Sassamatt

Have you wandered the halls of your high school looking up at the composite photographs on the wall? In each frame, the class of that year looks down at you, and you might notice the similarity of everyone’s hair and clothing style. Then when you get to the most current year, you begin to see how different everyone looks. This says something about how difficult it is to see one’s style in the present, but as a photographer continues to make images, it becomes more discernable. The type of photography they choose to pursue, whether portraiture, journalism, fashion, event, sports, still life or landscape, will influence their style. The type of photography they practice is only a small part of what eventually defines a person’s style.

Style is a very ambiguous word. Its definition involves mannerism, appearance, distinctiveness, design and form. However, when leafing through a book of a photographer’s work, you see a style after a while. You may not be able to define it or describe it, but you can see it. Just how does this style evolve? If you study art or photography history, you will see photographers fall under the influence of other photographers, painters, printmakers, etc. They are also influenced by the artists surrounding them, whether they be filmmakers, dancers, musicians or poets. All of this influences what they choose to place within their frame. In the example below, you can see clearly the influence of a Japanese print on Jeff Wall’s famous image.

A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai) Jeff Wall Katsushika Hokusai – Suruga Ejiri (Eijiri in Suruga Province), from Fugaku sanjurokkei (Thirty-­six Views of Mount Fuji), Japan, 1831. Polychrome woodblock print, ink and colour on paper, 25.4 × 37.1 cm, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

In addition to this, how they choose to process and print their images influences how they make photographs. Often the printing and presentation process helps in the development of their style. This is why I think it is important if you want to really enjoy making photographs and develop your own personal style, you need to go through the whole process: creating the image in-camera, processing the image on your computer, printing the image, and framing and mounting the picture in a show. Even if the only thing you do is produce a calendar with the images or place one in a frame on your living room wall, each stage of the process informs and develops your style.

Aspects of Style

A photographers style is affect by and is constantly evolving:

• What is included in the frame and what is not included.
• How the components in the frame are in or out of focus, the distance from the camera, the angle of the camera, what is lit by the lighting
• The use of colour
• The use of light
• The capturing of movement or lack of movement
• The inclusion of emotions or the evoking of emotions
• The use of lenses
• The density of content or lack of density
• The use of rhythm, harmony, proportion, contrast, balance, and implied depth

Two Examples of Style

Goga Bayat Cinematic

Goga Bayat is an Iranian filmmaker and photographer whose personal style is perhaps in the cinematic style and has a distinct look and feel. Cinematic Street Photography is a street shot that looks like a frame from a movie. It’s a combination of letterbox crop, mood, aesthetic, colours and more that make the shot appear like a MOVIE STILL. Some of the cinematic hallmarks are a prime lens to focus on the subject and diffuse background, careful emphasis through lighting, and colour grading.

Gary Winogrand

Gary Winogrand, on the other hand, has a very different style. However, you can clearly see the influences of Robert Frank and others, and he has a style that both has similarities and greater differences. Robert Frank had a more geographical focus as he creates images in cities and small towns. To some degree, it was a record of what was disappearing, whereas Winnogrand’s images focused on the emerging culture of the times. The style goes beyond this element as there are many moments in his photographs, and some often suggest that he metaphorically captures the dance of life.

References

• What is Photographic Style and How to Find Yours by Adam Welch
• How to Cultivate Your Own Style in Photography by Eric Kim
• 60 Types of Photography You Need to Know by Expert Photography
• Garry Winogrand, Robert Frank and Suburban America by Richard B. Woodland
• 10 Things Garry Winogrand Can Teach You About Street Photography by Eric Kim
• Lessons in the Street Philosophy of Garry Winogrand: A fresh perspective by Miss Rosen

In 1956 Guy Debord put forward the “Theory of Dérive,” which he defined as an experimental mode of behaviour linked to the behaviour of urban society. It was a technique in which the individual in an unplanned journey through a landscape, often urban, and “let themselves be drawn by the attractions of the terrain and the encounters they find there.” The goal of a Dérive is to study the psychogeographical terrain of the landscape, leading to the potential creation of “Situations.”

Situations were to result in liberation from the pervasive alienation of modern life. In other words, it allowed the individual to experience their surroundings without being the impact of the psychological commercial veneer that often obscures our reality. Although the concepts were developed for political purposes, they were widely used in the art world. It also broadened the use of Flâneuring that artists had adapted like Virginia Woolf at the turn of the last century. It leads to interdisciplinary art events and “art happenings” around 1959, the forerunner of performance art. Performance art in the 1970s emerged in Vancouver, making photography and video arts key to making a record of these interdisciplinary performances done by one or a small number of people.

Funeral Procession for the Birks Building

The Birks Building Funeral is an example of performance art at this time. It was a collaboration between the group of Architectural and Fine Arts Students, among many others. It began with a funeral procession lead by Evelyn Roth’s Video creatures and followed by caskets carried by architecture students with black tears on their cheeks; it began at the Vancouver Art Gallery at Georgia and Thurlow. As the police escorted the group up Georgia Street, the funeral band played a sombre dirge.

When the group reached the building, which was now under demolition, Reverend Jake Kent began his officiating; as the wreaths were laid at the building, the band played. The video creatures began putting hexes on the new buildings across the building street. Angus McIntyre recorded the performance.

When you look at the experience of Martha Cooper, who turned down corporate work to follow street art and graffiti in a Dérive fashion, these Dérives lead to situationism where she became part of the street performances and artwork she was photographing. It became a lifelong passion that had a large influence on city cultures around the world.

The following is a trailer for a movie that tracks her history through her career, and how she followed her instincts which lead to her unusual career.

She like many other artist and photographers have used either consciously or unconsciously this method to make photographs, to develop their style and create shows. This is exactly how Fred Herzog created his canon of work, which like Cooper, allowed him to develop a unique style of photography.

Personally, the process is important, as it allows me to merge into my surroundings with the camera and leads me towards a subject matter I might not have considered or understood without this process. This process allows the interplay between an instinctive part of my mind to react to my psychogeographical surroundings and leads me toward new ideas and acts of creation.

References:

• Martha Cooper: Urban Nation Museum for Urban Contemporary Art
• Every Place has a Story, Eve Lazarus
• Martha Cooper Talks to Zoey Grossman About the Art of Photographing Street Art
• Derive “urban exploration app” video overview
• Derive App for iPhone.
• Derive App for Google

Artist in Early 70’s at UBC and Western Front

UBC Fine Art Department 1970 UBC Fine Arts 1973

UBC Fine Arts 1974

Founding Members of the Western Front

Bloom 12: Transplated is a Coast Collective Exhibition with Esquimalt Community Arts Hub’s Gallery. Works by Edward Peck and Phyllis Schwartz are featured in this show. Also available in the gallery gift shop are two Sassamatt Publications: Collaborative Alchemy: Plant Based Visual Arts ($25) and Magic Realism ($20). Location: 901 Esquimalt Road, BC.Reception: Saturday, March 27, from 1 to 4 pm.Gallery and Gift shop hours: Wednesday – Saturday 10 am to 5 pm. from The exhibition opens 24 March thru 16 April 2021.