A Statement and An Image.

I’ve never lived anywhere for longer than a year, until now. Moving around constantly packing up your life, memories and experiences into a cardboard box and leaving. What would you pack? Along the way so many things get lost. Objects that embody you, like a self-portrait of who you are. Things that you regard as the most important become empty when you are no longer there to define them; our existence makes them personal artifacts. Sourcing the dolls for my shoots in charity shops intending to explore the reverie of objects and memories they trigger to represent our uncanny relationships with our affects through portraiture.

Inspired mainly by books by Paul Auster, Brian Dillon and Kathleen Stewart I have enriched my process and practice to break the preconceptions that the genre of portraiture holds and to instead explore the allegory of objects. Animating them in a way and playing with location and scale similar to the work of both Laurence Demaison and Tim Walker. The way in which angles and composition can impose a specific message much like the childlike way we are led through the window into my final image. Realising the potential of haunting memories that the dolls trigger led to research into Freud’s the “Uncanny” creating horror in my images through the innately human resemblance the dolls have and the slight green colour casts. It is said that portraiture is about working with the person you are photographing but what about when you are embodying a person through an objects reverie? Significantly there was different representation to every person who viewed it; some commenting on the look of searching that the doll has, some recalling memories of nightmares and childhood horror and even some looking away in repulsion at what the image recalls. This images interpretation varies dependent on experiences. What this doll embodies for people personally allows a different view on portraiture one that is recollected and gives an idea of self to the viewer.

To some extent it this project could be an embodiment of self-portraiture. The idea of animating the doll to search for what she has lost represents the crossroads I find myself at, being twenty and leaving my childhood and becoming an adult; searching for meaning and leaving the past behind. The uncanny effect you feel between what you remember and who you are now. I have learnt that we are people first, before we are photographers. Our own experiences are encapsulated in our work and our objects. Inanimate objects hold us within them, a notion and representation of our uncanny mortality.

The Final Image for Submission

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Reductive Editing

So everyone is different and I’m sure they have their own way of making the final edit but for this project we only have to submit one final image which represents our whole concept. I began by using the contact sheets as a tool to highlight which images were worth printing. Reductive editing is time consuming as you don’t want to narrow down options that later might be relevant. The two things to consider are the technical aspects and your intention.

Printing images from various shoots allowed me to have a wide selection to choose from:

The Final Image for submission

Laying them out on a table allowed me to see which ones weren’t working. Looking for both technical skills and concept coming through was key and helped narrow my selection. But because I have always known that the audience I am displaying it to may not read it the same I got peer opinions on which ones worked and which ones didn’t. Of course all of the constructed criticism was valued and I knew one thing for definite: the idea of the uncanny was the first thing noticed in the images, if anything this made the reductive editing process harder.

Peer Edit 001

Peer Edit 002

Peer Edit 003

Not all images are of high technical standard in form of colour casts but that was intentional from the start, I wanted to add a slight green to connote subdue emotion in the picture of which In my final came across. Because my intention is to portray objects and how they embody us, they way people see the image is therefor a portrait of themselves and what the image triggers with them. It is essential that the haunting uncanniness comes across immediately as an uncomfortable viewer is an intrigued one, which has more chance of conjuring memories and experiences connecting the object I have represented. Therefor allowing a sense of self when reading the image. When selecting my final image all of these qualities needed to be present but represented in the image. Framing, composition and angle became the go to areas for the final edit.

Final Edit.

The Final Image for submission

Over and over during feedback sessions it was this image that got the most attention. It is framed in a way that is childlike in its perception allowing the viewer to glance through the window and feel like a part of the image. Playing with scale and composed in a way to create the uncanny. The slight green colour cast is perpetuating the notion of uncomfortable and subdue. But what was most significant is the different representation to every person who viewed it. Some commenting on the look of searching that the doll has, some recalling memories of nightmares and childhood horror and even some looking away in repulsion at what the image recalls. Every viewer is different, this images interpretations vary dependant on experiences. What this object embodies for people personally allows a different view on portraiture one that is recollective and gives an idea of self. This is THE one but will be submitted with the significant other prints that made it to the final selection.

©samanthajaneriley

Shoot 27

Shoot 27 Contact Sheet

At the end of the last shoot I wanted to find an area in ‘The Hundred Acre Wood’ that either resembled human presence or the lack there of. A dreary, overcast day made it all the more creepy when after hours of exploring we stumbled upon a rope swing. We didn’t notice the wind that seemed to knock the trees together once the doll was placed upon the swing. Oddly looking at home where she was put.

