Yangtze - The Long River by Nadav Kander

This book was Xmas present which seemed particularly appropriate as a subject for study for this part of the course. Nadav Kander was awarded the Prix Pictet for this project, which is a prize for Photography and Sustainability.

He travelled from the mouth of the Yangtze, which is near Shanghai up to the source in the vicinity of Tibet over a period of three years from 2006 to 2009 with the aim of charting the consequences of China's economic development. The environmental effect of development on the water quality, environment and the natural terrain have been significant. In the introduction, Kofi Annan former Director General of UN noted the paradox between the beauty of the photographs and the scenes of damage done.

In the artist's notes included at the back of the book, he notes that he had no intention of making a documentary, but his photography was influenced by what he perceived as the mistakes of humanity and the helplessness of individuals.

The foreword, written by Jean-Paul Tchang, gives some background on the significance of the river both in symbolic terms as well as cultural history. Symbolically, the immensity of the river has conveyed a sense of melancholy - the inexorable flow of water and time. Historically, the river represents both happiness and tragedy - a supply of plentiful water for irrigating agricultural land, but also a history of devastating floods and a succession of bloody battles for political control. He makes a point that the ephemeral nature of the photograph is particularly suitable as a means of evoking a sense of loss and nostalgia for what is no more.

A small selection of the photographs are shown on Prix Pictet website and a larger selection on the artists website.

Observations

There are 76 photographs in the book, grouped into four sections of the river moving progressively from "The Mouth", passing through "Upstream", "The Flooding" until the final section of "The Upper Reaches". The photographs are displayed one to a page on a white background, with just the title and an image number on the opposite page. The titles state little more than the location. The viewer is accordingly left to discover the pictures purely on their visual content. At the back of the book, the artist provides brief notes on each picture and the circumstances in which some of these were taken.

The photographs are all in horizontal format and in colour. What is notable however from early on in the sequence is the lack of bright colours. Bright colour is used sparingly in just a few photographs e.g. a line of turquoise blue trucks lined up (photograph 13 in the book), orange uniforms drying on the balconies of an apartment block (photograph 8 in the book).

In most of the photographs, the sky, the ground and river are "muddy" colours. Furthermore, the atmospheric visibility is extremely poor which means that the horizon and background are mostly hidden by the murky light.

Looking at the non-advertising work shown on the artists website, the main themes of his work would seem to be portraits (especially faces and hands), photographs of people and interiors, and some landscape projects. He seems to make the use of muted colours a feature of many of these photographs with bluish skin colours in several portraits. His portfolio of photographs of desert scenes in Jordan are also unusual in the absence of bright skies which are characteristic of desert areas. The Jordanian sky seems to take on the earth colours of the sand and rocks. It left me with a small doubt to what extent the consistent foggy atmosphere shown in the Yangtze photographs was a result of selection by the artist in compiling the portfolio.

Many of the photographs include people or indications of their existence. They are almost always small figures underneath vast skies or huge manmade structures. The artist notes that he was influenced by the scenery to stand back from figures to portray their helpless position as individuals.

Except for the upper reaches of the river, he is often photographing the drabness and ugliness of construction sites, during the demolition and building phases. There are just a couple of photographs where areas of agriculture are included, and these are clearly being encroached by construction work. In the upper reaches of the river, he does find some vegetation, but the plants appear brown and there is a sense of decay. The relatively low level of inhabitants in the upper reaches of the river means that he does find some open spaces. However, the barren terrain means that there is virtually no vegetation. Human development is nevertheless visible even in these remote regions.

There are a number of photographs which are highly ironic: a derelict "monument to progress and prosperity", a broad unpaved street with unattractive shop houses down both sides is the supposed location of "Shangri La". This may reflect the humour used in some of his advertising work.

Conclusion

The portfolio of photographs in this book create a disturbing feeling of depression in the future of humanity.

The fact that this project won the Prix Pictet should indicate that the view portrayed is reasonably accurate of the situation in China at that time. It would be interesting to see the work of other photographers at some of these locations today to see whether the photographs in this book are a picture of a transitional situation, which by now has some positive aspects. Maybe I just find it difficult to accept such a dark view of development in China.

There are many things to learn from this prize winning portfolio of photographs in relation to communicating a message through photography.

Guildford Photosoc - competitions 2010-11

In December 2010 and January 2011 I have submitted photos to three club competitions.

Digital competition No. 3

Acer leaves

I took this photograph in the RHS gardens at Wisley for the TAOP exercise on Cloudy Weather and Rain.

I thought that it would be a suitable subject for a competition due to the vibrant colour and use of shallow depth of field to isolate this small group of leaves. Whilst the judge liked the colour and the use of depth of field, he considered that the alignment of the leaves was too close to vertical. He suggested that I should have looked for another group of leaves on a diagonal with greater separation from the background. The score awarded was 7.5 out of 10 in the general "Club class" section (which exclude more advanced photographers).

Tropical seashore

This was a photograph I took in Indonesia during our holiday in November 2010. I selected this photograph as I liked the atmosphere of total stillness of the seawater. The reflection of the sky in the sea surface is so clear that no horizon is visible. I thought that the visual elements in the foreground of the boat and submerged palm leaf were needed to draw the viewers eye towards and into the picture. The judge considered that there was potentially a better photograph in the reflection of the clouds in the water, but not the composition that I had selected. He awarded a score of 7 out of 10 in Club Class section (in a context where the lowest score awarded was 6.5 out of 10).

