I’ve been a fan of Yes and Yes run by the lovely Sarah Von for ages now and when I read her posts asking for submissions for a big (and I mean BIG) birthday giveaway, I knew I wanted to be involved.

To that end I have offered a 15×10″ print of any photograph from the Flickr account for the project.

To enter for a change to win this (and a ton of other really gorgeous prizes) head on over to Yes and Yes now!

I thought it might be a good idea to give you a sneak peek at what’s in the pipeline for The Forgotten Negatives Project. These are my promises to you!

> More film! I have 2 developed and scanned films ready to show you as well as another 5 processed films that I need to scan and approximately 14 more that are waiting to be developed. So there is plenty of photographic material to come!

> More regular posting. Now I have finished uni I have more time to devote to this website and I pledge right now to post much much more regularly from now on! I’d also like to add new features such as…

> A print store. I’m still thinking about how I’d like to do this but it’s certainly somewhere I want to take this project. (It’s never been my aim to make money from this, but I’d love to be able to cover the costs of having film processed. I also desperately need my own film scanner.)

> A regular ‘links round-up’ feature. I know a lot of blogs have these (such as Nubby Twiglet’s Link Love ) and they’re some of my favourite posts when they’re done well. I was thinking about making it a weekly feature, possibly on a Monday. I’d like to get some feedback on the idea because they would inevitably not all be photography links.

Any comments on what I’ve mentioned above are welcomed and encouraged!

Thanks.

It cannot go without mentioning that I’ve neglected my posting duties lately. It has been the last 2 weeks of my degree and I had a family bereavement and everything was just kind of crazy for a while. I handed in my last final pieces of work this week though so I now have all the time in the world to devote to this project.


I started collecting these films for one of my two final projects for my photography degree, which meant that I needed to produce some kind of final outcome, regardless of the fact that I’ll be carrying this on long after I graduate. To keep things simple(ish), I drew the line at the first 10 films, which was still 240 photographs. Which I needed to pull a final 12 images from.

I first broke it down into categories according to the most obvious themes that I could see when I looked at the images en masse. The categories I ended up with were: Human Presence (physical), Human Presence (lack of), Human Presence (suggested), Holiday, Celebration and Candid. There was obviously a lot of overlap between the groups but that was fine.

The category that I was most drawn to was Human Presence (lack of). I had noticed a while ago that there were certain photos that looked like they should have people in, as if they’d just gotten up and left, or were about to walk into the frame. The setting seemed ready, as if it were waiting for them to arrive. It seemed odd to me that people would take these kind of photographs. The presence of other people is usually a key ingredient in this kind of photo so these images suggest a kind of loneliness. It gives the impression that the photographer is entirely alone. If they had a companion, wouldn’t they have asked him/her to step into the frame?

With this in mind I selected the images that portrayed that feeling. There were 16 that fit the criteria and from those I chose my final 12, which were these:

I’d love to hear what you think about my selection process and the images I chose as my final 12. Like I said, this is by no means the end of the project, I have 2 fantastic black and white films ready to go in the next couple of days!

One of the first artists that comes to mind when I look at the photographs I have gathered so far is Nan Goldin, in particular, ‘The Ballad of Sexual Dependency’. The photographs that comprise the book were taken between 1979 and 1986 and are a visual diary of her life in the East Village in New York City. Goldin herself describes the book as a public diary, she also talks about how her camera is an extension of herself and the photographs she takes are taken without interpretation or calculation:


“If it were possible, I’d want no mechanism between me and the moment of photographing. The camera is as much a part of everyday life as talking or eating or sex. The instant of photographing, instead of creating distance, is a moment of clarity and emotional connection for me.”

Nan after being battered, 1984

In large part, the book chronicles her relationship with her partner at the time, Brian. Goldin describes the relationship as being intense and consuming but she felt dissatisfaction with their dependency on one another and it’s claustrophobic nature. She wrote about her feelings in her diaries and when Brian found and read them, he beat her severely, almost leaving her blind.

