THE HEART OF THE GREAT ALONE
The Queens Gallery, London.
On a very cold February day, I travelled to the Queens Gallery at Buckingham Palace to see the Scott and Shackleton antarctic photography exhibition.
The Queens gallery is a beautiful place, opulent furnishings, dramatic dark green walls with marble pillars and lovely staircase raising to the exhibition..... and the poshest public toilets I have ever been in !
The photographs were well placed around the room and I had the benefit of headphones with an audio tour. This made the exhibition much more enjoyable for me. It was very informative and to the point, didn't lose your attention with a bombardment of facts.
The names Scott and Shackleton are synonymous with the heroic age of Antarctic exploration. I purchased a book which has been published to coincide with the 100th Anniversary of these brave but ill fated explorers.
It is a unique view of the expedition through the eyes of the expeditions photographer, Herbert Ponting, who travelled with Scott on the Terra Nova in 1910, and Frank Hurley, who was with Shackleton on the Endurance in 1914.
These remarkable early photographic chronicles, working with glass plate negatives and bulky wooden cameras, enduring some of the most hostile conditions on the planet to create images of transcendent beauty, recording not only the extraordinary landscape of the untouched Antarctic, but also the bravery and comradeship of their explorer companions. This collection was presented to King George V and have remained in the Royal Photographic collection ever since.
The first picture we saw, and quite rightly so, was of Scott himself. He looked healthy, full of anticipation, dressed in heavy clothing to protect from the weather - enormous fur mittens. This was right at the start of the expedition, he was as of yet not suffering from the effects of the harsh weather. Mount Erebus is prominent in the background.
The second was of Herbert Ponting, the photographer. Similarly dressed, standing alongside his wooden box camera and wooden tripod. This was a J A Prestwick cinematographic camera.
The expedition was caught on camera from base camp, right through to the animals. Ponting also produced a number of cloud studies over the Bourne Glacier. The effects of the sun through the different cloud types would have produced startling colour combinations - he tried to reproduce this by printing on orange paper - this was the next photograph.
The castle berg and dog seldge. Sept 1911.
This iceberg featured in a number of photos - it resembles a castle - hence its name. It was about 100 foot high . The sledge and dog gives a sense of scale.
This photograph here is another shot showing good sense of scale. In the foreground is a tiny explorer and his sledge, then a vast ice face and beyond that is the volcano Mount Erebus. Without the person in this picture you would have no idea to the height of the ice face. The shadows show the deep crevices and the steam vapours escaping from the volcano.
Terra Nova - Cape Evans. Jan 1911
This was taken in the mid summer. The ship needed to be close to unload supplies. Te birds alongside the boat wouldn't have been there in winter. I like the large, white, natural ice structure which stands adjacent in the picture to the manmade black silhouette structure of the ship. The depth of field making the ice structure stand taller.
The next shot was of the Terra Nova in a gale - the journeys themselves to and from the Antarctic were expeditions in themselves. This is one of the scariest pictures. Ponting has taken this shot from a higher angle and must have been risking his life just trying to take it. The ship is right on an angle and the sea is very rough. It amazes me how he took such a shot with the equipment he would have had - when all we have to do is press a button - I wouldn't have been up on that deck even with a digital!
He took pictures of the dogs who accompanied them - these pictures would have meant more to them personally as they would have developed a relationship with the dogs, we can only imagine.
Grotto in an Iceberg - Jan 1911
This is one of my favourite photos, it was taken inside the grotto and the ship is beautifully composed, sitting in the bay. There is lots of textures in the ice grotto, the icicles, the sea and the clouds in the sky - a simple picture with lots going on.
Scotts Study - Oct 1911
Scott had his own room sectioned off from the other team members. This was taken before he embarked on his journey. This room was fitted out for his comfort. He kept it very tidy, with books on shelves and he even had a pipe rack. He always kept a diary, which was later published. His suitcase was tucked away beneath the bed and he had photos of his wife and family on his desk. He looks comfortable and organised in his room, relaxed with pipe in hand.
The Celebration Dinner - 6 June 1911
Scotts 43rd Birthday Dinner.
Above the table were sledge pendants which belonged to the team. There is a strong patriotic atmosphere with the union Jack laid on the table. They have luxuries to eat including chocolate and wine - they have nice wine glasses and the table has been set.
Scott is head of the table as team leader and Birthday boy. They are all engrossed in their meal not aware of the camera. Only one person is looking at the camera.
This was to be his last birthday....
The next picture was the team arriving at the tent of Roald Amundsen - flying the Norwegian flag. The realisation the race was over, they had been beaten. They are all standing apart faces downward and dejected and defeated.
