Analogue - David Hockney

I suppose an obvious place to look for inspiration and research for this project would be at David Hockey's photographic collage work. I do see great similarities between when Hockey has produced and the kind of piece I would be aiming to produce in the end. Here is a small extract from an interview conducted by John Tusa on BBC Radio 3, where Hockney talks about his photographic collages. (Full interview can be found here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/johntusainterview/hockney_transcript.shtml)

"And that was when you produced these large photo collages of a realistic scene, one I remember is the lunch at the British Ambassador's residence in Tokyo .

Well I started making collage photographs because I realised you could make a different space, you're putting in time, and they began to be different and you got a different space. I got fascinated by that, actually, and spent a good few months just using, making complex Polaroid photographs, which are far more complex to make than they look.

Oh, I've never thought they were anything other than very complicated.

And what was interesting was, I knew it was a bit like drawing and painting. When you began I didn't know where the edge would be, whereas most people looking through a camera it's the edge that defines everything, so they grew outwards, it was fascinating, and I realised we see that way, we see in bits. And I realised you could even alter perspective, er.

Because each image gives you rather a different perspective?

Yes, each one is a different one. And I began to be interested in perspective which is a fascinating subject, most people thought it was just in nature, practically, whereas it's not of course. But it seemed as though photography confirmed western perspective and so on. But actually that's where it came from, optics, or so I found out later. It wasn't confirming it, that's.."

 The part I relate to most for this project is where he speaks about being able to view the space from a different perspective. I had already established that using lots of photographs to depict just one scene allows the viewer to take as much information and detail from that scene as possible, but I hadn't thought about what Hockey says regarding how we view the world "in bits". You can never see the entirety of a room in one look, so combining several different viewpoints reflects photographically what we really do when taking in a scene.
Some examples of Hockney's collage work:

©David Hockney

©David Hockney

©David Hockney

Particularly in the last image, what strikes me is that Hockney hasn't made an effort to produce a perfectly slick panorama - there are large gaps where bits of the scene are missing. However, what is included is just enough to give us an impression of the scene. I find it interesting how he has included a line of images that is solely there to document the equivalent line of footprints. He has also added an image that was probably taken at the same time, but has different aesthetics to the others on the far right hand side, nearly falling out of the frame. This other image acts as something external being added to his memory of the scene. What is similar to my most recent piece is the use of lots of small, regular 6x4" prints to make up the larger scene. I need to consider whether it would be best to continue to use these small prints, so as to highlight the almost home made nature of it, or whether to print larger, maybe 8x10" so as to encompass the most detail possible.

http://www.hockneypictures.com/photos/photos_collages.php

I've just shot 72 frames worth of images of my room at home, which are currently being developed and printed for me. I'll then sticth them to make a prototype, and decide which size prints I will be going for.

Analogue - Andrew Bruce's The Photographers' Room

The majority of Bruce's work doesn't particularly link in with my themes of homeliness and personal nostalgia. However, The Photographers' Room does represent the same kind of intervention with photographs that I am experimenting with. For this analogue project I wanted to explore the different ways an image can be presented other than just a print, hence my research around mixed media artists. I have also decided to focus my attention on my bedrooms, both at home and at university, precisely the subject matter that Bruce explores in this installation.

©Andrew Bruce

©Andrew Bruce

©Andrew Bruce

©Andrew Bruce

Although this is clearly an installation piece and what I am working would still be traditionally hung on the wall, I do see connections. Bruce is exploring the power of snapshots when exhibited en-masse within the context of what appears to be his student bedroom. However, with this installation, the photographs of it will never do the amount of detail justice - literally every inch of the room has been captured. However, the audience would never be able to experience this in it's full glory without being within the room itself. This is where the similarities between our projects end. I want the amount of detail within my piece to be epic, but I also want it to be accessible, and not too overwhelming for the audience. For me, it is not only about the images themselves (exploring my bedroom/s and how I have made the space my own), but also the technique of stitching the images and taking digital techniques back to their analogue roots. However, what looking at Bruce's project has confirmed to me is that I can't make this piece of work on a small scale, it just wouldn't capture attention. It needs to be large and saturated with detail, but with some empty images as well to give the viewers a break from all the, let's face it, stuff, that features so heavily in my bedrooms.

Analogue - My room, stitched.

Here is the result of many hours worth of sewing the images of my bedroom together. Again, for me this was a bit of a mock up of what I would produce for my final piece, rather than an attempt to create a finished object.

