On the Exhibition Trail

Spent yesterday in London visiting four photographic exhibitions that were of interest to me.

The Photographers Gallery 16 -18 Ramilles Street London

This is the first time that I had visited this Gallery. It offers five floors of activity/exhibition space that is accessible by lift. Although, as always, I found the lighting of the images poor (in one room there is a large window at one end that, at the time I was there, provided a great deal of light that meant at the opposite end of the room the images were almost invisible) so that there was a need to constantly shift ones position to avoid becoming the image oneself. This was a particular problem with David Lynch's work because of large areas of blocked shadows within his work. Why this problem cannot be solved beats me although, as I report later, the exhibition at the Science Museum did not have the problem because of careful lighting and offering the prints unglazed.

There were three exhibitions to see with the work of David Lynch,William S Burroughs and Andy Warhol on show.

David Lynch: The Factory Photographs.

To quote from the handout Lynch is reported to have said:"I love industry. Pipes. I love fluid and smoke. I love man-made things. I like to see people hard at work, and I like to see sludge and man made waste." Such an approach is clear from the images that were chosen which are dark and mediative almost to the point where the image is little more than a contrast between light and dark. Detail in the shadow was frequently indiscernible and one was left wondering what was hidden adding to the enigmatic feel of the work. Not all of the images worked for me and I was left with the feeling that many of the images failed to meet the criteria suggested by Lynch's desires.

Having said that there were a number that were outstanding and gripped my attention. This happened when some detail, perhaps small and possibly unintended by the photographer, piqued my interest and offered me a mystery that I wished to resolve, even though I knew that it was not capable of resolution. It is often the case that we place our own interpretation on an image to provide us with a coherent picture of what we are seeing and this happens most often when the actual image fails to provide us with sufficient information, of itself, to allow us the certainty of knowing. With some images I wondered what I would have made of them if there had been no title to the exhibition or one less definite in pre-conditioning thinking.

The question always is - Did I get anything from the exhibition?. Of course there is always something that impacts your thinking and will effect your future approach to photography so the simple answer is "Yes" but on the larger scale it is not a style that works for me and it is not one that I would consciously pursue.

The exhibition was accompanied by a sound installation created by the photographer. I was conscious of it only as an extraneous noise that was mildly irritating as though I was hearing something in another room that was only just audible and I could not decide whether I wanted someone to increase the sound level or use the 'off' switch.

Taking Shots: The Photography of William S. Burroughs.

The last thing that springs to mind when seeing the name "William S. Burroughs" is photography. His addiction to heroin and firearms, his wild man image and his literary accomplishments are the things that come immediately to mind. In this exhibition we are offered an insight into another facet of this multi-faceted character. An insight that also provides some clues to the underlying personality that made up this larger than life character.

The first thing that has to be said that if one is expecting to see outstanding photography, beautifully printed and presented only disappointment will ensue. Burroughs used drug stores for the development if his images and this is evident in the overall quality. Not for him the skills of the darkroom technician who strives to make the best possible image but a commitment to the  mechanistic processes of the drugstore that produced images lacking in contrast or definition. This approach would suggest that he did not care very much for the work he had done and that once taken the image was 'lost' to him. There was little care taken of the photograph once developed and his extensive 'collection' - if that word can be used for something that really was little more than a store of images that had survived albeit scratched, creased or torn. Yet in amongst all this apparent detritus we find glimpses of a caring, probably disappointed lover/person who had found a way of expressing his hidden persona if only for a brief moment of time.

One of the most moving series of a story told in linking images is the one entitled "What was, What Isn't". Starting with a shot of an empty bed that still shows signs of occupation it finishes with the bed fully made up and the viewer left wondering about the transient nature of those precious moments that can never be repeated and which we deny by removing any trace of their occurrence.

Also evident is Burroughs use of the collage where he chops and rearranges the parts of a number of photographs in an attempt to create new meaning. Whether he is successful in these attempts is impossible for the new viewer to decide because the resultant collage image is not grounded in a world that is understandable to anyone other than Burroughs whose thoughts at the time are unknown to us.

Perhaps with this work more than most the overall impression is structured by the awareness of the chaotic lifestyle of Burroughs. Is it being too fanciful to suggest that in photography and the ease with which it can be altered in so many ways to create a different reality, Burroughs attempted to make sense of a life that he no longer understood or could grasp as a whole. Perhaps this is the aim of many photographers where, through our photography, we create a world that exists only in our imagination or is so transient as to have no recognisable existence other than in the photograph.

