Bob Long "Photo Montage”, May Half Moon Exhibition John Berger Nick Hedges Steve Hoare Roger Mayne Tom Picton Jo Spence John Tagg

No.6 Half Moon Photography Workshop 30 p

Ewan MacLeod, South Uist, Hebrides 1954

PAUL STRAND 1890-1976 by JOHN BERGER here is a widespread assumption that if one is interested in the visual, some actual incident, which we witness or the stuff of the life of the subject. Tone’s interest must be limited to a technique of somehow treating the live, refers to one of them as though to a In the two volumes, which include over visual. Thus the visual is divided into categories of special interest: painting, more solid reality. But it is not this which 200 photographs, there are at least 30 pictures of this kind of authority and photography, real appearances, dreams and so on. And what is forgotten — like makes Strand as a photographer unique. His method as a photographer was more intensity. Their quality depended upon his all essential questions in a positivist culture — is the meaning and enigma of unusual. One could say that it was the an­ technical skill, his ability to select, his know­ visibility itself. tithesis to Henri Cartier-Bresson’s. The pho­ ledge of the places he visited, his eye, his I think of this because I want to describe often disconcerting. Some would say that tographic moment for Cartier-Bresson is an sense of timing, his use of the camera; but what I can see in two books which are in these photographs fail, for they remain de­ instant, a fraction of a second, and he stalks he might have had all these talents and still front of me. They are two volumes of a tails of what they have been taken from: that instant as though it were a wild animal. not have been capable of producing such pic­ retrospective monograph (published by they never become independent images. The photographic moment for Strand was a tures. What finally determined his success Aperture, New York), on the work of Paul Nature, in these photographs, is intrasigent biographical or historic moment, whose dur­ in his photographs of people and in his land­ Strand. The first photographs date from to art, and the machine details mock the ation is ideally measured not by seconds but scapes — which are only extensions of 1915, when Strand was a sort of pupil of stillness of their perfectly rendered images. by its relation to a lifetime. Strand did not people who happen to be invisible — was his Alfred Stieglitz; the most recent ones were From the 1930’s onwards, the photo­ pursue an instant, but encouraged a moment ability to invite the narrative: to present taken in 1968 — though Strand, who died graphs fall typically into groups associated to arise as one might encourage a story to be himself to his subject in such a way that the in March, 1976 at the age of 85, worked with journeys that Strand made: to Mexico, told. subject is willing to say: I am as you see me. after that. New England, France, Italy, the Hebrides, In practical terms this means that he de­ It is more than a statement of immediate The earliest works deal mostly with Egypt, Ghana, Rumania. These are the cided what he wanted before he took the fact: it is already an explanation, a justifi­ people and sites in New York. The first of photographs for which Strand became well- picture, never playing with the accidental, cation, a demand — it is already autobio­ them shows a half-blind beggar woman. One known, and it is on the evidence of these worked slowly, hardly ever cropped a pic­ graphical. Strand’s photographs suggest his of her eyes is opaque, the other sharp and photographs that he should be considered a ture, often used a plate camera, formally sitters trust him to see their life story. And wary. Round her neck she wears a label great man. I am forced to use that some­ asked people to pose for him. His pictures it is for this reason that, although the por­ with BLIND printed on it. It is an image what archaic term because in the end it is were all remarkable for their intentionality. traits are formal and posed, there is no need, with a clear social message. But it is some­ less confusing than saying artist, photo­ His portraits were very frontal. The subject either on the part of photographer or photo­ thing else, too. We shall see later that in all grapher, thinker, image-maker. What it is looking at us; we are looking at the sub­ graph, for the disguise of a borrowed role Strand’s best photographs of people, he pre­ amounts to is that with these black-and- ject; it has been arranged like that. But (“ smile, please.” ). sented us with the visible evidence, not white photographs, with these records which there is a similar sense of frontality in many Photography, because it preserves the ap­ just of their presence, but of their life. At are distributable anywhere, he offered us the of his other pictures of landscapes or objects pearance of an event or a person, has always one level, such evidence of a life is social sight of a number of places and people in or buildings. His camera was not free-roving. been closely associated with the idea of the comment — Strand consistently took a left such a way that our view of the world can be He chose where to place it. historical. The ideal of photography, political position — but, at a different level, qualitatively extended. Where he chose to place it was not where aesthetics apart, is to seize an “historic” such evidence serves to suggest visually the On his travels Strand avoided the pic­ something was about to happen, but where a moment. But Paul Strand’s relation as a totality of another lived life, from within turesque, the panoramic, and tried to find a number of happenings would be related. photographer to the historic is a unique one: which we ourselves are no more than a sight. city in a street, the way of life of a nation in Thus, without any use of anecdote, he turn­ his photographs convey a unique sense of This is why the black letters B-L-I-N-D on a the corner of a kitchen. Mostly his approach ed his subjects into narrators. The river duration. white label do more than spell the word. let him choose ordinary subjects which in narrates itself. The field where the horses While the picture remains in front of us, we their ordinariness are extraordinarily are grazing recounts itself. The wife tells the ‘PAUL STRAND - A RETROSPECTIVE can never take them as read. The earliest representative. story of her marriage. In each case Strand, MONOGRAPH’ Aperture Books, New York image in the book forces us to reflect on the He had an infallible eye for the quintes­ the photographer, chose the place to put his and Gordon Fraser, London 1971. (Pub­ significance of seeing itself. sential: whether it is to be found on a Mexi­ camera as listener. lished in two volumes) The next photographs, from the 1920’s, can doorstep, or in the way that an Italian The approach: neo-realist. The method: ‘PAUL STRAND - SIXTY YEARS OF includes photographs of machine parts and village schoolgirl in a black pinafore holds deliberate, frontal, formal, with every sur­ PHOTOGRAPHS’ Aperture Books, New close-ups of various natural forms — roots, her straw hat. Such photographs enter so face thoroughly scanned. What is the result? Yoek and Gordon Fraser, London 1977. rocks and grasses. Already Strand’s techni­ deeply into the particular that they reveal to His best photographs are unusually dense This is the only book of Strand’s work still cal perfectionism and strong aesthetic in­ us the stream of a culture or a history which — not in the sense of being over-burdened in print; it is beautifully produced, but at terests were apparent. But equally his is flowing through that particular subject or obscure, but in the sense of being filled £16.00 is hardly good value when compared obstinate, resolute respect for the thing-in- like blood. The images of these photo­ with an unusual amount of substance per to the earlier two volume monograph of itself was also apparent. And the result is graphs, once seen, subsist in our mind until square inch. And all this substance becomes 1971.

