshop/Camerawork
      • subtitleLetter to Richard Mills with a funding proposal for the Halfmoon Photography Workshop, 9th September 1975
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      • pdf_text8th September 1975* Hi chard Hills tieq# t Deputy Director, Calousto Gulbonkian 98 Portland Place, London, W#l# Dear Sir, We enclose our outline of a proposal for setting up a itsnmnlty-basod photography v/orkahop in Snot London, We intend et e later date to a;;ply formally to the Foundation for a capital revenue grant to initiate thle project# At thle stage we feel it would bo valuable to submit thle preliminary sketch of the project for your comments and advice, perhape,ae to how v/o should proceed further# Tours falthfally. P.IHffTOR The Half Moon Photography Workshop Project Background The Half Moon Gallery le a registered charity and has been in existence eince January 1972, and was the second gallery in London to show photographs exclusively. Since then, regular monthly exhibitions have been presented covering a wide range of subjects, including historical as well as contemporary work, which attempted to relate photography to the looal community. Until December 1974 the gallery was run on a voluntary basis, raising funds from membership, donations and a G.L.A.A. grant. Since the beginnong of this year the gallery haB embarked on a programme of expansion. This has been made possible by seouring salaries for two paid workers from a further G.L.A.A. grant "The Camera Obscured?" seminars (Jan - June 1975) This series of six seminars was organised to provide a perepective on British photography by examining the ways in which it is used in our contemporary society. By providing a unique forum for representatives from all fields of photography - education, publishers, promotors, editors and photographers — the series made a valuable contribution towards our understanding of the media. The programme was as followss1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Young British Photographers - the work of contemporary photo­ graphers. Photography on the Curriculum - the purpose of photographic education. The Task of the Photojournalist. Women in Photography - their contribution and influence in a field so far dominated by men. The Dream Sellers - the uses and abuses of photography as a tool in the selling prooess. The Public Face of British Photography - an examination of the editorial process. The entire series was video recorded and is now being edited for distribution to colleges and sohools etc. In recognition of the historic and educational value of the series the programme was suppor­ ted by a grant of £1,650 from the G.L.A.A. Following the interest generated by the series and the ideas flowing from discussions that took place we sensed the need for a "photographio centerprise" - a community based photographic workshop. Photography Workshop the alms of Photography Workshop ares To provide an ongoing research, information and advice resource, and publish and distribute occasional newsletters and basic biblio­ graphies. To initiate projects and promote interest in the use of photography as an educational tool, particularly in the field of play, literacy schooling and radical group therapy* To continue to help and participate in the setting up of short-term groups to carry out specific documentary projects, as requested by and community groups. SoCifrt • To convene workshops for the interchange of ideaB between photographersi initiate group discussions on social and political uses for photographyi explore our motivations for taking piotures and the implications inherent in their ultimate use. To promote inter­ disciplinary discussions and multi media projects. To positively encourage individual self reliance, with the aim of working towards group activity, collective praotioe and the pooling of resources and information as a general principle in contemporary photography. To systematise the investigation of alternate photo technology so as to develop a basic independence from monopoly companies. (This is an essential first step towards demystifying technology). Self-publish concise educational worksheets and video tapes on various aspects of photography, which can eventually be put together as a teaching aid. Also make available technical and useful information in poster form. Give practical help and encourage fine printmaking, archival processing, and fine craft practicej particularly in the use of the Zone system and other short out technical rationales. Help establish a permanent, readily available, non-commercial photographic archive which will enoourage the depositing of negatives and slide collections, and ensure their continued use after the owner's death. Give practical help to community activists and people working with children outside the state school system, in setting up thoir own facilities, mobile and communal darkrooms etc. Set up short-term practical workshops to teaoh basic skills in photography (and link this up with other visual media workshops such as video tape/slide shows etc). Have Involvement in the establishment of travelling and community exhibitions in non commercial situations such as short life shops, pubs, vehicles, markets, libraries, railway stations etc. Help establish a register of slides and prints available for loan at low oost for campaigns, lectures, educational projects and community use. Kncourage the photographic recording of contemporary local history by people themselves, with or without the assistance of professional photographers• Promote the collection of existing local photo history from all sources, including public and private institutional archives, old personal photographs, long established local commercial photographer'’ page 5. looal history and conservation groups, looal newspaper files, and with special emphasis on the family album as a valuable social dooument. (In both the above instances the collection and recording of such looal history can be linked to Oral History groups, History Work­ shops, Community Centres and used for educational purposes and in a variety of publications and ways. Centerprise co-operative in Hackney have found numerous uses and produced many publications around such work). Encourage the preservation of existing industrial and commercial photographs and work reoords, and guarantee their safekeeping as historical documents in one readily accessible central archive. Encourage the permanent establishment of a People’s Photo History Museum (one project along these lines has already been set up by Hon Birch in Orpington). To act as intermediariSA in the exchange of details between those wishing to teaoh or learn photographic skills. To promote the idea of PHOTO CLAP (Photography Community Levy for Alternative Projects). (CLAP was a scheme originated by BIT, London, in which people with incomes could get more involved with 'alternative projects' by donating a small part of thcfr income). The same principle could apply to earning photographers who wished to help groups or people with ideas whicn could revolutionize photography. Tt g & & a ff a I L g Approximately 8-10,000 feet will be required to accommodate the proposed workshops etc., and we are currently seeking suitable premises near our present address. We are in oontaot with the O.L.C., London Borough of Tower Hamlets and SPACE in connection with this. We intend the new building to contain 4 darkroom units, a communal/teaching darkroom, a communal finishing room, additional gallery spaoe, a seminar/meeting place, a print/bookshop, a photographic library and information room, an archive area, and a coffee bar. A budget is attached whioh is at this stage an estimated aaoount of our financial needs. BUDGET FOB BUILDING Capital expenditure Building conversion* Major structural alternations, plumbing and wiring £5,000 - £10,000 £5,000 - £10,000 Eauippins Gallery, Darkrooms, Cafe, Library, Bookshop, Office, etc. £6,000 £6,000 total capital outlay £11,000 - £16,000 Gallery-rUnning costs* Additional expenses, postage, telephone, printing etc. ********* Staff* Pull time 2 workers' 1 darkroom technician and audio visual 1 coffee bar manager 1 bookshop manager Part time Cleaning Secretarial Coffee bar session workers total running costs £4,000 £2,000 £1,500 £1,500 500 £1,500 £2,000 HHHW u v v io inj oooo oooo Annual expenditure Rent-* for 8,000 square feet at 50p per square foot Rates Heating, lighting etc Repairs and maintenance insurance ******* v £200 £300 £500 £21,500 per annum ) Income £1,200 Darkrooms £600 Membership £240 Touring shows Surplus of sales over purchases coffee bar £1,500 £2,000 Bookshop income ££,540 continued Income (continued) Arte Counoil and Q.L.A.A* We expect the defieit between expenditure and income to deoreaae ae the projeote become self funding over the next five years.
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      • tagsimages of men,masculinity,roles,father,policeman,judge,exhibition photographs at half moon gallery
      • titleMen Photographed by Women - Maggie Ellenby, Penny Eyles, Caroline Forbes, Sally Greenhill, Jessie Ann Mathews, Maggie Murray, Diane Olson, Angela Phillips, Toni Tye Walker, Angela Williams and Valerie Wilmer
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      • pdf_textI M E N ---- / JinExhibition *f Photographs taken by Women HALF MOON GALLERY - April 21st to May 21st The most important fact about this exhibition is that it • a specific theme and is not a random collection of beautifu images. It is an attempt to show men's relationship to the world and especially to women. It is a view of a group of women many of whom were involved / in a similar exhibition on the theme 'WOMEN' in 1974. v e sew V this as a start and decided to try something which went ' further and made us do more than select from existing photographs. Our original aim was to show men as stereotypes in reflectin'/ of the way women have often been shown through photograph/ Group meetings modified this aim and the exhibition became ’ a product of the discussions. For many of us the best part t of the process has been the discipline of working together s and taking pictures specifically for such a theme, ° ( We are a mixed bunch, photographically and politically.. But through meeting regularly we have discussed the politico1 an! social questions raised by the pictures. we have often had to re-assess what we want to say, and what we could say ' through these photographs. The exhibition is meant as a starting point for thought and discussion. It is by no means definitive and by no means unambiguous. We have not produced these images for othe-" photographers, but for other people - other women and men, THE PHOTOGRAPHERS Sally Greenhill, Jessie Arm Matthewj Margaret Murrav Diane Olsen, Angela Philips, Tony Tye Walker, Valerie Wilines Penny Eyles, Angela Williams, Maggie Ellenby and Caroline Forbes. FOR FURTHER INFO & PRINTS Mike Goldwater - 01 485 0149 Julia Meadows - 01 790 7649 Sally Greenhill - 01 607 8549 HALF MOON GALLERY, 27 Alie Street, London E„1 480 6465 An oj&lbifcion of photographs of women talsin by women photographers. May 9th - Juno 2nd, Thure - Sun 12-Spra Admission free. 'Sha purpose of this exhibition is to consider photographs taken by woman3 and by so doing* to re-ovaluat® some of the ways women are portrayed by mono More specifically wo wish to explore women's views of and reactions to their own sex© Wo hope that the exhibition w m provoke responses to certain questions which inevitably arise, Xb there a women5a or-t? or in other v o ^ l can the sex of the /iJa photographer bo identified through her photographs? Are certain sensibilities uniquely feminine? How much are woman's unique experiences reflected in her work? The sox of the viewer is an important factor in the way in which ho or sh© responds to any photograph and equally wo must not ignore th© photographer*s sex or wo may be in danger of robbing a work of its richness, Thoow women whose work we have selected to show are Jane Brown8 Fay Godwin* Sally Greenhill# Jessie Ann Mathews, Margaret Murrey0 Angela Phillips, Diane Olson,, Trioia Porter, Claire Schwob. Toni v y WalkerP Valeri© W&lmer* Dorothy Bohm, Bunnle Brissatto Jaqueline .o Vn-l and Angela Williams, The majority of those women are professional vr. photographers or are studying photography but all have very different degrees of experience, B ^ kground„t0^the .exhibitIon. This is perhaps the moat ambitious exhibition to havebeen held at the Half /loon Gallery and is important for many reasons. It cornea at f after the initial hysterical and sensationalised reaction vo Women's L i b , the traditional roles of women are now being questioned more thoroughly and seriously by both m«n and women. Organised by the two women members of the gallery ooraolttee, the exhibition is in part an expression of their involvement with the Women s Movement, Wo first conceived of the show in January and have altogether contacted over thirty photographers© Of these we finally selected twelve with whom v e have since worked as closely ; as possible and the final form of the exhibition has been arrived at collectively within this group© We have all thought this way of working as vory valuable and constructive in that it haa established dialogue and sparked off fresh ideas between women photographers© HALF MOOw GAXLKRY 2? ALIE STREET LONDON El f 01-J+80-61+65©
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      • archiveFour Corners Bishopsgate
      • vimeo_link
      • authorSee sections X to AC
      • author_editorTony Bock, Terry Dennett, Roger Eaton, Mike Goldwater, Janet Goldberg, Marilyn Noad, Tom Picton, Joanna Spence, George Solomonides, Paul Trevor
      • author_writerTerry Dennett,Tom Picton, Jo Spence, Paul Trevor
      • author_photographerNick Hedges, Ron McCormick, Larry Herman, Chris Searle, Exit, Helmut Newton, Claire Schwob
      • author_designer
      • author_intervieweeNick Hedges, Ron McCormick, Larry Herman
      • author_organisationShelter, The Sunday Times (Billboard), Pretty Polly (Billboard), Exit
      • tagshousing,alternative practice,commercial photography,social realism,alternative representation,photojournalism,community photography,shelter,helmut newton,fashion,sexual politics,pornography,alternative technology,processing,printing,class,poverty,politics,'problem in the city',ron mccormick,nick hedges,larry herman,collective working,exhibiting,ica,captions,self-publishing,statement of aims
      • titleCamerawork Magazine - Issue 01
      • subtitleIssue 1: The Politics of Photography Interview - "Problem in the City" Self Publishing
      • dimension9 pages
      • ocr1
      • copyrightFour Corners/Half Moon Photography Workshop/Camerawork, Terry Dennett,Tom Picton, Joanna Spence, Paul Trevor, Nick Hedges, Ron McCormick, Larry Herman, Chris Searle, Exit, Helmut Newton, Claire Schwob, Shelter, The Sunday Times (Billboard), Pretty Polly (Billboard), Exit
      • credits
      • relatedTony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/02/20/tony-bock-photographer/ Tony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2018/03/02/tony-bock-on-the-railways-x/ Tony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/03/03/tony-bocks-east-end-portraits/
      • locationBethnal Green, London, UK (pg 3) Nottingham, UK (pg 4,5,6) Clydeside, UK. Merseyside, UK. West Midlands, UK. Tyneside, UK. South Wales, UK. Glasgow, Scotland, UK.
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      • origination_date1976
      • origination_year1976
      • origination_month0
      • created2018-06-04 14:57:25
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      • pdf_textIn this Issue: The Politics O f Photography Interview - “Problem in the City” Self-publishing No I Half Moon Photography Workshop February 1976 20p Page I THE POLITICS OF PHOTOGRAPHY Jo Spence Every day, photographers produce countless images, most o f which will never be seen by a mass audience. However, those that are seen, in newspapers, magazines and on high street hoardings play an important part in our lives. With their messages - both explicit and hidden they help to shape our concepts o f what is real and what is normal. They give us information about the sort o f sex roles we are expected to play in society, contribute to our image o f ourselves, to our expectations and to our fant asies. Television, cinema and all visual media echo the same ideology. Continually repeated visual images, in time, become part o f our stored experience. Images help us to believe that people are innately aggressive, intelligent, loving or lowly - according to their sex or race, or to the idea being sold to us. All this we tend to call ‘ human nature’. In fact what we see most o f the time could more readily be labelled ‘ stereotyping’ - long understood by cartoonists, illustrators, painters and actors. It is a series o f visual signals and short cuts, established over a period o f time and decodable within any given culture. Often before we can read or write we can learn to decipher whether people shown in images are happy or sad, rich or poor, powerful or weak, by understanding this non-verbal language. alism is seldom set in any meaningful social or political perspective. More often than not it is an unjustifiably voyeuristic and one-sided account o f the stark situation in which many people are forced to live - or a superficial treat ment o f the joys and sorrows o f celebrity life. Photo journalists are employed mostly by magazines and newspapers, and they are tightly controlled by very few companies and publish ing houses. Work is often edited beyond recog nition or used out o f context. Printed in the mass press. or alongside the hi-fi and sherry adverts in the colour supplements, this imagery eventually becomes just another commodity tor us to thumb through in our search lor distraction, or for the ‘ truth’. appeals are financed by government or charities whose terms o f reference seem to force the use o f countless euphemisms or the total exclus ion o f the contradictions o f local and central government policies, or the part played by profiteering in the texts accompanying photo graphs. It is almost as if such appeals were all part, o f some secret ritual in which the ‘ facts’ are pre sented for consideration, but presented in such a way that we remain mystified as to the real causes, or even end up blaming the victims! Some alternatives. Groups like REPORT and the Alternate News Service have now formed in order to service political newspapers, mag Community photographers are encouraging people to photograph each other, friends and family, then their social environment. This provides immediate feedback for discussion, provides aids for story-telling and reading, and makes it possible to look at the world differ ently. People can discover how to relate to themselves and to others more positively when armed with images o f themselves - images which counteract the stereotypes usually seen in the mass media. It is important to look at the context from which these images spring and at the background o f the people who produce them. Current trends in commercial photography Photographic colleges, as part o f their policy in trying to professionalize photography, are still tightening up their entrance qualifications for those wishing to study photography. They do this in liaison with the official bodies represen ting photographers. Once through the initial vetting, students then live and work for several years in the rarefied atmosphere o f colleges in which there are no realistic deadlines or cares about the cost o f materials and equipment, and in which they are in isolation from the feelings and needs o f the majority o f people whom they will use as subject matter. Here they learn to pass more examinations. They are then released in great numbers onto the very competitive job market where the only bodies likely to be interested in their qualificat ions will be industry and government establish ments . The remainder then chase the few"other jobs available, become freelancers, set up their own businesses, or find some entirely different way to earn a living. Commercial photography is a competitive ratrace entirely geared to servicing the needs o f contemporary consumer society. Alongside this, photographic technology advan ces rapidly, with faster acting materials and more expensive time-saving equipment. At the same time though, materials not considered commercially viable by manufacturers are slashed from catalogues and disappear forever. Photographers themselves are caught in the trap o f improving their techniques, whilst at the same time, the content o f their pictures becomes more stereotyped, transiently fashion able, semi-pornographic or obtuse. Sophist icated courses have even been devised to train photographers how better to exploit a situation in order to get people to relate more easily to the intrusive earners, thus becoming more easily turned into objects. Social realism. Concurrent with commercial photography is the race to be more socially realistic in our picture making. More and more we arc assailed with aesthetically cropped pictures o f corpses, gun fights, starving children or the so-called important members o f our society. With rare exception such photo journ Community photography. The most recent break with traditional fields o f photography has been the use o f photography as a TOOL by community activists. Already a well estab lished field in North America, several photo graphers (singly or in groups) have now managed to obtain short-term grants or funds for the setting up o f photographic units within comm unity, neighbourhood or youth projects. Here photography can be explained to and used by laypeople. This is done by starting with simple cameras, or video, and then gradually working through to the more technically advanced equipment, linked to darkroom and printing skills. This puts photography into the hands o f a lot o f people who will eventually be able to dispense with the experts. This move has provoked some reaction from those who have fought for years to gain for photography the status o f a Profession, elevating it via O and A Level exams and degree courses out o f the grasp o f the majority o f people. But o f course such policy is entirely in keeping with our hierarchical class society. The middle class mystifies and refines knowledge; at the same time it manages to rationalize its activity by convincing us that this is all in the interests o f progress and economic growth. Photography as a tool is far removed from such attitudes because it negates elitism. The main objective here is to enable people to achieve some degree o f autonomy in their own lives and to be able to express themselves more easily, thus gaining solidarity with each other. It also helps to some extent to demystify media and to make the relationship much less o f a one-way affair. This is a far cry from the passive and abject individual problems o f those depicted in charity appeals. Basically though, they could be the same people - just totally different approaches. Agitators or objects o f pity - which to choose? Other photographers, interested in the problems o f poverty and oppression, work for charities. There are now over 400 national bodies dealing solely with children; some o f them now employ quite sophisticated techniques to attract our attention and make us feel guilty. Using inter national advertising agencies we are sold the illustrated saga o f the under-privileged and those suffering from the ‘ cycle o f deprivation’ (or could we call it the cycle o f exploitation?). Such appeals are usually graphically presented on glossy paper, tastefully designed, with suitably abject women or children on the covers. Usually such photographs are taken by people o f a different social class from those depicted. These photographers have a difficult task; they are concerned with the plight o f their subject matter, seeing the medium o f photography as the only way in which they can help present a case for consideration. However, the major problem to be overcome is that in depicting people whom they (as outsiders) consider would benefit from the public stare, it is usually more profitable to show only the bleaker side o f people’ lives. However, such s ‘ victims’ can react very violently when faced with pictures o f themselves as potential recipients o f charity handouts. The integrity o f photographers faced with this situation, and who arc trying not to be patronising, hangs by a very fine thread. Eventually when such pictures (heavily edited) are used, they are accompanied by statements which disocciate themselves from politics. Such reports and azines and community presses. They concen trate on industrial and community action, showing solidarity among people, unlike the mass press which often depicts only the struggle o f the individual. Other collectives have formed to record life in the neighbourhoods o f working people, whilst others are recording social cond itions and inequalities. Linked to statistics, or used in juxtaposition with glossy advertising myths or official documents, or alongside interviews with the people depicted, individual or national issues can be highlighted in order to reveal the lack o f understanding o f the planners and decision-makers who shape our destinies. Such work is also used away from galleries, in high streets, public meeting places and in education, as a mirror to show events considered ‘ un-newsworthy’ by the national press. Other photographers, because o f their disill usionment with the highly competitive job market, and because o f a genuine identification with the need for social change, have gravit ated towards alternative magazines and books. These cover a wide variety o f issues ranging from community action, anti-psychiatry and radical social work, to feminism and children’ rights. s Such work has deeper political perspectives but it reaches a more limited audience. Gener ally there is very little financial reward from it. these photographers often having to supplement their income with other types o f work. What long-term results community activists can achieve with photography still remains to be seen. Funds and grants are hard to get (and much competed for) and are always given conditionally. Some photographers have already been threatened with the withdrawal o f their funds because they have supposedly gone too far. Hopefully people in their own neighbourhoods are not already so alienated from themselves and from each other that they will adopt techniques o f dishonesty or exaggeration in their picture making. Those who have their roots in a neighbourhood cannot afford to photograph people as mere ‘ things’. They still have to live with each other after the pictures have been produced. This has o f course been a problem for photo graphers for a long time; however involved they are, they still have to gain the confidence o f their subject matter in order to get their pictures (be they paid models or the unsuspecting general public). Then, having gained their objective.thcy can go back to their clients, potential markets, or private collections, more often than not closing the door on the lives o f those with whom they were tempor arily involved. Common sense might tell us that this is often due to lack o f ttime. Is it as simple as that? Or is it part o f our demarcation o f personal life and professional life? Page 2 Helmut Newton -Review moneyed elite of Europe. He’s preserving his role as untalented actresses preserve theirs. Very unusual. It ’s not quite pornography and yet it ’s very artistic. Very artistic pornography, on the fringe of it. I like the way he cuts people in half and only shows half the person. Fashion photography can be as mouth watering as candy-floss. As ephemeral as a fruit fly, it is allied to a ruthless selling machine. It is repres sive. fetishist, mystifying and obscurantist. It trivialises with glossy efficiency. It is part of a culture industry that absorbs protest and a li enation by making it 'fashionable.' It often has a wit and panache which other, more solemn, photographers could usefully emulate. They are a little bit too far out. Probably this is the only gallery that would put them on. I was here at the opening - you couldn’t move in there. It ’s a very popular show, but I somehow feel they are far too erotic. It ’s a breakaway, but for something lasting, no. You might just as well buy MAYFAIR... Currently, the fantasies of Helmut Newton are appearing at The Photographers' Gallery. 8 Great Newport Street. London. Tom Picton asked people what they thought. 1 half expected to see a picture o f the Fuehrer in the background. It was sort of that time. I thought they were very good. 1 think they were a bit strange actually. They didn’t turn me on. I didn't find them erotic, and I found a rather revolting one of people’s innards that somebody was wiping her eye with. Excellent photographs as photographs; beautifully printed and interesting, but they weren’t quite my type o f photograph. I like it. I really enjoy what they do because it changes into something really literate and glossy. I like it. Very erotic. I ’ve seen most of them before actually. Strange prints, the colour prints were amazing. The pictures I ’d seen before, I ’d seen in PHOTO and VOGUE and things like that. It was just interesting to see very good colour prints of them. I work in advertising. As photos I think they are amazing. We thought it was disgusting. Filthy. Some of them showing their fannies and their tits. Some shows their bums. I think some of them were quite good in a book. Some of them show their winkles...that’s quite good. Are we going to be on telly? I ’ve just come from the pub and I ’m sloshed out of my mind. They were fascinating. I ’ m a painter, and I was just stunned by them. They’re amazing. I didn't like the David Hockney ones at all, I thought they stood out as being very bad, very contrived. The ones that were a bit like Hockney paints were rather nteresting pictures. I thought they were very good, beautiful colour. I can't talk about the content. The colour is the content. I didn’t think they were porno graphic at all. I liked the 1950’s atmosphere. A lot of them were very similar to paintings, like Lichtenstein. Some of them are nostalgic, some of them are much more up to date, but I particulary like those two at the back, like the 1950’s starlet pictures from Cannes, but they were the best of the lot, but less open. I thought they were fabulous. They are very sexy and very provocative, but not porny or nasty or dirty photographs at all. They are beautiful photographs. What a rip-off - Edward Weston did better than that in 1939. You’ve got to have something to stimulate you I suppose. He likes to take photographs in front o f nude girls. He’s rich now and he’s going to get even richer. They seem to belong to a world and I ’ m standing outside them, a world to which I have no entrance as it were. He’s taking photography, not seriously, but using it for his own fantasies and that’s alright because they are unpretentious in certain ways. I think I ’d have to look at it about three or four times, but it would be a long time before I could form an opinion. I don’t think it ’s porno graphic though at all. The Sunday Times lead me to believe it was pornographic...that's what made me come here actually. To see Picasso’s daughter without a dress on I thought would be more pornographic than it was, and it wasn’t at all. Nothing at all. To me they are pretty much meaningless. I can’t really express myself about it very clearly but somehow I am a bit edgy about the fact that the man is basically a fashion photographer and he seems to be going away from what it should be. I think they are very decadent and the backgrounds he uses and the actual colur are very, very sick, and 1 like them because of that. They’re not pretending to be art -- they are one man’s fantasies and we can indulge in them simply because they are in exhibition form. I didn’t think they were too decadent. I felt a little guilty once or twice. I thought it was terrible. I thought it was sexist crap. There is no reason to do what he does except to make sexist images as far as I can see. It's not about photography; it's not about documentation. I don’t see that it is about anything except preserving his role in the We liked them quite a lot. I thought they were erotic for him, but not for me. Alternative Technology Terry Dennett We are often asked if there is any real altern ative to the yellow box company or Ilford or Agfa. The answer is a very big YES. Every year thousands of new ideas and methods arc suggested but only a few o f these find their way into the mass market: the rest arc allowed to lie unused in the pages of the abstract journals. Tlie reason for the use or non-use of an idea or product is often baser! on economic or market ing policy, rather than the technical value of the commodity to the photographer. In England today this increasingly means less choice at a period in history when there is photographically more and more available everywhere else. American visitors quickly discover the truth of this statement. No variable contrast paper, no Codelite enlarger heads (which enable one to deal in 12 contrast grades on one sheet of paper), no Selenium toner etc. This situation exists because of dependence on large corporations for research, manufacture, and for importation. It is an aim of the Half Moon Photography Workshop to end this dependence by providing a frame work in which alternative photo technology, research and development groups can work and publish information. This article is intended to help others with similar ideas to get together. If you have been working on your own. refining techniques or formulae: if you can build your own cameras and equipment, or know the photographic reference books inside out, we would lik e to hear from you NOW. Also those who possess few skills but do have the desire to be self-reliant. A G EN ERA L STRATEGY ALTERNATE PHOTO TECHNOLOGY FOR A T. does not mean making everything oneself. It means becoming self-reliant by acquiring the organisation, knowledge and technology to be capable of making anything when the need arises. We arc primarily photographers (people who make and use photographs). We study the craft aspects in order to gain more intimate understanding of the material potentials of photography (a potential which is diminishing due to the current lack of basic craft training and practice) and in order to develop precision, method and insight. A T. photography does not mean that every individual must become an emulsion chemist or a camera mechanic. It means that individuals with or without the required knowledge organize together in a group in order to make the material they need, research their subject in practice (and quite often add new or creative ideas in the process) and then publish the results for the benefit of others. Additionally it is essential to build up a communications network. With the estab lishment of the HMPW in its own building these aims can be brought to fu ll fruition. Meanwhile we can make a start by sharing infomation and establishing personal links. I f you are interested please contact us. A.T.also means getting together to import or bulk buy existing manufacturers’ products. I f you can't get any basic item, drop us a line (s.a.e. please). A.T. METHODS : ONE RA PID REVERSAL OF T R I X OR HP4 FOR BLACK & WHITE SLIDES In future issues we w ill bring you other original or little known methods. If you have anything to contribute please write. Rapid reversal systems have been known for some time but their use with conventional slow and medium speed emulsions often leads to a result with quite high contrast: which is unsuitable for general pictorial applications. An interesting exception to this is T R I X (or HP4). These films are inherently soft in contrast and possess a long tone scale which is not unduly distorted by the contrast inc rease produced during the reversal process. The following simplified technique has therefore been worked out to provide a quick method of making B & W slides which requires no more time or effort than is needed to process black and white negative film. The method has been designed for use with the commonly available Johnsons Contrast devel oper: other materials such as Ilford FF Contrast can also be used provided an adjustment is made in exposure and developing times. The first developer w ill process two 35mm films without loss of quality, the bleach and clearing baths may be used u n til their action is inconveniently slow. Refer to Jacobson’s ‘ Developing’ published by Focal Press for details of how to mix photographic chemicals and make solutions if you are not familiar with the procedure. This book also gives a good general background on the theory of reversal process. FILM SPEED TEST Reversal film has very little ‘latitude’ : exposure must therefore be correct (to half a stop with T R I X). This is achieved by setting the exposure meter to an E l (exposure index or A.S.A.rating) of 200 and then shooting a test strip from your largest to smallest aperture with the shutter speed remaining at the setting indicated for A.S.A. 200 with an aperture in the middle of the range. Process the strip o f film and note the best exposed frame. Check the exposure with your meter: it may be A.S.A. 200 or 160 or even 320 depending on the transmission of your lens, your exposure meter, and personal preferances for slide density and detail. Whatever it is, set this E.I.(A.S.A.) on your meter and then shoot correctly exposed slides thereafter. Rapidly reversed T R I X produces fine, softly graded slides in diffused daylight conditions. It is also good for copying prints or making inter mediate positive negatives for contact negative processes. The grain is also quite fine - try it and let us know how you get on. Any type of light can be used to re-expose the film. Try about 2/3 minutes with daylight, flourescent or tungsten. If the time is correct the film w ill fully blacken in the redeveloper in two minutes. I don’t like them a bit. 1don’t like that sort of pornography. I find it exploiting, nasty, evil, horrible - and I didn’t like the look of him either. PROCESSING SOLUTIONS First Developer: ....... lOOcc Johnsons Contrast Developer Water 900cc Potassium Thidcyanate 10% solution . . . 50cc Bleach Bath: Potassium Dichromate Water •Sulphuric Acid Cone. Water to make 12gms 750cc ............ 