Assignment 3 WriteUp

Brief

Create a set of between six and ten finished images on the theme of the decisive moment. You may choose to create imagery that supports the tradition of the ‘decisive moment’ or you may choose to question or invert the concept by presenting a series of ‘indecisive’ moments. Your aim isn’t to tell a story, but in order to work naturally as a series, there should be a linking theme, whether it’s a location, event or particular period of time. 

Include a written introduction to your work of between 500 and 1000 words outlining your initial ideas and subsequent development. You’ll need to contextualise your response with photographers that you’ve looked at, and don’t forget to reference the reading that you’ve done. 

 

 
Traces
This collection of images, about remembrance and the lengths we go to maintain connections to keep memories alive (and how they fade with time), is also a reflection on Henri Cartier-Bresson’s concept of decisive moments. The photographs were not made true to Cartier-Bresson’s recipe but dying is pretty decisive (or is an eventual decisive moment for everyone), and once gone, people take with them a lifetime of decisive (and indecisive) moments lived. Some of these will live on in the memory of the living as we all leave our mark – no matter how big or small- and in some cases will often inspire people to honour those memories.

There are many rituals for doing this but one of the most ubiquitous is the grave and gravestone, decorated with the paraphernalia of remembrance-memorabilia-things that give us hints about the person below, and in some cases, traces of a life lived, employed to convey the message-gone but not forgotten.

My starting point was Rauscha’s famous book ‘Twenty Six Gasoline Stations’ -the first of a series of books that he published during the 1960s and 70s. The book contained photographs of gas stations along Route 66 between Los Angeles and Oklahoma. My initial thoughts were to take photographs of 26 cemeteries- a kind of antithesis of Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment in both subject matter and presentation. But I soon became immersed in the graves and the variety and amount of keepsakes people leave on them – the care and attention to detail they go to maintain connections.

With the passing of time, graves inevitably become neglected, forgotten, and vanish as generations and grave carers die and nature inevitably takes over. This slide into obscurity is like a second death.

Decisive and indecisive moments all.   

I drew inspiration from a few photographers including, Nick Walpington, Kaupo Kikkas, Guido Guidi, and as mentioned above Ed Rauscha -not only their work but mindset and approach. (I also did research on the Decisive Moment-‘What matters is to look’ and my notes can be found here)
 

Italian photographer, Guido Guidi, in an interview with the Guardian, suggests that “All moments are decisive – and none…after all, a photograph is a frame, and if you put a frame in the picture, you are suggesting that this is not the whole world, that there is something outside…“.
I found the Cartier Bresson’s strategy of the ‘Decisive Moment’ creatively constraining and too dependent on the notion that pictures are the ‘precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression’. I played with the concept literally and playfully and the setting for the photographs are graveyards and cemeteries, graves and gravestones, decorated with the paraphernalia of remembrance -mementoes- things that give us clues about the person, traces that hint at a narrative.

Development of ideas and research
The graveyards offered up a world of mementoes presented in a series of tableau laid out with loving care and attention to detail. Each grave was a drama played out through the keepsakes lovingly placed and attended to, they drew me in, sometimes making me feel like a stranger at a family event.
I decided to do further research on the workings of cemeteries and discovered that most are governed by churchyard regulations (what, how big, and how long you can leave stuff on graves- one document I saw had 54 regulations with multiple sub-clauses). Discovering an article about the removal of mementoes from a graveyard in Birmingham- I felt for the people who tended the graves and so the series took shape around the acts of remembrance, and how it inevitably fades.

The graves are traces of both the mourners as well as the deceased, but with the passing of time, and as relatives or grave carers die, the graves become neglected until they ultimately fade and disappear, with a hand from nature.
My early photos of the graves were quite uniform, I was shooting them from top to bottom head-on, so I began to vary the angle and in some cases got closer and tighter-this helped give the series variance and added interest. However, as I did this, I began to experience the graves differently. They were so personal notes left on birthdays, presents, intimate writings, that I sometimes felt I was intruding and so moved on, not bothering to take a photo.
The series attempts to show the cycle of memory, from well-tended graves and journey through neglect and finally ruin or reclamation by nature, and often, anonymity.
  
