Laurence Misdate 'Circus Travelling* - Ju ly Half Moon E x h ib itio n

Victor Burgin Robert Golden

Ralph Gibson Terry Dennett
Manuel Alvarez Bravo

No 3 Half Moon Photography Workshop 25p

Art, Common Sense and Photography
BY VICTOR BURGIN cisely for making such a (m ystificatory) actual state o f affairs. In photojournalism , a
political statem en t. particular m om ent may som ehow com e to
The main thrust o f photographic criticism signify a general tru th . This ‘som ehow ’ is
A photograph o f a baby at the breast o f a
these days is tow ards the consideration of w om an in a private nursing hom e in Sw itzer­ generally considered to be unaccountable
photography as Art. CAMERAWORK, on
land may be placed alongside a photograph except in term s o f such things as ‘luck,’
the o th e r hand, has raised the issue o f p h o ­
o f a sim ilarly-com posed m o th er and child ‘ta le n t’ or a com bination o f the tw o. Cer­
tography as an instrum ent of ideology.
group in a village in rural India. Assuming tainly the p h otographer o f George V was
Many people believe th a t these tw o ap p ro ­
th a t there are no obvious signs o f depriva­ lucky, and he may very well have been
aches are incom patible. Art is thought to
tion on the one han d , o r o f privilege on the ‘talen ted ’ (w hatever that m eans), b u t while
have nothing to do w ith politics, 'political’
o th er, the tw o images together will p ro ­ the picture before us may have depended on
art is thought to be irretrievably com prom is­
nounce: “ M others and their babies are the luck for its existence, it does n o t depend
ed as A rt. But the tw o may n o t be quite as
same everyw here.” Such a smugly reassuring upon luck or ‘ta le n t’ for its meaning — its
m utually exclusive as these people like to m eaning is som ething we can account for.
message was indeed com m unicated by The
think.
Family o f Man exhibition. The cap tio n , the All com m unication takes place on the
Work w ith an obvious ideological slant is title o f the ex h ibition, served mainly to u n ­ basis o f signs, m ost predom inately on the
o ften condem ned as ‘m anipulative’; that is basis o f visible and audible signs. To say
derline w hat had already been said. In this
to say, first, th a t th e photographer m anipu­ th at one person has com m unicated with
case, the te x t served the photographs.
lates w hat com es over in th e image; second, Here, an ideological co n ten t is produced an o th er is to say th a t each o f them has u n ­
th a t as a result his or her audiences b e ­ by a formal device. The message: “ T he c o n ­ derstood how to use an d in terp ret th e signs
liefs ab o u t the w orld are m anipulated. Not dition o f m o th erh o o d is the same all over which m ade up the message betw een them .
m uch is know n ab o u t how the m edia influ­ th e w o rld ,” w ould n o t have been conveyed If you speak to me in G reek, 1 have no p ro b ­
ence opinions, although we can be fairly sure so readily by either o f the photographs lem hearing the noises you are making, b u t if
th at people aren ’t sim ply led by the nose by alone. Only th e ju x tap o sitio n of the tw o I do n ot ‘know G reek’ in com m on w ith you,
photographs. Whatever the case, b oth creates such a co n ten t, in such clarity, and then 1 cannot understand w hat you are
charges can be sim ilarly answ ered; m anipul­ w ith all th e im m ediacy o f an observed n a tu r­ saying.
ation is o f th e essence o f photography; al tru th . (The message is ideological n o t
photography w ould n o t exist w ith o u t it. simply because it is wrong in w hat it says —
In p hotography, certain physical m ater­ Fig. 1 simply to be m istaken is n ot necessarily to
ials are technically handled so that meanings fairly be bought for wages is a m ystification be in a state o f false-consciousness — it is
are produced. Photographers are people w hich conceals the fact th a t, as the value of ideological because it m isrepresents the
w ho m anipulate the physical means o f p ro ­ a com m odity depends on the labour invested actual m aterial condition o f the w orld in the
du ction o f photography; cam eras, film, light­ in it, the ow ner is appropriating as p ro fit service o f specific vested interests.)
ing, objects, people. Using the productive w hat belongs by right to th e labourer: p ro ­ Because we have separate w ords for
capabilities o f p hotography to reproduce the fits are unpaid wages. The idea o f false­ ‘fo rm ’ and ‘c o n te n t’, we are easily misled in ­
w orld as an object o f aesthetic contem pla­ consciousness is an o th er im portant aspect to believing th at they stand for totally dis­
tio n , and nothing else, is no less ‘m anipula­ o f the m eaning o f the term , ‘ideology.’ tin ct areas o f experience. But there is no
tive’ than is any o th e r use o f photograph: The politically ‘L eft’ p h otographer wants co n ten t w ith o u t a form, and no form .which
to tu rn away is an act, to tu rn away from sit­ to help correct so ciety ’s false picture o f its does n o t shape a co n ten t. In that they b o th
uations o f im m ediate social relevance is a p o ­ actual conditions o f existence, to raise such have been misled by a picture o f the world
litical act, and to perform such acts in every questions as: Why this practice? What does given to us by language, ‘artists’ and ‘acti­
w orking m om ent adds up to a political it m ean? What interests does it serve? vists’ alike tend to inhabit the same aesthetic
policy. Such a photographer w ants to help people ideology. A rtists believe th a t they can p re ­
T he only imaginable non-political being is becom e conscious o f th e forces which shape sent a totally content-free world o f pure
a totally self-sufficient herm it. The p h o to ­ their day-to-day lives; to realise th at the form s. Activists believe in th e autonom ous
grapher w ho has chosen to live in a society social order is n o t a natural order, and thus pow er o f ‘the tr u th ’ which will im pose itself Fig. 3
and enjoy its benefits, even though he also beyon d all change, b u t is made by people regardless o f form al considerations. It will The photograph is a sign, o r m ore co rrect­
chooses to p u t on blinkers w hen he squints and can be changed by them . The political­ pay us, if we arc concerned with w hat ly speaking, a com plex o f signs, used to com ­
in to a viewfinder, is willy-nilly an acto r in a ly dissident photographer however is involv­ photographers ‘say,’ to exam ine the devices m unicate a message. If you show me a p h o ­
political situation. So how is it th a t so m any ed in an apparent parad o x , th at o f seeking to which enable photography to say things, d e­ tograph o f a pile o f stones th en , at an im ­
people can genuinely believe th a t they lead penetrate appearances w ith an instrum ent vices so familiar to us they may pass m ediate level, my eye receives visual
a-political lives and th a t it is others designed specifically to record appearances unnoticed. ‘noise’ ju st as my car received verbal noise
‘m ilitants’ and ‘extrem ists’ — w ho ‘have’ and appearances alone. Popular photography magazines p erio d i­ w hen you spoke to me in Greek. We can
ideology, n o t themselves? We m ust first say cally carry articles advising their readers to suppose th a t 1 have seen photographs since
w hat we m ean by ‘ideology.’ look for ‘co n tra st.’ Such articles generally I was a child and so have no problem in ­
When we look at the day-to-day life o f a begin w ith a directive to look for contrasts terpreting these irregular patches of light
d istan t culture — behaviour, custom s, dress, o f light and dark tones, rough and sm ooth and dark tones as representing stones.
diet — we arc im m ediately struck by its tex tu res.............and then move from form- (When African bushm en were first show n
strangeness: Why do they do th a t? Why do oriented to content-oriented oppositions photographs, they had to be taught to read
they eat those? What docs it all mean? such as young/old, happy/sad, etc. Such them ). But w hat b eyond this? If I go on to
Few such questions trouble us as we pursue contrasts are indeed p art o f the stock-in- rem ark th at the photograph depicts a tem ­
our ow n lives in our ow n culture, and if they trade o f the professional — take, for exam ­ ple, th at the tem ple is ruined, and th a t is
were asked, they w ould probably get short ple, th e picture o f ‘victory and d efeat’ in G reek, then I am relying upon knowledge
shrift. Why does a man generally let a fe­ Fig. 1. th a t is no longer ‘n atu ral’, ‘purely visual’; 1
male stranger precede him w hen he is going Most active photographers arc aware of am relying upon knowledge th at is cultural,
in to a shop, b u t n o t w hen he is boarding a th e phenom enon the ‘th ird effect’: tw o verbally tran sm itted , and in the final analy­
bus? Why do m en hang ties around their images side-by-side tend to generate m ean­ sis, ideological (I might think ‘cradle o f civil­
necks when they wear a shirt, b u t n o t when ings n ot produced by either image o n its isation’ or ‘dam ned G reeks’ according to
they wear a roll-neck jum per? The ques­ ow n. This effect may be produced by bring­ when and where I happened to be born).
tions appear silly, the answers obvious. . . . ing together tw o physically-distinct prints Most photographers are aw are o f using
This is ideology as ‘w orld-view,’ a com m on- (from tw o separate negatives), or by ju x ta ­ some sort o f system o f effects in th eir w ork,
sense understanding o f ‘th e way things are’ posing tw o distinct elem ents w ithin a single b u t such system atisation as may be achieved
which is unquestioningly ‘taken for granted.’ fram e. In the la tte r case, the jux tap o sitio n is generally believed to concern only the
What we do ourselves seems so natural to may be brought about by chance (happy purely formal — th e ‘visual.’ C o n ten t, it is
us th a t we even cease to notice w hat we do. coincidence) or by design; if by design, then believed, is ju st there in the w orld, and
‘H abitualisation,’ said the critic V iktor cither ‘n atu ral’ means (casting, posing, etc.) therefore in the p icture, w hether lined up
Shklovsky “devours w ork, clothes, fu rn ­ or ‘technical’ means (darkroom m anipula­ w ith the frame or com posed on th e diagonal.
itu re, o n e ’s wife and the fear o f w ar.” E_ tio n , collage, etc.) may be used. But once we reject the idea o f photography
Through habitualisation, w orking m en and For exam ple, take th e picture o f George as a “purely visual’ language, understood
w om en accept lives o f tedium , or even mis­ Fig. 2 V on Derby Day in Fig. 2: in this image, we equally by everybody everyw here, then we
ery, as their natural lo t, while others accept Bertold Brecht fo u n d the cam era a p o li­ believe th at the co n trast o f rich and p o o r is may begin to consider the possibility that
the social cost o f their ow n greed as being tically-deficient instrum ent: a photograph m ade on the basis o f a coincidence — the c o n ten t, to o , may be p roduced as deliber­
ju st as unavoidable. The m edia by which we o f a facto ry , he poin ted o u t, tells us nothing p h otographer ju st happened to be there ately as one may plan the form al com posi­
are inform ed characteristically reinforce o f th e econom ic forces governing the lives of w hen. . . .; b u t it is equally possible, al­ tion o f the photograph.
such attitudes: “ U nem ploym ent is expected those w ho w ork in it. Roland Barthes made though perhaps less likely, th a t the tw o main To retu rn , th en , to ‘co n tra st.’ All c o n ­
to rise next m onth. . . . More rain is expect­ a sim ilar p o in t when he reviewed The Family elem ents of the image were assem bled in the trasts are ju x tapositions, b u t n ot all ju x ta ­
ed in the south-w est” — bo th facts appear o f Man exhibition: o f course babies are darkroom from separate negatives. Or, positions are contrasts. The ‘Derby D ay’
equally to belong to the natural order of b o m and nursed by their m others all around again, it is n o t b eyond possibility th a t the and ‘Boxing’ pictures are based upon a c o n ­
things, acts o f G od against which there can the w orld, b u t photographs o f them tell us situation depicted was ‘set u p ’ for the cam ­ trast; th a t is to say. a dissimilarity o f c o n ­
be no insurance. nothing o f th e ch ild ’s life expectancy or of era — for exam ple, th e p h otographer could tents (rich/poor, v ictory/defeat). The well-
The sort o f habitualisation which leads the likelihood th a t its m o th er might have have directed a suitably-cast and dressed p er­ know n Diane Arbus picture o f identical
millions to collude in their ow n repression, died giving b irth . son to run up to the coach at a p red eterm in ­ twins, on th e o th er hand, (Fig. 3) is based
and w hich allows th e rich and privileged to Such w riters, notably including Walter ed spot. F urther to all this, the co n trad ic­ upon a sim ilarity o f b oth form and co n ten t.
continue to act selfishly “ in all good faith ” Benjamin, have concluded th a t as language tion o f rich and p o o r could have been com ­ The fashion picture beside it (Fig. 4) is
Marx called “ false consciousness.” For e x ­ itself is the instrum ent best ad ap ted to m ak­ m unicated by juxtaposing tw o separate p h o ­ based upon a ju x tap o sitio n o f similar forms
am ple, in order th a t the institutions o f the ing a politically-specific statem en t, then the tographs, taken at different times and places which have dissimilar co n ten ts (e.g.,
S tate should continue to serve the interests photograph can only serve the te x t. But, from one another. anim ate/inanim ate).
o f a ruling oligopoly, it is necessary that although the premise here is correct, the O f the above possibilities, we w ould p ro ­ L ooked at m ore closely, the p h o to g rap h ­
m ost people should continue to believe th a t conclusion does n o t necessarily follow from bably conclude th a t th e picture we have here er’s stock-in-trade o f ‘co n trast’ may be seen
such institutions serve everyone equally. Or it. In his essay on The Family of Man, is in actuality the m ost effective. The to consist o f a num ber o f distinct com m uni­
again, th e belief com m on to b o th those who Barthes condem ns the failure o f p h otogra­ p h otojoum alistic ‘snap’ has an au th o rity cative devices, devices which nevertheless
ow n the means o f production and those phy to m ake a political statem en t, y et in this which o th er forms o f picture-m aking lack; it seem to evolve upon the com m on basis of
w ho do productive w ork th a t labour may same essay he condem ns the exhibition p re­ presents itself as factual evidence of. an the various relationships into which tw o or
2

