Society

The term ‘society’ means:

“The aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community.” - Oxford Dictionary

This topic is argued to have many sub-topics as there are many more themes that can be explored in this category; for example, stereotypes in society, social issues or different cultures can all be different aspects of society. In this project, the main aim is to compare society and explore the different cultures that can be present in one society. Over the years, there have been a diversity of well-known photographers, who have explored the theme of society in their work, producing snapshots that represent communities and its’ way of life. As years have gone by, photographers have been able to capture a shift in time, showing viewers how society has changed and allow them to pick out differences between modern society and society from 10 years ago. Through these photographs of society, we are able to compare our communities with others, enabling us to study as well as explain the changes that have taken place. Photographs of society have been extremely crucial for historians or sociologists, as they rely on some of these photographs to act as evidence of how society was like years ago. It is safe to say that photographing society is necessary in order to allow our community to be studied and give us the chance to understand the world we live in as well as look at how it has evolved. I picked this topic because I wanted to explore the medium of photography as a means of documenting social issues – I want to do this by researching a range of photographers, exploring their approach to documenting the social concerns of their era.                                                                                                                                                                     

From the earliest developments in photography in the late 18th century, photography concerning society has played a significant role in recording the everyday life of communities and has been an effective means of communicating social and political concerns to a wider audience. Documentary portraiture, when showing individuals in society, was limited by the film sensitivity of wet collodion plates, hence the earliest photographs documenting location rarely had people in it.

An example is this image from Roger Fenton taken during the Crimean War 1854. Collodion plates were too slow to capture movement during this time so capturing the action happening in the war was incredibly hard. Instead, Fenton captured the aftermath and manipulated the scene to show the action that was taking place when the battle was happening. The black and white element of the picture, however, gives it a more serious, depressing look. The element of lines found in this photograph guides the viewers through the picture, allowing them to travel through the valley and noticing all the details as they go along.

Portraits were often created with subjects having to hold a pose for several seconds, hence why the subjects often looked very formal and expressionless. However, as time went on and photography progressed, film speeds got faster, giving photographers the ability to capture moods, expressions and the atmosphere in a particular portrait.

The migrant mother is a perfect example of this; taken in 1936 during the Great Depression, this picture has become an icon, representing the struggles families had to go through during this hard time. Viewers can see the subject has a concerned facial expression, showing how anxious she is – this is emphasised through her furrowed eyebrows, giving out the impression that she is worried. This creates intimacy between her and the viewers, allowing them to feel sorry for her. The composition of the picture is very well thought of, with the boys around the mother; they are hiding their faces and are clearly in some sort of distress but the mother seems to be too concerned to comfort them.

With the development of more light sensitive film in the early 20th century, during the time of Dorothea Lange, and digital in the late 20th century, photographers have become more mobile and able to capture the mood and expression of the subject. A famous photographer around this time was Joel Meyerowitz, who was exceptionally good at capturing expressions and using them to his advantage, producing candid images of society. Meyerowitz did not hesitate to add tone and vibrant colour to his work, highlighting expressions and drawing the viewers to them.

This is a great example of his work - there are many ambiguous symbols that could represent many different ideas and messages that are thought to be given out from the picture. For instance, the 'black' man has a big smile on his face, whereas the other subject has a grumpier look; this could be symbolic of how much happiness one subject has and how much the other lacks. Although one of the subjects is wearing a suit and seems all dressed up and perhaps even wealthy, the other seems happier. In contrasting black and white, rich and poor, perhaps Meyerowitz is communicating social and political issues in relation to belonging and otherness. This could be argued to show that money cannot buy you happiness as this is shown through the expressions, which have been highlighted by the use of colour and shadows. In contrast, this picture could have a completely different meaning and could show some sort of mental illness rather than explore the idea of wealth being connected to happiness. The smile of the subject's face could be an indication of an unstable mind and could represent his mental state. The posture he is showing further supports this and it is also highlighted through the other subject who is looking at him in a concerned way, guarded and somewhat uncomfortable. The dog can also be interpreted as a guide dog, who helps the man with his daily routine as he is not able to do it by himself. This can be symbolic of individuals in a community, who are mentally unstable and are considered to have mental problems but are looked down upon by those who have a higher status and more wealth.

This is another example of Joel Meyerowitz's work; it symbolises the greed that society has slowly started to show. Once again, there is great use of colour being used in the picture, as he has included colours which contrast and compliment each other - due to the blurry background, the viewer is made to focus on the subject only. However, by adding the yellow vehicle in the back, some of the viewer's attention is brought to the surroundings and the scene. This is a very clever way of dividing the viewer's attention, while ensuring that most of it is still on the subject. The angle of the picture is also very good as it only shows the upper body of the lady and not her hands, this has been done because it makes the subject look out of place in the scene - the viewer cannot see if her hands are occupied or not so the fact that she is holding her money in the mouth seems unusual, which gives the viewer the impression that money has become a big part of society.

