A Study of the Overlooked
‘Sometimes I see old photographs and what’s interesting to me are the things on the edges that are not meant to be there – the soap packet, the bit of litter, the things we relate to and hold that everydayness.’[1] As Nigel Shafran so often conveys in his work, and here too in an interview from his book Edited Photographs; sometimes it is the unremarkable that catches our eye. Shafran’s outlook on photography has always resonated strongly with me. As I get closer to the end of my degree, I want to return back to what drew me to photography in the first place – its ability to reveal beauty in even the most mundane of subjects.
It’s also my intention that this project might operate as a response to the supposed ‘death’ of photography that has become exceedingly more apparent with the rise in modern technology and social media. With photography being so readily accessible and such a huge part of our online presence, it seems that the medium as an art-form is becoming lost. Social media has brought with it an infatuation with capturing only the most ‘picture-perfect’ parts of our lives. I want to look beyond this, and photograph what is not necessarily perfect or immediately aesthetic. Instead, I want to focus on every day, ordinary things that so often go unnoticed, whilst reminding my audience of photography’s ability to find beauty in these things too. As Shafran goes on to explain in his interview with Charlotte Cotton, ‘how people place things can be telling of how and what we are.’ I’m considering beginning this project by photographing people’s possessions and the way they place them – as an exploration of how the unconscious actions we make shape us as individuals. I could also consider taking a more personal approach to the subject and photographing the small, ordinary details of my own life. This would work well in response to a previous project of mine titled ‘Grandad’s Shed’, in which I explored a place where I spent many Summer holidays as a child. In this project, I focused on objects and spaces that seemed at first ordinary and unremarkable, yet ultimately the work makes up an image of some of the things that shaped me as a person. As a continuation of this, I could focus this project on the everyday things that shape me now that I am older.
The work produced in this project in intended for exhibition at my final degree show at Plymouth University and my degree show at Free Range in London.
As the project progresses, I will consider the most suitable print sizes and forms of presentation for the work.
There are many photographers acknowledged for their ability to transform the unremarkable into something worth noticing. My initial visual and theoretical research will consist of looking at photographers such as Keith Arnatt, William Eggleston, Alec Soth, Nigel Shafran and Eric Kim. To establish a more in-depth analysis of why the mundane might be an appealing subject to audiences, I will begin with some subject research. Initial reading includes:
Subject Research (Exploring the reasons why mundane subjects are appealing to people)
1899: Photographing the beauty of the mundane
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2013/dec/13/death-of-photography-camera-phones
https://www.bcm.edu/news/psychiatry-and-behavior/why-we-root-for-underdog
Visual Research
‘Alec Soth, Sleeping by the Mississippi’, [Online] https://alecsoth.com/photography/projects/sleeping-by-the-mississippi/ [1st February 2020]
Arnatt, K. I’m a Real Photographer, London: Chris Boot, 2007.
‘Eric Kim Photography’ [Online] https://erickimphotography.com [1st February 2020]
Shafran, N. Dad’s Office, Nigel Shafran, 1999.
Shafran, N. Dark Rooms, London: Mack, 2016.
Shafran, N. Edited Photographs, Gottingen: Steidl Mack, 2004.
Theoretical Discourse (Mostly consisting of how and why my chosen photographers choose their subject matter)
Everyday beauty with Nigel Shafran
https://nicholashuggins.wordpress.com/2014/07/24/photographing-the-mundane/
Stephen Shore, Seer of the Everyday
Photographing the ‘Boring,’ the History and Photography of William Eggleston
Everyday beauty with Nigel Shafran
[1] ‘Interview with Charlotte Cotton: Edited Photographs’, [Online] http://nigelshafran.com/interview-with-charlotte-cotton-edited-photographs/ [1st February 2020]
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