Although I do feel like this is an improvement on the last piece, there are still some things that I want to change for my final images. I will definitely be shooting them on a relatively flat day - this will keep the tones neutral rather that the harsh yellowy orange that the ceiling light has cast. I also need to shoot in much more detail - it was suggested that this piece needs to be epic - both in size and the amount of detail. I will therefore be shooting hopefully around double or triple the amount of images, printing them larger (probably 8" square) and making sure that every inch of the room is documented. However, I do like the fact that my reflection can be seen in the window, it adds a hint of a traditional self portrait without it being too overt. I also feel that all the different lines, creating a kind of abstract grid is much more successful that just lots of parallel lines next to each other, as was used in the previous piece. To improve, I might need to put a bit more meaning into the thread that I use; I have been thinking about using an old jumper of mine unravelled to stitch the images together. This makes the intervention of stabbing through the images with a needle more personal and adds another dimension to the piece.

My next steps are:

- Photograph a few more films worth of images (neutral day, both at home and here).

- More research into photographers that create an intervention in their images.

- Search at home for something personal, but not with too much sentimental value, to stitch the photos together.

Analogue - Geoffrey Batchen's Photographic Artefacts

So for my dissertation I've been reading Geoffrey Batchen's Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance, and the post-it-notes have been out in full. Turns out quite a lot of the artefacts he writes about are pretty relevant to my analogue project as well.
Firstly, these heavily embroidered pieces of silk or wool, into which were sewn photographs of men on duty in the army and navy.

With these artefacts, the photograph inside almost becomes irrelevant, it is so much about the embroidery around the outside, especially given the image's size. They are described by Batchen as being "mementos of their service". The creators have used a classic art form, embroidery, and combined it with the relatively new medium of photography to create an artefact that "not only stimulates the eye but also invites our touch". They appear to have been designed to allow servicemen to look back on their experience with fond memories, perhaps presenting an idealised view of what it was actually like.
Next, a combination of homely textiles and photography.

Here we have an object that is such a reminder of home, but made up of images of the outside world. Again, like the previous artefacts, the pillow encourages people to touch and handle it, again, linking in to the tactile nature of photographs. The bringing together of all the different images within one item means that a wide range of subject matter can be combined and explored all at the same time. Almost like a patchwork quilt, no two of these pillows would ever be the same, with different people prioritising different memories to be made into something so comforting and tactile.
Although not exactly what I want to create for my project, looking at these artefacts does tell me that well before the invention of computers and photo editing software, people were making things out of photographs. They weren't just there for people to look at on the wall, they were meant to be touched and handled, the use of fabric and embroidery certainly suggests this.
For me, the act of sewing the images together creates a way for my images to become tactile again, as far as possible away from the slick, digital panoramic photographs that are possible now. To me, it doesn't matter if it is a bit haphazard - I am investing my time and imprinting myself onto the images through my embroidery, making them as home-made as possible.

Batchen, G., Forget Me Not: Photography and Remembrance (2004), Princeton Architectural Press.

Major Practical Project - Anna Fox

Fox's series entitled My Mother's Cupboards and My Father's Words from 1999 combines photographs of the interiors of her mother's cupboards with quotes from her father to form an invitingly pocket-sized photobook. She describes how the quotes and images represent "An unexpectedly wicked narrative exploring a claustrophobic relationship". Here are some examples of double page spreads from the book:

©Anna Fox

©Anna Fox

©Anna Fox

These images are another example of how Nigel Shafran describes his work - the photos that only she can make. No other artist of photographer could make this work because no-one else knows the ins and outs of Fox's family situation. The images are relatively simply shot and framed, with tight composition not allowing the viewer to see anything outside of the cupboards she is focussing on. A flash has clearly been used to highlight inside the cupboards, leaving harsh reflections and shadows. Although we are not shown anything of the rest of her house, the neatness of what is photographed leads us to make assumptions about her personality. This also rings true for her father - we only read aggressive, expletive comments which, although only highlights one side of his personality, doesn't make the reader particularly warm to him.
Although Fox appears to be highlighting the differences between her parents, the images and the words do draw similarities towards each other. Besides being offensive, her fathers words are actually quite simple, reflecting the simplicity of the photographs they accompany.
In terms of the images themselves, it seems Fox has tried to keep the colours and the composition very much as if we were there, rifling through her mother's cupboards ourselves. The images are far from deadpan - the warm tones coming from the reddish wood do make them feel much more personal. When we compare this work to that of John R J Taylor for example, it is clear to see which is a personal project and which has been shot commercially.
This is another project that thrives off the acknowledgement of little details - a style which I do see myself employing for my images. The next bridge I need to cross is how to get across to my viewers the intense knowledge I have of my home - how do I make them realise that I am photographing the wallpaper on my staircase because it always catches my nails when I brush my hand along it. How do I impart the things I feel and remember about my home with my audience without them being able to be there?

http://www.annafox.co.uk/work/my-mothers-cupboards/

Analogue - A bit of progress...