Art, Common Sense and Photography

sense o f which its usual sense is only a p art, L et’s take som e fu rth er, actual examples: the linguistic message explains, develops, e x ­
e.g., “ Give me y o u r h e a rt” (when the entire Fig. 5 is a visual hyperbole much like o u r h y ­ pands the significance o f the image. (Fig. 8
body is being sought). pothetical exam ple except that in this case is a particularly clear an d simple exam ple of
Advertising is the m ost obvious place we the exaggeration is doubly charged through relay). In our previous exam ple, the cap­
m ight expect to find rhetorical figures (of sexual allusion; Fig. 6 is an exam ple of tion is in a relationship o f relay to th e image.
which there are literally hundreds). In the chiasmus in the plane o f the te x t; Fig. 7 p re­ ‘I t’s all in the m ind’ is n o t am ongst the co n ­
first place, there is no d o u b t th a t som eone is sents a paradox in the text/im age plane. . . . notations we might expect to be sum m oned
setting o u t deliberately to persuade, in the and may be w orth considering in some more by the image alone. It is n o t therefore
second place, there is little d o u b t th a t every­ detail. ‘anch o red ’ from am ongst the connotations
thing in the advertisem ent has been most already available. The rhetorical stru ctu re of
carefully placed for m axim um effect. Com ­ the text/im age relation in this case is th a t o f
mercial publicity, obviously, endorses and It’s all in the mind. paradox. The dom inating co n n o tatio n of
perpetuates the com m odity values central to the image may be labelled (but n o t co n tain ­
our capitalist ideology. On the left, the p re­ ed) by th e linguistic term ‘p o v erty .’ Sub­
vailing view o f advertising tends to be sim p­ stituting this term for th e image gives us the
ly one o f disapproval. From one p o in t o f statem ent: “ Poverty. I t’s all in th e m ind.”
view in ‘classic’ sem iology, how ever, the However, we know the poverty depicted in
structure o f advertising may be disengaged the image to be a m aterial poverty, hence
from its co n ten ts: the rhetorical structures the paradox, and hence th e effect gained by
o f advertising are ‘in d ifferen t’ to the em o­ the ju x tap o sitio n o f such a caption with
tional and ideological value o f the contents such an image.
they handle; m uch as, for exam ple, an arith ­ The sem iotician Jacques Durand made
m etical stru ctu re like 2 plus 2 equals 4 these rem arks in the course o f his 1970
‘doesn’t care’ w hether we are adding up tax i­ study o f rhetoric in advertising: “ The m yth
cabs o r tom atoes. In this view, therefore, o f ‘inspiration,’ o f ‘the idea,’ reigns suprem e
there is no reason w hy, once the devices of in the creation o f advertising at th e present
advertising have been isolated by sem iotic tim e. In reality, however, the m ost origin­
Fig. 4 analysis, they may n o t be ‘re-cycled’ in al ideas, the m ost audacious advertisem ents,
m ore visual elem ents may enter. The nub of counter-ideological message-making. A n o th ­ appear as transpositions o f rhetorical figures
such a system is form ed by relationships of er opinion to be derived from semiotics which have been indexed over the course o f
sim ilarity and dissimilarity o f form and of argues against this, b ut there is insufficient num erous centuries. This is explained in
c o n ten t, with additional m anipulations in space here to discuss the apparent krCM<rin.iiiMrc-^al la .Jra.ilux W fialM ** th a t rhetoric is in sum a repertory o f th e var­
IWyw m piafcwimh
the form o f substitutions and perm utations contradiction. ious ways in w hich we can be ‘original.’ It is
o f elem ents. The w orking o u t o f such a
system in its entirety is one o f the tasks
PsychologyToday probable then th a t the creative process could
be enriched and m ade easier if th e creators
which might be undertaken w ithin a ‘sem io­ w ould take account consciously o f a system
tic ’ study o f photography. Fig. 7 w hich they use intuitively.”
Sem iotics, or sem iology, is the science The image in this exam ple draws upon
w hich studies signs. We recognise th a t some the iconography o f poverty — the bath in a
photographers are m ore successful com m uni­ zinc tu b , the squalid ‘back y a rd ’, the w ash­
cators than others. The sem iotician is in ter­ ing on a line (as opposed to in a spin-dryer).
ested in the reasons for their success or These rem arks suffice to show th at this is
failure — n o t, o f course, in term s o f the p h o ­ ‘p o v erty ’ in th e definition o f a particular cul­
tographer’s personal history, b u t in term s of ture at a particular historical ju n ctu re — the
the photographic sign itself. The sem io­ same assembly o f signs might con n o te rela­
tician w orks from the assum ption that tive affluence in a ‘third w orld’ co n tex t.
wherever we recognise ‘m astery’ o f an art, The striped T-shirt is associated in the Brit­
we also implicitly acknowledge the existence ish m ind with the iconography of France
o f some system which has been m astered - and th e sea, its co n n o tatio n of ‘St.
w hether the ‘m aster’ is conciously aware of Tropez-ness’ establishes a figure of irony
the system or not. w ithin the image. Fig. 8
In the early days o f ‘stru ctu ralist’ sem io­ It is likely th a t the people in the p h o to ­ Typical o f the nineteenth century
logy (R oland Barthes’ E lem ents o f Sem io­ graph will have been chosen for their — in Rom antic aesthetic attitu d es which prevail
logy first appeared in France in 1964) ex­ B arthc’s expression — ‘canonic generality;’ in present-day writings on photography is
clusive atten tio n was paid to the analogy b e­ th a t is to say, each individual represents his the n o tio n th a t there are unique essences
tw een ‘n atu ral’ language (the phenom enon or her own ‘ty p e ’, each individual stands for w ithin things and people which are ordinar­
o f speech and writing) and visual ‘language.’ a class o f individuals. In rhetoric th e figure ily concealed from us b u t which artistic
It had long been com m on for people to o f antonamasia is th e one in which the p ar­ genius can reveal. This is an idea w hich
speak loosely o f ‘th e language o f . . .’, this or ticular stands for the general. Nearly all ad ­ photographers had handed dow n to them
th a t activity, including, o f course, ‘the lang­ vertising images contain this figure. Thus, from the ‘Fine A rt’ they originally sought to
uage o f p hotography,’ but it was n o t until Fig. 5 the w oman in our exam ple represents all em ulate (and o ften still wish to em ulate, al­
the 1960’s th a t any system atic investigation The rhetorical analysis o f advertising may econom ically-disadvantaged m others (there beit they in the position o f people rowing
o f forms o f com m unication outside o f n a tu r­ be con d u cted along three main ‘planes’: the is no evidence in the picture which proves o u t to jo in a sinking ship). Largely, this idea
al language was conducted from th e stand­ image plane; th e plane o f the te x t (headline, she is the m o th er o f these children, b u t the is a projection o f th e m arket relations which
p o in t o f linguistic science. caption, body-copy); and the plane o f the very wide use o f images o f the family dic­ characterise our com m odity society: th e co n ­
There were tw o main reasons fo r ap p ro ­ text/im age bond. For exam ple, an image tates th a t she represent one). The scene d e ­ cept o f ‘genius’ guarantees the investm ent
aching visual com m unication through ling­ which show ed a b o ttle o f milk as big as a picted here should cause no offence to cither value o f th e p ro d u ct; the concept o f trans­
uistics: first, language is the most elaborate house w ould present a figure o f hyperbole th e p o o r or the com fortably-off: there arc cendental ‘essences’ protects the p ro d u ct a-
and com prehensive form o f com m unication (overstatem ent). If we th en added the head­ no to m clothes o r m atted hair, th e children gainst practical interrogation.
ever evolved, and it seem ed at least a reason­ line “ Pour Some More, M um ” , the tex t are being washed and (im m inently) fed; this Brecht to o k th e view th a t w hat essences
able w orking hypothesis to assume that w ould be based in rhym e, and we would is a ‘p o o r b u t h o n est’ milieu. there are behind appearances are to be
o th e r forms o f hum an com m unication might have established a figure o f lito te (under­ The rem arks I have m ade so far concern reached through investigation rath er than
have evolved along basically similar lines; statem ent) in th e relationship o f the te x t to w hat is actually to be observed in the image; through in tu itio n . Photography has tended
second, m odern structural linguistics was it­ the image. more observations could be added along to tre a t us to an interm inable rhetoric of
self a sufficiently-established science to p ro ­ these lines. Beyond w hat is to be seen in the ‘hum anity — its jo y s, its sorrow s.’ The
vide the necessary ready-m ade theoretical image, how ever, there are m any stories to be m aterial forces which cause such em otions
models o f com m unication to sta rt the new construed from w hat is seen. This p h o to ­ and, fu rth er, shape o u r entire lives, may be
science o f semiology on its way. graph could serve equally well to illustrate described. It rem ains to be seen w hether
One aspect of natural language use which a variety o f stories. For exam ple: photography will becom e effective in show ­
was found to have a particular bearing on ‘one-parent families’; ‘health in the ho m e’; ing them . What is certain is th a t if it is to do
the topic o f visual com m unicative devices is ‘dom estic life in industrial tow ns’ . . . and so so, we need to treat th e photographic image
rhetoric. Simply speaking, rhetoric is the on. The photographic image can carry a as an occasion for scepticism and q uestion­
artful use o f language in order to persuade. large num ber o f different meanings. It is ing —n o t as a source o f hypnosis.
In rhetoric, language draws atten tio n to it­ ‘polyscm ic.’ G enerally, the polysem y o f the
self in order to a ttra c t and retain the a tte n ­ image is controlled by its ju x tap o sitio n with
tion o f the listener o r reader — form is m an­ a verbal text. REFERENCES
ipulated to engage interest in the contents. Roland Barthes has identified two differ­
ent functions which the verbal message can V iktor Shklovsky A rt as a Technique, in
R hetoric first evolved in the Classical
adopt in relation to the image, these he calls Russian Form alist Criticism , University of
period, and one o f the difficulties in stu d y ­
anchorage and relay. The tex t adopts a Nebraska.
ing rhetoric today is th a t the ancient term s
are still in use to label its ‘figures’: terms function o f anchorage w hen, from a m u lti­
plicity o f co n n otations offered by the image, Roland Barthes The Great Family o f
such as antanaclasis, chiasmus, synechdoche,
Man, M ythologies, Paladin, 1973.
. . ., etc. However, th e m eaning o f m ost of it selects some and thereby implicitly rejects
these term s becomes clear once examples arc the others. Thus, in a cigarette advertise­ -----------------------------Elem ents of Semilogy,
provided: In antanaclasis, a single w ord is m ent, the contradictory connotations Jo n a th an Cape, 1967.
repeated w ith different senses, e.g., “ Learn a ‘cigarettes give pleasure’ and ‘cigarettes give
craft in y o u r y o u th so that in your old age cancer’ arc selectively handled in such a cap­ ---------------------------R hetoric o f th e Image,
you can earn your living w ith o u t c ra ft” ; in tion as ‘cool as a m ountain strea m ’, a simile Working Papers in Cultural Studies, Spring,
chiasmus, w ords are repeated b u t inverted in which endorses the suggestion o f pleasure 1971.
their order in the course o f a single sentence, while rejecting th a t of unwholcsomeness.
e.g., “ You should eat to live, n o t live to In relay, the image and the lingusitic te x t Jaques Durand R hetorique et Image
e a t” ; in synecdoche, a w ord is used in a Fig. 6
are in a relationship o f com plem entarity: Publicitairc, C om m unication, 15, 1970.