15cc , ,...1000cc •mix only in the above order - never add water to acid. Clearing Bath:^ Sodium Sulphite .........10% solution Re-developer: Any paper developer as per manufacturers instructions or use. Johnsons Contrast lOOcc Water SOOcc Fixer: Any fixer'at normal times for negatives. Try AMFIX'. /ST h-MtU AT 70*F £) 30 «C- Wa s h I () j 3 h/u If) 30 $ Be c a c h WASH I H tH ( ) fl detentk (iee tMcve) (f) 2 m»J (f) U/AStf ( ) 3osec P it 9 fa) k h i / j h a s h CHEM ICAL SUPPLIES The raw chemicals required may be obtained from: Melbourne Photographic, Norgetts Lane.Melbourn.Royston,Herts, or: Ray Colour Ltd., Rayco Works, Blackwater Way.Ash Road, Aldershot .Hants. Page 3 News HALF MOON EVENTS: Ju mble S a le and A u c t i o n w i l l ta k e p l a c e a t t h e H a l f Moon T h e a t r e on Sunday, 22nd F e b r u a r y , fr o m 3 p.m. o n w a rd s . A d m is s io n 50p - b u t t h i s amount w i l l be knock ed o f f y o u r f i r s t p u rc h a s e on p r o d u c t i o n o f e n t r y tic k e t. Thanks t o e v e ry o n e who has d o n ate d p r i n t s , e q u ip m e n t and m a t e r i a l s we now have a good amount o f j u m b l e and a l a r g e s e l e c t i o n o f o r i g i n a l p r i n t s - th o ug h we s t i l l need m ore. I f you w o u ld l i k e t o g i v e a n y t h i n g t o t h e j u m b l e s a l e p le a s e g e t i t t o us by 2 1 s t F e b r u a r y . O r, i f you want t o d o n a t e o r i g i n a l p r i n t s make s u re we have them one week b e f o r e t h e s a l e so t h a t th e y can be e x h i b i t e d a t the g a l l e r y . I f you want a n y t h i n g c o l l e c t e d , r i n g Mike a t th e w o rk s h o p o f f i c e - 01 k88 2535 . P r i n t S a le E x h i b i t i o n : a l l p r i n t s g i v e n f o r p r i n t a u c t i o n w i l l be e x h i b i t e d in t h e g a l l e r y fr o m 13t h 20th F ebruary. Next Show: t h i s i s by C l a i r e Schwob and w i l l c o n s i s t o f w o rk from h e r p r o j e c t on women (see c o v e r p i c t u r e ) . The o p e n in g p a r t y - on t h e same day as t h e Ju mble and P r i n t S a le - w i l l be on 22nd F e b r u a r y a t 2 p.m. S l i d e A r c h i v e : we have begun t h i s a rc h iv e w it h co p ie s o f a l l rece n t e x h ib it io n s a t the G a lle ry . W e want t o expend t h i s w i t h t h e w o rk o f contem porary B r i t i s h pho to g ra p he rs so t h a t we can b u i l d up a comprehen s i v e r e c o r d o f B r i t a i n w h ic h w i l l be a v a i l a b l e f o r loan (s ee s t a t e m e n t o f a im s ). I f you w o u ld l i k e t o s u b m it w o rk f o r i n c l u s i o n p le a s e c o n t a c t t h e •o rk s h o p . SOUTH ISLAND CHILDREN'S WORKSHOP ( P h o to g r a p h y G r o u p ) , a t South I s l a n d L i b r a r y , S o u th I s l a n d P l a c e , London, S.W.9- need v o l u n t e e r s f o r t h e i r s p r i n g and summer programme. W o rk in g w i t h k i d s o f a l l a g e s , i n d o o r s and o u t. We a l s o d e s p e r a t e l y need a g ard en shed t o r e - e r e c t i n d o o r s as a d a rk r o o m . Any o f f e r s t o Genevive D r a p e r - t e l : 01 582 1898. THE MUSEUM OF LONDON, soon t o move i n t o i t s new home a t th e B a r b i c a n , i s a n x io u s t o make t h e museum a c e n t r e f o r s t u d y and i n f o r m a t i o n on contem p o r a r y London (as w e l I as th e C a p ita l's p a s t). They hope t o b u i l d up t h e i r p h o t o g r a p h i c r e f e r e n c e c o l l e c t i o n as a m a jo r s o u rc e o f m a t e r i a l s . P h o t o g r a p h e r s w o r k i n g i n London who f e e l t h e y may be c o v e r i n g s u b j e c t s s u i t a b l e f o r t h e Museum s h o u ld con t a c t them so t h a t t h e y can have t h e i r w o r k vie w e d f o r p o s s i b l e i n c l u s i o n in t h e c o l 1e c t i o n . P r i n t s a r e s u p p l i e d t o t h e museum a t a b a s i c c o s t p r i c e ( i . e . between 50p and £1 ea ch ) and th e n go i n t o t h e i r r e f e r e n c e c o l l e c t i o n and a r e in dexed a c c o rd in g to s u b je c t a n d /o r topo g ra p h ic a l c o lle c t io n . The museum e x p e c t s t o be g r a n t e d p e r m i s s i o n t o use p h o to g r a p h s i n e x h i b i t i o n s , f r e e o f c h a r g e , c o p y r i g h t r e m a in in g w i t h the p h o to g ra p h e r. P ic tu re rese a r c h e r s can th e n have f r e e acc e s s t o t h e i r f i l e s and can make t h e i r own a rr a n g e m e n ts d i r e c t w i t h p h o t o g r a p h e r s f o r use o f p i c t u r e s . I f anybody i s i n t e r e s t e d p le a s e co n ta ct: O l i v e r Green, A s s i s t a n t Keeper Dra w in g s and P a i n t i n g s , c / o K e n s in g t o n P a la c e , London, W.8. t e l : 01 937 9816. VISUAL ARTS AWARDS In 1976 G r e a t e r London A r t s A s s o c i a t i o n w i l l be o f f e r i n g a t o t a l o f £6000 in awards o f £250 and £500 f o r wo rk in th e v i s u a l a r t s . A p p l i c a t i o n s a r e i n v i t e d fr o m : V i s u a l a r t i s t s w o r k i n g i n any medium and l i v i n g i n G r e a t e r London: t o en a b l e t h e a r t i s t t o s e t a s i d e t im e f o r c o n c e n t r a t e d w o rk a n d / o r t o p u rc h a s e m a te ria ls . A r t c r i t i c s and r e s e a r c h e r s in a r t s e r v i c e s l i v i n g in G r e a t e r London: t o e n a b l e a s p e c i f i c p r o j e c t t o be undertaken w h ic h , in t h e i r p re s e n t s i t u a t i o n , is not fe a s ib le . F u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n can be o b t a i n e d fr o m Caryn Faure W a lk e r , V i s u a l A r t s O f f i c e r , G r e a t e r London A r t s A s s o c i a t i o n , 25/31 T a v i s t o c k P l a c e , London WCIH 9SF. CHILDREN PHOTOGRAPHED. An i n v i t a t i o n by C h i l d r e n s R i g h t s Workshop and Ikon t o s u b m it p i c t u r e s f o r e x h i bi t i o n . IKON i s a d e s ig n and i l l u s t r a t i o n re s e a r c h s e r v ic e t o p u b lis h e r s w is h in g t o p ro d u c e books w h ic h make e x te n s iv e use o f v is u a l m a t e r ia l. The C h ild r e n s R ig h ts Workshop i s a s m a ll v o lu n t a r y a gency c o n c e rn e d to re a s s e s s th e m a t e r ia l, i n t e l l e c t u a l a n d e m o tio n a l c h o ic e s a v a ila b le t o c h ild r e n i n modern s o c ie t y . C h i l d r e n have been an a b s o r b in g sub j e c t f o r pho to g ra p he rs s in c e th e v e ry b e g i n n i n g s o f p h o to g r a p h y i t s e l f . In a l l p r o b a b i l i t y more p i c t u r e s have been ta k e n o f c h i l d r e n th a n o f any o t h e r group. a p p ro a c h e s o f i n d i v i d u a l p h o t o g r a p h e rs. We w i l l see how p h o to g r a p h y f o s t e r s , r e i n f o r c e s , o r even c r e a t e s c e r t a i n images o f c h i l d r e n and how, i n t u r n , th e r e p e t i t i o n o f t h e s e images becomes a new ' r e a l i t y ' and can even e s t a b l i s h a p p a r e n t norms. The e x h i b i t i o n i s t o t o u r th e r e g i o n s f o r two t o t h r e e y e a r s and w i l l be shown p r e d o m i n a n t l y in p u b l i c p la c e s such as s h o p p in g c e n t r e s , l i b r a r i e s , h o s p i t a l s and r a i l and bus s t a t i o n s . In t h i s way i t i s a n t i c i p a t e d t h a t i t w i l l be happened upon by a mass o f p e o p l e who w ould n o t o r d i n a r i l y v i s i t e x h i b i t io n s . Everyo ne p h o to g r a p h s c h i l d r e n i n a way p e c u l i a r t o th e m s e lv e s . But what do we know o f t h e v a r i e t y o f m o t i v a t i o n s w h ic h b r i n g t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r s and c h i l d r e n t o g e t h e r ? What do we know o f t h e v a r i e t y o f t h e i r i n d i v i d u a l methods o f appro a ch ? What a re t h e i r t h o u g h t s when t a k i n g th e p ic tu re s ? What a r e th e y t r y i n g t o show? How much m a n i p u l a t i o n , i f a n y , do th e y employ? How in v o l v e d do t h e y become w i t h th e c h i l d r e n ? L a s t l y , how i s i t t h a t two p h o t o g r a p h e r s , w o r k i n g in th e same s i t u a t i o n a t t h e same t i m e , w i l l t a k e two d i s t i n c t l y d i f f e r e n t se ts o f p ic tu re s ? A l l o f th e s e q u e s t i o n s have more t o do w i t h p e o p le th a n camera e q u ip m e n t. I t i s v a l u a b l e t o p r e s e n t and d i s c u s s t h e a p p ro a ch e s o f d i f f e r e n t p h o t o gra p h e rs to p h o to g ra p hing c h i l d r e n : t o p r e s e n t them in such a way t h a t p e o p l e can see what happens t o c h i l d ren in p h o t o g r a p h s , and how d i f f e r e n t ap p ro a c h e s can say d i f f e r e n t t h i n g s a b o ut c h i l d h o o d and c h i l d r e n , beyond t h e u s u a l f a c t o r s o f a e s t h e t i c s and te chnique. P h o t o g ra p h y p r e s e n t s t h e v ie w e r w i t h a c e r t a i n image o f c h i l d r e n , by s i n g l i n g o u t aspects o f t h e i r a p pear a n c e , b e h a v i o u r and s o c i a l c o n t e x t , i n w h ic h t h e p h o t o g r a p h e r has a vested i n t e r e s t . By p l a c i n g d i f f e . e n t p h o to g r a p h e r s ' w o rk o f c h i I d r e n a l o n g s i d e th o s e rep r o d u c e d in magaz i n e s , books and p o s t e r s , t h e e x h i b i t i o n w i l l d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t i t is n o t o n l y th o s e p h o to g r a p h s w i t h a s o c i a l commentary o r p o l i t i c a l o r moral p o i n t t h a t have messages. A l l p h o to g r a p h s c o n t a i n s o c i a l messages, e x p l i c i t o r h i d d e n , and a l l p h o to g r a p h s o f c h i l d r e n convey messages a b o u t c h i l d r e n i n s o c i e t y . The e x h i b i t i o n w i l l d e m o n s t r a t e t h a t t h e r e a re s e v e r a l k in d s o f ' r e a l i t y ' . T here is th e r e a l i t y o f t h e s i n g l e image; o f two images in j u x t a p o s i t i o n ; o f a s e r i e s o f images ( w h e th e r i t be a p h o to sequence o r g r o u p o f p i c t u r e s ) and f i n a l l y t h e r e a l i t y t o be fo u nd in v i e w i n g a l o n g s i d e each o t h e r th e work o f v a r io u s p h o to g ra p he rs . Such an o v e r - v i e w w i l l le a d us to w a rd s r e e v a l u a t i n g th e v a r y i n g s t y l e s and Phase 2 o f o u r p r o j e c t , now in p r o g r e s s , i s t o document how c h i l d r e n u n d er 5 a r e c a re d f o r in Hack ney, in o r d e r t o be u s e f u l t o l o c a l and n a t i o n a l campaigns a g a i n s t C u t s , and as p a r t o f th e W o rk in g Women's C h a r t e r Campaign. W th e n aim t o e go on and document what happens t o g i r l s l e a v i n g s c h o o l , and what happens t o women i n Hackney when th e y a re t o o o l d t o w o r k . We s t i l l need more p e o p le t o h e l p us. I f you a r e i n t e r e s t e d p l e a s e c o n t a c t M ic h a e l Ann M u l le n a t 7 A r c h i b a l d Road, London, N-7- t e l : 01 607 k728. The g ro u p meets r e g u l a r l y and a re now t a k i n g p h o to g r a p h s . W aim t o e p ro d u c e b l a c k and w h i t e s t i l l s , p l u s a ta p e and s l i d e show. A s l i d e show of W OMEN AT WORK IN HACKNEY, i n c l u d i n g unequal pay s t a t i s t i c s , i s now a v a i l a b l e f o r h i r e from Ms. Joanna Spence, 152 Upper S t r e e t , London, N . l . - t e l : 01 226 0367- The keen and w e a l t h y V i c t o r i a n s re c o r d e d them w i t h t h e s t i f f f o r m a l i t y imposed, in p a r t , by t h e r u d i m e n t a r y e q u ip m e n t . F ra n k S u t c l i f f e shocked s o c i e t y w i t h h i s 'W a te r R a t s ' (nude boys b a t h i n g in th e sea a t W h itb y ). The p i o n e e r i n g o f Lewis H in e g r a p h i c a l l y i l l u s t r a t e d t h e r e a l w o r l d o f c h i l d la b o u r down t h e c o a l m in e s . In more r e c e n t t im e s we have become accustomed t o e d i t o r i a l and a d v e r t i s i n g f e a t u r e s , based on p h o t o g ra p h s o f c h i l d r e n , in th e mass c i r c u l a t i o n newspapers ana m ag a z in e s . A l o n g s i d e a l l t h i s has been t h a t s e l f p e r p e t u a t i n g s o c i a l d o c u m e n t, and s o u rc e o f e n d le s s d o m e s t ic f u n , th e f a m i l y s n a p s h o t a lb u m , t r a c i n g g e n e r a tio n s o f people. Tod a y, th o u g h t h e r e a r e fe w e r j o u r n a l s b e in g p u b l i s h e d , t h e r e a r e p r o b a b l y more p i c t u r e s b e in g ta k e n o f c h i l d r e n th a n e v e r b e f o r e . W h atever c a t e g o r y is g iv e n to the ph o to g ra p he rs - p r o f e s s i o n a l , am ateur, m oth e r, f a t h e r , s i s t e r , b r o t h e r , g r a n , g ra n d a d , o r f r i e n d , each t a k e s p i c t u r e s fr o m t h e i r own v i e w p o i n t , e x p r e s s i n g in th o s e p i c t u r e s t h e i r own f e e l i n g s and u n d e r s ta n ding s o f c h ild r e n . THE HACKNEY FLASHERS COLLECTIVE (we go a ro u n d e x p o s in g t h i n g s ) i s a g r o u p o f women p h o t o g r a p h e r s , g ra p h ic a r t i s t s , d e s ig n e rs , s t a t i s t i c i a n s e t c . , who have a l r e a d y d o c u m e n t in g w o r k i n g women in Ha ckn ey. The e x h i b i t i o n now needs l a m i n a t i n g and p e r m a n e n t ly m o u n t in g so t h a t i t can t r a v e l . To do t h i s we need a t l e a s t £200. Can anyone h e l p us? S u b m is s io n s f o r t h e e x h i b i t i o n a r e welcome fr o m a n y b o d y , o f any a g e , i n c l u d i n g c h i l d r e n , f a m i l i e s and :0 p l e w o r k i n g in g r o u p s , w h ic h must nave been t a k e n w i t h i n t h e p a s t f i v e y e a rs i n t h e B r i t i s h I s l e s . C e a d lin e f o r s u b m is s i o n o f p h o to g r a p h s i s F r i d a y A p r i l 23rd 1976. The o pen in g d a t e o f t h e e x h i b i t i o n is September 1976 and w i l l be a t th e Shaw T h e a t r e L i b r a r y , London. CHILDREN PHOTOGRAPHED d e t a i l s f o r s u b m is s i o n o f p r i n t s (do n o t send p h o to g r a p h s i n i t i a l l y ) f r o m : CRW/IKON, 190 G osw ell Road, London, E .C .I. t e l : 01 253 8215 o r 01 703 7217. IMAGES OF W OMEN NEWSLETTER. T h is in c l u d e s d e t a i l s o f p e o p le w o r k in g on t h i s s u b j e c t , w h e re a b o u ts o f s l i d e s , p o s te r s , v ie w in g f a c i l i t i e s , access t o e q u ip m e n t . I f you want a copy send I2 p t o A n g e la M a r t i n , Base m en t, k C h a m b e r la in S t r e e t , London, N .W .I. (phone 01 722 0395 o r - d a y no. i s A37 k355 x 118). A d ria n J. B r e g a z z i, T re n t P o ly te c h n ic , u e p a r tm e n t o f P h o t o g r a p h y , is r e s e a r c h i n g i n t o "Th e p l a c e o f R o b e rt F ra n k in th e d e v e lo p m e n t o f t h e p h o t o g r a p h i c d o c u m e n t" . I f anybody has a n y t h i n g t o c o n t r i b u t e pe rh a p s th e y w o u ld g e t in to u c h d i r e c t w i t h him a t T r e n t P o l y t e c h n i c , Dryden S t r e e t , N o t t in g h a m , NGI kBU. No p h o t o g r a p h i c p i c t u r e t h a t e v e r was ta k e n i n heaven o r e a r t h , o r in th e w a t e r s u n d e r n e a t h th e e a r t h , o f a n y t h i n g , o r s c e n e , however d e f e c t i v e when measured by an a r t i s t i c s c a l e , i s d e s t i t u t e o f a s p e c i a l , and what we may c a l l an h i s t o r i c , i n t e r e s t . E v e ry fo rm w h ic h i s t r a c e d by l i g h t is t h e i m p r e s s io n o f one moment, o r one h o u r , o r one age i n t h e g r e a t passage o f t i m e . E l i s a b e t h , Lady E a s t l a k e in ' Q u a r t e r l y Re v ie w ' 1857 P h o t o j o u r n a l i s t s , whose j o b i t i s t o lo o k f o r r i o t s and t r a i n w r e c k s , and o f t e n a r r i v e a t t h e sce ne i n v i b r a t i n g camera s h a k in g w h i r 1e y b i r d s , a r e t u r n in g t o t h e m o to r d r i v e . These p ro s must have a camera th e y can t r u s t t o g i v e them t h e s p l i t second a c t i o n o f a m o to r d r i v e no n a t t e r how h o s t i l e t h e e n v i r o n m e n t . In t h e i r b u s i n e s s , t h e r e i s no excuse f o r a m is sed p i c t u r e . . . .These p h o t o g r a p h e r s t r a v e l l e d a l l o v e r t h e w o r l d on P r e s i d e n t i a l m is s io n s , to in t e r n a t io n a l co n fe re n c e s , w a r s , d i s a s t e r s and s n o r t i n ' e v e n ts ‘ A a v e r t is e m e n c The OTHER Cinema i s t r y i n g t o r a i s e money to w a rd s o p e n in g a new cinema w h ic h w i l l be co n c e rn e d w i t h a ' s o c i a l ' o r ' c r i t i c a l ' a p p ro a c h t o f i l m , as opposed t o ' c o m m e r c i a l ' cinema o r ' a r t ' cin e m a . They a r e p l a n n i n g t o h o ld s e m in a r s and co n f e r e n c e s t o d i s c u s s f i l m s , media and c u l t u r e in g e n e r a l . The B . F . I . has p ro m is e d £ 1 7 ,5 0 0 p r o v i d e d The OTHER Cinema can match i t . They have a l r e a d y fo u n d a p o t e n t i a l b u i l d in g i n C h a r l o t t e S t r e e t , London, W .1. so p le a s e h u r r y and send d o n a t i o n s t o them a t 12/13 L i t t l e Newport S t r e e t London, W.C.2. Or i f you want f u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n c o n t a c t Pamela Engel o r N i c k H a r t - W i l l i a m s on 01 73k 8508. SCAN - a new f i l m magazine SCAN w i l l s e r v e as an e x c h a n g e / s h o w c a s e / p l a t f o r m f o r anyone u s in g f i l m who needs c o n t a c t s / f i n a n c e / feedback. By a d i s p l a y o f j o t t i n g s , b l u e p r i n t s , c r e d o s , schem ata, sce n a r i o s , s t o r y b o a r d s and s t i l l s - in e f f e c t th e ' w o r k i n g s ' o f f i l m p r o j e c t s - r e a d e r s w i l l be o f f e r e d a c l e a r s i g h t o f th e m o t iv e s and p r a c t i c e s o f f i l m - m a k e r s and p h o t o g r a p h e r s (we in t e n d t o s u b s c r i b e t o a more co m p re h e n s iv e c o n c e p t o f * f i 1m u s e r ' ) . C opie s o f SCAN a r e a v a i l a b l e from K e i t h Kennedy, 13 K y r l e Road, London, S . W . I I . a t 20p (25p i n c p £ p ) . In te n d in g c o n t r i b u t o r s a r e a d v is e d t o examine SCAN I b e f o r e s u b m i t t i n g m a t e r i a l f o r t h e new i s s u e . SCAN 2 w i l l be d e v o te d t o ' F i l m i n E d u c a t i o n ' F u r t h e r i n f o r m a t i o n from G i n n i e A t k i n s o n , John M i t c h e l l , J i n i R a w lin g s o r Graham Sowter - day 01 801 1235 ex 13 ( a s k f o r SCAN). " L e t ' s Make a F i l m " F e s t i v a l . London Co-op E d u c a t io n D e p a rt m e n t, 129 Seven S i s t e r s Road, London, N.7- a re o r g a n i s i n g a n a t i o n a l young p e o p l e ' s film fe s tiv a l. C lo s in g d a te f o r a p p l i c a t i o n s i s March 1 s t 1976. W rite t o t h e Deputy E d u c a t io n S e c r e t a r y a t above a d d re s s f o r e n t r y fo rm s and d e ta ils . The f i c t i o n i s a l r e a d y t h e r e , th e w r i t e r ' s ta s k is t o in v e n t the re a li ty . J . G. B a l l a r d I t ' s e s s e n t i a l t o u n d e rs ta n d t h a t o u r e x h i b i t i o n i s n o t a b o u t a r c h it e c t u r e . I t ' s n o t n e c e s s a r ily a b o u t town p la n n in g . - LARRY HERMAN I d o n 't see m y s e lf a s a p h o to g ra p h e r as s u c h . I j u s t happen t o use t h i s t o o l . - RON McCORMICK I am n o t s u re any m ore w h e th e r yo u s h o u ld make c o n c lu s iv e s ta te m e n ts . NICK HEDGES Page 4 “Well, its a nice beginning!” Photography is always being reborn. Fresh green shoots break through the gravestones o f the big magazines, avoiding the blunt scythe o f television and shrinking advertising budgets. A new generation o f photographers appear. Most have never worked fo r a magazine or newspaper or taken an advertising photograph. They think o f themselves as documentary photographers or photojournalists, hut their craft deserves a new>name - com munity photo graphy. Unimpressed by editorial authority or deadlines, they like to spend a long rime living with the people they photograph. They reject the fly-in, fly-out coverage o f the photo journalist. The best lack scientific detachment o f the docum entary which preserved the patina o f poverty on large camera or slow film. Community photographers do not steal pictures. Through economy and faith, they are opposed to the aggressive magazine or agency photog rapher hung around with half a dozen cameras. How did it happen? Ron McCormick: Originally the RTPI (Royal Town Planning Institute) just wanted a set of pictures for their annual conference and they’d seen a set on Oldham that’s in a book and asked for them. I think this was about a year before their conference. I thought about it for a month. Decided it would be nice to do some thing new, something fresh, went and put the idea to them and they were keen. I spent a few weeks thinking about it. Talked to Larry and to Nick and we went back to them and said we would like to look at the nature o f the urban environment and how people were living in cities. Nick Hedges: Ron was at a wedding and also at the wedding was the President o f the Royal Town Planning Institute. He got chatting to her and sold the idea of doing it. He very generous ly decided that he couldn't do it by himself and at that time our bigger group o f seven or eight people had folded up and we were looking for something that we could do as a group and he suggested this. That’s really the bare bones of it. Her presidential year ended at this annual conference in Bristol which is where the exhib ition was on first of all. The theme of her presidential year had been ‘Problem in the City’. The other thing that was interesting to me is that they didn't really want to know what we were going to say. No interest at all. until actually it was done. Completely open brief, no suggestions as to what we should photograph. I rather regretted that in some ways, I mean it’s all very well working in a completely open way, you then begin to wonder if they are really interested. What was the altitude o f the Royal Town Plan ning Institute? Ron McCormick: They had a certain amount of faith in me because they’d invited me, they’d seen my pictures. I said I’d like to do something new about the cities, very abstract at that stage, but a completely new exhibition and I’d also like to bring in a couple o f other photographers. I said it would cost them money which it wasn't going to do before. Did you just go to them with the final package, or were they sort o f talking to you all along? Ron McCormick: All along, really, it grew. I mean the second stage was after they accepted that it was going to cost them money which it wasn’t going to before. The three of us sat down then and drafted out a synopsis, there was about six pages or something, a synopsis for the exhibition broken down into headings and areas of concern within the exhibition with some quotes, textual quotes, and we also gave them a portfolio o f photographs, about a dozen photo graphs which we said would be the sort o f pic ture which we saw in the exhibition, the way we could see it developing. So they had quite a big package and we, at the same time, drafted out a budget o f some sort, which in fact turned out to be half the final budget and which they accept ed. That was about fifteen hundred. Half the budget which they had to pay ? Ron McCormick: It was an underestimate. How did you estimate it? Ron McCormick: Just roughly through our own experience. A sort of rough fee for ourselves which we increased later, some sort o f notional estimate of film stock, travelling expenses and mounting expenses. This came to about £1,500. The whole way the project was funded just didn’t allow any of us to work on it full time. It took a lot of our time. Out of a year it sort of In Britain they are financed by grants to 'social ly aware' photographers from business, the Arts Council, Regional Arts Associations, charities and a few courageous professional institutes. Money is available fo r com munity photography, part o f the move to 'thinking small '. ‘Problem in the City’ was produced by Ron McCormick, Nick Hedges and Larry Herman for last year’ annual conference o f the Royal Town s Planning Institute. In 32 targe panels it boldly combines photographs with quotes from books, newspapers, government reports and interviews. The pictures were taken in many cities and locations including Clydeside, the South Coast, Greater London. Merseyside, West Midlands. Tyneside and South Wales. When this important exhibition arrived at the Institute o f Contemporary Arts in London. Tom Picton went to talk to the photographers. He spoke to Ron McCormick and Larry Herman together, followed by Nick Hedges. As he asked them the same questions, ice have combined the answers. ate up about five or six months solid for each of us. For that we got £1.200 between three o f us from the RTPI. £400 for six months' work. Did that include all the mounting? Ron McCormick: No. that was on top. That was a straight fee. The way we budgeted it was a straight fee. plus all expenses on the top o f it. The total cost o f the exhibition was £2,700. That was all in ? Ron McCormick: Of which £1.200 went to us. So who did pay fo r it in the end? Nick Hedges: It was paid for by the Royal Town Planning Institute and by the Arts Council. The Arts Council made a grant to the RTPI for the purposes of a photographic exhibition. Do you know how much they gave? Nick Hedges: Not off hand. I think it was something like seven-five hundred pounds. Letchworth Garden City gave two fifty, so the RTPI had to find about fifteen hundred, I think, or maybe a bit less than that. I don't know. So what did Letchworth Garden City get out o f it all? Nick Hedges: They had a few photographs of Letchworth Garden City in the exhibition. Ron McCormack: There were certain actions which we took right at the beginning which es tablished a freedom for us which was quite im portant. This was very important to actually have that freedom, to make a statement, which they necessarily weren't going to accept and to get them to pay for it, needed a hell o f a lot of organising and good faith. From what y o u ’ve been saying. / gather you had no constraints from the Town Planning Institute? Ron McCormick: Absolutely none at all. Larry Herman: While we were editing and shooting, we did on a couple of occasions show the RTPI the photographs. Our working rela tionship with the RTPI was fine, wasn't some thing we presented to them at the end and they said, ‘Christ, look what they've done.' It wasn't like that. I feel very friendly towards them. It's essential to understand that this exhibition is not about architecture. It’s not necessarily about town planning, but basically it's about the people who are affected by these two orienta tions. these two pursuits - town planning and architecture. Ron McCormick: That’s right. It's very much about the link in between - this is the people and this is the nature of the environment they live in and how they have to come to terms with it. how they live within it and the things that are good and the things that are bad. Larry Herman: By and large these new projects.lhese new developments are jerry-built. They’re not going to last. They’re built to make profits for the next generation of developers. Ron McCormick: Very important. They're also built without any real understanding of quality of environment. Look at the Red Road flats in Glasgow. Can you honestly tell me that much thought was put into quality o f environment for people who live on the thirtieth floor, or down on the ground? Larry Herman: The thing is you see that under lining development in this country is the profit motive. Underlining, directly, vast sums of money have been made. One o f the captions says, at the top end o f the pile, a hundred men have shared over £400 million. This is what motivates this country. It's tempered from time to time by liberalism and a Christian conscience perhaps - for want of a better expression - but it’s profit making. It’s capitalism, and this is what’s the sickness o f this society. This exhibi tion is one more agitational effort. All over this country people are becoming aware. I f i t ‘ an agitprop exercise, why do you show it s in a place like the ICA ? Larry Herman: Basically for two reasons. One reason is that the ICA hanging here was done with the people involved in town planning and architecture and government. We would hope that they would come. Give them an opportun ity. But the exhibition is going to tour for a couple o f years and it's going to tour all over the country. In that time it’s going to give an op portunity for people who are not professional town planners to see the exhibition and to show them that this is what three photographers have discovered. I went into this exhibition because o f certain orientation, certain political orienta tion, but I discovered many things about this, about new housing and old established housing and essentially I discovered that people for the first time in our generation, at least, are articu lating this great separation between them and the people who govern them, make the rules. And I think this is happening on the shop floor, and is also happening in individual communities at a very, very local level, street organisations beginning in this country for the past four or five years, and this is a start. And I think it’s just a matter o f time before people, you know, demand democracy in this country. At the moment people don't have democracy, they live under an oligarchy, certainly not a democracy. Ron McCormick: Do you think. Tom. that there would be somewhere else better to have shown this exhibition? The problem is always who actually sees what you do. I f you produce a radical magazine, who is reading it? Ron McCormick: In that sense. I think this is probably one o f the best places that we could show it at, because it’s one of the few places that architects and planners deem worth visiting. The number of architects’ shows they put on here, the number o f symposiums and archi tectural debates. We very much had this in mind. Does the ICA < Institute o f Contemporary Arts, London) hire it out ? Ron McCormick: The ICA hung the show for nothing and they produced posters, gave the space and we organised the crates and had it all mounted up and it’s all coated in plastic so it can’t come to much harm so it’s all light and easy to hang. And the ICA now tour it at a basic cost to cover transport, insurance and the cost of producing posters. They've taken it over, have they? Ron McCormick: We asked them to take it over. By showing it here was a way o f getting someone to take it over. It was one of those delicate negotiations. They’re going to deal with the administration. We just forget it. We’re photographers. We don’t want to spend our time lugging this thing around and hanging it. Tlie ICA can do it. What do you think putting text, as you have, adds to the exhibition? Larrv Herman: I think it breaks down one as pect o f the drawback of photography, being simply visual. People use words, people might think conceptually in images, but communicate in words. And I think that, perhaps besides from music - which is considerably universal words are much more viable means of communi cation in many ways and combining the photo graphy and text sort of overcomes this draw back to photography. One o f the interesting things, one o f the things that editors have always said about photography is that i t ’ difficult to edit your own pictures. s That one o f the great arguments with the jour nalistic magazines is that you had to separate the functions o f photographer, writer and editor. For example, i f a photographer had bled to get a particular picture, he didn t particularly want that one thrown out. But you did the whole process. Ron McCormick: We’re very aware o f the whole editing process. That produced dilemma after dilemma, not just as we were actually shooting and going through it, all that, but then in terms o f what aspect we were going to explore further. But when it actually came, we had all the pictures there on the floor, -we actually di vided them into two piles, good pictures and not-so-good pictures. How did you gel to that stage ' Ron McCormick: We went through each other’s contacts, pointed out things that we thought were...If I suddenly saw on Larry’s contacts a picture which I thought had a place in the exhib ition and he hadn't printed that. I’d say. ‘Well. Page 5 Interview can we see that?’ And we just built up until we had about a thousand proof prints. Larry Herman: The main thing was that we didn't edit these things by ourselves. We edited with three different people. And I assure you that we did fall out. did have arguments. Three different people, do you mean three other...? Ron McCormick and Larry Herman: No. Among ourselves. Larry Herman: And we did disagree and we did agree. I mean, all these pictures, maybe less than a handful we all agreed, this picture, not that it was a good image, but because it was a good image because it was placed in context. And it was very much of the group working together and editing each other. We saw each of our contacts and proofs, talked... Ron McCormick: The editing process was quite a valuable experience for us. We ended up with a pile of about a hundred what we thought were acceptable pictures, and this other much bigger pile of practically rejects. Three piles. One pile of rejects was just out. the second pile o f practi cally rejects, and we might go to them if we need, and we found that through editing, actual ly having to illustrate a concept, we were contin ually having to go to what we didn’t consider as being good pictures. Because in those piles were pictures that illustrated a point. What is it that makes a good picture? Is it some sort of high blown. almost line-art aesthetic or is it a criteria that is determined by its illustrative capacity? We ended up by having to use pictures on many different levels. Some levels, the pictures stood on their own right, sometimes didn't even need captions, didn't need any sort of text references at all. In other cases, they worked very well with another picture, two pictures together. And in the third case in which photographs were almost used as punctuation to extend an idea to another section. We didn’t use them just because they were pictures in their own right and they could stand on their own. they acted as some sort of link. They were like the ‘ands’, the ‘ifs’, and the 'huts’ that one would use in a sentence. How were these panels put together? Ron McCormick: These early panels are very broad conglomeration o f city images. They begin to talk about people. They begin to talk about how people live in their environment. An other point o f view that I think is quite impor tant that we should make, we never actually saw any difference between the text and the pic tures. We always saw the text and the pictures working on parallel lines, one complementing the other. Larry Herman: Not illustrating the other. Ron McCormick: Not illustrating and neither one or the other having predominance. So we hope that when the people go around, not only are they struck by the images, but they actually spend time looking at the text and reading it. It makes a very strong political point then under pins what is being said in the pictures and vice versa. The two work hand in hand. It’s not a question of a whole page of text and you have a little picture up in the corner. Both the text and the photographs have equal validity in our eyes. Who laid it out? Did you lay it out on a floor or on a table? Ron McCormick: Yes. What we did was we took over this warehouse and built within it a huge room, so that we had plenty o f wall space to actually use. plenty of floor space. We took all the pictures there with all the text and we worked out some sort of rough skeleton for the exhibition in terms o f concept, idea, and then began to break the pictures up into those areas so that these pictures were defin itely in the introduction, so that these pic tures were definitely in the council estates. So you were separating into panels or spreads? Ron McCormick: More into subjects, into spreads, and the number of panels which went into each spread. Did you work out each /ranel and then finally work out the order o f panels? Ron McCormick: No. No. no, no. We worked out the order of the spread as it were. What we wanted to start with and what we wanted to finish with. What we wanted to say. at the beginning, what we wanted to say at the end. And how we went about it in between. And then, very abstractly, broke up the pictures .into that sort o f order and the text. We ended up with lots and lots of piles all the way along the floor, all round the room. How concrete were these sub-categories ? Ron McCormick: They became, within a week or so. they became very concrete. Can volt sat what they were.' Ron McCormick: First of all was an intro duction. general view of the city, relationship between people, and environment, then we looked at the problem, the sort of heritage within the city. Then we looked at the muni cipal response to solving the problem, council estate and New Town and that sort of thing. Then we went onto the new city, the overall planning. We then went to finance and poli tics, business interests, on the planning pro cess. We then went into how that affected the new city centre. From that we went onto I think social services as a municipal way o f deal ing with stress and the whole problems gen erated by living in the cities, living in mass groups. Larry Herman: And also stress derived from town planning. Ron McCormick: And then we went back into an area which we called village in the city, which we saw as a natural way that people have o f dealing with the problems of living in a city, o f living in large groups, large communities. They sort of focus down and they build a small community o f corner shop and small neighbour hood, a few streets. How long did it lake to make the exhibition? Nick Hedges: I .think our first meetings were in something like November 74. We realised that we would have to stop shooting pictures in about March or April to be ready in time. You could say that, discussion in November, shooting pictures through to April, and then just the physical business of putting together, editing through all this material we’d got, and that took about two months from April to June, from the end of April to the beginning of June, to as semble the material, be mounted, and the conference, the deadline was the middle of June. June the thirteenth, I think. Ron McCormick: It took a year from beginning to end with about six months setting it up. How many days do you think you actually did each ? Ron McCormick: It would be very difficult to determine that. Larry Herman: When we stopped shooting and were simply editing, we were putting in thir teen. fourteen hour days, fifteen hour days sometimes. Ron McCormick: From nine in the morning, nine, ten o’clock in the morning to after midnight. Larry Herman: And that went on for about four or five weeks. Ron McCormick: There is an element of pro test in the exhibition, the whole concept of the exhibition - we’re saying, look we have a right to contribute to the planning of our cities, that’s what the exhibition is about. By doing the exhibition we’re actually taking part in the planning process. We’re actually talking with planners, by doing it for them, by presenting it for them, by putting the ex hibition on at their annual conference, by going along and talking to them, and we gave a paper and we explained that. Nick Hedges: That’s why I have reservations about my own, our own, exhibition. It’s a generalised statement, not a statement of specifics. If you can be specific about things, then you run the risk of being specific about the wrong thing, but that's up to you, but what you don’t run the risk of is missing things out, you can put in everything... Ron McCormick: In town planning terms, it doesn't go far enough, if s not radical enough for town planners. For many town planners it’s saying the things that lots of people have said to them time and time again. But this is part of the schizophrenic nature of the exhibition. It’s not just talking to town planners, it’s also talking to people as well. And because it is, ifs in a funny middle road situation. If anything, ifs sort of populist exhibition. It’s too easy. Ifs trying to please, not please, ifs trying to speak to too many people. Nick Hedges: What I do think is important is to be specific in documentary photography, deal with one thing very hard, which I think is why Phillip Jones Griffith’s book about Vietnam is so good. Larry Herman: The reason why this exhibi tion works so well is that we understood very well exactly what we wanted to do. We went ahead and did it. This is not to say that we didn’t change along the way but essentially weunderstood what we wanted to do. Ron McCormick: It’s very much a matter of discipline. As a photographer you either work on your own. exploring your own responses to the world, and making essentially personal state ments about your situation and your situation within the world or you work with other people and you make general comments and statements Page 6 Continued.... about the world, they are generally acceptable, generally understood - whether they're accept able or not is another matter. Up until now the newspaper and the magazine provided an outlet for that area, sa
