Ryan Bimson

For my final project, I wanted to focus on religion and its entropy within human culture and society. I wanted to create a narrative on how humanity has interacted and developed alongside their spiritual beliefs and how they have grown and evolved over time with humanity, but also highlight the negative impact that religion has had on humanity as a whole which would be more of a focus on division, however this is a secondary subject within my project so the overall narrative will be on entropy. At first I wanted to focus on Christianity, Islam, Hinduism and Judaism. But after some research and rumination, I thought that such a specific and narrow way of thinking would not allow me to display the raw, initial idea that I had and so I have decided to take a broader approach to the project and shall now focus on simply building a narrative on the previously mentioned interactions of religion within humanity.

I’m sticking to the images that I used because I am using conceptual photography as my medium, however I believe I will have to vastly change my narrative to encompass religion in humanity as a whole rather than my previous 4 specific points.

This is the raw form of one of the pictures I took. I liked the way the skylight looked and how it could be related to various forms of the Christian cross such as the Jerusalem Cross [1], The Ringed Cross [2] and the Saint Julian Cross [3].

[1]

[2]

[3]

 

Above is my edited form of the picture I took and my favourite amongst my final pieces. I tried to make the subject of my focus, that being the skylight, hold a darker and more unforgiving feeling by increasing the contrast and shadows of the image, as well as making the sky look colder to emphasise how I see the Christian god as akin to a cold face of stone that does not answer. I like that the subject for this is also a skylight because, just like despairing Christians after a hopeful prayer, you look up to see this. I will elaborate further in my final project.

For the research on conceptual photography, I visited two sites. One of which being part of the second seminar on photography that we did which was about understanding images, however I think it can relate to conceptual photography as well. In the seminar, we looked at the photo (photo 1) and discussed what we thought of the people in the photograph. The photo is meant to provide insight into how people feel about photographs depending on the different stories that are attached to them. For instance, this photo makes it seem like the people in the photograph are enjoying their time, unaffected by the tragic events unfolding behind them. However, once you know the story behind those people, you begin to understand that they are not numb to the events happening and are in fact discussing the events sombrely and seriously.

I feel that the idea that a story can change how we see an image relates heavily to conceptual photography.

[1]

The second photograph is from a site called tate.org.uk, and is from an article on conceptual photography. There is no listed writer for the article, however the article states that “Conceptual photography is photography that illustrates an idea”[2]. Building upon my earlier point, I feel like conceptual photography will allow me a lot of freedom of expression within this module so long as I can build a narrative around the images that I have produced.

[2]

Another photographer and work that drew my attention when researching photography was a photographer called Ishuichi Miyako and, in particular, her work titled “Yokosuka Story 1977″. “Taking up photography at the age of twenty-eight, Ishiuchi was mentored by, and then worked alongside, Shomei Tomatsu and Daido Moriyama. Like her contemporaries Ishiuchi was concerned with capturing social conditions in a country haunted by the memories of the Second World War. Her work offers a radical vision of post-Hiroshima Japan, focusing on the alienation and disaffection characterising urban life.” [4]. I feel like the work of Miyako could be said to hold the spirit of conceptual photography and the kind of idea I am trying to recreate with my photography.

 

[3]

 

[1. http://www.fototazo.com/2012/04/opinion-pantall-colberg-hoepker-and.html]

[2. http://www.tate.org.uk/art/art-terms/c/conceptual-photography]

[3. https://www.michaelhoppengallery.com/exhibitions/66/overview/#/image_standalone/729]

[4. http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/display/miyako-ishiuchi]

For this workshop, we were tasked with using the studio environment to take a photograph, using the lighting and backdrops we were provided. We were also told to bring items and dress differently in order to hide our identity.

I liked this photograph because I feel the focus of the camera was right and that we lit the subject well, leaving a nice amount of shadow to embolden her face whilst still leaving a halo like effect on her hair.

For this workshop, our class was tasked with finding random people on the street and taking portraits of them, using the knowledge and tips that our tutor gave us in the workshop and reflecting them in our work.

For this picture I had to approach a rather intimidating group of people outside a pub. I asked one member of the group if any of them would like to help me with my Uni work and let me take a photo of them. One member (shown above) was kind enough to allow me to take their picture. I tried to centre the cameras focus on the subjects eyes to improve the overall quality of the portrait.

For this photograph I stopped a police officer on the street and asked him if he was too busy to take a photograph and he thankfully told me that he would be fine with taking one.

I found this man talking to his friend outside the TP bar in Lincoln. I told him that I liked his beard and hair and said that I think he would be a good subject for a photograph.

My last subject was my least enthusiastic one but she did not reject me. I found her after her doctors appointment and as she was on her way to a lecture, so I think she felt a little vulnerable.

Thinking about the brief we were given for this task, I tried to take inspiration for objects that I found out and about in Lincoln. I found that I could build a narrative about the relation and subsequent discourse between nature and humanity through the objects I found and how I altered them. For the first object, I found this lamppost with graffiti saying “Meat is Murder” with a torn label for a chicken sandwich stuck underneath. I am not sure which came first, but in either case, this shows to me one perspective of the relationship we as humans have with nature. Some people trying to lash out with their words against what is, in their eyes, an unjust and evil society that takes nature for granted. Whereas the antithetical opinion is placed directly next to it, the small torn off label representing the larger society and its opinions in such a nonchalant way, almost disregarding the previous opinion.

For the next part of this narrative, I found this croissant, totally uneaten and simply left there.  I regret my choice of putting a leaf in the croissant when I found it. I thought, at the time, it would help me visualise the discourse between nature and the destructive and wasteful nature of humanity, but in doing so I just exhibited that behaviour myself. I could have maybe offered this food that I found wasted to a homeless man or woman, but instead I played with it and used it for my project.

 

 

 

But the idea behind the croissant originally was to discuss how people act abusively and without thought to their surroundings. But that, even throughout the abuse we dump onto the planet and our environment, it will always prevail. Nature is more than us and it always will be. By keeping the food out of focus in this shot and instead focusing on the tree in the background, I tried to describe the way that nature is ultimately uncaring and omnipotent and that we will all fade away before it.

 

This last image I took really tries to encompass my ideas on the relationship that nature has with humanity. I found this cup lying half submerged in this bush and it made me think of a baby being swaddled in a warm blanket by a mother, Similar to how this earth is our mother and how this environment is our blanket that provides for us. However, just like this plastic cup, we will eventually choke our environment and poison our mother and, in response, we shall be rejected and abandoned. Our earth will turn hostile and it shall kill us, returning itself to a state where other, more deserving creatures can grow and prosper.