Voyeurism and Surveillance

"The subject is usually unaware, therefore  there is an element of 'spying' involved."

After reviewing and looking more in to Voyeurism and Surveillance, i felt that it was an interesting topic that is very broad and has more than one meaning, for example there are different kind of voyeurism such as explicit, sexual, security, surveillance, tv programs use voyeurism and so on. I decided to construct my own scene based upon the them of sexual voyeurism, i used a black piece of material, a doll and a piece of cardboard that i cut out into the shape of a window frame. I then used a side light to highlight half of the figure, creating the effect that it is a lamp or light from another room. I also wanted to create a lot of negative space with the image, leaving it questionable to the viewer as to if there is another person present. Holding the piece of card in front of the lens i shot the image lining up the middle of the window frame with the middle of the dolls body, i did this to disguise the fact that is it a doll and create the imagination that it is a half naked female. This related back to voyeurism as usually a window frame is within the shot, which makes it obvious to the viewer that the image has been taken from an outsiders perspective and there is a real sense of peeping tom as you are looking into somebody else private space. When thinking about the placement of props i decided to have the doll in this position as within sexual voyeurism the subject matter is usually not looking back at the camera and are un aware that they are being photograph, therefore i thought have her facing the wall would work well. I then deiced to keep the dress of the figure on but to pull it up so her bottom half would be nude, this gives the impression to the audience that some sort of sexual activity is about to take place, referring back to the facts the viewer should not be looking. I also decided to turn the image black and white as i feel it works well with the contrasts of the figure and negative space and also i feel it adds mystery to the image and gives the impression that it has been shot at night. I feel that this image works well are portrays voyeurism clearly and also plays on aspects of voyeurism such as "The subject is usually unaware, therefore  there is an element of 'spying' involved", There for making he viewer feel slightly uncomfortable in know thing that they shouldn't be looking at the content of the image and it is a breach of peoples personal spaces and activities.

Identity

"Identity is constructed through our social experience"

After spending a large amount of time trying to think about what make identity what makes i person whom the are or whom they seem to be. I started to think about the obvious things such as what you see on the surface so style, glasses, hair colour, facial features or even skin colour, but i font feel that is somebody's identity and i feel it would be wrong to assert that over somebody when that isn't them as a person its not what makes them who they are. I then started to think about thing you don't see so hobbies, personalities, language, ideologies, beliefs and morals in doing this it came to me that when you look at artist work you don't initially know anything about that person or what they look like and i started asking myself does it matter? I started looking at work from artist such as Todd Hido, Martin Parr and David Hockney. All these photographers have very recognisable styles of working, although they have experimented within photography a lot of their work has re occurring aesthetics with created an identity for the artist making their work recognisable to their audience. I feel that even though you may not know what the artists interests, hobbies and appearance may look like, through there image style and subject matters you can really gain a good idea as to what it is there are interested in. Above i shot an image of a selection of the same photographers work, showing how identities are created through art forms. Some time this can even be unintentional artists interests are often reflected through their work and without meaning to they end up shooting in a similar way or even paint with a specific kind of paints making their work look in some way similar. I feel that from looking at the work above it is obvious that the work is all from the same photographer, not only because all images are shot on film and are monochrome but because all work focuses on everyday objects and uses light to make the image more engaging and personal to the viewer. The use of natural light fills the images and draws the viewers eyes across the image allowing you to observe even the smallest of details.

I feel that the more images you take the more you get an idea of what interests you personally there for that is then conveyed to your audience, even when a photographer may feel the subject is new the way that the image is shot is often very similar, I feel that in this respect "Identity is constructed through our social experience" as it allows the viewer to relate your image aesthetics to your artist identity and way of working.

