Alys spoke to us about her own work at our meeting on 2nd June. Since then, in an amazing burst of productivity, she has secured funding from the Sundance Festival for her film “Vera”, she completed a major “lockdown” project entitled “Lost Summer” (selection of images below), which went on to win the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, she has self-published a book on the project, and her gallery will be showing an exhibition of the project until March.
The funding for “Vera” will allow Alys to revisit Belarus, complete filming and, with an Argentinian filmmaker, merge the current filming with archive material from Vera’s chequered past. “Lost Summer” was born out of a desire to document a local story about people who were adversely affected by the lockdown. Local adolescents, children of friends and neighbours, were missing important rites of passage. She asked each of them to dress as they would for the school Prom they missed and took their portraits in gardens and open spaces to remove any judgements about socio-economic backgrounds. The resulting portraits show dignity, strength, hope and resilience, but also melancholy.
Despite being phenomenally busy, Alys found the time to look through all 12 of the draft submissions for our storytelling competition. Firstly, she made some general points based on all the submissions. Then she selected a few submissions to talk about in more detail. These were not necessarily the best submissions but the ones that allowed her to make more points.
Her preference is to look at a set of images and then to read a short artist’s statement. Our submissions did not include a statement, which perhaps we should reconsider. Alys believes that it is good practice to explain what you are trying to say and what are your intentions. Some projects were in colour and others in black & white, and one used both. It is important to be clear why you made the choice, and the choice should be appropriate to the theme of the story. Many of the images have a documentary feel where other approaches, such as more abstract photography, might fit better with the story. Sequencing is very important and is helped by getting small cheap prints which can be moved around to improve the narrative flow and to see which photos work well together.
Colin’s project showed the eery emptiness of Covent Garden during lockdown. Alys thought the more abstract images worked best such as the lights at Piccadilly Circus (which incidentally scored 20 in the last competition). Alys liked the more abstract images in Dennis' project on reflections, and was less keen on being able to see the photographer and the camera. She thought there should be a clear thread, such as all images being taken at dusk or in one area. Jean’s project “Flying the kite” worked best with more abstract images, which looked less like family shots, and focused on colour, clouds and fragility. Jean’s project about moving house might work better if it focused on the objects being taken and the emptiness left behind. Lata’s “Birthday in lockdown” was clearly shot in lockdown in some images but not in others, and is therefore a bit disjoined. The use of different aspect ratios also reduces consistency. Alys was most interested in the images of statues. Alys was not sure whether Nick’s “Meals on wheels” were taken at one location or several. As it was taken at one sandwich bar, it could be developed into a more intimate study. Alternatively, more bars could be studied to make a Becher type series. It is often good to start in one location and then to gradually add more to get a variety of location, people and food. Richard’s modern take on a wedding was technically excellent but needs to be elevated from a typical wedding shoot with more emphasis on the differences caused by covid. Sally’s Yorkshire village in lockdown is evocative. It feels solitary and personal, full of melancholy. It needs more consistency in format and types of images.
Moving on to the projects that were examined in more detail, Chris’ “Becoming Edna” (below left) raises lots of questions and could be developed in many different directions. The extra information that Jonathan is a psychiatric nurse opens up the possibility of showing a dual life or that the drag queen act is escapism. Alternatively, the story could focus more closely on the transformation of Jonathan into a drag queen and leave out the context shots about the pub. Alys wanted to know why the series was in black & white apart from the last image in colour. Chris explained that he wanted to the drama of the finale to be in a striking burst of colour. Alys used this example to emphasize the importance of the artist’s statement to explain to yourself what the story is about, why you are making it, what are your motivations.
Debbie’s “Where is Moldova? In slow recovery from Soviet rule” (above right) interested Alys partly because of her work in Belarus. Debbie was trying to compare the Soviet past with the current situation, the poverty, unhappiness and the attachment of the older people to the security of communism compared with the current opportunities. Alys thought the story should be more focused and look less like a travelogue, perhaps focusing on old and new and religion, or on the fact that things are not always as they seem. Debbie needs an opportunity to return and find out what is happening under the surface. She was worried that her series did not include a portrait, but Alys thought it was more important to evoke emotions rather than trying to follow a formula for storytelling.
Gerard’s project was entitled “Steve’s last project in time for his departure” (below left). The images were clearly about a funeral and wake, and were tender and moving, but threw up lots of questions about who Steve was and what his last project was. As such a personal project, some things that are obvious to the photographer are not always obvious to the viewer. It is difficult to document death sensitively. This project includes aspects of community and empathy and avoids the pitfalls of maudlin and disrespect for the mourners. Gerard might think about experimenting with more shallow depths of field to focus attention more, without getting tied up in the technicalities.
Jool’s “No man’s land – reality and unreality” (above right) matched landscapes with world events in the captions. It was not clear why each landscape was matched with each event. Jools explained that it was a chronological matching. Jools explained that, as a result of “white privilege”, she has been able to go out to exercise in beautiful countryside and look away from the problems in the world. The captions bring the real world back, and the impressionistic images with movement are a reflection on our “post truth world” and our inner and outer worlds. Doing a 365 has meant that Jools has taken different images from her usual wildlife images and has provided a timeline. Alys commented that the rainbow in the last image with the caption talking about Biden and the vaccine was an upbeat note on which to end. She thought that the captions were striking and effective and that the project could be further developed over a longer period of time.
Paul’s “Cabcare under Bethnal Green arches” (below) in black & white looks documentary in style and reminded Alys that taxis have had a bad time during lockdown. She wondered whether the images showed a cab hospital or a cab cemetery. The project contains a mix of types of shot – close-ups, portraits, environmental portraiture and posed shots. Paul explained that, just as so much East End life has been lost, we could lose the cab industry, so he wanted to record it for posterity. He has visited the workshop many times and has been welcomed by the workers who were keen to have their photos taken. Alys agreed that it could become a historic document, strong, melancholic and iconic of London. The curves of the arches are a distinctive feature. Each image must earn its place, to add something new. There are no rules about editing except that the images must flow but not be too repetitive.
After thanking Alys profusely for the time and effort she has put into helping us with our storytelling and congratulating her on her continued successes, Paul reported that we were targeting to return to meetings in the church hall after Easter, always dependent on current regulations. He asked if there was a volunteer to understudy the Webmaster who will step down at the AGM in May 2022. Again because of the regulations, the early January meeting will now be a new members’ evening and the late January meeting will be a “washing line”, see What’s On for details.