silent voice

September already...

September already and August is a thing of the past...
I didn't receive the RPS bursary (Hasselblad plans on hold again!) but after hassling twice very politely for some feedback they told me that my submission was among one of the strong candidates with a well presented and coherent body of work. So not all bad then and definately useful feedback going forward for next time.

Term 1 essay arrived back in my inbox. Judging from the amount of comments (all extremely useful) I wasn't expecting to do very well at all but it turns out I did! I am not used to receiving a relatively high mark which focuses on all negative feedback-but I can instantly see how this is way more useful than receiving a good mark and good comments-where would you go from there? All in all I am pleased. I haven't written an academic piece of work for 2.5 years and its the first term- surely things can only go up from here - hope?!

Off to Perpignan tomorrow
Really pleased I am going now. Just read this survival guide which was really interesting: http://www.photojournalism.co.uk/2009/08/perpignan-survival-guide.html
I was wondering what to bring as a portfolio. I have been collating work I shot in Kenya last year into a photoessay and am pleased with what I have. So concentrating on this one piece this will be the piece I bring in a small portfolio along with my book about an asylum seeker- silent voice.
I am also glad that I will be camping with some of the other LCC people. It sounds as though Perp. is somewhere you would do well to escape from every now and then over the week. Looking forward to meeting all the virtual lccmapjd'ers! See ya there...

Insh’Allah, Moroccan Stories - About this work

Insh'Allah, Moroccan Stories
(Insh’Allah means God willing. It is said by all Moroccans repeatedly in conversations. Particularly used when making arrangements to so something in the future. It is a gesture towards the power of Allah overseeing individuals’ daily lives.)

Subject and methodology/approach
I went to Morocco having tentatively set up some shoots with a group of young
Muslim Moroccan men (in their mid 20's). I wasn't exactly sure which locations I was going to shoot in but had plans to photograph in their houses and possibly their work places or where they hung out/spent time. My initial idea for the photo essay was to produce a piece of work which penetrated beneath the surface of Morocco and engaged with the culture, people and country. I suppose I wanted to come back with something that no one had seen before, avoiding the usual visual stereotypes (which are actually difficult to avoid when you are in such a picturesque country with such amazing natural light). In focusing on the 'ordinary person', I would attempt to make captivating images which communicated with the audience and portrayed something remarkable and memorable. I planned to present my 3 subjects with a series of questions designed to help me understand them more and record their answers whilst photographing these interactions between us. The questions would relate to their culture, religion, country, and outlook on life amongst other topics which would occur naturally in the conversation. I was influenced by Broomberg and Chanarin's Ghetto project where they asked a series of set questions to different people from a variety of 'Ghettos'. I knew my images would depend on what I found out during my sessions with each of my subjects.

Aims, objectives, concept
Part I: In the beginning…

What I was trying to do initially with my Morocco work was to start to create an ‘archive’ (I am not sure that is the right word now) as a response to cultural stereotypes and the suppression of difference. My archive would start off with an examination of 3 individuals I would talk to, interview and photograph. I would collect what I saw and heard then re-represent my findings in a format which expressed them. I felt that there was both a conceptual and journalistic potential to my idea. My strategy was to gather as much information as possible and shoot in a variety of situations. One of my interests lies in exploring the ‘language’ of documentary photography and how as a photographer I can adapt/invent/use a visual approach where various ‘types’ of shots (portraits, still life, environments) are used as well as to record interviews and interweave these in the final work. Attempting to break stereotypes of culture and national identity I didn’t want to make ‘point’ pictures but wanted the set to have a cohesive vision.
My subjects would be asked to respond to the following questions:
Are you a Moroccan first or a Muslim?
Where in the world would you like to go to and why?
What are the pressures you feel from your society?
What ideologies do foreigners have about Moroccans? Are these wrong?
What ideologies do you have about foreigners?
Which traditions do you adopt from Moroccan culture and from Islam?
What are your ambitions?
Focusing on 3 'ordinary people' I intended to make captivating, remarkable and memorable images, aiming to portray ordinary life in an extraordinary way. One of my key interests lies in exploring issues surrounding cultural diversity and representation.

Part II: On the road…

I began to respond conceptually to my own brief. During shoots I focused my attention on responding in unobvious ways to the environment and subjects within it. Predominantly I was doing this through extreme cropping and framing. Decisions I made around what to include in the frame were as important as what I would exclude as was the juxtaposition of each of the elements within the frame. The phrase ‘I am at war with the obvious’ comes to mind (Eggleston). I didn’t want to fall back on the idea of having to place the subject/object in the centre of the frame for example- that would only contribute to the stereotypes I was trying to displace since this is an obvious and accepted way to present a subject/object. However, I did shoot some more conventionally framed shots as felt these might work to juxtapose the majority of what I was shooting depending on how I use them in the final piece.

