Liverpool Biennial 2012- Thresholds

The UK Biennial of Contemporary Art - Liverpool 2012

While visiting the Turner Monet Twombly exhibition at the Tate ( which lived up to expectations - Twombly is a real favourite of mine so I was very interested to see the juxtaposition of his work with that of  Monet and Turner ..this intended as a dialogue between them ), I took the opportunity to look at 'Thresholds'. This was presented as part of Biennial's 'The Unexpected Guest which explores notions of hospitality though works by over 60 international artists across a range of sites and galleries throughout Liverpool.
What drew my attention were the photographic displays, in particular the work of Keith Arnatt, Simryn Gill and Pak Sheung Chuen.

Keith Arnatt
A.O.N.B  ( Area of Outstanding Beauty ), 1982-84

 Arnott  questions the notion of a British landscape through black and white images taken in locations designated as striking landscapes.His pictures juxtapose beauty and banality (often expressed by rubbish or stark, almost nondescript buildings or infrastructures). In some photos the message is very obvious, in others, the images require more reading of the composition....though to my mind the choice of black and white brought out the 'message' better than the construction of some of the actual compositions.



Simryn Gill
Dalam, 2001

These 258 colour photographs of domestic interiors were taken over an eight week period as the artist travelled across the Malaysian peninsula.The series might seem at first glance a really challenging exercise in composition if repetition of any kind is to be avoided but the range and depth of interiors captured and the degree of compositional opportunity taken result in rich images which are a joy to look at and held my interest from start to finish.

Pak Sheung Chuen A Travel without Visual Experience , 2008

This was the most interesting part of the exhibition in my view. The installation reflected the artist's view on the processes of tourism - that many travel without 'seeing'.Images were installed in a dark room on wallpaper and only visible through the flash of a camera. People entering the installation were either given a digital camera to use or encouraged to use their own cameras or mobile phones. Taking pictures in complete darkness without seeing where you were or what you were trying to photograph until you have actually taken the picture is a very strange  experience. It does reinforce the concept held by the artist that we often travel without 'seeing'  or take pictures on holiday without really thinking clearly about the image we are about to capture  - what results may work or not in conveying a sense of place; a moment in time or maybe a sense of occasion. I suspect many like me feeling very disorientated took pictures  to first work out where they were  in the room and then tried again to take an image that would make some sense or look 'normal' :

P449: f2.8 @ 1/15  ISO 400 4mm AWB Flash





P448: f2.8 @ 1/15 ISO 400 4mm AWB Flash

Interestingly, the attendant outside the installation said that many of the images captured were taken at an angle ....I wonder whether this was due to an attempt to make the picture interesting or total disorientation ...good fun though and a very practical and inclusive way of making a point ...

 

P450;  f2.8 @ 1/15 ISO 400 4mm AWB Flash

Assignment 5 : cover and pages slides

United Colours of Pride - magazine cover and story pages


The finished assignment comprises one cover for a magazine and six pages which tell the story entitled the 'United Colours of Pride'. These are posted below as they would appear as the magazine pages are turned :

Images for applying the techniques of illustration and narrative

My chosen subject  the Assignment 5 project was this year's Brighton and Hove Pride event . The intention was to tell the story of the Parade and Park Event from the point of view of the participants and the community i.e. the residents and visitors to the city who watched or joined in the day's events. Capturing the parade was a real challenge as I wanted to not only represent the participants but also capture the effect of the parade on those lining the streets to watch it go by. While I knew the route in advance and could arrive before the start time to wander through those gathering to walk  or ride on the floats, much of what I wanted to capture meant walking in the Parade and taking photographs on the 'hoof' so to speak. Unlike the professional photographers who, I noticed were placing themselves at certain vantage points,I felt my approach, which while giving me quite a few headaches re composition and lighting etc., did allow me to capture some more spontaneous shots. That said, while I had difficulty reducing the number of images to what I needed for the story, the technical quality of some of the photographs were not the standard I would have wished. It proved quite a learning exercise and with hindsight I would introduce some 'vantage point' opportunities into the shoot to complement the pre parade shots and the 'en route images'.

The following images are then the final selection for my story and I include them here to allow me to provide the technical detail and the reasoning behind the actual image. The final result i.e. the magazine cover and illustrated story will follow in a separate post.