At The South Pole - 18 Jan 1912
With the Union Jack they should have been celebrating, but they have been defeated in the race. They were suffering from malnutrition, scurvy and frostbite, they look like they have given up.
If they had been the first to get there this picture would have been very different - all smiles and celebration, and maybe this would have given them the strength to survive.
The final picture...... The Grave on The Great Ice Barrier - Nov 1912
The tent of the five missing men was found on Nov 12. After retrieving the diaries, letters and photographic negatives and flags, a cairn was constructed over the bodies of Captain Scott, Dr Wilson and Lieutenant Bowers. The search party spread the tent, then built over the cairn of ice, surmounted by a simple cross. Beside the grave was a smaller cairn on which they placed their comrades upright sledge. A blizzard had trapped them and they were only 11 miles from safety. This photograph was used in newspapers around the world - showing national pride - immortal heroes...
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THE IMPERIAL TRANS ANTARCTIC EXPEDITION 1914 - 1917
The second part of the exhibition was of Shackletons trans antarctic expedition, 1914 - 1916.
These picture are just as moving but tell another very different story.
Again a photographer, Frank Hurley, was taken to record the expedition. This shows pictures at the start of the Journey, onto when the ship was stuck in the ice, then a selection of photos as the ice squeezed the ship until it crumbled - all the stages of destruction - then onto the camp they set up. There are pictures of the men both time spent on the boat then the two months in the camp. Then up to the final rescue.
In one picture the photographer showed his commitment to the job by trudging across the ice to get a picture of the ship stuck in the ice. It shows the vast areas of ice he covered, freezing cold and having to carry his equipment.
Pictures were taken on the ship when trapped, the men taking the dogs off for exercise and also showing how the men passed their time playing cards and cleaning, and various other activities.
This is one of my favourite pictures, it is taken in the dark and Endurance is moonlit and the frost vapours are glistening. It is a very spooky image.
Hurley took a sequence of photos of the end of Endurance. It was trapped in the ice and the movement of the ice eventually crumbled the boat destroying it. Shackleton had anticipated this event and coordinated everyone to abandon ship and set up camp. This camp was to be home for the next two months. The pictures showed the feelings of abandonment, and their time waiting.
The final sequence of photographs is of when the men are looking out to sea for their rescuer. On the horizon is a rescue boat and to the left are two men with a fire sending smoke as a signal. The men were rescued... He captured their jubilation of being rescued after all these months.
At the end of this exhibition your mood is lifted because the explorers are saved, unlike Scotts expedition, for this you felt both disappointment when they are beaten to the pole and utter sadness when they were found dead.
I was very moved by both collections, some of the photographs are similar because of their subject matter, ships and icy landscapes.. similar clothing and dogs and penguins, but two very different stories which you can tell through the pictures.
I think these are a good documentation of both expeditions. One thing I noticed penguins look the same as they did 100 years ago ..
I very much enjoyed them both and found it very moving.
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Feb 2012
TAYLOR WESSING PHOTOGRAPHIC PORTRAITS PRIZE
The National Portrait Gallery.
Walking in the first portrait straight ahead of you is that of Peter Crouch, I am both a fan of Peter Crouch and Spurs so was interested in this. This was taken at Tottenham apparently, during training. The photographer stole 20 minutes or so with him. Because of this he is very natural, a little grubby and slightly sweating from training. He is unshaven and the mood is slightly melancholy. His eyes match the background and his spurs shirt, all blending comfortably. I like this because he his is not all fresh in clean kit before a match and not in his clothes or a suit, it is more casual and relaxed, there is no acting for the camera. This Portrait shows him for what he is - a footballer. It was taken by Spencer Murphy.
The effects on me of the portraits were very varied. Some of them I liked very much, like the old lady, who is beautiful, from the series - Happy at 100 - which is portraits of people who have reached a healthy 100, which in itself is a good subject, but the old lady is beautiful, Im always interested in the faces of older people and never tire of looking at them. The photographer here is Karsten Thomaehlen.
Some I wasn't comfortable with. I never like to see lost limbs, so Bernat Millet from the series Saharawis, wasn't my favourite, along with the burnt face of Leo Gormley - The ugly face of prejudice, and also in this section Jodi Bieber, Bibi Aisha who lost her nose.. I could obviously see the point they were trying to make but it wasn't comfortable viewing for me.
One that made me laugh was of a black boy and white girl, Julian Baker, Inflate. This is from the series Skintones. Now I think this was about friends about to move on in their lives, go their own ways, I don't think this sent the correct message out to me but I could sense their fun in making the shot.