This issue of CAMERAWORK, April, 1977, was produced by the Publishing Project, Half Moon Photography Workshop, 27 Alie Street, London, E.I., 01- 488—2595. Ed Barber, Terry Dennett, Marilyn Dalick-Noad, Mike Goldwater, Liz Heron, Sue Hobbs, Eric Molden, Tom Picton, Jo Spence, Paul Trevor. is designed to provide a forum for the exchange of ideas, views and information on photo­ Printed by Expression Printers, 5 Kingsbury Road, London, N.l. graphy and other forms of communication. By exploring the application, scope and content of photography, we intend to demystify the process. We see this as part of the struggle to If you have any comments to make or articles, letters or prints you would like to contribute, learn, to describe and to share experiences and so contribute to the process by which we grow we will be glad to hear from you. Please make sure it reaches us by 1st June 1977 in capacity and power to control our own lives. (ISSN 0308 1676) Factory Fantasies? by NICK HEDGES

Judy sits at the assembly line, head sunk in her hands; on the girder next to her hangs a travel poster of a bikini-clad girl laughing at the world. Just down the same assembly line Rose has stuck up some snaps of her children, and a blurred print of herself and her husband. At lunchbreak Vera apes a pin-up posture, and Ron performs his standard practical joke with his false teeth. At the steelworks a row of empty safety helmets welcome you in, and down by the open hearth furnace you are welcomed to Hell. Emil stands by his flower pots, ‘to cheer the cabin up’, - he was Polish, survived the Germans, killed three weeks after the photograph was taken when his fork-lift truck toppled over and crushed him. In Joe’s cabin the pin-ups are stuck with darts. Charlie who is third-hand on the furnace wears his safety clothing like a Samurai. At tea break George challenges Ron to a game of Mastermind. These photographs and text are one attempt based at Wolverhampton Polytechnic. The at trying to come to terms with workers’ re­ fellowship is worth £1,800 p.a., the poly­ actions to work. These reactions are ex­ technic supply me with materials worth pressed in the visual and verbal stimuli which £400 p.a., and undertake to provide me with they inject into the factory: humour, half a day’s teaching a week in the Faculty fantasy and humanness. It is also my own of Art and Design. Overall the funding is recognition of ‘fantastic’ elements present in worth about £2,700 gross a year. I work work environments. about 55 hours a week on the project. It’s It’s your birthday — SMILE. It’s the my time, I organize it. Most of the people union conference — ‘It ay no use’. It’s time that I’m photographing earn about the same, for the Sun - SEE PAGE THREE. People or a little more; their working week is of Wolverhampton Support Norton Villiers. shorter but they have no control over their When I arrived at Wolverhampton to start working time. my project no one in the Polytechnic, staff The project that I’ve undertaken is a pho­ or student, knew where the Norton factory tographic documentation of people at work, was. No one that is except Fred Baistow the and the environment of workplaces. The in­ caretaker/doorman; he’d worked there once, tention is to publish both photographs and told me to ask for Ivy, and mention his transcribed interviews at the end of the pro­ nam e. ject in 1978. Meanwhile I’m putting on ex­ The gap between educational institutions hibitions in each of the factories that I’ve and the real world depresses me. Each time visited, usually in the works canteen. My I return from a session of darkroom work or stimulus has come from the hidden nature of teaching to the environment of the works, I workplaces (in recent years Bob Golden is feel back in tune. Middle-class romantic! — one of the very few people to attempt to “Expensive camera, mate”, I quickly ration­ portray how we all spend one third of our alise, “They’re like a decent set of tools, I lives, whilst there have been an infinite num­ earn my living with them.” Being a photo­ ber of documentations of leisure, the sea­ grapher is easy, and living as a photo­ side, etc.). In that sense it was a conscious grapher allows you the chance to attempt decision to swing the balance, and to recog­ continuing assessments of the real world. nize all those workers who produce the All the time you are understanding more material wealth that pays for our welfare about interactions in the human world. state. I’m working on a fellowship funded by The factories that I’ve visited so far are: the West Midland Arts Association, and Birchley Rolling Mills, Norton Villiers, Nick Hedges

