Script

I am about to start editing the script for the movie I have been designing to show the way people act around cameras. Here is the script: 

Script for movie:

Starts with making of the camera bag and sign etc- close up, not sure what’s happening. Cycle down to place and hang it up. Blows in the wind.

VO: In the society we live in, there is an obsession around images. This obsession is related to the capturing of images, and the capturing of images of ourselves. Where ever you go, you are always surrounded by cameras, by people taking photos, by people posing, by people capturing images.

At this point there are shots of tourists posing and smiling at the camera, and shots of people taking photos of each other.

What interests me is how people behave around cameras. The second when they begin to pose. Barthes explains it as:  "When I feel myself observed by a lens, everything changes; I constitute myself in the process of posing. I instantaneously make another body for myself. I transform myself in advance into an image."

Shots of people posing.

I am planning to hang 50 disposable cameras up around several cities in England, with a sign asking people to take photos of themselves. In the act of taking a photo of themselves, and the photo people take, I can see how people act when asked to photograph themselves and their behaviour relating to cameras.

Here are a few examples of people taking a photo of themselves with the cameras I provided

.

The thought process seems to be:

What is that?

Why this there a camera hanging up?

Who is this for?

What do they want me to take a photo of?

What SHALL I take a photo of?

If I take a photo of myself, how does the photographer expect me to pose?

How do I normally pose in photographs?

What does this situation (in public) mean for how I pose in this photograph?

What have others done?

Is anyone watching? (photographer included)

I am being asked to take a photo, does it matter that I don't know for?

Is this creepy?

I am being asked to take a photo; does this mean I have to be arty?

I want to be in the photo, what is the best way to do this?

Ask someone or selfie?

How do I want myself to be represented? Selfie is too down with kids but I am bit embarrassed to ask someone else…

How does the photographer expect me to be represented?

Do i have everything I want in the frame?

Is the film Ok?

This part has a double of filming picking up camera and looking through lens and other people interacting with the camera, and then leaving.

This thought process which I imagine happens when people take the photos shows a huge awareness and inter-textuality of how to construct a photo and how to represent oneself in a photo. Here is how a few of the photos turned out…

Show photos from before and also videosàbecome photos from Oxford

But what do these photos mean further than that we all know how to use cameras nowadays?

Well, if I run a couple of the photos together, you can see a few similarities in the way the people in the photos decided to set the picture up, and how to behave in the picture. All these people are posing, and they are consciously setting up a public image of themselves to show to the photo project. Look at this one, for example, they all lean close together and smile, arms around each other- they are close and happy, constructing a representation for the public which shows them as positive and rounded. People pose in the photos similarly, also, suggesting that the way they pose is pre-determined by other texts they have come into contact with. Culture has told them how to pose, and they adhere to this idea.

Here is an example of how people approach the cameras:

Film of someone approaching camera and taking photo- quick.

There is little thought in the way people approach the camera. People want to interact; they want to be part of the project without even knowing what it is, or where the photos are going. This seems to link to various anxieties around photographs and people.

This firstly shows a need to interact in a reality, an anxiety about being able to construct the reality yourself. With all the photos people take of each other, all of the surveillance cameras and constant documentation, people are not in control of their own image anymore. People are anxious to control their image. When they pick up the camera I have left, they do not just want to interact with the project, they also want to be able to control their image and give out an image of themselves which is constructed and perfect.

This might seem to show that people are anxious about what the rest of the world thinks when seeing the photo? I feel that because people don’t know where the images are going, this isn’t the fear. People aren’t scared that, as Sontang suggests, their image will give someone else possession of them, no… The anxiety seems to be that if they aren’t photographed, they won’t be able to prove it happened. Again, because of all the images which are being taken all the time, and they way that now we can take hundreds of photos, photography has become more than a photo; photography is a way of experiencing and remembering the past. This film shows people taking hundreds of photos; if they do not, can they prove it happened?

In taking a photo with the camera I provide, people are able to tell everyone they existed there, in that moment, that they took part.

And feelings after that towards the final image? Well, it’s disposable.