P436: f8 @ 1/60  ISO 200 43mm  cropped 

P436 is my favourite image taken at the end of the Parade when the floats were parked up. I was looking for an image to use to illustrate the colours of gay pride but avoiding the ubiquitous rainbow flag. This imaginative float does just that ..the composition made more interesting by being able to include the small figure at the bottom right...an echo of the rainbow image. I chose this eyecatching image for the cover of the magazine as the theme for the Brighton and Hove Pride was the 'United Colours of Pride'






P434 : f2.8 @ 1/640 ISO  4mm cropped

I really like the movement in the above image and that it represents very accurately the Pride Brighton & Hove theme itself i.e. the subjects  'united ' in carrying the rainbow flag, itself  symbol of gay pride. Perhaps it over eggs the the symbolic side of things but the sense of forward movement captured in the image does give a sense of gay pride and progress. Although taken at World Pride earlier in the summer, it represents the essence of what the parade  was all about and so fits well with the story.






P437: f8 @ 1/60  ISO 200  +0.3exp. 18mm cropped

  
With this kind of subject, obviously you cannot go back another day when the lighting is better or your vantage point better placed. Occasionally the parade stopped briefly though, allowing for this kind of shot. I like the different emotions on the faces of the two protagonists facing the camera lens. Excitement, contentment, a feeling of being in the moment and enjoying it perhaps?




P438: f8 @ 1/80  ISO 200  +0.3exp. 25mm cropped  WB daylight

I followed this group for a while trying to capture their enthusiasm and excitement and eventually managed this shot which freezes them in mid stride so to speak. It has vigour as an image but I really didn't get the lighting right at the time nor had the time then to really experiment with exposures.



P439: f8 @ 1/80  ISO 100 21mm cropped

Thinking in advance of using a double page spread to look at whether the Pride Parade was more about politics or carnival meant finding images which suggested 'carnival' on the day without relying on obvious stereotypes. This group posing for other cameras while waiting for the start of the parade caught my eye. Luckily I was able to capture them unobserved which makes for a more natural composition. The bright light on the seafront was difficult.




P440: f8 @ 1/80 ISO 100  18mm 



P441: f8 @ 1/100  ISO 200  +0.7exp. 34mm cropped

A second double page spread focused on the reaction of those watching the Parade go by.




P442: f8 @ 1/100  ISO200  +0.3exp.  34mm cropped 

What I was looking for were examples of individuals or crowds joining in the 'carnival' or 'protest' aspects of the Parade. Again it was more a question  of taking images on the hoof adjusting exposures etc. sometimes by way of trial and error.  As the roads narrowed towards the Parade's end i.e. Preston Park, many people watched from their homes often from upstairs windows which provided opportunities to show people enjoying the spectacle.




P443: f8 @ 1/160 ISO 200  +0.3exp.  55mm cropped

Originally I cropped P443 more tightly to focus just on the main figure at the window to highlight the greeting but in doing so the picture lost context in favour of a slightly larger and more exuberant wave. I reverted to the above slightly cropped version which I feel works better in light of the story I wanted to convey i.e. people in their homes watching and enjoying the parade.







P431 : f8 @ 1/50 ISO 200 +3exp. 55mm WB Daylight


The image above struck me as eyecatching....the flamboyant masked character in the foreground lifts the eye to the traffic sign, the yellow illuminated lettering of which links back to the gold mask while setting the scene and adding to the carnival atmosphere and glitzsyness  of the event.






P445: f8 @ 1/60  ISO 200  +0.3exp.  18mm cropped

This image captures a number of responses - the man at the front looking out towards the camera but not aware of it has a slightly quizzical/ bemused expression  though obviously part of what is going on as he wears a Pride whistle contrasts with the two women over on the right who aware of the camera lens are posing for me.


The last three photographs were taken at the Park Event where most parade participants and spectators ended up joining hundreds already there enjoying the venue.

Taken at the Park Event the image below makes an obvious reference to role of the city council in supporting the parade and event but what particularly struck me was the juxtaposition of the promotional board with its wording i.e. 'Coming out with Pride' and the two figures behind it - one more out in view than the other.