Themes, Consumerism - Persuasion, Brand, Society, Culture

"We believe that through consumption our desires can be met"

I have chosen to look at consumerism as i feel it is something that effects everybody within the world in some way unless you are living on your own island and fully self sustainable. I also believe many people take not of consumerism and try to break the system as much as possible and try not to over consume. Where as other are completely oblivious and are so busy consuming that they don't even realise they are doing so. Above is my image that i have taken for consumerism, i felt that when i saw people walking past the homeless man sat outside one of the biggest corporations in the uk, i couldn't not take a photograph as i was so shocked with people ignorance. You have just been in a shop and probably bought many things that you didn't need or plan to buy when you walked into the store, but when you saw the sale signs or brightly colour packaging or even had a craving for sugary sweets, you bought into the system everything is stocked and shelved to perfection to made you feel this way. Then even though you walk out of the store with more food than you need and probably won't all get eaten, the rudeness and ignorance of people to then walk past somebody whom is in need and doesn't have money to buy bare necessities never mind over consume. They say ignorance is bliss, but i feel that this image portrays true ignorance of human kind. Across the world people are starving because of capitalism and consumerism, yet when adverts come on tv asking you to donate you get a sick feeling in your stomach seeing under nourished children and adults on the tv but you feel fine again when a chocolate advert comes on straight after and your comfortable in your warm, safe homes. Then when you have somebody in front of your own eyes whom is in need of help, you stroll right past without even acknowledging that it is a human being on the floor. People want the world to change but nobody is will to go out and change it, society has become lazy and ignorant. I decided to frame the image like this as i wanted to capture all the advertisements with the image, but also wanted the homeless man to be in the right bottom corner and that is usually the last place your eyes read which i feel links to how in the street the people seem to be aware of everything but the man. I also decided take the image in black and white as i wanted to reflect the mundane situation and didn't want my audience to be distracted and drawn in by the over populated range of advertisements.

I feel that my image and rationale relate to the quote used above, as like previously mentioned i feel everybody wishes for a better way of living yet very few people go out of their way to change how things are. I believe that people believe that the feel of being 'one with the earth and other people' is being suppressed by advertisements and the media trying to dumb is down in to believe that there is nothing more to life than working to buy and buying to live. Yet i feel many people do not see past this and believe that "through consumerism our desires can be met".

The Gaze and the media

Looking is not indifferent. There can never be any question of 'just looking'. - Victor Burgin (1982)

Above is my original image that i created for the male gaze, i wanted to portray how advertisements use woman and objects to sell products, yet i did not want my image to look like a commercial advertisement but my own advertisement to 'challenge the gaze'. Usually when using woman within the gaze, the woman often isn't looking directly at the camera with allows the viewer to feel more comfortable looking at the woman whilst she is being objectified. The fact that she is staring straight into the lens, i feel makes the viewer feel quite uncomfortable, its almost as if she is making you feel ashamed to be looking. I have then used the prop of a playstation remote, which has two main reasons as to why i chose to you this prop. Its is a product that is often advertised "the playstation" and a large audience of the playstation is male, also a remote is used to control, manipulated and demand the movements of the character or objects within the game. I feel that using this object would throw out these came connotations even when put on to a woman. I then juxtaposed this with putting the remote around her neck which i felt added the ideology that she was being choked by the object. I wanted my model to be nude so the viewer still could have the intentions to think what is beyond the screen but all the other aspects of the image have been purposely done to challenge the viewer, to make them think about how women are objectified through the use of the male gaze and maybe think about would they still be drawn to advertisements with naked women if they were more like the one above, or would they feel uncomfortable and unfair to the women that is being portray in still life product fashion.

After having my crit the feedback i received about my image wasn't very positive and nobody understood the concept of the image, although myself felt that this image had been thought out and constructed appropriately. I felt that if my audience was unaware of the message i was trying to portray that the image did not work. I couldn't reshoot the image as was recommended as i didn't have access to my model or props and equipment in such a small time space. So had to made the decision to discard the original image and reshoot.

I then decided to take the following picture….

I still wanted to challenge the gaze within my image. I was inspired by raw topic of anorexia, so many women across he world are constantly unhappy with their weight and i feel it is very much to do with the fact that the media feeds us, untrue information and images about how women should look. I looked up some of the crazy things people do to get slim and one of the main things that came up was that models with anorexia, eat cotton wool to fill up their stomachs and also drink water to full out their bodies and also to lose any water weight that they may be carrying. Using this information i decided to photograph the most well known 'ideal' figure that has ever been created. Barbie is world famous and is looked at as the ideal of women, blonde, blue eyes, tiny waist, nice boobs and bum, children from the ages of 4 play with these dolls and therefor from a very young ages have this unrealistic ideology of how women should look and also as to what is pretty or beautiful. I then decided to lay down the barbie doll on a bed off cotton wool and use a large plastic water bottle as the back drop. Even when not using a real person i have turn her head so she is slightly looking away from the camera and have covered half of her private area with cotton wool, which allows the viewer to use their imaginations of what is. I have also tried to line her breasts up with the centre of the image so even when not purposely doing so, you look straight at her breast's. I feel this really pushes the idea that "Looking is not indifferent. There can never be any question of 'just looking'". I feel that this image does communicate the male gaze as i have used aspects such as not showing parts of the body, not having eye contact with the lens and also have used an ideal woman. Given this i do think that unless you knew about the extremes people go to you may just think she's laying on cotton wool because its soft, but i like that the image catches your eye then you have to consider all aspects of the image and maybe question why i have done this. I feel making your audience question your images and why you have done and used what you have make the image a lot more interesting for the photographer and the audience.