Cookie and Vittorio’s wedding, New York City, 1986

The photographs also document her friends. Much of the subject matter is dark, such drug abuse and violence but many many more show them spending time together, having fun. To me, the most significant aspect of these photographs are the interpersonal relationships they depict. Almost every photograph features people, in one form or another and it is easy to read into their relationship from the moments she captures. Each photograph has a brief caption below it, which adds to the impression of this being her version of a family album. The photographs aren’t making a statement about lifestyle, relationships, or anything else. They are purely a visual diary, they function as a reminder.

Kenny in his room, New York City, 1979

Obviously the subject matter of this book is a lot darker than the material I have been receiving. But the aesthetic qualities are similar as well as Goldin’s desire to chronicle life through photography. I get the same feeling from looking at her work as I get from the photographs I’ve received for this project, the feeling of being an outsider looking in, and trying to decipher what the image is showing me and how it relates to the photographs around it. The voyeuristic aspect is always prevalent in these types of photographs (voyeurism by the way, not necessarily having a sexual aspect, but simply meaning the ‘pleasure of looking’).

If you would like to read more about Nan Goldin, I recommend this article from the Guardian

This is a photograph from the karate competition documented on this film. The rest of them are fairly standard shots of the competition (that’s not to say they lack interest, far from it) but this one looks like some kind of dance routine involving tigers, which is fairly amusing in itself, not least because all of the dancers seem to be doing something completely different. All of the photographs of the competition are really really grainy, much more so than the rest of the film. I understand that it was shot indoors but I wouldn’t have thought that would have produced that much extra grain, especially when there are other images shot indoors at the end of the film that aren’t this grainy.

This photograph is indicative that the karate competition took place in Spain (the sign in the background of this image confirms that they were in Valencia). To have traveled to Spain to partake in the competition would suggest that the competitor was particularly skilled, and would probably be interested to see these photographs, if it’s not the photographer him/herself. I often find myself wondering why a film was never developed by it’s original owner when the images on it are so interesting and frequently very personal.



This photograph and another one of the same dog don’t seem to fit with anything else on the film. I get the impression that the camera that this film was in was passed from person to person, making it’s way to Spain and back at some point, because there seems to be very little in common between many of the images on it. Alongside the photographs of the band practice, these photographs look like an attempt to finish up a film so it can be developed to get hold of the earlier images on it, which I think everyone has done at some point.


One of my favourite aspects of this film is that you can read a lot more into it when you look at the small details. For instance, a bit of Googling revealed that the holiday snapshots were taken in Valencia, in Spain. And the karate photographs being interspersed with those indicates that it took place in Spain.

To view the full film, check out the set on Flickr

The Forgotten Negatives Project on Facebook

This is probably my favourite photograph on the film, as it would be for anyone who loves snapshot-style photography. All of the elements are there, it’s candid, the colours are strange and there are light leaks all over it. Also, the subject has been caught apparently mid-sentence and she has her eyes half closed against the flash so she is frozen in a really strange facial expression that amuses me no end. It makes me wonder what the purpose was in taking this photograph? The photographer has clearly not given the subject any time to compose herself or pose for the photo, so he/she was clearly trying to catch her unaware, possibly playing on the fact that people will often protest having their photo taken, leaving the person wielding the camera with no choice but to snap them when they’re least expecting it.

Another great candid photograph. Most of the film is comprised of this type of photo. I get a really mischievous vibe from this film, the photographer clearly had a habit of snapping people unaware, which is reflected in the disapproving look the woman on the telephone is giving. These two people appear regularly across the film so I feel comfortable assuming that they live in the house with the photographer, probably as family (although that may be an assumption too far, it’s just the impression I get from the film on the whole)

Similarly to the photographs above, this photograph is candid and the subject looks entirely unready to have their photo taken, in the traditional sense. This person appears only once in the film, so it may be that they are a guest at the house. In which case, the person who took these photos’ mischievous streak extends to taking impromptu photographs of their guests.

This photograph is one of a series of images on the film of empty rooms. Many are taken from strange angles and focusing on details like fireplaces, sinks, windows and other household fittings. The rooms are very bare and show no signs of being inhabited so they suggest to me that they are ‘before’ pictures taken when you’ve just moved in somewhere. Aside from the content, a lot of these photographs have these strange purple glowing areas which are aesthetically quite interesting and make what would otherwise be fairly mundane subject matter more engaging.

