Photography Proposal - Graves/Graveyards

Mark Collie once wrote “You can outrun the Devil if you try, but you will never outrun the hands of time.” This to me has always been a very strong statement. I see it as quite possibly the most apt declaration about life. It calls to mind the one true connection everybody on this earth has and that is the awaiting embrace of death. Death has always interested me but more precisely graves and graveyards have interested me, the final resting places of people who have passed.

Death is a mystery, what lies beyond, is there a heaven or is there just nothing? Yet final resting places are not. Some people have very unassuming markers while some have lavish and exaggerated monuments.

With my project I propose to capture these final resting places, from the simple and modest graves to the more prolific and overstated. I propose to show the contrast of one persons’ final resting place to another, including the older graves which have become worn over time to the newer more crisp forms. I would like to show how as time passes graves become more beaten and old looking because as the time passes the family members of those who have already gone begin to pass themselves and how graves stand unvisited and untreated with no flowers on them while others are covered in flowers and sometimes gifts. Also I would like to try and show an understanding as to why people come miles around sometimes other countries to visit certain graves such as those of Michael Collins or Phil Lynott.

I would also like this project to capture the haunting aspects many feel when in a graveyard. I aim to capture the stillness, quietness and the somewhat otherworldly feeling that can overcome a person while walking the aisles between graves (perhaps maybe catch a spirit on camera). The project will hopefully try and show an understanding of the idea behind our final resting places. Why is it that we choose to be buried and why do some choose to be cremated and is there a universal fear of death?

The project has a start date of October 13^th 2013 with a proposed final date of March 14^th 2014. For it I will be using a Canon PowerShot SX20 IS. To accomplish my project I will be visiting many graveyards across Dublin at varying times of the day, the reason for this is that I believe that the lighting will be a major factor in obtaining the images I want. I will be photographing a wide variety of graves, including some of famous people, and to this I will certainly need to communicate with those who operate the site. I also intend to gather pictures of people who are visiting a grave, although this may be a little bit more difficult so I may make it easier by using friends and family members as my subjects as this would be more appropriate.

Finally when my project is complete I then plan to publish the best images I have gathered and publish them in a book and also plan to show them in an exhibition. My aim will be to show the frailty of life, the waiting hands of death and what becomes of our names when we finally do pass. It will not be a bleak outlook but rather it will ideally just make people stop, think and perhaps realise how precious life is and perhaps make them remember what is good in their lives. My aim is also to maybe make people think twice when they are passing a grave and perhaps think about what kind of person they were.

 

War Photographer - James Nachtwey

Why did James Nachtwey become a war photographer?

James Nachtwey made the decision to become a war photographer in the early 70s when the Vietnam war was ongoing. It was the images which were coming out of Vietnam which pushed James to his profession. He believed that these images showed the straight forward truth of the cruelty and horror of the war and became deeply affected by these and decide to follow in the tradition. He felt such high emotions that it was the witnessing of human history, the history of real and ordinary people with human experiences and emotions. It was not until a night in 1980 when when he eventualy woke saying he was ready for the task and decided to head for New York.


What conflicts and issues did he cover in the film?

In the film James covered a variety of issues, at the beggining we were witness to his first conflict which was after the war in Kosovo. Here we saw pictures of the aftermath of war including the ruins of buildings, the loss of possessions and displacement with families and we also saw the effect it has on human life.

The second issue which James covered was poverty in Jakarta where he was photography the conditions in which people live. People who from his own words are "not drug addicts or dropouts" but rather people who have come searching for a better life who now find themselves sleeping beside and in-between railroad tracks. Here he also photographed a man who lost his leg and arm when he was hit by a train and through the images shows how he lives and copes while having a family to care for.

 We also saw James cover a continuing conflict in Ramallah, Palestine and after this we then saw his work in relation to famine in Sudan.

What do you think of his approach to photographing people in crisis?

James Nachtwey has a very tough job in that he is capturing such an emotional aspect of life, one filled with death, murder, chaos and so much heart ache. It was clear from this documentary how much his work affected him yet he handles himself with such composure and deals with it in a very respectful way. It is clear he does not intrude upon peoples lives but works towards making himself welcome by his subjects. James says himself that "normal codes are suspended... I would not be taking these photographs unless I was accepted". It is an approach that he handles with great care and balance, while looking for the shot he still shows certain amounts of humanity and not losing himself.


What kind of personalities do you think photojournalists have to have?