The shoot itself was challenging to capture, the wind keeping the swing swaying. Control over the focus was essential and surprisingly it was easier to focus on the back of the doll rather than on the intricate detail of her face. Also the back of the doll is the most haunting image of the shoot as you are left to presume. I really enjoy the effect that the rope swing adds to the representation of the image. Suggesting that the doll was abandoned just like the swing, we can conclude that the owner is no longer there but that the doll still embodies a reflection of them, making it a portrait of the owners mind more than their physicality.

The lack of human presence and interaction in the image is what is so haunting, because there is still a human connection there. Although like many photographs that fall into the genre of representation these images were completely constructed upon the belief that I could reconstruct the owner without knowing them. When in fact all I was doing was playing on the audiences memories that the object could trigger (much like Auster and Dillon do in their novels) and letting them draw their own conclusions on what the object represents. I would like my final image to come from this shoot but I do realise that there are slight errors in framing, evidently I will shoot again with the same doll, location and compositions.

©samanthajaneriley

Shoot 26

Shoot 26 Contact Sheet

From the previous shoot it was decided that I would try again to submerge the doll into the grass adding an air of mystery in an effort to hide what she might embody. This was inspired by the hidden memories that were triggered in both ‘The Invention of Solitude’ and ‘In the Darkroom’ and the connections between us and the affects we hold on to throughout our life like in ‘Ordinary Affects’. Although I like these images I find them quite unsettling. Her being abandoned like this gives a haunting feel. I was right that it worked better at a face to angle. I enjoyed playing with the depth of field in this shoot. The focus varies from the grass to her face and eyes.

The weather being partly cloudy definitely improved the colour balance of the shoot of which I enjoy the subdue effect it creates. Clearly the tighter framing is more effective as you lose the industrial background. The shoot seems to climax positively toward the end images.

As much as I like the submerged effect I don’t feel it is as compositionally strong as the posed dolls I decided to shoot in previous shoots. I think there is more embodiment to be found in the static looking posed dolls. In fact the static effect simply adds to the connection we make to the way we feel about our affects and the relationships and memories they forge. Inflicting the same connection that we feel with Laurence Demaison’s work. In the next shoot I want to continue with this concept with posing the dolls in a unique location probably revisiting ‘The Hundred Acre Wood’ but in a different part of the forest itself, one that is relatable for the audience. Hopefully finding something that resembles the presence or lack of human presence within the forest.

©samanthajaneriley

Shoot 25

Shoot 25 Contact Sheet

This shoot was set to again explore the mortality of the objects by surrounding the doll with flowers. Again the weather wasn’t right for this shoot, as ever it being unpredictable, it was perfectly cloudy but once at location and set up the sun made an appearance. Its one thing to note the angle of the sun and the variance of brightness in the shoot, it is evident that when shooting my final images the light meter should be used for each individual shot, no matter if the shot stays the same as the time of the shoot changes so will the quality of the light. Part of the beauty of shooting is the developmental process, learning what works and what doesn’t. Using the contact sheet and images as an object to be analysed.

Despite trying to make the doll more approachable by making it more appealing and posed, I have stumbled back into the static unconnected theme that I started with. Maybe I should stop trying to make the dolls seem less static, as somewhat that is the beauty. Just looking at them provokes thoughts of what they might embody. The fact that they are static is the beauty of objects. It’s reminiscent of the fascinating concept of why we connect with our objects and build relationships with them. Seeing the doll framed in this way only makes the idea seem more bizarre. As they are just objects. But objects that we let embody us.

The static elements in this shoot have inspired a similar idea to that I left behind in my earlier shoots. To cover and submerge the dolls in the grass, barely visible, to provoke the audience’s curiosity. By hiding the doll in this way I would represent the hidden memories that it embodies. As everyone will react to each object differently.

©samanthajaneriley

Shoot 23

Shoot 23 Contact Sheet

Shoot 23, this shoot has been my favourite and most successful so far from the framing and composition. Taking inspiration from Laurence Demaison and how she poses the dolls and how Hannah Kozak tries to represent the relationship he mum has to the dolls. But the largest of all inspiration comes from that of Tim Walker in his sense of scale and various compositional framing and angle techniques. I set out to animate the dolls in order to make them more relatable and provoke more curiosity into what they represent. Toward the end of the shoot I began to experiment with the physical representation of the loss of connection between the owner and the object by using a hand reaching out towards it. But I this idea nothing but distracting. It may have worked in darker conditions as its quite a dark metaphor for the relationship between us and our affects.

I much prefer the middle strip of images. In particular the angle in which they are taken, the doll composed to look down onto the camera. This is a connotation of the strength of the personal feelings and memories that objects embody. The colour balance and exposure in these images is subtle and haunting like I intended. Finally shooting on a dull cloudy day payed off.