So here's my next step with the analogue project. I found that I needed to inject a bit of personality into my images, so instead of photographing the exteriors of buildings, I chose to look at the interior - my bedroom to be specific. I did some quick test shots, and got them developed and printed by a shop. Obviously, if I chose to continue with this idea for my final images, I would send the film off to be developed and make the prints myself.
I am yet to attempt to sew these together, that's my plans for the next few days.

Given that these are low quality prints, the colours between each image varies dramatically. However, if I were to print them myself I would balance the colours properly. Also, I shot these in the evening, meaning that the ceiling light casts a yellow glow over the photographs. In order to improve, I would shoot the images on a brighter, more neutral day and print them myself. Originally i did a 360 degree panorama, but next time I will focus more on just one side of the room, given that the opposite walls are relatively dull anyway.
Now, time to get the needle and thread out...

Major Practical Project - Test Shots

So I felt like it was time to put down the books and pick up the camera. So here are some very quick test shots. I do want to point out a few things that I would already be doing differently for my final images.
- Photos will be shot on colour film, either medium or large format.
- I will be photographing my family home, to which I feel much more of a connection.
- Images will be shot over the series of weeks/months so as to build up a portrait of sorts, but of the family home.

So here are the results of an hours shooting with a DSLR and using only available light.

I was attempting to capture some of the unique aspects of the place I live - a real messy, studenty flat - just as a test to see whether I can create an interesting enough project just within the boundaries of one building. I'm not the greatest fan of these particular images, but then I wouldn't expect to be making images I was proud of with so little time and effort.
The photographs do remind me a bit of the work of Nigel Shafran, which tells me that, with a bit more preparation, this is a workable avenue to go down for my project. Another thing to think about is lighting. I had only considered using natural, available light for my final images, but it might be worth experimenting with external lighting, even something as simple as lamps, to create more highlights and shadows. Lamps would keep the set-up feeling homely and natural, and would also cast the yellow-orange glow I have been thinking about.
I do worry that the project will end up feeling a bit too much like a load of snapshots, so I will have to work to make sure this doesn't happen. I can probably avoid it by making sure I spend time with each photograph I want to make, not rushing, and taking plenty of photographs so I can learn from any mistakes.
Heading back home for 3 weeks over christmas should give me the opportunity to shoot plenty of images at a time when I feel most attached to the place where I grew up.

Major Practical Project - John R J Taylor

John R J Taylor is a photographer that covers an absolutely huge range of subject matter. The project that relates the most to me however is entitled 'Domestic Bliss'. On his website he describes that he is interested in "non commercial fine art imagery and the interface between fine art and design" However, looking at the photographs it doesn't seem that there is much of a personal interest behind the images, they are composed very matter-of-factly and with no hint of emotion or attachment.

For me, although these images are technically quite good, I do feel they lack emotion. The home usually elicits at least some kind of emotion for everyone, and it seems that Taylor has approached each place in a very cold manner. It's interesting to see the varying ways that photographers tackle people's homes, and I know that not all will resonate with the ideas feeding my project. What I do take from these images is the photographer's use of colour casts. The first and third images are very cool in colour (blues and greys), whereas the second image is almost completely neutral. Perhaps this is Taylor's way of displaying his feelings about the place, rather than altering his clean, clinical compositions. Like Colin Gray, it might be worth investigating what it is about photographs can evoke such strong memories - if it is the colours I might need to alter how I print them, if it is the tactile nature of a photograph maybe the final images will need to be handled by the audience to get my meaning across.
As harsh as it sounds, this project has informed me of the direction and style I don't want to take. Although his images work as 'fine art imagery', I need the images to mean more to me. I want to use photographs to document and convey the nostalgic emotions I feel towards the house I grew up in, and I feel that this dead-pan style of shooting does not necessarily lend itself very well to this. My next step is to start shooting some test images to really find my feet in the techniques of interior photography.