Andy Warhol

I am not a lover of Warhol's work so was not expecting a great deal from the exhibition of his photographs. It was, therefore,  a pleasant surprise to discover that I was totally wrong in my preconceptions. They were very good both as a set and as individual pieces. The quality was very high and the subject matter well presented. I found myself lingering over most of the images and learning a great deal from the way they were presented. Most of Warhol's photography has not been shown which, given the quality of this exhibition, is a shame. It is said that his interest in phtography arose from his purchase of a small compact camera in the 1970's that he had with him at all times. He was a recorder of almost everything that he saw but his eye as an artist made the choices he made outstanding. Of the three photographers that I saw at the Photographers Gallery Warhol's was the outstanding exhibition for me.


The Science Museum  Exhibition Road London

Based in  the Media Space at the Science Museum this exhibition was well thought out and equally importantly well presented. The simple structure surrounding and supporting the prints complemented the images and the lighting was such that the viewer was able to avoid the dance of defeat usually experienced as one struggles to avoid the glare and reflections so common in most venues.

'Only in England' - Photographs by Tony Ray-Jones and Martin Parr

Tony Ray-Jones was little known at the time of his death in 1972 at the age of 30. There had been so little time for him to make an impact on the photographic world and one wonders what would have happened had he lived a normal span of three score years and ten. Although Ray-Jones would not know he had a lasting impact upon a young photography student at Manchester Polytechnic in 1971 - Martin Parr. This exhibition combined the work of the two that is so close in style and content that it was difficult to know who was the author of a particular image before looking at the adjacent caption.

The viewer is presented with a view of the ordinary (meaning non-celebrity status) people of Britain (predominantly Yorkshire) of the late 1960's. Beach and Chapel scenes dominate so that we are offered the British both relaxing on their annual holiday at the seaside and at their formal best as they worship at their Chapel. The quality and printing of the images is very high but their attraction lies in the story each tells and the cumulative effect as one walks round and ponders the exhibition. Both photographers manage to offer a humorous look at the British way of life but there is no sense of an underlying mockery. The comic is combined with the serious to offer us a balanced view of life as experienced by the people shown.

One of the best exhibition I have attended to date.

There is probably a reason for my very positive response and that is that I lived and worked in Yorkshire during this time so that the photographs on the stands bore a remarkable similarity to images in family albums (content if not quality). I could readily identify with the people shown and could relate the m to people that I knew. Time and again it was possible to say that "I knew someone who dressed/behaved like that" and the characters were similar to those that crowded the beaches that I knew and loved. I have very little doubt that we respond more readily to images that resonate with us in a personal way because they arouse emotions that still lie within us.


National Portrait Gallery Orange Street London

Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize 2013

Having visited the 21012 version I had told myself that I would not visit such an exhibition again because of the crowded facilities and the general standard of the work shown. However as I was in London anyway to see the other exhibitions mentioned in this blog I thought - Why not? Frankly I wished I had stuck with my original thought. For a National Institution the presentation of this major exhibition is appalling placed as it is in a small area that is woefully inadequate as though the Gallery wishes to suggest that it the exhibition is there under sufferance. When I visited it was almost impossible to see clearly any of the Prints because of the number of people in the space available far exceeded the capacity of the room so that any attempt to stand back from the large prints to be able to appreciate the work was doomed by the rush of people into the space just left that seemed, always to include the pixel sniffer who seems to believe that the best way to see an image is to wipe one's nose on the surface.

I persevered and in the brief glimpses I got I was surprised by the overall boring nature of the images on display. Almost all seemed to place the subject dead centre giving the impression of a posed image with all the attendant stiffness and sense of unreality. It was difficult to find any example of good portraiture in the whole collection. I expect to disagree with the choices for the awards because we are all different in what presses our buttons but normally I can see the reason why they were chosen. Unfortunately I could count on the fingers (excluding the thumb) the images that were worth a second glance.

Never again - but then I said that last year!


National Theatre South Bank London

Take a View - Landscape Photographer of the Year 2013

An exhibition that I enjoy visiting. The venue is excellent and the standard of the exhibits high. Even though this was my last visit at the end of quite a long day during which I seemed to have been walking and standing for ever it was a pleasure to be there. This year the overall standard was very high and the interpretation of the theme thoughtful and wide ranging.  Some of the images were stunning and virtually all worth a longer period of study. It was a real pleasure to see so many really good images in one space and I am glad I was not one of the judges.

The site choice, techniques and approaches varied enough to be thought provoking and landscape photography is the genre that most excites me in my own photography. I can only stand back in admiration for some of the work and only hope that one day I can be as good. Who knows I may even submit work one day.

General Summation

It does not take a genius to realise that I have a bee in my bonnet about the way that photographic works are presented. Some curators and gallery owners seem to care little about how the images are shown and yet as the Science Museum and the National Theatre have shown it is not beyond the wit of man to create an atmosphere in which the viewer can both see and enjoy the works on show.