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      • archiveFour Corners Bishopsgate
      • vimeo_link
      • authorSee sections X to AC
      • author_editorTony Bock, Terry Dennett, Mike Goldwater, Janet Goldberg, Neil Gulliver, Dave Hoffman, Cal Johnson, Marilyn Dalick-Noad, Tom Picton, Joanna Spence, Paul Trevor, Wal
      • author_writerTerry Dennett, Dave Hoffman, Tom Picton, Margaret Murray, Paul Carter, Keith Kennedy
      • author_photographerMark Edwards, Richard Greenhill, Robbie Clark, Teresa Shine, Danny Hayes, Michael McDonagh, Alan Fitzgerald, Tina Regan, John Roche, James Klugman
      • author_designer Haseley (Illustrator), Ralph Steadman (Cartoonist)
      • author_intervieweeMark Edwards, Clive Baylis, Robbie Clark, Teresa Shine, John Ryan, James Hatcher, Mike Parchment, Blackfriars young photography group
      • author_organisationSunday Times Magazine (Front Cover Oct 5)
      • tagswar & conflict,third world,documentary,war,poverty,mark edwards,photo-journalism,community photography,violence,death,imperialism,colonialism,colleges,amateur photography,blackfriars settlement,blackfriars young photography group,'doing photography',photography libraries,photography archives
      • titleCamerawork Magazine - Issue 02
      • subtitleIssue 2: Doing Photography War Photojournalism Third World
      • dimension9 pages
      • ocr1
      • copyrightFour Corners/Half Moon Photography Workshop/Camerawork, Terry Dennett, Dave Hoffman, Tom Picton, Margaret Murray, Paul Carter, Keith Kennedy, Mark Edwards, Richard Greenhill, Robbie Clark, Teresa Shine, Danny Hayes, Michael McDonagh, Alan Fitzgerald, Tina Regan, John Roche, James Klugman, Clive Baylis, John Ryan, James Hatcher, Mike Parchment, Blackfriars young photography group, Haseley (Illustrator), Ralph Steadman (Cartoonist), Sunday Times Magazine
      • credits
      • relatedTony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2017/03/02/tony-bocks-east-end/ Tony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/03/24/tony-bocks-farewell-to-the-east-end/ Tony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/03/16/tony-bocks-east-enders/
      • locationBethnal Green, London, UK (pg 1,2) New York, USA. Pakistan. Nepal. Thailand. South Korea. India. Africa. Denmark. Bangladesh (pg 3) Vietnam. Lebanon. Angola. Ireland (pg 4-6) Blackfriars, London, UK
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      • origination_date1976
      • origination_year1976
      • origination_month0
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      • pdf_textTwo "Special Constables" 1926 General Strike courtesy James KlugmanCollection Doing Photography War Photojournalism Third World No 2 i Half Moon Photography Workshop April/May 1976 20p Central Park. New York City 1975 Mark Edwards: Thoughts of a Third World Photograper Since leaving Guildford School o f Art. Mark Edwards has worked in the Third World, mainly for 'People', quarterly magazine o f the Inter­ national Planned Parenthood Federation. He has also attended world conferences in Bucharest, Rome. Mexico City and will shortly go to Vancouver. At present, he is producing a book about a commune in Denmark and has re­ cently been to New York (above). Although he gets paid less in two weeks than an advertising photographer can make in a day. Mark Edwards shows it is still possible to travel to unromantic places. Tom Picton talked to Mark Edwards for CAMERAWORK. Extracts : It was a really exhausting trip because we were working right o ff the plane. We did a whole lot in one day. It was Pakistan, then Nepal, then Thailand, then South Korea. Everything foll­ owed, one after the other and it was like work­ ing all hours o f daylight every day. Only four weeks, and that was the other thing, it was really compressed. It wasn’ like the first time t I went to India. I took a year and a half for the trip. One o f th?extraordinary things. We were in a village in Nepal. It was a very difficult walk to get there, it was very high up. The next day we were on some Pan Am Round-the-World jet on the way to some airport. It really was extraordinary. Very confusing actually. It builds up because we were going in different directions. That village in Nepal really struck me as being like a Medieval village would be anywhere - in the West even - I mean it just got into using iron, but only just. 1 was going to say no system o f government. But there was internally, but someone was murdered there a girl, I think, o f about 14, and all the girls o f about that age left the next day because they were all frightened. Those kinds o f things kept happening when we were there. Quite a brutal place, actually. 1 landed in Katmandu with the writer and I think we spent a couple odd days there. The issues that we were actually reporting on were how contraceptives and education - health education - can be disseminated to people who don ’ read and write and really have their life t cut out just to stay alive in fact. What we were trying to do was to show what the prob­ lems are o f bringing this kind o f technology into what is virtually a Medieval society. Sud­ denly you go in there and say “ Look, there are too many people. You have to do something about it. Y ou’ going to starve. There’not re s going to be enough land, not enough foo d ” . And you try to present the problem. We were just trying to show what the situation - even in the field - is like. What the people are like. What the environment is like. What the people feel about the whole thing and all the rest o f it. So the photo story was to just try to show as intimately as is possible in such a short time what it is like out there. What the daily routine is like. What we did was to walk up to this village and at that time John had dysentery and I had flu, and we had to climb very high up. Almost to the point that we couldn't breathe, cou ldn ’get t enough oxygen, but I remember we got to this village before it got dark, and we were with John Carr who is a nurse and who has been out there for a long time. We got into this weird little Nepali hut. and there were all these guys sitting around and chatting away in very low voices. Sitting around this fire - the smoke completely filled the room. And both o f us are lying there, sick as dogs. It seemed to carry on all night, and early the next morning they were still there, still talking away. Anyway they got up, and I went out with the camera and started walking around the village and just quietly, as quietly as possible, try to show the routine o f the village. Its a very constant amount o f work that people have to do. It doesn't seem to make much difference what the seasons are. It probably is harder during the planting, but it seems to be pretty constant in my experience. And again, if you ’ feeling sick, re as most people are, and by that time we were as well. I went up to another village. I went with a Nepalese guy who spoke a bit o f English. Some­ one coming from that village said that there was an outbreak o f some illness, and everyone was dying. In fact, they w eren’ When we got there t. what it was was a funeral- celebrations going on for several days, and everybody was drunk. It was extraordinary actually. They were all crammed into one room and drinking away like mad and looking terribly happy. Shining faces I remember. What one hopes will emerge - and very quickly out in these countries, it doesn't seem like there’ very much time. Would be a much s broader attitude towards the whole situation. We’ got to be responsible for what we’ ve re doing here - w e’ all on the planet you know. re In India and the Third World, people actually feel the pain o f not having enough food. Its the heat and the uncomfortable climate and the appalling work in the field. T here’an idea that s village life is wonderful - you ’ close to God re to nature, but that’ a totally romanticised view s o f it. T here’ fear in p eop le’ faces in the s s villages because the w ater’bad and the children s are dying. The work is abominable for half the year. To be out there in the hot sun and weed the rice by hand - now they’ using chemicals re to do this. Its wiped out the fish in the rivers in many parts o f India - its wiped out all kinds o f aquatic life. We’ introducing the Western re problems without significantly reducing the Third World problems out there. There was a Reserve Bank o f India research thing that showed that if you measure poverty at a cal­ orific level rather than at an income level, which experts agree to do in the Third World, 70% o f the people in India aren’getting enough food t that’ an appalling amount, isn ’ it? Terrible. s t And if they don ’get enough food when they’ t re children, the brain cells are damaged, and that’ s not being talked about because its such a diff­ icult thing to talk about. I think it requires a lot o f work outside o f the magazine assignments. I think that to get any kind o f information or message across - perhaps message is the wrong word - but I think that what you can do as a photographer is to make people curious. People looking at a picture will, hopefully, want to ask questions. Will want to find out something about the situation. What I would really like to do, I spend a lot o f time covering Third World development issues, is to be able to put together a book - What’ s happening in the Third World. continued next page . . . 1 Photography is very often used in a very crude way, and all of us have used it in a very crude way, but it can also be used in a very subtle way as well. For that sort of situation to work in, you’ve got to have time to think about the pre­ sentation and the way the pictures are going to be used together. I don’t ever show people contact sheets. You take so much rubbish, don’t you? The main point is that people don't really know how to read contacts unless they're really used to it. I find it quite hard choosing from contacts. The pictures I like best 1 don’t discover until a couple of years later. The funny thing is that I found some pictures that 1 took when I was very young - about 9 or 10 - and there are one or two pictures that I would have been quite glad to have taken now. Quite nice images. It seems to me that what happens is that with some people you take a lot of explanatory, documentary-type pictures. Essentially when you re choosing pictures like this, you are documenting a situation - and every now and again - you don ’t know when it’s going to happen - sometimes you know wljen it does happen, but sometimes you don’t - you finally get a picture with everything in its right place, and the root meaning of the word, ’art’ is everything in its right order. It can happen quite casually and simply. Out of the run-ofthe-mill collection of pictures if you go through the contacts, then it suddenly clicks, and there it is. I can tell you a terrific example o f setting a picture up - alot of people laugh when 1 tell them, but the picture from the back of the Taj Mahal - it's not the one of the body being eaten, but it's one that hasn’t really been publish very much. I think it’s better in a way. It’s just a skeleton, and the legs are pointing out towards the Taj Mahal, but actually, when I was there, when I arrived on the scene, the legs were point­ ing the other way, and I could see that it would be just ridiculous not to move it. I know it sounds ghastly, but I just moved it around, and there you are. I’m very rarely in situations where it is possible to set up. You can't really get people to go through things again. If you do a portrait of somebody, you tend to look around for a good place to do it. Eugene Smith said he couldn’t see anything wrong with it as long as it was done with integrity, and I don’t see that as a contradiction. I mean here 1 had two elements, and the Taj Mahal is stunningly beautiful. I got up very early that morning: had to cross the river on a camel, and they said try and find somewhere different - so I went around the back. Wating for the next body to come down the river - I didn’t know this hap­ pened - I looked around on the bank, and there was not only one body or two bodies, but a whole lot - 1 was just out of art school, and that really affected me. It really hurt. I’ve watched people look at pictures I’ve taken, and they flip through them - pictures that I've really worked hard to get. and people think quite glibly, well, that is quite easy to take and that sort o f thing. It was a horrifying thing to see - the first time I’ve seen a dead body. 1 was very angry as well. There was this chap who was so poor that they couldn’t find enough wood to burn him on, and so he just sort of washed up. It would have been irresponsible in that situation not to have taken a picture - it would have been not doing the job I set out to do - which at that time wasn't very clearly defined. I just had a certain feeling about what I wanted to do in India. The assignment I did in Lagos and Ghana for ’People’ was the most difficult assignment I’ve ever had. Hellish. Lagos is in such a state. Ter­ rifying and frightening. I had to get pictures from the wqrst part of the town, and the roads. You'd be walking in shit, literally -- 12 inches of mud and sewage - oh, God -- and being the only white face. too. It hadn’t been photographed before apparently. I’m walking down this street and looking at houses on either side o f it, and no drainage except for the road which was sloping down towards the swamp at the edge o f the city, and suddenly there were these big tables in the open air and about forty guys just cutting up animals. When they saw me there was a great yell, and they swung their hatchets around in the air. I carried on walking down there - the whole ground becomes shit and bones. And the smell. A complete lack of any sense of order, and there you are trying to look for a certain sense of order in a picture, and I just couldn’t do it. I stopped trying to get pictures like that because the situation just didn’t warrant it. Everybody either hated you, or they wanted to be in a picture. One day I was walking along in Richard Greenhitl Mark Edwards continued... I was walking around to a different part of the village, and suddenly there was this child, very sick, but in their terms not ill at all. In their terms, just growing pains. Open sores. Seeing it is a horrific moment that you are shielded from in this country - in America as well. It’s just one image that eventually adds up to a fairly overall picture of the kind of scenes if you’re on the street out there. the centre, the good part, of the city, and we were walking by the water and under a tree saw what I first thought was a young woman asleep but she was dead, and she was being eaten — from inside her clothes. Just a glance, that was all I could take. We had to walk past to get into the boat, and the vibrations of our feet caused all these insects and lizards to struggle out from underneath her dress and scamper away up the trees. There is a permanent traffic jam there only a few roads, Nigeria is suddenly rich with all the oil money, and so lots of people have cars and it takes longer to get in if you live eight miles away than it does to cycle in - but the prestige and all that shit. We were part o f it all. John saw the body o f a child in the road, just being knocked about. I didn’t sec it. Thousands of children dying. There was a taxi with a slo­ gan on the back which said, ‘No condition persists’ - and then suddenly from outside this little shop, we heard, ‘Hark, the Herald Angels Sing’ - it was so bizarre. And then we saw a sign which said, ‘We regret any inconvenience caused by a road-widening scheme.’ I couldn’t photo­ graph any of that. That would have been polar­ izing the issue and irresponsible use of the camera. What came over very strongly for me was this big division that people think about be­ tween life and death. It’s such a tenuous thing; such a fine line. Here was a young girl that just got dressed that morning and then - boom there she is being eaten on the side of the street. If that picture of the girl had been taken, then that would have been quite big - regardless of whether or not it was an articulate picture in photographic terms - and people would have gotten a strong impression. And you can imag­ ine the kind of caption that would have gone along with it. People would have thought that they would be bound to see dead bodies if they went there. How bad it is there, it isn’t that bad, and that ’s only a very small part of the pic­ ture but makes such a strong impact on someone not being used to seeing death. It would have created the wrong impression. I glanced at the girl when I first saw her, but I took everything in fantastically fast - took in detail which norm­ ally one would spend a few minutes looking at I had seen detail in that whole situation in such a trapped, clearly-defined - 1 just couldn’t look at the image any longer. 1 coyld have done it if I felt it was right. What I’ve been doing is living in a commune in Denmark, and that’s a tremendous revelation for me, getting to know people and photograph them and spend time with them. It’s an extra­ ordinary place, anyway. 1 find it very difficult to use a camera on people who are very close to me - much really if you are outside the kinds of attitudes and ideas of people. So, the first week we spent very tentatively going around and got some quite nice pictures but not intimate, and the second time got much closer and suddenly we were accepted there. They saw that we weren’t just like the press - come in and rush­ ing back to the safety of the newspaper office. We were trying to show what the freak society was like from the inside. What it felt to be a part of it with an objective view as well, of course. Seven hundred people, more than a commune - more like a bloody city, and it’s right in the centre o f Copenhagen. It’s been completely cut off from the rest o f the town they’re living in abandoned Defense Ministry buildings - barracks. None of the controls of Western society - no health inspectors, no police. Yet people live quite safely there. Ter­ rific feeling of energy. 1 use the Leica when I feel very quiet inside. When I don’t want to be a photographer, I use the Leica: just want to take pictures and look; when you’re really looking. Nikon is very tough and they’re very fast and when you’re in a sit­ uation and people know you’re a photographer and there’s no way round it because if they weren't looking at you as a photographer you’d stand out as a white man. It doesn’t really mat­ ter then what you use. Nikon s are sort of lux­ urious cameras to use somehow - to handle. Because it's so quick, because there’s two of them, you can switch very fast from tele, from 105 to 28 or whatever. It’s useful then. It’s very useful like in that village in Nepal where you just didn’t have very much time and you’re just looking for a few key images that got the flavour o f the place really, and people were going to see you. If you're photographing a group of people, you nearly always find that, even if they’re aware, there are moments when they’re not, when they’re conscious of only what’s happening within the group, and then you can shoot away very fast, and they might look up and they might sort of think. If you do it right, it doesn’t really disturb them , even if they’re conscious o f the sound o f the shutter. Work more, talk less. Government slogan on Indian bus From a documentary project o f my life More ‘Politics...’ O e r the past couple of years, it has become fashionable to frown on photojournalists as insensitive and voyeuristic. The mantle of ‘concerned photographer has been inherited by the community photographer, with the docu­ mentary photographer hovering somewhere be­ tween. What worries me is generalized criticism that rarely differentiates between taking a pic­ ture and its subsequent use. I therefore set out to question the rigid labelling of photographers, to defend photojournalists (if they must be labelled) and to ask questions about the role and definition of community photography. This is difficult. I still feel equivocal about some of the points I have raised and see my views as provisional. We should not forget that a label is an expedient which should not become an insult. It is not enough to criticize a photograph by calling it photojournalistic. This is only a style, and there are other just as important questions we should ask. Perhaps we should ask whether it is not new types o f photography we need, but new types of photographer. Rather than applying ready-made stickers, we should ask: For whom are the pictures taken? For what purpose? What are they expected to do? Once we start trying to answer these questions, the problems really begin. Many pictures are hard to categorise, for instance Eugene and Aiken Smith’s book on Minimata. Also, some photographers are beginning to understand the exploitation of which they are accused. Their work is changing. We must be careful, as Jo Spence was in her article, ’The Politics of Photography,’ CAMERAWORK, 1, that in con­ demning a photographic style as exploitive, we do not dismiss all its practitioners. We cannot ‘save’ a photographer by relabelling his or her work. We must judge the pictures and their con­ text. The photographs of Buchenwald are hid­ eous, but they record an actual event. The pho­ tographs o f prisoners being bayonneted in Bangladesh in 1971 are also hideous* but they show an event staged for the media. What is the contradiction? Is cither of the pictures more acceptable or valuable to society than the other? Emotionally 1 say yes, but logically no. Before abandoning photography in desperation - two things. Firstly any picture has historical value, although a future understanding may be entirely different from when it was taken. Secondly, all kinds o f photography can be valid and useful intimate, distant, involved or uninvolved. We forget that our view of the world is partially influenced and depends on the photographs and other images we see. Most of our knowledge about other lives comes from them. Ernest Cole’s book on South Africa, ‘House of Bondage,' is voyeuristic and often detached, but it is also one o f the few pieces of information aboui being black in a segregated community. Cole’s voyeurism is never gratitious. War photographers are criticised by many people who blame them for their own anaesthesia when confronted by photographs o f maimed bodies and starving children. To quibble about the photographers’ moral right to take such pictures is to overlook totally the nature of the events 'Going out to supper with friends' being recorded. It is the cause of the events themselves our anger should be directed against. To echo Jo Spence, it is what is done with the photographers’ pictures -- community, docu­ mentary or photojournalistic - which is the is­ sue. Exhibiting photographs o f dying soldiers in expensive galleries or glossy books divorces the image from the reality. Exactly the same dis­ location can happen to a ‘photographing the community’ project. There is a great difference between Don McCullin’s, ‘Is Anybody Listen­ ing?’ (£8.50 hardback) and Phillip Jones Griffiths’, ‘Vietnam Inc.’ (£3.50 paperback). But do the photographs differ? Is it not the presentation, the coherence and the context of the whole picture/text argument which sets Griffiths apart and prevents it becoming ‘Coffee Table’? It is easy to fall into the trap that ’makes misery into a consumer good,’ or even ‘the struggle against misery into a consumer good.’ Walter Benjamin said this about certain types o f photo­ graphy in the 1920’s. In the same essay (‘The Author as Producer’) he also gives us a clue to resolving part of the dilemma by arguing for authors being involved, and therefore control’ing, their work at all stages of production. It is easy too for us to point in horror at exam­ ples o f tragic photographs printed next to lull-colour ads selling the good life. Uncomfor­ tably the starving Indian next to the sherry ad (next to our own late Sunday breakfast) offers us information on many levels. The basic infor­ mation is still there, however unfortunate the juxtaposition, and we don’t necessarily have to see in the photographs only what the captions direct us to. The fact that the whole package may signify all manner o f things about our own society is no reason for laying all the blame on the photographer. For a start, we must find a way to read the message(s) and understand how the package is put together. One view is that money is what separates the photojournalists from the documenter and com­ munity photographer; that if you are paid to take pictures, they may be distorted; that only the community photographer or someone sim­ ilar has the freedom to take pictures which do not degrade the people photographed. There is obviously truth in this so perhaps we should add to the original three quesions: Who pays fo r the pictures? Is payment made before or after they are taken? This won't help produce a definition, but it may well confuse the issue in an illuminating way. How about: Cartier Bresson - o f independent means Walker Evans - paid for his F.S.A. work and 'Let Us ,Vo»v Praise Famous Men ’ Magnum - Photographers' co-op, turned international agency And what about all those one-off. almost anony­ mous, photographs which have become part of our lives? The deserter/looter being shot in the head by a Vietnamese colonel. Paid for. Would we really believe that it happened without the picture? Unfortunately, even when we believe it, we very rarely take the next step and ask our­ selves, ‘Who is to blame?’ and then, ‘What can we do about it?’. But the pictures give us the chance. 3 Does community photography offer an escape from the dilemmas of other types of photogra­ phy? Or does it just pose other problems we h haven’t yet started to discuss? What is a com­ munity photographer? Like it or not, there appear to be as many varieties being called this as being called photojournalist, but they seem to fall into two distinct types, divided into sec­ tions. There are those who help others to use photography as a tool for recording their envi­ ronment or discovering themselves; and there are those who use photography to document an area or situation in order to change it or reflect it. This latter group may work for a community it­ self or aim at a much wider audience (one will show pictures in local pubs, news-sheets or gal­ leries: the other in central galleries or glossy books). There are also numerous people who call themselves community photographers but who are really old-style photojournalists, pictorialists or self-expressionists. All these types of community photography raise different but crucial questions which we should ask ourselves. What is a community? How big? Are those using photography as a toot also try­ ing to act as social workers or therapists? Or Joes com munity photography encourage people to change their situation rather than adapt to it as social work does? Is the grant aid attracted by some community photography projects the best way o f spending for the community? Is it really less intrusive to use your position in a community to gel pictures than it is to snatch them or persuade strangers to cooperate? Does giving people a print absolve the photo­ grapher from all guilt? Isn ‘ ’ com munity photography too easy, too t inward-looking and too incestuous? A nd in the end boring? Is a local newspaper photographer a community photographer? RESEARCH-IT-YOURSELF A. In Defence of Photojoumalists (so labelled) ‘House of Bondage’ ‘Vietnam Inc.’ ‘Minimata’ Ernest Cole Phillip Jones Griffiths Eugene & Aileen Smith (Compare with earlier work) U. Types of Community Photography Paul Carter , Mike Abrahams Bill Owens Work with young photography group in Blackfriars Slide tapes for local residents in Kentish Town Book, ’Suburbia.’ Through the Gas House Window "Look, they re focusing on us now. First they bomb as much as they please, then they film ". Vietnamese peasant in American documentary ‘Hearts and Minds’. When the Germans first began exterminating lesser people they let them die behind blank walls. Later they put in windows so that they could watch the final agonies. (This caused doubts among some Britons who had written about the scientific beauty of Nazi aircraft hangars). Today, television and the camera lens has become our gas house window.‘Shoot bloody' was once the command for American television camera crews and nightly we watch the ‘agonies’ of lesser people in Vietnam. Lebanon, Angola , Ireland, all recorded in glorious Ektachrome. Photographers and television crews risk their lives - and die - to bring us the latest atrocity. Death, the least of political facts, becomes the only reality. Perhaps one day the Third World will hate us most for this. That we used their suffering to make pictures to put in our magazines between the whisky and the car ads, to put on our television screens between the yoghurt and cornflakes commercials. That we did not even respect them when they were dead. Knowing what we do (none of us can be ignorant of these death camps) we still let the obscenities continue. Wc call the photo­ grapher hero who rode in a jet fighter 38 times to get exactly the picture he wanted of its napalm exploding on the ground. Each time some Vietnamese was being fried in the holocaust below. No magazine or television service showed the bodies dug out at Aberfan. We were rightly shocked by the television reporter who asked a young girl how she felt to lose her friends. If Aberfan had been in Angola or Beirut we would have looked at the dead with ‘compassion’ but without horror. by Margaret M’jrraY Think About It (ii) Communities Diane Arbus’ work. ‘East 100th Street’ ‘The Americans’ ‘Circus Days’ ‘Summerhiir ‘Inside Summerhiir ‘Photographer Extraordinary’ Bruce Davidson Robert Frank Jill Freeman John Walmsley Joshua Popenoe August Sander Letter-. I would like to take up some points raised in Jo Spence's article " The Politics o f Photography" in your last issue. Colleges deserve much criticism but it is essent­ ial that this criticism is directed at the real faults. The points that Jo makes ( unrealistic deadlines, no cares about cost, isolation from the feelings and needs o f the com munity and learning to pass exams ) are not the major faults anymore. Deadlines are often more real at college than outside. Colleges attem pt to fight the isolation implicit in any 'college’ by choosing projects that are a part o f the world outside, recent examples include a tape slide show fo r a con­ ference, examination o f the schools careers advice service, film on the problems o f people using Moorfields Eye Hospital and many other similar jobs. Generally there is a definite deadline which must be m et or the thing is useless. Costs are a much larger factor in college than outside it. The profit margin in professional work means that when things go wrong there is cash to make them go right again. The client The technique of war photography is simple. Few men have the necessary courage, patience and lightning reflexes required for the job. Too often, the message is clear. Dare to revolt, and this is what will happen to you. Photo­ graphs become weapons of political coercion. Instruments of fear. Pictures of villages and towns destroyed to ‘save them’ become advertisements for modem weapons. Right wing commentators fear that people will refuse to fight ‘ just’ wars because they have been frightened by photographs. ‘Just’ revolts will not start for the same reason. In Vietnam, the authorities were keen to help suitable photographers. The Press was free to show what America approved. Philip Jones Griffiths had great difficulty in attempting to show the real - snarling - face of America in Vietnam. He was helped - in part - by many Americans’ secret disgust at their own war. After his book ‘Vietnam Inc.’ was published, he was banned by the South Vietnamese. He still cannot get a visa from the North Vietnamese. We have invented an Orwellian proletariat which is attacked by war, starvation, poverty, not as an act of other men, but as an act of God. The photographer attaches himself to the lead­ ing platoon or section, either landing on the beach, jumping out of the first helicopter or plane, probing into the jungle. He lives with the soldiers. He tries to avoid car­ rying their ammunition or having to help bring in their dead and wounded, but sometimes that is unavoidable. The photographer hopes for ‘action.’ For this reason ‘good’ photographers prefer to join marines or paratroopers or such elite units which they know will fight the bloodiest battles. This is the difference between reporting and voyeur­ ism. If you befriend a group of men, live with them, and go into battle hoping for 'action,’ then you are a voyeur. Such reporting, such photographs dismiss the fact that people die because men kill them, that people starve because others over-eat, that people are poor because others are rich. If you photograph a war. show what it does to the men involved, to the people whose land it is fought over, to the men who command, then you are a reporter. Photographers are authorised by Governments. It is almost impossible to work on the streets of Northern Ireland without an approved Press card or slip of paper. can usually be persuaded to adopt a more expensive solution when this is necessary. In a college situation money is very short and the job has to be tailored very carefully indeed to fit the minute budgets available. To have colleges at all implies a separation o f learning from working but most courses make serious efforts to combat the isolation that this causes. Ivory towers are demolished by careful choice o f projects, by using real jobs as college projects and by bringing in professionals to run projects. It does feel strange to fin d m yself defending a system o f education that I have spent three years learning to mistrust and hate but i f we are to attack the college system constructively we must base our attack on its real weaknesses. The education system in this country is built to provide workers trained to support the existing economy. This means that plans fo r the future are built on the experience o f the past. This is very safe but eliminates the discovery o f the new in favour o f consolidation o f the old. work in these fields, people qualified to get a job, then they must produce visual reaction­ aries. I f they try and produce people who can make visual statements o f their own or on behalf o f a com munity then they will not be able to work in the existing image distribution network, they will n o t be able to get a job. The only openings open to these people are in exhibitions and books. Only intellectuals read books or go to exhibitions. TV and papers only use lowest common denominator pict­ ures. pictures that anyone can see and digest in seconds. As photographers we must find ways o f showing serious work on a large enough scale to enable people to learn the visual lang­ uages involved. We need to fin d ways o f doing fo r photography what street theatre has tried to do fo r theatre. Guerilla activity such as Paul Trevor's laundrette exhibition and some com munity arts programmes are beginning to open up some alternative ways o f showing pictures but until image making and public­ ation are both controlled by the same people we will always have self contradictory colleges and T V that sucks. „ „ David Hoffman War photography substitutes a new heroism of despair for the painter’s bugles and flags and pallid cheeks of honourable death. It gives the murderers a dignity which they do not deserve. Photographers have made war bitter and ugly and untrue. We should be disgusted by our unstated racial ism and that of the Western news services. C. Think About It (i) Projects Work of the Photo League in New York. 19281951 (See Time Life Library ‘Documentary.’) Work of the F.S.A. photographers in the Ameri­ can depression. Centerprise’s book publishing project, ‘A People’s Autobiography of Hackney.’ Far from aiding the afflicted, pictures from Biafra and Pakistan actively persuade people to stop giving aid to the Third World. We look at their hunger, their savagery to each other, as self-inflicted wounds. If they are capable of such things, why should we bother? It is the same blindness that encouraged German photographers to show Jews in the Warsaw ghettoes as ‘inhuman’ and help justify their extermination. This situation is corrupting for several reasons. It does not give us the 'news’ of an event. ‘Shoot bloody’ is ignorant sensationalism. Reporting with the camera, which can be an honourable profession, becomes voyeurism. Its like trying to understand the relationships between men and women, marriage, family, by only seeing pornographic films. The media o f visual communication have largely been expropriated by Big Money, guilt grants from various foundations notwithstand­ ing. I f colleges are meant to produce people to 3rd year Communication Design student North East London Polytechnic. Photographers and film crews are keen to go where the authorities will take them. A mag­ azine carries an heroic low angle picture of a British soldier in Northern Ireland - actually a marine - rather than pictures of paratroopers spreadeagling prisoners on the floor. The photograph retains one advantage over cinema or television. With music or comment­ ary television can adjust us to any brutality. It can still provide the bugles. A photograph stands alone, whatever the lies that surround it. A photograph of a napalmed child remains an outrage whatever the excuse that is given for the burning. In the cinema or television we might be persuaded that this brutality was necessary for democracy or Communism. In a photograph we will forget the excuse and remember the child. They must not brick up that window in the gas house. Rather should we break open the doors and show the storm troopers with their noses pressed to the glass. Tom Picton 4 Doing Photography Even before Richard Avedon discovered Jacques Henri Lartigue, people have known that an eight year old child could take great pictures. Like music, the photographic bug can bite early. Paul Carter o f the Blackfriars Settlement in East London is after something else. The Settlement's exhibition o f work at the Half Moon Gallery - called ‘ oing Photography' and D all taken by people between 8 and 1 7 years old indicates the spirit o f the group. ‘T hat’ why w e’ e here, rather than to take great s r photographs, ’ Paul Carter told CAMERAWORK’ ‘ t ’ fun and gives everybody a sense o f I s accomplishment. ’ The photography club began at Easter two years ago when 150 children from the Settlement went to summer camp. Some o f them took Polaroids and wanted to continue when they came back to London. A t first a few children came to develop a film one night a week, followed by more and more —until Paul Carter had groups two, three and finally, four nights a week. It became too much fo r one person to handle, so Paul Carter advertised in ‘Time O ut,’and now has seven volunteers who help four nights a week. There is a waiting list six m onths’ long. Eight children come to the photography group each night. A third o f the group are girls. Paul Carter would like more in the group and is willing to let girls jump the queue to join. ped, and two were ‘ ost. ‘ They now use Praktica l L ’ which are ‘ olding up well. ’ ‘There has never s h been any malicious damage, and no nicking, ’ Paul Carter says. As you can see from the photographs published here, others in the British Journal o f Photo­ graphy, and by coming to the exhibition at the Half Moon Gallery, the club is a great success. We all know that we really take photographs because it makes us happy. This group is certain. PAUL CARTER INTERVIEWING BLACK­ FRIARS YOUNG PHOTOGRAPHY GROUP Clive Baylis: I take more care of them now. I don’t just go out taking any pictures. A lot of people have been asking me to take pictures now ’cause they think it is a good idea to go to pho­ tography class. I think it’s good. I know how to take pictures more carefully now. Instead of just going out and just taking them and that. 1 know how to develop them now and that. It’s good to watch them, you know, getting the pic­ ture on the paper. It’s clever the way it comes out. It’s more interesting. 'Cause when I used to take things, you used to just give them to the chemist and you don’t know what they are going to come out like. But when you take films, it’s interesting watching how the picture comes and what shading you’re going to get on the picture and that. It’s good. ‘They d o n ’t think girls can join, but everyone is welcome,' Paul Carter says. A third o f the group is black which reflects the local popula­ tion. Ages range from 8 to 17, although the older ones slack o ff when they get a job. They m eet every weekday except Friday from 6 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., although often they have n o t fin ­ ished until 10 or 10:30 p.m. Robbie Dark: Now when you take a picture, you know what it’s going to come out like ’cause you know how to take pictures. You know that if you want a good picture, you have to get the head and feet in so you can see. Not have a head here and the rest all ceiling or whatever. Members can photograph what they want. Some cover outings by other clubs in the Settle­ ment. Others photograph for the local tenant’ s association or record plays being p u t on by their schools. Two members have taken photographs fo r the Work Centre fo r Handicapped People. Paul Carter: What do you do with your photo­ graphs? Within twenty minutes, a new member at their first evening group, is taking photographs. Paul or one o f the other helpers sets the camera and provides a flashgun. There is one hour to shoot, followed by developing and contacting with the assistance o f a helper. The second time they go to the club, they produce two or three prints. The process is repeated again and again. Tech­ niques are used fo r specific problems. I f a friend or relative asks them to copy a photograph, they are shown how. I f they come to a dead end, a new technique is suggested. ‘ problem needs a technique,'says Paul Carter, A ‘ r a technique needs a problem. They know o what they want to take pictures of. ’ Robbie Clark age 15 Clive and Ginger Teresa Shine: Well, when I go in I show them to my mum and dad and see what they think of them. They usually think they are quite good, and then I put them in my box and sometimes I take them to school and show me mates. ’Cause sometimes they’re interested in what I take. Then often I just show anyone w ho’s around. Paul: D oyou show them to your teachers? Teresa: Some o f them I do. You know. My tutor and that, but not all of them that 1 go ’round to see. Paul: Do your friends sometimes say that they would like to go to photography class? Teresa: Yeah. Two or three girls asked me the times and that. But I said you have to be on the waiting list. But they do want to come. Paul: Do they think photography is difficult? The club was set up with money from Kodak and the Arts Council. Paul Carter was awarded the Kodak Bursary fo r socially-committed photography three years ago. Since that was used up, the Inner London Education Authority has paid him £24 a week as a part-time teacher. (Paul Carter, o f course, does a lot o f other photographic work fo r the Settlement.) Other grants have come from the Greater London Arts Association, London Union o f Youth Clubs and the South London Union o f Trades Councils. Two anonymous people have given £200: other bits and pieces and an old 20-inch rotary glazer have been donated. Mem­ bers o f the club pay five pence a week. The club works in small groups o f three or four members with a regular helper. The groups select themselves. There are occasional splits, but the great advantage is that everybody knows each other and many live in the same estate or block o f flats. This means that they can share cameras and other equipment among themselves. They also always have a friend around to help. A t first the club used Zorki 4 cameras but had problems with the shutters. Some were drop­ Teresa: Yeah, but they want to learn it. Paul: We noticed that when photography club started and word got around that people could join, nearly all the people who asked to join were boys. You were the first girl to start. Do you think there is any reason why mostly boys were interested? Christopher Blackman aged 13 - This is a picture o f my sister in the living room curling her hair. - l— l Teresa: Well, now girls are interested. At first only boys thought they could go. I don’t think girls were interested at first. But now they’ve come to see the pictures and everything they’re more interested. And also there’s not many girls around here. Except ’round at Wilkes Row. There’s more boys here. Paul: Do you think that girls think that photo­ graphy is something they can’ do? t Teresa: No. I don’t think that at all. Because girls think they are just as good as boys and can do anything. But you know it’s harder for girls than it is for boys because they have got all the teachers. They are all boys and everything. Just girls on their own. I think there should be a few girl teachers. Danny Hayes, age 16: ‘This is my sister, Veron­ ica. She had just come back from karate, and she said it was rubbish because her partner was hopeless, so she was just showing me what she felt like doing to her. ’ Teresa Shone, age 12: ‘ this photo my mum In and my ni&ce, Jackie, are in my house posing.' 5 Paul: There are some on group nights. Do you think girl teachers would encourage other girls to come along? Teresa: It’s quite important yeah. ’Cause when I get older, you don’t know, I might be a pho­ tography teacher. It’s quite important, I suppose. Teresa: I think so. Paul: Do you do like Robbie, that even when you walk along without a camera you find your­ self seeing more keenly and see things you might not have seen before? Teresa: Yeah, I do. And I wish I had my camera with me when I look at things. Paul: Do you still appreciate what you are look­ ing at even though you d o n ’t have the camera? Is it making you notice things which are some­ how important to you which you might not have noticed before? Teresa: Some things you know. I look around. I find that whenever I ain’t got no camera there’s more interesting things to look at than when I have got my camera. Michael McDonagh age 14 - This is my mother asleep. I took this photo as I thought she would be auite fascinated to see herself asleep. Paul: Do you look and notice things a bit more, generally? Teresa: Hey, I do. 'Cause before you didn’t take no notice of things but when you’re in pho­ tography you sort o f look out for things you might take. You know when you’re walking around it’s more interesting to look at things, ’cause you want to take them. Paul: What were you just saying about Danny’ s photographs, Robbie? Robbie Clark: Do you really want to know? Paul: Yeah. Robbie: Well, it was a picture of two dogs... playing ludo...No, it was two dogs -- Randy and Dick, and they were enjoying themselves. You know. They were playing leap frog. And he got stuck halfway doing leap frog. And so I went up to her. Clive: He! It was a he, it was a boy. Paul: Suppose we have to close the club because we don’t get enough money ? Will yo u be very disappointed about that? Teresa: Yes, I really will. ’Cause there’s nothing to do on Monday nights. And besides that, I'm interested as well, you know -- a lot interested in it. I hope it will stay. If it means giving more money to photography, I would - 10 pence, twenty pence extra a week, I don’t mind. Paul: You think i t ’ worth it? s Teresa: Yeah,’cause the pictures you’re print­ ing. You just think about the pictures in the real shops. Just think how much they cost. Then you look at it here. It’s very much cheaper. And I think I would pay more money if it could keep going. Paul: Do you think that most people could learn the basics o f photography and be better photographers than they are? Robbie: Oh yeah. Anyone could. My mum’s even learned things what I’ve said. My sister takes horrible photographs, and I told her. She’s getting better. She used to take silly pictures. She’d take a picture of a person. She’d only do the head and the rest was all ceiling, and she thought that was a good picture. It would have looked twice as good if you had had all of her in. Up closer and less of the wall. So people learn. Paul: You d o n ’t have to be especially ‘ntelli­ i gent’ to do photography? Robbie: If you want to be really good, I sup­ pose you have to be. 1 don’t know really. Well, what is photography? It’s not measuring things, so you don’t have to be good at maths. You have to be good at spotting things. If you’re quite a dull person who don’t spot anything, you know, don't see much in pictures, then you can’t do it ’cause you’re not really interested. Robbie: No. Clive: It was. Alan Fitzgerald age IS - This picture is Billy in his pram sucking his bottle. Robbie: He says it was two boys. That’s why the under dog ain’t enjoying it. And the dog’s up on his hind legs and he’s got his mouth open. Paul: Do you think he should take a photo­ graph like that? Robbie: Yeah. Why not? It’s human (It’s not human). It’s life, ain’t it? Paul: Do you think it might be embarrassing to put it in the exhibition? Paul: But you said before that since you started photography you spot things more. Robbie: ! do. Paul: So, i f everyone learned photography, do you think everyone would spot things more? Robbie: Yeah, mabe a little bit more, but not so much if you’re not the right sort of person. Say, if you don’t care about what things are. Paul: Do you think photography can help peo­ ple care more about things? Robbie: ’Cause what is it? It’s two dogs prepar­ ing for little ones maybe. They’re enjoying themselves. Having a little muck about. There’s nothing wrong in that. I think you should see more pictures of humans doing it. Robbie: Oh, yeah. A lot. It can make you care about how the world is run. Because you can see what the changes are. You know what hap­ pens now and what happened fifty years ago. So old people can’t complain that the world’s getting worse. Because it’s getting better in some ways and it’s getting worse in other ways. So you can never miss these. So, it can help people a lot. Paul: Why? Wouldn’t that be called pornography? Paul: What’ the difference between photogra­ s phy and other clubs you go to? Robbie: What’s that? John Ryan: Well, you know what you’re doing sort of. You’ve always got something to do. You’re never bored with nothing to do. You can always make prints, develop a film. Clive: I don’t think so. Paul: Pictures o f hum an’ making love - like in s sex books. Robbie: Why? It’s human. Why shouldn’t you? Why should you cover up what it is? ’Cause there’s nothing wrong in it. ’Cause if there was something wrong in it, then all our mums and dads are nasty, aren’t they? They are wrong. They shouldn’t have done it, you know. So what’s the good of covering up what’s right? That’s the facts of life. You see your hand. Why shouldn’t you see anything else? James Hatcher: In club you don’t always do something. Say you get some money. You have to wait for the pinball machine or table tennis. When that’s took, you have to wait until th at’s finished. Sometimes it’s boring in club. Paul: So, we should take some photographs o f couples making love, shall we? James: ’Cause they’re all taken up by people, ain't they? But in photography there’s only certain amount (of people) each night. But in the club, you get as many as you can fit in because the more they get in, the more money they get and the better the club gets. Sort of the more equipment they can get. Robbie: Yeah, we should. Paul: We’l have to see i f we can get some l models...(laughter). Teresa, do you think that being part o f this group learning photography has changed you at all? Teresa: I don’t know. Not really. Tina Regan age 11 — This is a picture o f my cousin taken in my nan's house. Paul: How important to you is it that you have learned photography? Paul: Even though there’ a lot o f things to do? s John: Yeah. Paul: B ut when you went over to club to take pictures, you found you didn’ really want to t take pictures - you wanted to play table tennis. Why was it difficult for you to keep up your in­ terest in photography when you were there, even though you say in some cases photography is more interesting? continued . . . 6 Doing Photography continued... they’re just dazzled, you know. They say, ‘Hmm. maybe he’s not very good at writing, right, but he’s a good photographer!’ It would be a good idea having photography lessons. James: I just wanted to have a laugh with me mates. You wanted to be in the fun. Mike: I’ve told lots of my mates I do photo­ graphy. And they think all I do is to take photos and give it to some person. But when I told them I done it myself, they want to go them' selves. They want to learn. They all say to me they wish they did photography at school. They all really want to do photography. They all ask me, 'Where’s your photography class? Can I join?’ I goes, ’Well, there’s a waiting list.’ John: You sort of want to be in the photos, you know. I'd rather be in a photo then take one. Paul: Why did you think it might be good to start photography? John: Not many clubs around here give you the chance to lend things like cameras. You’re not allowed to take them out. Paul: It's a shame we can't let more people in. How do you think its affected your lives? Chris Blackman: Changed it. Changed it com­ pletely. Made us do something when we’re not really doing nothing. We might be back in the flats just messing around. While this is on, we can be doing something, something interesting. Instead of messing about, we’re here doing this. Paul: What about you, Mike? Mike Parchment: I'd never done it before: some­ thing new. I always used to want to do photo­ graphy. ’Cause when I was little, I used to have a roll of film. I used to think that when I’ve taken all the pictures, you just had to take it out and the photos would be done. Well, I was dis­ appointed when I looked. Anyway, after a couple of years, I kept on looking up things like electronics, and all this stuff, and then I stuck on photography which I liked very much. Then someone said there was a photography club going, and I made sure I joined it. No matter what. Paul : You already knew something about pho­ tography before you came? Mike: Yeah, I didn’t know how to get my pic­ tures out though because all that stuff costs a lot of money. So when I came to photography club, I found out all my mistakes. I was so stupid. I used to take films and put them in water and everything. It never came up. So, when I came to photography, I really learned a lot. I think it’s terrific. Now I’ve started, I can’t do without it. Paul: What made you think you might like photography? Two ways o f selling 'he same product John Roche age 13 - 1 took this at Waterloo Adventure Playground. In the picture left to right Raymond. Frank. Tony. Mike: It’s something completely different. If you go to school and you say to your mates, ‘We’ve just come from club,’ they won’t ask you nothing about it. They won’t. They just say many people do it. So, when you say, ‘I do photography, I develop my own films and all this stuff,’ they feel all sort of amazed because they have to take theirs to the chemist and get it all done. When I tell them it only took me, what, 20 minutes to develop a film and bring it up, they say, ‘Why does it take two weeks for us to get ours done?’ So, they feel real amazed and some of them even ask me to do their films. Paul: What's difficult about the film ? John: You know, you can t see the film. You have to feel your way onto the reels. That’s about the onlv thino about photography that I don’t really like doing. Paul: You all think i t ’ important to learn s something. You feel good when you learn something? Clive: 1 didn't have much to do on a Wednesday and if it wasn’t because of John, I wouldn’t have been going right now. He was the one who told me about it. John: Keeps you out of trouble, don't it? Really, if there was no photography club, pro­ bably half the people here who are supposed to be at photography club would be getting into trouble. If they got something to do, it keeps them out of trouble. Mike: After you’ve done photography, and taken all those prints home and people like them, you can't wait to get back the next day. You think, i wish I could do photography to­ morrow’ and all this. I don't think you get bored with photography at all. I don’t. Paul: John, was photography difficult to learn? Paul: So it's all worth while? John: First I thought it was really difficult. Now it's not so difficult. The only thing I find hard about it is developing the roll of film. But printing is easy, really. Paul: Do you think it would be gtxtd to teach photography in schools? All: Yeah! Fred blogs eats cheese rolls on Sundays too John: Yeah. ’Cause as when Mike was saying, when you take some of your prints to school. Diary of a Mede* Tube station: walk to end of platform to be alone. Sickening poster. Autograph ‘Smoking is to Cancer, as Cowboys are to Beans’. A personal death warning, felt tip squeaks; hand shakes. The twitching finger twitches on, in all direc­ tions. dauntless. The left hand that once gave Angela Davis a moustache... Train half empty. Quick takes for my audio­ gallery, mug-shots, whisper-pics, mike poised under right nostril wrapped in left hand. Whisper ‘white, uncooked face, formal, decorous, worn to the office; not to be slipped out o f easily at home, like his jacket’. Out into bright, bouncing light, banging up streets into postcard panoramas. Crazy about p.c.’s. Buy two royal poses for personal col­ lection of The Family. Resist old, crippled worker waiting to be photo­ graphed; inescapable irridescent patch o f spew on pavement; one for the pollution dossier. Take photograph watched by queue of foreignlooking people outside Madame Tussaud’s. Pro­ bably tourists, mostly wearing cameras (cameras are really ‘haute couture’). Watch impassively. To bookshop: find magazine. My letter print­ ed: high-minded, persuasive, erudite, packed with quotes - a brilliant polemic. Congrats to self, author of letter (author also o f all quotes attributed variously to other experts). All part of seeking reputation of author without ever actually writing a book. Books, books, books, devoted to image-makers and their images. Visual Arts Treasury. Why so many pictures at a price? Why so many picturemakers and yet a dearth in public places of such images? 7:55 a.m. Vision on: light flooding in; light to feed on; of the quality to make strong, heroic images: workers, old folk, cripples. Radio on: record ’Thought for the Day’. One for the pile, ultimately edit into blitz of golden thoughts to batter young heads with. Load gear into jacket pockets: old Leica for emergencies, Sony talk-tank, notebooks, felt tips. Leave. Day’s lustre fading to lambent glow. Into neonlit ether of bar, churning, reflecting smoke; choking but meaty; glittering, clattering charade. Rousing urges to see, listen, join and drink, and notebook to hand to scribble so-called ‘poemmary’ of situation. Enter buffoon, stage right, bestrung with photo­ graphic impedimentia. Nikon, lenses - every­ thing. All flash-carry stuff. Typical photo­ graphic cowboy, the Telephoto Kid. Pin him to a specimen card with one long blistering whisper into the Sony. ...to be continued •Inhabitant o f Media Buy ‘Telegraph’: sudden illumination: ‘A news­ paper: all that any teacher should need as a foundation to any day's teaching’. Keith Kennedy 7 How to Find That Photographic Fact PHOTOGRAPHIC LIBRARY RESOURCES IN THE LONDON AREA Photographic book resources in London are on the whole very good. However, the collect­ ions are scattered, often poorly housed and inaccessible. The poor housing is in some measure due to the lack of public use. It is the purpose of this article to encourage the wider use of these facilities, and hopefully pressurize the powers-that-be into providing improved services. GENERAL NOTES ON USING PUBLIC LIBRARIES Method of classification of library book stocks: Most libraries use the Dewey decimal system. This system allots a number (from 0 to 9) for each sub-classification within the main heading. For example, photography is a branch of the arts (classified 700) and photo­ graphy specifically is 770. Every library has some kind of subject catalogue and author index. If the library does not stock a book you want, it can be obtained by means of an interlibrary loan, both from libraries in England and abroad. This service costs the price o f a post­ age stamp and is available to all readers simply by filling in a special postcard. LIBRARY RESOURCES Special collections: To cater for specialist interests, the public libraries system has a Special Collection scheme established just after the war. This makes it mandatory for certain designated libraries to build up a comp­ lete reference collection o f old and new books, pamphlets and periodicals within the subject allotted to them. This service, called the Metropolitan Special Collection (M.S.C.) is a general lending scheme which is particularly valuable for those who require to read old or out-of-print books, or who would like to obtain the latest books without delay. Central and Local Government funded Librarries: Because school and college libraries are part funded by local and central government funds, it is possible for non college members to use the facilities for reference purposes (and in some instances even join the library and borrow books). Admittance is generally at the discretion o f the librarian who should be consulted before the proposed visit. Many of the libraries listed below publish periodical or holding lists which are issued free. They also keep many useful non photographic reference books that are not generally available in the public libraries. general literature and bound Catalogue produced (1967). National Libraries: The second category of public funded library open to the public is the National Museum or Research Library: the biggest o f these is the British Museum Reading Room Library. The British Museum also has a number of branches with large photographic collections with easy access (books, negatives, original photographs etc). The British Library and the Science Museum Library are two outstanding examples. Large collection technical/general also buy all Amphoto publications. Catalogue produced (1967). Institutional Libraries: Many private organ­ isations and foundations maintain libraries which admit the public (usually under strict conditions - you may even have to join the organisation etc). The largest o f these with a purely photographic collection is the Royal Photographic Society, which issues a reader's ticket at £1.00 a week for non-members. Company Libraries: Commercial and research companies often have well-equipped libraries maintained for the convenience of their staff. Very few of these will allow direct access by the public on a regular basis, but they quite often answer queries by phone or post. Private Libraries: Many individuals hold quite large collections o f books on photography, they are not, understandably, happy to have this fact stated in public. However, w’e think it is a good thing if you give us some idea of the material they hold. Will you send us a list of your books, particularly old and rare material? ADDRESS LIST: METROPOLITAN SCHEME (M.S.C.) SPECIAL COLLECTION Two libraries in London hold large stocks o f photographic books under this scheme, one on an official basis and one voluntary. OFFICIAL COLLECTION: Finsbury Park Library, St John Street, London EC1. tel: 01 837 4146. Extensive collection o f technical books. periodicals. VOLUNTARY COLLECTION: Redbridge Public Library, Oakfield Ilford. Essex, tel: 01 478 0017. Victoria and Albert Museum Library. Exhibit­ ion Road, London SW7. tel: 01 589 6371. Very good photography collection o f original photography (mainly 19th century). About 200.000 items. Road, Science Museum Library. South Kensington. London SW7 tel: 01 589 6371 ext. 527. One of the best organised libraries in London, has a fine collection of photographic books and periodicals plus outstanding collections of original photographs, negatives and slides, including work by Henry Jackson, Roger Fenton and Fox Talbot (approximately 6,000 Fox Talbot negatives). Also an excellent early newscutting collection related to photography. No catalogue available yet but the librarian has prepared a comprehensive list of the photo­ graphic holdings for his own use, which hope­ fully will be published sometime. Contact the librarian, Mr Windsor. Related Collections that include photography: Westminster Central Reference Library. St Martins Street. London WC2. tel: 01 930 3274 Not an officially listed photographic collection but possesses (off access) books; they also hold the Catalogue of the British Museum and the Library o f Congress, plus the Special Art Library (top floor) which has some photo­ graphy books. NATIONAL LIBRARIES: British Museum Reading Room, Great Russell Street, London WC1. tel: 01 636 1544 Contains practically every book on photog­ raphy every published in England. Access only to those with a ‘reader’s ticket’ or one day pass available from the Director’s office. This is not a library for browsers as it takes about two hours to get a book delivered to your table. Definitely a library of ‘last resort' but essential for seekers after long out-of-print works. British Film Institute Library. Information and Documentation Department. 81, Dean Street, London WI tel: 01 437 4355. Extensive collection on film and television, plus an excellent selection of current period­ icals. Open to the public, but regular users are expected to become members of the Institute. INSTITUTIONAL LIBRARIES: Royal Photographic Society, 14 South Audley Street, London Wl. tel: 01 493 3967 Very comprehensive collection, but small reading room which rather restricts the access to the whole collection. You have to be a member to use the library regularly but a reader's ticket is available for periods o f a week or less to members o f the general public. The British Library, 25 Southampton Lane, London. WC2. te l: 01 405 8721. opening times: Mon-Fri 09.30- 21.00. Sat 10.00- 13.00. Keen Street Annexe (pre-1950 Collection) 9-13 Keen Street, London W'C2. Opening ti
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      • archiveFour Corners Bishopsgate
      • vimeo_link
      • authorSee sections X to AC
      • author_editorTony Bock, Terry Dennett, Mike Goldwater, Dave Hoffman, Marylin Dalick-Noad, Tom Picton, Joanna Spence, Paul Trevor
      • author_writerTom Picton, Jo Spence, Victor Burgin, Marcos Valdivia, Ron McCormick
      • author_photographerManuel Alvarez Bravo, Robert Golden, Ralph Gibson, Robert Frank, Keppler, Diane Arbus, Laurence Migdale, Sue West
      • author_designerVictor Burgin
      • author_intervieweeManuel Alvarez Bravo, Robert Golden, Ralph Gibson
      • author_organisationMartini (Advertising), Psychology Today (Magazine clipping), Clouds Jeans (Advertising)
      • tagssemiotics,photography as art,advertising,working class,visual language,roland barthes,walter benjamin,bertolt brecht,mexico,manuel alvarez bravo,trade unions,strikes,surrealism,robert golden,sarah cox,workers,socialism,marxism,documentary,ralph gibson,'quadrants',exhibitions,photography dealers,leo castelli,pinhole,south island workshop,lambeth,alternative technology,developing,processing,amateur,sue west
      • titleCamerawork Magazine - Issue 03
      • subtitleIssue 3: Victor Burgin Robert Golden Ralph Gibson Terry Dennett Manuel Alvarez Bravo
      • dimension13 pages
      • ocr1
      • copyrightFour Corners/Half Moon Photography Workshop/Camerawork, Tom Picton, Jo Spence, Victor Burgin, Marcos Valdivia, Ron McCormick, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Robert Golden, Ralph Gibson, Robert Frank, Keppler, Diane Arbus, Laurence Migdale, Sue West, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Robert Golden, Ralph Gibson, Robert Frank, Keppler, Diane Arbus, Laurence Migdale, Sue West, Victor Burgin, Martini (Advertising), Psychology Today (Magazine clipping), Clouds Jeans (Advertising)
      • credits
      • relatedTony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/02/25/tony-bock-at-watney-market/ Tony Bock http://spitalfieldslife.com/2013/03/04/tony-bock-on-the-thames/
      • locationBethnal Green, London, UK (pg 3, 8, 9) Mexico. New York, USA. California, USA. (pg 10) Lambeth, London, UK
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      • pdf_textLaurence Misdate 'Circus Travelling* - Ju ly Half Moon E x h ib itio n Victor Burgin Robert Golden Ralph Gibson Terry Dennett Manuel Alvarez Bravo No 3 Half Moon Photography Workshop 25p Art, Common Sense and Photography BY VICTOR BURGIN The main thrust o f photographic criticism these days is tow ards the consideration of photography as Art. CAMERAWORK, on the o th e r hand, has raised the issue o f p h o ­ tography as an instrum ent of ideology. Many people believe th a t these tw o ap p ro ­ aches are incom patible. Art is thought to have nothing to do w ith politics, 'political’ art is thought to be irretrievably com prom is­ ed as A rt. But the tw o may n o t be quite as m utually exclusive as these people like to think. Work w ith an obvious ideological slant is o ften condem ned as ‘m anipulative’; that is to say, first, th a t th e photographer m anipu­ lates w hat com es over in th e image; second, th a t as a result his or her audiences b e ­ liefs ab o u t the w orld are m anipulated. Not m uch is know n ab o u t how the m edia influ­ ence opinions, although we can be fairly sure th at people aren ’t sim ply led by the nose by photographs. Whatever the case, b oth charges can be sim ilarly answ ered; m anipul­ ation is o f th e essence o f photography; photography w ould n o t exist w ith o u t it. In p hotography, certain physical m ater­ Fig. 1 fairly be bought for wages is a m ystification ials are technically handled so that meanings w hich conceals the fact th a t, as the value of are produced. Photographers are people w ho m anipulate the physical means o f p ro ­ a com m odity depends on the labour invested du ction o f photography; cam eras, film, light­ in it, the ow ner is appropriating as p ro fit w hat belongs by right to th e labourer: p ro ­ ing, objects, people. Using the productive fits are unpaid wages. The idea o f false­ capabilities o f p hotography to reproduce the w orld as an object o f aesthetic contem pla­ consciousness is an o th er im portant aspect tio n , and nothing else, is no less ‘m anipula­ o f the m eaning o f the term , ‘ideology.’ The politically ‘L eft’ p h otographer wants tive’ than is any o th e r use o f photograph: to tu rn away is an act, to tu rn away from sit­ to help correct so ciety ’s false picture o f its uations o f im m ediate social relevance is a p o ­ actual conditions o f existence, to raise such questions as: Why this practice? What does litical act, and to perform such acts in every What interests does it serve? w orking m om ent adds up to a political it m ean? Such a photographer w ants to help people policy. T he only imaginable non-political being is becom e conscious o f th e forces which shape a totally self-sufficient herm it. The p h o to ­ their day-to-day lives; to realise th at the social order is n o t a natural order, and thus grapher w ho has chosen to live in a society and enjoy its benefits, even though he also beyon d all change, b u t is made by people chooses to p u t on blinkers w hen he squints and can be changed by them . The political­ in to a viewfinder, is willy-nilly an acto r in a ly dissident photographer however is involv­ ed in an apparent parad o x , th at o f seeking to political situation. So how is it th a t so m any people can genuinely believe th a t they lead penetrate appearances w ith an instrum ent designed specifically to record appearances a-political lives and th a t it is others ‘m ilitants’ and ‘extrem ists’ — w ho ‘have’ and appearances alone. ideology, n o t themselves? We m ust first say w hat we m ean by ‘ideology.’ When we look at the day-to-day life o f a d istan t culture — behaviour, custom s, dress, diet — we arc im m ediately struck by its strangeness: Why do they do th a t? Why do they eat those? What docs it all mean? Few such questions trouble us as we pursue our ow n lives in our ow n culture, and if they were asked, they w ould probably get short shrift. Why does a man generally let a fe­ male stranger precede him w hen he is going in to a shop, b u t n o t w hen he is boarding a bus? Why do m en hang ties around their necks when they wear a shirt, b u t n o t when they wear a roll-neck jum per? The ques­ tions appear silly, the answers obvious. . . . This is ideology as ‘w orld-view,’ a com m onsense understanding o f ‘th e way things are’ which is unquestioningly ‘taken for granted.’ What we do ourselves seems so natural to us th a t we even cease to notice w hat we do. ‘H abitualisation,’ said the critic V iktor Shklovsky “devours w ork, clothes, fu rn ­ itu re, o n e ’s wife and the fear o f w ar.” E_ Through habitualisation, w orking m en and w om en accept lives o f tedium , or even mis­ Fig. 2 ery, as their natural lo t, while others accept Bertold Brecht fo u n d the cam era a p o li­ the social cost o f their ow n greed as being tically-deficient instrum ent: a photograph ju st as unavoidable. The m edia by which we o f a facto ry , he poin ted o u t, tells us nothing are inform ed characteristically reinforce o f th e econom ic forces governing the lives of such attitudes: “ U nem ploym ent is expected those w ho w ork in it. Roland Barthes made to rise next m onth. . . . More rain is expect­ a sim ilar p o in t when he reviewed The Family ed in the south-w est” — bo th facts appear o f Man exhibition: o f course babies are equally to belong to the natural order of b o m and nursed by their m others all around things, acts o f G od against which there can the w orld, b u t photographs o f them tell us be no insurance. nothing o f th e ch ild ’s life expectancy or of The sort o f habitualisation which leads the likelihood th a t its m o th er might have millions to collude in their ow n repression, died giving b irth . and w hich allows th e rich and privileged to Such w riters, notably including Walter continue to act selfishly “ in all good faith ” Benjamin, have concluded th a t as language Marx called “ false consciousness.” For e x ­ itself is the instrum ent best ad ap ted to m ak­ am ple, in order th a t the institutions o f the ing a politically-specific statem en t, then the S tate should continue to serve the interests photograph can only serve the te x t. But, o f a ruling oligopoly, it is necessary that although the premise here is correct, the m ost people should continue to believe th a t conclusion does n o t necessarily follow from such institutions serve everyone equally. Or it. In his essay on The Family of Man, again, th e belief com m on to b o th those who Barthes condem ns the failure o f p h otogra­ ow n the means o f production and those phy to m ake a political statem en t, y et in this w ho do productive w ork th a t labour may same essay he condem ns the exhibition p re­ cisely for making such a (m ystificatory) political statem en t. A photograph o f a baby at the breast o f a w om an in a private nursing hom e in Sw itzer­ land may be placed alongside a photograph o f a sim ilarly-com posed m o th er and child group in a village in rural India. Assuming th a t there are no obvious signs o f depriva­ tion on the one han d , o r o f privilege on the o th er, the tw o images together will p ro ­ nounce: “ M others and their babies are the same everyw here.” Such a smugly reassuring message was indeed com m unicated by The Family o f Man exhibition. The cap tio n , the title o f the ex h ibition, served mainly to u n ­ derline w hat had already been said. In this case, the te x t served the photographs. Here, an ideological co n ten t is produced by a formal device. The message: “ T he c o n ­ dition o f m o th erh o o d is the same all over th e w o rld ,” w ould n o t have been conveyed so readily by either o f the photographs alone. Only th e ju x tap o sitio n of the tw o creates such a co n ten t, in such clarity, and w ith all th e im m ediacy o f an observed n a tu r­ al tru th . (The message is ideological n o t simply because it is wrong in w hat it says — simply to be m istaken is n ot necessarily to be in a state o f false-consciousness — it is ideological because it m isrepresents the actual m aterial condition o f the w orld in the service o f specific vested interests.) Because we have separate w ords for ‘fo rm ’ and ‘c o n te n t’, we are easily misled in ­ to believing th at they stand for totally dis­ tin ct areas o f experience. But there is no co n ten t w ith o u t a form, and no form .which does n o t shape a co n ten t. In that they b o th have been misled by a picture o f the world given to us by language, ‘artists’ and ‘acti­ vists’ alike tend to inhabit the same aesthetic ideology. A rtists believe th a t they can p re ­ sent a totally content-free world o f pure form s. Activists believe in th e autonom ous pow er o f ‘the tr u th ’ which will im pose itself regardless o f form al considerations. It will pay us, if we arc concerned with w hat photographers ‘say,’ to exam ine the devices which enable photography to say things, d e­ vices so familiar to us they may pass unnoticed. Popular photography magazines p erio d i­ cally carry articles advising their readers to look for ‘co n tra st.’ Such articles generally begin w ith a directive to look for contrasts o f light and dark tones, rough and sm ooth tex tu res.............and then move from formoriented to content-oriented oppositions such as young/old, happy/sad, etc. Such contrasts are indeed p art o f the stock-intrade o f the professional — take, for exam ­ ple, th e picture o f ‘victory and d efeat’ in Fig. 1. Most active photographers arc aware of th e phenom enon the ‘th ird effect’: tw o images side-by-side tend to generate m ean­ ings n ot produced by either image o n its ow n. This effect may be produced by bring­ ing together tw o physically-distinct prints (from tw o separate negatives), or by ju x ta ­ posing tw o distinct elem ents w ithin a single fram e. In the la tte r case, the jux tap o sitio n may be brought about by chance (happy coincidence) or by design; if by design, then cither ‘n atu ral’ means (casting, posing, etc.) or ‘technical’ means (darkroom m anipula­ tio n , collage, etc.) may be used. For exam ple, take th e picture o f George V on Derby Day in Fig. 2: in this image, we believe th at the co n trast o f rich and p o o r is m ade on the basis o f a coincidence — the p h otographer ju st happened to be there w hen. . . .; b u t it is equally possible, al­ though perhaps less likely, th a t the tw o main elem ents of the image were assem bled in the darkroom from separate negatives. Or, again, it is n o t b eyond possibility th a t the situation depicted was ‘set u p ’ for the cam ­ era — for exam ple, th e p h otographer could have directed a suitably-cast and dressed p er­ son to run up to the coach at a p red eterm in ­ ed spot. F urther to all this, the co n trad ic­ tion o f rich and p o o r could have been com ­ m unicated by juxtaposing tw o separate p h o ­ tographs, taken at different times and places from one another. O f the above possibilities, we w ould p ro ­ bably conclude th a t th e picture we have here is in actuality the m ost effective. The p h otojoum alistic ‘snap’ has an au th o rity which o th er forms o f picture-m aking lack; it presents itself as factual evidence of. an actual state o f affairs. In photojournalism , a particular m om ent may som ehow com e to signify a general tru th . This ‘som ehow ’ is generally considered to be unaccountable except in term s o f such things as ‘luck,’ ‘ta le n t’ or a com bination o f the tw o. Cer­ tainly the p h otographer o f George V was lucky, and he may very well have been ‘talen ted ’ (w hatever that m eans), b u t while the picture before us may have depended on luck for its existence, it does n o t depend upon luck or ‘ta le n t’ for its meaning — its m eaning is som ething we can account for. All com m unication takes place on the basis o f signs, m ost predom inately on the basis o f visible and audible signs. To say th at one person has com m unicated with an o th er is to say th a t each o f them has u n ­ derstood how to use an d in terp ret th e signs which m ade up the message betw een them . If you speak to me in G reek, 1 have no p ro b ­ lem hearing the noises you are making, b u t if I do n ot ‘know G reek’ in com m on w ith you, then 1 cannot understand w hat you are saying. Fig. 3 The photograph is a sign, o r m ore co rrect­ ly speaking, a com plex o f signs, used to com ­ m unicate a message. If you show me a p h o ­ tograph o f a pile o f stones th en , at an im ­ m ediate level, my eye receives visual ‘noise’ ju st as my car received verbal noise w hen you spoke to me in Greek. We can suppose th a t 1 have seen photographs since I was a child and so have no problem in ­ terpreting these irregular patches of light and dark tones as representing stones. (When African bushm en were first show n photographs, they had to be taught to read them ). But w hat b eyond this? If I go on to rem ark th at the photograph depicts a tem ­ ple, th at the tem ple is ruined, and th a t is G reek, then I am relying upon knowledge th a t is no longer ‘n atu ral’, ‘purely visual’; 1 am relying upon knowledge th at is cultural, verbally tran sm itted , and in the final analy­ sis, ideological (I might think ‘cradle o f civil­ isation’ or ‘dam ned G reeks’ according to when and where I happened to be born). Most photographers are aw are o f using some sort o f system o f effects in th eir w ork, b u t such system atisation as may be achieved is generally believed to concern only the purely formal — th e ‘visual.’ C o n ten t, it is believed, is ju st there in the w orld, and therefore in the p icture, w hether lined up w ith the frame or com posed on th e diagonal. But once we reject the idea o f photography as a “ purely visual’ language, understood equally by everybody everyw here, then we may begin to consider the possibility that c o n ten t, to o , may be p roduced as deliber­ ately as one may plan the form al com posi­ tion o f the photograph. To retu rn , th en , to ‘co n tra st.’ All c o n ­ trasts are ju x tapositions, b u t n ot all ju x ta ­ positions are contrasts. The ‘Derby D ay’ and ‘Boxing’ pictures are based upon a c o n ­ trast; th a t is to say. a dissimilarity o f c o n ­ tents (rich/poor, v ictory/defeat). The wellknow n Diane Arbus picture o f identical twins, on th e o th er hand, (Fig. 3) is based upon a sim ilarity o f b oth form and co n ten t. The fashion picture beside it (Fig. 4) is based upon a ju x tap o sitio n o f similar forms which have dissimilar co n ten ts (e.g., anim ate/inanim ate). L ooked at m ore closely, the p h o to g rap h ­ er’s stock-in-trade o f ‘co n trast’ may be seen to consist o f a num ber o f distinct com m uni­ cative devices, devices which nevertheless seem to evolve upon the com m on basis of the various relationships into which tw o or 2 Art, Common Sense and Photography sense o f which its usual sense is only a p art, e.g., “ Give me y o u r h e a rt” (when the entire body is being sought). Advertising is the m ost obvious place we m ight expect to find rhetorical figures (of which there are literally hundreds). In the first place, there is no d o u b t th a t som eone is setting o u t deliberately to persuade, in the second place, there is little d o u b t th a t every­ thing in the advertisem ent has been most carefully placed for m axim um effect. Com ­ mercial publicity, obviously, endorses and perpetuates the com m odity values central to our capitalist ideology. On the left, the p re­ vailing view o f advertising tends to be sim p­ ly one o f disapproval. From one p o in t o f view in ‘classic’ sem iology, how ever, the structure o f advertising may be disengaged from its co n ten ts: the rhetorical structures o f advertising are ‘in d ifferen t’ to the em o­ tional and ideological value o f the contents they handle; m uch as, for exam ple, an arith ­ m etical stru ctu re like 2 plus 2 equals 4 ‘doesn’t care’ w hether we are adding up tax i­ cabs o r tom atoes. In this view, therefore, there is no reason w hy, once the devices of advertising have been isolated by sem iotic analysis, they may n o t be ‘re-cycled’ in counter-ideological message-making. A n o th ­ er opinion to be derived from semiotics argues against this, b ut there is insufficient space here to discuss the apparent contradiction. Fig. 4 m ore visual elem ents may enter. The nub of such a system is form ed by relationships of sim ilarity and dissimilarity o f form and of c o n ten t, with additional m anipulations in the form o f substitutions and perm utations o f elem ents. The w orking o u t o f such a system in its entirety is one o f the tasks which might be undertaken w ithin a ‘sem io­ tic ’ study o f photography. Sem iotics, or sem iology, is the science w hich studies signs. We recognise th a t some photographers are m ore successful com m uni­ cators than others. The sem iotician is in ter­ ested in the reasons for their success or failure — n o t, o f course, in term s o f the p h o ­ tographer’s personal history, b u t in term s of the photographic sign itself. The sem io­ tician w orks from the assum ption that wherever we recognise ‘m astery’ o f an art, we also implicitly acknowledge the existence o f some system which has been m astered w hether the ‘m aster’ is conciously aware of the system or not. In the early days o f ‘stru ctu ralist’ sem io­ logy (R oland Barthes’ E lem ents o f Sem io­ logy first appeared in France in 1964) ex­ clusive atten tio n was paid to the analogy b e­ tw een ‘n atu ral’ language (the phenom enon o f speech and writing) and visual ‘language.’ It had long been com m on for people to speak loosely o f ‘th e language o f . . .’, this or th a t activity, including, o f course, ‘the lang­ uage o f p hotography,’ but it was n o t until Fig. 5 The rhetorical analysis o f advertising may the 1960’s th a t any system atic investigation o f forms o f com m unication outside o f n a tu r­ be con d u cted along three main ‘planes’: the al language was conducted from th e stand­ image plane; th e plane o f the te x t (headline, caption, body-copy); and the plane o f the p o in t o f linguistic science. There were tw o main reasons fo r ap p ro ­ text/im age bond. For exam ple, an image aching visual com m unication through ling­ which show ed a b o ttle o f milk as big as a uistics: first, language is the most elaborate house w ould present a figure o f hyperbole and com prehensive form o f com m unication (overstatem ent). If we th en added the head­ ever evolved, and it seem ed at least a reason­ line “ Pour Some More, M um ” , the tex t able w orking hypothesis to assume that w ould be based in rhym e, and we would o th e r forms o f hum an com m unication might have established a figure o f lito te (under­ have evolved along basically similar lines; statem ent) in th e relationship o f the te x t to second, m odern structural linguistics was it­ the image. self a sufficiently-established science to p ro ­ vide the necessary ready-m ade theoretical models o f com m unication to sta rt the new science o f semiology on its way. One aspect of natural language use which was found to have a particular bearing on the topic o f visual com m unicative devices is rhetoric. Simply speaking, rhetoric is the artful use o f language in order to persuade. In rhetoric, language draws atten tio n to it­ self in order to a ttra c t and retain the a tte n ­ tion o f the listener o r reader — form is m an­ ipulated to engage interest in the contents. R hetoric first evolved in the Classical period, and one o f the difficulties in stu d y ­ ing rhetoric today is th a t the ancient term s are still in use to label its ‘figures’: terms such as antanaclasis, chiasmus, synechdoche, . . ., etc. However, th e m eaning o f m ost of these term s becomes clear once examples arc provided: In antanaclasis, a single w ord is repeated w ith different senses, e.g., “ Learn a craft in y o u r y o u th so that in your old age you can earn your living w ith o u t c ra ft” ; in chiasmus, w ords are repeated b u t inverted in their order in the course o f a single sentence, e.g., “ You should eat to live, n o t live to e a t” ; in synecdoche, a w ord is used in a Fig. 6 L et’s take som e fu rth er, actual examples: Fig. 5 is a visual hyperbole much like o u r h y ­ pothetical exam ple except that in this case the exaggeration is doubly charged through sexual allusion; Fig. 6 is an exam ple of chiasmus in the plane o f the te x t; Fig. 7 p re­ sents a paradox in the text/im age plane. . . . and may be w orth considering in some more detail. It’s all in the mind. krCM<rin.iiiMrc-^al la .Jra.ilux IWyw m piafcwimh W fialM ** PsychologyToday Fig. 7 The image in this exam ple draws upon the iconography o f poverty — the bath in a zinc tu b , the squalid ‘back y a rd ’, the w ash­ ing on a line (as opposed to in a spin-dryer). These rem arks suffice to show th at this is ‘p o v erty ’ in th e definition o f a particular cul­ ture at a particular historical ju n ctu re — the same assembly o f signs might con n o te rela­ tive affluence in a ‘third w orld’ co n tex t. The striped T-shirt is associated in the Brit­ ish m ind with the iconography of France and th e sea, its co n n o tatio n of ‘St. Tropez-ness’ establishes a figure of irony w ithin the image. It is likely th a t the people in the p h o to ­ graph will have been chosen for their — in B arthc’s expression — ‘canonic generality;’ th a t is to say, each individual represents his or her own ‘ty p e ’, each individual stands for a class o f individuals. In rhetoric th e figure o f antonamasia is th e one in which the p ar­ ticular stands for the general. Nearly all ad ­ vertising images contain this figure. Thus, the w oman in our exam ple represents all econom ically-disadvantaged m others (there is no evidence in the picture which proves she is the m o th er o f these children, b u t the very wide use o f images o f the family dic­ tates th a t she represent one). The scene d e ­ picted here should cause no offence to cither th e p o o r or the com fortably-off: there arc no to m clothes o r m atted hair, th e children are being washed and (im m inently) fed; this is a ‘p o o r b u t h o n est’ milieu. The rem arks I have m ade so far concern w hat is actually to be observed in the image; more observations could be added along these lines. Beyond w hat is to be seen in the image, how ever, there are m any stories to be construed from w hat is seen. This p h o to ­ graph could serve equally well to illustrate a variety o f stories. For exam ple: ‘one-parent families’; ‘health in the ho m e’; ‘dom estic life in industrial tow ns’ . . . and so on. The photographic image can carry a large num ber o f different meanings. It is ‘polyscm ic.’ G enerally, the polysem y o f the image is controlled by its ju x tap o sitio n with a verbal text. Roland Barthes has identified two differ­ ent functions which the verbal message can adopt in relation to the image, these he calls anchorage and relay. The tex t adopts a function o f anchorage w hen, from a m u lti­ plicity o f co n n otations offered by the image, it selects some and thereby implicitly rejects the others. Thus, in a cigarette advertise­ m ent, the contradictory connotations ‘cigarettes give pleasure’ and ‘cigarettes give cancer’ arc selectively handled in such a cap­ tion as ‘cool as a m ountain strea m ’, a simile which endorses the suggestion o f pleasure while rejecting th a t of unwholcsomeness. In relay, the image and the lingusitic te x t are in a relationship o f com plem entarity: the linguistic message explains, develops, e x ­ pands the significance o f the image. (Fig. 8 is a particularly clear an d simple exam ple of relay). In our previous exam ple, the cap­ tion is in a relationship o f relay to th e image. ‘I t’s all in the m ind’ is n o t am ongst the co n ­ notations we might expect to be sum m oned by the image alone. It is n o t therefore ‘anch o red ’ from am ongst the connotations already available. The rhetorical stru ctu re of the text/im age relation in this case is th a t o f paradox. The dom inating co n n o tatio n of the image may be labelled (but n o t co n tain ­ ed) by th e linguistic term ‘p o v erty .’ Sub­ stituting this term for th e image gives us the statem ent: “ Poverty. I t’s all in th e m ind.” However, we know the poverty depicted in the image to be a m aterial poverty, hence the paradox, and hence th e effect gained by the ju x tap o sitio n o f such a caption with such an image. The sem iotician Jacques Durand made these rem arks in the course o f his 1970 study o f rhetoric in advertising: “ The m yth o f ‘inspiration,’ o f ‘the idea,’ reigns suprem e in the creation o f advertising at th e present tim e. In reality, however, the m ost origin­ al ideas, the m ost audacious advertisem ents, appear as transpositions o f rhetorical figures which have been indexed over the course o f num erous centuries. This is explained in th a t rhetoric is in sum a repertory o f th e var­ ious ways in w hich we can be ‘original.’ It is probable then th a t the creative process could be enriched and m ade easier if th e creators w ould take account consciously o f a system w hich they use intuitively.” Fig. 8 Typical o f the nineteenth century Rom antic aesthetic attitu d es which prevail in present-day writings on photography is the n o tio n th a t there are unique essences w ithin things and people which are ordinar­ ily concealed from us b u t which artistic genius can reveal. This is an idea w hich photographers had handed dow n to them from the ‘Fine A rt’ they originally sought to em ulate (and o ften still wish to em ulate, al­ beit they in the position o f people rowing o u t to jo in a sinking ship). Largely, this idea is a projection o f th e m arket relations which characterise our com m odity society: th e co n ­ cept o f ‘genius’ guarantees the investm ent value o f th e p ro d u ct; the concept o f trans­ cendental ‘essences’ protects the p ro d u ct against practical interrogation. Brecht to o k th e view th a t w hat essences there are behind appearances are to be reached through investigation rath er than through in tu itio n . Photography has tended to tre a t us to an interm inable rhetoric of ‘hum anity — its jo y s, its sorrow s.’ The m aterial forces which cause such em otions and, fu rth er, shape o u r entire lives, may be described. It rem ains to be seen w hether photography will becom e effective in show ­ ing them . What is certain is th a t if it is to do so, we need to treat th e photographic image as an occasion for scepticism and q uestion­ ing —n o t as a source o f hypnosis. REFERENCES V iktor Shklovsky A rt as a Technique, in Russian Form alist Criticism , University of Nebraska. Roland Barthes The Great Family o f Man, M ythologies, Paladin, 1973. -----------------------------Elem ents of Semilogy, Jo n a th an Cape, 1967. ---------------------------R hetoric o f th e Image, Working Papers in Cultural Studies, Spring, 1971. Jaques Durand R hetorique et Image Publicitairc, C om m unication, 15, 1970. 3 BRAVO BRAVO! M anuel Alvarez Bravo is a confusing photographer. His pictures o f th e dead w orker and the naked wom an wrapped in bandages are totally convincing. B ut others share the artiness o f E isenstein’ Mexican s film . (In E isenstein’s case, you suspect that the Sun illum inating his pictures also addled his brain.) To m ake one great picture in a lifetim e can be an achievem ent. M anuel Alverez Bravo has managed three or fo u r. Bravo was b o m in M exico C ity in 1902. H e to o k up photography seriously in 1924 b u t continued to work as a govern­ m en t accountant until 1931. In the same year he sold his fir st p rin t to the M useum o f M o d em A r t in N ew York. A s well as “personal” photography, Bravo recorded murals and others w orks o f art. He also taught part tim e. Edw ard Weston to ld him photography was “fo rtu n a te in having som eone w ith your view point. ” In 1934 Bravo ex h ib ited with Henri Cartier-Bresson in M exico C ity ’ Palace o f s Fine A rt. From 1943 he w orked fu ll-tim e as a photographer and cameraman w ith a film studio in M exico. In 1959 he co-founded a fo u n d a tio n fo r M exican plastic arts. When Bravo came to L ondon f o r his show a t th e Photographers Gallery, Tom Picton and Marcos Valdivia talked to him fo r CAMERAWORK. Odile Bertin translated the tapes. We asked him i f his fa m o u s pic­ ture o f the dead striker had a political meaning: o f w inter” w hich show ed a branch of a w ithered tree and a stained glass window in a rath er art nouveau style with a wom an. Picton: H ow did yo u work as a p h o to ­ grapher and fo r whom ; fo r what kin d o f audience? Bravo: It is a difficult question. My p h o ­ tography has regularly gained approval both in and o ut o f M exico, and in the exhibitions in which 1 have been, my w ork has been liked, b u t th at is all I can say. More, I w ould not know. Picton: D id yo u ever work with a group o f photographers or usually by yourself? Bravo: By myself. Valdivia: C ould yo u describe fo r us the atm osphere in M exico when yo u , Buhuel, Weston, Diego Rivera and others were w o rk­ ing there? Bravo: It was a period of struggle in w hich every person had to look after him ­ self and w ork as he could. Relations b e­ tween all of us were friendly, b u t we did not form w hat could properly be called a group. There were simply affinities and relationships. Valdivia: What can yo u tell us a bout the tradition surrounding death in M exico? Bravo: People believe that there is a love o f d eath , b u t they do n o t understand that it is n o t simply th a t, and that w hat in fact there is in M exico is an ancient awareness o f the duality o f life and d eath, death being the end result of life, and th a t it is im pos­ sible to treat the tw o term s separately. This concept o f duality we Mexicans receive as children, when in November, on th e Day o f the Dead, we are taken to the fair and buy toys of death and skulls o f sugar, which we eat. Eating is an activity which sustains life, and this life is sustained by a skull. Picton: In Painted Walls o f M exico (1966) yo u w rote: “Popular A rt is the art o f the people. A popular painter is an artisan who, as in the M iddle Ages, remains anonym ous. His w ork needs no advertisem ent, as it is done fo r the people around him. . . " I agree very m uch with that; could yo u say so m e­ thing a bout it? Bravo: I think th a t w hat is said here about popular art can be applied to art in general. A ctually in my opinion, and I said this in a lecture in Mexico at the Museum o f M odern A rt, it is very strange to go on talk- Valdivia: A n d so they are transform ed into m y th ? Bravo: Yes, o f course. If one is concerned w ith the object-subject relatio n ­ ship, the co untry is bound to emerge. It is n o t th at one w ants to create a national art, b u t th at national art arises when one res­ ponds to the heartb eat o f a nation. Picton: Are you still taking photographs, or what kin d o f w ork are yo u involved in at the m o m en t? Bravo: When a photographer is involved in an event, he is so involved and so much a p art o f it that he is not aware o f his involvem ent. Picton: Has “the m urdered w o rker" ever been used as a poster? Bravo: Since it was a com m ission for the catalogue for a surrealist exhibition, I w orked — w ithout really planning to do it th at way — as autom atically as possible. I sent som eone to buy the kind o f cactus called abrojos in Spanish, or, “ open eyes” and borrow ed a blanket from the caretaker. 1 spoke on the telephone to a d o cto r friend and told him: “ Come here and bring some bandages.” He came very quickly, and I bandaged the girl and took the photographs. T hat is the way it happened. If you w ant to know why it happened th a t w ay, 1 think th a t the question o f the bandages came about through an experience I had with a group o f ballet dancers w ho came to Mexico. 1 saw the rehearsals and saw that they ban­ daged their feet, so I bandaged the feet and som ething m ore. At th a t tim e it was not allowed anyw here to circulate photographs showing bodily hair. And I did not have a personal interest in it. The original photograph was a little m ore cut than as it is know n now . It was going to be reproduced in three strips on the fro n t cover with th e same b u t in negative on the back. I thought it was an interesting form at. But it was n o t published. Instead, an o th er one was — called “ The consecration Bravo: It w ould be exactly th e same — it is n o t my fault th at som ebody suddenly got interested in my photographs. I did them as a means o f self-expression for show ing on a small scale, rather like the way in which things are m ade in a village o f artisans. But as I said before when talking ab o u t the individuals from a group, their w ork is anonym ous w hether' it is signed or n o t, b e­ cause the individual is unknow n. But there com es a m om ent w hen others becom e in ter­ ested, and then the photographs becom e o b ­ jects in themselves. They are no longer p u re­ ly the expression of an event to be seen on a wall or to be reproduced in a magazine, b ut have been transform ed in to objects, and as objects they can be bought, w hether they get sold or not. Valdivia: Q uite right! However, I personal­ ly think that the work o f M anuel Alvarez Bravo is the expression o f a people. Valdivia: Did you personally fe e l involved in the event ? Picton: Could you tell us how you happened to m ake “the wom an in the bandages"? Picton: H ow does this apply in yo u r own photographs ? For exam ple, i f yo u had been an an o n ym o u s photographer yo u w ould n o t have had the same impact. Bravo: No, rath er into m erchandise. The m yth is created afterw ards aro u n d the au th o r, w ith th e purpose always o f enhanc­ ing his com m ercial value. Bravo: Yes, o f course. The political question at that tim e was the struggle for a m inim um wage. W orkers were very badly paid, they w ent on strike, and this man was killed. But w hen one secs the photograph by itself for the first tim e, I do not think one needs any more explanation, because in the background a p art o f th e strikers’ banner can be seen, and th e a ttitu d e o f the dead w orker is not a general statem ent o f violent death b u t of one heroic death. Bravo: Yes, several tim es, for a political purpose. In fact, it was n o t used as a poster b u t appeared in left-wing magazines. I rem em ber oth er occasions when it was p ub­ lished n o t in a political, co n tex t, and it is interesting to see how it has been associated with the nude. a person w ho keeps a shop where he does passport photographs or w edding p h o to ­ graphs is practising a craft b u t n o t creating art. A rt is created by the individual and n ot th e m aterial which he is handling. Striking w orker murdered, 1934 Valdivia: But such a frien d ly atm osphere m ust have been very stimulating. Bravo: C ertainly. T hat is why I consider that my w ork is derived from precisely those m ovem ents — essentially the m ovem ent in wall painting. Valdivia: It is said that M exico is essentially a surrealist country. Bravo: T hat is w hat Breton says. In fact, Mexico can be a dram atic c o u n try , a countryfull o f contrasts, even bordering on th e fan­ tastic, which docs n o t precisely fit in the concept o f surrealism which like any o th er “ ism ” is an academ ic term . Perhaps 1 can understand w hat Breton said as m eaning a country where th e artist can produce fan­ tastic or surrealist art. In the case o f my own w ork, for instance, I do n o t think it can be considered as surrealist except for three or four photographs like “ the woman in the bandages,” b u t all the others arcfantasy-inspired by the co untry itself. Valdivia: B ut “the wom an in the bandages” was done with a surrealist fu n c tio n fo r a surrealist exhibition, and very successfully so. Bravo: T rue, b u t you m ust see the basic difference which exists betw een that p h o to ­ graph and “ the m urdered w orker.” O ne is all spontaneity as opposed to the other, which is the pro d u ct o f com plicated mind games and heaven-knows-what oth er subtleties. ing ab o u t the art o f painting, or o f painting as an art, or photography as an art. I was asked o u t o f the blue if p hotography was an art, b u t I shall com e back to this later. Pop­ ular art is anonum ous art m ade for some ex ­ isting group of people, b ut naturally as time passes, this group is going to develop relationships with o th er groups, and th e vari­ ous co n tacts betw een groups will produce a change, or changes in the art in general n ot only in popular art, b ut in all the arts. A fter a tim e, th e nam es o f the authors begin to be know n, and even if they do n o t sign, it is know n that such and such a w ork is the w ork o f so and so; anonym ity begins to be lost. From these relationships a group eco n ­ omy evolves which entails an even bigger change because as the natural laws o f b u y ­ ing and selling com e in to play, it becom es necessary for the authors o f works to invest less time and less m oney for greater reward. This phenom enon is bou n d to occur in any system o f p ro d u ctio n . Thus, art is trans­ form ed and loses its meaning of popular art to becom e, at least in my opinion, a craft — which in reality it always was. So, when I was asked if photography was an art, I replied, “ n o .” Photography is n ot an art, any m ore than painting, sculpture or engraving. Art does not exist because m ater­ ials for painting, for sculpture or w hatever it may be are bought. A rt is created by the individual, and it is the artist who exists. But th e general term cannot be called art; it is craft. An individual can be purely and simply a craftsm an. In photography there is much more craftsm anship than art. A rt has ano th er dim ension from craft. For instance. Bravo: A t the m om ent I am p u ttin g my records in order. I have got at least forty years of w ork, and during those forty years, I have taken no care o f my negatives. When I am asked for a copy o f such and such a negative which was published a long tim e ago, it has to be looked for and a lo t o f time is w asted in finding it. T hat is why I am p u t­ ting my records in order, to fulfill a respon­ sibility w hich I did n ot realise 1 was taking on at the tim e. But afte r th a t, w hat am 1 going to do? Generally w hat has happened in the past is th at there arc periods in which I do absolutely nothing. Then I begin again w ith great difficulty and failures until suddenly I get in to the rhythm again, and my capacity for w ork returns. 1 hope that the same thing is going to happen this tim e, otherw ise. . . Picton: Are yo u apart fro m that? Bravo: records. No. doing any N othing apart work now from the Picton: What will happen to all those negatives in the fu tu re , in, say, f i f t y years? Bravo: Only tim e will tell. The have-nots are m o st easily approached i f y o u try to com e dow n to their level, a t least in every way b u t the camera yo u use. D o n ’t go o u t photographing wearing yo u r Pierre Cardin blazer over a gaudy Florida-bought sportshirt and sh uffling around in Gucci shoes. I always dress in, or take along, an old pair o f blue jeans w ith m atching attire, dow n to a worn pair o f sneakers, when I fe e l have-nots are to be encountered. I f you're with a load o f n ifty dressers, ditch ’em, p reten d yo u d o n 't kn o w 'em. Y o u ’ll see how the atm osphere improves. Keppler on the S L R fr o m Popular Photography April, 1976 4 GOLDEN RULES OK? Trained throughout childhood in painting and drawing, Am erican photographer, R o b ert G olden, turned to the camera at the age o f 12. A fte r studying history at univer­ sity, he sp e n t one year at the L ondon School o f Film Technique. He then w orked in N ew York fo r three and one h a lf years as a fr e e ­ lance photographer on p h o to essays and a variety o f social issues. Before returning to live in England, he was introduced to M arxism and the '/.one S ystem . B oth these interacted together and opened up whole new areas o f understanding. S ettling to live in L ondon, he began to concentrate on docum enting work, initially approaching children’ b ook publishers with s an essay on boxing. A s a result o f this, Kestrel books invited him to work on a series o f books fo r children. The first fo u r were M ineworker, Carw orker, Farm w orker and D ockw orker. These were all done in conjunction w ith writer, Sarah Cox. They work together on all aspects o f the p h o to ­ graphs, te xt, layout, presentation. Six more titles are scheduled fo r publication. R obert G olden is at present docum enting U nem ploym ent with Sarah Cox, and som e o f this work will be on exhibition. J o Spence talked to R o b ert Golden fo r CAMERAWORK. means th a t I have had to con cen trate heavily on the w ork experience. I have p h o to ­ graphed many o th e r areas o f life in the past few years as well. Is it im portant to align y o u rself to a parti­ cular party ? If a photographer chooses to involve him / herself in social questions, then intellectual clarity is as im p o rtan t as em otional com ­ m itm ent and good intentions. There arc so many m om ents in an event to photograph, so many events to choose from , so many angles, filters, tonal ranges, printing m ethods and controls, grain structures, depths o f field ranges, etc. to select from , th a t w ith o u t a clear-sighted view, one is lost. The socialist photographer w orks in a cultural and critical wilderness. Primarily th e photographer m ust realise his/her re­ lationship and com m itm ent to the w orking class and to th e revolutionary p arty . Once this is realised, either w ith or w ith o u t the aid o f a particular revolutionary group, the newly-developed view o f the photographer will tend to prom ulgate an association with th e group which m ost closely holds that view. In a non-revolutionary period, it is per­ haps m ore necessary for photographers and o th er artists to be clearly aligned to and in ­ volved with the m ore general problem s of th e w orking class than to be deeply involved w ith the program m e o f a specific left group as sectarianism in a non-com bat situation is as likely to close as many avenues o f aw are­ ness and turn away as m any eyes o f th e p o ­ tential audience as non-com m itm ent in a period o f struggle is likely to render o n e’s w ork meaningless. The stu d en t o f th e medium learns o f it through books, from teachers in state or private institutions, or by w orking for a photographer. In each case, the unity of form , co n ten t and technique exists and is ex ­ pressed in the transm ission o f the ideas, w hether consciously or n o t, by the w riter, teacher or boss. Underlying these ideas will be class-biased assum ptions, personal obses­ sions, prejudice and some consciously th ought o u t political views. All o f these things which influence the w ork o f th e m as­ ter will influence the w ork o f the student. In my experience, the student w ould do b etter to be in stru cted by a m ediocre p h o to ­ grapher o f Marxist views than a highly-ac­ com plished photographer o f conventional views. The technical and form al conceptions will at least be form ulated w ithin a progres­ sive fram ew ork, and in the end, the passion for a particular set o f values and ideas will carry the photographer into a thorough search for a sym pathetic technical and fo r­ mal vocabulary. Does a photographer know when their ow n level o f social awareness is relevant to the problem s o f w orking people? Most contem porary photographers are from middle class backgrounds. The em pha­ sis o f contem porary middle class cu ltu re, as m ost culture o f Western Europe since the Renaissance, is placed on individual experi­ ence and values; therefore, m ost c o n tem p o r­ ary ‘a r t’ photographs m anifest these individ­ ualistic concerns. As the m ajor experiences o f w orking people arc collective, the p h o to ­ graphs are, in th e m ain, meaningless to them . The following subject m atter dom inates the w ork: landscapes — usually in the ro ­ m antic tradition o f Weston o r th e mystical Do you think the way in which you learn tradition o f Minor White; reportage o f poor, to be a photographer is im portant? homeless or o th er politically-w eak sections o f the p o p u latio n ; w omen in various stages I th in k the way in which a person o f undress in ‘n atu ral’ situations; English encounters the craft is o f secondary im por­ festivals — which seem so o ften to sneer at tance to the cultural and political environ­ m ent in which th a t person develops intellect­ the people pictured and to dismiss the ually. These influences co u n t for m ore than subtleties o f form and technique; portraits the tiny w orld o f photographic craft and o f people peculiar in appearance o r awkward aesthetics in defining the nature o f a in a situation — often in the dem ented style o f Diane Arbus; and a host o f quasi-surreal p erso n ’s w ork. Coal picking, farrow , 1976 Who is yo u r audience? I wish the w orking class to be my au d i­ ence. Which sector or group depends on the project at hand. In the children’s books, the audience is specifically the children o f the class, and to a lesser degree, their parents and teachers. In the unem ploym ent project th a t we arc w orking on presently, the audi­ ence is w orking people in general, b u t speci­ fically, shop stew ards, m ilitant w orkers, p oli­ ticals, as well as the unem ployed. In my ex ­ hibitions, I hope to reach the same people by making the w ork available as essays on walls to be used by Trade Unions and their branches, Trades Councils, w orking peoples’ institutions and political groups for w eekend conferences, in w orks canteens, union halls and o th e r meeting places. Because o f the political co n ten t o f my w ork, I believe th a t it can be em braced as a whole only by w orking class people and by middle class people o f leftist views. But the scarred urban landscapes, the lined and weary faces, and the m om ents o f exhilara­ tion and anger are sights and experiences which m ost people are aware o f in their daily lives. It is through these m ore general elem ents o f the subject m atter th a t any per­ son may enter the spirit of the work. What are you trying to show ? I wish to reflect back to viewers their ow n experience and hum anity and provide an outline o f their struggles. In the chil­ d ren ’s books, we specifically attem p ted to create a broader class awareness and sense of self-pride in the children, while revealing to them both the skills necessary and the hazards encountered in production. In the unem ploym ent book, we hope to clarify re ­ lationships betw een past and present events, an d betw een present everyday life and the forces which determ ine its shape, especially concerning the tragedy o f unem ploym ent. Is the ‘political photgrapher’ m ore than a mirror? A m irror image is tw o dim ensional, flat and lifeless. Russian and Chinese socialist realism along with some form s o f Western advertising are ju st th a t. The term , ‘political photo g rap h er’ implies a com m itm ent; once there is a com m itm ent, one does n o t m irror, one refracts. It is in this refraction process, as a picture is being m ade, th a t the web o f subjective factors inform s the objective phenom ena. Experience, perception, preju­ dice, technical and form al expertise and in ­ tellectual com prehension all play a part in defining the nature and success o f the final p rint, b o o k or exhibition. H ow much o f yo u r work is done because you think it is politically im portant, as opposed to requests fro m publishers? I make a living by doing com mercial work. U n fortunately, it dom inates too m uch o f my tim e. The children’s books are a way in which I may earn m oney while p ro ­ ducing books and photographs o f value, to o , to me. O therw ise, as in the unem ploym ent project, the com mercial w ork pays for the political w ork. I do the la tte r when I can — evenings, w eekends, days when there is a lull in my com m ercial w ork schedule. Why do yo u concentrate on work? I have n o t decided to concentrate on w ork b u t rath er on th e w orking class experi­ ence o f my life. The fact th at peo p le’s posi­ tions in life arc largely defined by their rela­ tionships to the means o f p ro duction (are they bosses, bankers, politicians, selfem ployed, w orkers? ), and th at the central experience o f th at relationship is rigorously defined by the daily grind o f w ork (w hether caring for hom e and children, or w orking in the mill, mine, factory, farm or office) Old-age hom e, L ondon It is true th at we have no stage to present our subject m atter upon until we know how to use the tools to saw th e tim ber, hang the drapery, etc., b u t while learning technique is a prim ary step in a ph o tg rap h er’s education, it is m ore im p o rtan t to know w hat is to be presented. A fter all, the nature o f th e sub­ ject m atter may dictate one sort o f stage or curtain as opposed to another. or com m onplace (snapshot like) subject m a t­ ter. While these images may at times be in ­ ventive and appealing to m iddle class audi­ ences, they are by and large neither en ter­ taining to w orking people, nor concerned with their social or personal problem s. The subject m atter isolates the w ork from all b ut aesthetes, literateurs and students. The underlying co n ten t o f this subject 5 matter describes autobiographical observa­ tions, mystical or well-intentioned but unanalytical political thoughts. Unfortunately, the autobiographies are only as interesting as the lives they reflect; the mysticism has little meaning to people who must day by day confront the real power of the world and their representatives in the guise of man­ agers, police and foremen and women; and the politics are irrelevant to working class re­ lationships. Thus, the content isolates the work as well from the mass of the people. Because of the class nature of this work, and because the ruling class no longer occu­ pies the centre of the historical stage, but is slowly being pushed aside by a new main character, their culture generally and their photographic art specifically, like their poli­ tical and economic system, is effete. Their culture is out of step with the most impor­ tant undercurrents of this period, and though this photographic work is foisted upon the people as the true representation of the ‘art’ of photography, it remains out­ side and will continue to remain outside the interests of the 19,000,000 wage earners and their families in Great Britain. But the condition is not all negative. For the last several years, there have been dy­ namic egalitarian trends revealing them­ selves. Some community photographic pro­ jects have helped to bring otherwise isolated people together, presenting images to be dis­ cussed and ideas to be discovered through the exhibition of photographs from the com­ munity; the women’s movement has produc­ ed a volume of work which has reported, analysed and revealed to people ideas which have helped in the struggle for identity and Receiving permission, Dagenham partial liberation; the left-liberal photojournalists’ documentation of the black lib­ “ Recognition of the struggle for the right eration and anti-war movements in the of workers at the point of production to States helped to reveal the injustices and tra­ find a way to make public the true nature of gedy of those two struggles; and now in their working conditions through the use of Great Britain, several groups of photograph­ film is long overdue. ers are intentionally documenting the class British Leyland shop stewards at a struggle. Coventry plant, faced with the demand from Eventually out of these documentarist their work force to break through the barrier trends will develop the strands of a truly of misrepresentation and silence, called in proletarian cultural photographic expression Cinema Action to film their work-in. which will command the interest and serve Whilst in the factory, Leyland security the needs of the working people. men called the police, who arrested and Photography is today an accepted part of jailed the film crew, later releaseing them our cultural vocabulary, and as such, photo­ without charge. graphers should be concerned — not with Two weeks later, the Leyland manage­ photography — but with thoughts, social ment picked out one of the many stewards experience and problems which are central involved Jack Sprung and sacked him. This to contemporary life. Only then will photo­ act of flagrant victimisation was backed up graphy break out of the narrow aesthetic by the regional and national press and tele­ tendencies in which it is trapped to the outer vision, who launched a trial by media with world of human life, and only then will pho­ headlines reading ‘Leyland Row over Mr. tographers win a larger audience for their Sprung’s Spies.’ (The fact that Jack Sprung work. was not the senior steward who invited Cinema Action into the plant was ignored in “The location of the action in Coronation favour of a vicious and libellious personal Street is mainly the enclosed world of the attack against him, his family and against street itself. The community contains no Cinema Action.” children, and its members are rearely seen at work. In fact, the work that we do see going Excerpt from letter to ACCT Journal, on could be loosely described as Film and Television Technician, petit-bourgeois: shopkeeping, the running June, 1976 of a public house, Len Fairclough (a selfemployed builder) banging a nail into a wall. The ‘world’ of Coronation Street (and we “Tape recorders, ordinary cameras and are encouraged to think of it as a microcosm cine cameras, are already extensively owned of the world, a representative sample — by wage-earners. The question is why these witness for example the title sequence means of production do not turn up at showing the street as just one among many work places, in schools, in the offices of the thousands of similar streets) is safe, secure, bureaucracy — in short, everywhere where ‘apolitical,’ a place where nothing more than there is social conflict. By producing petty bickering, gossip and the occasional aggressive forms of publicity which were feud is allowed to disturb the nature and their own, the masses could secure evidence structure of the characters’ lives. They are of their daily experiences and draw effective essentially locked into, and resigned to, their lessons from them. position and role in society. The families, Naturally bourgeois society defends it­ apparently lacking children, relatives and self against such prospects with a battery employment, lead insular, isolated, static of legal measures. It bases itself on the law lives. Their dynamic potential for any of trespass, on commercial and offical action that might transform their own or secrecy. While its secret services penetrate anyone else’s existence is entirely absent. . . everywhere and plug into the most intimate the structured absences are deliberate and conversations, it pleads a touching concern significant. Their significance lies in the for confidentiality and makes a sensitive negative and paralysed protrayal of the display of worrying about the question of a working class, a portrayal that is reinforced privacy in which all that is private is in the by the occasional ‘social realist’ TV docu­ interest of the exploiters. Only a collective, mentary, where the images depict a sad and organised effort can tear down these paper acquiescent group of people.” walls.” Manuel Alvarado in Eight Hours are Not a Day, published in British Film Institute’ s Fassbinder, edited by Tony Rayns. Extract from Mass Media and Mass Society by Hans Magnus Enzensberger translated by Stuart Hood. End o f the shift, London depot Overleaf: Kellingley colliery, Yorkshire discussion before the shift. 8 Driving down Park Aven Ralph G ibson’s pictures are becoming as graphy since the 1950’ . He spent three s simple as semaphore flags. In his Q uadrant years in the U.S. Navy as a photographer’ s exhibition, 16 x 20 prints o f photographs mate. A fter attending San Francisco A rt taken 18 inches fro m the subject are his Institute, he worked fo r one and a half years equivalent o f abstract expressionist painting. assisting D orothea Lange. Before beginning his rise to fam e (see Q uadrants deals with the problem o f ex­ hibiting photographs in an art gallery. So interview), he did advertising shots fo r Eli many photographs which look good in a Lilly Pharmaceuticals, book covers fo r photographer’ hand die on the gallery wall. Bantam and Dell books, fashion pictures fo r s Ralph Gibson has faced this problem right L ook magazine and essays fo r New Y ork and A rt Forum . He also occasionally worked as on and h it it with a meat cleaver. Marxists believe that the means o f pro­ a 16mm cameraman, making a documentary duction determine the ideology, but dis­ fo r CBS and working with R o b ert Frank on tribution is equally demanding. When Conversations in V erm ont. Gibson began publishing books in 1967 painters produce an exhibition, they have to think very clearly about the problems o f with The S trip, 55 photographs from the where they are going to be shown. Ralph Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. The Hawk fo l­ Gibson is the first photographer who has lowed in 1968 with 50 photographs from a thought about these problems intelligently. play o f the same name. Robert Frank wrote Ralph Gibson photographed his the foreword fo r his third book, ACLU 1969 Q uadrants fo r the Castelli A rt Gallery in A ppo in tm en t, published by American Civil New York. A fter it was p u t up, he said that Liberties Union. the impact focused in the middle o f the gal­ As is apparent in the interview, Ralph lery. Perhaps Gibson’ best contribution to Gibson took a clear, close look at his life s photography has been his realisation o f this in 1970, and his photographs became very phenomenon. different. Since then he has published three The central problem o f our time fo r pho­ books — The Som nam bulist, Deja V and ’u tographers ceases to be political or social but Days at Sea. rather o f how their pictures will look on a Ralph Gibson came to Britain fo r the first gallery wall. Gibson solves these problems workshop held at the Photographers Place, with a painterly intelligence. Working close Derby shire,-this Easter. This was jointly run to his subjects, Gibson solves the problems by Paul Hill and Thom as Jo sh u a Cooper. o f out o f focus edges by using a depthless Everybody who was there voted it a great black. He has invented a painterly photo­ success. One o f the participants, Ron graphy. His photographs solve the academic M cCormick, interviewed Ralph Gibson fo r problems o f 20th Century painting — not CAMF.RAWORK. those o f photography. Gibson takes his pictures at 1/250 second Ralph Gibson has been working in pho to ­ at f l 6 . I rem em ber one day I was driving dow n Park Avenue with R obert (Frank), and I was telling him that 1 w asn’t happy w ith my career — 1 was in love with this girl and all these things — he was driving and I was in the passenger seat, and he said: “ Well, you have tw o choices, y ou could probably make it com m ercially, becom e successful rather q uickly.” Because 1 w ould occasionally get jobs, I had the ‘chops,’ I had the technique to do just ab o u t anything, b u t I d id n ’t have the interest in it. He said: “ You could m ake it com m ercially p retty fast if you w anted to, or you could be an artist and w ait — and then later becom e fam ous like me! ” And then he turned around and lo o k ­ ed at me and said: “ Actually y ou only have one choice! ” And th a t was enough to make me really break all interest with the notion of being a professional photographer and d o ­ ing good w ork on assignm ent. Which is one o f the biggest m yths th a t ever came dow n the road — th a t y ou can do good stu ff on assignment. So about th a t tim e, I entered in to a p er­ iod o f p ro tracted to rp o r in which I ju st slept all day and did very little w ork, was deeply in debt, had a lo t o f m y cameras paw ned and stu ff like th at. But 1 was reading a lot, people like Alain Robbs-G rillet, people like th at. And then one w eekend I w ent o u t into the country and I shot quite a lot o f film, I felt rather inspired, and I made in one w eekend w hat was to becom e the first eight­ een pages o f The Somnambulist; the float­ ing nude, th e head in the doorw ay, many o f the photographs th a t were later to becom e widely published. But at the tim e I totally co u ldn’t stand them ; I hated those pictures w hen they first cam e o u t o f my head. They ju st seem ed to fly off the contact sheet; 1 d id n ’t even know w ho had taken them ; I co u ld n ’t rem em ber w hat I was thinking of or w hy I was taking them . I printed them — 1 recognised th a t they had a certain pow er, b u t they caused me great anxiety because they had nothing to do w ith the previous twelve years’ w ork, they did n ’t seem to re ­ late to anything 1 had attem p ted to do or to the m oods th a t I was trying to generate through my docum entary w ork. I was liv­ ing in the Chelsea Hotel (New York) at the tim e, in a very small room , and w ould have them tacked up on a piece o f board at the foot o f my bed. R obert was in M exico, and he wired me to com e and join him , so I m an­ aged to get the price o f ticket and off 1 w ent. When I came back from M exico, after the cultural shock and all th a t, I rem em ber walking into my hotel room and seeing the photographs and all o f a sudden realising th a t m y cam era, because o f the speed o f its sh u tter and m any o th er things had, I believed, co n tacted a dream reality. The m inute it occurred to me th a t those p h o to ­ graphs were going to be w hat I call dream images, I then had my p o in t o f departure. I very quickly w rote the prologue for The Somnambulist in which I stated that while sleeping a person reappears elsewhere on the planet, becom es tw o people and then per­ haps chooses to do so as a voluntary idea. I w rote th a t prologue in ab o u t fifteen m in­ utes, 1 then very quckly generated a 32-page version o f the book which 1 then set about trying to‘ get published. People were very interested b u t they w ould w ant to change it, to make their own m ark on it. Somehow th a t b o o k had com e to represent an a u to ­ nom y, a sort o f reaction against all the sub­ servience o f freelance w ork. I had to have satisfaction this w ay, 1 w asn’t able to let people change it, I d id n ’t w ant to pass the buck, I d id n ’t w ant to blame anybodv for its failures. I w anted to take all the bow s and all the responsibility. F ortunately, nobody was going to adhere to those term s, and it to o k me three years while 1 was trying various ways o f getting the book published, and I was utterly obsess­ ed with getting it published. I used to wake up in the m iddle o f the night chewing my teeth , thinking ab o u t it. It was a period of great pressure and anxiety because it was as usual a highly-im poverished period, and I rem em ber th at one night 1 made a p act, and I d o n ’t know who it was w ith, b u t I p ro ject­ ed my thoughts as far o u t to the universe as 1 could, and I sim ply said in som e kind o f an arcane prayer th at I was willing to die if I could get th a t book published. T hat would be a fair bargain, my life w ould have cer­ tainly fulfilled itself and that was all I w an t­ ed! But at th at m om ent I becam e rather desperate, I realised at a certain p o in t th at w hat 1 should do is publish it myself. Som e­ how th a t notion daw ned on me, and I very quickly form ed a lim ited partnership. I ju st w ent to a lawyer, and he drew up a piece o f paper. I sold som e shares in th e venture to the graphic designers and the art directors
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      • archiveFour Corners Bishopsgate
      • vimeo_link
      • authorSee sections X to AC
      • author_editorEdward Barber, Terry Dennett, Mike Goldwater, Marilyn D-Noad, Tom Picton, Jo Spence, Paul Trevor
      • author_writerTom Picton, Margaret Walters, William Messer, Marilyn Noad, IFRIQIYAH FILM COLLECTIVE, Roger Mayne, Barry Lewis, Robert Golden, Shirley Read, Mike Goldwater, Bill Brandt
      • author_photographerEd Barber, Adrian Ford, William Wise, Neil Gulliver, Janine Wiedel, Barry Lewis, Abigail Heyman, Garry Winogrand
      • author_designerH.C. Sepping Wright (Illustrator)
      • author_intervieweeChristopher Schwarz, Adrian Ford, Martin Gowar, Herbie Yoshinori Yamaguchi, Judy Goldhill, William Wise, Jessie Ann Matthew, Jurgen Schadeburg, Andrew Mann, Christine Vincent, Bill Brandt
      • author_organisation
      • tagsquality of life',exhibitions,students,drum magazine,photojournalism,pin-up,pornography,male nudes,women's magazines,playgirl magazine,viva magazine,spare rib magazine,male gaze,voyeurism,light gallery,gender roles,usa,'children photographed',alternative representation,ikon,children's rights workshop,stereotyping of children,creative camera,jean mohr,imperialism,colonialism,capitalism,black stereotypes,mass entertainment,black nationalism,apartheid,bantu film experiment,colonial film unit,ifriqiyah film collective,box room gallery,space,a.i.r.,picture post magazine,social realism,architecture photography,
      • titleCamerawork Magazine - Issue 04
      • subtitleIssue 4: Quality of Life Children Photographed Black Stereotyping
      • dimension13 pages
      • ocr1
      • copyrightFour Corners/Half Moon Photography Workshop/Camerawork, Tom Picton, Margaret Walters, William Messer, Marilyn Noad, IFRIQIYAH FILM COLLECTIVE, Roger Mayne, Barry Lewis, Robert Golden, Shirley Read, Mike Goldwater, Bill Brandt, Ed Barber © Edward Barber Estate, Adrian Ford, William Wise, Neil Gulliver, Janine Wiedel, Barry Lewis, Abigail Heyman, Garry Winogrand © The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, Christopher Schwarz, Adrian Ford, Martin Gowar, Herbie Yoshinori Yamaguchi, Judy Goldhill, William Wise, Jessie Ann Matthew, Jurgen Schadeburg, Andrew Mann, Christine Vincent, H.C. Sepping Wright (Illustrator)
      • credits
      • related
      • locationBethnal Green, London, UK (pg 1) India. Israel. USA. Yugoslavia. Scandinavia. (pg 3,4) New York, USA (pg 8,9) Africa. South Africa. (pg 11) France. Italy
      • copyright_obtained0
      • signed_off0
      • uploaded1
      • origination_date1976
      • origination_year1976
      • origination_month0
      • created2018-06-04 14:57:32
      • created_by(null)
      • modified2025-09-17 22:36:29
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      • pdf_textnr Quality of Life Children Photographed Black Stereotyping No 4 Half Moon Photography Workshop 25p Never mind the quality... The gestation period o f an elephant is about 24 months. The Quality o f Life ex­ hibition took a year longer to be p h oto­ graphed, printed, argued about and placed on the walls and hung from the ceilings o f the National Theatre in London. It lacks the charm o f an elephant but has the same greyness. CAMERAWORK does not like the show, and some o f us thought it should be ignored. But we have already looked at almost as large a show ^Problem in the City, CAMERAWORK I) produced by three p h o­ tographers fo r £2,700, and we were interest­ ed in the construction o f Quality o f Life. It cost about £12,000, but many o f the nine photographers travelled to India, Israel, America, Yugoslavia and Scandinavia as well as widely in this country. Many o f them were students at the Central School o f Art and Design. No one go t paid. Towards the end, the group had a full-time designer. There was also the director —Jurgen Schadeburg. Many lived in an old warehouse near London Bridge. They built darkrooms in the basement and had a studio on the top floor. Its walls were eventually covered with photographs selected fo r the exhibition. There was a large model o f the interior o f the National Theatre used to design the show. The building was furnished with props loaned by the National Theatre. They met every Monday evening to discuss their work. We think the show does not succeed fo r a simple reason. It says nothing. In many Christopher Schwarz I think that my main interest is, as far as this exhibition is concerned, is the effect it will have on photography within the UK. . . and about the possibility o f groups o f pho­ tographers because 1 still believe in groups o f photographers, in spite o f that experience, working together. If a magazine such as yours totally damns it, it might make it very difficult for other groups, or for two or three people to start doing something mean­ ingful together. As ambitious as that was. endless hours o f discussion, the group never decided what they were doing. Quality o f Life is a silly slogan. It is ad man's English, which makes you feel good but means nothing. It would not be used by a poet. Too much energy was wasted in try­ ing to define it. For tactical reasons, the group should have used other, more limited targets in their daily working, even if they continued to use the title fo r their final show. There were great problems in working as a group. Ten is about the limit that can work cohesively. But to work successfully, it needs special disciplines which are probab­ ly not those required in an art school. An infantry section o f eleven men works very well because they each have a common incentive to survive. A magazine collective can also work, where the pressures can appear equally perilous. Democracy with a director is bound to cause problems because it becomes a part­ nership o f unequals. By the end o f the pro­ cess, several o f the photographers were very annoyed with Jurgen. This was probably inevitable. Finally, there were pressures to be in­ offensive. Quality o f Life was financed by an insurance company. It was produced to be hung in a prestigious site, the first large exhibition in the £16m. National Theatre. It was difficult fo r it not to be visual muzak. Tom Picton talked to the people involved in the show. We have put Jurgen Schadebu rg’ comments in a box. Excerpts from s the others follow : On the other hand, maybe it is a good thing to tear it to shreds in which case anybody who tries would have to have a lot more published work and be a lot stronger before they start something like that. So maybe that would be o f value. I d on ’ see any t point in doing any writing/photography un­ less it says something. Unless it’ o f value. s Not just to the person w ho’doing it. And s I suppose if I have a stand on photography, that is very much where it is. . . O ne’got to s say something. I ’ not saying what one m should say, but one should be saying something. This can be from the party propagandist at one end to the artist in his ivory tower at the other. Both o f them would say that they were saying something. I quite agree with you. And if they’ re saying something, that’ super. It’ when s s you pretend to say something and d on ’say t anything that bothers me. I d on ’think the t Quality o f Life as a total exhibition — though there are some individual fine ph oto­ graphs. . . has got a philosophy o f any des­ cription. If it had a philosophy, one could fight against, if it was extreme left-wing, ex­ treme right-wing, if you could fight against it, then you could argue against it, you could put it up and say: “ This is what we, as x number o f people, believe. This is our state­ ment,” and then you can get a dialogue g o ­ ing. It becom es a meaningful experience. Where you just put up middle-of-the-road images, or middle-of-the-road group o f pho­ tographs — they don ’ even say: “ t We are middle-of-the-road,” but arc just there as photographs because some o f them happen to be pretty pictures but d on ’ really speak t about the quality o f life — then it’a wank. s What do you think is the most positive thing about your experience over the past three years? but it’been very good for the photograph­ s ers, as well, in their own lives. You couldn’ t weigh up and say the result is better than the therapeutic quality .it had for the photogra­ phers. I think that is why it’ such an on ­ s going proposition. We’ all learning. That’ re s where it really is strong. But eventually on e’judged, if judged at all, on the picture. s Martin Gowar: designer What do you about? think the exhibition is 1 was thinking about this the other night, and to be honest, I’ have to say what I ll thought then. I believe it is probably more to do with the idea o f an exhibition. . . than any philosophical or artistic sense o f achievment in the work, in the photographs them­ selves. Now that’ virtually saying the s exhibition comes first and the statement o f the pictures com es second — which I believe it docs. I think inside it might be like that for a number o f the photographers even though they w ouldn’admit it. t How did your Monday evening meetings work ? I’ really learned how to fight for what I ve Originally they used to be, and this is know to be right, that more than anything. I probably over a year ago, we used to have a w on’ put up with a bad situation. I w on’ t t put up with my work being, fucked around. rota. I can remember this, because it used to I w on’put up with interference that 1 know effect me gastronomically. A rota o f people t isn ’right, I w on’put up with working in a who would cook a meal. Virtually all the t t d feeble situation — by that I mean where people would turn up and w e’ either eat or there is no direction, where people are just just discuss things briefly before eating and then over dinner w e’ have an agenda o f d pissing around. things to think about, talk about. After that w e’ com e up here and study new pictures d and rejects and pictures that were hanging up, and so forth. Suggest ideas, exchange Adrian Ford ideas, and so on. And it used to go on like that with variations, week after week, so Do you think that it ’a g o o d way to put s d that there’ be a constant influx o f pictures an exhibition together? To have a group o f coming in, small prints. We w ouldn’ ever t people working like this and coming back study contact sheets. We’ study the prints d once a week, discussing? that Jurgen had selected from the sheets and look through those. One by one. Say, a yes Yes, I do. I think it’a tremendous way. s pile and a no pile, perhaps. Towards the end It’very good, not only is there a good result s 2 Never mind the Quality... o f the selection the whole thing was repeated again. Then we got down to there being pictures that were already there, that were pinned up, which were pretty definite, that had com e right through the whole time. And then it came right down to yes, no and a maybe. So you ’ have a selection o f prints d to go through again, and they’ sometimes d come up at a further meeting, week after or whatever. So there was a chance for prints to re-enter or to disappear perhaps. Often, more often than not, prints disappeared rather than being brought forward. Som e­ times it came down to voting. A voting yes, no and maybe. After that w e’ usually go to d the pub, depending on what time the meet­ ings finished, and then just talk about every­ body else, behind their backs. Herbie Yoshinori Yamaguchi Last year, just accidentally, I went to the Photographers’ Galley near Leicester Square. I met two photographers from this group. Before 1 joined this group, I had been work­ ing in theatre group as an actor. I resigned, and I didn ’ know what I should do. I have t been taking photographs since I was 18 years old. I went to town with a camera and I met two photographers from here. They invited me to com e here. I used the darkroom downstairs, and 1 showed Jurgen my pic­ tures. People liked my pictures, and they suggested to me 1 could join the group. What do you think the exhibition is about? What is “ Quality o f L ife” ? What is “ Quality o f L ife” T o me, I ? think the people or life in which people can feel some happiness or satisfaction with the positive mind. Myself, 1 feel that the quality o f life, the quality o f life is a moment in which I really feel energy to be alive, to go ahead. Always I am looking for some m o­ ment in people from outside and their faces in which I feel their happy impression, their happy faces. This exhibition is very wide, too wide. T oo many themes. Very difficult to control subject matter using 260 pictures. I feel the group lacks philosophical points of view. Visual elements go against philosophi­ cal point. Some pictures people will not be able to see contents. I think that is weak­ ness o f group. Actually, we should have dis­ cussed much more. Did you discuss philosophy or ideology? We used to, but I think since last January some photographers already fed up with talking and discussions and ran away. Half resigned. In the group but not very serious­ ly. Just carry on taking pictures. I think we should have discussed more. Still now, at this stage, each photographer has their own opinion about quality o f life. Some photo­ graphers are compromising this arrangement pf the pictures. I think we are not absolute­ ly happy. This is a difficulty o f a group working. William Wise. London suburb. “ wanted to get a I picture o f a body. Did, but none were suitable to show the quality o f life.” William Wise my time doing it, tend to sometimes follow their own peculiar little alleyway which lead back into areas that aren’o f much interest t to most people. These are quickly stomped on by a group. Y ou’ not permitted to do re that kind o f thing. As it developed I was and still am inter­ ested in situations that have never been seen. Where a camera had not been, particularly a Have you enjoyed doing it ? sort o f unusual situation, possibly bizarre. I f you were advising another group, what Yes. I enjoyed myself very, very much. Well, for instance, just out o f a discussion, t? So far I am 25 years old. This experience we sort o f talking about the quality o f life, would you advise them ?Don’ most important experience in my life so far. life involves birth to death, we have no Oh no! No, no. I’ say, stay small. d record o f death. Pictures involving death at all. And so I thought: “ Well, we ought to Judy Goldhill Jessie Ann Matthew get something.” And I think Jurgen said it How did you decide what to photograph ? would be impossible for you to get an actual picture o f a body, they w on’permit you to t I went to India quite a long time ago. Hm, right. 1 1 That was one o f the first trips right at the 1 I always took my camera wherever I do that. And 1 thought: “ went. In some cases, I tried to think o f as­ com e back with some pictures o f bodies,” beginning, and I sort o f took pictures along t the lines o f the “ quality o f life.” I purpose­ pects that 1 could cover. Being only two and 1 did. We didn ’ actually use any, but women in the group, 1 tried to cover female we do have in the exhibition a picture from ly didn ’ take pictures o f starving peasants, t t aspects o f things. Hairdresser, beauty par­ that session that involves a coffin being car­ things like that. I didn ’think that was very positive. There’ a very positive side o f the s lours, and things like that. I think in fact ried out o f a van. Indians which I think is their kindness and I’ got one picture o f a hairdresser in. ve What do you think the advantages are in their ability to treat everything with fun, Beauty stuff didn ’com e out too well. And t you know. Always laughing, whatever mis­ I went to Israel for three months just to take working as a group like this, rather than pictures for the project and to Portugal as working fo r a magazine on assignment? erable conditions they live in, which I think is admirable. They w eren’embarrassed by t well for the project. Apart from that, every The ability to see and build from other their situation at all. I went up to a site day just going around looking for pictures. people and to have very interested and in­ where mostly women labourers — women volved minds also. . . immediately, immedi­ tend to do all the labouring — they ask you What is the exhibition about? ate feedback from eight other people on if y ou ’ married and got children, this and re that, com e back for a cup o f tea in our Oh, it’about what ten people were doing your work. So that if you do something bad s in the two and a half years, and wanted to you know it, instantly. If you do something shacks, sort o f thing. It was all a big, big re s be doing, tried to get involved with in that good, y ou ’ instantly rewarded for it. In­ laugh, I think. Anything for a laugh, that’ dividual workers, and this I found too from their sort o f motto. particular time. “ s an Operetta” It’ Jurgen Schadeburg used to work for Drum, the fam ous magazine that spent much o f its time getting up the nostrils o f the South African authorities. He is now disen­ chanted with crusading journalism. “ When I was on Drum, we exposed vari­ ous abuses, but all we did was to show the government loop-holes which they promptly filled," he says. He also worked fo r a liberal Johannesburg paper. Jurgen directed the successful Inside Whitechapel show. He was also an early editor o f Camera Owner, which much later became Creative Camera. He teaches at the Central School o f Art and Design, London. Jurgen remains uncertain about the Quality o f Life show. “ People have been shown to be more important than points o f view, ” says. “t ’an operetta. ” he I s “ Through photo-journalism the idea de­ veloped o f exploring the human condition instead o f just looking at appearances," he is quoted as saying in the catalogue. “ But we wanted to be unbiased, apolitical. Not to comment but to mirror." During a long conversation, Jurgen made the follow ing comments: Well, I think we were searching for ideas for an exhibition and this is quite some time ago — about three years ago — this was after the Whitechapel — we were searching for something new, and at that time, I wanted to d o an exhibition. . . I wanted to do a book on the population explosion which was then rather important. I didn ’get very far, t worked on it for about six months, and then I discovered that the population situation had been covered by the media, especially in America, television — extensively. Then the next thing that came in was pollution in the last 60’ I think the next stage could possi­ s. bly have been the right thing to do — and that was two and a half years ago, the “ Quality o f L ife” If it’any concern now, it . s doesn ’ really matter any more. I think t what we have now is fine pictures, hopeful­ ly, which depict ways o f life, and they o b ­ viously show some form o f quality. Most o f the pictures are positive, I would think, towards life, the people in the pic­ tures, there is something positive. You were taking photographs as well? No. So it was nine photographers and you. What was your role? Well, in a way, a sort o f visual computer, people from any other mediums. It was perhaps, because not having taken the pic­ completely independent. The thing that al­ tures myself, I could be more selective be­ ways or often has happened in the past is it cause I wasn’ personally prejudiced about has always been directed by writers, and we t the images. And on the other hand, having have just tried to be as independent as p o s­ directed other exhibitions, picture editing, sible and have therefore worked on an en­ taken pictures myself, made it possible for tirely different basis. me to again, hopefully, to choose images You imply that the whole exhibition, to a which were new and refreshing and alive and said something — or brought out the person­ certain extent, is a criticism or a reaction ality o f the individuals and didn ’ suppress against what has been happening in p h oto­ t graphy. You were saying about violent them. photographs. .. I would think that in this particular ex­ hibition, we have tried to find something I’ been a photojoumalist for something ve positive, light and friendly, you know, gen­ like twenty years, and I’ taken a lot o f vio­ ve erally. We haven’ tried, haven’attempted lent pictures, I’ been in riots, and I’ t t ve ve to go to the extremes. What we have tried reacted strongly against my pictures being to do is to show life as it is every day, if you misused by editors and so on, and I eventual­ see what I mean, rather than the exception­ ly found myself an instrument o f the editor al. We’ perhaps gone for images which or the policy o f the magazine or newspaper ve show the very, very ordinary, the daily life, I worked for, and I often disagreed about more so. I think that’ a personal reaction s their choice o f pictures, because their choice o f myself against the, perhaps quite rightly, o f pictures was — had nothing to do with the the over-use o f shocking images by news­ situation as I had seen it, had photographed papers and magazines in the 50’ and the it. They selected images which suited their s 60’ and in many cases, their abuse o f those policy, catering for a specific market. On s, images. I think what I find interesting in the other hand, why do we photograph this exhibition, for me at least, is the first people and not landscapes? Personally, I time where photographers have worked • think I would paint landscapes, which I do. without having been directed by writers or Sorry, I shouldn’have said that. t 3 Play Males BY MARGARET WALTERS Pinups have always been for m en only, b u t over the last three years, the news-stands have been displaying a new kind o f magazine dedicated to even things o u t. If men have their Pets and Playm ates, Viva and Play girl have been offering us w om en play-m ates o f o u r very ow n. They are n o t the movie or rock stars we probably all m ooned over as kids, b u t straightforw ard full frontal sex o b ­ jects. You w ouldn’t necessarily guess the co n tents from the covers, w hich tend to be m uch m ore tastefully discreet than the male equivalents — presum ably so we d o n ’t feel em barrassed buying them in public. Playgirl, in p articular, rapidly developed a form ula which has hardly changed in the last three years o f its existence. In a typical issue, Burt Reynolds flashes us a close-up grin on the cover; inside th e re ’s a lo t o f p rin t — short stories, an interview w ith R eynolds, an article on w om en in TV and another on Howard Hughes, readers’ letters and sex ad­ vice colum ns. But the nudes are w hat it ’s all ab o u t. T h ere’s a four-page pull-out of Woody, o u r Man o f th e M onth, his suntan glowing as he stands naked in a lush and arty pad. Phone in hand, he gazes directly at the sp ectator, tough and tender. If you d o n ’t fancy W oody, Play g irl’ Discovery is T erry, s posing languidly on a bed. If you prefer o u t­ door types, there are some naked skiers, and for a bonus, a Play girl Fantasy w here a couple roll gracefully in their p retty pink sheets, flirting at the cam era rath er than each o th er. The whole thing started as a joke. Back in ‘72 Cosmopolitan decided to run a cen tre­ fold o f tough-guy film star Burt Reynolds, baring his hairy chest b u t coyly concealing his ‘private’ parts. I d id n ’t mind th at one too m uch. It was so cheerfully conscious o f its ow n absurdity — w ould you like to sin on a tiger skin, w ith Burt? — th a t it ended up making a w itty com m ent on all pin-ups. But the English edition, posing a d ifferent m an in a similar sem i-recum bent spraw l, fell into uninten d ed absurdity. Trying to improve on nature, to give the model th a t essential plas­ tic sheen p aten ted by P layboy, they managed to airbrush o u t n o t only his tum m y sag b u t his navel as well. Since th en , Cosm o­ politan seems to have retired the gimmick and gone back to its tried and true form ula — the cosy girl-to-girl to n e , the dow n-hom e, do-it-yourself glam our. The new magazines arc altogether d ifferen t, m uch colder and harder, and much more sexually explicit. Launched in 1973, th e y ’ve becom e big business. Playg irl’ Am erican sales are appar­ s ently well over the million m ark. ( Viva has always lagged a little uncertainly behind; in the last few m onths i t ’s been reconsidering its image, and seems to be retreating from the ‘explicit male n u d ity ’ o f the past. The editor adds reassuringly, if rath e r vaguely, ‘I d o n ’t think anyone will call Viva a prude! Sensuality will merely be expressed in new and d ifferen t w ays.’) As b o th magazines are very carefully calculated and shaped by w hat the m arket researchers say o u r fantasies are — o r w ould like o u r fantasies to becom e — i t ’s w orth looking at them more closely. They exploit a form at perfected long ago by Playboy and Penthouse: th e y ’re u p ­ m arket, all glossy p ap er, fancy cam era angles, m oody, hazy colour — and classy w riting. Viva, published by the PenthouseForum group b u t largely staffed by w om en, has som e genuinely readable articles. The editors are interested in fem inism , run regul­ ar features on w om en w ho do som ething o u t o f the ordinary, and have carried com petent pieces on rape and contracep tio n . Culture and politics are made palatable, com fortably assimilated in to this w orld o f easy living and easy loving. What th e y ’re selling us isn’t ju st sex, b u t sex as p art o f a w hole lifestyle. Playgirl offers a Californian dream o f sea and sun and the great o u td o o rs, o f creative u n co n ­ ventionality, o f a swinging life in apartm ents all glass and palms and light. Viva’ image is s cooler, m ore cultivated. New York-based, it assumes a big city chic in its readers, a soph­ isticated good taste in food and w ine, books, travel — and men. Both conjure up a con­ sum er’s dream w orld, a world th a t’s slick. hip, rom antic. A w orld th a t’s for sale. For the poetic photography is straight advertis­ ing agency art. Behind the male pinups hover the shades o f a thousand ads for cigar etts or after-shave. A naked couple em brac­ ing sensuously, ecstatically, could be selling us fancy bed linen o r a Jam aican holiday — or a b e tte r sex life. The glossy trendy co n ­ te x t softens the im pact o f nakedness and d e­ fuses sex by turning it in to a com m odity. Sex is for gourm ets and connoisseurs; i t ’s a good meal o r a good trip. You m ust n ot only have it, b u t be seen to be having it. Sex is fun. Sex is for conspicuous consum ption. The pinup sections are carefully personal­ ized. We see the man dressed as well as u n ­ dressed, and w e’re told about his life and am bitions and dream s. A lo t o f them are tough guys — athletes, a gam bler, a stunt m an, surf bum s — posed to look wild and sexy, hairy and m uscular. The p h o to g rap h ­ ers are nothing if n o t ingenious at thinking up new thrills; we n o t only get naked surfers and riders and canoe-ers, b u t bare-bottom ed skiers, and — o f all unlikely things — sky-divers. But the poses pose problem s. By law the penis m ust never be show n erect. A nd after all, even the erect penis is n o t all th a t phallic — if you take the w ord to imply the w hole m yth o f relentlessly virile and vio­ lent m asculinity. So the ph o to s are littered with predictable phallic props — guns, m otorbikes, skis, billiard cues, horses, tree trunks. And ju st in case we still miss the p o in t, the tex t underlines the butch message. S troud, a film actor who w orks obsessively at body building, ‘has dark hair curling o ut o f his u n b o tto n ed shirt, an instinctive animal wariness in his deep set eyes, he is com p lete­ ly m ale.’ S tu n t man Nick ‘takes to chicks and violence the way a duck takes to w ater’; Shep, a soccer goalkeeper, finds the joys of sex in sport — ‘a climax and a feeling o f c o n ­ q u est’ — and vice versa. Y et, w e’re assured, even the toughest man is also sensitive, crea­ tive, deep. They may seem unattainable b ut they have a dom estic streak, and ju st might dom and fulfillm ent. There is no h in t th a t settle dow n — with the right girl. So Nick is everyday boredom and frustration and ex ­ seen burying his face in red roses; Shep sits haustion might carry over in to y o u r sex life gazing thoughtfully, m oodily into the shad­ and fantasies; no recognition o f how deeply ows. And Greg, who looks like Jam es Dean, divided we are by sexual stereotypes; no h in t is also a Vulnerable boy-child’. Conversely, th a t, if sexual expeience can be ecstatic, it the more delicate indoor types — part-tim e can also be disturbing and disruptive. Both actors, men w ho are into art or m editation Viva and Playgirl tend to com ic overstate­ or self discovery — are always in surprising­ m ent. Ross, one of th eir m odels, explains ly good shape. They take care of their th a t ‘m aking love is the greatest adventure bodies and arc tougher th an they look, w e’re there is. I feel like a pioneer on the sexual told. T h ere’s usually at least one o u tdoors fro n tier.’; while Case, w ho has m ystical lean­ shot to establish how healthy and n atural, ings, pitches it higher. ‘When we find our how basic, they really are. true nature we discover th a t it is nothing The men d o n ’t go in for com e-hither o th e r than the beautiful and awesome revel­ looks. If they gaze directly at the reader, it ’s ations o f divine love itself. Fucking is ju st a in a serious, manly w ay — or else i t ’s sensi­ way o f saying A m e n .’ I t’s silly, o f course — tive and com m unicating. More o ften , the though I rem em ber reading statem ents as men are show n absorbed in their ow n activit­ silly in the serious U nderground press. But ies or thoughts or bodies. T he message is, it pinpoints the real dishonesty o f magazines d o n ’t call us, w e’ll call y ou. They rem ain like this — their determ ined refusal to adm it th eir ow n m en, as w om en are rarely their th at ‘sexual pioneers’ may find th e y ’re living o u t their w orst nightm ares, th at self disovery own w om en. These oddly co ntradictory images actual­ m ay be a trip — b u t a trip can mean an obs­ cene and painful jo urney in to ex trem ity . ly confirm ed my sense o f the gap betw een how men are seen and w om en are seen in N ightmares d o n ’t make good selling points. o u r society. Moreover, I suspect th a t even I t ’s interesting to n o te where Viva draws when the w riters and photographers are w o­ the line. Their regular psychologist, w ho m en, th e y ’re pushing a thoroughly masculine provides p at interpretations o f readers’ sexu­ al fantasies, strikes a healthy encouraging assessment o f w hat a w om an w ants. The magazines never h in t th a t we may find im ­ n o te tow ards anything and everything. H e’s mense difficulties in breaking o u t o f tra­ thoroughly reassuring to men w ho have ditional sex roles. Instead, they provide a sadistic fantasies, b u t w hen a w om an adm its nice, safe form ula for to d a y ’s ‘lib erated ’ to violent fantasies in which she hum iliates w om an. She’s b oth frank and fem inine, in­ m en, he freaks o u t. ‘I have heard and read a good many w o m en ’s fantasies, b u t I have dep en d en t b u t happy to serve a man. She hangs on to h er charm , her rom antic, affect­ read a few th a t reveal such a hatred of ionate n atu re, b u t she helps men by taking m en. . . I hope I never m eet Sarah in real the initiative and m aybe paying the bills. life, in a situation in which she might get her And if she resents the way w om en are talons in to m e.’ He com pletely forgets h e’s always being reduced to sex objects, well, dealing w ith fa n ta sy, and in the process manages to reveal more about his own fears the balance is being righted. (And anyw ay, than ab o u t S arah’s. But the message, the the men enjoy being sex objects for a change message hidden som ew here all through the so w hat was all the fuss about?) Liberation new magazines, is clear enough. Y o u ’ve is Unisex — and it’s easy, especially if y o u ’ve come a long w ay, baby. J u s t d o n ’t try p u sh ­ got the m oney. On one level, Playgirl and Viva, like their ing y o u r luck. male equivalents, are calculated to arouse anxiety. If you d o n ’t have a swinging sex life, if you d o n ’t make it with men like Woody o r Greg or R andy, if y o u ’re n o t stylish and creative — then y o u ’re a failure This article first appeared in Spare Rib, no. as a consum er and a w om an. But at the 33 fSpare Rib is obtainable m o n th ly fo r 30p same tim e, th eir message is th at any and fro m all good newsagents, or direct on su b ­ every sexual problem is easily resolved, with scription to Linda Phillips, 114 George St., a little help from an ex p ert, w ith b e tte r Berkham sted 1IP4 2EJ, at £ 4 .4 4 fo r 12 technique, or by frankly adm itting w hat issues). turns you on. Sex is seen as an escape from everyday life, a way o f shedding your every­ day frustrations and hang-ups; sex is free­ 4 WOMEN ARE BEAUTIFUL by Garry Winogrand (A Light Gallery Book/Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1975) £4.50 paperback, £9 hardback. REVIEWED BY WILLIAM MESSER So Garry Winogrand is a tit man; is that the major revelation which accounts for America’prestigious Light Gallery selecting s Women are Beautiful as its initial entry into the publishing arena? Winogrand is also pretty big on rear-ends, crotches, legs, mouths and other body bits; there was a time, though, when he seemed equally in­ volved with photography. A genuinely effective photographic imagist appears here to have largely abdicated picture-making responsibility (or at least adopted a rather confusing “ Thing Itself, Regardless o f the Photograph”style, which is indeed disappointing). An innate voyeur­ ism has always functioned as something o f a grey area in responding to the genre o f “ street photography,” but in this newest book o f Winogrand’ he verges on pure s, exploitation. Winogrand is the same photographer who several years ago produced The Animals (MOMA), a wonderfully-engaging book, rich with humorous, eventful photographs, sharp documentary insight and a compelling sense o f bookness about it throughout. Women arc Beautiful looks like the uncertain collect­ ing o f stills gleaned from the out takes o f a poorly-conceived, self-indulgent, private documentary film. I will admit there are places where I buy into even some o f the more blatant images, suckered. I’ conditioned, and subject to m some familiar response patterns; but even heated blood finds its way to my head, and there it finds me searching for more —more about women, and more ways in which to find them beautiful. Only a handful o f pictures clearly even suggest deeper dimensions to the worlds, lives and true energies o f the women between the Winogrand covers. In his own introduction, Winogrand apparently tries to excuse this paucity by talking about “ hints” o f such information; but the hints arc either too subtle or too few to prevent the book from resembling satire, a parody o f a book on the beauty o f women. With almost mock sincerity, Winogrand confides “ Women are Beautiful is a good title for this book because they are.” Well, I d on ’have a wife t and I w ouldn’ beat her if I did — whether t women are beautiful is not at issue; it’ the s pictures. There is little evidence o f deeper qualities to womanbeauty, o f strength, strug­ gle, endurance, solidarity, alienation, gener­ osity, creativity, regeneration or anything. One picture which does seem to promise more, effectively, is placed on the b ook ’ s front cover. A young woman, less buxom and less revcalingly dressed than most in the book, stands in the sunlight outside a dow n­ town clothing store, holding her coat and a partially eaten ice-cream cone. She is smiling warmly, even laughing. A male clothing dummy (just over her shoulder) in the store window has, like the ice-cream, lost its head. She is not glamorous or seductive; but she is authentically attractive — a m other’ daughter, grown-up and real, out s on the street in the sun with her ice-cream and smile — and therein lies the real hint to her beauty. She appears to be waiting for something or someone, and has been sur­ prised though not embarrassed by the ph oto­ grapher; she is a participant. This knowledge o f her role in the ph oto­ graphing is not overly com m on in the book. As “ cover girl”though, she performs famil­ iarly, presenting an only titular promise, rarely, and incidentally, fulfilled inside. In the past, Winogrand has demonstrated his capabilities, and in doing so, set stan­ dards for the level o f his performance; it is not generally expected he slip too far below these. Photography as a creative medium is still emerging from adolescence, in a growth spurt which is shaping it toward maturity. W inogrand’work, over the years, has played s • significant part in that growth, thereby a helping define the medium. And Wino’ grand’ imagery had usually been street-wise, s permeated with social sense, an awareness of the public context o f his photographs. It is not unreasonable to have sought more from him than he gives in Women are Beautiful. The book is a set-up. On the cover we are told “ Women. . . , ” a big word in 1976, “ Beautiful,”which most must have real­ are ized by now means deeper than skin; and Women are Beautiful right there is F.verywoman with her overcoat and ice-cream reminding us. She is followed almost immediately by another sympathetic image just inside; no words, but numbers queue up the inside o f an elevator door next to a lone woman who stares vacantly at them, co-occupants o f the man-made cityspace. There is present the seriousness and I learn practically nothing from them, so lit­ tle is revealed. Abigail Heym an’ Growing s up Female does a far better jo b o f proselyti­ zing the message “ women arc beautiful"; all Winogrand seems to be doing most often is checking ’ out. em Women arc Beautiful is, undcrlyingly, a tits and ass album o f Winograndian street effectiveness o f Robert Frank’ The s Americans. Then further coaxing our appreciation ap­ pears a rambling, though often insightful, and delightful, introductory essay by writer/ actrcss/director Helen Gary Bishop, which serves to more fully reveal the world o f women and womanly identity encountering the world o f men. I am moved toward a readiness to receive photographs capable o f exploring and verifying such potential beauty — photographs which will have been made by a man. I have been touched; I am willing, open. Finally Ms. Bishop tells us “ with the unerring instinct o f the artist, he (Winogrand) had caught the conflict o f the feminine creature; the body vying with the self as person.” Any moment now we will get the picture(s), see the body o f the work, waiting behind the next page; how could we be prepared for the ravaging about to be re­ ceived? For with the Winogrand woman, the body is already vanquer, and also (through the eyes o f her maker) victim. Ms. B ishop’ s words must provide their own echoes. There are some eighty-five photographs here o f women: women at concerts, at par­ ties, at the beach, shopping, riding bicycles, entering cars, crossing streets, standing out­ side o f buildings, walking on sidewalks, ly­ ing on the ground, stretching, bending over, and more. Unaware, nearly all seem to be posing fetchingly for W inogrand’ observing s eye with the opacity o f so many model com ­ posites, themselves and their lives unknown. pics (tits on top). Featured are big tits, small tits, round tits, pointed tits, droopy tits, perky tits, black tits, white tits, black mesh tits, cocktail party tits, sorority sister tits, Sunday-in-the-park tits, hippie-on-dastrcct tits, even militant feminist marching tits. The man does not discriminate; all tits are fair game. A Sears Roebuck Catalogue o f tits. When the book first came out, one o f L ight’ people went through it to show me s the small number o f pictures “ primarily con ­ cerned with the wom an’breasts,”claiming s no more than thirteen. That’ 18% pure s breast fetish, even by his protective count; but considering the images where breats are visually or visably catalytic, or at least pivot­ al (or just obtrusive), raises the balance con­ siderably. Legs and crotch shots then take us easily over the hump to majority. Physicality is the dominant landmark where Wino­ grand’ at, and superficiality its hallmark. s So much o f the book feels like oldfashion USA high school leer that I am repel­ led. These arc often almost anonymous grab shots, grabbing ass on the way by. I have participated in that shit, and it is a waste of time. It’ too easy. I am again attracted to s it, and nearly subverted. It angers me; I am actually angry at this damn book. I would like to dismiss it as just another photogra­ pher throwing together some lesser work into a topical book because there’ some s money in photo books these days, and women too. I seem to be (partially) willing to excuse some for that, maybe because they did a better job, or are older, more revered treasures (the mercy shuck); but Wino­ grand’ not one o f them, and neither is this s book. He should have stuck to the title I un­ derstand he originally played with, Diary o f a Male Chauvanist Pig; at least there would have been a little more honesty up front, and Light might have had their million seller. I’ better simmer down. It’ not my d s book: I’ not even a woman. It is my med­ m ium, however, and good books are hard to com e by. Light Gallery has a considerable reputation rolling behind it. This was their plunge, their worthiest o f causes. It’ sad. s O f course the Light hierarchy support it, and several reviews have appeared in Ameri­ can media, all positive. I’ either missing m something really major, or have more diffi­ culty dealing with (deserved) guilt than those guys. It all leads me to wonder about the currently fashionable surge in incestuously supportive journalism embracing our bright new medium, and especially its bright­ er, more established stars. It’a bandwagon s that seems to eschew brakes. I expect the book will appeal to countless “ picture lovers”already adept at getting o ff on half-tone reproductions o f women, who will appreciate the more accessible “ real life” fantasies it permits. One person tells me o f a tongue-in-cheek humor operating; well maybe, but it also sounds like slur. I d on ’believe Winogrand entirely intend­ t ed this, though. I think, as Helen Gary Bis­ hop suggests, that Winogrand truly likes (or believes he likes) women; he adores them, like sculpture, like goddesses. Like pin-ups, he creates them and enshrines them. As he tells us in his introduction, it ’not whether s the women photographed are actually beau­ tiful, but that in the photographs he will find them so (does he think he creates their beauty?) . It is also my guess, beyond the wankers, there will be those women enjoying the book because it appears to affirm qualities, characteristics, or roles they embrace in their own lives or fantasies. In the bosom cons­ cious, snap-shooting gallery o f Women arc Beautiful, being a woman and out in the world becom e being on accepted public dis­ play, and enough samples o f feminine soft­ ware are offered so that anyone’particular s varieties can’ be far off. For such women, t the book will confirm only what they al­ ready believe and they will recognize the photographic instrument on their tails as the same, eager, quivering, dumb, vulnerable, drooling apendage they have come to know elsewhere. Flave a look and see what you think. I’ m not sure what the appearance o f a book like this suggests for the medium generally. Per­ sonally, it might mean the end o f Wino­ grand’elevation; then again, it could be just s the beginning. Things are strange right now in the photo world; even time may not tell. 5 Growing up Female GROWING UP FEMALE by Abigail H cym an (H olt, R inehart and W inston, New Y ork, 1974) $6.95 paperback. REVIEWED BY MARILYN NOAD the fair.” Nervous tension dom inates their lovely faces. T urn the page, and we find a lissome, b lo n d , baton-tw irling teenager — a com ely smile, small tiara on her head, high w hite leather b o o ts, sparkling costum e, the antithesis o f the girl opposite her on the n ex t page. She has rum pled hair, rum pled shirt full o f holes, freckles, grimy fingers She says, and I believe her, “ this book is ab o u t m yself,” b u t it seems th a t her narra­ tive is ab o u t the w om an she is now , and the photographs d epict who she used to be. This is n o t a criticism o f the b ook, really, b u t it is surprising th at the bright, assertive w om en who arc challenging their feminine roles, taking m ore control o f their lives, looked at y o u r cervix?” Chances are th at the men at the bar in th e previous picture w ouldn’t be interested in a cervix as much as a warm pussy. But m aybe I ’m wrong. Perhaps the naked bar lady is the missing d o cto r, and she’s giving them a lesson in anatom y! There is still another lady with her legs spread. She has ju st had a legal “In a w o m e n ’ gynaecological self-help group, I g o t to kn o w m y b ody — and m y se lf — s better. Have yo u ever lo o ked at y o u r cervix?” “I f I w ent out w ith a man who liked bowling, I liked bowling. I f I w en t o u t with a man who was interested in string quartets, I was interested in string quartets. I f a man asked m e to go to a m urder m ystery m ovie, I loved m urder m ystery movies. It ju st d id n 't m atter to me, i f I liked to be w ith him . I was very adaptable.” Diane A rbus once said, “I m ean i t ’s very subtle and a little em barrassing to m e, b u t I really believe there are things which nobody w ould see unless I photographed th em .” Abigail H eym an, on th e o th e r hand, p h o to ­ graphs things th a t we see every day. T hrough her photographs, how ever, the things th a t have gone u nnoticed, overlooked and otherw ise taken for granted and the thoughts th a t have been harbored far back in our m inds are suddenly recognized and com ­ prehended. It follows, th en , that if our awareness is jogged a b it when we are p re­ sented w ith a new way o f looking at familiar things — i.e., w om en — this can be ju st as en­ lightening and revealing as seeing a Jew ish giant in his hom e in the Bronx. And perhaps more useful. The em phasis in the first p art o f G row ­ ing Up Female is on girls and w om en co n ­ cerned w ith their looks and feminine wiles. A little girl stares into a bathroom m irror, a co u nter laden w ith cosm etics is ju st o u t o f reach o f her small hands, whereas across the page, a middle-aged w om an stands co n tem ­ plating her tired face in h er m irror, which hangs on a cracked wall, looking as if her cosm etics were o f no use in changing her life. Photographs of braces, trips to the beauty parlor, outrageous hats, m ink capes and Movie-Star sunglasses, lead us to an older w om an, a salesperson, who could be som ebody’s g ran n y ,p reten d in g she’s half her age. Heavily made up and sporting a blond wig, she sells revealing lace underw ear (the crotchless variety) and probably the whips, to o , if you ask her! Then on to the w holcsom eness o f highschool days — the selection o f the Prom Queen. Six p retty girls, hearts pounding in their respective chests, aw ait their fate as one, and only one, will be chosen “ fairest o f clutching a football. We are supplied with the caption: “ Being p retty was im portant. If you were ugly, no one asked you o u t. I was already a good athlete and sm art. I had enough p roblem s.” This them e ab o u t the worry of being p retty enough ends w ith a success story: the vivacious cheerleader hugging and being hugged by a rugged fo o t­ ball hero in a victorious m om ent for b o th . In these p h otographs, as in all the p h o to ­ graphs in Grow ing Up Fem ale, the w omen do n o t seem to be reacting to the cam era or posing. They are n o t self-conscious o r trying to please. Ms. Heyman docs n o t focus on the IDEA o f w om an nor is she preoccupied with the physical. So w hat is left seems to be an honest rendering o f w ho each woman IS and n o t the preconceptions o f the p h o to ­ grapher. I t ’s d ifficult for a w om an to m ain­ tain her fantasies in the face o f another w om an. Abigail H eym an w rites th at her style as a photographer is m ore th a t o f “silent observer than a p articip an t,” b u t her p h o to ­ graphs express such harm o n y , intim acy and integration th a t one forgets th a t she was ju st photographing the events and n o t actually taking a m ore active part. A ctually, the narrative (diary) in this book is much m ore interesting than m ost of the photographs. And the w ords are rem em ­ bered long after the pictures. The narrative lends to the b o o k a co n tin u ity and cohcsivencss which the photographs might n o t possess on their ow n. She w rites so b eau ti­ fully and w hat she w rites is so convincing and touching th a t I w ant to sec some pictures o f her. There arc none. I felt som e­ w hat annoyed at this — and let dow n. She shares with us her w ords, builds up our ex ­ pectations and then shows us photographs o f others. “H ow then do I want to love again? H ow then do I want to be loved? I o n ly kn o w I d o n ’t want to be loved in the irresponsible way that I could only respect when / d id n ’t love m yself. Or in the possessive way that seem ed right when I saw m y se lf as a d ep en d en t person. Or in th e adoring way that / could eagerly accept only when that love was the only thing I w atned in life. ” making choices and decisions previously d e­ abortion. nied them — these w om en th a t she writes On the heels o f the happy bride and the ab o u t in the diary are seldom seen w ithin men and women queueing up fo r marriage the covers o f her book. They are confined applications, follow the b ored wives w ith the to the text. com plaint, “ You d o n ’t m arry the m an, you She seems to be looking back on relatio n ­ m arry the life.” ships th a t d id n ’t w ork, on being a full-time The book continues with the woman wife, w hich d id n ’t w ork either — on having sitting at the dinner table with her kids, star­ “done her tim e” as wife and m other and is ing vacantly at an em pty place setting; an now pursuing her own needs. In the w omen old w om an dressed entirely in black sits she has chosen to p h o tograph, this challenge alone, by an o th er em pty chair; two w om en and personal grow th is missing —ju st accept­ on a beach, fully clothed, watching ex u b er­ ance is there, acceptance o f the dull, som e­ ant male horseply in the surf; young m others tim es lonely, existence o f w om en. The sitting in a sandbox w ith children, looking growth I see is the children growing up and less than stim ulated — and innum erable bored w om en: some are bored over their the w om en growing tired and old. therm os lunches at w ork (one o f the four A pparently there are tw o professional w om en, a law yer and a d o cto r, included in photographs o f w om en at w ork outside the the b ook, b u t cither I ’m blind or those pages hom e), falling asleep over their bingo cards or playing slot m achines. A nother is at the arc missing from my copy. The closest thing laundrom at, dream ing o u t the w indow . Still to the medical profession I can see is a group of kids playing d o c to r (actually the boys are others (hair in curlers) mechanically go through their paces at the local food store. playing d o c to r — the girls arc all nurses) and the only photograph which vaguely hints Lastly is a tired mom sitting in her kitchen alone — perhaps having a few m inutes’ rest about the practice o f law is one o f a bored wife and husband sitting at opposite ends of before a child wakes from a nap or returns a large expanse o f front porch, looking like hom e from school. On the last page o f the b o o k is a p h o to ­ they could use a good divorce lawyer. Of course, the d o cto r/law y er could very well be graph o f a w om an and h er bicycle. She is the serious lady in th e striped trousers. She sitting on a wall, alone — looking o u t over a is wearing a w ristw atch, indicating perhaps vast expanse of ocean and sky (symbolic o f the endless possibilities in a lifetim e?). I see th a t her tim e is valuable? Abigail Heyman makes co m p eten t use o f her as having emerged from the pages o f this ju x tap o sitio n in making statem ents. For in­ book to represent the on-going struggle, the stance, a naked w om an, is em ployed by the discovery and grow th o f those w om en taking the tim e and making the effo rt to re-evaluate bar where she works to lie flat on her back spreading her legs far apart for the benefit and question the values im posed by society o f the men who are casually sipping their upon those o f us Growing Up Female. beers. . . follow ed by a photograph of a selfhelp gynecological center and more women lying flat on their backs, legs spread far N o te to Publishers: Growing Up Female is apart — with the caption: “ Have you ever not on sale in Britain. Why? 6 Children are beautiful, t o o ... After building a 24'A mile nylon fence through California, the artist Christo claimed it was a work o f art because it was useless. “ Work o f art must be unusable,”he said. Many purists would want to claim p h oto­ graphy an art fo r the same reason. They would dispense with the “ applied” areas o f advertising, portraiture, fashion, re­ portage and community, demanding only the sanctity o f “ u re" photography. Too p often they are left with its only possible jus­ tification as being useless. CAMERAWORK does not agree. We be­ lieve that the most esoteric or mystical land­ scape or nude inherently has a political or social function and that function is seldom just escapist. Any successful visual statement must have an attitude and any such attitude is conditioned, however unwillingly, by poli­ tics and society. We are not hermits. The connection between the artist and photographer and the world is complicated. The pressures that go to produce a certain tone o f work are many, varying from who pays to — in photography — such mundane and essential items as film size. This mechanism is hidden, partly because it is always difficult to see what surrounds you, but there are other reasons. This path between photography and the world is one CAMERAWORK treads, so we are particu­ larly interested in Children Photographed, a travelling exhibition organised by Children’ s Rights Workshop and IKON. Its aims are laudable. “ This exhibition o f photographs o f children aims to show the variety and complexity o f children’lives,” s they write on the opening panel. “ also It demonstrates that photographers o f children convey in their work their own values and assumptions about children and society. “ Photographs are never neutral images o f reality. Nor do they express universal truths. Photographs always contain social messages, explicit or hidden. Photography and children change with society. ” But photography is a harsh mistress. What is Children Photographed? Andrew Mann: Photographs, but different from most exhibitions in that the venues where it is to be exhibited will be public places where people can happen upon it. One o f the aims o f the exhibition was to show photographs o f a variety o f contexts in which children are usually not shown, as­ pects o f childhood that are usually not seen. What interests us too at Childrens Rights Workshop is that there are crucially different ways o f photographing children, that a lot o f photographs show a propensity for bias and stereotyping. This is deeply related to our work in children’books, which attempts to s demystify the stereotypes and to campaign vigorously against labelling and stereotyping o f children, and those processes in our cul­ ture generally. What type o f places? Christine Vincent: Well, shopping centres for one, where hopefully you arc going to get a good mixture o f people passing through. Hospitals, libraries, railway sta­ tions, housing estates in new towns. Have you go t some booked? o f these already CV: We are going to handle the exhibition for the first year and within that year we have booked four libraries, four shopping centres and a community centre on the Wythenshawe Estate in Manchester and The Bull Ring in Birmingham. There were prob­ lems; just the physical side o f having an exhibition that can withstand being that ex­ posed to a lot o f handling. How did the idea start? AM: We were looking at the process o f stereotyping o f children which we sec as one o f the most powerful forces in the oppres­ sion o f children — the cultural, literary and There is many a slip between thought and image. They wanted to show photographers’ many attitudes to children in 19 panels. Several things happened to get in the way o f this simple aim. The photographs o f children showing “ d ” attitudes were “ ba bad” photographs. They chose the “o o d ” photographs and g most o f these had a similar sympathy to ­ wards children. They were trapped by aesthetics. They wanted to label the panels with attitudes such as “ cutie p ie ”and “ pseudo social realism", but lacked the courage. Another problem is that the photographs and statements were handed over to a designer who saw it as a graphic problem. Design has to com e out o f content and the designer must be there from the start. The pictures are supported by statements from the photographers. There is an inter­ esting relationship between verbal and visual attitudes, but when we saw the show, the statements were too long and mounted too low on the stands. Anyone o f even moderate height had to crouch to read them. They were ideal fo r a patient and literate two-foot-six inches high dwarf. There are differences in the panels, but most o f them are only apparent to those al­ ready well-versed in photography and accepting that “ photographs are never neu­ tral. ” Many people will only see the show as yet another cosy look at scruffy children. People try to be too clever and subtle with photographs. It is a vulgar medium which has to be used vulgarly. Although the whole show was put to ­ gether with populist ambitions — bringing the truth about photographic manipulation to the shoppers o f Birmingham — it ends with the faintest aroma o f elitism, sending messages to the meritocracy. Tom Picton talked to two o f the organ­ isers, Christine Vincent from IKON and Andrew Mann from Children’ Rights s Workshop. Extracts: visual stereotyping o f children. One o f our members, J o Spence, was a visual worker, she was a professional ‘ high street’ oto­ ph grapher at the time and her own self explora­ tion o f her assumptions and techniques and methods led her to create this photography project at Children’Rights Workshop which s was looking, among many other things, at the process o f stereotyping. Now Jo has formed the Photography Workshop with others and linked it up with the Half Moon. Those were the seeds. CV: From Ikon’ point o f view all types o f s photography can and do create certain views o f children, but as an editorial and pictures research group we select and edit and repro­ duce, and, if you like, manipulate pictures into a certain context. It was a chance to re­ appraise our work, in a sense that we always had the end product in mind, whether it was a poetry book or an integrated topics book. To a certain extent it is very much a surface thing where you are juggling with pictures and juxtaposing images to get across your own editorial comment. So it was a very good thing from our side to look again at how we operate. W in a sense manipulate re and reinforce certain stereotypes in our editorial use o f photography. AM: We saw the exhibition as a series o f panels, each o f which would be finite, would be the work o f one photographer, plus a written statement o f what the photographer thought he or she was doing. CV: It was going to be a mobile exhibition and venues like libraries would not have large exhibition areas anyway, so that sort o f thinking began to put restrictions on the size. Each one has a statement and it is an honest statement and the exhibition will be open to the viewer’ interpretation. We s haven’ been clever even in juxtapositioning t panels; we haven’tried to falsify any infor­ t mation within it; we haven’ tried to de­ t liberately play out the good photos or play 7 bad p h o to s dow n, or this kind o f thing. The statem en t has been left m ore or less as the photographer offered it. N EIL G U LLIV ER (PHOTO ON LEFT) "In these photographs o f children la m the observer though not the ‘invisible man ’. I am not sneaky and dishonest about the act o f photographing: m y presence is recog­ nised and I am there by consent. N othing is ‘ set u p ’. The ‘observer’ role is useful fo r witnessing other p e o p le ’ relationships. True, s when m y relationship as a photographer p ro ­ gresses w ith a group o f people the pictures becom e m ore charged with responsive w arm th. On the o th er hand I rarely p h o to ­ graph personal friends: th e camera becom es an unw anted barrier. ” / draw no distinction in m y approach to photographing children as com pared with adults, excep t that children are o ften more at ease and less anxious to hide their true natures. L o o kin g at a child I can imagine the adult he or she will becom e: in many adults I see where childhood has been lost. ” JA N IN E WIEDEL (PHOTO BELOW) "In photographing children / see them as evolving individuals, as parts o f a fa m ily , o f a group, o f society. C hildhood is influenced by a tim e in history and sets o f circum ­ stances. W ithout this know ledge there can be no sta tem en t o f the individual b eyond the detail o f a child or the m o m en t o f tim e caught b y th e closing shutter. A photograph o f a child running, ju m ping, or pulling facial expressions is appealing and eye-catching but in m y view it alone gives little insight to the pattern o f a ch ild ’ life. ” s AM: We came to a decision very early on th a t we w ould m ake it a public exhibition by publicly advertising for submission. This we did as best we could, n o t only in the specialist papers, b u t also the national daily and w eekly press, assuming th a t o u r press release was taken u p . In fact a lo t o f our submissions actually came via th a t process. A nd in a way it is surprising how few o f our photographic friends subm itted. I th in k this is because professionals are very busy and it w asn’t actually organised by themselves. They may very well have hesitated to p ut their w ork in to an exhibition which is specific to one them e — to children. They may feel th a t they will then be seen as a p h otographer o f children. I th in k its p ro b ­ ably som ething like th a t. Have yo u deliberately chosen som e, what you w ould term , bad photographs — either photographically or ideologically ? AM: We have definitely looked in our selec­ tion process for photographs th at seemed to us to be good exam ples o f types o f ap ­ proaches, o r types o f photographs. CV: I d o n ’t think there are any “ a d ’ b photographs. AM: We have included photographs th at we personally d o n ’t like. C V : The photographs were tru th fu l to the individuals’ feelings about why they arc photographing children in th a t w ay, and th a t’s w hat I m eant by n o t m anipulating it at all, and I think th a t will com e through by the pictures being there w ith the statem en t. There is a whole area o f photography that is ty p ifie d by the television commercial. Have you included the still photographic equivalent o f that ? CV: Yes, th a t’s on a separate panel. We felt th at we ought to have a panel th at showed children as p o rtray ed in the m edia and that would include the television com mercial type o f picture. * * You seem to be saying that a lo t o f people arc ju st playing at taking photographs. AM: Yes, they arc playing at taking p h o to ­ graphs and they are rejoicing in th e status quo. They purvey, and are actually build­ ing the status quo by creating so many images w hich arc stereo ty p ed , and which picture people in their environm ent. They effectively show ‘this is the w orking class and happy at i t ’. CV: But photographers are pulled along to some e x te n t by w hat is expected of them . T h a t’s one thing we felt ab o u t the exhibi­ tion, th a t they have a value b u t th a t you need to go a little bit deeper than th at. AM: Oh yes, its n o t black and w hite at all. B ut w hat do yo u think the photographer can do? AM: I d o n ’t think th a t one ought to stop photographing, it is clearly a marvellous technological in stru m en t, a to o l, and should be used. What I believe photographs should do is to reflect reality and present th at reality to the widest possible audience. Clearly the question is “ Whose reality and how is th a t going to be in terp reted ?” . My own preference though, is th a t 1 w ould like to see strong encouragem ent to p h o to ­ graphers w ho are co m m itted to change, co m m itted to breaking o u t o f the stereo­ types th a t we have o f oursclyes and o f our society. CV: We aren ’t suggesting th a t there isn’t any com m itm ent there by any one o f the photographers, there certainly is. T here are influences. Photographers are influenced, w hether they arc p h otojoum alists and they have restrictions o f a com m ission, and a deadline, an editorial, in w hat th ey p o rtray , as opposed to the p h otographer w ho ju st takes w hat they w ant. O ut o f th a t com es images which can — some d o , some d o n ’t — reinforce certain stereotypes. H ow do yo u th in k these stereotypes arise? AM: They arise through bourgeoise culture. O ur society is like it is because m ost o f our th ought processes arc stereotyped and re ­ duced in their potential by relying on stock quick answers, pragm atic responses to situations. CV: Take the V ictorian idea o f c h ild h o o d — it w ould have been nice to have show n the sort o f photography th a t Lewis Carroll did, where he dressed his friends’ children up in ragam uffin clothes and p o rtray ed them in this way (and they are beautiful pictures), b u t they are very much the way in which Victorial Victorian society w anted to sec children. The same applies today. 1 can see it is the dem and th at can co n tro l w hat the p h o to ­ grapher finally produces. AM: We w rote a paper which we circulated to a variety o f people in p h otography and asked them for their advice and w hat they th ought ab o u t it. They w rote back with suggestions and advice and generally sup­ p o rted us. We haven’t gone ahead w ithout actually checking it w ith th e field, w hich we did p retty thoroughly. Who were these people? AM: The people at Creative Cam e