Baumans ideas on Identity

 n Identity, a short book based on an email exchange between Zygmunt Bauman and Italian journalist Benedetto Vecchi, the sociologist discusses the question of identity in the context of what he calls 'liquid modernity'. Bauman's thesis, set out in his book of that name (2000), is that we have moved from a solid to a fluid phase of modernity, in which nothing keeps its shape, and social forms are constantly changing at great speed, radically transforming the experience of being human.
The idea of liquid modernity could be seen as Bauman's attempt to resolve the tension that exists in much social theory between explaining social phenomena as aspects of modernity, and accounting for their appearance only recently. After all, the modern condition, with its overturning of tradition, has dominated the past two centuries. Liquid modernity seems perhaps to be the late realisation of a tendency that has characterised modernity from the start. What remains at issue is whether the 'solid' institutions of prior modernity were merely the residue of tradition, or pointed towards a more enduring potential of modernity itself. Most pertinently, is the rational self-determining subject of modernity any more than an illusion that has had its day?

Inevitably, the undermining of familiar institutions, an aspect of modernity that has certainly been intensified in recent years, has had important consequences for people's sense of identity. There is nothing new about the observation that national and class-based identities (both of which had seemed almost definitively modern) have been upset by the end of the Cold War and various other developments discussed under the heading of 'globalisation'. Similarly, Bauman notes that while the workplace was traditionally a very important source of personal identity, changes in the economy have rendered it far less reliable. He suggests that the enduring identities once associated with work have given way to looser and more provisional identities, and conceptions of community, that are subject to constant change and renegotiation. Indeed, Bauman points to a more profound transformation of how we understand what it means to be human in the absence of transcendent ideologies (traditional or otherwise) such as have characterised modernity until recently.

The liquidity of which Bauman writes is nowhere more evident than in his own writing, which, even when not based on email, tends of late to be aphoristic, even whimsical. Reading Liquid Love (2003) is not so much like taking an academic course with Professor Bauman, as being stuck in a lift with him after a particularly well-catered social function, perhaps having set the old man off with an ill-judged confession of new love or a broken heart. 'Ah, love…' Nonetheless, it is in the context of personal relationships (especially what Vecchi quaintly calls 'amorous relationships'), that Bauman is most insightful. What do these represent in the absence of a traditional framework within which to make sense of them. Is there indeed any basis for enduring relationships if we dispense with traditional notions of duty, responsibility and self-sacrifice?

http://www.culturewars.org.uk/2004-02/identity.htm

One section of Baumans writing i imparticulary liked was :

"Nowadays electronically mediated, frail 'virtual totalities', easy to enter and easy to abandon." This has great relevance to the swarm of online communication sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Myspace and even Tumblr, many people hide behind the scenes of their computers speaking to others but never showing their real identity and the screen is almost protection between you and this other individual. You have no loyalty to that person online as you there seems no consequences for online actions as that protection seems to give confidence that many people wouldn't have if the communication was face to face. 

(Identity, Bauman Zygmunt, 1st edition, page 25)

Another quote i'd like to refer back to is one of Andy Hargreaves, professor of education:

"In airports and other public spaces, people with mobile phone headset attachments walk around, talking aloud and alone, like paranoid schizophrenics, oblivious to their immediate surroundings. Introspection is a disappearing act. Faced with moments alone in their cars, on the streets or at the supermarket checkouts, more and more people do not collect their thoughts, but scan their mobile phone messages for shreds of evidence that someone. somewhere, may meed or want them." This explores the idea that there is no time in peoples day to day life for self assessing or reflecting, we seem to fill any free time we have with technology. Technology effects what we are not what we do and who we are this should be something that we develop and reassess are selfs, society is missing this and this is why we aren't progressing as a species as we are focusing on the wrong things in life.

