7. Geoff Charles

Geoff Charles
(1909 - 2002)

Another one of my favourite photographers from the Diffusion Festival was the documentary works of Geoff Charles. This particular exhibition, of his work, was part of a series of exhibitions which specifically showed Geoff Charles' vast collection in order to "mine his photographic works".

"Geoff Charles' contribution to Welsh photography is unique. His approach is characterized by both an innate talent and an empathy for his subjects." 

Geoff Charles was a recognised photojournalist through from the 1930's to the 1970's and was one of the only recognised in Welsh-speaking Wales for most of that time. 

'British Legion Carnival in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant' May 24th, 1956

Geoff Charles was born in Brymbo, Wrexham of North Wales in 1909. He began studying a Diploma in Journalism in the University of London, which he gained a first class honours in completion in 1928. He worked for several publications including the Western Mail, Mountain Ash and Aberdare Express, Surrey Advertiser and also the Wrexham Star. The main Wrexham Star is the main paper he worked for, in which he reported on the Gresford Colliery Disaster, in which he managed to gain some access and specialist information which allowed a special edition of the paper. It was while working at the Wrexham Star that Geoff Charles purchased his first camera VPK Thorton Pickard, with Glass Plates. 

In 1936 the Wrexham Star was taken over and changed to The Wrexham Advertiser, which is when Geoff met managing director Rowland Thomas and he was made manager of the photographic section.

'Rhayader Carnival', August 19th 1939

Shortly afterwards Geoff Charles moved to Newton to manage the 'Montgomeryshire Express' where he met John Robert Williams who he went on to work with for 'Y Cymro'. The work of the pair together soon surpassed any other work of any photojournalist in Wales.

"Over this period his work recorded far more than events and personalities; piece by piece, photo by photo a vanished way of life is revelaed: witness the farmhands living in the 'lloft stabl', the postman delivering letters on horseback or the old quarryman demonstrating the car gwyllt."

I do believe that Geoff Charles is one of my favourite documentary photographers. His almost endless collection of images makes a most interesting observation of Welsh History in the North of Wales, mainly. It almost documents the innocence of the country even at the time of the war. He doesn't document the 'panic', he documented how everyone worked together at such a terrible time. He documented times of joy, carnivals and festivals, where people enjoy and have a good time, pulling together, and sports teams etc.

General events which, above all, highlight the work of the community. He didn't look for the tragedies, or the disasters. This is what I like about Geoff Charles' approach to Documentary Photography. This is something which might be considered to be missed in today's photographic documentary work. 

'Women collecting cockles in Penclawdd, Glamorgan, August 10th, 1951'

Much to my surprise, as I am aware that Geoff Charles was more of a North Wales based photographer, I found a photograph of a cockle picker from Penclawdd. It's a very sweet photograph of, perhaps, an older, female cockle picker. It is interesting to look at this photograph, you can see the equipment that they used over 60 years ago, plus the donkey in the image also shows how much things have changed. It is a simple photograph but does also give some context to the history behind cockle picking. Geoff Charles stays fairly at distance from his subjects in most of his images, which is useful, but it also leads me to think more about getting closer to my subjects.

Bibliography
- http://www.llgc.org.uk/index.php?id=geoffcharles
- http://www.peoplescollectionwales.co.uk/story/310-geoff-charles-photojournalist
- http://myglyw.org.uk/index.php?id=4332
- http://www.flickr.com/photos//llgc 

6. About The Cockle Pickers

Penclawdd is the name of the costal village which is the most recognised in South Wales, for it's Cockle Picking.

"Up until the end of the 19th Century, Penclawdd was a flourishing sea port... but above all else, Penclawdd was synonymous with cockles and cockling, and this is the only one of the old industries to survive."

The coast of Penclawdd touches onto the Burry Estuary, with then touches onto the coast of my home town, Llanelli. This is how I am so familiar with the Cockle Pickers. The, almost famous, low tides of the Burry Estuary make the cockle beds some of the finest quality harvest for the cockle industry.

"During the Industrial Revolution, women whose husbands were unfit work in the coal mines turned to cockle gathering as a lifeline, and right up to the 1970's, women were the main gatherers."