More consideration went into the location too, rather than just picking a random forest, I chose a forest with a name that can trigger childhood memories in almost everyone. By shooting at the ‘hundred acre wood’ I was able to explore many ideas and possible areas in which to shoot. ‘The Hundred acre wood’ is from childhood programme ‘Winnie The Pooh’ and was inspired by my research into the other Disney classic ‘Toy Story’.  By selecting a tree to pose the doll against is a way of representing our mortality like flowers do in Vanitas paintings.

Moving forward I want to test more ways of framing this doll and using different angles to try and create a different allegory. Keeping the location the same and aiming for a cloudy day again in which to shoot, as when printing in the darkroom cloudy overcast days seem to be easier to correct when it comes to colour casts.

©samanthajaneriley

Shoot 22

Shoot 22 Contact Sheet

This mix and match shoot was just a test of possible compositional ideas I had. Again taken in the forest. A location which was inspired by the reading of Brian Dillon’s ‘In The Darkroom’ and his chapter on places and removal. To take something out of context and place it into an environment which means various things to different people. A forest is the place you longed to go as a child to awaken your inner explorer.

The scanning element of this contact sheet is disappointing and highlights the importance of making sure the flat bed glass is clean and undamaged before scanning, especially if it is a final image and not just a selection tool like this contact sheet.

The laying doll under the fallen tree is symbolism for the lost and buried memories we connect together with our objects. As much as I like the turned away bear and the buried doll my imagery is still lacking and static. There is an improvement in connection but not by much. I sincerely believe that I should animate the dolls in a more human an therefor relatable way. Haunting and triggering more realistic memories of childhood innocence.

I am really happy with the colour balance of these images but I am longing to experiment with the idea of mobilising the dolls. Making them instantly relatable.

©samanthajaneriley

Kathleen Stewart.

‘The Ordinary Affects’ was mentioned in relation to my project again during a feedback session, namely why these sessions are so helpful because you get others opinions and ideas for research. Something which is key for context for a project. By Kathleen Stewart this book explores the relationship we have with our affects through the form of short stories linked together by subheadings and metaphors. In fact I have noticed a similarity in all of the three books I have read for this particular project (Paul Auster ‘The Invention of Solitude, Brian Dillon ‘In the Darkroom’ and ‘Ordinary Affects’ by Kathleen Stewart) and that is that their layout is similar each broken in to sub sections within chapters and under subheadings, as if to illuminate the broken recollection of the memories that the objects and happenings have triggered.

Overall the book is about the forces that seem to connect us be that the moving, the subject, the happenings (pp128) the opportunities we have in our environment that trigger our beliefs, dreams and memories. That make us who we are. Give us individuality but similarity in the same sense.

‘and the habit of watching for something to happen will grow’ (pp11) Perhaps this sentiment can be connected to the expectation or the narrative we build in our heads when looking at the photograph or object. We are watching and waiting for the meaning to become obvious, for our brain to draw a conclusion or to feel connected in some way. This ultimately ‘changing peoples trajectories in some small way by literally changing their course for a minute or a day’ (pp12)

Linking this to the ‘The politics of the ordinary affects’ which is a small chapter (pp15) which explains that the politics of any surge matter but even more so to how it played out and what happens. ‘Ideologies happen’ and ‘identities take place’ but its the objects that give something to inhabit, animate and trigger. The book is evident that the key to defining the force something has is to first determines it the ‘Movement, an impact, a reason to react.’ (pp16) The politics come into play when feeling connected or not or placing an attachment or not. the subheading paragraph expressing the difference in people, that what resonates with one won’t effect the other thus highlighting the importance of an intentional audience.

Perhaps an intentional audience was evident from my first deadline feedback but in ‘Still life’ (pp18), having looked into vanitas paintings in the past, the definition in the book has inspired what I essentially set out to achieve. The basics being to ‘capture liveliness of the inanimate by suspending their sensory beauty’ in a scene with no context. As it is suggested when a still life is seen as out of the ordinary it can be a form of ‘Wake Up Call’ turning itself into a dreamlike expression of sorts and triggering reactions (pp19). The ordinary affect  and emotional entailment can highlight intimacy that isn’t suggestively just personal but can pull subject and viewer into an unintended place (pp40). Again linking to the watching of something happening and the general intrigue representation of objects causes. Something that seems to be coming across in my later shoots where my intention seems lost but is resonated with in an unintended personal wave length. Upon discussing the potential that is stored in objects Stewart compares them to realms of life, sensory experience and dreams of presence (pp21). Inspiring me to look at ways to unsettle the viewer in an uncanny way, representing a dream like sphere that the embodiment of objects creates.

‘Traces’ (pp21) again encompasses a short statement about the found object that was dropped or left somewhere and object that has fell from the loop of attachment. Dead in its irrelevance until reunited with an original owner, time or place. Using found objects already this could be an interesting concept to develop, perhaps animating objects, having the search for a being to embody?