BRAVO BRAVO!
M anuel Alvarez Bravo is a confusing
photographer. His pictures o f th e dead
w orker and the naked wom an wrapped in
bandages are totally convincing. B ut others
share the artiness o f E isenstein’s Mexican
film . (In E isenstein’s case, you suspect that
the Sun illum inating his pictures also addled
his brain.)
To m ake one great picture in a lifetim e
can be an achievem ent. M anuel Alverez
Bravo has managed three or fo u r.
Bravo was b o m in M exico C ity in
1902. H e to o k up photography seriously in
1924 b u t continued to work as a govern­
m en t accountant until 1931. In the same
year he sold his fir st p rin t to the M useum o f
M o d em A r t in N ew York. A s well as
“personal” photography, Bravo recorded
murals and others w orks o f art. He also
taught part tim e.
Edw ard Weston to ld him photography
was “fo rtu n a te in having som eone w ith your
view point. ”
In 1934 Bravo ex h ib ited with Henri
Cartier-Bresson in M exico C ity ’s Palace o f
Fine A rt. From 1943 he w orked fu ll-tim e as
a photographer and cameraman w ith a film
studio in M exico. In 1959 he co-founded a
fo u n d a tio n fo r M exican plastic arts.
When Bravo came to L ondon f o r his show
a t th e Photographers Gallery, Tom Picton
and Marcos Valdivia talked to him fo r
CAMERAWORK. Odile Bertin translated
the tapes. We asked him i f his fa m o u s pic­
ture o f the dead striker had a political
meaning:
Bravo: Yes, o f course. The political
question at that tim e was the struggle for a
m inim um wage. W orkers were very badly
paid, they w ent on strike, and this man was
killed. But w hen one secs the photograph
by itself for the first tim e, I do not think
one needs any more explanation, because in
the background a p art o f th e strikers’ banner
can be seen, and th e a ttitu d e o f the dead
w orker is not a general statem ent o f violent
death b u t of one heroic death.
Valdivia: Did you personally fe e l involved
in the event ?
Bravo: When a photographer is involved
in an event, he is so involved and so much a
p art o f it that he is not aware o f his
involvem ent.
Picton: Has “the m urdered w o rker" ever
been used as a poster?
Bravo: Yes, several tim es, for a political
purpose. In fact, it was n o t used as a poster
b u t appeared in left-wing magazines. I sibility w hich I did n ot realise 1 was taking
rem em ber oth er occasions when it was p ub­
lished n o t in a political, co n tex t, and it is
interesting to see how it has been associated
with the nude.
Picton: Could you tell us how you
happened to m ake “the wom an in the
bandages"?
Bravo: Since it was a com m ission for the
catalogue for a surrealist exhibition, I
w orked — w ithout really planning to do it
th at way — as autom atically as possible. I
sent som eone to buy the kind o f cactus
called abrojos in Spanish, or, “ open eyes”
and borrow ed a blanket from the caretaker.
1 spoke on the telephone to a d o cto r friend
and told him: “ Come here and bring some
bandages.” He came very quickly, and I
bandaged the girl and took the photographs.
T hat is the way it happened. If you w ant to
know why it happened th a t w ay, 1 think
th a t the question o f the bandages came
about through an experience I had with a
group o f ballet dancers w ho came to Mexico.
1 saw the rehearsals and saw that they ban­
daged their feet, so I bandaged the feet and
som ething m ore.
At th a t tim e it was not allowed
anyw here to circulate photographs showing
bodily hair. And I did not have a personal
interest in it. The original photograph was a
little m ore cut than as it is know n now . It
was going to be reproduced in three strips on
the fro n t cover with th e same b u t in negative
on the back. I thought it was an interesting
form at. But it was n o t published. Instead,
an o th er one was — called “ The consecration
o f w inter” w hich show ed a branch of a
w ithered tree and a stained glass window in
a rath er art nouveau style with a wom an.
Picton: H ow did yo u work as a p h o to ­
grapher and fo r whom ; fo r what kin d o f
audience?
Bravo: It is a difficult question. My p h o ­
tography has regularly gained approval both
in and o ut o f M exico, and in the exhibitions
in which 1 have been, my w ork has been
liked, b u t th at is all I can say. More, I w ould
not know.
Picton: D id yo u ever work with a group
o f photographers or usually by yourself?
Bravo: By myself.
Valdivia: C ould yo u describe fo r us the
atm osphere in M exico when yo u , Buhuel,
Weston, Diego Rivera and others were w o rk­
ing there?
Bravo: It was a period of struggle in
w hich every person had to look after him ­
self and w ork as he could. Relations b e­
tween all of us were friendly, b u t we did not
form w hat could properly be called a group.
There were simply affinities and
relationships.
Striking w orker murdered, 1934
Valdivia: But such a frien d ly atm osphere
m ust have been very stimulating.
Bravo: C ertainly. T hat is why I consider
that my w ork is derived from precisely those
m ovem ents — essentially the m ovem ent in
wall painting.
Valdivia: It is said that M exico is essentially
a surrealist country.
Bravo: T hat is w hat Breton says. In fact,
Mexico can be a dram atic c o u n try , a country-
full o f contrasts, even bordering on th e fan­
tastic, which docs n o t precisely fit in the
concept o f surrealism which like any o th er
“ ism ” is an academ ic term . Perhaps 1 can
understand w hat Breton said as m eaning a
country where th e artist can produce fan­
tastic or surrealist art. In the case o f my
own w ork, for instance, I do n o t think it
can be considered as surrealist except for
three or four photographs like “ the woman
in the bandages,” b u t all the others arc-
fantasy-inspired by the co untry itself.
Valdivia: B ut “the wom an in the bandages”
was done with a surrealist fu n c tio n fo r a
surrealist exhibition, and very successfully
so.
Bravo: T rue, b u t you m ust see the basic
difference which exists betw een that p h o to ­
graph and “ the m urdered w orker.” O ne is
all spontaneity as opposed to the other,
which is the pro d u ct o f com plicated mind
games and heaven-knows-what oth er
subtleties.
Valdivia: What can yo u tell us a bout the
tradition surrounding death in M exico?
Bravo: People believe that there is a love
o f d eath , b u t they do n o t understand that
it is n o t simply th a t, and that w hat in fact
there is in M exico is an ancient awareness
o f the duality o f life and d eath, death being
the end result of life, and th a t it is im pos­
sible to treat the tw o term s separately. This
concept o f duality we Mexicans receive as
children, when in November, on th e Day o f
the Dead, we are taken to the fair and buy
toys of death and skulls o f sugar, which we
eat. Eating is an activity which sustains life,
and this life is sustained by a skull.
Picton: In Painted Walls o f M exico (1966)
yo u w rote: “Popular A rt is the art o f the
people. A popular painter is an artisan who,
as in the M iddle Ages, remains anonym ous.
His w ork needs no advertisem ent, as it is
done fo r the people around him. . . " I agree
very m uch with that; could yo u say so m e­
thing a bout it?
Bravo: I think th a t w hat is said here
about popular art can be applied to art in
general. A ctually in my opinion, and I said
this in a lecture in Mexico at the Museum o f
M odern A rt, it is very strange to go on talk-
ing ab o u t the art o f painting, or o f painting
as an art, or photography as an art. I was
asked o u t o f the blue if p hotography was an
art, b u t I shall com e back to this later. Pop­
ular art is anonum ous art m ade for some ex ­
isting group of people, b ut naturally as time
passes, this group is going to develop
relationships with o th er groups, and th e vari­
ous co n tacts betw een groups will produce a
change, or changes in the art in general
n ot only in popular art, b ut in all the arts.
A fter a tim e, th e nam es o f the authors begin
to be know n, and even if they do n o t sign,
it is know n that such and such a w ork is the
w ork o f so and so; anonym ity begins to be
lost. From these relationships a group eco n ­
omy evolves which entails an even bigger
change because as the natural laws o f b u y ­
ing and selling com e in to play, it becom es
necessary for the authors o f works to invest
less time and less m oney for greater reward.
This phenom enon is bou n d to occur in any
system o f p ro d u ctio n . Thus, art is trans­
form ed and loses its meaning of popular art
to becom e, at least in my opinion, a
craft — which in reality it always was. So,
when I was asked if photography was an
art, I replied, “ n o .” Photography is n ot an
art, any m ore than painting, sculpture or
engraving. Art does not exist because m ater­
ials for painting, for sculpture or w hatever it
may be are bought. A rt is created by the
individual, and it is the artist who exists.
But th e general term cannot be called art; it
is craft. An individual can be purely and
simply a craftsm an. In photography there is
much more craftsm anship than art. A rt has
ano th er dim ension from craft. For instance.
3
a person w ho keeps a shop where he does
passport photographs or w edding p h o to ­
graphs is practising a craft b u t n o t creating
art. A rt is created by the individual and n ot
th e m aterial which he is handling.
Picton: H ow does this apply in yo u r own
photographs ? For exam ple, i f yo u had been
an an o n ym o u s photographer yo u w ould n o t
have had the same impact.
Bravo: It w ould be exactly th e same — it
is n o t my fault th at som ebody suddenly got
interested in my photographs. I did them as
a means o f self-expression for show ing on a
small scale, rather like the way in which
things are m ade in a village o f artisans. But
as I said before when talking ab o u t the
individuals from a group, their w ork is
anonym ous w hether' it is signed or n o t, b e­
cause the individual is unknow n. But there
com es a m om ent w hen others becom e in ter­
ested, and then the photographs becom e o b ­
jects in themselves. They are no longer p u re­
ly the expression of an event to be seen on a
wall or to be reproduced in a magazine, b ut
have been transform ed in to objects, and as
objects they can be bought, w hether they
get sold or not.
Valdivia: A n d so they are transform ed into
m y th ?
Bravo: No, rath er into m erchandise. The
m yth is created afterw ards aro u n d the
au th o r, w ith th e purpose always o f enhanc­
ing his com m ercial value.
Valdivia: Q uite right! However, I personal­
ly think that the work o f M anuel Alvarez
Bravo is the expression o f a people.
Bravo: Yes, o f course. If one is
concerned w ith the object-subject relatio n ­
ship, the co untry is bound to emerge. It is
n o t th at one w ants to create a national art,
b u t th at national art arises when one res­
ponds to the heartb eat o f a nation.
Picton: Are you still taking photographs,
or what kin d o f w ork are yo u involved in at
the m o m en t?
Bravo: A t the m om ent I am p u ttin g my
records in order. I have got at least forty
years of w ork, and during those forty years,
I have taken no care o f my negatives. When
I am asked for a copy o f such and such a
negative which was published a long tim e
ago, it has to be looked for and a lo t o f time
is w asted in finding it. T hat is why I am p u t­
ting my records in order, to fulfill a respon­
on at the tim e. But afte r th a t, w hat am 1
going to do? Generally w hat has happened
in the past is th at there arc periods in which
I do absolutely nothing. Then I begin again
w ith great difficulty and failures until
suddenly I get in to the rhythm again, and
my capacity for w ork returns. 1 hope that
the same thing is going to happen this tim e,
otherw ise. . .
Picton: Are yo u doing any work now
apart fro m that?
Bravo: No. N othing apart from the
records.
Picton: What will happen to all those
negatives in the fu tu re , in, say, f i f t y years?
Bravo: Only tim e will tell.
The have-nots are m o st easily approached i f
y o u try to com e dow n to their level, a t least
in every way b u t the camera yo u use. D o n ’t
go o u t photographing wearing yo u r Pierre
Cardin blazer over a gaudy Florida-bought
sportshirt and sh uffling around in Gucci
shoes. I always dress in, or take along, an
old pair o f blue jeans w ith m atching attire,
dow n to a worn pair o f sneakers, when I fe e l
have-nots are to be encountered. I f you're
with a load o f n ifty dressers, ditch ’em,
p reten d yo u d o n 't kn o w 'em. Y o u ’ll see
how the atm osphere improves.
Keppler on the S L R
fr o m Popular Photography
April, 1976
4