Print competition No 4

Plastic floats

This was a photograph that I originally took for TAOP Assignment 1 on Contrasts in February 2010. I selected this photograph for the competition, on the basis for competition entries, a strong visual impact is crucial. I thought that the saturated colours and curved forms would be suitable for this purpose. The judge acknowledged the colours and composition of the photograph. However, he was unfamiliar with the subject matter so that the curved shapes did not convey a recognizable physical form to him. He also noted a dust spot in the print which I had overlooked when printing the photograph. He awarded a score of 8.5 out of 10, which was in the middle of the range of scores awarded in this section of the competition.

Street after snow

This is a photograph that I took in December 2010 not far from the Fondation Henri Cartier Bresson in Paris. It is an abstract composition of a wet street surface with bright sunlight reflected from neighboring buildings. I felt that the high contrast surface textures, the diagonal road markings and contrasting colours of blue sky and yellow light produced an interesting abstract. The judge had no criticism of the technical quality of the print, but he considered that the visual elements were not quite strong enough to his taste. He awarded this picture a score of 8 out of ten.

Set subject competition

The set subject for this competition was "Opposites" and I submitted one digital image and one print entry (There is no distinction in this competition between Advanced and Club class.)

In defence of ancient traditions

This is a photograph I took on our visit to a remote island on our trip to Indonesia in November 2010. I selected this photo as I felt that it showed "opposites" in the sense of an indigenous man in traditional finery face to face with a European woman dressed in modern T-shirt and shorts. Visually, the photograph is reasonably strong; there is clearly some tension in the discussion, and the figures stand out because of the strong side lighting. The judge accepted the validity as a portrayal of opposites (he did not exclude any photographs as invalid however). The technical quality and exposure were also OK. There is just enough light reflected on the mans face so that his features are visible.

White for men, black for women

I took this picture in February 2009 on a visit to Oman. I felt that the contrast of black and white of dress of Omani men and women was a good example of opposites. I liked the way the dark area of the woman's cloak on the right acts as a diagonal frame for the man standing facing the camera. The judge liked the composition, but considered that there was not enough detail retained in the white of the man's arm and shoulder.

Conclusions

There are a some lessons to be learnt from these competitions, in particular that I should take greater care in printing of photographs.

Narrative and Illustration - Narrative picture essay

I started thinking about possible subjects for this picture essay when we went to Indonesia a few months ago. In the first week, we were staying a short distance away from one of the popular beaches in the south of the island of Bali. There was a stall selling shells on this stretch of the beach which caught my attention.

My initial idea was to take a series of photographs of this stall; a panorama of the beach with the stall in the foreground, a foreshortened view of the stall standing in front of the construction site behind it where a multi-story hotel was being built, more intimate photos showing the stallholders dealing with customers, setting out the shells and so on.

My second idea was to take a sequence of photographs of a Balinese cookery course that we did in our last week in Indonesia. This would include photographs of shopping in the market, fresh produce, food preparation, cooking, plate presentation and so on.

I took various photographs based on both these ideas, but the picture essay that I have done derives from the photographs that I took of the popular beach in the first week. The essay is entitled "Busy on the beach" in which I aim to show the beach as a place used by both local people and tourists. I wanted to make a distinction with the deserted beaches popular in holiday brochures and "pleasure beaches" dedicated solely to tourist activities.

The essay contains 7 photographs and text displayed on two horizontal A4 pages:-

Page 1 - Busy on the beach

Page 2 - Busy on the beach

Observations

The pages can be viewed full size on my Flickr page:

Page 1

Page 2

The reasons for this arrangement of photos were as follows:-

• On page 1, I wanted the photograph of the stall with the waves and beach in the background to be large. This is intended to give the viewer an overall impression of the location, which I think works even though the background is blurred. It is also the photo with the strongest composition. The triangular shape of the waves in the background act as an internal "frame" for the stall in the foreground. The three figures in conversation at the stall are the main point of visual interest, but the eye wanders back past the figures on the beach to the skyline of buildings and cranes.
• Of the other photographs, I wanted the photograph of the religious ceremony to be large. There is a lot of visual detail of the offerings in the foreground and people in the middle ground. I therefore made this the main photo on page 2. The other photos could be smaller in size as the subjects were relatively simple.
• I wanted the second photo of the shell stall to be on the front page, as I wanted to make a comment about the ethics of selling shells. Viewers with strong views on ecology would, like myself, deplore the sale of shells. I feel that blame should fall at least equally upon the people who buy the shells.
• After allowing for the text, there was space for just one more photograph on page 1. I chose the photo of a surfer, as this is the activity that this beach is most famous for. This is intended to be part of setting the scene for the viewer.
• The three other photographs are quite high contrast with a simple subject. I fitted these around the main picture on Page 2. Small size does not dilute their visual interest too severely.
• The relatively flat lighting of the photographs on page 2 creates a consistent atmosphere between these photographs. On the other hand, there is direct sunlight in the three photographs on page 1 (backlit in the case of the surfer). There is a therefore a commonality of the light environment on each page which is pleasing.

I had a choice of producing the pages using Microsoft Word, Photoshop Elements, or Microsoft Powerpoint. Having worked in business before I retired, I was more familiar with Word and Powerpoint software. However, I decided to use Photoshop Elements in this case, as a way to become more familiar with parts of this program that I had not previously used.

I imitated the layout style and text from a photo essay in an old National Geographic magazine that I had stored away in a cupboard, "Malaysia's Secret Realm" by photographer Mattias Klum (NGS August 1997). Browsing through several of these old magazines, I was interested to see what a variety of different layout styles were used, even for photo-essay type articles (mainly photos with just small pieces of text). This layout has a white background, which I think suited the light in these photos. I also liked the treatment of text, concise and clear.

Conclusions

I get a lot of pleasure in arranging and presenting photographs, so this exercise was right "up my street". Some imperfections remain in the alignment of photos on the page etc., but I did not want to unduly delay other projects by further small adjustments to the final product.