http://www.johntaylorphotography.com/

Major Practical Project - Colin Gray

Colin Gray describes himself as a "commercial and fine art photographer", his largest, and most personal project being 'The Parents'. Here follows his statement about the project:

"The Parents series started in 1980 when I moved to London. I felt alienated and, perhaps, memories of the isolation I had felt when I was younger began to surface. On the few occasions I went back to Hull, I borrowed a Hasselblad from the photographer I assisted. I felt comfortable with the camera’s square format, perhaps harking back to my Dad’s box Brownie. I now felt the work with my parents was becoming a serious project. The early pictures were looking at my relationship with my parents and their relationship with each other, often expressed in a humorous way. Many of the images involved enactments of a memory or fantasy, interwoven with past events, domestic rituals, and the encroachment of old age."

For me, I don't particularly relate to his more staged images, but the ones that are just simple documents of his parents' lives act as inspiration for my own, similar project. 

'Plug 1983' ©Colin Gray

'Nic Nacs 1987' ©Colin Gray

'Cue To Snooze 1987' ©Colin Gray

 Although most of his images are comical, these are 3 examples of easily relateable situations or objects. There is a kind of humorous stereotype of the father figure in the family falling asleep in front of the TV on a sunday evening. For the most part, his photographs branch away from the majority that I have looked at, purely because they do actually contain people - they are portraits in the traditional sense. They also have that kind of yellowy-orange glow or cast that I have come to expect with old family photos. It was actually something I noticed about being back at home recently; that I associate positive, homely feelings with that orange-tinted lighting. 
Personally, I don't want to try too hard to make my images humorous. However, even in these examples that aren't staged with humour in mind, they do play up to those kind of mildly amusing british stereotypes of how children view their parents - collectors of random nik naks perhaps, being very settled in their ways and routines. Although I know these are down to opinion and upbringing, it might be interesting to see how my family fits into these stereotypes. What I also acknowledge in Gray's work is the way of making images seem nostalgic, even if they are newly shot. It had never occurred to me to use anything other than natural, available light. However, I might be worth looking at old photographs I do feel nostalgic about and seeing if it would be possible to recreate that effect using more modern techniques.

http://www.colingray.net/

Major Practical Project - Living Normally

So I mainly purchased this book to get a bit of inspiration a while ago, but recently it has really come to inform the images I want to produce for this project.

This coffee-table-style book comprises of photographs documenting several different people's homes, alongside around a page of text comprising of a description of the person and their situation and also quotes from interviews with the subjects. The photographer, Niki Medlik, has specifically chosen people from a range of different backgrounds and whose living conditions vary. Something in common with all the houses though is the focus on living - documenting the item as they were found, and the houses as they were lived in. These are not show homes.
For me, it is the quote by Francis Bacon on the back of the book that I feel really relates to my personal project...

 "Houses are built to live in and not to look at..." certainly applies to my family home. However, it is the unique bits of my home, those things that I would find it difficult to describe with words, that make me feel nostalgic. The blown bulb in the kitchen that's been broken for about 5 years. The way the old, horrible wallpaper feels as I walk down the stairs. It's these unique things that I need to get across in photographs.
Here follows some examples of the imagery within 'Living Normally' that I can use as a reference point for my own photographs:

So although I don't feel that all of the images work from a technical perspective, what they do show me is that you can really get an impression of someone's home, and therefore their life, by simply looking at the little details. Rather than sweeping panoramas or wide angle shots of whole rooms, Medlik has focussed her attention right down to the tiniest details - a light switch, a dirty pan, a bathtub. This allows the viewer to build up a view of the rooms through several images, rather then just being given all the information in one. I feel the photograph of the cooker is the most interesting for me - very simply framed and quite clean composition, but telling the viewer everything they need to know about this part of the subject's house.
After looking through this book several times, I feel that the way I want to approach this project is to take lots of photographs, on several different occasions, and allow the audience's image of my home-life to grow gradually.

Naylor, T., Medlik, N., Living Normally (2007), Thames and Hudson, UK.

Analogue - Dryden Goodwin

An extract from Goodwin's website about the series Caul (2008)

"A Caul is the name given to a portion of the amniotic sac that can be left over a child's face at birth. In some cultures, the caul has demonic associations; more usually it is considered sign that the child is safeguarded, even bestowed with special powers. Goodwin's title resonates with this association, reinforcing the visceral quality of the distinctive red lines that cover the faces of the people in the work, like blood vessels or raw tissue."

For 'Caul', Goodwin uses photographed images and then draws over the subjects' faces using a graphics tablet and image editing software. 