Camera being collected. Me collecting photos from boots. Film family looking at photos/me looking at photos with someone else. Talking about how weird and personal and voyeuristic it feels.

End. 

I also did a few more cameras hanging up, here is a photo:

This article struck me as being quite an interesting aside to my project; it shows an anxiety about memory and about using photos as memory; this suggests a fear over forgetting and about creating. Here someone says outright that they can't remember if they do not photograph, and begins to wonder if they actually have memories which aren't photos at all.
I had a similar experience with my sisters at christmas. We all thought we remembered something which was in a photo, but after talking to our parents, realized that none of us were even anywhere near the photo when it happened. Th photo has taken on meaning and stories by being a family object, and because of the photo being so alike to memory, we all feel as if we were there, when we were not. This suggests that photographs have become similuarca to memory and experience. This is quite a scary idea, or at least is slightly shocking.
In my project, people use photographs to say that they are "here"; they want to participate in many realities, even if they do not know whose it is. This is both a fear of being forgotten and a need to create reality, as well as rethink of disposable identities.

500 word intro

essay plan:

A photo project from the eyes of the people on the street, documenting themselves. how people behave in front of the camera, reflecting the anxiety about identity and the anxiety about being photographed and "existing". Relates to fluidity, self, culture. Bring in Sontang, etc

-start off talking about street photography and a brief over-view of how people behave in front of the camera and how it relates to different people's anxiety's about society and photography.
-would then talk about the project- give people a camera, ask them to take a photograph, see what happens.
-mention the seflie, and the idea about self-photography, and then need to photograph yourself because you are represented all the time by security cameras.
-Talk about how this has meant a constant reproduction of images of self. Reproduction of reality and then reality becoming photography.
-Talk about the construction of self to the rest of the world; influenced by intextuality
-The constant production fo self and reproduction of self; identity is fluid and disposable.


I am currently also in the process of making the film which i am going to hand in on the 7th. The film will look a but like this one (if i am lucky)
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/238859335/leaving-a-disposable-camera-in-the-park

i am having a lot of trouble getting people to interact with the camera while not seeing me. I am going to spend tomorrow in various locations trying out different techniques. Tomorrow is set to be sunny and nice, so hopefully this will be good!

Some practical stuff

Production Budget:

Item	Cost
50 disposable cameras	£1.55 each
Postage of Cameras	£3 per 10
Film development	£4.99 per camera
Equipment for hanging Cameras	String: £1.00 Plastic Wallets: £2.00
Travel (to London/Oxford)	Approx: £50 over the months
TOTAL	£395

Final Project Budget:

I will already have all the prints, so I should be spending too much on print. As my idea stands (about the frames) I would be hoping to spend less than £50 extra pounds on this.

Equipment list

50 disposable cameras

String

Plastic Wallets

Other camera to take photo of process (usually Nikon D5100)

Pen and paper to communicate idea to audience.

Location list (40 for sure, 10 will be spontaneous)

Brighton:

In front of the pier

Next to the Brighton Eye

In front of the doughnut in Brighton, opposite the Grand Hotel

In front of West Pier

Pavillion Gardens

Pavillion Gardens

Outside Brighton Public Library

Outside St Peters church, Brighton

The Seven Sisters

Coledean Lane Bus stop

Stanmer Park

Stanmer Park

University of Sussex meeting house

Library square, University of Sussex

The fountain near the sea (?!)

Oxford:

Outside the Radcliffe Camera

Outside the Radcliffe Camera

In the centre of the Covered Market, on the post box

University Parks, Oxford

Port Meadow, Burgess Field entrance

Port Meadow, 3 Bridges

Corn Market

Outside the Summertown coop

Magdalene Tower

Broad Street

Martyrs Memorial

Christchurch Park

Christchurch Park

London (Potentially)

Tate Modern

Tate Modern

London Bridge

Embankment

The Millennium bridge

Hyde Park Corner

A tree near Buckingham Palace (hopefully won’t be misinterpreted as a bomb)

St Pauls

Timeline:

November

Research photographers

Reading

Visiting galleries

Collect 10 rolls of film, Brighton

Presentation

December

Collect 10 rolls of film, Oxford

Reading and research

Research into gallery/display

Essay and hand-in preparation

Presentation 6^th

January

Hand in 7^th

More reading and research

Experiment with display techniques.

