World Press Photo 10 - exhibition at Scottish Assembly, Edinburgh

I visited this exhibition whilst in Edinburgh last month. In total contrast to the visual pleasures of the Edward Weston photographs, many of these photographs show dreadful scenes. As expressed by the judges of the competition "all jury members shared a stark feeling of how little of the worlds sorrow we were actually able to absorb, faced with 101,960 competing images. It was if the intensity of the drama had a paralyzing visual effect, because it was so often repeated."

I chose to avoid the most shocking photographs and selected a few of the photographs which drew my attention for their composition. (Note that I have created names for these photos myself for the purposes of this blog as no titles are given in the exhibition.)

Glaciologists, Greenland by Nick Cobbing UK

This is a photograph using colour accent in a very effective manner. In this photograph, a melt water "river" starts at the bottom right of the frame and winds away into the opposite top corner across a snow covered glacier. The water is very translucent so that details of the glacier underwater are clearly visible. The water is medium blue, and some distance away are two very small bright red canoes. These contain the glaciologists measuring the melt rates of the glacier. This photograph was presumably taken from an aircraft on wide angle. The intense red of the kayaks contrasts very strongly with the lighter blue water drawing the viewers eye to these tiny figures in the landscape.

Starlings over Rome by Paolo Patrizi

The subject is similar to "Starling Wave" by Danny Green that was a prize winner in the Nature Photographer of the Year 2009 exhibition. Also in black and white, the visual effect in this case is even more abstract. No ground is visible to anchor the scene. There is just a complex of spirals and fractal forms emanating from a central area rather like a negative of the Milky Way.

Bedding left out to dry by the homeless by Pierre-Olivier Deschamps

The photograph shows some pillars in the pavement of the Champs Elysees in Paris, three of which have been draped with sleeping bags or blankets of someone living on the streets. I believe that the picture stands out visually because of the repetition of the shapes of the three pillars and as a result of the treatment of colour:

- Each piece of bedding has been draped into a similar shape, but at first it seems impossible to understand what are these objects and why are they so neatly arranged.

- The blanket on the middle pillar is a mid-orange colour, but virtually everything else in the frame is in shades of grey.

There are clues to what is happening in the doorway in the background. There is some cardboard and a plastic bag, but no-one is visible. This is a picture where the viewer is presented with a mystery to unravel, and where the clues are shown in the frame if one looks hard enough.

Body of alleged drug dealer by Guillermo Arias

I think that this photograph attracted my attention from a distance because of the chiaroscuro lighting. Looking more closely, it gradually becomes clear that the white sheet over the central chair is covering a body. More grimly, there is a splatter of blood on the wall behind.

Many of the press photographs of violent events in the exhibition grabbed attention because of the shock of seeing such explicit scenes, more than their visual qualities. This, on the contrary, is one where the visual qualities of the photograph lead the viewer to look more closely and subsequently grasp the nature of the violent event being portrayed.

It also interested me that empty chairs are a relatively common subject in photography exhibitions and competitions. Sometimes it is only their physical structure that is significant as in the following photograph that I took a few years ago:-

In other examples, the purpose seems more symbolic for example the interior photographs by Susan Geen FRPS that were included in an exhibition of photographs by Atrium Photography in Guildford a few months ago. Her photographs are interior settings of chairs and screens draped stylishly with discarded clothes left by absent occupants. The photographs are printed quite small so that it is necessary to stand close to see them properly. Together the effect is rather voyeuristic as if seeing something intimate about the people who are not present.

Conclusions

Press photography shows us some realities of the world that I normally would not wish to see or to accept. (To be fair, there are several photographs that show realities that are extraordinary and marvelous.) Few of the subjects would be considered attractive visually, but it seems to me that the photographic skills learned on this course used primarily to present the world in an attractive light are equally effective in recording such terrible events and situations. A still photograph can be as powerful as video as it allows a more profound emotional effect as there is some silence and stillness.