Most photographers capture aspects of society in their work, although they have not set out to do this. They do this by capturing subjects and showing their emotions and personality, by doing this; some photographers explore different personalities in society. An example of this is the photographer named Lee Jeffries; he is a very famous photographer, well known for his portraits. However, by producing his portraits and capturing particular personalities and emotions, he shows his viewers what kind of individuals live in a society and how they all differ or are similar to each other.

For example, in this image, Jeffries has used a close up to really show the details on his subject’s face. Normally, his pictures are black and white but he occasionally adds some colour to his work – by doing this, he brightens up the picture, making it more appealing and attractive to his viewers. Jeffries is very good at using facial expressions on his subjects, and these expressions always match the clothing or the physical state that his subjects are in. For example, in this particular image, it is clear that the subject is dirty; Jeffries has manipulated the lighting in such a way that the viewers can see the dirt under the subject’s nails and the dirt on her face, almost creating a shadow effect on her skin, with the dirt creating false shadows. From this, the viewer can conclude that the subject is poor, as she cannot look after herself and take a shower. The unkempt appearance of the subject is evident in her unwashed, grimy appearance with the photographer capturing her fingernails cradling her anguish ridden face. It is evident that she looks disengaged or perhaps even ashamed at herself, knowing that she looks dirty. Her hands have been placed under the chin deliberately to show even more dirt and to show her emotions. This is further emphasised by her clothing; Lee Jeffries has made sure that only some of her clothing is shown to highlight how unclean she is as her clothes has clearly not been changed for a long time. Jeffries has also included shadows in this image, all around the subject’s face, giving the picture a vignette look. This approach draws the attention of the viewer to the subject’s face and her expressed emotions stop the photograph from looking plain and adds a sort of mysterious atmospheric feel to it, the cropped shot on the subject’s face and hand limits the viewer’s comprehension to their emotional state without disclosing the environment in which she lives.

This is another image produced by Lee Jeffries; this one is in black and white, preventing the viewer from being distracted by the colours. It is also black and white because this picture could be argued to be symbolic of deprivation, showing how she lacks certain materials and is struggling to survive. The subject looks sad and her big eyes are staring outwards to connect with the viewer. This approach was intended by the photographer in order to connect with the subject at an emotional level and to engender sympathy. The blurred background stops the viewer from seeing the environment the subject is in, leaving it to their imagination – this is a common technique in Jeffries’ work, he uses shallow depth of field as a means of keeping the attention on the subject by blurring the background detail. This style can be relevant to the project I am working on as it will allow my work to show a connection between my subject's personality and the society they live in.

Society can be explored in numerous ways, and has been over the years. Through the use of portraiture, landscapes, close ups, buildings and so on - society has been represented differently each time. It can be portrayed negatively as well as positively, depending on which angles or scenes are used. Lee Jeffries is known for portraying society in a negative way and highlighting social concerns but there have been a diversity of other photographers who have illustrated society in a positive light, such as Seymour Templar, who is very good at capturing couples kissing and people on their phones, both alone and with each other, showing socialisation in today’s society. Compared to Lee Jeffries work, Templar is less formal with his composition of pictures; Jeffries includes a lot of the formal elements in his work, such as shadows, colour and form, whereas Templar doesn't - he just captures the picture how it is, without manipulating much in the scene. This is evident when looking at both their work, it is obvious that Jeffries spends more time adjusting the frame, when Templar spends more time exploring the different scenes he can capture with minimal manipulation.

The lighting used in the image is very dim, but the light from the phone screen is focused directly on the faces of the subjects, directing the viewer’s attention to that part of the picture. It is clear that the subjects are very happy and having a good time, showing how people communicate and spend time together in their community. His work contains mobile phones, once again, putting emphasis on what society is made up of today, showing the growing trend of owning a mobile.

Over time, there is no doubt that society has changed – year after year, new technologies have been invented and new norms and values have been adopted. This change can be seen through the work of photographers, who have captured society in their images. Seymour Templar has been capturing people on their phones, which show a huge difference to a photographer who would have captured society 50 years ago, where mobile phones did not exist. He also captures people kissing; once again, this would not have been the case as kissing in public rarely happened, whereas today, it is a normal and regular thing that people do. Photographers allow us to view these changes and compare them, opening our eyes and enable us to understand a time where society was extremely different and abnormal to us. Photographers such as Sally Mann, photographed family life during the 1960s and through her work, shows how society viewed the whole idea of ‘being a family’ and how siblings interacted within rural America. She was very good at depicting relationships between family members and showing their closeness and emotions towards each other. However, when looking at family pictures now, it seems almost staged, as if the photographer has asked them to act happy with each other and show how close they are. On the other hand, with Mann’s pictures, she would photograph families naturally, experimenting and exploring their relationships first hand.