P435: f8 @ 1/200 ISO 200 25mm cropped

I made a conscious decision not to illustrate the organised activities but to try and capture both fun and seriousness of the day. 



P446: f8 @ 1/200  ISO 200  55mm cropped



P447: f8 @1/125  ISO 200  55mm 




Looking back now at these pictures, I feel that given the circumstances i.e. trying to capture a moveable feast so to speak, I did manage to get enough images to illustrate my intended story. With hindsight, I would probably approach the exercise differently on the day if I go back next year. It became very obvious  early on that a 70-300mm lens would have given a different and additional interesting dimension. I had decided to use only my Canon 500D with its 18-55mm lens to avoid having to carry a tripod around all day to give me more flexibility and speed of movement. I would take both lens or my bridge camera next time plus tripod and use the route differently. I also need to think hard about how to take better images in the weather conditions that presented rapidly changing lighting conditions.

Preparation for Assignment 5

Pride Brighton & Hove..


To help decide what I wanted to do for this last assignment, I spent some time looking at online photo essays e.g. http://inmotion.magnumphotos.com ; at some of the Guardian audio slideshows ( Neil Hall's photo of fog collecting in Chile - an example of not needing captions to explain the images) and the daily photos displayed in the online editions of the Times and Guardian websites plus some of the Guardian audio slideshows ( Neil Hall's photo of fog collecting in Chile - an example of not necessarily needing captions to explain the images. I also checked out the Foto 8 website ( www.foto8.com ) where I found Yanina Sherchenko's 'Being Strong' .amongst a number of photo stories ... I wanted to get a feel of what worked for the 'viewer' who came to the subject with little or no idea about it. How did the selection and composition within the images help address that; did the image satisfy or pose further questions? ; did the images need captions  or even text to help explain the content or purpose of the 'essay'?  At the same time, I mulled over possible subjects. I was drawn to capturing an event rather than a process or self contained task although this would bring the particular challenge of maybe having only one go at taking the photographs ( so vulnerable to weather and activities not under my control ). My experience of taking photographs at the Portsmouth International Kite Festival taught me that even having experience of the event from previous years only helps so far in that you roughly know what to expect in terms of location / layout / type of activities.  

That said, I decided to go for a story based on the Pride Parades that are held over the summer each year in different parts of Britain. The reason for this was partly the fun I had in July watching the World Pride  Parade held in London and taking photographs to capture the atmosphere and meaning behind the march but also the challenge of taking photographs that have to be taken with little or no time to 'stage manage' the shot. Thinking about this subject further I decided to concentrate on one Pride Event and chose the Brighton and Hove Pride Parade and Park Event as being local enough to reach easily and earlier enough (i.e. before the Parade started so I could capture the assembling aspect of it ) and having local knowledge of the city itself from living just along the coast for many years.

When I started to research the event I found the Pride Brighton & Hove website which not only gave the route and useful background to this year's parade but also details of the Park Event which is where the parade ends up This event was obviously a significant part of the day so I decided to cover both parade and park event. I also checked out local newspapers for references to the parade. This led me to realise that the parade was celebrating 20 years suggetsing that I research its history on internet. I found a useful series of articles on www.brightonourstory.co.uk  which led me to think about what I wanted to bring out in my images of the day. The parade has obviously become a huge event for the city over the years ( more than 100,000 people watching the parade last year ) and I felt it would be interesting to see how people responded to the parade from the point of view of being spectators as well as capture what it would like for those participating. This would  mean walking the Parade route as it progressed along so that I could see the kerbside spectators from the point of view of a participant as well as being there as people assembled on the seafront for the start of the parade.Bearing this in mind I decided not to take a tripod so that I could move around quickly to take any photo opportunity that might present it self.  I anticipated the Park Event would be easier than the parade as it had a fixed location and offered the attraction of entertainment e.g.music in the Calabash Tent and  Legends Cabaret Tent, the Fun Fair and market stalls in the Community Village.

In addition, I researched the symbolism and significance of the rainbow flag  which I anticipated would be in evidence on the day if the World Pride march was anything to go by.

So, at this stage I had a rough idea of what I was particularly  looking for to illustrate / tell the story of the 2012 Brighton & Hove Pride Parade and Event as it unfolded en route from the seafront starting point to the end at Preston Park, host to the 'Pride Event.