Reflections on the Essay about news and photography.

I have been sitting reading a couple of the essays from “Between The Eyes” by David Levi Strauss. I was most interested on the essay about photographers and propaganda. The essay mainly focuses on two combat photographers (Richard Cross and John Hoagland) and the ethics and objectivity of combat/war photography.  The essay rightly points out there is no objectity in photographs, in political terms and that news agencies somehow tautologically believe that their work is outside ideology by excluding ideology. However editors select stories “to tell readers this is what we [as editors] think is important and hope they’ll feel the same way” and feel that their selection of stories to include in the news is not ideological.

The essay also makes a valid point regarding photography and the press; that to present an illusion of objectivity, photographs are presented more or less anonymously by not including full photo credits, or that a picture agency has produced them. Even in today’s world of citizen journalism, the objectivity is enhanced by news agencies asking for the publics photographs of events so that they can select and publish these images with a small photo credit to the “impartial” observer.  By doing this, the news agencies can disassociate the photographer and their ethics and objectivities and make the impression that “no one died making them”.

In this case both Cross and Hoagland were killed while taking images of what was happening in El Salvador. Hoagland was proud to say that he photographed people “doing right and wrong” and that he did not believe in objectivity as everyone has a point of view. He did not want his work to be used as propaganda.

A web search for John Hoagland turned up a small piece on Wikipedia regarding his life, but it was not detailed. It did point to two other short webpages on Hoaglands life and his work in El Salvador. Maggie Jaffe has written a detailed set of pages not only featuring a number of Hoagland’s photographs but also links to other pieces written about the situation in El Salvador then and now. The most personal piece is a single webpage written about Hoagland’s life and death by his close friend Tom Tweed. Most of the photographs by John Hoagland are poor quality scans and the rest are still exhibited around the world mainly in exhibitions on combat photographers

Richard Cross was killed in crossfire while returning from a Contra camp on the Honduras/Nicaragua border.

Hoagland was killed in a fire fight while escorting reporters in El Salvador. Hoagland’s’ last six photographs are apparently his most well known, four of scouting troops, the fifth and sixth of the ground caused by the shutter motor still running as he fell.

After their deaths, Cross and Hoagland were eulogised by their employers before they were presented as the real life version of the Hollywood propagated vision of the war photographer as a spectator-hero.

I was surprised to see the images made by Cross and Hoagland printed in the context as they were used; some of the images of violence and death stand out and force the viewer to examine them, however in the magazine layout these images fight for attention as they are placed alongside large advertisement photographs rendering a reductive impact and communications of these bloody images down to the level of an advertisement, trying to catch the readers eye and make them look into the written story beside the image. Another photograph of a line of dead bodies on the front page of a magazine vies for attention against the back of the magazine which shows a photograph of a young boy and an old man fishing. These two different images are presented in one graphically equalised axis of proximity, again reducing the impact of the war photography and making the communication about something happening elsewhere far away from the safety of home.

At times, photographs are taken out of context and presented as a form of evidence to back up the published story. At others, photographs are presented more than once, years apart to give the appearance of evidence in the story, the factualness of the photograph is never questioned.

Both of these photographers began to understand that ethically they had a responsibility for the images presented to the viewing public and that they should gain better controls on the use of their photographs in cognitive, political, economic and cultural contexts.

In particular, for every Cross photograph published in the US, five were published in Latin America, apart from one photograph of government troops. The image does not read well as it presents the government troops as strong, well organised and in control. This same image when presented in the US and Europe was read as an ironic and horrific photograph presenting the troops as calculated and malevolent.  The reading and context of the images are being presented as part of the journalist’s view of the story and due to the complexity and structure of the context it makes the reading of the photographs very difficult as the very context still influences the photograph before, during and after the instance of viewing it.

Strauss, David Levi (2003). Between the Eyes. New York: Aperture.

Unknown. (2012). John Hoagland. Available: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Hoagland. Last accessed 24th March

Jaffe Maggie. (). The Camera as a Shield: John Hoagland. Combat Photographer. Available: http://www.1400ml.com/thedagger/archive/elsal/index.html. Last accessed 24th March 2012.