GOLDEN RULES OK?

and
Trained throughout childhood in painting
drawing, Am erican photographer,
R o b ert G olden, turned to the camera at the
age o f 12. A fte r studying history at univer­
sity, he sp e n t one year at the L ondon School
o f Film Technique. He then w orked in N ew
York fo r three and one h a lf years as a fr e e ­
lance photographer on p h o to essays and a
variety o f social issues. Before returning to
live in England, he was introduced to
M arxism and the '/.one S ystem . B oth these
interacted together and opened up whole
new areas o f understanding.
S ettling to live in L ondon, he began to
concentrate on docum enting work, initially
Coal picking, farrow , 1976
approaching children’s b ook publishers with
an essay on boxing. A s a result o f this,
Kestrel books invited him to work on a
series o f books fo r children. The first fo u r
were M ineworker, Carw orker, Farm w orker
and D ockw orker. These were all done in
conjunction w ith writer, Sarah Cox. They
work together on all aspects o f the p h o to ­
graphs, te xt, layout, presentation. Six more
titles are scheduled fo r publication. R obert
G olden is at present docum enting
U nem ploym ent with Sarah Cox, and som e
o f this work will be on exhibition.
J o Spence talked to R o b ert Golden fo r
CAMERAWORK.
means th a t I have had to con cen trate heavily
on the w ork experience. I have p h o to ­
graphed many o th e r areas o f life in the past
The stu d en t o f th e medium learns o f it
through books, from teachers in state or
private institutions, or by w orking for a
few years as well. photographer. In each case, the unity of
form , co n ten t and technique exists and is ex ­
Is it im portant to align y o u rself to a parti­ pressed in the transm ission o f the ideas,
cular party ? w hether consciously or n o t, by the w riter,
teacher or boss. Underlying these ideas will
If a photographer chooses to involve him / be class-biased assum ptions, personal obses­
herself in social questions, then intellectual sions, prejudice and some consciously
clarity is as im p o rtan t as em otional com ­ th ought o u t political views. All o f these
m itm ent and good intentions. There arc so things which influence the w ork o f th e m as­
many m om ents in an event to photograph, ter will influence the w ork o f the student.
so many events to choose from , so many In my experience, the student w ould do
angles, filters, tonal ranges, printing m ethods b etter to be in stru cted by a m ediocre p h o to ­
and controls, grain structures, depths o f field grapher o f Marxist views than a highly-ac­
ranges, etc. to select from , th a t w ith o u t a com plished photographer o f conventional
clear-sighted view, one is lost. views. The technical and form al conceptions
The socialist photographer w orks in a will at least be form ulated w ithin a progres­
cultural and critical wilderness. Primarily sive fram ew ork, and in the end, the passion
th e photographer m ust realise his/her re­ for a particular set o f values and ideas will
lationship and com m itm ent to the w orking carry the photographer into a thorough
class and to th e revolutionary p arty . Once search for a sym pathetic technical and fo r­
this is realised, either w ith or w ith o u t the aid mal vocabulary.
o f a particular revolutionary group, the
newly-developed view o f the photographer Does a photographer know when their
will tend to prom ulgate an association with ow n level o f social awareness is relevant to
th e group which m ost closely holds that the problem s o f w orking people?
view.
In a non-revolutionary period, it is per­ Most contem porary photographers are
haps m ore necessary for photographers and from middle class backgrounds. The em pha­
o th er artists to be clearly aligned to and in ­sis o f contem porary middle class cu ltu re, as
volved with the m ore general problem s of m ost culture o f Western Europe since the
th e w orking class than to be deeply involved Renaissance, is placed on individual experi­
w ith the program m e o f a specific left group ence and values; therefore, m ost c o n tem p o r­
as sectarianism in a non-com bat situation is ary ‘a r t’ photographs m anifest these individ­
as likely to close as many avenues o f aw are­ ualistic concerns. As the m ajor experiences
ness and turn away as m any eyes o f th e p o ­ o f w orking people arc collective, the p h o to ­
tential audience as non-com m itm ent in a graphs are, in th e m ain, meaningless to them .
period o f struggle is likely to render o n e’s The following subject m atter dom inates
w ork meaningless. the w ork: landscapes — usually in the ro ­
m antic tradition o f Weston o r th e mystical
Do you think the way in which you learn tradition o f Minor White; reportage o f poor,
to be a photographer is im portant? homeless or o th er politically-w eak sections
o f the p o p u latio n ; w omen in various stages
I th in k the way in which a person
o f undress in ‘n atu ral’ situations; English
encounters the craft is o f secondary im por­
festivals — which seem so o ften to sneer at
tance to the cultural and political environ­
m ent in which th a t person develops intellect­ the people pictured and to dismiss the
ually. These influences co u n t for m ore than subtleties o f form and technique; portraits
the tiny w orld o f photographic craft and o f people peculiar in appearance o r awkward
aesthetics in defining the nature o f a in a situation — often in the dem ented style
p erso n ’s w ork. o f Diane Arbus; and a host o f quasi-surreal

