Richard Billingham - Ray's A Laugh
Ray's a Laugh
The first few times that I looked at the work of Richard Billingham's 'Ray's A Laugh' project, I was struck by the strong narrative dynamic unfolding within the photo-story. In his photographs the subjects are always on the move as they fight, argue, avoid flying cats, or in the case of Ray, keel over from too much drink. Even when at rest, seated or slumped on the ground, there is a sense of impending conflict about to flare up again. The main strength of the work comes from the opportunity to be able to be so close to a subject and yet go unobserved. The photographer is completely embedded in the situations unfolding and his unrestricted access has furnished him with some very strong images. These characters are Billingham's own family and looking at other work by Billingham since, I think that Ray's A Laugh remains his most influential piece of work to date.
I have engaged with the work a number of times now and the narrative element although still very strong has subsided somewhat and I find myself admiring the colour tones and aesthetic of the work too. Liz in particular, with her colourful and highly patterned dresses always catch my eye. The image of her stretched out on a couch has a very Odalisque pose about it; one that must have been encouraged, if not observed, by Billingham who was an art student at the time. Another similar image of Liz, seated by a highly complex jigsaw puzzle with many scattered and colourful pieces that compete with her equally opulent dress, also seems to incorporate a sense of richness and vibrant squalor. I feel these aesthetic elements pull the whole work together in a way that I had not consciously noticed before.
The images have a snapshot quality to them. They are in a similar tradition to Nan Goldin's work, although the difference is that Goldin herself is often featured and Billingham stays firmly behind the camera. Goldin's photographs feel more formally composed. They have more of a sense of calmness about them that is absent in Billingham's work. There is also the sense of a subversion of the 'family album' aesthetic in both of these practitioners work. Real conflicts would never normally appear between the pages of a traditional family album as they tend to follow a much more rigid and structured format that portray the 'good times'.
Briony Campbell - The Dad Project
The Dad Project
The Dad Project also takes a look at personal relations within the photographer's family. This project looks at the end of a life. Campbell uses film, stills, music, recorded dialogue, and family album imagery to pull together an effective portrait of her father as he approaches death. The dying father articulates his fears of not being able to continue to support his family or watch it grow and change. In turn the children and wife provide reassurance and the whole package is very poignant and skilfully edited.
Again the main strength of the Dad Project is the photographer's closeness to her subject, providing her with access at a time that would normally be closed off to outsiders. Campbell covers a sensitive subject matter with honesty and integrity. The pace of the work was gentle and reflective but by using various different elements, stills, album snaps, soundtrack, the visual language is dynamic and therefore held the viewers interest. Unlike 'Ray's A Laugh' Campbell used a number of self portraits in the piece, often holding her camera, as she documented her father's decline. This time family album images that portray the good times are used; they poignantly highlight the father's spoken dialogue as he speaks about his feelings of not being able to be the person he once was within his family.
David Gillanders - The 13th Floor
The 13th Floor
David Gillander's photo-story for German GEO magazine follows the lives of a couple and their children living in a damp and cramped housing block in Scotland. The images portray the poverty of the subjects lives and is filmed in black and white. The choice to not use colour is interesting. Social Documentary and Photojournalism has traditionally shied away from using colour for both technical and artistic reasons. Black and white images do tend to add depth and a sense of gritty realism to images. This can lull the view into believing that black and white images are more real than colour, when in fact both mediums are actually part of a hyper reality.
Unlike the previous two photographers in this post Gillanders is not related to his subjects. The work was part of an ongoing personal project that was subsequently funded by a magazine. Gillanders would have to have worked hard to gain the trust of the family and apparently as is often the case lived with them for a few days at a time to obtain his images. I wonder how differently the family reacted to a stranger in their household compared to Briony Campbell or Richard Billinghams subjects. Did they act up for the cameras - conscious that they were in front of a camera that would eventually lead to publication of their images? And is that any different to any subject that knows they are part of a piece of work?
There are no real detail shots in the work. The focus is always directly on the action, mostly taken in the middle distance, and follows the subjects closely. The work is similar to Billingham's 'Ray's a Laugh' in this respect although the colour tones soften Billingham's work and make more of an artistic statement. Gillanders black and white images follow the tradition of black and white Social Documentary.
Albrecht Tupke -
Albrecht Tupke
It is difficult to see the work of Albrecht Tupke as forming part of the Social Documentary genre. His portrait work has a typological slant to it. The subjects are always posed in a similar fashion facing the camera and shown full body - similar in style to Rineke Dijkstra. Some of the subjects are approached on the street so I can see that there is a Social Documentary element present but the work appears to address wider themes relating to humankind (the gaze, representation, masks,) than the more focused themes that a Social Documentary photographer would usually follow. The work is more likely to be made for the gallery than a publication. With that said there is a lot of cross-over between genres these days and the categories themselves are not always that helpful.
Tupke's work has a very different feel to it. Apart from the typological aspect the images appear to be exposed towards the high-key range so they are very light. They make quite a contrast to the black and white and darker look of much Social Documentary. The photographer also creates other typologies, animals, objects, landscapes, etc.
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