Criteria 3

Understand the work and contribution to photography of photographers between 1950 and present

3.2 Evaluate the changes which took place in reportage photography following the widespread introduction of television.

In the late 1930's early 1940's the first television was invented and started to be sold to the public, They were large, not very clear, in black and white and extremely expensive to own. This meant that the only people to own a television in the early stages were those that were wealthy. Even in 1954 when the first colour television was released it as still far too expensive, according to (REF THIRTY THREE) " It cost $1000 at the time, which at the time was about the equivalent of $9,000 today, meaning it certainly wasn’t an every man device, and the fact that most network programming was still in black and white made it somewhat frivolous until the mid 1960’s when the colour revolution really took off." It wasn't until the 1960's that television became popular enough for most households to own one. Even though it did take a long time to take off, once it had television did become extremely popular, below is a picture of one of the first televisions.

IMAGE (REF THIRTY THREE)

As you can see from the picture above the size of the screen and the quality of the images with the first television were so poor that people still preferred photography. By this point the SLR had taken over and the quality of photography was improving all the time, the images were clear and although they weren't a video that showed you the story they were so clear that they didn't need to compared with the poor quality of the images on the television. As television developed and became more popular, better quality and cheaper it meant that most people owned one, this had a dramatic effect on photograph, you can get across a story with an image but without the full report on exactly what is going on you wouldn't know the facts. So the appeal of the television was that you didn't have to put in any effort to see and fully understand what was going in, the images were there on the screen and rather than just being one still image you could see exactly what was going on as it happened. At the same time photography offers something that television cannot, you can study a photo in great detail, really understand every aspect of it and it's there on hard copy to hold forever. Where as with the television watch is shown moves so fast that you cannot see and take in every single detail of everything, this meant that a lot of what was shown was not actually registered. Almost like when you watch the same film over and over again, each time you spot something you didn't before, this doesn't happen with an image. Compare this to modern times, photography still has it's place and newspapers/magazines are still being sold, but many people found it easier to watch it on the television. Until the internet was invented, and social media became popular. The internet and social media is covered with images, it gave photography a new angle and a new need. Most of the news stories are all published online on websites or social media but along with these stories there are always images as well as any videos. This almost creates a way to combine photography and the television to be able to cover a story through both video and images. Even more recently, especially with new technology making videos and photographs easier to take with phones or easy to use cameras, this again has started to crush the art of photography. News websites are now happy to use amateur footage and photography of events happening, because a lot of the time a photographer cannot always be at the seen, but someone with a phone ready to video or take pictures will be. They will also not have to pay a lot less for these images and videos than if you were paying a professional. 

3.3 - Evaluate the changes and influence of fashion photography and photographers during this period.

Before the 1950's fashion photography was very elegant, formal and very proper. The women were to radiate the old fashioned feminine beauty and men were shown as strong and emotionless in suits. It was the typical sight of sexism and a lot of fashion photography from this era demonstrates how men and women where not only perceived but also taught and shown how to behave and look. The image below is of Lee Miller in 1928 taken by Edward Steichen, who became the chief photographer for Vogue and Vanity Fair in 1923. 

IMAGE (REF THIRTY FOUR)

In the image above you can see how formal Lee Miller looks, even the way in which she is holding herself is elegant. This images was created a few years after woman had been given the right to vote but you can still see what was expected of women. Fashion photography is what tells us how to dress, how to look and how to behave, and from the image it shows in what way women were perceived in a very sexist time by men and what was expected of them. 

Moving towards the late 1950's fashion started slowly to develop, images moved into more natural places in everyday life rather than set up and posed, photographers were taking a more modern approach to fashion. As you can see from the image below, It almost looks as if it's in a high class bar.

