Assignment One
Introduction
When I approached this assignment, I went into great difficulty.
In fact, my idea of photography is closely linked to what the film first and the sensor then receive through the lens, so that the result is governed by the physical parameters that affect the light, once it has entered the lens.
I realize that my way of thinking could be restrictive, perhaps retrograde, and in any case contradictory, since, both in analogue and, even more so, in digital photography, I do not refrain from applying corrections in development and post-production. But I call them "corrections" because once applied, they do not modify the narrative of the image, let alone generate a new one.
I also realize that this is such a complex and rich subject that addressing it in this way would be simplistic and presumptuous. For this reason, I would like to limit myself to circumscribing my personal approach, the one I feel closest to and the one that inspires me most.
I will never stop repeating that, despite being an IT professional, in photography, I am not at all excited by digital manipulation and by all the digital practices of image construction.
My desire, as a photographer, is to continue being a photographer, and not a painter with classic or digital instruments.
Probably my difficulty in "imagining and constructing" an image denotes, to say the least, a lack of sense of abstraction in the visual, but this is who I am and, honestly, I don't think it's a personal trait that can be changed by studying.
However, I am here to learn, and it would be wrong for me to refuse to step out of my comfort zone and test myself on these issues only because of my personal inclinations. So I move on and try to complete the assignment one at my best.
Traditional ‘cut and paste’ images
Here in Italy, we are subjected to severe health restrictions that limit our movements and, by the way, shut down photography shops.
However, I was able to produce some landscapes of my immediate vicinity and print them on plain paper. To build the photomontages with the traditional method I used the landscape as a background and I inserted clippings of figures obtained from the internet or from my other photographs.
In the first image, the tunnel represents the current container of our life, where we are forced into closed places, restricted room for manoeuvre and mandatory directions.
Everyone live this situation in their own way, proposing some patterns of normal life: we despair about work problems or we play, we continue to follow the social pattern of the chat or we dance.
This composition of normal life is intersected by events as normal as they are negative, such as accidents or death.
All this in an obligatory path that leads to the end of a tunnel, where the sky can be seen (as a symbol of a new beginning).
Most of the view is occupied by someone who, partially hidden, peeks and has a surprised expression. It is as if this tunnel is a hamster wheel, and the man at the exit of the tunnel realizes that he is observing, in a tragic recursion, himself in the same wheel, in the same tunnel.
The second image is a further confirmation of the theme introduced by the previous image: black and white suggest an external world that does not have the colours of serenity and joy, rather the great anguish of a future path that is represented by the road.
Some pause and experience their own personal drama, while a man walks away in the background turning his back on those in distress, suggesting a lack of empathy and a denial of an altruistic attitude.
For the third image I was inspired by John Hartfield and I chose to get out of the portrait or landscape scheme in the background.
I started with uniform background and all the components are glued. The hands and the pig are taken from my photos.
However, my intention is to continue on the theme introduced in the first two images. I have built a composition rich in signs, of which I have done a Barthesian analysis.
Signifier: piglet and desperate people
Signified: savings threatened, economic crisis, despair
Signifier: big dark hands
Signified: great economic powers, which exploit the pandemic to take away the savings of those in difficulty. The dark action of those who are getting richer and richer in this period.
Digitally Mounted Image
To produce this image I did some practice with Adobe Photoshop tools that allow you to blend multiple images using the layering technique.
I used the window of an abandoned factory as a background layer. This window is a ten-panes grid.
I used some of these panes to blend my other images, one per photoshop layer.
While working on this post-production I thought back to what I had read in Bentham's panopticon, even though, in that case, it was a three-dimensional construction and concerned the control of the inmates (watch without being watched).
The image I obtained also reminds me of what I saw in Bruges (Belgium) a few years ago: the spectators were travelling on a boat along the main canal of Bruges, and observed images or scenes displayed in some windows of the buildings that lined the canal. It is a tradition that, sometimes, is also carried out along the canals of Venice.
It is the reversal of roles: traditionally the windows are like frames that allow the viewer, from the inside, to look at the outside world through the "picture window". In this case, however, the viewer is on the other side of the glass, and observes from the outside inwards, as if looking at the "picture window" from the back.
Each frame is a different image and is a view on different subjects who, apparently, are not in connection with each other.
This overview may be "panopticist", however, it raises an unresolved or at least debated question about who is on the side of what (watcher, watched) and the roles that are established even in a still image, such as a photo.
Reflection
The experience with this assignment was particular for me.
On the one hand, I am happy to have had this experience, which has allowed me to access practices that I have never used.
On the other hand, I can confirm that I have not a special feeling for visual manipulation or construction, and for this reason I believe that the result of this work is a bit naive and/or cliche.
If I build an image, I think I can be more creative before and during the photoshoot than after.
However, I believe that the images I have built send the message I intended to give.
In the case of traditional cut and paste images, I am happy to have empirically experimented with what it means to construct images with your own hands and I think that this practice has brought me closer to the creative process of a painter, rather than that of a photographer.