CAMERAWORK 6 Nick Hedges

Josiah Parkes (lock manufacturers), Unigate author drops the stance of the hidden Dairies, and the British Steel Corporation observer. Examples of this might be Robert (blast furnace and open hearth steel Frank’s Lines of My Hand, Agee and Evans furnaces). Over the next year I intend-to L et Us N ow Praise Famous Men, and to spend the coverage to include a service some extent Danny Lyons Conversations industry, a white collar industry, a group of with the Dead. The dangers of this latter farms, a high technology industry and a approach can be that it turns into a public media industry. display an author’s posturing at the expense While I am working on the project I shall of the content of his photographs, with the be doing an M. Phil., based on the documen­ result that the whole work moves towards tation. Part of the problem of documentary that perilous arena of ‘Art’. The examples work is to decide on how to present the I’ve quoted manage to avoid this, however, evidence, and for the M. Phil., I shall be test­ and to my mind are very considerable photo­ ing various methods. There are several graphic works. schools of thought on how to communicate evidence: 5. Documentation in which the sub­ ject is also the author. I have in mind the 1. The classic ‘Family of Man’ style, in community based photographic projects like which all the photographs are used as meta­ Paul Carter’s in Blackfriars. This concept phors for generalised statements about the has not really been fully tried out; if it has ‘quality of life’ (sic). This style may succeed weaknesses it could be in the difficulty in es­ in reaffirming established views about life, tablishing a single defined aim, and in the but it has little to do with actual truths structural weakness of a collective state­ about the subject matter. It is more like a ment; I recognise that this weakness is also politician’s election address than a serious its strength. study of reality. This list of documentary categories is by no means conclusive, and my own tendency 2. The detailed and massive study of a is to move somewhere between 2 and 4. particular phenomena in which evidence is collected over a long period of time. At its best (Vietnam Inc. Philip Jones Griffiths), this type of study gives unique insights and understanding of the subject.

3. Conventional newspaper and magazine stories where the authors are pressured by deadlines into a sketchy or sensationalised approach, and the full weight of what has to be said is lost in a forest of competing infor­ mation. What is news is not necessarily the truth about a situation.

4. A documentation which presents in detail a study of a phenomenon, but which also reveals the author’s own involvement. So that whilst being a study of an aspect of human reality, it also opens up the author to a similar examination. In this way the

