The phrase "The Grey Area" to me suggests some sort of uncertainty, something that is neither black or white but somewhere in between. Neither a yes nor a no, more like a maybe, or a possibly or even a probably, but something with no clear definition or meaning. There isn't a lot of certainty in the lives of most people, life is very unpredictable and nobody can ever be fully in control of everything that happens to them. I think that "The Grey Area" can be used effectively in photography because most people are intrigued by what is unknown, for example someone observing a photograph might contemplate the photo more or even appreciate it more if they don't know what exactly is happening in it. I think in life its important to accept and appreciate the fact that there are things that you will never be able to know.
These are the first photos that I took for The Grey Area unit, I didn't really understand what was meant by The Grey Area at this time so I don't think that they really depict the concept well. My thought process for these photos though were that I wanted to take an amount of photos of natural things and then one of a manmade thing, I chose to use a crane.
Sugar Paper Theories is a photography book by Jack Latham about the Guðmundur and Geirfinnur case of Iceland, where six suspects of the murder of two people confessed as guilty despite the fact that they did not commit the crimes, they confessed due to the various mental tortures that the police force used on the subjects such as, solitary confinement, sleep deprivation and water torture. They were also given drugs that affected their memories. Jack Latham talks about the grey area in an interview and explores how the suspects and the public were deceived during this case. Jack Latham took photos of some of the suspects and areas that were important to the case as well as including photos that had been taken during the investigation.
Like the state, the camera is never neutral.
-John Tagg Jack Latham explores the idea of 'documentary uncertainty' in his photo book. Documentary uncertainty is the concept that documentary photography can't be taken at face value and can be manipulated. Photography is sometimes seen as something you can take at face value and some people are oblivious to the ways that photography can be manipulated and edited. Latham combines photos from the time of the case, where the truth was uncertain and photos from the modern day where we know what really happened. We can see from the perspective of the conspiracy theorists of the time who were the only ones thinking about. |
Parliament of Owls is another photo book by Jack Latham that explores a place and a group of people in Northern California.
Artist Research
Morgan Ashcom's photo collection titled "WHAT the LIVING CARRY" is a work that explores the fictional town of Hoys Fork. Ashcom explains it as "Drawing on memories and myths of the rural American setting in which I grew up", I believe that this work explores the grey area because memories and myths are mostly abstractions of the truth and do not accurately portray what is real. Most of the work in this collection is either in black and white or the colours are largely exaggerated. I think that the black and white could represent things forgotten from Ashcom's past of growing up in rural America and the exaggerated colours may be a way of expressing how memories and myths can contort the truth to be more vibrant and exciting than it really is.
To the right are some examples of how this collection was exhibited, Morgan Ashcom used a variety of different mediums to establish the fictional rural town of Hoys Fork, there are maps, letters, and all different types of artifacts created and found to exhibit Ashcom's vision of "Hoys Fork". I really like the idea of basing photography and other art off of a concept such as a fake place or a rumours and I'm thinking about incorporating it into my own art. As well as that I am thinking about basing my photography off my own experiences and memories which I haven't done before. Another thing that he does that I like a lot is incorporating different mixed media along with his photography.
Overall this photography book/collection is very interesting to me and I think that it could be a large inspiration to me in The Grey Area unit. |
Taken from Morgan Ashcom's site, explanation of his photo/art collection "WHAT the LIVING CARRY"
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Aaron Schuman's "Redwoods" is a collection of photos of the titular trees throughout the UK, to me this as a focus for a collection is very interesting. The giant redwoods feel towering in comparison to the lowly British architecture. Even if the tree is far from the where the photographs have been taken or even if the composition is dominated by something else, the trees can always be seen looming in the background and drawing the viewers' focus which exaggerates how out of place these trees are in a British setting.
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Aaron Schuman's description for his photo collection, "Redwoods".
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This photo to the left is a perfect example of what I'm talking about. The redwood in the background is jarring and subverts the viewers expectations. The composition of this photo is seemingly normal with the two telephone wires suiting to the rule of thirds and the sky acting as negative space, this is until your eyes are abruptly taken to the redwood. The redwood is almost perfectly in the middle of the screen and looks as if it is shooting out of the house in the foreground. In my opinion the tree is so jarring because it is clearly the biggest thing in the photo but it is not framed as if it is the main focus. Someone who is unaware of the recurring theme of this photo collection is likely to be far more confused about why this photo is shot this way. The first time I saw this collection I didn't realise that there were redwoods in every photo despite having read the title, this led to a sudden realisation to what all these photos had in common after I had looked at them all for a couple of minutes. I think this collection is so great because it takes a look at an interesting focus that many people may be unaware of at least not care about and shows it through multiple perspectives. Whether the tree is tucked into the corner of the frame or seen from close up, Aaron Schuman's intrigue for the enormous trees is shown.
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I think that I can definitely take inspiration from this work in the grey area unit, I like the idea of looking at things from different perspectives. I would say that this collection is an example of the grey area because in a lot of these photos the trees are so jarring that some of the photos look surreal.