B and her 'best friend'
Judy Bach’s work has featured on the OCA website before, but the image above leaped out the OCA flickr group at me and demanded a wider audience. Judy is a student on the level one course Digital Photographic Practice and this image comes from a series she has been working on as part on the monochrome assignment. Check out Judy’s learning blog – definitely worth a look, a worthy blog of the ‘week’.
In Ways of Seeing, John Berger asks us to consider this image with two contrasting captions:
a) This is a landscape of a cornfield with birds flying out of it
b) This is the last picture that Van Gogh painted before he killed himself
The title of the Judy’s image doesn’t appear in her blog and is an excellent example of how the emotional impact of a photograph can be influenced by careful captioning. Judy has used the title to tell you what she sees – not what, in the absence of the title, you would see.
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Excuse me but please clarify …
“The title of the Judy’s image doesn’t appear in her blog and is an excellent example of how the emotional impact of a photograph can be influenced by careful captioning. Judy has used the title to tell you what she sees – not what, in the absence of the title, you would see.”
I can not find a title or caption on the OCA Flickr site (the photo does not seem to be there) or on her blog. The quoted sentence also seems to defy logic!!
Looking at the photo I see an unhappy woman holding a bottle of Strongbow Cider – I prefer not to draw any conclusions from this knowing how ambiguous the photographic image can be. A demonstrator with a bottle of kerosene getting ready to throw a fire bomb perhaps !??!
I presume that what is being said here is that the absence of a title or caption (actually a digital file has some kind of title even if it means nothing) prevents the reader of the image from drawing a conclusion about what is being pictured !?
No, sorry Amano, quite the opposite. What I am saying, possibly inexpertly, is that a caption allows the photographer to guide the viewer’s reaction.
Hopefully implicit is the suggestion that if the only caption that a photographer can think of is a straight description of the scene (ie ‘Man on the beach’) maybe a caption isn’t needed.
OK … now I see it … find myself questioning the use of captions when the caption plays an essential part in the reading of the image … what are we looking at? Image or text … etc
http://www.flickr.com/photos/judybach/7912849278/
Hi Amano link to the image on OCA Flickr group above where there is a bit more information about the image.
Judy
Thanks Judy
By the way Judy, I think your self-portrait works well with or without a caption.
it is a portrait that could mean different things (the most obvious meaning might be concerned with the current topic of binge drinking) and by giving a caption you help to define the meaning.
On my course, am at the moment considering such things as captioning and titling, both of which contribute to the impact any image is likely to have.
so it wasn’t a self-portrait … apologies!
am a little bit confused about what is going on here but the work is good and that is what matters!
Hi Amano , I am a bit confused now as well as not too sure which image you are referring to. There is a self-portrait as part of the set http://www.flickr.com/photos/judybach/7991659550/
Best wishes judy
In regard to the use of titling and captioning, at the Brighton Photo Biennal (the object of an upcoming OCA study visit!) there is a photographer Edmund Clarke exhibiting a series called “Control House Order” containing photographs of a house in which a person suspected of terrorism was forced to live. It seems our understanding of these photographs relies a great deal on knowing the background to the images and I can not help but feel this detracts from the photographic effect of the series.
Hi Amano
I nearly always give my images a title and might include some text on images posted to the OCA Flickr group. (Far more extensive notes are kept offline & sent to my tutor!).The portraiture work I was doing at this particular time (towards my 3rd assignment) was very personal and I was unsure just how much to reveal with my use of text, how much I really wanted anyone to know. B herself said to me once that she frequently thought of alcohol as her only true friend , it saddened and shocked me, hence the title. I hoped that anyone looking at this image, after reading the text, would take longer to look and try to understand the terrible (admittedly it could be argued self-inflicted) predicament of her alcohol dependence and the unhappiness it caused. I use text as a supplement to my images; it reflects my personal vision/thoughts and as such is subjective. However as you rightly say accompanying text can inevitably influence how images are understood,
I enjoyed your blog Judy. It’s good to be able to see how you convert from colour to mono and the processing involved. I have always admired the way in which you get such effects just from the use of natural light.
Thank you Catherine ,I am quite behind with my OCA work due to personal circumstances and my blog needs quite a bit of updating @ the moment. I have got a lot of exercises , reading notes , & my 2nd assignemnt to add yet ! I like using natural light (it’s free !)and love the work of Jane Bown who only uses available light.
I wish you well in the catching-up process Judy. I certainly know how all the work can back-up and then seem like a mountain to climb!
Confused.
Yes. What IS the title of this photograph?
Hi Artemesia
The title of the photograph is
B with her “best friend” (See reply to Amano on the 30th re title & captioning. )