Sam Taylor-Wood - Men Crying Series

Men crying is a series by female photographer Sam Taylor-Wood, who set out to capture famous males crying.  She shoots them in their roles - all males are actors. This led to some extremely beautiful images which work well with my latest theme of this illusive stare on peoples faces. It was actually in my seminar that I got told to research into this series - I have found Taylor-woods work very inspirational.

Out of the whole series, the four images above I would consider my favourite. I feel like these images show the emotion the most however they still have this sense of unawareness of the camera, which is perfectly linked with my project.

Dazed Article

"The snapshot: spontaneous, un-affected and often out-of-focus. It is a style that has long-fascinated Czech curator Michal Nanoru. His celebration of the snapshot, Only The Good Onesgoes on show later this week at Galerie Rudolfinum. A celebration of one of the most intimate forms of photography going, the exhibition is a fascinating who's who of photography featuring many Dazed favourites including Nan Goldin, Walter Pfeiffer and Corinne Day" 

- Dazed Magazine, Sian Dolding

Part of the interview taken from the article: 

Dazed Digital: What is it about the snapshot that fascinates you?

Michal Nanoru: I think the snapshot is the punk rock of photography. Just like punk rock, the snapshot transpires through a basic understanding of how to operate an instrument, and it uses its obsolescence as a guarantee that its values are based in experience and emotion. I always liked the fact that you can do so much with so little. The vibrancy, the immediacy, the personal quality, the arrogance of that I-couldn’t-care-less attitude. And the more I know snapshots the more it fascinates me what a beautiful swindle this all is.

DD: Who are your favourite photographers featured in this exhibition?

Michal Nanoru: This is the ultimate collection of my favourite photographers. The snapshot is a family photograph and I like to think of the show as of a family album of interlinked communities, in which everyone meets in colophons, invitations and mutual portraits. There is a point in the show, where you can see photos taken by Tim Barber, a photo of him by Ryan McGinley, Dash Snow’s Polaroid of McGinley, Jerry Hsu’s photo of McGinley and Snow photographed by McGinley. Elsewhere there’s William Eggleston shot by Jürgen Teller... So selecting favourites is a kind of Sophie’s choice for me. But I love the works of Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander,Stephen Shore, Jacob Holdt, Jürgen Teller, Ari Marcopoulos, JH Engström or Alec Soth. During the show’s preparation I definitely got much closer to Henry Wessel and Dash Snow as artists. And once I used William Eggleston’s classic book William Eggleston’s Guide as an actual guide for travel in the American South so I undoubtedly have a soft spot for his works.    

DD: You say that the snapshot has the intimacy of a diary – do you think Instagram holds that same intimacy or does it have less impact?

Michal Nanoru: It really depends on who’s holding the camera. Not every snapshot has the intimacy of a diary and not every diary is intimate or even interesting. But the difference is, that while with most of the diaries you can suspect that the author writes it with someone else in mind, or at least stylises themselves for themself, with Instagram this is taken for granted – it is a performance from the start.

Images shown in the Exhibition 

Corrine Day

Dash Snow

Daido Moryiama

Barbara Crane

Jurgen Teller

Mark Morisroe 

Stephen Shore

Seminar Feedback

The feedback I got from this weeks seminar was a mixture of both negative and positive. However the negative comments I received were point I had also thought of and realised myself. Comments such as

• Some of the snapshots aren't interesting enough to capture the viewers attention - this is something I completely agree with, due to not having enough time or what would be considered as 'interesting' company, my images are not as interesting as photographers like Goldins images. 
• My exhibition idea is good but I need to think of other options and consider only have a few bigger images, rather than lots of smaller ones. This means that I can be more selective rather than picking every 'ok' image i've taken. 

Positive feedback I got was that the images below were everyones favourites: 

From this I have been given the theme of 'illusive', so to take images still in this snapshot aesthetic however capturing a look of distance in the models faces. So i'm creating a twist on the normal portrait. Also this would be a good route to go down when it comes to my exhibition, these type of images create more of a story. 

Exhibition

I've been thinking a lot about the exhibition coming up. I feel that the work I'm making would look better set out in tiny, raised blocks, set in a grid. This would then make the viewer have to look at them closely in order to see what the images are. By doing this you are also 'invading the persons personal space'. I feel this could create a feeling of intrusion -  you shouldn't be looking at the images. This however will only work if I get more grittier images. With this idea though, I would use images from all shoots to create a type of diary of my life, making the work more personal to me and as a chain reaction letting the viewer also invade my private life - this could then open up ideas of me taking self portraits within this project. 

Taking the idea of black and white

(Excuse the quality, for some reason my blogger has trouble uploading raw files)

Some of the images from last contact sheet

Here are some of the images from the previous contact sheet. I spent two days following my friend around, documenting various situations and the things she does. These are some of the images from this. I feel like I should focus on one particular person to get fully involved in invading their privacy and getting more 'grittier' images as again - like all the issues I'm having - I don't feel that they're daring enough. So for this I'm going to take my camera out on the street when she's out the house more, to capture in different states - tiredness, intoxicated etc. I also followed ideas from the photographers I looked at, such as taking pictures of objects. I feel that merged into this particular work, they add to the 'story' I'm trying to connote through different social situations.

Contact Sheet #3