Kids and Photography... by Tom Picton and Jo Spence

A contemporary Candide can spend developing and highly-lucrative audio/visual duction to the concept that much of what included was the excellent ‘Ladybird’ book 13 years in school and seven years in aid industry in favour of home-made aids, re­ was discovered in the photographic past has of THE CAMERA, a pamphlet by Paul higher education, before spending 40 volving around the direct needs of children. now been dropped or ignored by “official” Carter of Blackfriars Settlement on how his years on the dole (or receiving Arts Previous workshops were held in May, 1976. histories of photography and by mass manu­ project was set up and is run, and issue 21 of Workshop 1 dem onstrated that there is a facturers. The dangers were also pointed out SCREEN EDUCATION2 which contains Council or other grants) and retiring consciousness industry operated by the mass of the current policy of withdrawing several useful articles on practical work, in­ on the old age pension. Official edu­ media and schools, and concentrated on the products and services, simply because they cluding one by Terry Dennett and Jo Spence cation offers literacy and numeracy work of photographers, both in the use of do not make a certain arbitrarily-fixed “Photography, Ideology and Education”. while the real teachers are disguised as pictures and of language. Extracts were amount of profit (cost accountancy), and These jackdaws can be purchased separately shown from Thames Television’s programme television and film producers, news­ photographic adverts were shown to demon­ (at cost price) from H.M.P.W. at £5.00 in­ VIEWPOINT. Made for schools broadcast­ strate the almost universal attempt on the cluding postage and packing, or £4.00 if paper and magazine owners, and ing, transmitted once and then banned by part of the suppliers to inculcate in us the collected — cash with order). advertisers. the Independent Broadcasting Authority, habit of “consumerism” (encouraging Anyone interested in working with the Photography is now offered as Viewpoint explores the concept that ‘com­ reliance on expensive and fashionable com­ collective should contact them at the Half another panacea. O-level pupils study munication is control’. In the extract shown mercial equipment rather than giving us the Moon Photography Workshop, 27 Alie we saw how pictures are taken by photo­ the documents of Matthew B. Brady knowledge and means to make decisions Street, London, E.l — tel. 01 488-2595. graphers, then edited, industrially processed based on our actual needs). Small work­ Most of the work done on these three work­ and the experiments of Angus McBean, and published by newspapers. Extracts were shops included one on pinhole cameras shops was voluntary (for which many and,as an ‘art medium’,it is used to de­ also shown from THE HISTORY BOOK, a (many made of cocoa tins, some with rising thanks) and expenses incurred were grant- lay the boredom of the classrooms for 16mm Scandinavian colour animation film fronts, others with stereo or 16 pinholes), aided by the Greater London Arts a few more years. It is clear that edu­ (with English soundtrack) which presents and the use of the camera obscura. Other Association. world history from the viewpoint of groups introduced alternative photo 1. The Other Cinema, 12/13 Little Newport cational institutes avoid the real and oppressed and exploited people. It is suita­ chemistry and home-made things, photo­ Street, London, W.I., tel: 01 734 8508. urgent issues. Most teachers and ble for kids from eight onwards and can be graphy without a camera, practical photo university lecturers remain ignorant of hired from The Other Cinema.1 Numerous montage sessions, camera handling and dark­ 2. SCREEN EDUCATION, Society for Edu­ the manipulation that engulfs us. We speakers took different aspects of media room work. The audience of 80 moved, in cation in Film and Television, 29 Old believe that it is worth telling children ranging from the magazines that children small groups, through the workshops of their Compton Street, London, W.l. Costs read, to the ways in which adults themselves about the real uses and misuses of choice. 70p plus p & p. mediate information to children. Much of Workshop 3 dealt with the practical photography. We claim no false the work also centred on practical sug­ problems of introducing photography to neutrality. gestions for combatting and discussing the kids, how to raise money, how to plan a We think we can begin to control our sexism, racism and class bias inherent in darkroom, etc. Groups discussed photo­ own lives by running workshops outside the mass media. graphy in adventure playgrounds, photo­ official system. Education has to come out Work shown and discussed ranged across graphy as a curriculum subject, or as used of the academic closet. For this reason the personal and social identity and documen­ within language development, image con­ Half Moon Photography Workshop has an tary projects, involving the use of images struction, urban studies, social, community educational collective that runs weekend and from magazines and newspapers, combined and youth work. Chairperson for the three other workshops, gives lectures, writes arti­ with the taking and collection of photo­ Workshops was Tom Picton, and a book stall cles and sets up short-term projects. graphs and the compilation of personal his­ was run by Bob White. To this end, three one-day integrated tories. Ideas were opened up for teaching The education collective prepared and workshops were held in February and March about local community life and work, about issued to workshop members a comprehen­ in London on KIDS AND PHOTOGRAPHY. living in a multi-racial community, and to sive loose-leaf kit. This contained a variety . . . The workshops tried to relate photo­ discussing concepts of power with children. of articles specially written for the occasion, graphy to other disciplines; to discuss a The emphasis was always upon low cost, low plus off-prints of other relevant articles, variety of approaches to the subject, going technology and group work. reading lists, useful addresses, a Photo Chem­ far beyond the teaching of photography as a Workshop 2 concentrated on the bias of ical Handbook, details of how to make curriculum subject; and to reject the fast mass technology, with an illustrated intro­ home-made photographic emulsions. Also Final discussion on second day.