Collect 10 rolls of film, Oxford and Brighton

February

Collect 10 rolls of film, Brighton and Berlin (?)

Reading and research,

Experiment with gallery. Finalize how it is going to look.

Planning final hand in

March

Collect 10 rolls of film, London and Brighton. Last one!

Gather all photos and put online for participants

Start to collect material for hand in.

Pre-show people and get feedback

April

Re-shoot and re-do photos if not enough.

Prepare final hand in examples and display

Essay and write up of blog

Feedback and re-evaluation of all material

May

Final touches to hand in

Hand in (what date?)

Start to prepare the degree show

June

Degree show June 10^th?

I got some more feedback; a lot of people said that they really like the photos because they make them feel warm and fuzzy, because they awake feelings of normal-ness and people being people. I also had the feedback that they were interested in the selfie aspect- they felt that people always wanted to be present in the photograph, that it sort of makes a reality through the medium.
A lot of people also suggested that the analogue feel made the photos seem more significant and lovely; the fact that you can hold the photos in their hand, and that there are only 12 in a roll, make them seem more important.
Tomorrow, I am going to hang up a new camera in oxford and hope to have a few more photos soon.

I showed people the idea about putting the photo in photo frames too, and most people seemed to not really get why I would do that. I was thinking therefore that I might have to re-think about ideas about how to show it. i was remembering a photo project which looked like this:


There are photos everywhere- on clothes pegs and on the walls; they are surrounded by images. This looks nice and can be linked to theory. However, it doesn't seem to link that much to my idea. I was thinking, I could just cover a wall in the photo booklets, or i could do what I was first inspired to do; like the "Beautiful horizons" project- give people a light box and let them look at the negatives. I really liked this aspect of this gallery and project. This wouldn't be too hard to do, and I could also decorate an area with the photos to illustrate.
Then again, what seems to touch people most about the project is that they can hold the photos, that the photos look like from their own archives. Most people don't have a light box at home, so this takes away from that experience. It also doesn't really link to the ideas about behavior around cameras.
What might be cool is a photo booth thing; like, you go inside and get ready to take a photo and then the other photos appear on the screen, which might suggest a sort of sameness between people. This is impossible, though.
Maybe I could attach disposable cameras on the wall INSIDE the gallery and ask people to take photos of themselves. Inside the plastic wallets, I would have each photo album hanging. I could then ask people to look inside and look at the photos; they would be able to see how they might behave, and how others did.
This is a good idea!!!
Here is a drawn example:

some reading and research into how others introduce photo projects

I have to write a short introduction to my photo project. I was searching the internet for a few other examples of this, and how to write it. Here are a few examples:

1) "On May 15 2012, Aday.org asked people around the world to pick up their cameras to photograph daily life. Bringing together thousands of both amateur and professional photographers, the project mirrors how we lead our everyday lives in 2012. The resulting collection is a unique document of what really lies close to us and how photography connects us.The entire collection of 100 000 images from more than 165 countries can be viewed here on the Aday.org site, open for everyone to explore. All photos have also been donated to research faculties to be saved for future generations.The Aday.org project was initiated by the Swedish non-profit foundation Expressions of Humankind. Our mission is to use the power of photography to create, share and inspire perspectives on daily life – today and tomorrow. The foundation and project is backed by a highly respected Global Advisory Council. "

2) "Project 50 — 50 days, 50 photos with a 50mm lens. Simple concept but to actually complete this project at a reasonable standard takes some serious dedication, personal motivation, oh & good friends help too.

I get asked a lot — “Why are you doing this?”, generally my answer is — “Just for the sake of it”. But let me expand on that a little more. To me the value of this project is completely inherent in the act of doing it or, more importantly, the act of completing it at a level of quality with which I am happy — I'm doing it to prove to myself that I can."