Tweed, Tom. (1994). Camera with a conscience. Available: http://members.rennlist.com/tweedt/johnH.htm. Last accessed 24th March 2012

Exercise 3 - Experimenting with Light

What: The main brief of this exercise was to take a number of portrait photographs of the same person from the same position while experimenting with lighting conditions
Where: At home, Indoors
When: Just after noon, when the sun was lower in the sky and not directly into the camera lens.
How: I decided that I wanted to use an indoor method as I could control the light easier using a number of reflectors and scrims.

Before starting this exercise I had a good look through some reference books;

AVA Academy Basics Photography 2 Lighting
A &BC Publishing The portrait photography course

Looking mainly at the basics of portrait lighting and how different setups can have an effect on the subject. These books helped me to understand some of the lighting conditions and helped with developing my ideas for a setup and for what I was looking for.
I waited for a sunny day and sat inside with the subject; I waited until the sun was slightly lower in the sky after mid day as I wanted the light to be direct but not too harsh. I then sat the subject with the light striking them through the window onto the left hand side of their face.

I started off by setting the camera in manual mode and mounted it onto a tripod so that I could freely move about and see how each setup looked. This allowed me a lot more freedom as all I had to do was lean into the eyepiece to see what was happening. I then changed the ISO down to 250 to allow me to shoot without having to change the ISO again; I managed to keep the shutter speed below the maximum speed of 1/4000th of a second and out of the slower shutter speeds. I then changed the shutter speed up and down as I experimented with reflectors and diffusion of the light.

I followed a process where I took a couple of images with each setup, starting with just pain sunlight and then used a scrim to diffuse the light on the left hand side just at the window. From there I used a white, silver and a gold reflector located below the camera to reflect the light back up at her face. From there I moved the reflector off to her right and used the white, the silver, the gold and the black reflectors one after another to see how each one would have an effect on the light.

Plain Sunlight

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/500 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I was quite pleased with this as a first shot, but the left hand side of the subjects head is very over exposed and the white light is blown out and to well defined. It also cast almost three quarters of her face in shadow and there were not a lot of contrasts in the shadowed areas.

Scrim at Window

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



The scrim was held at the window and adjusted back and forth until I felt that I had the right amount of diffuse light. This reduced the overexposure on the left hand side of the subjects face; I feel however that if I was going to reshoot this image I would use a thicker scrim as the light is not diffuse enough. I can see better definition around the lips and nose, but it does leave her right eye too much in shade and casts enough shade to make her look like she has huge bags under her right eye.

Silver Reflector below and in front

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/2000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Straight away I could see that there was an increase in the amount of light falling on the subjects face. Again I can see that the top of her head is in greater shadow than her chin and it cast a lot of shadow on her cheekbones. I think moving the reflector up and away a bit further would work better as it is an improvement on the first two, to begin with it is no longer overexposed but it does not quite give the correct amount of overall contrast and shadow.

Gold Reflector below and in front

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/3000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Again I could see that there was in an increase in the amount of light. I was surprised by how much the subjects colour was changed by a gold reflector, it was a surprise to see how much light was reflected back and how the subjects face was changed in colour, shade and contrast by such a bright reflectors. I thought that the silver reflector would have been brighter but it was not as bright as the gold. I was very surprised to see that although there was more light, the level of contrast was a lot lower than with the silver reflector; the lighting effect was good but I think it left too strong a gold cast and left her neck a little over exposed.

Gold Reflector off to the right

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Holding the reflector off to one side at a distance over about one and half metres, I moved it around until I left that there was a good amount of light reflected back onto the subjects face. At the time of taking the photograph I did not think that it was too overexposed, but I was very surprised to see that the gold reflector bounced much more light back than I expected and that this time the right hand side of her face was overexposed. I did think that it gave good colour to her hair but the gold cast on her face looked very artificial. I was not expecting to see that her eyes were in shadow and it caused her to again have bags under her eyes due to the shadows and the low levels of contrast.