© Dryden Goodwin

© Dryden Goodwin

© Dryden Goodwin

Although I don't particularly see a connection between his subject matter and mine, and he uses purely digital techniques, these imges do interest me. What strikes me is that, although they become more interesting and more symbolic post-production, they are strong images anyway. However, when you read Goodwin's description, they take on an almost sinister feeling, particularly when he mentions the "demonic associations". This almost goes to show that context can become almost more important than the images themselves, that you can change someone's perception of the image simply by giving them some background information. It almost makes me wonder why he chose these particular people to photograph; was it purely for aesthetic reasons, or was he trying to say something else about his unknowing subjects?

http://www.drydengoodwin.com/

A Quote From My Mother

A quote from my mother on the phone yesterday. It sums up our family life...

"God forbid there would ever be a time when everything in this house works. You fix one thing then something else breaks. I've got Graham on the case though...come back to me in a months time..."

Major Practical Project - Nigel Shafran

Of all the research I have ever conducted for my projects, the work I feel I can most relate to is that of Nigel Shafran. His images celebrate the banal - the moments in life that happen to most people every day but no one really thinks about. The washing up, talking on the phone, supermarket checkouts, for example. They are not epic, not by any means, but that is not to say they are not powerful. His subject matter is, for the most part, the mundane, but photographed very simply and absolutely beautifully. The photographs are so easy to relate to, and I think that is what I'm aiming to emulate. Here follows a quote from David Chandler, Director of Photoworks magazine about Shafran's practice (accessed via Shafran's website)

"His current work is characterised by the quiet observation of daily life; focussing on deliberately low-key subject matter that is often domestic in nature: the washing - up, his Dad's office, and, repeatedly, his partner Ruth. Yet his work extracts from these everyday situations something profound and consistently beautiful, the sense of a natural order amid the chaos of ordinary things. 

Shafran has chosen to concentrate his work on what he knows best, on what he understands more then anyone else: his own life - the most personal relationships, the most familiar spaces and objects, the most ordinary, everyday situations. His work is about preserving identity and uniqueness: it quietly records what is unique to him. As he has said: 'My photographs are the ones that only I can make.'"

"4th January 2000. Three bean soup, cauliflower vegetable cheese. Morning coffee and croissants." ©Nigel Shafran

"7th February 2000.  Toast and herbal tea, sausage, mushroom, tomato, egg, toast, Galician tapas and beer with Jack." © Nigel Shafran.

"25th April 2000.  8.00pm by Terry’s watch. Branflakes, toast, mint tea at John and Sara’s in Glasgow. Picked up Iranian pitta filled breads in Glasgow [eaten on motorway], Chicken Dalgleish, potatoes and veg, strawberry and apple sponge with cream at Jill and Terry’s with Jo, Kathy and Ruth." © Nigel Shafran.

As Chandler describes, Shafran's work, although it looks clean and clinical, focusses on those parts of his life that only he can know, that no one else can, or would, make photographs about. He has not gone out of his way to make the photographs particularly extravagant compositionally, allowing the viewer to relate to their banality. Even the captions are merely descriptive, with no hint of the emotions the photographer was feeling about the image or the moment it depicts.

For me, it is the leaving behind of this homeliness that I have been thinking a lot about recently - the little things that only happen in our family home, that no one else knows about. I have been worrying about trying to make my work relateable to other people, but as Shafran has demonstrated, the fact that a photographer has documented these little mundane, personal moments every day does make you think about your own life. He is showing that not everything that is documented photographically has to be extraordinary, it can just be life as it really is.

http://www.nigelshafran.com/

Analogue - Stitching my street

So I haven't posted here in a while. I've had a lot of ideas floating around in my head and actually putting all of it into actual readable words is proving to be difficult. But I will get there. Eventually.

However, this is something I have been working on for my Analogue assignment.

I have been thinking about the idea of being able to alter and doctor images that have been shot using analogue processes. Editing photos is synonymous with digital imagery and photoshop, but the techniques often employed using this programme are named after analogue printing processes mastered years earlier. I wanted to play on the term 'stitch' by printing a series of images from film, and then physically sewing them together.
I have also been looking at the places I consider to be home. Linking back to Erlina Gotterson's piece about her street, I wanted to photograph the 2 roads that I have 'homes' on. This is my very first attempt at creating a panorama view using the stitching technique.