CAMERAWORK 6 4 Pinholing: From Here to Infinity student

cocoa tin pinhole tive in a pinhole camera you can get a re­ proof with a minimum o f modification. with a size 9 needle hole in a 9-inch deep by STEVE HOARE markably sharp photo. Unlike the lens, the Small cans have the double advantage of box, the exposure will be about five minutes pinhole has an infinite depth of focus. This being quicker to expose and are cheaper on on a sunny day, using bromide paper. You is a great advantage to the amateur camera materials. Cylindrical cans produce strange­ can do a great deal o f interesting work with­ e began making pinhole cameras maker as it entirely eliminates the problem ly distorted pictures, square ones produce out even getting into the complications of Wseveral years ago, started big, of focussing and makes it possible to con­ ‘normal’ pictures. For really large format exposure calculations. Just stick to working using dust-bins with crude pinholes struct a remarkable variety of cameras that work a black polythene dustbin is fine. We on sunny days and get to know the exposure made in oven foil, and large bromide would be impossible or extremely difficult have also used a VW van with the windows time for particular cameras by trial and paper negatives. The obvious links when using a lens. For example, the back of blacked out. This was both camera and error. The smaller the hole, the longer the the camera can be curved into a semi-circle darkroom. exposure; the smaller the box, the shorter with photography’s history are impor­ to produce a 180 degree (almost) wide angle There are two important factors in pro­ the exposure. tant. We still use paper negatives al­ camera which produces much less distortion ducing really good quality pinhole photos. In theory you can use any light sensitive most exclusively but have added a than a fisheye lens costing hundreds of The pinhole must be a very small hole in a material in a pinhole camera, though some whole range o f cameras in many sizes, pounds. My 180 degree camera cost about 5 very thin material, such as 0.002 inch brass might be too slow for practical use. Film is including wide angles up to 180 pence. shim, and the negative must be large. Pin­ very quick to expose and produces good The infinite depth o f focus makes a hole negatives will not stand up to a high prints, but it is very expensive in the large degrees, zooms, rising fronts, stereo, ‘zoom camera’ with variable angle o f view a degree of enlargement as will a negative pro­ sizes needed for good pinhole photos. colour, and recently a 16-in-one simple matter. You can use a movable film duced by a good lens. You must make Ordinary photograhic paper has the advan­ model inspired by the Victorian ‘carte or paper holder inside the box. A converted large negatives and contact print them. tage o f being much cheaper and can be pro­ de visite’ cameras. folding Kodak makes a zoom pinhole camera Photographic paper works fine for negatives cessed under a safelight. It will even tolerate with eight shots on 120 roll film. and contact prints well too. To make the a surprising amount of white light leaking in­ The principles of the pinhole Pinholes are ideal for architecural photo­ pinhole use a needle, mounting it in the end to an improvised darkroom, whereas film camera has o f course been known for graphy. The wide angle often required pre­ of a piece of dowel. ‘Drill’ the point into will not. centuries, and any light-proof contain­ sents no problems and a rising front is easily the brass shim placed on a piece of card. You can work with pinhole cameras with er can be made into a practical camera incorporated. Just make a vertical line of Turn the brass over and remove the burr a minimum of photographic knowledge and pinholes. Other camera movements such as with the finest carborundum paper you can you can learn most of the basic principles of by painting the inside black and mak­ a ‘horizontal shift’ are also easy — just add get — at least ‘400’ grade. Push the needle cameras and processing, but it is important ing a small hole in one side. But few more pinholes; cover them all with black carefully back through the other way and re­ to realise that its potential is far greater than people realise that it can produce tape ‘shutters’ and remove the appropriate move the burr. Repeat until you have a per­ simply as an introduction to photography. images of very good quality, or that one to make the exposure. fectly round hole which is just the diameter Pinhole cameras can do many things conven­ such a wide variety of special purpose I have a stereo camera made from a of the needle. I check my pinholes against tional cameras cannot do. Most o f the dis­ the light with a xl5 magnifying glass. pinhole cameras can be made for little Carousel lens box which exactly matches the advantages can be turned into advantages size of a junk shop viewer. Other cameras The smallest needle commonly available and even the limitations can be enjoyed. or no cost. are purpose-built of plywood, such as the is a size 9, but I have bought numbers 10,11 Seen as a genuine alternative camera rather Most books or courses on photography colour model, four exposures onto one sheet and 12 from the manufacturers. The holes than a crude photographic toy, the pinhole either ignore or dismiss the pinhole camera of 10 inch x 8 inch paper, and the 16 inch x may be made smaller than size 9 by using camera should have a great future. as a crude device which produces a blurred 20 inch ‘carte de visite’, but most can be the point only, but the advantage o f making image. Invariably they point only to the dis­ made from ready-made containers. the hole the full width of the needle is that advantages, blurred images (not true), long For work with children ready-mades are you can standardise hole sizes on different Steve Hoare teaches in the Art and Design exposures (what’s the hurry?). The long ex­ best, but avoid the flimsy cardboard box cameras or for stereo etc., and you can Department of Dartington College of Arts posure is of course a disadvantage in many which is difficult to make really light-proof, actually work out the f number and make and runs a weekend photography group with situations but can be an advantage in others. gets blown away by the wind or collapses proper exposure calculations. children at Dartington Hall School. He gave A good lens can produce a sharper image under the weight o f a steadying brick. Try The exposures required with pinhole a recent workshop in the series, ‘Kids and than a pinhole, but if you use a large nega­ to find containers which can be made light­ cameras can be very long. For example, Photography’, run by the Half Moon Photo­ graphy Workshop Educational Collective, on pinholes. The Art and Design Department at Dart­ ington at present runs a course for those in­ tending to teach in schools, with the empha­ sis on the middle age range of 9 — 13. A new Diploma o f Higher Education, “Art and Design in Social Contexts”, the first of its kind, starts in September. These courses have led towards an increasing commit­ ment to the use of low technologies where possible. SteveHoare

