Mark Epstein Photography: Project: 1

Initial Ideas: Photo Project
For some time I've been considering the idea of starting an extended photographic project. Being fairly critical of my own work, my individual photographs always seem to slightly disappoint me even when I come away from a shoot generally happy with the results; the killer image is something I've stopped trying to chase. The idea that a body of work can say something that the individual image cannot, is a far more interesting idea than constantly making photographs in a slightly haphazard way hoping my photographic voice will emerge from the process.

An idea I've been toying with for some time is to take a very simple organising principle to a set of photographs and see where it leads. I once saw a website where a man photographed members of his family weekly in the same(ish) pose for many years. Scrolling down the images, watching the children get older and parents/grandparents grow old was fascinating. I can still find nothing more interesting than the human face to photograph. With one eye on eventually putting together a book or an exhibition, I wondered if I could take 100 portraits of people aged 1 - 100; one portrait for each year.

The most difficult question I have to face as a photographer, is what am I trying to say? Too precise an answer to that question can lead to trite, clichéd images. Everything has been done before, and probably better than I can do. However, all I can aim for is to put together a body of work that grows out of my time and my place. Do I try to put together a collection of images that reflect the diversity of culture, class, nationality, achievement, homelessness, etc. that surrounds me? I don't go with this idea that the camera can see deep into the soul of a person and reveal their essential being. I prefer the notion that a photograph is like a postcard, possibly revealing something of the subject but not necessarily something that can always be articulated in words.

I think the idea of watching the ageing process, year on year unfold before our eyes, is interesting. I imagine it would not be a linear process; people do not age at the same rate, we cannot read the faces of some cultures as accurately as we can read those of our own. Japanese people I've been told, find it difficult to guess the age of those with 'Western' features.

I have always liked black and white portraits against a white backdrop. I can't really say why, I just like them. Perhaps the lack of colour information simplifies the image throwing our attention more onto the person in the photograph. Perhaps it's because I've assimilated the idea that serious photographs should be monochrome. The images below, taken mostly by Richard Avedon and David Bailey, isolate the subject against a white(ish) background. There is no environmental information, action or interaction in these images. It is just the people, their pose, expression and choice of clothing that tell their story.

Paul Roth, the curator of the Richard Avedon exhibition Portraits of Power describes the photographer's monochrome photographs as simple descriptions of detail. Avendon was interested in power and how anxiety and tension showed itself in the face and also, in the idea of the avalanche of age; how as people aged, their faces take on the weight and burden of their lives and that this is visible in the details written on their face.

Practical Considerations
Having a full time job limits how much I can go out and take photographs. Working with just a white backdrop under lights allows me shoot anywhere, any time. Getting the light I want will be something I have to work on. Some of my favourite high key images have been taken in natural light in front of a white background. Also, head and half body shots require only a medium sized backdrop and stand making the equipment needed minimal. This is important as I will sometimes have to travel. I would expect to do more than 100 photoshoots to take a couple of years bearing in mind that not all shoots will yield the results I want; some will inevitably be unsuccessful. How do you photograph a baby against a white background producing an image that coheres with those around it? Do I begin sketching out the different groups/places I can approach to get models?

One of the great joys of this project is that it will kick-start me into more carefully looking at the people around me. This process has already started. I was in Betty's tearoom in York on Thursday. Sitting near me, a vision of well-turned-outness and pearls in lilac, was an elderly lady with her husband. The lines and detail on her face were exactly what I was looking for. It was a joy to feel I was beginning to see for a purpose again. Too much of my time is spent fulfilling the commitments that the job throws at me.

Technical Considerations
At what point does uniformity of image move from being a coherent group to a repetitive mass of pictures?
Headshots? Half body shots? Crop where? Can I include a mix?
Dimension of images - should they all be 2:3 ratio or can I use a range of shapes?
Is it ok to let each portrait happen naturally in terms of depth of field, whiteness of background, shadow areas, contrast, hight-key/low-key etc. I think variety is the spice of Heinz.
I need to be able to know what I want to say in terms of light and which types of person to apply that lighting to. See Bobby Lane.
I do like simple natural light (clouds acting as a giant soft box).
Do I try to control what people wear? Is there a particular effect different colours/patterns have when rendered in black and white?
How can I identify and achieve particular 'looks' to photographs (e.g. American West below).
High pass filter as used by David Hobby?

Use of Text
One of the main effects of the Image & Text workshops I gave in Budapest was to convince me that texts accompanying images really do affect the way we look at a photograph. As much as anything, reading a text about an image makes us spend more time with the picture, moving between what we have read and what we are looking at in a process of looking for a linkage between the two.

Mary Price, in her book A Strange Confined Space states that “...the language of description is deeply implicated in how a viewer looks at photographs. Description may be title, caption, or text. The more detailed the description, the more precisely the viewer’s observation is directed.…The language of description may reveal, impose, or limit use.” So, if my portraits represent the subject in a visually simple but direct way, some form of accompanying text could greatly add to the impact and interest for the viewer.

The question becomes, what kind of text should I add and what style should this be? The project I hope will be serious with touches of light and humour as that's how I see much of my picture taking. Texts that accompany 'art' and 'documentary' photography differ. In the main, documentary is a closed form, designed to produce preferred interpretations. Documentary style images are usually combined with some form of anchoring text that steers the viewer/ reader in a particular direction. Photographic art, in contrast, typically avoids words, or employs elliptical text, in order to leave the image open to associations and interpretations. For art, vagueness or ambiguity are often the preferred modes. I feel this project is more in the documentary mode as it is telling a story (of sorts). Perhaps I need to add a detail about the person's life, perhaps a basic biographical note stating age, job, etc. But I feel a well written paragraph could really bring the person alive to the viewer.

And then there is the question of how to collect the information. Chatting to subjects? Recording the chat? Perhaps this could be done before the photoshoot as it would help me get to know the person and possibly give me an idea of how to represent the person visually. For example, a sarcastic edge could be visually echoed with a harsh side light. Perhaps this could lead to the idea of a hook for each person. A word (not necessarily to appear in any accompanying text) but a very simple way in for me to see and represent the person. Is it too fanciful to imagine one word could give me a way of representing somebody or is that too restrictive and reductive an approach?

So many questions!