Hidden Salford: Artworks full shoot

Having being given the green light to go ahead with the documenting of Artworks both from  UHC.org and the Artworks teams, in addition to Quay News, who really seemed to be behind the idea. I arranged a day suitable day to shoot and as I wanted as much natural light as possible, time for doing this was limited as we were now in full British winter time. Luckily, the day I chose was bright and sunny which helped enormously with some of the larger interiors. What I didn’t anticipate was how long some of the shots would take, especially in the larger areas and getting the right angle and lighting to work in my favour was a challenge. As I was shooting for both the Quay News brief and also UHC & Artworks as well as being mindful of the Salford Museum brief I had to be mindful of the requirements for each client and choosing the right areas for each was critical. As the majority of the shots for Quay News were to engage with artists, with a smaller proportion being given over to the environment and spaces, It was easy to get carried away and focus on some of the amazing internal spaces, several of which gave me ideas for other projects. Some resolve was clearly needed and a bold decision; I needed clarity on my approach for each shoot, so I decided to separate the shoots for Quay News and UHC and made arrangements to go in on another day for the UHC shoot, this way I could focus solely on getting the ten shots that would serve the briefs for Quay News & Salford Museum to best of my ability. As was clear by the shots I took the rest of that day, which were very focused on what was needed, It was the right choice to make.

Contact sheets and commentary:

Here then are a series of contact sheets with accompanying comments for some of shots I took that day totalling some 700+ images…

Internal spaces: One of the benefits of shooting the buildings’ empty spaces and workshops, was that the only thing I needed to think about when shooting, was trying to get the right angles to capture the sense of space and atmosphere these areas exuded. As can be seen by the contact sheets below, these images are mostly unedited and include a few experiments whilst I tried to gain the aforementioned.

Studio Spaces: On the other hand shooting some of the resident artists and designers in their studios was a tougher ask, especially the graphic designers. The problem here is that I wanted to take my images as candidly as possible and wanted to capture the designers engaging with their work rather than my lens, this proved challenging due the circumstances. The problem lay with the fact that these resident studios were compact and closed off from the main areas of the building to maintain heat and reduce outside noise. This meant that as soon as I entered the studio space I was the focus of attention and my camera put the designers on their guard, something that comes across in the following two contact sheets. As time was precious and I didn’t want to be too disruptive I couldn’t stay in the studios long enough to allow the designers to let their guard down. At one point one of the designer even got a fit of nervous giggling and had to stop working. This had serious implications with my final selection as it meant that these shots had less potential to make my final ten.

Workshop and Co-operative Spaces: The best shots for me and the ones I found the most enjoyable were in the artists open workshop and the fashion designer studio. Because these were more open environments I found it easier to be unobtrusive and gained some really good shots of the artists working on individual and co-operative pieces. These shine through on the contact sheets, though I admit they are a little on the small side in this manner. As such I have put together a small gallery of some of the better shots from then whole shoot at the end of this post, so as to gain a better appreciation.

Summary: On the whole it was a fun but tiring day but I made a few new friends and contacts, including the Artist James Moss who asked me to help document his work for an upcoming exhibition, the pieces he had been working on were to be shown in. In addition NorfolkHawker fashions have also asked me to collaborate on documenting their works as and when they need, both for promotion and cataloguing. In addition to my documenting work for Castlefield Gallery in Manchester I was beginning to find a niche in something I really enjoyed doing and that others had a use for – Food for thought in a wider sense, in terms of professional practice and a possible career avenue.

Gallery:

Hidden Salford – Initial ideas

Immediately following the briefing, I had a couple of embryonic ideas that I thought might suit this brief…

Pay-day loan companies and their prevalence within Salford:

Pay-day loan companies and their prevalence within Salford: (Image by Associated Press)

As I had worked within Salford Shopping City as part of the store management team for a high street video games retailer, prior to embarking on my photography degree. I had seen first hand the encroachment of the pay-day loan services within the precinct during my time there, seeing several retail units close down during the recession only to be re-opened as pay-day loan shops or trade-in or pawn stores. As such, I thought it might be interesting to see who used these places and why? I spoke with my module leader about this idea who thought it had potential but like myself was concerned about whether anyone would want to be photographed and identified for this brief. This subject was unlikely to motivate people to be willing volunteers to have their image taken. Money worries and debt isn’t something many would want to discuss, even though the stigma attached to using money-lenders isn’t as prevalent as it used to be. I also thought that this was also playing to the negative view of Salford and although I hadn’t yet realised it at this point I wanted to cover something more positive.

Derelict wasteland & fly-tipping – hidden in plain view around Salford:

Fly-tipping near Salford University

Another idea I had would have been a continuation of a project I had begun on the professional frameworks 1 module in year IV. Entitled, ‘In the City’ (http://professionalframeworks1warrenfournier.wordpress.com/2012/11/25/assignment-four-in-the-city-final-images/), the project engaged with my feelings as I passed by derelict areas and wasteland that are often overlooked on the way to nicer places. There are many such places in and around Salford and I thought it might be a good idea to document them, I could then continuing the project I had started last year. However, after further reflection I realised that there was going to be difficulty in capturing shots of these places with people engaging in these areas. I considered the practicalities of capturing people engaging in the act of fly-tipping or trespassing in abandoned or derelict areas and came to the conclusion that with the time available to me as well as being possibly dangerous to myself, the idea was too prohibitive. In addition It also had another negative connotation associated with it, which like the previous idea I wanted to avoid.