If anything is clear in this book its that the effect that objects of high desire in mainstream evoke the most emotion toward a possible life, what could have been, an experience. Perhaps why I picked such an uncomfortably relatable subject. Allowing us to glimpse it in past moments combined and alluded to in the present, triggering memories and emotional attachment. An intention I have been inspired to develop my work around.

Stewart, Kathleen. Ordinary Affects. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2007. Print.

Laurence Demaison.

Demaison is a french photographer who explores real moments in time mixed with acts of personal transformation. I first found her within my research response to our lecture on self portraiture. What I am most interested in is her use of dolls in her set entitled ‘Si j’avais Su (If only I had known)’. This series is also an analogue only process something which is directly relatable to my own use of the medium format camera on this project. Originally starting her career off with photographing models and women to emirate the beauty of the body she found herself uninterested. She changed her direction completely wanting to consider the idea of self. But she disliked her body so what could she do other than try and represent it in a different way. Turning herself into something new. Making something beautiful out of something ugly (Shore, 2014)

Laurence Demaison ‘Si j’avais su no. 4 (Fenetre)’ 2010

Depicting suicide and pain in her images using dolls as her subject to represent a scenario. This was far beyond her usual  distorted self portraiture as she was able to take a directorial approach and for the first time in the 17 year career she no longer needed to be either in front of the lens or behind it. She could just control all the elements of her image. Composing it just as she imagined. Upon my research of objects I have come across dolls at a charity shop and am interested on using them to represent people. Depicting them in notions that connote the ridiculous relationships we have with our objects. Unlike her images mine will be in colour and I think this will minimise the overall creepy feeling the viewer gets from the doll. Although I will be using the doll as an object, I am still intrigued how she uses it (forms a connection deep enough) to use it to represent herself. After immersing myself in Paul Auster’s book ‘The Invention of solitude’ I find the relationship we place on personal affects to be a strange one, one that links with memories of childhood. When I think of childhood I am lucky enough to have happy memories, of playing with my toys, dolls in particular. This happy memory is contrasted by the way that Demaison uses dolls representing them as soulless, negative beings. generating a general feel of uncomfortableness.

Auster, P. (1988). The invention of solitude. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: Penguin.

Laurencedemaison.com, (2015). Si j’avais su – 2010 – Laurence Demaison – Site Officiel. [online] Available at: http://www.laurencedemaison.com/si-javais-su-2010/ [Accessed 13 Mar. 2015].

Shore, Robert, “Post Photography- The Artist With a Camera” Laurence King Publishers, London, 2014

Hannah Kozak

Hannah Kozak is someone who I have looked at before, for my last project in orientation when I was looking at the ethics of her set ‘My Mothers Dolls’. This time, although looking at the same set, I am viewing it with a different perspective. The set depicts her mum who has a metal disability, due to domestic violence, playing with dolls. For a while now dolls are something that I have been exploring. There human likeness and the narratives that they are subject to due to our notions we place upon them. Although I still believe that Kozak’s work still goes against ethics, exploiting those with mental incapabilities. I find it captivating to watch the way her mum reacts to the dolls throughout the series of photographs. The way she treats them, completely disregarding the fact that they are just objects. Allowing herself to care and be immersed in the moment just with her and the dolls. Compositionally Kozak’s camera technique allows us to feel invited in to gaze upon what seems to be a private moment between her mother and the doll. Sometimes his imagery seems constructed, looking as if she merely placed the dolls in the frame with carelessness, then we get a glimpse of interaction from her mother, so no one knows for sure. The lack of colour transports us through time, the photograph feels aged and almost like a black and white film. Taking her mum back to childhood, a preconception we have about her mental state. Generating an overall discomfort for the audience viewing the sequence.

Hannah Kozak “My Mothers Dolls” 2014

Intrigued by the relationship her mother still has with the dolls despite her mental disorder, I can’t help but think that the ideas we place upon our objects can allude even us. Dolls aren’t important but as a child they are often the first friends you make the first bonds you forge. There is something evident in this imagery that pulls on our heart strings. All other things seem to pass her mother by, but not the dolls, they hold significance. But why?

Hannah Kozak “My Mothers Dolls” 2014

I admire the composition of the image above. the framing and depth thrusts the doll into the forefront of the image highlighting its importance as the subject. The grip and detail in the maturity of her mothers hand also connotes possible consequence of the age of the relationship. Connoting memories and feeling to the viewer, a sense of value of the object itself. The depth also hides the identity to an extent. Something that I want to explore in my project, experimenting with representing people through their objects without knowing their identity, but trying to place an identity on them.

Smithson, Aline, ‘Hannah Kozak My Mothers Dolls’ (October 2014) http://lenscratch.com/2014/10/hannah-kozak-my-mothers-dolls/ 7th March 2015