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      • tagsfour corners,ifa,reports,distribution,proposals,independent film,london women's film group,independent newsreel collective,the other cinema,berwick street collective,cinema action,london filmmakers' co-op,mike rosen,chris thomas,bfi
      • titleOrganisational - Four Corners
      • subtitleInterim report on distribution by London-based members of the Independent Filmmakers Association
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      • copyrightIndependent Filmmakers Association
      • creditsLondon Women's Film Group, Independent Newsreel Collective, The Other Cinema, Berwick Street Collective, Cinema Action, London Filmmakers' Co-op, Mike Rosen, Chris Thomas, BFI
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      • pdf_textDISTRIBUTION NOVEMBER 1976 This paper is merely an interim report from the group of IFA members based in London who have met irreguairly (6 times) since the Conference in May. Origins Following the Conference Workshop on Distribution, it was proposed by members of the London Women's Film Group and the Independent Newsreel Collective that filmmakers should meet to consider the problems involved in trying to expand and change the use of our films. We agreed from the beginning that the estab­ lished outlets of distribution, including The Other Cinema, cover only a small part of the potential audience and that it has become necessary for filmmakers ourselves to investigate new ways and means of taking film into areas not yet covered. Membership of the group has been faitly consistent and is composed of representatives of Berwick Street Film Collective, Cinema Action, the London Women's Film Group, the Independent Newsreel Collective, associates of the London Filmmakers' Co-op and Mike Rosen/Chris Thomas. Status At a regional meeting on 19 June, the group was given the status of the London Region Working Party on Distribution. As no one from the group had been present, the question of accepting this status and the accompanying responsibility to produce a report for the AGM became an issue of debate and indecision. We were always willing to make available to the IFA any information/knowledge/results produced by our work, but it was not until October that the group finally decided to accept the formal relationship already conferred on it by the London Region IFA. Our disagreement on this point had been based largely on differing concept­ ions of the role of the group. Some members wanted it to function as an alternat­ ive distribution agency, that is, to initiate and/or undertake collectively the physical task of distributing our own films around the country. While everyone agreed that filmmakers have to address themselves seriously to the question of a distribution practice, the group, in fact, embodied varying notions of how such a practice would be constituted. In any case, other members of the group saw our task as researching existing practices in order to identify the nature of our problems and to enable us to propose a viable and systematic alternative. Thus with differing objects, the group continued to have exploratory discussions, some of which contributed to proposals for future work that were produced by two of its membefs during the summer. Amidst discussion of other issues such as the NFT season of BFI films, The Other Cinema, ongoingIFA business and of the propos­ als themselves, the work of implementing them never actually began. We have decided, nevertheless, to present a modified version of them below as we believe that they specify some of the 'practical problems' of distribution. In retrospect, however, some of us would argue that the also assume some of the more polemical questions of an exhibition practice, and we have tried, crudely, to indicate these. The group is unanimous in at least making a distinction between distribution and exhibition, though we have scarcely explored our different ideas about either. Proposals When first produced, these proposals were addressed to distribution at national and international levels, reflecting the group's concern with (a) financial returns and (b) audience numbers and constituents.We established at least three main areas of investigation* 1. Recent history and practice of distribution amongst IFA members: a) How many films handled by individual/group, and their origin? b) How publicized? c) Cost of hire d) -^ny sales? - To whom? - For how much? e) Deals with distributors at home and abroad f ) Dealings with festivals 2. Stimulating expansion of distributions a) For distribution to increase, the practice of film going has to be established in large areas where the publicity of existing distribution agencies does not reach, '^his is not to suggest that wider and more efficient publicity alone would answer the problems of distribution, but it is clearly an important consideration. Moreover, this 'frontier work' has not been tackled by the distributors as presently constituted, ^hat should be the role of filmmakers in stimulating this? - Should they undertake, as an ongoing part of their practice, to organize programmes of each other's work in their own locality? - And in that case, who would comprise the audience? - Women's groups, socialist organizations, trade union branches, WEA groups, film societies? What are the relationships between a given film and a given audience? - What does this signify for new modes of exhibition? b) Given the impossibility of the filmmakers themselves to be present at every screening of their films, it has been proposed that films be accompanied by written material from the filmmakers as a guide to serious presentation. i) Discussion could be opened with owners of cinemas and theatres for the use of their premises; Arts Association officers could be approached for the use of facilities and for the funding of programmes and publicity. Again, what should be the role of filmmakers in pioneering this? It is necessary that film going be established as a regular activity and to demolish the notion of 'one film for one occasion' - widely found amongst left groups and special interest groups - which has hindered the deveopment of film and new styles of visual literacy as an integral part of political culture. d) Attention must be paid to the physical conditions of exhibition: this includes making sure that projection, screen and accoustics are the best possible. This is widely neglected. These areas of work have been posed as elements of a distribution practice. It would b e idealistic to envisage that filmmakers alone , could fully develop them. Moreover,^fche gloom of the economic crisis and the cut­ backs in public spending, what strategy must we adopt and what demands must we formulate to ensure at least adequate funding for expanded distribution? 5. The relationship of filmmakers to state institutions: a) The BFI and Arts Associations: Many films are now funded by public agencies such as these, and this raises the thorny question of state patronage. We intend to skirt round that here except to say that as yet, there is no clear contractual relationship who controls distribution, promotion, and who gets what money from sales and hire. The current negotiations with the BFI will clearly have import­ ant implications. what action, if any, can the IFA take to ensure that future contracts reflect the interests of its members? (For a more detailed report on the contract situation, seefMaurice Hatton's piece in the IFA Newsletter of October). ' b) The BFI has recently appointed a 'Promotions Officer'. We have yet to learn what policies she will be implementing. Can the IFA intervene to influence these? c) Sale and hire of films to public bodies - BFI Education Dept., NFT, RegionalFilm Theatres, BBC/lTV. What do we know of their policies and practices? D# we wish to encourage the future use of independently produced films by such bodies? Proposals vis-a-vis state funding are contingent upon an/ adequately financed and autonomous BFI Production Board. We have to bear in mind that the present criticism of the Production Board threatens to divert state funds - 3- from our shpere of 'independence' to more prestigious and costly feature production. The IFA needs to develop a long-term perspective based on its own interests, though immediately, it does not seem possible to be more than reactive in the face of developments within the BPI. The Other Cinema In mid October, the group held an informal meeting with 4 members of The Other Cinema Collective. They were willing, given the constraints of TOC's finances, to adapt current practices to service areas which filmmakers gave importance to eg. increased use of Red Star when fast turnaround was necessary and to modify prices of films (with filmmakers' permission) where appropriate - as for schools. The question of TOC's debts to filmmakers was not raised explicitly and certainly was not answered at all. It was agreed that indedpendent filmmakers need to develop a closer working relationship with TOC and to decide how TOC can best serve their interests. The meeting was characterized by much goodwill but nothing of substance emerged. Summarizing briefly... In the course of its meetings the group has attempted to open up a new space for distribution. We think that it's necessary for the IPA at least to formulate a policy around such 'bread and butter' issues as the standardization of sales and hire fees, which can be appealed to and implemented by individual filmmakers in negotiation with prospective customers. Such recommendations need thorough research, however, and whether the group will undertake to prepare a further paper for the AGM has yet to be decided.
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      • tagsfour corners,organisation,ifa,independent film,co-operative
      • titleOrganisational - Four Corners
      • subtitleDraft constitution for the Independent Film Makers Association
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      • pdf_textdraft constitution 1. Name The name of the Association shall be Independent Film Makers Association (herinafter referred to as 'The Association'). 2. Objectives and Ains The Association shall seek to develop and gain recognition for the practice of independent film making, and provide a forma and representative organisation for groups and individuals engaged in this practice, and to do, so shall pursue the following aims:2.1. To exchange information about the uses of film developments in equipment and work opportunities. TQ facilitate this process of developing and sharing ideas the Association shall organise meetings, exhibitions and seminars, and produce a regular publication.. 2.2. To.fight for adequate finance for independent film making and related . areas . 2.3. To develop access for independent film makers to equipment and other,. . facilities for the production, distribution and exhibition of work. 2. A. T0 establish minimum rates and conditions for the exhibition of independent films. 2.5. To maintain contact, co-operate or affiliate with similar organisations to the IFA - at a British and International level. 2.6. T q maintain and develop a working relationship with the Association c f o Cinematograph, Television and Allied Teci inicians. 2.7. T 0 present the objectives of the Association to any official organisations carrying out policy-making on film, video and associated fields. 3. Membership 3.1. Fun membership shall be open to anyone directly engaged in independent film itfork - including technicians, theorists, exhibitors and others who support the aims and objectives of the Association - upon payment of the annual subscription. 3.2. Associate membership shall be available to any body or group the Association deems appropriate upon payment of the associate subscription. A. Organisational Structure The -Association shall be organised in regional branches corresponding to those of the Regional -rtc Associations where appropriate. 5. Conduct of Business 5.1. The Annual General Meeting shall be the main policy making body df the Association. 5.2. The AGM shall elect one executive member per 20 members, to form the National Executive. The Executive to consist of secretary, who will carry out the day-to-day running of the Association, Chairperson, Treasurer, Newsletter Editor, Regional C0-orclinator and others. 5.3. The Executive will carry out the policy of the association. It will meet no less than 5 times a year. Minutes of Executive meetings shall be circulated to all members of the Association. Executive meetings will be publicised in advance and open to observors. Executive members to be subject to instant recall at an Extraordinary General Meeting. 5,A. The Executive shall submit a report of its activities to the a G m to be made available to all members at least six weeks in advance of the Abm, 5.5. Within the policy of the Association each regional branch shall conduct its business as it sews fit. 5.6. Any two members of the Executive can call an Executive meeting. 5.7. The quorum on the Executive shall be 2/3 . 6, Standing Orders 6.1. Tj^e bu siness of the Association shall be conducted by majority vote o f. full members with the chairperson having a casting vote at the AGM. 6.2. Notice of the AGM to be circulated at least 6 weeks in advance. 6.3. Motions for the AGM to be submitted to the Executive four weeks prior to the AGM. G.k. The agenda and motions for the AGM shall be circulated to all full members at least three weeks in advance. 6.5. Amendments to motions to be submitted to the AGM Organising Committee up to 2k hours prior to the AGM except that amendments sha.ll be allowed duiing Conference from or through workshops. 6.6. Every amendment shall be voted on prior to voting on the notion to which it is an amendment. 6.7. Neither amendments nor motions shall be withdrawn. , . 6.8. The quorum of the AGM shall be y of the full members. 6.9. An Extraordinary General Meeting may be called at any time by 10% of. . the full membership and shall be subject to standing orders.
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      • tagsfour corners,independent film,ifa,organisation
      • titleOrganisational - Four Corners
      • subtitleWho Is the IFA? - A paper on the IFA and Independent Film making
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      • copyrightIndependent Filmmakers Association
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      • pdf_textTh® IPA was established to represent the views of a wide variety of individuals,^groups,.collectives and small companies active in film and viaeo production in SB, She membership includes over 80 leadiSg filmmakers .and film-making groups„ b fhe Association aims to present the views of its members and to esiabl-i < 3 n a _wider recognition of the role ans significance of indepSdent f U m and ^4'60 • in the UKo The Association is therefore vitally concerned.with the future structure of broadcasting in this country and makes this submission in the belief that it speaks\ith an au?5Srati?e vSIcI? fairly representing_rhe views of its membership and the aspirations of independent film and video makers, * What are 'independent* film-makers? Independent film—makers include those whose work is experimental or avan~ garde; makers whose work is widely political or social in intent’ makers working within a community context; underground and personal ’ iiim-makers;(students of film and art); makers whose work is partly-or wholly supported by grant giving bodies; and film and video makers whose work cuts across,all these labels or fits none. Independent_film-makers working in GB bane had their work shown through— out the world, both in cinemas and on television. Their work has been f own at international film festivals, won proses and gained recognition through Internationa] film archives,, T hey have also been financed by foreign TV companies. Their work is in a category of its own and should not be confused with commercial endeavours. It covers a w ld e variety of forms, styles, content : arid- budgets (anything from £J0 to r tc00) , and is characteristically maue outside EkBewxafaj^bfebbbbtubbo conventional structures. In effect you as TV viewer, don't know us - because you haven’t been allowed to see * our work. The Case for the Independents 1, respite a production and distribution ystem that has been loaded heavily against it, the level o f . independer . production in GB has been t comparatively, high ~ in comparison that -3, with other European countri es, such as Germany and Holland, where TV organizations have recognized a responsibility to stimulate th e production and presentation of independent work. However, in the UK ____________________ noither the BBC or ITV have made any measurable contribution to encouraging independent production - indeed t1 ey barely seem to recognise its existence. This should not, however, b , understood simply as a failure to pro sent material of minority v interest,pit is a more fundementalunwillingness of the present broadcasting organizations to include real diversity in creative form or social viewpoint. It seems that, bill now, the broadcasting authorities have confined themselves_to providing what they consider to be acceptable. In this situation the independent is almost by definition a heretic; their exploration and development of unfamiliar forms, the tackling of proscr­ ibed subjects axid the committed treatment of familiar ones tends to make their work systematically rejected. Only with xkx restructuring could the broadcasting system,and the national culture as a whole,benefit from the rich and varied' contribution that, we feel, the independentscou] make through the media of television. 2. At present the very structure and character of the broadcasting organizations present a major obstruction to any such participation. Not only do the broadcasters have unanimous control over what programmes are transmitted (even the 'access' programmes) but Internal organization, methods of budgeting and the briefs given to senior staff discourage genuine experiment and innovation. Producers are unwilling to show material they are not personally responsible for because if it is well received they won't themselves take much of the credit, but if it causes an 'issue' they face censure. Where material isn't home produced it is invariably purchased from 'safe' sources - other large entertainment, tv or film corporations abroad. This system creates few opportunities for independent production and it will bo seen that only when there is rf" encouragement tor independents and experimentation oe provided. 3 ror tfjaeir to be as-ij uiccuxj.u5x For r m i r o ue any meaningful change in ~the-------~ ~ relationship between the i . broadcasting organizations and the independents a measure of editorial control (as it applies to the selection and presentation of independent films) will need to be passed to the film-makers themselves. And as editorial decisions have economic consequences, the question of payments is equally vital to the independents. At present, even on the rare occaision when an independent work of any description is shown, the financial returns from transmission are derisory. Given, therefore, the special nature of independent production*payments for works shown must be of a reasonable level and open to proper negotiation. For without p2?op6P payments editonial contpol would be meaningless# 4. In not recognising the work of independent film-makers,_the broad­ casting organizations are failing to fulfill an_obligation to their public. This narrow vision is unique to television. Although independen ts get little support from other bodies they do get a measure of recog­ nition. The BFI has had seasons of work at the NFT; some film-makers are supported by the Production Board, the Arts Council or regional Arts Associations; local authorities have acknowledged the value of small video and film groups; and there is a growing body of literature dealing with the work of independents 5 Almost by definition the independent is an innovator. It is with their work that the media of film and knisxisisn video _are most vigourously developed, the most fundemental creative innovations made and where pertinent social and political issues are examined with least constraints. There is therefore a substantial argument tnat is tne media of film and video are to be developed the independences will _ . need to be actively encouraged and TV programme time devoted to their work It is surely an inctment of the present system that at the 5th Inter­ national Experimental Film Festival at Knokke, four of the eight ma0or prizes went to British film-makers none of whose work has ever been presented on British TV even though their work has been shown by foreign stations 6. It is now widely recognised that the interests of the present film and television industries are heavily enmeshed. However the traffic ox qimDort has been w largely in one direction; film makes a substantial contribution tontelevision but tv little to film. And for the independen nt film-maker this situation has been particuarly detrimental, for if the broadcasting authorities were performing a genuine public service the independents could expect to turn to them for support. The BBC Charter has as one of its specific objects the right to subsid­ ise concerts and encoukrage new music. Here there is a clear recognit­ ion of the Corporations heavy reliance on music for programme content. There is no reason why this same principle should not be supplied to film-making, another substantial source of programme material. a Not only does tv fail to promote film culture in practical ways but iX even fails to contribute to serious film criticism. Film programmes tend to be restricted to showing trailer clips from latest releases Dadded out with ’star1 interviews and publicity film provided by the major film companies. This does nothing to broaden audience interest and knowledge of film in general - a situation especially damaging for the independent who needs an informed and critical climate m which to flourish. 7. Independents are faced with one beh other _important problem m _ relation to the showing of their work; implicit censorship, principally in regard to standars and length. , _ For some time now the use of 8mm film and narrow guage video has been a standard practice amongst independents (partly out of financial necessity, partly out of creative choice). However the_broadcasting authorities have been unwilling to show material of this kind because they claim it does not comply with 'broadcast standards . These standar ds are based on a technological judgement, but implicit m this is an editorial phohibition that prevents the showing of a large variety of material, including the work of community groups. This prohibition _ even extends to ’access’ programmes and thus prevents any group having complete control over its material. Efforts must therefore be devoted to improving the technology of broadcasting film and videp material in just the same way that it was improved to enable 16mm film (now the standard guage) to be transmitted. . ,. and programme formats. Since -independent films are n o t made primarily for television, they are unlikely to fit neatly into existing time slots - whether the films be 2 minutes or 90 minutes. This 1unsuitabilily ty' can often be used as a pretext'for not even considering most indep­ endent films. 8. It seems to be generally assumed that the work of the present broad­ casting organizations does not include the promotion of commercial organizations (except, obviously, the showing of commercials) and that the charters and financing of television would exclude the showing of commercially sponsored programmes - in the sense that this implies editorial control and ownership. However this is not the case and sponsored films, originally made with a very definite public relations intent, have been reguarly shown on all three channels - complete with company symbols and credits. Further, sponsors have been willing to make their films available for little or no financial return. This system of allowing sponsored material on Tv not only eliminates the independent voice (they can hardly compete with those willing to give their material away) but undermines the very principles of a public broadcasting system. Proposalxs We are wary of presenting suggestions as to structure and selection which are conditioned by the current state of affairs in broadcasting. f The Association takes the view that independent film and video making should be seen as a major aspect of British film culture. It considers that the structure of broadcast TV should be designed to give the maximum stimulus to independent production and the maximum presentation of the works. We therefore propose that: 1. Whatever structure emerges for the future of television broadcast­ ing it should guarantee the inclusion of a minimum amount of material originated by independent film and visdeo njakers working in Great Britain. 2. The selection and presentation of material from independent source s should not be made exclusively by the broadcasting organizations and that the independents should themselves have a substantial voice in the selection and presentation. 3. 4 . 5« Independent film-makers shall receive full and reasonable payment for their work shown. Also the total sum of finance made available for the showing of independent work shall be In proportion to the amount of broadcast time devoted to its showing. The nature of the material selected from independent sources should be of as wide a variety as possible - both in form and content. There should be a guarantee that material of an unusual or experimental nature is included and that films are not eliminated from consideration because of their length, physical size or their broadcast standard. That the above requirements should apply to whatever broadcasting organizations emerge so that they are all, whether th%-/“S i e ’' ' national, regional or local, under the same obligations. KSSXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX (Editor’s note: The meeting on the 18th at the RCA will be asked, after discussion, to endorse this submission. If members wish to propose any substantial changes, make additions or raise other points, it would help the conduct of the meeting considerably if they can come prepared with written alternatives so that the meeting is free to vote on the issues with the minimum of difficulty.) encouragement fox* independents ana experimentation be provided, , 3 For their to be any meaningful change in the relationship between the broadcasting_organizations and the independents a measure of editorial control (as it applies to the selection and presentation of independent films) will need to be passed to the film-makers themselves. And as editorial decisions have economic consequences, the question of payments is equally vital to the independents. At present, even on the rare occaision when an independent work of any description is shown, the financial returns from transmission are derisory. Given, therefore, the special nature of independent production*payments for works shown must be of a reasonable level and open to proper negotiation, Por without proper payments editorial control would be meaningless. 4, In not recognising the work of independent film-makers, the broad­ casting organizations are failing to fulfill an obligation to their public. This narrow vision is unique to television. Although independen ts get little support from other bodies they do get a measure of recog­ nition, The BFI has had seasons of work at the NFT; some film-makers are supported by the Production Board, the Arts Council or regional Arts Associations; local authorities have acknowledged the value of small video andfiim groups; and there is a growing body of literature dealing with the work of independents. 5» Almost by definition the independent is an innovator. It is with their work that the media of film and kxS:xxiH±HH video are most vigourously developed, the most fundemental creative innovations made and where pertinent social and political issues are examined with least constraints. There is therefore a substantial argument that i£ the media of film and video are to be developed the independents will need to be actively encouraged and TV programme time devoted to theirr work. It is surely an inctment of the present system that at the 5th Inter­ national Experimental Film Festival at Knokke, four of the eight major prizes went to British film-makers none of whose work has ever been presented on British TV even though their work has been shown by foreign stations 6. It is now widely recognised that the interests of the present film and television industries are heavily enmeshed. However the traffic of support has been x largely in one direction; film makes a substantial contribution to television but tv little to film. And for the independen nt film-maker_this situation has been particuarly detrimental, for if the broadcasting authorities were performing a genuine public service the independents could expect to turn to them for support. The BBC Charter has as one of its specific objects the right to subsid­ ise concerts and encoukrage new music. Here there is a clear recognit­ ion of the Corporations heavy reliance on music for programme content. There is no reason why this same principle should not be aipplied to film-making, another substantial source of programme material. Not only does tv fail to promote film culture in practical ways but ii even fails to contribute to serious film criticism. Pilm programmes tend to be restricted to showing trailer clips from latest releases padded out with ’star* interviews and publicity film provided by the major film companies. This dees nothing to broaden audience interest and knowledge of film in general - a situation especially damaging for the independent who needs an informed and critical climate in which to flourish. 7. Independents are faced with one e h other important problem in relation to the showing of their work; implicit censorship, principally in regard to standars and length. Por some time now the use of 8mm film and narrow guage video has been a standard practice amongst independents (partly out of financial necessity, partly out of creative choice). However the broadcasting authorities have been unwilling to show material of this kind because they claim it does not comply with ’broadcast standards'. These standar ds are based on a technological judgement, but implicit in this is an editorial phohibition that prevents the showing of a large variety of material, including the work of community groups. This prohibition even extends to 'access' programmes and thus prevents any group having complete control over its material. Efforts must therefore be devoted to improving the technology of broadcasting film and videp material in just the same way that it was improved to enable 16mm film (now the standard guage) to be transmitted. The question of length is simple. Present programming ooliev is
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      • 30App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrDef/HTML/Color.php
      • 31App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrDef/Clone.php
      • 32App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrDef/HTML/FrameTarget.php
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      • 59App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule.php
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      • 71App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform.php
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      • 74App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Image.php
      • 75App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/ImgRequired.php
      • 76App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/StyleAttribute.php
      • 77App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrDef/CSS.php
      • 78App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Scripting.php
      • 79App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/ScriptRequired.php
      • 80App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Object.php
      • 81App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Forms.php
      • 82App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/Input.php
      • 83App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/Textarea.php
      • 84App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Name.php
      • 85App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/NameSync.php
      • 86App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/XMLCommonAttributes.php
      • 87App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Ruby.php
      • 88App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Iframe.php
      • 89App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Tidy/Strict.php
      • 90App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Tidy/XHTMLAndHTML4.php
      • 91App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Tidy.php
      • 92App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/TagTransform/Font.php
      • 93App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/TagTransform.php
      • 94App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/TagTransform/Simple.php
      • 95App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/EnumToCSS.php
      • 96App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/BgColor.php
      • 97App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/Border.php
      • 98App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/Length.php
      • 99App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/ImgSpace.php
      • 100App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/BoolToCSS.php
      • 101App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Tidy/XHTML.php
      • 102App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/Lang.php
      • 103App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Tidy/Proprietary.php
      • 104App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/Background.php
      • 105App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/HTMLModule/Tidy/Name.php
      • 106App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrTransform/Name.php
      • 107App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/ContentSets.php
      • 108App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrCollections.php
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      • 110App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/ChildDef/Required.php
      • 111App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/ChildDef/Empty.php
      • 112App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/ChildDef/StrictBlockquote.php
      • 113App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/ChildDef/Chameleon.php
      • 114App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/ChildDef/Custom.php
      • 115App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/IDAccumulator.php
      • 116App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/Encoder.php
      • 117App/Vendor/htmlpurifier/HTMLPurifier/AttrValidator.php
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