(Identity, Bauman Zygmuny, 1st edition, page 25)

Citizen Photo Journalism

'Surveying the spectrum of photography from the mid-nineteenth century to the present, Photography: A Critical Introductionis the first book to examine key debates in photographic theory and place them in their proper social and political contexts. While most histories of photography invariably focus on the works of the "great photographers," this book is written especially to provide a coherent introduction to the nature of photographic seeing and its personal and cultural significance through history.

Contributors lucidly examine a range of major photographic theories, histories, genres and issues, covering such topics as key debates in photographic theory and history; documentary photography and photojournalism; personal and popular photography; photography and commodity culture; photography and the human body; photography as art; and photography in the age of electronic imaging.

This completely revised and updated second edition includes detailed case studies; key references, biographies of key thinkers, and margin notes; a full glossary of terms, comprehensive end-of-chapter bibliographies, and resource information, including guides to public archives and useful web sites. The lavish illustrations include images by Bill Brandt, Lee Friedlander, Hannah Hoch, Roshini Kempadoo, Dorothea Lange, Lee Miller, Alexander Rodchenko, Jacob Riis, Sebastio Salgado, Andres Serrano and Jo Spence.'
http://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Photography.html?id=b-C0rm6hqG4C&redir_esc=y

"Photography bears witness to the passage of time, but it cannot make statements as to the importance of things at any time, nor is it concerned with "truth and beauty" or with teasing out what underlies appearance. Rather, it voraciously records anything in view."

LIZ WELLS, Photography: A Critical Introduction

       

"In the book, Sontag expresses her views on the history and present-day role of photography in capitalist societies as of the 1970s. Sontag discusses many examples of modern photography. Among these, she contrasts Diane Arbus's work with that of Depression-era documentary photography commissioned by the Farm Security Administration.

She also explores the history of American photography in relation to the idealistic notions of America put forth by Walt Whitman and traces these ideas through to the increasingly cynical aesthetic notions of the 1970s, particularly in relation to Arbus and Andy Warhol.

Sontag argues that the proliferation of photographic images had begun to establish within people a "chronic voyeuristic relation"^[1] to the world around them. Among the consequences of photography is that the meaning of all events is leveled and made equal. This idea did not originate with Sontag, who often synthesized European cultural thinkers with her particular eye toward the United States.

As she argues, perhaps originally with regard to photography, the medium fostered an attitude of anti-intervention. Sontag says that the individual who seeks to record cannot intervene, and that the person who intervenes cannot then faithfully record, for the two aims contradict each other. In this context, she discusses in some depth, the relationship of photography to politics."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/On_Photography


"Photography has become almost as widely practiced an amusement as sex and dancing -- which means that, like every mass art form, photography is not practiced by most people as an art. It is mainly a social rite, a defense against anxiety, and a tool of power."

SUSAN SONTAG, On Photography

How the Internet Changed after 9/11–Citizen Journalism, Social Media and Mobility

by DR. JANET JOHNSON on SEPTEMBER 11, 2011

Journalism After September 11 edited by Barbara Zelizer and Stuart Allan.

http://www.mediarhetoric.com/blog/how-the-internet-changed-after-911-citizen-journalism-social-media-and-mobility

"Today, we can instantly confirm news. We can now confirm with CNN on our mobile app because CNN streams live footage. We can confirm a tweet more easily and we can also check our friend’s Facebook statuses to see what they know. Ten years ago we would have had to make a call on our cell phone to reach a friend to confirm breaking news, but more than likely we would have used a landline.

Smart Phones, Social Media, Mobile Apps were all discovered because someone wanted to fill a need. Maybe 9/11 was the reason because we saw the potential of the Internet. Unfortunately, the Internet could not deliver the results it could today. Ten years taught us that we want information and we want it now. I believe citizen journalism was finally recognised during the 2005 London Bombing attacks when more people had cameras on their cell phones and captured real time chaos that news media could never capture. I like to call these people “accidental journalists.” Accidental journalists are the people who find themselves in a situation they did not expect, but feel the need to share it on their blog, with a news web site or on Twitter."

http://jameselliott92.wordpress.com

Where citizen journalism has its’ many advantages and disadvantages I think the case studies show my hypothesis stands. it has had a gradual development over the decade, from a term barely known before the millennium to now when anybody can step up and report the news just by taking a picture on their phone, e.g.

