"A useful starting point for how we consider intimate photography is structured is to think about how it borrows and redirects the language of domestic photography and family snap(shot)s for public display... Many of the photographs illustrated in this chapter have some off-kilter framing, blur, uneven flashlight, the coloration of the machine-printed snap- all are used. But in intimate photography, these technical shortcomings of domestic, non- art photographs are employed as the language through which provate experience is communicated to the viewer. The use of seemingly unskilled photography is an intentional device that signals the intimacy of the realtionship between the photographer and his or her subject."
Tina Barney (1945) was born to a wealthy American upper-class family. Her personal family relations are recorded in large images. Thus we become spectators to the lives of Barney's family and friends. However, colourful images transcend social issues as they contain a more psychological depth, an implicit story. "The insignificance of humanity and of life frightens me. And the sense of doubt, the question of the purpose of our existence, compels me to continuously seek the essence; the depth and value of life. I wish to know what other people feel, else life is too lonely."
Initially, the photgraphs seem to be snapshots, but in fact the situations are staged. Barney attaches great importance to time, consequently figure and place are remeniscent of nineteenth- century painting. However, some credit can be granted to coincidence in the images; at one point in time the action arose spontaneously. Furthermore, it seems as if some of the persons portrayed suddenly turn round or get up from their chair unexpectedly. Due to this coincidence the images look more real, even as if they were moments in real life. The images portray relationships within a family, nevertheless, at the same time the theatrical roleplay causes them to have a tense aspect.
When people say that there is a distance, a stiffness in my photographs, that the people look like they do not connect, my answer is, that this is the best that we can do. This inability to show physical affection is in our heritage.
— Tina Barney
Questions-
- How do you think Tina Barney's photographs match Cotton's idea of "seemingly unskilled photography?"
- How can you explain the way Barney's images seem to be both spontaneous and explicitly staged?
- Does the apparent wealth of the people depicted in Barney's photographs have an impact on how you read them?
5 comments:
I'm sure these are somehow loosly posed. Tell people where to stand, what to hold, and such but let them speak, or look at something that catches their eye. They do have that's snapshot quality because lighting is not perfect but it's snapshot with a $10,000 camera. These do tell stories of this family which is nice to look through and where people probibly find a common ground.
I definitely like these best of the three groups here. They really do look like snapshots, some of them anyway. The first part, but then the one with the portrait of a girl on the wall with peolpe framing the shot (and holding a picture of the scene they're in) and one guy in the middle looking at the camera, that one certainly does not look like a snapshot-definitely staged! I love that photograph. I also like the one with the guy holding the dog. I like it because the dog is looking in the other direction, making me want to know what was over there. The apparent wealth of the people portrayed in these photographs is shown in some of the scenes. It's somewhat saddening to also observe that they all look unhappy, bored, flat, some even upset. This reminds me of a verse in Matthew 13 from the Parable of the Sower that talks about a "man who hears the Word, but the worries of life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke it, making it unfruitful." It's disheartening to know that so many in the world crave wealth and success, like the people in these pictures show they have, yet will remain so unsatisfied and unfulfilled.
How can you explain the way Barney's images seem to be both spontaneous and explicitly staged?
I think the spontaneous nature of her photographs comes from the ordinary backdrops in which they're set. Even though these are very uppperclass homes, they're still homes and recognizable as such. There is just something about the way the that the people look that makes it seems very posed. Their postures are rather stiff and they seem to be very aware of the camera,most of the time looking right at it. Even when they look at the camera though, they seem to be looking past you or through you. That part reminds me of mannequins in a really nice department store.
This artist's style is very in the moment, in that artistic theories are thrown by the wayside seemingly for impromtu snapshot qualities. The photos seems loosely posed in that people were moving around and then told to freeze. The wealth aspect adds another level to the work, concepts of old money and faded glory and such. Like the Royal Tennenbaums.
They could be spontaneous because these are moments that can occur every day. They may be staged because although they are moments that occur every day one might question her ability to capture all these moments without having posed them.
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