Format case study: Bruce Gilden

I've chosen to look at Bruce Gilden as my Format case study photographer, as we had to relate it to our essay topic, I think he fits in well, due to his paparazzi style of photography.

Gilden is well known for his, sometimes, crazy approach to capturing his subjects. Using the ..."Pretend like im a tourist, im going to walk almost completely past you, then jump in front of you hold my flash in your face then photograph you" ...approach, he captures some interesting subject matter.

He scouts out 'personalities' and 'quirks' within people who are simply walking down the street going about their daily business, once he has seen them he uses the above approach, pretending he is looking at something nearby then quickly jumps in front of them and uses off camera flash to capture and freeze his subject.

The aesthetic of his work is obviously not the same as Jessica Layton, my essay subject, but they have quite alot in common in terms of their work. Both Gilden & Layton aim to show peoples personalities within their images, Gilden capturing them off guard with his spontaneous approach and Layton with her, dress up in their clothes and photograph herself in their house surrounded by their possessions.

They both satisfy this voyeuristic side of the world and the curiosity we possess and the urge of NEEDING to know about other people, and what happens behinds closed doors.

Gilden's image from streets of derby 

Laytons image 'The House Sitting Project' Portrait as Mimi taken by Sue Chow'

Individual task based on essay

Q - Examine motivations of tabloid reporting into celebrity culture, setting out your position in relation to Lacan & Foucault.....


Western Culture has had no choice about its participation within hearing about 'celebrities' and their trivial daily chores becoming front page news, be it a footballer having an affair or lady gaga buying a pint of milk. Regardless of the who or the what, we know about it, it makes the news and it makes the newspapers, tv and radio, meaning at some point during the day, each and every day we will be fed some piece of mind numbingly boring & irrelevant piece of information, clouding our judgement on somebody that we have never even met.

Tabloid reporting is responsible for this. It is split into two types, being informed of daily occurrences and information about people in such a voyeuristic way, people need to know where lady gaga is and what she's doing even if it is a simple trip to the shops. And in our world today, we are the people that make the news what it is, if we weren't interested, and I use the term 'we' loosely, then the tabloids wouldn't tell us. We have made tabloid culture what is.

Being informed about world disasters, and important issues is something that is important to all aspects of economy, society and culture, and is what should be reported. Celebrity culture...well, I wouldn't be protesting if tabloids decided it wasn't worth reporting anymore.

Lacan's mirror theory talks about how a child can recognise his or her own reflection before they can actually master their own bodily movements. This is the basis and forming of an ego. In relation to tabloid culture, this theory indicates how from such a young age we have this voyeuristic element to us, that we are more interested in watching something than actually doing something ourselves.

Foucault's theory plays on a different element to this of how a panopticon guard can see hundreds of prisoners, yet is not seen by any of them. It is the fear of knowing that they are being watched which is what deters them from misbehaviour. This is mirrored in the celebrity lifestyle of constantly being under watch by the tabloid reporters & photographers and how they are waiting for celebrities to slip up and do somethign which the newspapers can exploit them for.

Contextual Artist Statement Task

Chris concentrated on the theme of the art of tattooing, documenting the rising popularity of the culture that has entered the lives of the masses in the 21st century. Shadowing the four artists, it was apparent that tattoos aren’t just drawing and ink: they are artwork. Exploring the entire process, from the initial sketches to the final pieces, Chris aimed to produce a professional series of images fitting both a live commercial brief and the ‘Getting Modern’ documentary project.

Furthermore, Chris’s images also fulfil, somewhat, Jacques Lacan’s theory of ‘The Gaze’. Most apparently, the art of tattooing is relevant to the Mirror Stage and the Symbolic Order Stage. The Mirror Stage allows one to give subjectivity to one’s self and create an ideal ego within culture. Tattoo’s can be viewed as achieving and cementing one’s position within culture; for example following tradition. Tattoos, however, can also feed one’s egotistical and narcissistic tendencies, which is compliant with the Symbolic Order Stage.  This can be fuelled by the validation of others, for example the complimenting on a piece of skin artwork. 

06 - TASK - Globalisation Research

Globalization is a term which describes the act of an economy or society spreading 'globally'. A prime example of this is the sushi chain 'Yo Sushi'. There are hundreds of these eateries popping up all over the UK, and yet this was something that up until recently was a japanese thing. Japan pushes out alot of its cultural and societies to the world.

A photographer who has visually commented upon the issue of globalisation and hints of capitalism is Andreas Gursky. Producing, incredibly large scale, colour imagery, he often shows scenes of great gathering in multicultural gatherings, mainly in business and economical matters. An example of this is his piece of the trading on the stock exchange floor.

He shows hundreds, thousands of people, all going about the daily business, but with it being on such a large scale, individuals are still indistinguishable. They appear tiny within the image and make you look at the entire scene rather than focusing on the individuals and what they are doing. These images seem as though they could commenting on several things, with the main being it could be commenting on the unimportance of the individuals in todays society, wether your in or out, somebody else will be there to step in and take your place, if you die only members of your family are affected, the world still continues as if you never existed. Or he could be commenting on how we all need to come together and enforce/embrace globalisation to ensure that together we can all move forward, together, as one.

Lesson 06 - Globalisation

Lecture 05 - Hyper reality

05 - TASK - Repetitions

Repetitions

Ed Ruscha was a photographer i remember looking into in Year 1 contextual studies. He produced a book entitled "Twentysix Gasoline Stations". The book was exactly what it said on the tin, on each page was an image of a gas station, beneath it, text detailing the brand and location.

He has been very methodical for this project apart from one or two images. All of the gas stations are on route 66 from west to east, LA to Texas. The images are taken from different angles, but still maintain this repetition link, which enables them to flow well together in the book. 5 stations are moved out of order that you would encounter them driving along route 66. 3 of them were taken at night, 1 of them out of a car window and only 1 of the images has a human presence. 

The images seem to have intentionally aimed to not have human presence in them, with as good as all images being empty, and shot from across the  highway.

The industrial simulacra transforms the natural world. Signs, as featured in Ruscha's work are mass produced on a large scale and originate through material production.