Behind the Portrait

GALLERY VISIT – September 30th 2017
‘Behind the Portrait’
Various photographers

Gulf Photo Plus (GPP) hosts a community show every year, and the subject for the 2017 show (which has just opened here in Dubai) is portraiture. The concept is however both intriguing and profoundly apt to my coursework at the moment. The brief for submission to this show was to include a short write up of the ‘meaning’ behind the image. The concept is in response to the over-saturation of imagery that we are subjected to in every day life, all with little in the way of substance, “This abundance of imagery, and the fleeting moments with which we consume it, can cause us to lose sight of the story and the emotions behind each image.” (GPP, 2017). This show features the work of 38 different photographers, with images shot across a wide array of locations.

The timing of this exhibition couldn’t have been better, as I am about to embark on ‘The Language of Light’ and there is opportunity to work on portraits as part of the course work / assignment. I have also only just begun to introduce a greater depth of meaning within my work, so this exhibition almost seemed too good to be true.

There are a range of images within this show, as would be expected with curating the work of 38 different photographer’s work. One thing that stood out for me throughout the body of work, was the role of gender. And of course. The dominance of Middle Eastern / Muslim photographers will perhaps always yield such results.

Working my way round the exhibition, a few of the write-ups felt disappointingly like a description rather than an insightful meaning. However, most of the meanings were specific to gender and their subsequent role in society. Likewise, many were specific to place, with strong socio-cultural influence. There was little in the way of surprise between the written and the visual, however the details and descriptions were thought-provoking, offering the perspective of someone else’s life, desires or hardships.

 

I came away with the notion that there can be a deeply profound meaning behind a relatively simple image. The connection does not always need to be overtly apparent. The emphasis is on importance and relevance to your concept, regardless if the next person deems it insignificant.

Reference:

GPP. 2017. Behind the Portrait. [ONLINE] Available at: http://gulfphotoplus.com/exhibitions/40/Behind-the-Portrait. [Accessed 30 September 2017].

OCA Dubai

Today was a special day. I met up with a fellow OCA student, Ginny, who also lives in Dubai. It was fantastic to be able to hang out with a fellow student and talk about the course and what we find hard or challenging. She is slightly ahead of me in the course, so it’s great to get some guidance and reassurance.

It’s hard doing any distance learning, however when you are in a completely different country from the majority of the students and are unable to join in on any of the study visits or meet ups, it’s infinitely harder. There are also additional challenges from living in a Muslim country / the U.A.E., that perhaps only a fellow resident could understand or appreciate.

So we are going to have our own study trips and social gatherings! And who knows, maybe student numbers will increase in this region over time. But for now, it’s good to have a student friend.

The First of Many?

So I finally took the plunge and got my favourite image from Assignment Two: Collecting printed out and framed. Large. Its around a metre wide and is now hanging in my bedroom. You can even see my reflection in the glass; that’s me taking a picture of a picture I have taken.

The B-side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography

I recently watched a documentary on Netflix by film maker Errol Morris, on Elsa Dorfman.

Dorfman is a portrait photographer who found her favoured medium during the 1970s, in the form of a large format instant polaroid camera. She essentially based her entire career on shooting portraits in her studio on the same camera with very little variation in composition. She occasionally shot on 40×80, but tended to stick to 20×24 format. The camera itself was rather large and cumbersome, so would have been difficult to move around. She always shot against a white infinity background, from time to time trialling red. As I watched, I was reminded of the text within EYV regarding ‘ideas’ and how one idea can span an entire career, “What is a ‘good idea’? Probably a good idea shouldn’t be too obvious or derivative. Maybe, in the final analysis, you only need one good idea to sustain a whole career in photography“ (Bloomfield, 2014). In the case of Elsa Dorfman, this is entirely true.

But now, since the decline of Polaroid, firstly in 2001 then the bankruptcy of it’s re-established self in 2008, Elsa finds herself without her much loved equipment to work with. The documentary focuses on the path her career took, reminiscing of her role as a photographer in the era of a male-dominated space. She is an inspiration.

The documentary is primarily shot in Elsa’s studio as she looks back through her archive of work which she jokingly refers to as ‘the rejects’. She always shot two pictures for her clients, and they would choose their favourite, leaving Elsa with the lesser liked alternative. She likens the less popular images to that of the B-side of records, when vinyl was the only vehicle for music.

The documentary utilises archive footage of Dorfman from throughout her career. She has an honesty and charm that I find nothing short of admirable. Unlike many contemporary portrait photographers, Dorfman had a very practical approach to her work, citing that she never searched for emotion or hidden depths in her sitters, “I’m really interested in the surfaces of people, I am totally not interested in capturing their souls.” (Errol Morris, 2016). This notion is perhaps conducive with both the era and equipment being used. I wonder if nowadays Dorman’s style of photography would not stand out in the image-obsessed era that we live in. When questioned further about her subjects she is brutally honest, stating that she is only responsible for the technical part of making the portrait, and not the expression or styling of the subject, “you are responsible for how you look in front of my camera […] if this is what you’re giving me, then this is what you’re gonna get back”. (Errol Morris, 2016). And of course, there is truth in her statement. A photographer’s role is to capture the moment, to capture what is present in front of the camera at that moment in time. If that happens to coincide with a bad hair day, then that’s what will be captured.

References

Rob Bloomfield. (2014) Expressing Your Vision, Barnsley, Open College of the Arts

Errol Morris. (2017). The B-side: Elsa Dorfman’s Portrait Photography. [Online Video]. 1 July 2016. Available from: https://www.netflix.com/title/80145699. [Accessed: 1 September 2017].