The main part of this exercise is to examine the "Washing Up" series of images and consider the questions put by the text.
The series of images have been taken by Nigel Shafran, He deliberately observes and then photographs using objects and subjects that we take for granted, but don’t really stop, examine and observe for example Compost (2008-9).
In compost he uses colours which are opposite on the colour wheel to startle the viewer, as the colours are more commonly seen in flowers, the viewer then stops and observes and examines what the image contains.
Washing Up is a series of images of his kitchen, after the washing up has been finished, but the pots and pans have not yet been put away. The images have been supplemented by short explanatory notes, which detail the food in the meal concerned. As a viewer you take the role of voyeur and are look upon the room and get to note what is going on in his home life. In each image in the series we get to see a different arrangement of dishes and cooking utensils under differing lighting conditions as the days pass.
Along with the colour combinations, Shafran makes great use of composition and framing to give what could be considered mundane, a new and fascinating point of view and an almost zen way of thinking about what is going on around us as we make unconscious changes to our environment.
The exercise asks us to answer a series of questions about Shafran’s work, which I have done below.
Did it surprise you that the Washing Up series was taken by a man? Why?
No, not really. While the task of washing up could be stereotypically assignment as "womens work" the actual task nowadays is either performed by a machine or it is not a gender specific role. As a child, we all took turns washing up and both my parents undertook the task, so for me it is of no real significance that a man took "Washing Up"
In your opinion, does gender contribute to the creation of an image?
It should not. Everyone has ideas that they use photography to explore and examine themselves and their environment; in a lot of cases the creation of the image is gender neutral. However with the rise of the "selfie" and its effect in self portraiture, there are a greater number of female photographers examining the genre, perhaps mainly due to society and the effect on how people are portrayed within society itself.
Outside of self portrait, it appears that gender does contribute, especially in advertising where women are mainly portrayed as objects to be viewed and desired. This has had the affect of providing incentive for other groups (LBGT, disabled, minorities) to use photography to express themselves and get a message out into society in general in an attempt to balance the scales and show that they exist.
What does this series achieve by not including people?
It allows us to focus on the small changes within the kitchen and creates a world for us the viewer to take our time and examine the colour, composition and framing. It makes us think about our own kitchens and what changes we make within it without thinking. It also makes us think about our other activities and what we do there unconsciously.
Do you regard them as interesting ‘still life’ compositions?
Yes I do, like many still life compositions there is a variance in colour, shape and form that make me want to look around the composition and view it from another angle.
This has been an interesting exercise as it has started to made me think of a photograph as object in and of itself, and how this changes the way I look at an image.
References
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