“you have hundreds of ready citizens to report you not on daily but on hourly basis. This gives unique coverage, breaking news and headlines of most important events anywhere in the world. Without delays and waiting”

(NewsMeBack interview).

On October 24th 2009, more than 5000 communities around the world came together to call for the reduction in carbon levels to the safe spot of 350 parts-per-million in the atmosphere. The effort marks the world's "most widespread day of political action". Participants uploaded videos and images of their demonstrations on crowd-sourced sites Flickr and CitizenGlobal, inspiring major media coverage.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/12/28/best-citizen-journalism-o_n_405195.html?slidenumber=6%2Fr8gXf7dBM%3D&slideshow#slide_image

JANUARY 11, 2013  Pros And Cons Of Citizen Journalism -

Citizen journalism seems to be considered a hindrance by many however welcomed by many others. Citizen journalism can be considered raw and uncensored however this could not be portrayed to the public with the skill of a professional. Some consider the practicality of it serves journalism for the better rather than for the worse whereas some see it as a threat to the media and their future. Some believe that they have a future hand in hand so it is vital to discuss the advantages and disadvantages of citizen journalism to analyse how it has changed and will continue to develop in the future.

Pros

There are considered to be many pros to citizen journalism but the most important probably have to be that it adds a wider berth and colour as it collates information that would not have been placed into the public eye otherwise This can be through a poll, blog or comment, this gives a story a multifaceted view rather than that of the journalist who wrote it.

Social media is enabling a powerful form of citizen journalism with live coverage of events such as hurricane Sandy that allow bursts of information as it is happening.

Cons

The issue with citizen journalism is the professionalism of it but as NewsMeBack states it depends on the person and believes it is an issue with professional journalists too. It is argued that for a good story a journalist needs the skills they could only acquire with training however that is not to say that an ordinary person is not capable of objectively telling us the story. For many, citizen journalism isn’t even an attempt at bettering the media, but simply aiding it to report to the mass media or just to get their opinion out on a public scale and as this is the case it makes the material a good read but also one that is looked at with a great scepticism as a big problem with it seems to be checking the facts, e.g.

“usually citizen journalists record an event and present it to the public, very often without checking all the facts related to the event”

sources - 

INterviews

JANUARY 11, 2013     Interview with Demotix

JANUARY 11, 2013     Interview with Michael Bromley

JANUARY 11, 2013    Interview with NewsMeBack

BOOKS

(Newman, Nic (2009) The rise of social media and its impact on mainstream journalism, Reuters Institute.

(Kelly, John (2009) Red kayaks and hidden gold: the rise, challenge and value of citizen journalism, Reuters Institute).

Other examples of citizen journalism can be found on the topic of:

- Hurricane Sandy Case Study
-   London Riots Case Study
-   Student Protests Case Study
-  London Bombings Case Study
-  9/11 Case Study

Gender Ads Task

www.genderads.com

‘According to usage and conventions which are at last being questioned but have by no means been overcome - men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at’     (Berger 1972)

The image above is an advert thats try's to portrays the ideal woman who like to play video games, with a sleek, slim figure laying in a relaxed sexual pose, this obviously is the mans vision of what some may call the "perfect woman". As well as being laid down on a bed seductively, in her underwear the woman is gazing at the viewer trying to seduce them into the image. The caption on the image "Keep on dreaming of a better world", suggests that this is a fantasy for many men. Also the way the wire is connected to the woman's body almost insinuates that you could play with the woman as if she is a toy and her body and more over could control the woman as you do a game. The ad is suggesting the woman is almost like a machine and can be control, "If a person is represented as a doll, can she have any subjectivity". This statement conveys the idea that the image can be controlled and will play to your commands. This looks at the idea of the man being more dominant and having more power over the women figures. 

Discussion Questions: (1) Culturally, what does the "doll" connote? (2) If a person is represented as a doll, can she have any subjectivity? (3) Are there differences in the ways in which the women as dolls are presented?

http://www.genderads.com/page3/slideshow-5/

"The Look"

Rosalind Coward