So this is not perfect. By any means. Not all of the images line up with each other, meaning that the image doesn't flow properly as it would in a digital panorama. Also, there are imperfections on the negatives which, when enlarged, become much more obvious. However, if I were to take more time, care and use a different camera when exposing and printing the negatives I feel that the piece would be greatly improved. However, I do feel the stitching technique is successful, and the subject matter interesting enough to sustain it as a photographic work even when viewed out of the context of being a mixed media piece. Keeping the stitches regular and in black thread makes them slightly more subtle.

Any comments and opinions on my work so far would be greatly appreciated!

Major Practical Project - Penny Klepuszewska

Penny Klepuszewska's project entitled 'Living Arrangements' focusses on how, where there is no family support close by, elderly people can often live an extremely isolated life, in some cases never even leaving their house. Here follows an extract from her artist's statement.

"'Living Arrangements' investigates an important subject for a society still coming to terms with its ageing population, sparked by the disturbing statistic that one in ten of our elderly people spend their lives utterly alone rarely encountering another human in their solitary day-to-day lives. The work focuses on the significant changes in family life over the last two decades and how this has created a large and expanding number of elderly people who are living alone, often with deteriorating health and no family support to hand. The home is often regarded as a place of shelter but for some in later life it can become an island of isolation, "a place of uncertainty, positioned between the conflicts of past memories and present emotions." Belovai/Spence 2011"

"Living Arrangements (No.23) 2006" © Penny Klepuszewksa

"Living Arrangements (No. 22) 2006" © Penny Klepuszewska

"Living Arrangements (No. 1) 2006" © Penny Klepuszewska

To me, I can just never imagine the home to be anything other than a place of shelter, a place you can always count on. I've never considered that for some it can become a prison; essentially cutting you off from the world and somewhere you grow to resent. Is this purely down to age? Or are there other factors to consider. Although these images don't contain people, they are almost portraits - set up to suggest that the scene has just been left, only moments ago. The minute details stand out - crumbs on the tablecloth, a dribble down the side of the pan, the single baked bean left on the underside of the metal spoon. Given the highly constructed nature of the images, this tells me these details have been deliberately included - perhaps suggesting that when you spend all day every day in the same routine, the smallest changes can take on new significance. So I know what I feel about my home, but what about if I was confined there? Perhaps it is nostalgia that is providing me with rose-tinted memories of the place.

http://www.contemporaryartsociety.org/become-a-member/artist-member/penny-klepuszewska/496

Major Practical Project - This Is MY Home

Major Practical Project - Hamish Gane

An extract from Gane's artist's statement from his '200 Seconds' project.

"The photographic image is both implicated in, and antithetic to, memory, for unlike the mental image of a past event, it is able to imprint itself on our memories repeatedly without relinquishing any of its vividness. Family photographs and films are revisited in order to re-live an event, but with each viewing, it is the recorded images themselves that become further implanted in memory.

In this work, a leather case in which family cine films have been stored for over twenty years is converted into a camera"

"In stark contrast to the present digital proliferation of personal photographs and their distribution through social networking sites. Traditional black and white paper negatives are digitally scanned then printed to the same scale and dimensions as the projection screen on which the films were repeatedly viewed on family occasions.

These mise-en-abîme images are part of an extended photographic and theoretical investigation, exposing and exploring a space between the Bergsonian notions of perception and recollection. It is intended (with reference to the still photograph’s accepted associations with death) that through an amalgamation of cinematic and photographic time, new life may be given to the resulting images."

"amsterdam- 1973" ©Hamish Gane

"snape, august 1983" ©Hamish Gane

"yorkshire, easter 1976" ©Hamish Gane

 What speaks to me in this project is that fact that these images have absolutely no emotional context for me, but yet are clearly so personal to the artist. We are looking at a glimpse into his family's past, and although I don't know anything about them, looking through all the images I can already relate to some of the situations. The fact that family holidays are always documented, and that there always has to be one 'nice family photo' to take home. Gane's delving into his own memory allows the viewer to delve into their own. His use of a pinhole camera and Super 8 film also conjures a feeling for me of everything being homemade, which it seems to me is very important in this project. Would it have the same effect if he shot the images on a hi-tech digital camera, or had the movies transferred to DVD? In my opinion, no. At the risk of repeating myself, it is all home-made, even down to using the case which the films were stored in as the pinhole camera. Every single aspect of this project is born of his family and their memories.What is highlighted in this project is that every family is unique - whether they are close, distant, large or small. If every single person in the world did this same projects that results would be so varied, and that is the charm and appeal of the images for me.

http://www.hamishgane.com/