Who is yo u r audience? Is the ‘political photgrapher’ m ore than a

I wish the w orking class to be my au d i­
ence. Which sector or group depends on the
project at hand. In the children’s books, the
audience is specifically the children o f the
class, and to a lesser degree, their parents
and teachers. In the unem ploym ent project
th a t we arc w orking on presently, the audi­
ence is w orking people in general, b u t speci­
fically, shop stew ards, m ilitant w orkers, p oli­
ticals, as well as the unem ployed. In my ex ­
hibitions, I hope to reach the same people
by making the w ork available as essays on
walls to be used by Trade Unions and their
branches, Trades Councils, w orking peoples’
institutions and political groups for w eekend
conferences, in w orks canteens, union halls
and o th e r meeting places.
Because o f the political co n ten t o f my
w ork, I believe th a t it can be em braced as a
whole only by w orking class people and by
middle class people o f leftist views. But the
scarred urban landscapes, the lined and
weary faces, and the m om ents o f exhilara­
tion and anger are sights and experiences
which m ost people are aware o f in their
daily lives. It is through these m ore general
elem ents o f the subject m atter th a t any per­
son may enter the spirit of the work.
What are you trying to show ?
mirror?
A m irror image is tw o dim ensional, flat
and lifeless. Russian and Chinese socialist
realism along with some form s o f Western
advertising are ju st th a t. The term , ‘political
photo g rap h er’ implies a com m itm ent; once
there is a com m itm ent, one does n o t m irror,
one refracts. It is in this refraction process,
as a picture is being m ade, th a t the web o f
subjective factors inform s the objective
phenom ena. Experience, perception, preju­
dice, technical and form al expertise and in ­
tellectual com prehension all play a part in
defining the nature and success o f the final
p rint, b o o k or exhibition.
H ow much o f yo u r work is done because
you think it is politically im portant, as
opposed to requests fro m publishers?
I make a living by doing com mercial
work. U n fortunately, it dom inates too
m uch o f my tim e. The children’s books are
a way in which I may earn m oney while p ro ­
ducing books and photographs o f value, to o ,
to me. O therw ise, as in the unem ploym ent
project, the com mercial w ork pays for the
political w ork. I do the la tte r when I can —
evenings, w eekends, days when there is a lull
in my com m ercial w ork schedule.

I wish to reflect back to viewers their Why do yo u concentrate on work?

ow n experience and hum anity and provide
an outline o f their struggles. In the chil­
d ren ’s books, we specifically attem p ted to
create a broader class awareness and sense of
self-pride in the children, while revealing to
them both the skills necessary and the
hazards encountered in production. In the
unem ploym ent book, we hope to clarify re ­
lationships betw een past and present events,
an d betw een present everyday life and the
forces which determ ine its shape, especially
concerning the tragedy o f unem ploym ent.
I have n o t decided to concentrate on
w ork b u t rath er on th e w orking class experi­
ence o f my life. The fact th at peo p le’s posi­
tions in life arc largely defined by their rela­
tionships to the means o f p ro duction (are
they bosses, bankers, politicians, self-
em ployed, w orkers? ), and th at the central
experience o f th at relationship is rigorously
defined by the daily grind o f w ork (w hether
caring for hom e and children, or w orking in
the mill, mine, factory, farm or office)
Old-age hom e, L ondon
It is true th at we have no stage to present
our subject m atter upon until we know how
to use the tools to saw th e tim ber, hang the
drapery, etc., b u t while learning technique is
a prim ary step in a ph o tg rap h er’s education,
it is m ore im p o rtan t to know w hat is to be
presented. A fter all, the nature o f th e sub­
ject m atter may dictate one sort o f stage or
curtain as opposed to another.
or com m onplace (snapshot like) subject m a t­
ter. While these images may at times be in ­
ventive and appealing to m iddle class audi­
ences, they are by and large neither en ter­
taining to w orking people, nor concerned
with their social or personal problem s. The
subject m atter isolates the w ork from all b ut
aesthetes, literateurs and students.
The underlying co n ten t o f this subject
 5

matter describes autobiographical observa­

tions, mystical or well-intentioned but un-
analytical political thoughts. Unfortunately,
the autobiographies are only as interesting
as the lives they reflect; the mysticism has
little meaning to people who must day by
day confront the real power of the world
and their representatives in the guise of man­
agers, police and foremen and women; and
the politics are irrelevant to working class re­
lationships. Thus, the content isolates the
work as well from the mass of the people.
Because of the class nature of this work,
and because the ruling class no longer occu­
pies the centre of the historical stage, but is
slowly being pushed aside by a new main
character, their culture generally and their
photographic art specifically, like their poli­
tical and economic system, is effete. Their
culture is out of step with the most impor­
tant undercurrents of this period, and
though this photographic work is foisted
upon the people as the true representation
of the ‘art’ of photography, it remains out­
side and will continue to remain outside the
interests of the 19,000,000 wage earners and
their families in Great Britain.
But the condition is not all negative. For
the last several years, there have been dy­
namic egalitarian trends revealing them­
selves. Some community photographic pro­
jects have helped to bring otherwise isolated
people together, presenting images to be dis­
cussed and ideas to be discovered through
the exhibition of photographs from the com­
munity; the women’s movement has produc­
ed a volume of work which has reported,
analysed and revealed to people ideas which
have helped in the struggle for identity and Receiving permission, Dagenham
partial liberation; the left-liberal photo-
journalists’ documentation of the black lib­ “ Recognition of the struggle for the right
eration and anti-war movements in the of workers at the point of production to
States helped to reveal the injustices and tra­ find a way to make public the true nature of
gedy of those two struggles; and now in their working conditions through the use of
Great Britain, several groups of photograph­ film is long overdue.
ers are intentionally documenting the class British Leyland shop stewards at a
struggle. Coventry plant, faced with the demand from
Eventually out of these documentarist their work force to break through the barrier
trends will develop the strands of a truly of misrepresentation and silence, called in
proletarian cultural photographic expression Cinema Action to film their work-in.
which will command the interest and serve Whilst in the factory, Leyland security
the needs of the working people. men called the police, who arrested and
Photography is today an accepted part of jailed the film crew, later releaseing them
our cultural vocabulary, and as such, photo­ without charge.
graphers should be concerned — not with Two weeks later, the Leyland manage­
photography — but with thoughts, social ment picked out one of the many stewards
experience and problems which are central involved Jack Sprung and sacked him. This
to contemporary life. Only then will photo­ act of flagrant victimisation was backed up
graphy break out of the narrow aesthetic by the regional and national press and tele­
tendencies in which it is trapped to the outer vision, who launched a trial by media with
world of human life, and only then will pho­ headlines reading ‘Leyland Row over Mr.
tographers win a larger audience for their Sprung’s Spies.’ (The fact that Jack Sprung
work. was not the senior steward who invited
Cinema Action into the plant was ignored in
“The location of the action in Coronation favour of a vicious and libellious personal
Street is mainly the enclosed world of the attack against him, his family and against
street itself. The community contains no Cinema Action.”
children, and its members are rearely seen at
work. In fact, the work that we do see going Excerpt from letter to ACCT Journal,
on could be loosely described as Film and Television Technician,
petit-bourgeois: shopkeeping, the running June, 1976
of a public house, Len Fairclough (a self-
employed builder) banging a nail into a wall.
The ‘world’ of Coronation Street (and we “Tape recorders, ordinary cameras and
are encouraged to think of it as a microcosm cine cameras, are already extensively owned
of the world, a representative sample — by wage-earners. The question is why these
witness for example the title sequence means of production do not turn up at
showing the street as just one among many work places, in schools, in the offices of the
thousands of similar streets) is safe, secure, bureaucracy — in short, everywhere where
‘apolitical,’ a place where nothing more than there is social conflict. By producing
petty bickering, gossip and the occasional aggressive forms of publicity which were
feud is allowed to disturb the nature and their own, the masses could secure evidence
structure of the characters’ lives. They are of their daily experiences and draw effective
essentially locked into, and resigned to, their lessons from them.
position and role in society. The families, Naturally bourgeois society defends it­
apparently lacking children, relatives and self against such prospects with a battery
employment, lead insular, isolated, static of legal measures. It bases itself on the law
lives. Their dynamic potential for any of trespass, on commercial and offical
action that might transform their own or secrecy. While its secret services penetrate
anyone else’s existence is entirely absent. . . everywhere and plug into the most intimate
the structured absences are deliberate and conversations, it pleads a touching concern
significant. Their significance lies in the for confidentiality and makes a sensitive
negative and paralysed protrayal of the display of worrying about the question of a
working class, a portrayal that is reinforced privacy in which all that is private is in the
by the occasional ‘social realist’ TV docu­ interest of the exploiters. Only a collective,
mentary, where the images depict a sad and organised effort can tear down these paper
acquiescent group of people.” walls.”
Manuel Alvarado in Eight Hours are Not a Extract from Mass Media and Mass Society
Day, published in British Film Institute’s by Hans Magnus Enzensberger End o f the shift, London depot Overleaf: Kellingley colliery, Yorkshire
Fassbinder, edited by Tony Rayns. translated by Stuart Hood. discussion before the shift.
8