Moving on from this I want to make the point that the stereotype is a pointless and ultimately useless representation of someone if the aim is to understand him or her better. Instead I would argue that individuals have multiple, even fragmented identities. Visually I have attempted to mirror these notions of fragmentation to produce ambiguous, arresting images whilst simultaneously I will juxtapose the visual with the verbal. Verbally my subjects discussed the complexities of belonging to a culture and religion. Their responses to my questions highlight the ambiguities of trying to surmise ones cultural identity and reveal the disparities between how people feel and how others perceive them to be.

Thoughts on context, medium, form, presentation

Part III: Moving forward…

I amassed a lot of images and sound. One avenue I pursued was to create a conceptual piece presenting images of the fragmented, multifarious individuals with voice-overs as a multi media piece. I explored a range of media in an attempt to produce new and original work.

After producing several versions of a multimedia piece (applying this concept) I decided that this wasn’t the way the project was leading so left this for the moment.

I began to work seriously on book layouts. Allowing these images the white spaces of a page allows me to make connections between various sets of images and also conveys a sense of the fragmented narrative which is exactly what the conceptual idea of this piece is about. Also, I could use different layouts to make a comment on the imagery so that more traditionally framed images would sit centrally within the page whereas unconventional shots would have an unconventional layout. This would create a tension between the expected and the unexpected.

The text adds a parallel narrative allowing the subjects voices to interweave within the physical spaces they inhabit.

Insh'Allah - Extended Photo Essay - Images by Amelia Shepherd

Insh’Allah is a journey into Fes. Beyond its impressive, ancient, and medieval walls I found a group of young Moroccans as intrigued in me as I was in them. I asked them questions, methodically recorded their responses and photographed our interactions: Are you a Moroccan first or a Muslim? Where in the world would you like to go to and why? What ideas do foreigners have about Moroccans? What ideologies do you have about foreigners? The resulting work is a conceptual yet journalistic response to these encounters. In allowing those I photographed to drive the narrative forward Insh’Allah resists being a collection of cultural stereotypes. Insightful extracts of these dialogues are interspersed with photographs revealing the disparities between how people feel and how others perceive them to be. The images and spaces of the pages allow for a freedom to interpret, digest and explore personal responses to cultural representation. The fragmented narrative is stylistically harmonious reflecting the realism of lived experience creating tensions between the expected and the unexpected. Insh’Allah is a photo story about real people. Grounded in the realms of reality it connects the individuals of the story with their audience conveying the ambiguities and misconceptions we all encounter when attempting to understand ‘each-other’.

Gilles Peress, Telex Iran

Essays and photo essays...

I have been absorbed over the past few week with my Morocco Photo Essay as well as my essay on Gilles Peress. I have found the research I have been doing on Gilles Peress really fascinating. I just wish that he had been available for an interview at some point but it's a bad time for him at the moment and he said (via Heidi) that he wouldn't have been able to help me even a month ago as has been away. Maybe next time. It's just that there isn't an awful lot out there on him. I guess that's not a negative thing it just means I can really get stuck into what there is. His interview from the Conversations with History series was especially revealing about who he his, his methodologies, his outlook, concepts and so on. I feel very engaged with some of his theories about photography-that it's an 'open text', that it operates in a language of it's own that is started by the author-photographer and completed by the recipient-viewer. Telex Iran tears me part each time I look at it. I think it is an amazing body of work and charged with such power. The more I look at it the more it speaks to me.

Morocco Photo Essay

Looking at the above image by Peress and looking through many of images as I have been over the past few weeks, I cannot say how, but he seems to have influenced some of my concepts about framing & composition I have adopted in my most recent Morocco Photo Essay. I am not sure how this has happened. But I feel certain that he has now that I have researched more about his work and methodologies. I first looked at his amazing powerful work on the Iran revolution of 1979 Telex Iran about 4-5 years ago and only recently picked it up again about 1 month ago which is after I returned from my Morocco shoots. I can accept that things we see, read and feel have a subliminal effect on us that perhaps surfaces in some other aspect of our lives at some other time. Peress' images seem to manifest multiple decisive moments in one frame. He is not interested in just one single moment but in what else is occuring in and around the camera lense. In some ways his abrupt, close to the edge cropping actually communicates the limitations of capturing 'life in one frame' whilst simultaneously embodying the concept of the simultaneity of life...

Evaluating my Morocco Photo Essay

This project was all about exploring issues surrounding cultural diversity and represenation. Through a network of smaller photo stories I am attempting to reveal something about a culture as a whole. I am attempting to communicate these ideas to my audience through the format I have chosen so that the viewer is encouraged to see correlations and links between themselves and those whom are I am attempting to represent at some level. I would explore this idea by employing a range of developed methodologies.

I aimed to extend this into the production phase of my work by exploring and employing a broad range of media to try and produce new and original work

An underlying focus in my work is to attempt to give those without a voice a chance to speak and be heard. I am committed to collaborating at some level with my subjects whilst simultaneously building and maintaining a respectuful relationship with them.