You can view the entire set from this film on Flickr. Please feel free to discuss my choices or any others from the set in the comments!

One of my favourite things about having access to a university library is the wide array of specialised journals that are available to me. In these posts I’ll be summarising and discussing an article I find particularly relevant or enlightening in regards to this project.




In this article by Ken Miller in the BJP, he discusses how the professional photographer has used the snapshot aesthetic and how it affects the boundaries between the amateur and professional photographer. Initially he attempts to define what differentiates a pro from an amateur and he draws the conclusion that the difference lies in the intentions. This is definitely a point I would agree with, especially in the case of art photography where, to me, the content is by far the most important aspect of a piece of work, rather than the aesthetic qualities. Personally I would rather see a photograph with poor technical quality but with depth and meaning, than an aesthetically pleasing image that has no meaning beyond the surface. A photograph that inspires you to talk about it, rather than just look at it.

Miller goes on to assert, however, that the implication of being a professional photographer is that you strive to take aesthetically pleasing photographs. I can see that in some cases that is inevitably true (in commercial photography for instance) but for many photographers, particularly those who would consider themselves to be artists, the aesthetic quality comes second to the content of an image. On the other hand, a professional photographer would probably have more technical training and knowledge than an amateur and thus their images would be of a higher technical quality than those of an amateur photographer. Then there is the question of how we decide what is and isn’t aesthetically pleasing when it’s so obviously subjective.

Later in the article, the writer suggests that the snapshot aesthetic brings the photographer and the audience closer together. The general subjects of snapshot photography are very personal and intimate so it’s obvious that they will reveal more of the photographer than other types of photography. Miller refers to this as “enforced intimacy” and in relation to this project I have often felt, whilst looking through someone else’s personal photographs, like an intruder. This intimacy with someone you don’t have a personal connection to can feel quite uncomfortable and awkward. Although it seems to be getting easier as the project progresses, I still feel some apprehension when I look at a film for the first time. The other side of that is the excitement of voyeurism, which is a subject I will come back to in another post.

Miller suggests that the line between amateur and professional has been blurred when the professional uses the snapshot style in their work. I would tend to disagree. The amateur produces images with a snapshot quality as a matter of course. The professional photographer has made a deliberate choice in employing these tactics. The fact that it is referred to as an ‘aesthetic’ implies that it is a conscious decision to produce images that have this appearance. He makes a very good point, however, when talking about the influence the internet has had on the boundaries between pro and amateur:

“The intention behind a photograph posted on the internet can be unclear – is the person behind the camera an amateur or a professional and is that self-distinction relevant to our appreciation of the image?”

Do we need to know whether the person that produced the image is a professional, or if it was the first time they had picked up a camera? To my mind, it comes back to the question of intentions. If we are examining a photograph purely on visual qualities, it doesn’t matter how or why it was produced. If we want to read deeper, the intention of the photographer becomes pertinent information. That isn’t to say that an amateur can’t produce a photograph with depth beyond it’s surface qualities, just that it is relevant to our reading of the photograph.

It is pointed out that to construct a snapshot style photograph actually takes a certain amount of skill on the part of the photographer. Snapshots have a quality of being ‘happy accidents’ and it can be difficult to fake that quality without the resulting image looking false or staged. It requires the photographer to have an eye for the split-second moments that make for great snapshots (similar in many ways to the concept of the decisive moment ).

In this project I have received so much great snapshot photography, with the qualities that professional photographers are so frequently trying to emulate. I’m building a fantastic resource and archive of these types of images that we can study and examine to try to seek out what it is about this kind of photography that makes it so appealing.

The article is available to read on the BJP website and I’d love to hear your thoughts on it!

I apologise for the scarcity of posts recently, but I thought I would give a sneak peek at what you can expect soon:

  > A new category of post where I review a journal article that is relevant to this project. At least two posts of this kind.

  > A new film!

  > A ‘State of Affairs’ style post where I reflect on the progress of the project so far and begin to answer some of the questions I set myself at the beginning.

  > A post examining the comparisons to the film ‘Amelie’ I have received recently.




Hold tight, there is a ton of content incoming!!