IMAGE (REF THIRTY FIVE)

The image above was taken by Richard Avedon in 1956 and as you can see a lot has changed from the image above. The classy attire of Suzy Parker still shows women as being elegant but at the same time the length of her dress has shortened and she doesn't hold the same facial expression as Lee Miller. Lee Miller looks like she is told what to do and say there is no emotion in her face, whereas Suzy Parker looks as though she enjoying herself. The way I read the image above is that the little house wife has been let out and is full of wonder about all the things she is seeing, whilst the men are bored in the back. It still has an air of sexism but at the same time it says to me that times had started to change, women had more say.
This then leads onto the 1960's where again fashion photography had been greatly influenced by the feminist movement and vice versa. Women began wearing short dresses and baring their legs, brightly coloured more casual clothing became the norm and women started to rebel against the idea of what a woman should look like. Models started cutting their hair short and wearing pants, there was a lot more freedom of expression, one of the first and most famous models for this was Twiggy.

IMAGE (REF THIRTY SIX)

The image above is of Twiggy taken in 1967 by David Steen, and as you can see compared with the images above this again is more relaxed, she looks informal and her dress wear is very casual. Her dress is very short compared with the other two photos, and it was beginning to become more acceptable for women to show more flesh and this was reflected in the fashion photography industry. 

In the 1970's the fashion industry was massively influenced by sexuality. In 1967 it became legal to be a homosexual, but the movement for gay rights didn't start straight away as people were still afraid, it wasn't till the 1970's when it started to play a big role, and it didn't start with the men. Women had already seen the change of female models cutting their hair short but the androgynous style became very popular in fashion. Not only this but nudity also became so much more acceptable and women became confident about showing off their own bodies in the fashion industry. 

IMAGE (REF THIRTY SEVEN)

The picture above was taken by Helmut Newton in 1975 and is a prime example of how nudity and sexuality became very popular, women's bodies became celebrated and lesbian and homosexuality became more acceptable. This was all reflected in the fashion industry and I think that the more that the fashion industry created images like these the more people became intrigued to learn more and therefore it helped it to become more accepted.

Moving into the 1980's fashion photography changed drastically once again with male modelling becoming not only acceptable but also extremely popular. This was caused by many changes, homosexuality became more accepted and gay icons started to form, from singers Freddie Mercury and Prince to actors like Sir Ian McKellen. This was not the only factor that introduced the started of male modelling, men started to become more concerned with their appearance and what you were wearing became important not only for women but also for men. 

IMAGE (REF THIRTY EIGHT)

This Image was taken by Bruce Weber in 1982 for Vogue UK, and as you can see from the image I would say that the main focus is as much on the man as it is on the woman. As women became more independent it meant that so did men, this sparked men to be more concerned with the clothes and styles that they were wearing.

Fashion photography took another massive change in the 1990's in a way in which it hasn't before, in earlier years fashion photography has mostly been influenced by feminism and sexuality but in the 1990's fashion photography was heavily influenced by documentary photography. 

IMAGE (REF THIRTY NINE)

The image above was taken in 1990 by Peter Lindbergh for Vogue and is a prime example of the documentary fashion style of photography in the 90's. The style was to create images that had been completely set up, but so they looked like they had been taken in a completely natural way without the subject even knowing. This was a fantastic way to sell the items that were being shown in the images as it makes people look at the completely natural looking images and feel as though they could look like that if they only had the items. It added a sense of reliability to the images.

Today’s fashion photography doesn’t seem to have a set style or image that everyone is trying to create, it seems that anything goes, and a lot of it seems to be a from style in the last 50 years. It’s almost as if most of fashion photography today is just a tribute to a previous style mentioned above.

IMAGE (REF FOURTY)

IMAGE (REF FOURTY ONE)

IMAGE (REF FOURTY TWO)

IMAGE (REF FOURTY THREE)

As you can see from the images above all taken from the Vogue website, they all have elements from the last 50 years. The first image is very much the documentary style, it's meant to look like they don't know the camera is there and natural but we know it has been set up. The second image is very much the 1920's, the style of clothing the ladies are wearing the way they are positioned and posing it's all very proper. The third image is very much Twiggy with the short hair and suit jacket and along with the fourth image I feel they are both inspired by the androgynous style as well with the men's suit style. 

3.4 - Evaluate the documentary work produced by photographers working for agencies.