One that I did relate to well actually won third prize, although Im not sure if I would have it in my top three, Ill have to give that some thought. It is of a teenagers bedroom. Its from the series On the Nest by Dona Schwartz. Investigating the empty nest syndrome and how parents feel and are dealing with the loss even if only temporary.
Here the parents are standing in the room, the photographer doesn't tell them how to stand, she said how they position themselves is telling in itself, revealing also things about their relationship with each other as well as how they are dealing with their child leaving home. The room is tidy and hoovered awaiting the teenagers return. Items collected throughout childhood remain on shelves and there is a beloved teddy on the made bed. This picture struck a chord with me as my two teenagers rooms look like this and I know exactly how they feel - Glad they can see the carpet, but missing their offspring terribly. Its as if the parents and the room are awaiting their return. This photo sent me a very clear message...
The Winner ( above ) was one of my favourites, I had seen this picture prior to the exhibition as it was used in the publicity advertising. I liked it straight away, I think firstly the colour then the subject matter.
I attended a couple of Country shows in the summer and was taken aback at what a serious business it all was. I had taken a picture of a young girl with a calf, who had similar colourings, and she was wearing a white coat, she was showing her calf. It reminded me of this.
The picture of Harriet and Gentleman Jack by Jooney Woodward, was taken at Sheepdog trials in Powys. All of these portraits have to be shot on film and this was, using natural light from a skylight. Apparently there were no photoshop alterations. Woodward likes to capture the little things and she says here that the more you look at the portrait the more you see, like her nail polish, her mascara and hint of make up and the small scratch on her hand.
This portrait has inspired Woodward to continue photography the quirky world of Guinea Pig enthusiasts. She likes the subjects that are often overlooked, but are actually a hugh part of someones lives.
For me as I said, the colour is the thing thats first attracts me, against the white coat and subtle grey background of the arena. Its a simple shot and I like the depth of field. Both the girl and the Guinea Pig look relaxed and I like the fact that she is not smiling - taking her role very seriously.
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I have visited today, 30 August 2011, 2 exhibitions, well 3 .. The first two were at The National Portrait Gallery, one photographic, Glamour of the Gods - Hollywood Portraits and the other was BP Portrait Award 2011. Then I went on to The Museum of London to see London Street Photography.
I had a day out in London and chose to visit the National Portrait Gallery first, then went onto the Museum of London.
At the National Portrait Gallery I went to see the 'Glamour of the Gods - Hollywood Portraits', photographs from the John Kobal Foundation. It was still really busy even though it was in its final weeks. I was so glad I went, this is just my style of photography and I really enjoyed it.
Glamour of the Gods is a celebration of Hollywood portraiture from the industry's Golden Age, the period 1920 to 1960, from Greta Garbo and Clark Gable to Audrey Hepburn, James Dean and Marilyn Monroe, it is these portraits that transformed actors and actresses into international style icons.
The exhibition features over 70 photographs, some of them have never been shown before. The exhibition is drawn from the extraordinary archive of the John Kobal Foundation and demonstrate photographys decisive role in creating and marketing the stars central to the Hollywood mystic.
The film industry studio system was well established by the 1920's, but it was with the the release of the Jazz Singer by Warner Bros in 1927, the first full length film with synchronised dialogue, this was to become know as the golden age of Hollywood.
It was during the 1930's that the Golden Age of Hollywood really began, and when the studio system created and controlled the stars now associated with the period. The introduction of sound mixing resulted in advanced scripts, in a wide range of genres, such as screwball comedies and gangster films and by the end of the decade the first films were released in technicolour most notably - Gone with the Wind, 1939.
The early 1940's were defined by world war two, to which the studios responded with a realistic rather than escapist tone, of which Casablanca (1942) remains a classic.
The decade is now closely associated with the 'film-noir' genre which began with the Maltese Falcon (1941).
The Hollywood studio system reached its profitable peak during the mid 1940's, but the decade ended with many of their practices declared illegal, and key figures were blacklisted during the witch hunt investigations conducted by the house of representatives UnAmerican Activities Committee.
The 1950's saw the decline of the Hollywood Studios System and the decade was remarkable for cynical retrospection in films such as, All About Eve (1950) and Sunset Boulevard (1950) and for remakes of Golden Age films including the popular An Affair to Remember (1957 ). Technical advances, and the threat of television, led to the production of spectacular historical epics such as Ben Hur (1959) as well as colourful, escapist musicals including Singing in the Rain, (1952).
From the earliest days of cinema the Hollywood studios created, controlled and promoted stars - the chosen few whose features and personalities registered well on the screen and who developed followings that verged on the fanatical by the 1930's.
