Research for assignment 2
For this assignment I have chosen the theme of ‘crowds’. Why I have chosen this theme is because I see it as both a modern day reality, that we will find crowds roaming the streets of our cities (especially tourists) and that from a symbolic perspective the crowd as phenomena has evoked some thoughts. The representation of the crowd could mean a number of things depicted in picture form.
Crowds offer both a political threat to the establishment as well as a sense of camaraderie in the modern world when it is felt that the group represents values that one shares. Also, it can be an isolating experience whereby one can feel alone in a profound sense.
George Simmel has this to say about crowds:
‘Just as in feudal times the “free” man was he who stood under the law of the land, that is, under the law of the largest social unit, but he was unfree who derived his legal rights only from the narrow circle of a feudal community — so today in an intellectualized and refined sense the citizen of the metropolis is “free” in contrast with the trivialities and prejudices which bind the small town person. The mutual reserve and indifference, and the intellectual conditions of life in large social units are never more sharply appreciated in their significance for the independence of the individual than in the dense crowds of the metropolis because the bodily closeness and lack of space make intellectual distance really perceivable for the first time. It is obviously only the obverse of this freedom that, under certain circumstances, one never feels lonely and as deserted as in this metropolitan crush of persons.’ (Simmel, 1903)
Refelction Added April 2017
My reflections on Simmel’s quote
I think Simmel’s quote of man only being free within a limited context is a very apt and acute observation of modern society. The ‘freedom’ to choose what we want to buy or do is a freedom that is very confined. For me one of the reflections that I have about cities and their multitudes is that everyone is looking to gain in some way their idea of freedom. The problem is that we do not free ourselves following the crowd or towing in line with societies norms. In fact, this seems to lead many into a deep unhappiness and dissatisfaction with life, even though many people have the apparent freedom that was so desired economically and materially.
Planning the project
My planning for the project has unfolded around the idea of observing the crowd from within then bit by bit contextualising the group within its surroundings to show how it fits into the bigger picture. I aim to try initially to focus on one or two people within the group. Do I do this with permission or clandestinely like Sophie Calle? in ‘Suit Venitienne’. (1979)
My inclination for this projects is to do it clandestinely although we will have to see what the situation requires. Something of the idea for this assignment has come from the above mentioned text by Sophie Calle. Her idea sparked the a similar interest to pursue one or two people within the crowd and then seen separate and observe that process of separation. However, this may not fit in with my key idea which was to observe the crowd at ever greater distances thus seeing it from the microscopic to the macroscopic perspective.
The research here has unfolded over a number of weeks and follows to some extent the thinking process of that development. I initially had the idea of spatially expanding from the group by creating more distance from the group putting it into an ever greater context. However, this seemed physically difficult as part of that idea would have been to of gained an arial view to take the final shots of the crowd below in a the context of the city. The idea was to go from the personal to the more impersonal.
A changing idea
I then took the idea of the personal and the impersonal and tried a different approach; that of pursing a stranger within the crowd to show the personal within the impersonal. In other words, the anonymity of the crowd being brought to life by focusing on one person. The idea become more bouyant through a look at the work of Sophie Calle for her well known ‘Suit Venitienne’. (1979).
Pursing a stranger and ethics.
Generally we see it as questionable to follow a stranger with a camera, taking photos. We might conclude that this is kind of a paparazzi activity. However, I would say that this depends upon intention. In other words, does the intention change the action? I think that it does. If I am photographing to commercially sell my images then this may well be dubious activity. If I am photographing on the street (many times those images would not be commercially usable) for my own use, analysis, or course material I would say this is a different issue. Maybe from politeness we should ask if that seems appropriate. But what if that causes the person to be photographed to suddenly be self conscious and thus change the dynamic of the whole shoot?
‘…This brings me to the real meat of this article: what are the rights and wrongs of street photography? Yes, I do shoot a lot of random strangers, especially when traveling, and there are often shots I see but may not take for various reasons.
I don’t think it’s so much lack of chutzpah as the feeling that it may not be socially acceptable or ethically appropriate in various situations; photographing beggars and cripples is one of those things. Using people to portray contrasts or as anonymous human-scale elements in a frame is fine, but the one golden rule I stick to is that I’ll never take a shot that’s demeaning or potentially defamatory. You wouldn’t want the somebody to do the same to you, would you…?’ Ming Thein, (2012)
Comment on above quote
I believe that the writer above has a good rule of thumb. Don’t shoot in private places, respect privacy and don’t demean anyone in the photographs. I think that this is a reasonable view for the privacy of taking images in public places.
Sophie Calle seemed to go to extremes with her project by photographing not only the stranger on the street through Paris and Venice but also taking a job in a hotel in order to photograph the belongings of people in those rooms, later publishing the book that made the work well know. However there is something alluring in the photographing of a stranger. Something that every photographer probably feels at some point and that many try to capture in there lives.
By using a combination of different depths of field and angles of view I aimed to tell a story about this person, in this place and time. The codes of these different forms of expression give rise to different visual experiences that if used well can be visually strong.
References:
Figure. 1.Crowd from the film koyaanisqatsi (1982) http://www.koyaanisqatsi.org/images/gallery_koy/44.jpg [accessed September 2016]
Simmel G. “The Metropolis and Mental Life,” (1903) From the internet http://tomorrowstheme.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/driving-and-crowds.html [accessed September 2016]
Figure. 2. Crowd found at: http://tomorrowstheme.blogspot.com.es/2011/04/driving-and-crowds.html [accessed Sept 2016]
Thein, M. (2012) The ethics of Photographing random strangers on the street http://petapixel.com/2012/12/22/the-ethics-of-photographing-random-strangers-on-the-street/ website [accessed Sept 2016]
OCA log level 1 Photography 
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