I was surprised to find quite a bit of information about the cockles pickers on the internet, I was expecting to have to make some in depth research with books, more of a historical reference. It still does seem to be a quite unknown lifestyle. 

http://www.enjoygower.com/communities/penclawddcom.cfm

http://www.bodnant-welshfood.co.uk/blog/the-cockles-of-penclawdd-3291.html

The article from 'Bodnant' seemed to be full of very useful research on the cockle pickers, it specifically focuses on the lives of the women of the industry and especially the Burry Inlet, which is the local area which I am researching.

It's a fairly useful article, but there aren't any sources on the information so I'm not that sure how reliable it is, even though it's only basic information.

The article has sparked some ideas for me to try out. Both these articles highlighted the women of the cockle picking industry and how important they were. The second article says that they wouldn't find these women picking cockles any more, but yet I am aware that there are still several women still out slaving at this labour.

These articles are fairly useful to look at, but I do think that it might be worth talking to people who know or have experience in the industry.

What kind of Project?

I know I would like to do a project on the cockle pickers. After some basic research, it's defiantly something which I have a strong interest and passion for, even a slight curiosity about. It's my interest in the work of Elin Høyland and also the work of Geoff Charles, which I also saw at the Diffusion Photography Festival which I would like to research some more, both Documentary Photographers who might have sparked my interest in this genre. I have tried 'A Day In The Life Of...' projects before in the past documentary photography modules, and as I've tried it in the past I feel that it will not be suitable for this project. I would like to document the rare, agricultural way of life, in all it's glory.

5. Elin Høyland

'The Brothers'

I was fortunate enough to see Elin Høyland's series, 'The Brothers' on display at the Norwegian Church Arts Centre as part of the Diffusion Photography Festival of 2013, and I can honestly say it was my favourite piece of work from the whole festival, and I will remember her work forever.

[From the Guardian] "... An extract from Elin Høyland's book 'The Brothers', which observes the relationship between Harald and Mathias Ramen, two brothers living together on a small farm in rural Norway. It records a way of life which has almost entirely disappeared."

Høyland began her project by photographing 'twos', which is how she came about meeting the brothers. The project ran from 2001 through to 2007 and Høyland would only stay with the pair for a few hours a day as she didn't want to intrude on their lives.

I am very fond of this piece of work, I fell in love with the entire project. It stood out to me and began to get me to consider documentary as a genre, and I thought it would be useful to look at if I were to do this Major Project on the Cockle Pickers.

The project is very intimate, and Høyland gets very close to the subjects, which adds to its intensity. It documents their way of lives in a remote location, but also documents the brothers relationship as well. What I found, about the project, was that I wanted to research the brothers more and I wanted to look at the other images in the project because I was so drawn into it, by just looking at the exhibition images. There is definitely a lot I can take from this project, especially as it's one project of Høyland not her whole work, and obviously I would be doing something similar. 

"After a while I got the feeling that I was an outsider was also appreciated and that there was an element of satisfaction for them in being seen. I felt a huge privilege that they allowed me into their world." - http://vimeo.com/28769927

Alexander Norton on Elin Høyland’s The Brothers

Sat in each others pockets
"The closeness of family can create bonds beyond a form of relationship, friendship and love; it can never break although it might bend. That connection can be tested, crumpled, but always goes back to its original shape. Elin Høyland’s The Brothers shows precisely this closeness between family, and between the most interwoven of them all, the relation of siblings. They never detract too far from each other, never leaving a complete eye line from each other – their faces bearing the same eyes, ears and hairline, wearing the same jumpers, doing similar things. They are remote from any other individuals, spending time in each other’s pockets. Their every action carries a trace of resemblance, a sense of mimicking actions, but with the same conscious thought. People in sync, thinking the same, but details change from each person. As people they may do the same things, they may look and act the same, but small details vary, the way one may stand, wear a coat or jumper, may look at things and may place things.

They are close beyond what close can comprehend, their relationship gentle, subtle, quiet. Their very existence seems to rely on the other; no breath is caught without the other. Their spaces intimate, duplicated with a mirroring that suggests a whole hearted caring. They swap positions from left to right, right to left, walking around the same backyard for what feels like decades, but they do not age, although their bodies are worn. We are left with the underlying fact that we all die, and will leave our close ones momentarily. As we are shown the stark reality of two individuals reliant on each other, comprehending how one will live without the other. There is one pair of binoculars on the right, accompanied by a man, not a brother anymore. Although their beautiful relation lives on, the physical manifestation of their contact appears at the end of its journey, leaving an ultimatum for the individual left. Left staring at the bed of another he shared his life with. The space they share becomes empty, as life catches up with them, leaving their room empty.