Driving down Park Aven

Ralph G ibson’s pictures are becoming as graphy since the 1950’s. He spent three
simple as semaphore flags. In his Q uadrant years in the U.S. Navy as a photographer’s
exhibition, 16 x 20 prints o f photographs mate. A fter attending San Francisco A rt
taken 18 inches fro m the subject are his Institute, he worked fo r one and a half years
equivalent o f abstract expressionist painting. assisting D orothea Lange.
Q uadrants deals with the problem o f ex­ Before beginning his rise to fam e (see
hibiting photographs in an art gallery. So interview), he did advertising shots fo r Eli
many photographs which look good in a Lilly Pharmaceuticals, book covers fo r
photographer’s hand die on the gallery wall. Bantam and Dell books, fashion pictures fo r
Ralph Gibson has faced this problem right L ook magazine and essays fo r New Y ork and
on and h it it with a meat cleaver. A rt Forum . He also occasionally worked as
Marxists believe that the means o f pro­ a 16mm cameraman, making a documentary
duction determine the ideology, but dis­ fo r CBS and working with R o b ert Frank on
tribution is equally demanding. When Conversations in V erm ont.
painters produce an exhibition, they have to Gibson began publishing books in 1967
think very clearly about the problems o f with The S trip, 55 photographs from the
where they are going to be shown. Ralph Sunset Strip in Los Angeles. The Hawk fo l­
Gibson is the first photographer who has lowed in 1968 with 50 photographs from a
thought about these problems intelligently. play o f the same name. Robert Frank wrote
Ralph Gibson photographed his the foreword fo r his third book, ACLU 1969
Q uadrants fo r the Castelli A rt Gallery in A ppo in tm en t, published by American Civil
New York. A fter it was p u t up, he said that Liberties Union.
the impact focused in the middle o f the gal­ As is apparent in the interview, Ralph
lery. Perhaps Gibson’s best contribution to Gibson took a clear, close look at his life
photography has been his realisation o f this in 1970, and his photographs became very
phenomenon. different. Since then he has published three
The central problem o f our time fo r pho­ books — The Som nam bulist, Deja V’u and
tographers ceases to be political or social but Days at Sea.
rather o f how their pictures will look on a Ralph Gibson came to Britain fo r the first
gallery wall. Gibson solves these problems workshop held at the Photographers Place,
with a painterly intelligence. Working close Derby shire,-this Easter. This was jointly run
to his subjects, Gibson solves the problems by Paul Hill and Thom as Jo sh u a Cooper.
o f out o f focus edges by using a depthless Everybody who was there voted it a great
black. He has invented a painterly photo­ success. One o f the participants, Ron
graphy. His photographs solve the academic M cCormick, interviewed Ralph Gibson fo r
problems o f 20th Century painting — not CAMF.RAWORK.
those o f photography. Gibson takes his pictures at 1/250 second
Ralph Gibson has been working in pho to ­ at f l 6 .

I rem em ber one day I was driving dow n
Park Avenue with R obert (Frank), and I was
telling him that 1 w asn’t happy w ith my
career — 1 was in love with this girl and all
these things — he was driving and I was in
the passenger seat, and he said: “ Well, you
have tw o choices, y ou could probably make
it com m ercially, becom e successful rather
q uickly.” Because 1 w ould occasionally get
jobs, I had the ‘chops,’ I had the technique
to do just ab o u t anything, b u t I d id n ’t have
the interest in it. He said: “ You could
m ake it com m ercially p retty fast if you
w anted to, or you could be an artist and
w ait — and then later becom e fam ous like
me! ” And then he turned around and lo o k ­
ed at me and said: “ Actually y ou only have
one choice! ” And th a t was enough to make
me really break all interest with the notion
of being a professional photographer and d o ­
ing good w ork on assignm ent. Which is one
o f the biggest m yths th a t ever came dow n
the road — th a t y ou can do good stu ff on
assignment.
So about th a t tim e, I entered in to a p er­
iod o f p ro tracted to rp o r in which I ju st slept
all day and did very little w ork, was deeply
in debt, had a lo t o f m y cameras paw ned and
stu ff like th at. But 1 was reading a lot,
people like Alain Robbs-G rillet, people like
th at. And then one w eekend I w ent o u t into
the country and I shot quite a lot o f film,
I felt rather inspired, and I made in one
w eekend w hat was to becom e the first eight­
een pages o f The Somnambulist; the float­
ing nude, th e head in the doorw ay, many o f
the photographs th a t were later to becom e
widely published. But at the tim e I totally
co u ldn’t stand them ; I hated those pictures
w hen they first cam e o u t o f my head. They
ju st seem ed to fly off the contact sheet; 1
d id n ’t even know w ho had taken them ; I
co u ld n ’t rem em ber w hat I was thinking of or
w hy I was taking them . I printed them — 1
recognised th a t they had a certain pow er,
b u t they caused me great anxiety because
they had nothing to do w ith the previous
twelve years’ w ork, they did n ’t seem to re ­
late to anything 1 had attem p ted to do or to
the m oods th a t I was trying to generate
through my docum entary w ork. I was liv­
ing in the Chelsea Hotel (New York) at the
tim e, in a very small room , and w ould have
them tacked up on a piece o f board at the
foot o f my bed. R obert was in M exico, and
he wired me to com e and join him , so I m an­
aged to get the price o f ticket and off 1
w ent. When I came back from M exico, after
the cultural shock and all th a t, I rem em ber
walking into my hotel room and seeing the
photographs and all o f a sudden realising
th a t m y cam era, because o f the speed o f its
sh u tter and m any o th er things had, I
believed, co n tacted a dream reality. The
m inute it occurred to me th a t those p h o to ­
graphs were going to be w hat I call dream
images, I then had my p o in t o f departure.
I very quickly w rote the prologue for The
Somnambulist in which I stated that while
sleeping a person reappears elsewhere on the
planet, becom es tw o people and then per­
haps chooses to do so as a voluntary idea. I
w rote th a t prologue in ab o u t fifteen m in­
utes, 1 then very quckly generated a 32-page
version o f the book which 1 then set about
trying to‘ get published. People were very
interested b u t they w ould w ant to change it,
to make their own m ark on it. Somehow
th a t b o o k had com e to represent an a u to ­
nom y, a sort o f reaction against all the sub­
servience o f freelance w ork. I had to have
satisfaction this w ay, 1 w asn’t able to let
people change it, I d id n ’t w ant to pass the
buck, I d id n ’t w ant to blame anybodv for its
failures. I w anted to take all the bow s and
all the responsibility.
F ortunately, nobody was going to adhere
to those term s, and it to o k me three years
while 1 was trying various ways o f getting
the book published, and I was utterly obsess­
ed with getting it published. I used to wake
up in the m iddle o f the night chewing my
teeth , thinking ab o u t it. It was a period of
great pressure and anxiety because it was as
usual a highly-im poverished period, and I
rem em ber th at one night 1 made a p act, and
I d o n ’t know who it was w ith, b u t I p ro ject­
ed my thoughts as far o u t to the universe as
1 could, and I sim ply said in som e kind o f an
arcane prayer th at I was willing to die if I
could get th a t book published. T hat would
be a fair bargain, my life w ould have cer­
tainly fulfilled itself and that was all I w an t­
ed! But at th at m om ent I becam e rather
desperate, I realised at a certain p o in t th at
w hat 1 should do is publish it myself. Som e­
how th a t notion daw ned on me, and I very
quickly form ed a lim ited partnership. I ju st
w ent to a lawyer, and he drew up a piece
o f paper. I sold som e shares in th e venture
to the graphic designers and the art directors
who had hired me on assignments. I sold
four shares and then prom ptly spent the
m oney. 1 used it to pay up the rent and
other things. And then by chance, I got a
very big assignment in California, and I
m ade enough m oney in two weeks out at
MGM to do the book. When the book
appeared, it changed my situation drastical­
ly, many doors opened to m e ,a n d 1 realised
that I was going to have a slightly different
life.
The Somnambulist is the first tim e 1
ever made a personal statem en t, the first
from Deja Vu
tim e I ever had the technical ability as an
artist and is th e first tim e I ever succeeded
at dealing w ith any o f m y own problem s, my
own needs and doubts. Strangely enough, to
have done som ething as personal as th a t and
then to have it so well received, produced a
very interesting response in m e, and it m eant
th at I was being rew arded for the one tim e
in my life th a t I had taken any risk or tried
to stay pure. I had been a com mercial
p h otographer for twelve years, when I had
bent over continually, I’d let them cut them
in half and tell m e w hat to shoot. Well, no
ass-hole is ever going to tell me w hat to take
a picture o f again — an d furtherm ore, h e’s
n o t going to say w hether or n o t i t ’s a suc­
cessfully- done photograph because I’m the
ass-hole now . I’m the one who says w hether
or n o t a photograph is good enough!
During this period, 1 was very concerned
w ith the idea o f producing a deep, three-
dimensional space. I noticed th at if I stared
intently at som ething, it would appear as
though I was looking o u t o f tw o holes in the
back o f a mask. I w ould som ehow feel the
inside o f the back o f my face, and I w anted
to include th at in the photograph. T hat led
to me pu ttin g my hand in the picture, it was
some kind o f subjective statem en t. I realised
th at I w asn’t so much photographing how
things looked, I w anted to show either how
they felt or how I felt ab o u t seeing them . I
was m ore interested in producing a m ood
than adhering to some any particular
notion o f reality.
A lo t of the cam era handling techniques
th a t I had acquired during the street sh o o t­
ing period rem ained available to m e, and
during The Somnambulist period I d id n ’t set
up many pictures, actually I w o u ld n ’t set up,
b ut 1 w ould sta rt from a posed position.
As 1 was w orking on the sequence, I
w ould think — “ follow the to n e, follow the
to n e” where I w anted the m ood to last,
much like a key signature in music.
I made th at b o o k o u t o f a set o f deeply-
buried personal needs th a t som ehow resolv­
ed themselves in my own life. I d o n ’t know
w hat a dream is, b u t I now certainly know a
lot m ore ab o u t how 1 define my own.
I’m a musician to o , and I was probably at
m y peak as a classical guitarist during the
period I was w orking on The Somnambulist,
and so a lo t o f these ingredients th at I was
learning from music and from literature in ­
fluenced my w ork. At one tim e I had a
graph on The Somnambulist, and I actually
had key signatures. It is divided in to three
sections and has three m odulation points
which I consider to be key changes fo r g et­
ting from one section to the nex t. A nother
thing ab o u t the book is you can close every
tw o pages and open every four, you can
open every eight, and there will be ad d itio n ­
al parallels available. I t’s a very tight piece
th a t I w orked at for three years so th a t it
could w ork any possible w ay.
How did you present the work in
Q uadrants that was different from your pre­
vious projects?
Well, I p u t it on 16 x 20-inch paper with
the borders left, they are signed and n um ­
bered and ju st placed u nder a sheet o f glass
with no m ounts and they were placed on a
w hite wall.
How were they related to each other?
They were specifically unrelated to one
an o th er, w ith no continuing references to
each other. One line filled th e four walls.
The order m attered a great deal so th a t there
w ou ld n ’t be any correlation or reference
made to the previous photographs. I w anted
the show to begin with one photograph b u t
oth er than th at w henever it shows elsewhere
they can hang it how ever they w ant. Where­
as with the w ork from the books, they