Magnum

In 1947 a group of photographers, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, George Rodger and David Seymour, created Magnum photos. Magnum photos is an agency that represents some of the world's most influential photographers, according to (REF FOURTY FOUR) "For nearly 70 years Magnum Photos has been providing the highest quality photographic content to an international client base of media, charities, publishers, brands and cultural institutions." Martin Parr is one of the documentary photographers for Magnum photos and below is a perfect example of his work, it is taken from his "The Last Resort" collection of photos, this collection was to document the working class seaside resort of Brighton in the 1980's. According to (REF FOURTY FIVE) "The Last Resort, photographed during the 1980s, the first color publication by Martin Parr is described by some as cruel and voyeuristic, and by others as a stunning satire on the state of Britain."

IMAGE (REF FOURTY FIVE)

The first thing that is blatantly obvious about the style in which the images in this collection have been captured is that they are brutally honest. It almost looks as though he has just shouted the subject to look but other than that the entire picture is completely natural and in posed. Even though the image is very gritty it is still artistic. It's also something many, who visited the seaside in the 1980's, can relate to. He has captured the real story and emotion in this image, the sweaty kids squashed waiting for their ice creams and the grumpy waitress trying to serve them all.

VII

In 2001 VII was founded by seven photojournalist and documentary photographers, according to (REF FOURTY SIX) "VII is a storied photo agency founded a few days before 9/11 to challenge the convergence in the photography business when the trend for giant companies swallowing smaller independent agencies started." VII Claims to stand out from other agencies by being a "disruptive and innovative business unafraid to swim against the prevailing currents." Ashley Gilbertson is one of the photographers at VII and he has created a collection of photos, the Fair/Unfair Campaign — UNICEF State of The Worlds Children 2016 Report. This set of photos is to document the work carried out by UNICEF in Maiduguri, Nigeria, according to (REF FOURTY SEVEN) "The school has 8,000 pupils, and while regular classes are supposed to have 40 kids, many have 100 children per teacher. While conditions are rough, the fact the school exists is due to a major effort on behalf of UNICEF and local government."

IMAGE (REF FOURTY SEVEN)

This collection of photos is very hard hitting by documenting the way in which these people arabsee living but it is done in a very soft way. The images aren't graphic but they are showing the poor conditions in which they live in on a daily basis, and show the work that is put in out there. This seems to be very similar to the work of The FSA and the style in which the images are taken is also similar. Gilbertson has thought about the composition heavily in the image above, the way in which the line carries off into the distance and you cannot see the end gives the impression there are so many children all waiting. The way in which the child second in line has her arms round the child in front is very sweet and documents that even though these children has so little they still look after each other, it is quite a humbling image.

Oculi

In Oculi was created by a group of photographers who felt annoyed not only by the shortage of individual local photojournalism but also by the absence of support and acknowledgement for local documentary photographers. According to (REF FOURTY EIGHT) "At the heart of our projects lies a central conviction: To reveal the beauty, wonder and struggle within everyday life and to show the extraordinary in the ordinary." James Brickwood is one of the photographers at Oculi and has created a collection of images he has named "Parkour". These are an ongoing collection of images documenting the life of a group of free running teenagers from Sydney. According to (REF FOURTY NINE) "In essence, 'obstacle course' sums up the ideas behind the sport that originated in France - traceurs (the people who participate in the sport) treat city landscapes as one big playground, utilizing the architecture in a way that is both as stylish and graceful as possible."

IMAGE (REF FOURTY NINE)

The image above from the collection, and feels as though it's documenting a group of kids from a small town who have found something to do and a positive way to use their energy. The composition is very artistic in the way he has used each person at different points in the image and different distances away from the camera to completely fill the canvas. The image has a lot going on in it but at the same time it doesn't feel too much and still feels very simplistic. I feel like the image almost shows a sense of pride in these kids that have come from a small and empty town, even though there's not much going on I still feel like it tells a story. 

Own Images

Here are three of my own images that I have tried to take inspiration from the Twiggy serious poses and also taken inspiration from the 1950's movement for fashion photography to be set in natural backgrounds.