After the initial parting, the other falls with grace, feeling a gentle sensation of acceptance, they will sit in each other’s pockets once again."

As much as I thoroughly enjoyed viewing every one of Elin Høyland's images, I had favourites. The images I have included above is one of my favourites of the project. Again, a very strong composition is the image and what I do love is the fact that our main subject, 'The Brothers', are not even present in the image, but yet we have their gloves which are used to represent 'The Brothers'.

I do like this photograph as it does support the argument that good documentary photography does not have to contain people as main subjects. This is something which I have really doubted about my skills as a documentary photographer, the ability to photograph people, which is why I have avoided this subject in the past. 

I am aware that I would probably have to spend quite some time building my confidence in order to complete a documentary photography project, but this photograph of Høylands proves that you can explore details within a scene and still create beautiful images, which can represent the subjects. I am also very fond of the contrast through Høylands use of a Medium Format camera, detaile and a beautifully exposed image.

Bibliography

http://vimeo.com/28769927

http://www.elinhoyland.com/component/option,com_joomgallery/Itemid,2/catid,7/func,viewcategory/

http://www.diffusionfestival.org/

4. Cockle Picking

Cockle Picking

Over the Summer I spent a lot of time photographing on the beach and photographing shells, including some cockle shells. It was finding these shells that got me thinking about the cockle pickers. It was my various Summer Projects but also this one photograph I took sometime last year, quite spontaneously, outside 'Selwyn's Penclawdd Seafood', which is a tiny factory which processes cockles ready for them to go on to be sold. The factory leave the empty cockle shells outside their factory, which get collected every so often and are re-used for garden decorations and various other things.

There were these two instances, and I also watch the cockle pickers from my home and it always fascinated me that people have done this back breaking work for so many years. It's something that doesn't seem to have changed very much over the years, and I consider it to be a big part of the Welsh Heritage.

3. Cognition - Exhibition

At the beginning of September 2013 one of our class mates, Sophie, who has volunteered herself at several galleries, heard about the 'Made in Roath' art festival which was on all over Cardiff, and would allow us to have some exhibition space for a short period of time. Sophie found this beautiful church on the corner of Westville Road and Blenheim Road, in Roath.

Church of St. Edward, King and Confessor

Obviously there wasn't anyway we could display our work in the actual church itself, but it had a lovely spacious room at the back of the building. It's mostly used for Sunday School and some coffee mornings, but other than that, the room was fairly unused. 

         We met up with the pastors wife several times, just to have a look at the room and also to take some measurements and have an idea of where our work could go in the spacious, all be it, off-cream coloured room.

Here is a photograph of the room with our work displayed! Obviously the space was not perfect, but the whole point of the Made in Roath was to make the most of the most unlikely places, and turn it into an exhibition space. We were quite limited on space and couldn't get any display boards, so we created some out of foam boards, we even covered a fold up table with white paper to make it more suitable to display work. We stood this table flat, and upright against the window (see above).

Here are the images I chose to display in the exhibition. 

I decided to use the images I had created for my project 'A Line In The City', which we did as part of our Photographic Fictions Project last year.

These were some of my favourite images which I had produced last year. I had decided to reprint them for the exhibition, as I wasn't completely happy with the originals, plus they had been damaged over time. I had also attempted to add text to the originals, but this proved to be unsuccessful and seemed unnecessary and slightly out of place.  

Why Cognition?

The meaning of the word 'Cognition' is : "... the metal process of knowing, including awareness, perception, reasoning and judgement."

There wasn't  a set theme in this exhibition, which turned out to be its biggest problem, but at the same time we all needed the EXPERIENCE & PRACTICE, which is why we needed a name that would be quite general but relevant to everyone's work. 

As a group of ten students, we all made the effort to discuss ideas for the posters and hand outs, we discussed the name and several people ran about collecting things such as food and drink for the open evening, which took place at the venue on October the 17th. It all went rather well, we all took shifts to watch the venue while it was open, plus it turned into a great way to bond with our fellow students, and we had fun. 

THINGS I GOT FROM THE EXHIBITION:

- Learnt how to foam mount work

- How to correctly measure and display work successfully and evenly in an exhibition space.

- Experienced having work exhibited and viewed by others, even had some good feedback. 

Good Practice for Final Major Project.