Sian Davey is a realist photographer with her photos primarily being focoused on her children and their lives, overall with one final theme being applied depending on what child she is photographing. she made a series of different photobooks names after each of her children with photography being directed with one final topic. The insperation form her photography began with her youngest daughter 'Alice'. her photos are about unconcious candid and authenticitty of the photogrpahs, she states its 'building relationships' in her interview (attatched below). daveys interview was toutching to watch titled 'not invited' in honour to her youngest Alice, she elaborates on the differences which each of her children encounter with the main focous on alice. davey says she communicates through photography, calling it an unconcious collaboration. Davey also produced a second book called 'martha' about her eldest daughter and capturing photographs in what she calls a 'mothers gaze'.
MARTHA
here are a series of photos from daveys book 'martha', these are my most admired photos form daveys work, in an interview produced, directed and edited by Dylan Friese-Greene she speaks touchingly about her daughters life and her perception on the 'mothers gaze'. when working on her two year project which was later presented in an exhibition in new york; she says she regually thinks about the leaks and imperfections and the struggle the photogrphy comes with and how these struggles represent the subject in that moment. this was moving to me as there was one particualre thing daveys said 'life isnt perfect and thats whats beautiful about it', i then went to further explore daveys work and photographs on her different children and found i was most related and moved by her 'Martha' book. at the end of her two year process with martha she takes one final photogrpah of her and she says it shows how the last image shows how the project has evolved around her.
NOT. INVITED.
this is about her daughter alice with downsyndrom and her difficulties with fitting in and being unincluded. davey states: "My family is a microcosm for the dynamics occurring in many other families. Previously as a psychotherapist I have listened to many stories and it is interesting that what has been revealed to me, after fifteen years of practice, is not how different we are to one another, but rather how alike we are as people. It is what we share that is significant. The stories vary but we all experience similar emotions. However despite the normality, the underlying fact is that society does not acknowledge Alice as such, and her very existence was given little or no value. She entered a world where routine genetic screening at twelve weeks gestation is thrust towards birth prevention rather than birth preparation. Indeed, prior to the introduction of screening, children such as Alice would have been severely marginalised and ultimately institutionalised and given little or limited medical care. I was also deeply shocked when Alice was born as an 'imperfect' baby. I was fraught with anxiety that rippled through to every aspect of my relationship with her. My anxieties penetrated my dreams. On reflection I saw that Alice was feeling my rejection of her and that caused me further pain. I saw that the responsibility lay with me; I had to dig deep into my own prejudices and shine a light on them. The result was that as my fear dissolved I fell in love with my daughter. We all did."
what is a photograph?
What is a photograph? from introduction to 'Double take' 1981 - Richard Whelan
- what is 'the stimulus complex' in photography? The stimulus complex is a full range of emotions, accousition and memories
JAMES BARNOR
"Photography is in every branch of life."
- James Barnor.
in this interview with James barnor he elaborates on his life in photography, he first began his career serving two years as an apprentice with his cousin, later in 1951 roy ankrah won an British empire boxing title this then influenced the public specifically those from African decedent to write in their independence. Barnor then later developed a liking for fashion covers and fashion photography, as he noticed there weren't many African people on the cover of magazine DRUMB, he later traveled to Ghana with DRUMB as began photographing for this and giving them photos, he states 'I grew a passion for it and could not leave.' later, Erlin break took a famous photograph of an African woman in Kilburn, after this many more African models began to appear in not only the cover of DRUMB but also other magazines worldwide. Barnor says he enjoyes taking photographs of children as it can capture the 'simple things', despite the controversy of this he states he has much more patience with children than people may think and that is the beauty of photography.
James Barnor photograph analysis.
London A - retrospective.
out of the photographs shown above, I particularly am interested and find very beautiful this photo shown here, I love the composition of the photograph and the way the colour of the bottles and the flag behind her juxtaposes with the lady in the dress. the photograph is labelled as 'London A- retrospective' I personally think this title fits excellently with the composition of the photograph as it highlights the fashion trends of the time especially in London. the colour pallet of the photograph is the main thing that intrigued me to pick this. I also like the candid way the photographs was taken, we can see it was not too well structured and serious and maybe by chance. it leaves the viewer with questions such as who is this woman? was this planned? is this woman known to James barnor? etc.
yellow world. (exhibition)
#9 that someone special
SIX PHOTOGRAPHS. CAPTURING LIGHTING.
Today we experimented with portraites of our chosen partner, specifically focousing on lighting and experimenting with different types of lighting and poses. when taking these images i attempted to capture different shadows by manipulating lighting and different colours of lighting. i am particually fond of the first image taken with blue lighting higghlights with jimmy based on the floor. i like the abstract feel that the photo produces, i tried to anitiate the rule of thirds when taking these images and trying to bring them into consideration when taking so there was some form of structure when taking these photographs. When experimenting with colour i tried to specifically pick out colours which would co