3) Silverlens Gillman Barracks is proud to present Locus, the first solo exhibition of works by Filipino artist Poklong Anading in Singapore. 

Fresh from a residency in Bandung, Indonesia, Anading (b.1975) will present a suite of recent projects characterized by his seemingly instinctive ability of uncovering links and hidden connections between such diverse subjects like street performing (busking), analysis of progress in the Built City and the rituals of daily, urban living.

Anading has been described as an alchemist of the ordinary¹. Partial to process, he is wont of setting up systems or mechanics that would allow his works to create and compose themselves, resulting in pieces that are steeped in chance and ambiguity, where even the accidental is respected well enough to be incorporated into the work, as if cues from a silent collaborator.  

From footages of inverted skylines to a street performing monkey walking on stilts, from layered photographs of towering cranes arranged by gravity to cosmically fallen bread crumbs, Anading effortlessly weaves a grand tale of intertwined narratives that reveal his idiosyncratic storytelling genius. It could be by design or perhaps by chance, still the image of the sky permeates through each piece, as if a thread that strings the elements together or a common backdrop, an immense cauldron that catches and keeps everything contained. I surmise that if we venture to observe a little closer, this could actually offer us a rare glimpse into the artist’s worldview, and in a strange way, could also mirror or shine a light into our own relative position in the universe as well.  This is the first of series of six exhibitions programmed by Gary-Ross Pastrana for Silverlens Gillman Barracks in Singapore. Succeeding shows will showcase works by leading figures in Contemporary Filipino Art like Maria Taniguchi, Nona Garcia, Yason Banal and Victor Balanon. 

I have a few ideas from these. The first two are quite relaxed and laid-back, but they are written in quite a catchy way; they get the point and aim of the project over very quickly, which I liked a lot. They are not very in-depth however, and do not really have any theory and stuff in. I guess this is because they are introducing internet photo series, whereas I need to do a more scholarly essay for school. I like their style, however.  The other one is much more in depth, it goes into a bit more detail of the way that he might use more academic ideas to base his project, and how he might shoot in a style to say something; the other projects are more participatory, and therefore seem to have less written in them; as a viewer you are encouraged to feel/make your mind up by yourself. I feel like this is more like mine, but i guess that for a hand in I have to be more acedemic. Sooo, I will try and connect these two styles. I will try and have a quite laid back style and not give away exactly what the project means, while also being in depth with references and readings. 

Analysis comparisons of photos

i wanted to compare these two photos because of their example of camera behavior. The first shows a group of young teenagers posing, whole the second is a glorious sunset over Brighton. The first is blurry, at an angle, cutting out a few people, and careless. The second is well set up, the placement of the telescope is central, the horizon is flat. Immediately, you can see that the first person is "trained" in using cameras which are phone cameras; instant photographs, blur-proof and low quailty. The second is taken by someone who is "trained" in more advanced photography. I find it interesting you can see the difference; this suggests that the type of cameras we use affects the way we photograph, and the sort of photos we expect very much reflects culture. Young culture is more about the instant gratuitous seflie, the quick representation of reality which needn't be good quality because you can take hundreds, while the trained photographer will understand the disposable camera and take photos which are considered, thoughtful and the sort you would stop at and admire. This shows that culture and which camera type we access influnces the way we photograph ourselves.

Example of photo project and feedback

An example of how I might display; lots and lots of photo frames filled with the cheap photo booklets. The photos on these booklets all look the same; a photograph of beautiful women laughing, repeated over and over. Their place in the photo frames suggests firstly their personal nature, (placed in a context where family photos or treasured items might exist)  while their placement in frames (which suggests importance) contrasts to their repetitious image.

This shows the photo project in one;  to us, out moments and personal selves are important, we want to show the world and take many; yet they are a repetitious series of images, they all are about front (as the booklets are) about construction of image, while hiding the truths underneath (as the gritty photos underneath the flaps of the booklets show) It further suggests our need to show the world that we are here, that we have experiences; they are on show in frames, important images of the same experience. It is also a cross over of public/private; suggesting firstly that we are happier to show the world our lives and selves by giving images out willy nilly, but also that the private moments, which are hidden like gems under the bland covers, are still exsistant.

