Monday, April 28, 2008

We English



I came across Simon Robert's new project We English a little while back and was reminded about it in Colin Pantall's Blog the other day. After producing a book about contemporary Russia called Motherland a couple of years ago, Robert's has decided to turn his view inwards and to look at his own people and place:

"We English is a photographic journal of life in England in 2008, specifically documenting landscapes where groups of people congregate for a common purpose and shared experience. It’s about what people do in their spare time, their leisure pursuits and pastimes and how people derive meaning and identity from these activities. It’s also about people’s relationship with their environment, whether their immediate surroundings are urban, rural or anything in between. There is no such thing as a definitive set of images that encapsulate Englishness. We English is about social landscapes but it is not about social or political analysis. It does not seek to define but simply to represent.

----------------

The project will extend, and reflect upon, a history of documentary photographic projects and the variety of approaches that British photographers have utilised to capture the lives of diverse communities across the country and explore issues surrounding national identity and the constantly shifting notion of Englishness.

The long and rich tradition of British photographers documenting their homeland, some of which could be seen in the recent exhibition at Tate Britain ‘How We Are - Photographing Britain,’ has seen work produced by the likes of Humphrey Spender, Bill Brandt, Tony Ray Jones, Ingrid Pollard, Martin Parr, John Davies and Jem Southam to name a few. However, the past decade has seen relatively little work produced by British photographers.


Engaging with literal, physical landscapes is a way of engaging with social and cultural landscapes. Since landscape has long been used as a commodity, an aesthetic amenity that is there to be consumed, it makes sense to use leisure activities, no matter how banal they might appear, as a way into an exploration of England’s shifting cultural and aesthetic identity...

We English will yield contemporary visions of my country that recognise the narrowness of long-held mental images of England and explore the ambiguities and complexities of our place within the world around us in a manner that amplifies and extends meaning."


He also has a blog which I think will be noting his progress, as well as a section on his site where people can make suggestions for the project.





BTW,
Motherland is an interesting collection of work and well worth looking at.



Finally, the post in We English that I was reminded of this week was one where Roberts talks about Tony Ray Jones, a photographer whose career was cut far too short. Among other things, he posted some images of Ray Jones' notebooks when he was working on his own project on the English. A few useful reminders from a page titled APPROACH:


· BE MORE AGGRESSIVE

· GET MORE INVOLVED (TALK TO PEOPLE)

· STAY WITH THE SUBJECT MATTER (BE PATIENT)

· TAKE SIMPLER PICTURES

· SEE IF EVERYTHING IN BACKGROUND RELATES TO SUBJECT MATTER

· VARY COMPOSITIONS AND ANGLES MORE

· BE MORE AWARE OF COMPOSITION

· DON’T TAKE BORING PICTURES

· GET IN CLOSER (USE 50mm LESS)

· WATCH CAMERA SHAKE (shoot 250sec or above)

· DON’T SHOOT TOO MUCH

· NOT ALL AT EYE LEVEL

· NO MIDDLE DISTANCE

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting checklist. Do you happen to know what "no middle distance" means? Is he saying you should only shoot people near or far, not between?

Anonymous said...

I have the same question...

Roy said...

My understanding of Ray-Jones' intention with this statement is that one should always approach the subject, use the whole frame, not stand back. It may hark back to Robert Capa's "If your pictures aren't good enough, you are not close enough".

Doug Stockdale said...

Tim, thanks for plucking this out, as I am about to embark on another project and this is 'right on' where I was trying to go & helps me verbalize my intent. For me, it is much easier to 'do' than to explain 'why'. ;- )

Doug Stockdale said...

Also, regrading 'middle distance', another example is the landscape photographer Eliot Porter who was well know for his color photographs of the 'middle distance'. Not the grand landscapes of A.Adams, nor the close up studies of peppers like Weston. Which, interesting enough, the 'middle distance' is the space that fasinates me.

Anonymous said...

I hope his work about England will be less shallow than Motherland (pleasant book showing Russia as seen by an average Westerner. That could have been a fine perspective but we remain at safe distance of most of the dimensions of the subject).

sexy said...

情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣,情趣,情趣,情趣,情趣,情趣,情趣用品,情趣用品,情趣,情趣,A片,A片,情色,A片,A片,情色,A片,A片,情趣用品,A片,情趣用品,A片,情趣用品,a片,情趣用品
A片,A片,AV女優,色情,成人,做愛,情色,AIO,視訊聊天室,SEX,聊天室,自拍,AV,情色,成人,情色,aio,sex,成人,情色

免費A片,美女視訊,情色交友,免費AV,色情網站,辣妹視訊,美女交友,色情影片,成人影片,成人網站,H漫,18成人,成人圖片,成人漫畫,情色網,日本A片,免費A片下載,性愛

情色文學,色情A片,A片下載,色情遊戲,色情影片,色情聊天室,情色電影,免費視訊,免費視訊聊天,免費視訊聊天室,一葉情貼圖片區,情色視訊,免費成人影片,視訊交友,視訊聊天,言情小說,愛情小說,AV片,A漫,AVDVD,情色論壇,視訊美女,AV成人網,成人交友,成人電影,成人貼圖,成人小說,成人文章,成人圖片區,成人遊戲,愛情公寓,情色貼圖,色情小說,情色小說,成人論壇

A片,A片,A片下載,做愛,成人電影,.18成人,日本A片,情色小說,情色電影,成人影城,自拍,情色論壇,成人論壇,情色貼圖,情色,免費A片,成人,成人網站,成人圖片,AV女優,成人光碟,色情,色情影片,免費A片下載,SEX,AV,色情網站,本土自拍,性愛,成人影片,情色文學,成人文章,成人圖片區,成人貼圖