fro m Quadrants
always have to take the order o f the books.
At Castelli’s, I exhibited them as single
images, and the show was made for the
space, I had enough space for thirty
16 x 2 0 ’s, so 1 d id n ’t m ake thirty-five.
A nother thing with the Quadrants w ork is
th a t it was very easy to p rin t, there was very
little m anipulation com pared w ith The
Som nam bulist in w hich there was very
schmaltzy-, heavy printing. Even though it
was 16 x 2 0 ’s, the Quadrants prints were the
easiest prints th a t I have ever m ade. I t’s
m ore in the eye now , and the m ore it gets in
the eye, the less tim e I have to spend in the
darkroom with them .
A bstract expressionism was the first kind
o f painting that I really understood, and I
particularly adm ire the w ork of Clifford
Still — sort o f jagged form s, although recen t­
ly I have been studying the w ork of
Malevich who is a Russian Constructivist
The Som nam bulist was three years’ w ork,
and some o f the pictures go back a couple of
years before th a t, so it seems th a t now 1 can
get m ore in less tim e. Each year I see how
m any rolls o f film 1 shoot, I used to shoot
three thousand rolls. I still shoot as often
now , b u t I use less film — I get a higher
yield. I actually got the Quadrants pictures
on ab o u t one hundred rolls.
I’m shooting colour now , and th a t’s a rad­
ical move, i t ’s a big risk for m e, b u t then at
the same tim e, i t ’s no risk w hatsoever be­
cause I know th a t anything th a t I really
w ork hard enough a t, if I’m willing to pay
the price, will w ork out.
The exhibition is very appropriate in
term s of w hat I am trying to say in the work
now b u t also because 1 am going to live from
the sale o f my prints. In a couple o f years,
if I do lectures or w orkshops, it will be b e­
cause I w ant to , n o t because I need the m on­
ey as is the case now . I w ant to live exclu­
sively from the sale o f my w ork, and this
year, for the first tim e, I ju st ab o u t can. I
care ab o u t showing. I th in k it is im portant
too — th a t’s the form I’m interested in, and
it happens to be the nature o f the tim es right
now. I t’s an interesting challenge, making
a show th at m atters is very hard to do.
A fter all, any gallery in the w orld has twelve
to tw enty shows a year, any m useum always
has a dozen shows up at once th a t are co n ­
tinually changing, so m aking a show th at
makes a m ark is very much harder to do
than is making a b o o k . If you w ant to show ,
you have got to sell — I w o n ’t have a show
th a t doesn’t have a rigid guarantee of sales.
Exhibiting also has its risks, you arc re­
vealing m ore ab o u t y o u r craft and y o u r skill
in an ex h ib itio n , a little five by seven inch
duo tone rep roduction can cover a m ultitude
o f sins, b u t you hang a 16 x 20 up there, and
th a t p rin t had b e tte r be good in every sense
o f the w ord. It has to lay flat, it has to be
dried well, it has to be signed well, every­
thing has to be perfect — it is harder to do.
Never give y o u r pictures away for free,
because as long as you are willing to give
them for th e gratuity o f rep ro d u ctio n , it
means th at you are considering yourself and
your w ork beholden and subservient to
som ebody who is going to publish them . It’s
a very presum ptious thing to think that an y ­
one w ants to look a t y o u r pictures. I am
still am azed th at anybody w ants to look at
m ine, b u t if they do, then I’m going to give
them som ething at least that is the best
value.
In photography in America, you come
along through the E stablishm ent, if at all.
T hat is to say, bright students are picked o ut
by young curatorial interns, and it is usual in
America to have som ebody behind you.
Now, for exam ple, th e Museum o f Modern
A rt, o r for th at m atter, any in stitu tio n , can
only effectively — morally even — get behind
a few people. And they really get behind
them , m ake whole careers, and it goes on for
years. Well, I realised th at I co u ld n ’t wait
fro m Quadrants
th at long, and I h ad ’t com e through an in ­
stitu tio n , I had to establish myself, and so I
d id n ’t w ait around for the Museum of
Modern A rt to kiss me on the forehead when
I’m sixty years old.
G reat dealers are visionaries, they have
th e great vision. Leo Castcili has probably
altered the course o f art history with his ad ­
vanced perceptions.T he w ork he has done to
the history o f painting and sculpture is b e­
y o n d belief and he hasn’t struck o u t y et.
He told me th at when he brought Yves Klein
over, they laughed him o u t o f to w n , and it
took him tw enty years.
I'or m any years I had a great arrogance
and sustained a chip on my shoulder against
anybody who could help me. L et m e tell
you — everybody thinks th at the dealers arc
exploitive, b ut th e y ’re n o t. N obody is
making a nickel o u t o f photography com ­
pared w ith w hat they are used to! I hung
my show in Castelli’s gallery, and there were
thirty prints selling at $300 apiece. If he
had sold them all, it w ould only have been
nine grand! Right afte r me, Jasp er Jo h n s
cam e on with his first painting show in nine
years, the cheapest painting was $70,000,
and the m ost expensive one, $150,000 —b ut
one was sold even before the show opened!
Now, if he was in it for the bucks, he could
have got a lo t m ore mileage o ut o f his wall
space than he did o u t o f my show . He has
told me th a t he shows the work because he
is excited by it.
A photograph is n o t w orth th at m uch, we
might see the day w hen it hits a thousand
dollars or som ething like that for very small
editions. They are n o t w orth very much u n ­
less they harbour incredible co n ten t and
unless they becom e extrem ely rare, even the
vintage stuff, a big dealer will sell a stereo
for four or five hundred bucks. Now I know
a dozen painters under 35 that nobody has
ever heard of, and w ho are getting those
prices. We are n o t in it for the bread, and I
9
feel highly privileged to be able to make
a living from it. There are o th e r ways you
can m ake m oney. You can get grants. I get
invited to speak a lo t, and th at pays well —
and th a t’s all the m onetary rew ards. Even
the sale o f p rints, by the tim e th e dealer
takes his com m ission — w hich, by th e way,
they richly deserve — it took me years to
realise th a t, b u t w hat my dealer has done to
organise my affairs is unbelievable and w orth
every' penny o f it.
I’ll never die rich, I know how high it
can go. I’ll get satisfaction, I’ll have recog­
nition for my w ork, and I’ll do well w ith the
ladies, b u t I’ll never die rich.
“Consider the pictures by Ralph Gibson,
so very m uch o f the instant, a m om ent
chosen o ut o f all possible m o m en ts fo r its
particular revelations and sym b o lic content.
A n d look, too, to th e careful ju xta p o sitio n
o f the images — alone th ey have visual
strength, together they take on a new and
more exciting aspect: as inform ation is in ­
terchanged betw een the pictures the gap b e­
tw een them dim inishes, what was previously
a blank space begins to gain in activity and
the tim e lag that separated the images
vanishes. ”
E xcerpt fro m introduction by Peter Turner
to a po rtfo lio o f Gibson i Q uadrants pictures
in Creative Camera International Year Book
1975 .
The artist m ust sell h im se lf to gel ahead like
any other person trying to m ake a living.
J e f f Perrone
A rt Forum
10

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Terry Dennet runs a photography group very early stage to do developing and print­ but normally, 1 to 6 (or 1 to 4 if you can then make a contact print with your paper
fo r 5 to 15 year-old kids at the South Island ing. What we do is to do everything wrong as manage it). You then relate as a family, negative by putting it under another sheet o f
Children’ s Workshop, an out-of-school-hours well as everything right. It is important to which is really important. photographic paper to get a positive. We
play and education project in Lambeth, know that if you switch the light on, you When it comes to photographing, there also use film to take pictures.
London. fog the paper. But you can also leam that are two other aspects — give the kids We have discovered that you can make
The follow ing article is a condensed fogged paper can be used as well. cameras and they can go out immediately many types o f pinholes and get different
version o f the slide talk he gave at the recent This way o f teaching by doing things and take pictures, or you can have what is effects by bending the paper (curvilinear
one-day seminar. Kids and Photography — In “wrong” is very important as part o f our called a Project Group — you don ’ t go effect). Most people have only used single
and Out o f School, held at the Half Moon thinking. Not only as a means o f showing individually; you go as a small group at all pinholes, but some have used stereo
Photography Workshop on 9 May 1976. kids that they will fog printing paper if they different levels. Some kids have used which is two holes two and one half inches
turn on the white light — the process should cameras, some haven’ t, so the expert kids apart. We have also done multiple pinholes
not end there, but also as a means o f point­ help the less able. where you can write your name in pinholes.
At South Island Workshop we are in­ ing out that doing things wrong can maybe My main preoccupation over the last Try FRF.D in pinhole images. You need the
terested in photography and creativity. We lead to doing other things right. A sheet of eighteen months has been pinhole ph oto­ pinholes very close to the paper so you get
are getting kids to make things out of fogged paper is not “useless”; it can be graphy for which you need very little in the small circles. This is good for doing
nothing, taking ordinary things, breaking turned into a photo painting (as can old and way o f equipment. A pinhole camera is just diagrams with kids, too. The panoramic can
them up and recreating them into something out-dated paper), simply by painting it with a simple box with a hole in it which is so be as long as you want it to be, with a pin­
which is their own. developer. As the paper has already been small it makes points o f light which form an hole every two and one half inches across a
Creative approaches to problem-solving fogged by light, it blackens immediately image on sensitised material. We use sheet o f 20 x 16 paper. A slit also functions
have been popularised by people like De (1‘ iR- 4). bromide paper and sheet film, and you can as a pinhole, which is worth remembering
Bono (Lateral Thinking) and by the You can teach kids how to use photo­ also use reversal colour paper. The smaller ( jN g ^ . _ F i g L6
American, Zogan (The Approaches Method), graphic materials this way — working in the the hole, the sharper the picture. But if the
but it is still thougnt o f as rather unortho­ light — they call it magic paper and magic hole is too small, then the material
Pi n h o l e types
dox despite the fact that this method o f water. The image springs up immediately; as (aluminium foil or thin black plastic) will be
teaching turns kids (and adults) on. soon as you touch it with developer, it starts to o thick relative to the hole, so you will in
It is extremely important to stop kids to turn black. If you use diluted developer, effect have a tunnel down which light is
thinking in rigid hierarchical ways; normally it turns gray, so you have got a whole range flooding. This will vignette the image, and
the school structure is so rigid you can’ t o f tones. Most o f the photo paintings are by you will get an unacceptable result. We have
think outside the curriculum. If kids can do 5, 6 and 7 or 8 year-olds. worked out a number o f charts for pin-
that in photography, they can do it So far you haven’ t needed a darkroom — holing and designed a pinhole darkroom —
socially, politically and in many other ways. you can do this anywhere, just use a black­ a portable darkroom outfit — so you can
A lens is basically just a prism that splits out curtain — you don ’ t need an enlarger. £L»T MoLC
load pinholes in the street and actually
up light. When you think in this way, it is I’ve got nothing here to show you — the develop them (Fig. 5). In a later model, we Another thing you can make is a tele-
very easy to make new discoveries. For in­ kids always take all their stuff home. So are going to have a lid made o f coloured hoto pinhole. There was a man in 1900
stance, w e’ ve found that even a St. Michaels when you work on a project, try to keep perspex. You can then look through and see ho discovered you could put a negative
honey jar is a possible lens (Fig 1 and Fig 2). two or three back to show to other people. what is going on inside the box. The kids roncave) lens behind a pinhole and get a
A complete camera is also not difficult These are all turn-ons for kids — all creati­ learn to make, load and develop the pinholes igger image. In fact, you could get a tele-
to make, providing you reduce it in the same vity based. We took a whole series o f themselves. We discovered that different hoto lens. Taking that a bit further, if you
way to its basic elements. What is a camera images; you can see how kids relate to one materials have different speeds. Bromide love the lens, you have got a variable focal
except a light-tight container with a lens on another; you can take pictures o f each in­ paper is about 5 ASA. The procedure for •ngth system (a zoom lens in fact) so then
one end and a film-holder on the other? dividual kid and get different kids to colour developing pinhole negatives on paper is ex­ ou have got a zoom pinhole! That’ s what
Our attempts to make cameras from almost different people’ s pictures. People they like actly the same as developing prints. You can