With both these ideas coming to nought, I needed to reflect a little more about what I wanted to achieve with this brief and maybe undertake a little research that would coax an idea that would get the attention of the editors of QuayNews and provide me with a project I would enjoy.

In my next post I will elaborate further on my ideas

Research (updated):

Something else I needed to consider was how this forthcoming brief fit in with my own professional practice. As someone who was keen to not go down the freelance ‘tog’ route, I had begun growing my skills as a photo documentor of artists and exhibitions for Castrlefield Gallery, manchester and UHC.org. It was an area I was very interested in and as such had become aware of some of the wider issues facing photo-journalism and anyone keen to enter a world of photo-documentation. One of the biggest issues facing any photo-journalist was the encroachement of the ‘Citzen Photo-journalist’. The growth of ‘connected’ devices that support high resolution cameras has grown exponentially over the past few years to the point where everyone who has one, is a potential photo-journalist, the fact that many of the first images we see on news media when some calamitous event breaks is taken by one of these ‘citizen photo-journalists’, shows just how local, immediate and powerful this form of photo-journalism is becoming. A recent news article reporting the horrific and tragic consequences of a car bomb in Beirut where a teenager taking a group ‘selfie’ of him and friends moments before the explosion, demonstrates the immediacy and personal consewquences of war and terror, far more profoundly than the professionals sent in to cover the aftermath featured in the same article.

Beirut Bombing ‘Selfie’ Teen Mohammad al-Chaar Dies From His Injuries – The Huffington Post UK | Posted: 28/12/2013 16:17 GMT | Updated: 28/12/2013 16:21 GMT

Beirut Bombing ‘Selfie’ Teen Mohammad al-Chaar Dies From His Injuries

(The Huffington Post UK, 28/12/2013)

This kind of photo-journalism clearly has an immediacy and connection local to the events that clearly cannot be acheived by any news agency staff photographer unless they happened to be at the right place at the right time. News media, especially print media has started to recognise that photography as information is ubiquitous and more importantly cheap; freelancers and the citizen photographer are happy enough to get credit for the image rather than a fee. Newspapers who see their print editions face falling sales are moving ever more into digital spaces where digital imagery and video are replacing the professional, defining and informative image normally associated with newspapers. The Chicago Sun-Times recently let it’s entire staff photography department go, as there was no longer seen to be a need for a full-time photo news team. Instead journalsits with i-phones, freelancers and the public will find the imigery they need.

Chicago Sun-Times lays off all its full-time photographers.

(The Associated press May 31, 2013)

Clearly this situation is troubling for those already working as photo-journalists and those wanting to begin their careers in this arena. However, all is not lost there are some  proponents for the case for Professional photographers as recorders of important events. The French Newspaper Libération took a stand on this when it chose Paris Photo’s Opening day to remove all photographic images from the publication that day and replace them with plain white empty spaces.

British Journal of Photography, Olivier Laurent — 15 November 2013

French newspaper removes all images in support of photographers.

(The british Journal of Photography, 15 November 2013)

The paper explained it’s stance by stating on the front page…

“Libération vows an eternal gratitude to photography, whether produced by photojournalists, fashion photographers, portraitists, or conceptual artists. Our passion for photography has never been questioned – not because it’s used to beautify, shock or illustrate, but because photography takes the pulse of our world. To choose Paris Photo’s opening day to “install’ these white images highlights our commitment to photography. It’s not a wake, we’re not burying the photographic art.”

Elaborating further on the value of professionally produced photography…

“Instead we give photography the homage it deserves. Yet, no one can ignore the calamitous situation press photographers now find themselves in, especially war photographers who risk their lives while barely making a living.”

Clearly, with the ever connected world we now move, where images bombard us almost constantly the issue surrounding a photographs (cheap) value as information has usurped  the traditional role of the pro photographer providing a cucial defining image that acts as arbiter of societal change and action. Fred Richin has something to say on this in the book Bending The Frame.

” The photographic print, an object, now commands record prices, but the photograph as information has comparitively little value” (Richin – Bending the Frame, 2013)

The challenges and competition facing doucumentary photographers in this new connected, information rich world are greater than ever, and finding a means to be paid and make money were always a challenge it is more imprtant than ever. There will always be a market for the image as an arbiter of change, but who will take it and will is stand soley as a defining moment or rise briefly to be lost among the multitude of others taken at that time.  There is so much discussion about such changes that it is hard to disseminate just how things will turn out. In the meantime, diversification, specialisation and the importance of the art space as a platform for ones photographic work will continue to become ever more important.