The Portrait became the studios chief tool to keep the faces of favourites in the minds of audiences. Through the skill and invention of the still camera, artist such as George Hurrell and Clarence Sinclair Bull, the faces of the Hollywood greats were memorialised. Dramatic lighting, unique camera angles and deft retouching created icons of glamour. Stars would sit for portraits for each film, sometimes in costume, other times in contemporary fashions.
These portraits would be used to advertise the upcoming film in newspapers and magazines.
The John Kobal Foundation Archive consists of some 22,000 black and white original negatives from 1920 to 1960 featuring Hollywood star portraits, scene skills and production and publicity images.
John Kobal was a pre eminent film historian and collector of Hollywood film photography. The author of over 30 books on film and film photography, he is credited with essentially 'rediscovering' the great hollywood studio photographers who were employed by the movie studios to create the glamourous iconic portraits of the most famous and intriguing stars of the day that now epitomise hollywood.
Kobals mission in the 1970's and 80's was to reunite these forgotten artist with their original negatives and produce new prints for exhibitions, he then mounted these prints along with the original vintage prints from the studio days, these form the core of the John Kobal Foundation Archive that he donated to the foundation prior to his death in 1991.
I purchased the Glamour of the Gods book which is full of wonderful images, here are a couple below which I scanned from postcards that I bought at NPG.
MARILYN MUNROE 1952 By Ernest Bachrach
FRED & GINGER - 1936 - Swingtime by John Miehle
MARLON BRANDO - 1953 - The Wild One - Attributed to Irving Lippman
This photo wasn't actually at the exhibition but I bought the post card as its one of my favourite pictures, its so cool !
Also whilst at the National Portrait Gallery I had a wander around the BP Portrait Award 2011.
Painting always amazes me, how they achieve such results I will never know.. I can look and look and wondered how it is done ( maybe lessons one day ) .. One of my favourites was by Layla Lyons and the painting was of George O'Dowd, (Boy George). Its colours rich mauves and blue / turquoise, and its from a low angle which I like, looking up under his hat. Another I liked was of a west Indian woman, Latoya by Alan Coulson, again beautiful colours of her clothes and headscarf. She is looking down and has bright blue eyelashes. Lastly, was of a young woman with a dalmatian, the texture of her dress, hands and the coat of the dog made you want to touch the picture - like a fabric - Excellent.
From there I moved onto the Museum of London, to a very contrasting exhibition, it went from the Glamour of the film industry to the poor London Streets, but enjoyable none the less. There were lots of people there but not so many that you couldn't view properly, some of the pictures quite small so you needed to get up close to view, others larger.
The exhibition demonstrates how street photography has evolved over the years and the way in which it helps us understand the dynamism and energy of the capital. The photographs offer a fascinating visual documentation of the evolving city. A snapshot through time.
Approximately 200 photographs were on display by well known photographers as well as superb contemporary images. All the photographs in the exhibition contain an element of chance - a defining characteristic of street photography. This is the first time street photography is explored exclusively in relation to London. It focuses on the motives of the photographers and the wider social and cultural context in which they worked.
The exhibition offers an insight into how London Street photography has developed since 1860.
The museum of London and Metro ran a competition for your own Street photo. The winner was great and was a picture of a red and black phone box, with someone in red on the black side and someone in black on the red side.. I saw some of the comments on Flickr saying that its was a great shot taking the photo exactly when you had the colours in the right place at the right time, however, i think its a great shot, and whilst people wearing black are two a penny, I think you would have to wait a long while for someone wearing red. I feel it may have been staged but that takes nothing from the photo for me.
Here is the picture link ....
It was wonderful seeing the exhibition and now looking at the images in the book that I purchased, pictures from 1860 to the present days. The buildings remaining the same over the years but the poeple and forms of transport changing dramatically. The roads filled with horse and carriages changing with the years to motorised vehicles, double decker and open topped in 1900.
The people looked grubby and poor, with ragged clothes and shoes without laces. When you look at these people you wonder what happening in their lives, are they happy, are they content with what they have, or dont have. Also do they work? if so what do they do ? how many children do they have? but those questions never change, they would be the same for a current picture. I was shocked when I looked at a picture from 1957. This was the year my husband was born - and it looks like a different world. A young boy relaxes in a doorway reading a newspaper with a cross breed dog laying at his feet. Two girls chatter outside a shop waiting for their mother, and a baby is left unattended in a low base, long handle, four wheeled pushchair - this is exactly the pushchair my husband had. I didn't realise he was so old !! The picture give the impression of a quiet street even though you cant actually see the road. Its amazing how things have changed.
In contrast to these pictures is the one of a dog and Big Ben, the photographer, Stephen McLaren, has made his dog jump up making him look as tall as Big Ben, its very funny, I can imagine how many times he tried to perfect that shot. He must have had a tasty treat for the dog.
