NARRATIVE OF AN IMAGE

One of the things that appeals to me about art in general; and photography more explicitly, is the story that an image can tell.

Everyone views our existence differently but the making of an image enables us to share this way of seeing with others. There is no right, there is no wrong – it just is.

For me, Photography perfectly encapsulates this ability and is primarily about editing the world. Showing it through my eyes – with my inspirations, selections and opinions.

EDITING THE WORLD

The editing comes in several stages – firstly by the subject matter I choose to photograph. Second, the actual scene I shoot and finally by the choice of images I select to display. This method allows the world to be cut down and segmented into manageable pieces, which I can at least attempt to understand on some level. In some cases – if I do my job correctly – it will also allow others to get a glimpse of this interpretation.

A whole host of things might draw me to make a photograph of a particular scene, event, person or place – but at the core of it, at that precise moment when the shutter is pressed down – I am editing an incredibly small portion of the world, with the mindset that it will have something greater to say.

Perhaps this is one of the reasons Photography can create such friction and debate – because this very process of selecting and editing the world is massively subjective. The old adage ‘the camera never lies’ is a lie in the purist sense. The camera ALWAYS lies – by omission.

CREATING A NARRATIVE

A good photograph (and therefore a good edit of the world) will often contain some form of narrative of story. At times, this story is obvious and created by the artists. They have set an image up, used models or created a documentary that has a very set and obviously contained sequence of events within it.

But sometimes, a narrative exists that is much more open to speculation and imagination. I love to look at the world in this way and therefore I am drawn to images that also allow me this small perversion.

MUDDY MARKINGS

The Photograph shown here is something I have seen numerous times and only just decided to photograph. It is of one side of a building in Preston Park that I walk past each day on my way to work.

The shot itself is not that interesting, but the narrative it contains is.  As an image, on initial glance, it’s a very standard composition of a wall with a building behind it.  Perhaps it contains some indications that it’s a park building – I guess it would depend on your knowledge of bowling chalets!  The photograph could easily be dismissed, until the eye is drawn to the markings on the white wall of the building.

To me, the markings have clearly been created by someone throwing a muddy ball against it.  Repeatedly. Perhaps by a dog owner, perhaps by someone sitting there thinking or bored.  The beauty is the suggestion made by an image leads the imagination to create a plethora of stories about what happened, why it happened and how it happened. Each person who sees the image will (hopefully) create their own interpretation of what the stains are and how they got there.

For me Photography is the perfect tool for capturing such moments and presenting them to others for consideration.  Maybe other people walk past the same scene everyday and have never really look at that bit of wall or consider the muddy stains upon it.  But by presenting a photograph of that scene, by editing the world down to this one simple image, it forces the viewer to question what they are seeing, to try and understand the photographer’s motivations.  Within that process, they are then led to create a narrative to explain the scene and perhaps see something in a different way than they have before.

New England Quarter Scaffolding, Brighton (2009)

I am a massive fan of Car Boots – both buying and selling, they are an ideal way to start a Sunday!

Brighton’s Sunday Market has been held at the railway station car park for 27 years and is generally considered to be one of the best markets in the area.  It’s been a regular activity of mine since moving to Brighton as was held every week…in almost any weather conditions!

However, in the past year or so, the market has been happening less and less frequently.  This change occurred suspiciously around the same time the massive development of the New England area of Brighton began.  At first, after the new station car park was built, the market continued to flourish.  However, it then began to be cancelled due to engineering works on the railway lines.

Southern Rail claim it is because the market’s traffic causes problems for their replacement rail bus service.  Plausible I guess.

However – I can’t help being suspicious that this all coincides with the majority of the New England development has been complete – with hundreds of new homes, flats and a massive Jury’s Inn hotel – all of which overlook the market.  I cannot imagine the hotel management enjoy their ‘guests’ being disturbed by the 5am set up, let alone the new residents of the area.

A few days ago, I noticed a headline in the local paper stating the market was moving to the Marina car park as of next week.  This is a massive disappointment.  The station location was perfectly central and gave way to a good boot sale rummage followed by a fry up in town!  The Marina site will mean its a drive away and they have to have the site cleared by 12pm.

Anyway, wanting to mark the last week the market would happen at the station, I went along yesterday (12th April 2009) to pay my respects.  Sadly – I came home empty handed…but was pleased to hear many of the traders were keen to try and make the market work at the new location.  Time will tell I guess.

I took a few images of the last remaining building site, which is apparently a load of Eco-homes.  I will confess I am slightly obsessed with building sites and particularly cranes.  I find it hard to pass one without having a good look and taking a few pictures.  Not sure what the appeal is – a child like excitement of heavy machinery and hard hats perhaps!

It also reminded me of a few snap shots I took whilst in Marrakech a couple of years ago – where the building sites were a remarked contrast to the ones I find in the UK.

Building site, Marrakech (2005)

Wooden Scaffolding, Marrakech (2005)

Click the images for a bigger view as the scaffolding is truly amazing!  Rather rickety and bent looking logs are basically holding the building up!  That’s proper building, I wish sites in the UK would adopt this far more exciting method of construction!

The New England Quarter is a disturbing place.  As with much of the new development in Brighton – it lacks any form of character, appeal or continuity with the city.  They seem to have adopted the approach of so many UK towns, where they design buildings in a uniform fashion that results in them looking cheap and tacky.  The whole area feels like you have stepped into another town and could be any suburban location – characterless, featureless and intrusive.

New England Quarter (2009)