I showed a lot of people all the photos so far and I got so much positive feedback. What people like most is that they can go through the photos and look at people. They are excited to discover photos, excited to look at people and wonder who they are, why they are posing, what they are doing. A lot of people commented that it was a strangely moving experience; you witness personal moments of other people; it's like viewing snapshots of humanity. Someone also suggested that because all the people were posing similarly to how her friends might pose,  she felt as if knew them, or could relate to them. Most people understood the context of construction and experience of reality instantly. I asked them all is they would take part in a project if they saw a camera asking them to. Most people said: Of course not! but when I pressed them said they might. this seems to link to the people who wont take the camera if others are watching them; people worry about being seen to care about photos.

This has made me content that I need to keep the photos interactive and to keep the booklets; the project is a found photography project in that I "find" the photos others leave, and the viewer "finds" moments in each pack. I kind of think that looking at others also is a strange reassurance; because we are anxious about photography, and who has an image of us, if we cannot construct a reality- by looking at others in the act of constructing, we are reassured by their actions. 

I need to take more photos, but this seems good! 

Analysis of a one photo

This photo shows a group of kids holding up a North Eastern University flag. they took two photos; the first shows them without the flag, laughing and relaxing like tourists. This is the second one, where they are much more upright and serious. (below is the first photo)

This sequence illustrates some further ideas about behavior around cameras. the first photo shows a group of teenagers mucking around. They found the camera and have set up a pose (holding a girl up) which denotes their closeness and friendship (they lean close together, they trust each other because they are holding each other up) and their smiles denote their happiness and contentedness. That they are holding a girl up, diverting from normal smile and lean pose, suggests their thought process about appearing kooky, different. It also suggests that after being in/taking photos, they know the norm (smiling, posing) but that they decide to divert from it. This suggests a high awareness of photo posing, construction of self in photos and inter-texuality to other photos. This pose sets them up in a positive and fun way. Presumably they hope to later the find the photo and add it to their list of constructions which say: We were here, we had fun, we're happy.

The second photo is interesting, because you can see their thought process. the flag shows that they are university students from America, presumably on a school trip, because they have a school flag. The first photo is a social construction, the sort of photo you put on facebook or social media- it has different constructions to the next one, in which the 4 stand straight, pose and smile normally, hold their flag in front of them, denoting their pride and importance of the school. Their poses are similar; head tilt to the side, neat smile, both feet on the floor. This is a different sort of construction- serious and dedicated to school, to keeping up appearances for their university. The two photos run together to show a high awareness of construction and how to act in photos to create two various images.

 It also suggests that while they were having fun in front of a camera, one of them started to say: "hey what if school see's this?" This anxiety about being seen as an "ambassador" of their uni suggests a fear of surveillance and the far reaching power of image. But it also suggests that they might think their uni would WANT their students to be photographed; their students to appear in far away places looking happy. To be photographed is a great thing; it creates an image for the university, it demonstrates experiences. That they didn't know who would get the photos seems to not matter; to be photographed and know that they will be represented somewhere is what the people seem to be interested in.

I saw this photo, which shows hundreds of people filming the pope coming into power. I thought it was an interesting link to how we as humans take so many photos, and live life through this. This event will be captured millions of times on so many devices; reality is hyper-real, and also experience and memory will be formed through the eye of a lens.
This links to my idea about how people now create experience and memory through cameras. When people interact with the project, they want to take part in reality; and now, to take part in reality, you must be photographed, or photograph- to control it.
The photo is also an example of the way in which we are watched constantly. Other than surveillance cameras, we also are photographed and filmed constantly by others. Our own reality and image is taken and belongs to hundreds of other photographers; this links to both ideas; about the total relaxation of identity and image, we are no longer fearful of "possession", but it also suggests a strong anxiety that reality cannot exist without photography of it, and that we as selves cannot exist without photographic evidence.