There has to be a sense of disconnection or separation from your surroundings because in order to cover certain stories you would need to be able to hold your emotions in tact and not let them control your actions or your work. However there must be a good balance because when we see James with people we still see his sense of humanity in dealing with others especially ones in the situations he is capturing. You would also need a strong will of character so as not to lose everything your own personal self belief and morals.


What kind of subjects does Stern Magazine cover?

Stern Magazine covers many of the same issues which James covers in his work from war, famine, poverty, conflict, basically it covers social documentary.


What pictures end up being used?

The pictures which will make the final print will most likely be the most striking, the hardest hitting images. Sometimes the most shocking or violent.

Photo Marathon

Love is in the Air

Street Art

Halloween

Dirty Old Town

Street Style

VILNIUS: Photographs of Old Town

Currently the Gallery of Photography in Dublin is hosting an exhibition called Vilnius: Photographs of Old Town. It runs from the 3^rd-15^th of October and in this exhibition it is the work of photographer Kęstutis Stoškus which is on display. Stoškus is a Lithuanian architectural photographer from the town of Dūdlaukis and has put his talents towards showing piecing some of the architectural qualities of the old town. After graduating from economics Stoškus turned his attention to photography and has been working in the field since 1985. He regularly works in the medium of black and white photography and rarely do people feature in Stoškus work and in this exhibition that trend continues as he focuses more on allowing the buildings/architecture, his main interest, and their surroundings to take centre stage.

Cathedral from Tilto St.

When you first set foot into the exhibition especially if you come in not knowing anything about the photographer you quickly realise this artist clearly feels more content with using black and white images. This was something that first grasped my attention as black and white would be my preferred option in many cases. With certain photographs such as Cathedral from Tilto Street, the black and white give off a certain dream like quality with the foreground almost completely engulfed in darkness, getting brighter as we move close to the Chatedral which is then almost wholly white showing perhaps a sense of a religious calling. 

Cathedral Vilnius

Another image in which the black and white ads to the image is, Detail of the Interior of the (Franciscan) Church of the assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary, in this image the opposite technique used in the earlier photograph is used and now we have a bright foreground with a darker background. With this applied the image seems to convey a darker meaning, perhaps the road ahead is a dangerous path and one must go with caution. Other photographs which really benefit from the black and white are the Rasy Cemetary pictures of which there are three and also one called Bernadine Cemetary where in all of these images the black and white really convey the nature of cemeteries and the fact that they are where the dead rest, it is quite an interesting collection of photos to make one question life, death and the unknown. On the flip side however there are some photographs that feel too intense or that the light has taken a lot from the image. One such image is Panorama of Old Town with Gate of Dawn where the white of the snow in the image is far too strong and detracts from what could be a nice photo.

Overall the exhibit is interesting look into a town that I had never heard of before but it is a fascinating display of black and white photography which in my personal view contains elements of religion, death, humanity, the unknown and a sense of loss.

Vilnius

Fixing The Shadow

Fixing the Shadows is an interesting BBC documentary charting the the history of photography. It begins with the idea of photography and what it can actually mean to certain individuals and meanings that can be drawn from it. It looks at the mysterious power which a photograph can hold between not only those who see it but those who are in it and the stories which are being told along with the questions being asked. The documentary examines the intrigue with which photography is still connected with today.

We are introduced to the idea of a camera obscura which is an optical device that projects an image of its surroundings on a screen or clear surface. It is used in drawing and was one of the inventions which led to photography and the camera. We are also introduced to Andre Kertesz who is described as one of the forefathers of what is now modern photography. Along with Kertesz, Englishman Henry Talbot made major contributions to the development of photography as an artistic medium. His work on photo reproduction led to the creation of the photo glyphic engraving process. As with many inventors and artists Talbot had a rival in the form of Louis Daguere who was famous for the daguerreotype of photography. Although Daguere's biggest problem was that he went in search of fame while Talbot looked at developing his medium and ultimately it was Talbot who found the fame Deguere sought. The biggest issue for Geguere was the daguerreotype method could not produce multiple copies of a photo.

Nelsons Column Under Construction - Henry Talbot

We then see with photographers such as Eliphat Brown how photography travelled all the way around the world with some of her photographs from Asia.

Eliphat Brown - Japanese Women

As we progress we later see how artists changed their painting style to incorporate the cropping styles used in photography. While certain photographers and artists from today such as William Burke explain how their art has developed and exists today thanks to the expanding life of photographers and photography.

William Burke - NY Crime Scene

Finally we learn how George Eastman founded the Kodak company in 1888 which still exists today and how their Brownie Camera opened up photography to the entire public while the rest as they say is history.