wide angle pinhole mobile camera obscun^/darkroom

CAMERAWORK 6 a

hood and in hairstyles. It used to be just a matter of short back and sides, with the oc­ casional Boston. A ‘Boston’ means tire hair Life at Work by TOM PICTON is cut at the back in a line, instead of gradually tapered out. nnie Spike slumps in the armchair. shoemaker. He edited the transcribed text A lot of shops nowadays have photo­ Her eyes are closed, her head is bent which was published as Years of Change. graphs of styles, but I have never gone in for Aforward, resting on her knuckles. Her elbow that. I believe in cutting each person’s hair is on the arm of the chair. Her other hand Working Lives One. The Publishing Pro­ in his own individual style. There are very holds a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. ject decided to produce a series of books few really short back and sides; even the Her fingernails appear short and worn with about work. ‘We did not want to get shorter style is longer than it was previously, work. The heel of one foot rests on the toe trapped into always looking back,’ Neil and people are more hair-conscious now of the other. The chair fits with the G-plan Martinson said. ‘People make history every than ever before; and 1 think there is nothing modernism of the other furniture. There is a day.’ Most of the people they talked to nicer than seeing a well-groomed man, with heavy glass ash tray on one sideboard, and were already known to the group. ‘We’re neat, clean, tidy hair . . . an empty vase on the other. The window is very unscientific. Don’t go to the Census,’ There is a relationship between my type covered with a lace curtain, the wooden Neil adds. A demolition worker whose life of barber and his regular customers, that al­ floor is bare. Annie Spike is exhausted, not is in the book was already a member of the most borders on friendship. This is evident even able to take a cigarette out of the evening class. Another working life was Neil when these customers come in for attention; packet. Martinson’s father who is a cabinet maker. the mutual greetings are more like those be­ The photograph of Annie Spike, for that Since then Centreprise has become a tween friends than between a barber and his is what is described, will appear in Working word factory. So far, 1,800,000 have been customer. The highest pinnacles for me, Lives Two, the latest venture of Centreprise collected. The People’s Autobiography are when regular clients move out of the Publishing Project of Hackney in East group listen to the tapes and decide which to district or have to change their local jobs, London. transcribe. This is shown to the person in­ but still make the effort and continue to patronise my shop.” This photograph can be read in many terviewed, who edits it before it is published. “Since coming back after the war, I’ve seen ways. It can symbolise exploitation. It can Ken Worpole is certain of the project’s many changes here, both in the neighbour­ by Lou Lessen (barber) be considered to show an obsolete division value. ‘At present most people’s lives go un­ of labour that ceased to work with the in­ recorded, as if they possessed no inner life vention of agriculture and certainly became worth knowing,’ he has written. ‘The work. The others will have portraits because Centreprise lose money on the first oppressive with the death of the extended struggle for self expression is often thwarted the people have retired or left that job. editions of most of their books but make a family, if not long before. It can be seen in schools, totally denied at work, and They include a teacher, housewife and night- small profit on later editions. So far, they merely as a photograph of a tired women. ignored by the communications industry.’ cleaner, postman, barber, hairdresser, school have managed to keep the cost of then- Its many meanings justify its use in Working Working Lives Two will be published in leaver, builder’s merchant, taxi driver, health books below £1, and several have been Lives. A photograph tells you things you August. Interviews will be accompanied by visitor, fish fryer, vicar, machinist and specially produced for adult literacy classes. would miss by only reading Annie Spike’s photographs by Sally Greenhill, Barry Lewis, mortuary technician. Finally Ken Worpole: “It’s important words. A photograph is terse and direct. It Neil Martinson, Michael Ann Mullen and Jo Centreprise did not have photographs in to promote discussion and reassert the value can open a person’s life as efficiently and Spence. Each photographer read the inter­ the early books. Working Lives One tenta­ of ‘ordinary life’. We hope the books will brutally as a tin opener. As Roland Barthes view before taking the pictures. All the pho­ tively used snapshots, and a few pictures make a dent in our general political culture writes in Mythologies: “Pictures, to be sure, tographers then looked at each other’s prints specially taken for the book. Working Lives which has yet to recognise the significance are more imperative than writing, they im­ and in many cases went back to take more Two will use more than sixty photographs of the majority of the population.” pose meaning at one stroke, without analys­ photographs. Each interview will have six to commissioned for the book. The photo­ The only reason for looking at other lives is ing or diluting it.” ten pictures. graphers got paid £10 a day with expenses. to understand our own. Considering the Annie Spike does not talk about her ex­ The book will have 14 interviews, ten of Centreprise has also published two books of value or futility of your own work is a first haustion. (Most ‘working mothers’, as she them with pictures showing the people at historic photographs of Hackney. step on the long road to freedom. is called, are permanently tired. The terms ‘mother’ and ‘housewife’ imply only that the woman is not paid for her labour. ) She “A working woman’s job is a nerve racking husband to make the breakfast, get the chil­ should be done, their home cleaned and does not talk about collapsing into the arm­ thing. A husband gets up in the morning, dren ready for school and perhaps a their children well-dressed. And if the wife chair at the end of the day. gets dressed, has a cup of tea and a slice of daughter ready for the office — and she may can’t afford to buy herself clothes, she starts Centreprise is many other things besides bread and butter, kisses the kids “Ta-ta” and have to be out by half-past seven to get into to go down and begins to look like an old the publisher of Working Lives. These tells the wife he’ll see her at six. The wife the factory at eight. She’s trying to organ­ hobo because she can’t afford a nice dress to include: has to get up maybe half an hour before the ise, tidy up and make sure the house is go out in. Then the husband doesn’t bother ■ a green double shopfront in Kingsland secure as well before she goes out. Then about her, so he goes out drinking with his High Street, Hackney, East London. she’s thinking: “In my dinner hour I’ve got mates. ■ The only bookshop in a borough of to go out and do the shopping” — after work “Women in factories are sweating their 220,000 people. At present it is ing for five hours in the factory in the morn­ guts out for their children. Although they selling about 60,000 books a year ing. On the way to work she’s nearly getting say they got rid of the whip years ago, they worth £35,000. killed crossing busy roads. On the way still have the whip behind us really. They’re ■ A nursery, coffee bar, advice centre, home she can see her machine in her eyes; still whipping us, in another way. For ex­ meeting place. she can’t get work out of her head, and she ample, a friend of mine works in a clothing ■ The publisher, so far, of 25 other has to worry about getting the dinner on. factory. It’s a basement and there are no books. As Neil Martinson, one of the Perhaps her children finish school at 4 and windows at all. In summer the temperature members of the Publishing Project she doesn’t finish till 5; so she worries about reaches 120 degrees and the governor sends says: “It does seem a logical step, if whether they come home safe from school out for iced drinks. There’s no union. you’ve got a bookshop, to get people as well. On top of all this, there are some They’re still getting away with it.” to w rite.” husbands who think that just because Centreprise’s first book was brought to they’ve given a week’s wages, their washing Annie Spike them by two teachers from Hackney Downs Comprehensive School. They were poems (Housewife & Working Mother) written by a 12 year-old boy bom in Jamaica, Vivian Usherwood. Vivian was at­ tending remedial classes at school which re­ garded him as illiterate. In another class he was writing amazing poems. Centreprise printed 500 copies for £20. The inside pages were typed on paper plates and printed on an offset duplicator in a local