Self Assessment
This assignment helped me understand better the essence of the course-‘expressing your vision’ and the different strategies that underpin photographic practice. Cartier-Bresson is a titan among the reference of photographic practice, and it almost felt blasphemous to not try and honour the tradition of the decisive moment. As I dug deeper into it, I found his approach so ubiquitous and imitated, that I wanted to avoid cliche and felt looking for moments ‘pregnant with meaning’ and ‘precise organisation of forms’ somewhat restrictive. However, I did want to play with, interpret, and experiment with the concept, and the journey from my first thoughts to what I ended up with, taught me that the creative process is something you have to be open to -something Cartier-Bresson talks about in the video Lamour de court, and I found this very stimulating.

I feel I have demonstrated decent technical and visual skills, from processing to black and white and general composition, layout, and curation. I used and analysed my contact sheets extensively for this assignment and it helped me decide whether to present the photos in colour or black and white. I found this a difficult decision as I felt some photos worked quite well in colour, others in monochrome. In the end, I went for black and white to achieve more consistency. Curation helped me consider shooting the graves from different angles and compositions and I went back to reshoot some of my shots. I believe all photos have to find their own way in the world and these are no different, but I did enjoy attempting to put a different spin on the concept of the decisive moment, it helped me appreciate Cartier-Bressons approach and bring me to a conclusion (rightly or wrongly) regarding its creative limitations in the wider application of photographic practice.
  

Further reflections based on mentor feedback
After receiving feedback from my tutor I updated some of the photos (gy7, Gy5) in the series to keep it more consistent visually. I also researched her recommendation to look at Dane Storm . This has given me some ideas and inspiration to extend the series in the longer term by looking at death in different cultures. In this series, it was exclusively Christian and English.
  
Extending the Assignment-a photobook
I decided to extend the series in book form to help show the different stages graves go through-from relatively new through the years till the grave careers stop coming. Thanks to Ed Rauscha, 26 is a magic number in photography, and so 26 photos in total it is. I have used more material to show the transition from new and maintained graves, through to the inevitable decline and reclamation by nature. Despite our best efforts memory begins to fade the moment a person dies. We extend traces of that memory for a while and some of the graves I photographed were testament to that, but inevitably they become dishevelled, forgotten and vanish as generations die-this was very evident in all graveyards I visited-the newer graves had lots of mementoes, while the older ones faded from view as nature reclaimed them.
I had the idea for a photo book from early on in the project and soon learned the true value of curation, contact sheets, and reflection. I noticed that many of my photographs were taken in the same style and composition and so began to mix the angle of view to give the series more variance and how it might flow visually from page to page. I also made the decision to give some photos a double spread as I felt they were more impactful that way.
  
Final word: having gone through his process and creating a series from conception through to taking the photographs, curation, and re-taking some of the images and finally making the book, I learned a few things along the way, First was, although I respect Cartier Bresson, I find the idea of the Decisive Moment too restrictive creatively and don’t fully agree with the quote from the introduction of the book ‘The Decisive Moment’ that ‘Photography is the simultaneous recognition, in a fraction of a second, of the significance of an event as well as of a precise organisation of forms which give that event its proper expression.’. Events have many expressions and unlimited was to capture them-all are valid.
The second learning was the workflow and creative process-I loved the fact that when I went out with my camera I had no idea what I might come back with or how an idea might develop and grow.
 

References

Chandler,A, 2014,’The Indecisive Moment’ backstory, http://www.arthurchandler.com/indecisive-moment-backstory
Article:Fury as personal mementoes removed from graves without permission, Daily Express,https://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/787120/Fury-personal-mementos-removed-graves-permission-St-Germain
Galassi, Peter, 2010, Henri Cartier-Bresson The Modern Century,Thomas & Hudsen
Higgens, C, 2018, Interview Guido Guidi, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2018/nov/05/guido-guidi-interview-photographs-suburban-italy
The Indecisive Moment,2014, https://www.photopedagogy.com/the-indecisive-moment.html
Szarkowski J,1975, A Differnet Kind of Art, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/1975/04/13/archives/a-different-kind-of-art-to-its-new-public-photography-seems-to.html?searchResultPosition=2
Szarkowski J,2007,The Photographer’s Eye, Museum of Modern Art.New York
The Indecisiveness of the Decisive moment, Ghazzal,Z 2004, http://zouhairghazzal.com/photos/aleppo/cartier-bresson.htm
Brouws J, Burton W, et al, 2013,Various Small Books,MIT Press
Vellam N, Series of Indecisive Moments, New York Times, https://www.nytimes.com/2014/06/12/t-magazine/mark-steinmetz-a-la-croisee-des-chemins.html?searchResultPosition=1
Waplinton, N, 1998, The Indecisive Momento, Booth-Clibborn Editions