PiNMFUE
they might colour in a certain w ay; people
they hate, they might gouge the eyes out or
MONEY T A R L E NS something. For group dynamics, this is
really useful information. Best group ratio
is about 1 to 6; when I started teaching, I
tried 1 to 12, which is crucifying. If you are
really experienced with kids, 1 to 8 is fine —

C lear. •*
cue M» w t c>e
8 U c*toWr
Fig. 2
nothing (Fig. 3) have produced pottery pin­
hole cameras, “Hat-o-blads”, “Welliflex’ s"
and the “ J-Pak”camera.
None o f them is suitable for manufacture
in a camera factory, but they do work, and
the kids who designed them have acquired a
basic understanding o f the theory and prac­
tice o f the camera. More importantly,
though they have begun to leam that know­
ledge is not just re-assembling and repeating
bits o f information as “right answers,”but a tr
process o f creative thinking. ^ \
We introduce kids to photographic
process with photograms which require min­
imal facilities. For photograms you can use
an enlarger or you can use a bare bulb, or
ED
STn<rx>
<"tucr j
even daylight.
In making photograms, kids leam from a Fig. 4 Fig. 5
 11

In My Daughter’s
Image by Sue West
Photography o f children like other art
forms is constantly changing in style and
in opinion as to what is considered “accept­
able.” With the constant repetition o f a new
“fashionable”image created by media, there
evolves a change in style which may in turn
com e to be accepted as the norm.
We are so concerned with depicting the
media’ s concept o f the freedom and spon­
taneity o f childhood that we have forgotten
the children themselves. Tousled hair, dirty
faces and toothless grins may be thought o f
as “natural”and “appealing”by adults, but
this opinion is not necessarily shared by the
children being photographed. Very few
adults would be willing to be pictured with
their front teeth missing.
As a teacher/photography student influ­
enced by years o f media conditioning, I have
many such photographs o f children in class­
rooms in “natural” play situations and o f
my eight year-old daughter, Sara. Intending
to choose a variety o f prints o f my daughter
for submission to an exhibition, I asked her
to help me select her favourites. I was dis­
couraged to find she disliked most o f them
and felt she looked “horrid and ugly”and
was quite horrified at the thought o f anyone
else seeing them.
I told her I would re-photograph her if
she would dress up as she would like to be
seen by others, giving her complete freedom
o f the dressing-up box and our clothes cup­
boards. The accompanying photographs,
with poses quite unprompted by me,
resulted.
This notion o f how children see them­
selves and how others should see them is
considerably influenced by television. The
recent Bullock Report, A Language fo r Life,
states that children between the ages o f 15
and 14 spent almost as much time in front
o f a television set as at school.
When we were children, my friends and I
simply wished to look like fairy story
princesses or ballerinas, but I am faced by
my eight year-old daughter who apparently
sees herself as a model in miniature from one
o f the glossy magazines. By our nod o f ap­
proval, grimace, grin or complete indiffer­
ence, we can influence the world o f
children’ s imagination and their play. What
effect the camera?
Aware that for many children their in­
volvement ends at the click o f the shutter,
I let Sara help me develop the film in our
kitchen and print her favourites that she had
selected from a contact sheet. Her involve­
ment was carried right through to the final
stage when some o f the prints were sepia
toned and the hair was hand painted by her.
She was highly amused by a print o f her­
self with no clothers on, but on no account
would she let anyone else see it, until I
suggested hand painting flowers and leaves
across the photograph. She was quite agree­
able about this and insisted they should
cover the “rude bits.”
Even photographers who believe in
photographing children in a free and natural
situation may manipulate, deliberately or
unknowingly, or wait until the situation ap­
pears natural as they see it. The end
product, the apparently spontaneous ph oto­
graph may not be as natural or free from in­
fluence as it appears at first glance.

Half Moon Photography Workshop

NEW PREMISES
As this issue goes to print, we have received
confirmation that our proposed workshop
premises at 15 Half Moon Passage, London
E.l can now be occupied. This means that
our plans to provide larger exhibition space,
a number o f individual darkrooms, a teach­
ing and communal darkroom, finishing
room, photo reference library, picture and
slide archive, A.T. construction workshop,
seminar room and cafe meeting place can
now be realised.
The task o f converting the premises will
begin at once. All offers o f help will be
welcome.
EXHIBITIONS
Our current exhibition is Circus Travelling
by Laurence Migdalc, third year student at
Polytechnic o f Central London.
Euture program this year will include ex­
hibitions by Tony Bock, Robert Golden,
Richard Greenhill and Larry Herman.
TOURING EXHIBITIONS
The Half Moon Photography Workshop
offers the following exhibitions for touring:
Tees-Side Industrial Communities
by Derek Smith
Cathali Road Estate by Gregory Hale
WORKSHOPS AND SEMINARS
We are currently organising a scries o f work­
shops, seminars and courses to begin in the
autumn. For example, as a follow-up to our
‘Kids and Photography’seminar, we have
planned an initial three practical events
which will be:
1. Materials Workshop — an introduction
to equipment and materials available, cost,
availability and general resources.
2. An Ideas Workshop — to pool and dis­
cuss ongoing work in a variety o f areas.
3. Alternatives — to give ideas how to use
photography towards kids becoming more
autonomous, self-reliant and creative and to
help towards group work and an apprecia­
tion o f photography.
Further details will be announced at a later
date. Our current, 6-pagc general informa­
tion and program leaflet is available at 20p
including postage from us.
‘
CAMERA OBSCURED?’VIDEO TAPES
Edited tapes from the first three ‘ Camera
Obscured? ’seminars held at the Half Moon
last year are now available for hire.
1. Young British Photographers
This issue o f CAMERAWORK, July 1976,
was produced by the Publishing Project,
Half Moon Photography Workshop, 27
Alie Street, London E.l 01 488 2595.
Tony Bock, Terry Dennett, Mike Goldwater,
CAMERAWORK (ISSN 0308 1672) Dave Hoffman, Marilyn Dalick-Noad,
is designed to provide a forum for the ex­ Tom Picton, Joanna Spence, Paul Trevor.
change o f ideas, views and information on
photography and other forms o f comm uni­
cation. By exploring the application, scope Printed by Expression Printers, 5 Kingsbury
and content o f photography, we intend to Road, London, N .1.
demystify the process. We see this as part
o f the struggle to learn, to describe and to
share experiences and so contribute to the Typeset at I RAT Print and Design, 44
process by which we grow in capacity and F.arlham Street, London WC2.
power to control our own lives.
If you have any comments to make or arti­
cles, letters or prints you would like to con ­
tribute, we will be glad to hear from you.
Please make sure it reaches us by 21st
August 1976.
Foundation subscription to the Workshop includes six issues o f CAMERAWORK, posters for
monthly exhibitions, plus invitations to all openings. The cost o f this is only £3.80 per year
(students £2.80).
JOIN THE WORKSHOP
I wish to become a Founder subscriber to H.M.P.W. for one year and enclose £3.80.
I am a student and enclose £2.80.
I wish to subscribe to CAMF.RAWORK for one year and enclose £2.30.
N a m e ................

Doing Photography 2. Photography on the Curriculum College/Organisation

by Blackfriars Young Photography Group
3. The Task o f the Photojournalist Address..............
Men photographed by women
These tapes last 40 minures each and have
The Orkney Islands by Chick Chalmers been made on Sony half-inch ‘ high density’
standard. Copies can be made on other stan­
Women: Who are We? by Claire Schwob dards by request.
Note: S T l’DF.NTS: Please show CAMF.RAWORK to friends, tutors, fellow students — and
Contact us for availability and cost o f If you would like to hire a tape, or would most especially - to the Librarian at your college. Suggest that they subscribe towards our
hiring. like more information, please contact us. pioneering work in British photography.

I he IIMPU acknowledges the financial assistance o f the Arts Council o f Great Britain and the Greater London Arts Association
 W hat does
possession
mean to you?

7% of ou r popu lat ion

ow n 84% of ou r wea 1th
The fc o n o m s t. 15 January. 1966

Poster by Victor liurgin