As one would expect there were disappointments and positive surprises throughout the day in the images that I saw but overall it was a day I thoroughly enjoyed despite the blistered foot and the stiff legs. Some images on their own made the journey worthwhile and the immediate impact was to strengthen my commitment to photography. As always the proof of the pudding lies in the long term benefits that I will only come to know as I continue my journey of exploration and learning.

Eddie Ephraums

Yesterday (Sunday 12th January 2014) I travelled to Wokingham to hear a lecture given by Eddie Ephraums. (Eddie has his own web-site and also communicates via a blog and Facebook. It is suggested that you read these if you are interested rather than any potted version I would provide). The talk had been organised by the Thames Valley Digital Imaging Group and I had come across their article in the "Membership Matters" of the RPS Journal Dec 2013/Jan 2014. My interest had been sparked by the banner headline "BLACK AND WHITE". We were told that he would present two lectures - "Many Ways of Seeing" in the morning and "Language of the Print" in the afternoon. We were further informed that the morning lecture "looks at the way different camera types, formats and media affect our relationship with the subject" and the afternoon  lecture "addresses questions of what makes a print, 'speak', how we develop our own style of printing, what we can learn from looking at other photographer's prints, and whether digital photography has made us better printers." 

I saw in the lecture(s) an opportunity to think about my own approach to black and white work and the underlying, unstated foundations of black and white printing. That did not happen! Clearly the interpretation I had put upon the words in the article was different to what the lecturer intended because what I heard (and others may have done also) was a largely unstructured meander through the thinking of someone facing some sort of crisis in his professional life brought about by the realisation that 'amateurs' were prepared to lecture for nothing (the essential element of being an amateur!) and anyone with a mobile phone with camera facilities could get that all important shot beloved of the media so that making a living from photography was precarious at best and depressing at worst. I cannot deny that this may have been the intention all along and that my interpretation was wildly wrong. It does emphasise the risk we take in reading something through the filters of our own thoughts.

I was so fed up by the time we were approaching the lunch break I had decided to cut my losses and return home a wiser but poorer man. However the last 'slide' told us the key content of the afternoon lecture was "Books". I have more than a passing interest in producing books and thought 'Great - here is something that makes the 250 mile round trip worthwhile'.  I cannot deny that there were references to 'books' including a reference to 'Japanese stitching' which is a way of binding a book together and the creation of a concertina notebook. There was also discussion about 'gravure' printing; 'silver bromide' printing and 'platinum' printing. There was no explanation at all of what these terms meant or indeed the advantages or disadvantages. It so happens that I had read quite recently about these different processes so at least had some level of understanding but from the expression on some of the faces around me this was not general knowledge. We were also offered a brief introduction to typography. Ears pricked I waited for some nugget of advice that would assist me in the better use of typography to improve my work. I was not looking for a blow by blow description but I was expecting more than I got of which the most memorable part was a series of images of shop fronts or notice boards where the typography had clearly gone awry.

The final straw that broke this particular camels back was a question from a member of the audience who asked whether Eddie Ephraums used 'plug ins'. A simple question that elicited the reply -"No". This was followed by us being told of an image that he had seen of a walrus in which the skin folds and wrinkles of the creature were so sharpened as to spoil the picture. Here was the reason why plug ins were 'bad'! The fact that plug ins are a tool for people to use and if they are used badly it is the fault of the person using them rather than the software itself did not appear to have occurred. This was then followed by the declaration that he did not watch HD television because this suffered from the same fault. Suddenly the whole day became clear and the utterings understandable at least in the world of the lecturer. Having been ready to write off the day as a lesson learned here was something that forced me to think about all that I had heard. Admittedly it was not why I had attended the lecture but it gave me pause and made me think about the things that I have heard about photographers who set out to create a world of darkrooms, black and white, film photography and fuzzy images that the digital world seems bent on destroying. In that world the skills of the photographer, darkroom technician  and printer were recognised by due reward and the amateur was seen as someone who produced snapshots and not great photographs.

Nostalgia for times gone by, when the world was a safe and comforting place and we felt secure in our skin, is a strong human emotion even when we know that no such time existed. When things are difficult and life is throwing us a series of challenges that we feel less and less able to meet we have a strong yearning for times gone by. There is nothing more alarming than finding the certainties in our life are no longer certain and that the plans we made are no longer likely to bear fruit. Perhaps that is why we attempt to re-introduce tangible things that were part of that earlier and happier way of life. Perhaps the world was a better place when we saw it through a slightly out of focus, slightly fuzzy prism. I realised as I drove home, and when I wasn't cursing the traffic on the M25, that there was a strong possibility that my choice of black and white art photography as my major project for the Course was my own longing for a simpler world. Accepting this as a possibility enabled me to gain a great deal from the day that I had initially written off.