John Berger (1980: 42) writes that “Photographs offer us the sight of a number of places
and people in such a way that our view of the world can be quantitatively
extended.” We can view the world outside and perceive what it looks like
thought photographs which taken by different people. Therefore, photograph is
the evidence of everyday life of us, is the eye to view the whole world, and
most important it preserves every moment of us as a part of human history. He
also mentioned that “Photography is the form
to encourage a story to be told, and it narratives itself.” (1980: 43). So,
this project is about to record how we experience, express ourselves and live
nowadays and to preserve all these moments as a story about the cities intimacy
and solitude in 20th century.
The series of
candid street photographs, which is taken in cities in the United Kingdom by
photographer Shirley Chan, is about revealing and evoking the intimacy and solitude that exists between the
city and people. So the photographer has acted as a
voyeur, hunting for unique moments of love and interaction between humans that
happen around us every day. As the photographer thinks, it is always easy for
us to ignore and neglect such intimacy, as we always forget that love is always
around us, in the cities. Therefore, this series is going to draw out the ways
in which people interact and are intimate with each other in the public area of
the town and city, and to show their identities as they react to each other in
the streets.
Shirley Chan was born in
Hong Kong. So this series of photographs is about her first impressions when travelling in the United
Kingdom; From an outsider’s point of view, Her aim is to observe and record different
people in city environments. These photos were taken during
visits to the cities of Edinburgh, London and Bristol.
The selected
series of six photographs show the interactions of people, who are friends,
married couples, families and solitary figures, especially the elderly man in
the last. Her images show that people seem to be in different relationships at
different times in their lives. Besides, the idea of intimacy and solitude
between humans is also related to the age of the individuals, that the series
shows the difference of how we express, receive and live with love at our
different ages.
Henry Louis
Menckenthe, an American Journalist and Critic in 1920 has once stated that:
"You can't do anything about the length of your life, but you can do
something about its width and depth." (1920). Time flies, but the
photographer hopes the spectator can be evoked by looking at this series of
photographs, that we can still find time to love and care people around us if
we still have the ability.
Figure 1: From exibition Rose,
C'est Paris (2009) by Bettina
Rheims
Photo taken in City Hall, Hong Kong, 2009
Shirley believes that "If photo is
about narrative a story, then black-and-white is about narrative an emotional
story, especially about humans, about us."
Book of London Street
Photography, 1860-2010 by Mike Seaborne is another inspiration for the
project. The photos by Seaborne inspired her to play with the proportions of
the people in their surroundings. This creates an interesting dynamic to the
photos, and to highlight the relationship between the environment and people.
As the purpose of the series is to make the contrast between emotions projected by humans and the “bad” environment in cities, photos were taken during or after rainfall, and it results to emphasize the dramatic reactions projected by people. Therefore, the shadows that are reflected on the wet floor is one of the major considerations which draws the composition of the series of photographs together. (See figure 2)
Figure 2: "Oxford Street", 1998, Richard Bram,
From London Street Photography, 1860-2010 )Museum
of London) by Mike Seaborne
The
photographic book Some Cities (1996) by Victor Burgin also
gives an of shooting object of family or couple in cities (See Figure 3). These
people were easier to capture a special moment because they have more emotions
revealed and obvious closer interactions than other single alone person in
cities.
Figure 3: “Grenoble,
1981”, Victor Burgin
From Some Cities (1996) by Victor Burgin
The series was taken with Canon EOS 600D with focal length around
30-40mm, using Aperture of f4 to f5.6, and ISO from 400-1600 in daytime. By
using low aperture, photos were captured in relatively shallower depth of
field, and to highlight the subject's emotion and interaction, rather than the
background in composition.
All photos were edited by increasing black and white contrast and
brightness, so to enhance the intense emotional effect of each photo in a more
dramatic way.
As Shirley mentioned, "I was trying to be a voyeur, and to
hunt any ignored and neglected stories about love and interaction between
humans, so to evoke people love is always around us in cities. The city is the
place that we are very familiar with, but actually if we pay more attention to
the surroundings, it is always in an interesting stage where it displays every
tiny detail about us, especially about the intimacy between us.”
--------------
Bibliography:
- Berger, J. (1980) Uses of Photography. About Looking. New York: Phantheon Books. pp.42-43
- Burgin, V. (1996) Some Cities. California:
University of California Press
- Mencken, H, L. (1920), Retrieved on 5 December 2012,
from
- Rhemis, B. & Bramly, S. (2010) Rose, C'est Paris. France : Taschen GmbH; art ed.
- Seaborne, M. (2011) London Street Photography, 1860-2010 (Museum of London). London: Dewi Lewis Publishing
No comments:
Post a Comment