My Practice – A Critical View

As I noted in my Oral Presentation, I have worked with many different genres of photography – travel, street, events and documentary. If there is any kind of theme which cuts across this work, in the best of my images it is about capturing some kind of story about the people encountered.

I had no formal education as a photographer, though I did as a painter. From early photography days, I read all I could, and probably the earliest real education I had was from the Time Life  series.

I am a technically competent photographer, across most kinds of genres, although my studio and lighting expertise needs improvement. I took an RPS ‘Licentiate’ to demonstrate that to myself – reassurance need, I guess!

My ‘eye’ is informed by an early history as a painter, as well as a lifetime of literally thousands of hours taking and looking at pictures. That said, I feel that my aesthetic is too constrained.

As I look at my work, I am conscious that I sometimes create over-engineered (and over-thought) compositions. I have worked hard in recent years in candid portraiture and street, and often shoot abstract and more, to try to loosen things up.

Yet ‘friendly critics’ still suggest I need imagery which is more ‘intimate’ – and I agree. I do not think that this is about physical proximity. I do a pretty decent job of capturing the what, the ‘It’ (as per Francis Hodgson), including the context of the image and story, the ‘About‘ at fairly close range. In fact I have worked hard to do that. Yet I do sometimes feel that the images and their compositions are too ‘square’, too controlled.

I have an interest in the idea of ‘traces’, (practiced by Sophie Ristelhueber, discussed by David Campany and others) which seems particularly appropriate to the Cambodia project. I also see inspiration in the eclectic approach of Wolfgang Tillmans to tell a more complete story by varying the type, surface and context of the work.

In this desire to ‘trace’, I am also influenced by two excellent books. Michelle Caswell‘s ‘Archiving the Unspeakable‘ (2014) clearly unpicks the meaning of those Tuol Sleng mug shots, and Susie Linfield‘s ‘The Cruel Radiance‘ (2010) argues forcefully on the need to photographically expose atrocity. Both have influenced how I see the archive and historical side of the project, in the sense that the ‘traces’ of the genocide in Cambodia are both physical and psychological.

Going way back, to my painting, it clearly evolved. From the psychedelic Sixties, with an organic approach to colour and form, onto a rather formal, geometric period –  and then into manipulated photographs as I gradually stopped painting all together. There is a ‘constructionism’ about the imagery which seems consistent, which is probably a similar mindset to the one I bring to my photography.

Ironically, despite this rather ‘logical’ approach to art and photography, I am emotionally very much drawn to the abstract and the expressionistic.

Rothko, Kandinsky and Turner have always been artistic heroes. And occasionally I shoot that way.

I had great interest in Japanese Ukiyo-e whilst I was studying painting. There is something about the powerful design and figurative clarity intrinsic in woodblock images that attracted me, and still does.

And later, Daido Moriyama and ‘Provoke’ were both a jolt and a fascination in my artistic (and political) journey. They were a natural extension of an interest in ‘all things Japanese’, and youthful rebellion – which merely accelerated when we lived in Asia.

I have been studying Moriyama more formally in recent years.

In his images, I see intimacy, emotion, spontaneity and expressionism all at work, building on yet also countering that structured, Japanese aesthetic logic. And I see stories. I have tried my own interpretations of this style, and still plan to experiment.

Moving forward, I believe that there is a rather ‘controlled’ structure in a lot of my documentary work – with attention to detail, composition and context – which works practically but which I would like to aesthetically challenge.

When we began the Cambodian project, 19 years ago, I was determined to capture what happened in words and pictures, via a dedicated website.

This included the documentary photographs that I took, a historical account of the genocide and its implications, and a data-based summary of the school program’s development (and successes/failures). In fact, it was characterised rather more as a research project than as a photographic one.

Some of the images hold up quite well today, though I can see now that many talk to the ‘It’ more than the “About’. This image is from 2000:

In many ways, that is exactly what is required, to do justice to the Cambodian story, and in particular to the people central to that story. I feel very strongly that this is their story, not mine. And whilst it needs to be presented in a way that moves my image making forward, it also must reflect their expectations.

I am now using more interesting compositional devices and contextual triggers – in this, my street photography has helped.

From the March 2018 visit:

Yet I feel I could do much more. I want my images to challenge, to demand more pondering over and thinking about. In Barthes‘ words, more ‘Punctum’.

This needs to be a challenge to me as the image-maker, and also to the viewer, as the consumer of the work.

Andy Grundberg considers that Walker Evans, with his use of signs, Hollywood glamour and more, managed to balance ‘objective’ documentary (the personal impact of the Depression) with a very Post-Modernist approach.

In essence, I am beginning to see that I want to shoot ‘Modernist’, but I want to explore the ‘Post-Modernist’, structuralist implications.

In some of the latest images, whilst ‘geometry’ remains, I can see progress towards a more ‘intimate’ and hopefully engaging aesthetic.

One thing that I want to continue, which is always in my work, is to be celebratory with colour. Despite the serious subject matter, I believe this truly reflects how Cambodia is and how its people are.

In an effort to unpack this issue, Steph Cosgrove‘s questions within this week’s lectures are helpful.

Let me pick some of what I consider the more appropriate questions, and attempt answers.