Silver Reflector off to the right

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I feel that is a better image as the subjects face is not too overexposed and the levels of contrast and shadow over her face are better balanced and she her cheekbones do not look too dark and her eyes are not cast into shadow. The left hand side of her face around her temple is over exposed, but if I had used a thick scrim over the window this may have reduced the amount of light and brought the exposure down a bit.

White reflector off to the right

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/2000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I am much happier with this image. Directly I can see that both sides of the subjects face are balanced out and that neither side is overexposed. Her cheekbones and eye sockets are a little cast in shadow, but I think that if I was to have her move her head amount a bit I could find a good position in which there was a good shadow contrast and no over exposure.

Black reflector off to the right.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/4000 second, ISO 160, Manual white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I was very surprised by the amount of light that the black reflector bounced back; it did however create a vast amount of shadow and the largest amount of contrast out off all the reflectors. There is a little amount of overexposure on the end of her nose, but the overall image looks under exposed and very dark. I expected that the black reflector would soak up a certain amount of light and create a defined shadow, but I am surprised to see that it under exposed the image by so much.

I did find it difficult at time to balance the reflector in the right place after checking the shutter speeds and aperture; I also found it difficult to set up the reflectors without blinding the subject.

In the end I was very happy with the results as it showed that by experimenting with light and changing the light has a direct effect on the final image. Overall out of all the images and the different light effects I like the white reflector the best as it gave a good amount of balanced light and there was too high a contrast ratio and I feel not only does it give a good representation, but the quality of light helps the overall image.

Exercise 2 Thinking About Location

What: The main brief of this exercise was to have a look at the environment and see if I could locate and photograph some places which could be used as a background for a image. I had to then pick on and return and take a portrait,
Where: In and around Edinburgh
When: During the day, in overcast weather and in light rain.
How: I went looking for backgrounds so that I could examine them and see if I could to identify a way in which I could photograph a person against this environment without the background becoming the focal point of the image.

I took a trip into Edinburgh and looked around a small part of the Meadows area which has been redeveloped. The first location I came across was next to a hotel and I noticed the vertical brown branches against the grey horizontal slabs of the wall. After photographing the location, I sat and thought about what was in front of me and while this is an interesting background, if not used correctly it will create a grid against which the person will stand and this will cause the eye to be drawn away from the subject and into the grid.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.7, speed 1/30 second, ISO 400, Flash white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



The next location I scouted was a wall which showed the various different colours of sliding used across the Quartermile site; the grey interlocking cladding was part of the architects (Robert Smith) design and I feel that it looks like the different colour of roof slate available to roofers for the last two hundred years. I like the interlocking shape and colours and to use it at as a background I will have to ensure that the subject wears bright colours to contrast against the greys and blacks.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f2.4, speed 1/125 second, ISO 400, Flash white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



The third location I wanted to examine was one used by the early photographers D.O.Hill and R. Adamson, they took a number of calotypes in the Greyfriers graveyard and after seeing a number of the images I wanted to track down the location of one of the images and see if it was still suitable for a background. The Dennystoun monument has changed a bit since they took their photograph and it does not have the same impact now as it did then, however I believe that using monochrome would produce a good image as although there is not a large variation in colour there is quite a variation in texture. If the image was to be taken in colour then the background would overcome the final image as there is a lot of grey there and it would take a striking slash of strong colour to draw the eye away.

Nikon D80, focal length 34.0mm (35mm equivalent 51mm), aperture f4.2, speed 1/125 second, ISO 400, Flash white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens, No flash.



The fourth location I examined was also in the Greyfriers graveyard, over in the far left corner of the graveyard is the covenanters prison, an area of the graveyard which was used as an open air prison for covenanters and their families. This part of the graveyard remains locked and is only opened on special occasions. I looked through the bars thought that a view to the bars and slightly beyond may be a good background. However on examining the images, I felt that the more modern buildings in the upper half of the frame broke the idea and drew the eye away from the foreground which is just the bars and the lock.