This also relates to this photo, which shows a selfie by Obama, the Danish Prime minister and Cameron, at Mandela's funeral. Its a pretty funny photo- watching those who constantly construct very well thought out images of themselves- act in a way in which they interact with normal culture. It is also quite funny seeing them photograph as normal culture dictates.

analysing a photo (for presentation)

Going to be analysing this photo in reference to some of the ideas I have been reading about:

1) Pose; relates to the stuff talked about by Barthes. When a lens looks at you, you immediately "imitate yourself" and "make yourself an image""I pose. I know I am posing. I want you to know I am posing, but this must not alter my individuality." Here we see two people posing obviously. They smile and hold the camera in a "selfie" way, slightly above (which is more attractive.) They know they are posing, we know they are posing. They present themselves as "they want to be seen"

2) Links to selfie; inter-texuality to other texts/context of time. Selfie is very much of the time. This shows how the way we photograph is dominated by attitudes of the time. Many of the photos I received were in this similar style.

3) We put on a public image; this is the pose, the selfie, but also the smile, the closeness. They are sending out a public representation to the world that they are happy, in a for-filling relationship- they are "anxious about the cameras disapproval", and so pose in a way society approves of, and put on a wishes expression and representation.

4) This links to how society is now. We are always filmed and represented on social media and surveillance cameras. Because we do not have control over it, these images of self (like above) are on the rise. This is the "symbolic I", ourselves as we think we should be seen and represented. This couple chose to take a photo of themselves with no other input of a photographer; no one can impose attitudes or thoughts on them. This is "their" view, as many people chose to take the photo.

5) On a strangely contrasting note, the constant photographing and representing of ourselves on media has led to a strange relaxation in our attitude to image and identity. Susan Sontang; talks about how worried she is about "possession of self" in an image. These people interact with a camera, without knowing who the public is, and don't even want the picture. This suggests a very much relaxes attitude to who owns our image; it is disposable and can be repeated and repeated many times in many places.

6) photos have therefore become less precious and more disposable. Then why take them? Why would these people take  photo with a random camera? This is another difference to past times; photos are now a way to say that they were here. "photography is a way to experience things", and once you start using photographs to experience things, they become a way to remember the experiences, and after they become the memories of experiences, if you do not photograph something, then you can not be sure it happened. These people interacted with a camera because they wanted to document that they were here, in this moment. They wanted an unlimited amount of people to know.

7) This is a very personal moment, they include no one else, they lean close together, they seem happy and in the moment. I felt like a vouyeur looking at this, and yet the had specifically given me this image of themselves. This suggests a change in the public/private sphere; before such personal moments were only held by people who "use" the photo, they were "hung on family walls", within a context. Now, with the impossible amount of representation and images of our identity, such moments are taken from their personal setting, and given to the public; this links to the idea that our identity and what makes us "us", or gives us meaning, is much more malleable and flexible- it can be represented, disposed of, represented again.

so, for presentation:

This is a street photography project, told from the eyes of the people on the street. It will investigate the way the public behaves when asked to photograph themselves. It will particularly look at how we behave in front of cameras, and how the way we photograph is informed by the hyper-real, photo-mediated society. It will look at how this has changed the way we view the real and our own identity.

1) Poses, as we want to be seen
2) Intertexuality and context, informed by other texts
3) Public image
4) Control over images- symbolic I- have to create lots of images.
5) Contrast; possession of image not a problem, identity can be constructed/changed/malleable.
6) Photos more disposable, but why take? photos as a way to experience things.
7) Public/private

For display:

I want to put all of the boots photo booklets in expensive art frames and hang them up. I will have 50 plus booklets, and they all have the photo on the outside, of the "public" image, the desired representation of self. people can interact with the photos, and go and explore them. Found photographs. Also can see hundreds of people all posing similairly; suggests the context of time, how we THINK we should look, as well as the endless repetition of them and similar representations. Also people can look at how people have given me images, disposibleness.