In this picture, Sally Mann has decided for her subjects to be without any clothing – this not unusual in her work, by doing this, she shows a natural connection and highlights a passionate relationship. This skin-to-skin contact is recurring in her work, showing closeness, love and passion between the family members. This makes her work very personal and allows the viewer to create a bond with her subjects, understanding their emotions and their relationship. The subjects chosen are her husband and her children; this highlights the passion and the unity in this image. Her work is also sepia most of the time, preventing the viewer from getting distracted and focus only on the content and the relationships that are in the photograph. The controversy of exposing intimate photographs of her subjects has been argued to give the picture a surreal look; this is because during this time, the audience did not expect this and saw it as extreme. This gives her picture a unique mark and allows her viewers to automatically recognise her work - due to its unusual nudity, the audience feel uncomfortable and feel as though they shouldn't be looking at the picture as it's such a sensitive and delicate matter. This sensitivity can be useful for my project as it can portray personal emotions and highlight their importance.

In this project, I have tried using similar techniques to some photographers I have looked at; I noticed that they all have one thing in common - they all try to capture their subjects in a very natural way in order to show a more authentic representation of them in society. I have tried applying this idea to my work when looking at culture by not letting my subjects know that they are being photographed; by doing this, I prevented them from altering any actions or facial expressions just for the picture.

This is an example of a picture I took in Southall - it shows culture through the headwear that they have, showing different traditions and a different religion. I have chosen to include the red bus to represent London and emphasis the fact that there are other cultures in the same society that we live in, showing diversity and exploring the idea of stereotypes. I decided to photograph the back of my subjects as they walked so that their headwear can be seen clearly; the fact that they are walking highlights the naturalistic element of the picture as it shows them going on with their normal routine and not paying attention to me photographing them. This shows a true snapshot of society and puts emphasis on the different cultures that can be found.

Another picture in which I have tried to capture people in is this one. This time I was in front of my subjects so that I could capture their facial expressions as they go by their day. By doing this, I opened up the subjects so that the viewer can see them clearly and connect with them, understanding their emotions. 

New technologies being developed everyday mean photography as a whole is also developing; with new concepts such as 3D images, there is no doubt that new techniques and methods are going to become more consistent. When the theme of society is concerned, there will most definitely be a shift in time as photographs will start to show the chance in technology through the content of the picture as well as the way in which the picture was taken. Cameras have also adapted this new 'auto' setting, where photographers do not need to set the aperture or the shutter speed, it becomes more of a preference than a compulsory thing to do before taking a picture - cameras can now detect the lighting through sensors and decide which settings are best for the particular scene. This will have a huge impact on the type of pictures that are taken of society, it can be both positive and negative - photographers do not have the problem of limiting their work due to the lack of light; the camera can easily adjust itself so that it can clearly capture the scene. However, this 'auto' setting will mean that photographs lose their vintage look, making them more vibrant and bright. Once again, this allows the photographs to show the change in technology as society develops and shows the progress that cameras are making.

In conclusion, the theme of society has been portrayed throughout years by a numerous amount of photographers, who were all determined in documenting society at that particular moment of time. Projects such as 'girl culture' by Lauren Greenfield or 'urban life' by Simon Wheatley allows the public to become aware of their society and understand both the struggles and emotions of individuals they meet on a daily basis but simply do not notice. 

This is an example of Wheatley’s work, when he did a project called ‘Don’t call me urban’. This project explores young men who have been influenced by friends and are involved in gangs. I have done a similar shoot to his after being inspired by his images – Wheatley picks his subjects and makes them look rough with facial expressions that show a lack of hope and apathy. This represents individuals who are affected by gang life and are try to make themselves look ‘hard’ – in this image, the element of shadows has been used to achieve this.

This is one of my pictures from my ‘urban life’ shoot – it’s very similar to Wheatley’s as I did this shoot based on his work. Although I haven’t included the face of my subject’s like Wheatley does with his subjects, I used a low angle to show how the emotions of my subject; the low angle makes his look taller and more powerful than he really is. This represents young men, who live in an urban culture as they believe they must be powerful and have control over their estates.

Being inspired by these photographers, I aim to create symbolic images, which represent the community we live in and compare the different cultures as well as social classes that can be found.