I went across the road from Greyfriers and into the Scottish museum to scout out a few upper story and inside locations, I had made up my mind before arriving at the location that I wanted to use the uppermost floor and get a view down the length of the Victorian main hall. I wanted to get the pillars and roof brackets as a repeating feature in the background and have the subject off centre in the foreground. It depends on the day of shooting as the amount of light coming through the roof needs to be balanced with the tungsten lighting inside the building as otherwise there may be a conflict in white balance and this may throw the final image off colour.

Nikon D80, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f8, speed 1/45 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens, No flash


Nikon D80, focal length 18mm (35mm equivalent 27mm), aperture f8, speed 1/45 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 18-70mm lens, No flash



I then went up to the roof of the museum and looked at using the city as a background, but as this is a portrait of a person rather than the person in a certain location, the cityscape is too powerful and draws the eye away. It would probably be better suited for a travel style portrait rather than a plain portrait against a simpler background.

Nikon D80, focal length 50.0mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f22, speed 1/20 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



I continued inside the museum looking for something which would make a visually stimulating but not over powerful background. I took a few shots of the lens of a lighthouse as a consideration. The lens itself is a good source of light and with a plain white reflector I feel that I can get quite a bit of light onto the face of the subject without over or underexposing the image. I do have a concern that the lens structure itself may be overcomplicated and a draw away from the eye, but I am sure that if i compose correctly that it may make a very good background.

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f8, speed 1/20 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/45 second, ISO 400, Cloud white balance, matrix metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Outside of the museum at the back of a theatre there is a long stretch of hording which has been left for people to create graffiti art on. I liked a couple of the areas and stopped to photograph them; I liked the clean lines and the bright yellows, blues and pinks I think that they would all make very good backgrounds as they are colourful but not too powerful and distracting. I found a particular good graffiti of a skull I liked but I felt that the extra graffiti over the top of it detracted from the image and I did not want to use a background which was full of swearwords and unsuitable language, mainly as I feel it would drew the eye away as people examined the image and then tried to work out what the lettering was saying.

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/1500 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash.



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/3000 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



The last location I looked over that day was at the meadows, I thought about using a line of trees with the idea of using a person in the foreground leaning against the foremost tree; however I did not like a final pattern and it looked very dull and lifeless.

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f9.5, speed 1/60 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



After reviewing the images at home, I mulled over a number of ideas discarding some of the locations quickly while some were harder to decide on. In the end, it was while looking at a print in a magazine I hit on a similar idea to the one they had portrayed. In the image in the magazine the model was standing in front of some industrial steel doors, the doors themselves were a very blue grey and they had the model in a bright coloured dress. With this in mind, I decided I wanted to have my model in black and orange against the multi tonal grey background.

After a few weeks of going back and forth to hospitals and appointments, I finally returned to the location of the grey interlocking cladding and having the model stand in a few feet in front of the wall, I used a 50mm prime lens at f/9 and f/1.8 to photograph her first in portrait orientation and then in landscape. I discared the f9 aperture images as the wall was too well defined and although it was a neutral colour it was very distracting.
I was instantly happy with the other results using f1.8, reviewing them on the camera with her as we could see that her hair and t-shirt provided the colour tonality that I wanted. I was also surprised to find that I had positioned her in a location that the aperture of the camera even at f/1.8 did not blur the background too much.

In the end I decided to post three of the best images here;

Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



Nikon D80, focal length 50mm (35mm equivalent 75mm), aperture f1.8, speed 1/750 second, ISO 250, Cloud white balance, Spot metering, hand held camera, 50mm lens, No flash



I found that in a lot of cases there was a lot of mess to be tied away or time spent waiting for the area to be clear before photographing, as well as finding a lot of locations were not consistent in tone, light or features. I think is some cases a background with strong clashing colours could work well with the subject matter and would help enforce the overall idea, in other cases it can be too distracting. Overall in this exercise I think that I have learned that plain consistent backgrounds are not always the best idea and that I should keep my eye out for locations which can be used at a later date or ones that fit a certain brief.

It has also helped me to ensure that my notes are detailed and clear and that I can find a location a second time if I want to revisit or use it.