Shopping (above) Michael Ann Mullen college. A local printer produced the covers for £10. This first edition sold out in eight Cleaning (below) weeks. Since then, 5,000 copies in five editions have been printed — which is a large circulation for a book of poems. A year later, in 1973, the Project got its first full-time worker. It now has two, Ken Worpole and Neil Martinson, who also work in the coffee bar and bookshop like other members of Centreprise. Working Lives began as a joint evening class with the local Workers’ Educational Association to start a People’s Autobio­ graphy of Hackney. Both groups felt that the history of common people is neglected. Its first book was When I Was a Child by Dot Stam. For two years the Central WEA re­ fused to recognise the group. They said the tutor did not have the correct qualifications and they did not consider it was a history course. The first tutor was Ken Worpole who had taught English at Hackney Downs before joining Centreprise. Fifteen members of the group used cassette tape recorders to inter­ view local people. They also advertised in At the end of a day local papers for elderly people to talk to. At their meetings they listened to the tapes. In 1974 they spoke to Arthur Newton, a

CAMERAWORK 6 From “FAMILY SELF PORTRAIT” by Richard Greenhill — a Half Moon Photography Workshop Touring Show Nell, ten minutes Richard Greenhill

ifter she was born. CAMERAWORK 6 8 The World of Photography or

he Photography Yearbook continues to be like all the magazines you ever to wrest the camera from these experts and This is imperative if the illusion of personal found in dentists’ waiting rooms. Turning its pages is like flicking through a not only put it at the service of ordinary freedom within common purpose is to be J people, but actually place it in their hands, achieved; if the existence of rifts, radical in­ colour supplement denuded of text: advertisement merges with feature photo, are misconceived, editor John Sanders equalities and conflicts within society is to documentary image with fashion pic. The captions at the back of the book read writes. be denied; if, in short, the bourgeois social like the hackwork of the ill-named popular press: ‘Excuse me, this is where I get ‘There is an aphorism that when every­ order is to defend itself against the conse­ off, as a cyclist falls headlong into a river; ‘It’s not all make-believe in Holly­ body is somebody, nobody is anybody, quences of deepening class consciousness and this may be the fatal flaw in a phil­ and class struggle. The category which, wood’, as two Los Angeles policemen from the Special Weapons and Tactics osophy that places such emphasis on the above all others, must be denied is that of Section charge from a doorway, in battledress, wearing gas masks and clenching promotion of egalitarianism that it for­ class. automatic weapons. gets the uniqueness of individuals . . . We have seen how this central contradic­ Memorable photographs by talented tion which aries from the attempt to contain Image follows image so that their individ­ ploughed field, or even the man-made props photographers usually happen because the unique and the universal informs two ual sense is lost. What you see is a medley: of modem life, she offers her nakedness as the person who made them is fully areas — the picturing of people and the the whole book in a cinematic montage. A evidence of an unaffected, unchanging aware of his or her own individuality. . .’ image of photographers. It is also at work in protestor on a National Abortion Campaign nature. How soon in the history of photo­ As we observed earlier in relation to a further feature of the Photography Year­ rally follows a nude captioned ‘Love’ from graphy women are placed in this passive and subject-matter, anything intervening book : in the conflicting demands of photo­ subservient relation to the camera. Men may an ‘Essay on Women’. A blown-up Saracen between the unique and the universal is ex­ graphy as a form of human communication in an Irish country lane, lying on its side like employ the full rhetoric of costume, dressing cluded. Class, nationality, tradition do not which needs no translators, since the pic­ a dead beast, fades into a grainy, mood-filled up for the camera in a celebration of their matter. And now, the knotted cords of tures speak for themselves, regardless of who differences. Women at least, until the age vision of the ‘timeless’ Spanish landscape. ideology are given one more twist. The took them or whence they came, and photo­ when they can be pictured with babies — are German Chancellor Schmidt faces a Maka editor continues: graphy as personal expression; in the duality stripped and become all the same. The thin Indian from Paraguay. Prince Phillip finds it ‘The fact that such photographs are still of the commercial exploitation of photogra­ veils of artifice and so-called creative camera­ thirsty work at the National Carriage Driving being taken in parts of the world where phy as a means of mechanically reproducing work hide nothing. Championships and Cuban workers sweat in individuality is not exactly encouraged, imagery and of photography as the produc­ This Yearbook contains the usual quota the fields of a sugar-cane plantation. The is a heartening reminder that artists usu­ tion of limited editions of original prints; in of sexist images, in inverse proportion to the famous rub shoulders with the unknown in ally manage to have the last laugh over the contradictory but coexisting identifica­ quota of women photographers. Towards the democracy of the page. Each plate has their patrons, if not always in their own tions of photography as a truthful, natural, the end of the book is a single photograph equal standing. Meaning cancels out lifetimes.’ evident and impartial record and of photo­ which pictures this very relation of women meaning. People are people, the world over. Photo­ graphy as art. to the camera with pathetic, unconscious Yet, as part of the very same process, a graphers are photographers, the world over. It is where it has been able to contain clarity. It is depressing to note that it comes further meaning arises which embraces all It may not be given to anyone to take a these contradictory tendencies that photo­ from Poland. A naked woman crouches on the images. It is the editor’s belief that, good photograph: to do so requires talent. graphy has been most effective as an instru­ the ground — out in the country, somewhere merely by avoiding the pairing of images by But talent is talent, across the world. ment of ideology. The photograph has ap­ on the edge of a forest. We see her from be­ different photographers, one can escape the It is no accident that these are familiar propriated certain elements of the ideology hind as she goes on all fours; beyond her suggestion of meanings different from or ad­ claims. It is absolutely necessary for bour­ of art, while preserving certain advantages buttocks and upraised head, another five ditional to those intended by the individual geois democracy to seek to establish them as not given to the processes of Fine Art. If male photographers are eagerly taking her. photographers concerned. Such a view, indelible truths. On the one side, we are all this appropriation goes too far, however — as She is submissive and vulnerable; enticing however, is not just naive. It conceals the unique personalities. Our consciousness is it does in all the featured contributions from and seemingly willing; animal-like, one might fact that what happens to the images is more our own — the product of our personality. the Royal College of Art, with the exception say, if the copulating giant tortoises in the significant than their individual distortion. We are free and equal as individuals. On the of the photographs of the paraplegic photograph by Heather Angel did not show The equal weighting given to them, despite other side, we are in some deep way all the Olympics — then these advantages will be so much more dignity in their sexual fulfil­ great differences in subject matter, purpose same: equal and united in our submission to lost and the photograph’s special ideological ment than these protagonists. She falls be­ and method, suggests that while, on the one certain universal truths. effectiveness will be threatened. The most fore the camera but nothing passes between hand, each image possesses a singular value Though it may never be able to achieve a explicitly ‘artistic’ photographers may re­ which cannot be compared, on the other them. The exposure is filled with the empti­ synthesis of these two strands of argument, ceive critical acclaim, exhibitions and govern­ hand, taken together, the images are in some ness of a faked climax. bourgeois ideology must, if it is to be succes­ ment grants, but they do so at the price of Here, a translation of the concrete into way equivalent. The exact nature of this sful, contain them and hold them together. quitting the mainland of ideological pro­ equivalence is important to specify for it is the universal is not achieved: the situation through it that the individual photographs reveals too much of the moment to take on become vehicles for more general and exten­ the appearance of a timeless confrontation. sive themes. That such a translation be accomplished is, It is the concealed ability to make the however, essential to the success of a photo­ particular stand for the general which gives graph in realizing its ideological purpose. I photography its special ideological power. shall return to this point but let us, for the Such power is exercised as well in single moment, pursue the theme into a comple­ images as in combinations of them — though mentary area: the way the Photography here we are dealing mainly with the latter — Yearbook presents the contributing photo­ and it trades on photography’s widely graphers themselves. accepted authority as a recorder of the con­ The main section of the Photography crete and the real. Through it a dialectical Yearbook is called ‘International Photo­ process which binds a class and its members is graphy’. Here, the works of photographers usurped by an unmediated conjunction of from twenty-six nations appear entirely individual and universal. In the representa­ intermixed, with only the names to identify tion of people, for example, photography them. The general method of presentation has the potential to picture specific individu­ is familiar from the earliest editions of the als, in all their particularity, as both compos­ Yearbook and the specific format has re­ ing and representing the social class or mained unchanged for nine years. Details classes within which their individuality is of nationalities, subjects and the very dif­ realized. Yet, portrait photography has al­ ferent purposes for which the photographs most invariably given us unique, even if were produced — advertising, newspapers, anonymous, individuals who by intention or competitions, freelance commissions, indus­ by the unprompted effect of image on trial uses, private or sponsored research, image, come to stand for universal categor­ leisure — appear separately, in small print at ies: the thinker, the toiler, the mother, the the back of the book. lover, the mourner, the clown, the sufferer. The categories of photographic produc­ picture 214 ERWIN KNEIDINGER (Austria) picture 215 GERHARD LUDWIG (Germany) The camera lens has given us God’s eye-view tion endorsed by the Photography Yearbook of the human conditon. Woman is woman also remain fairly constant from year to eternal. Man is born, learns, works, plays, year: sports photography, natural history laughs and cries, and dies. Everywhere the photography, portraits, ethnography, sam e; all over the world. exotica, erotica, landscape, fashion, photo­ ‘The toil of life from youth with its eager­ journalism and the various modes of “art ness to the tranquility of old age never photography”, especially Surrealism. They ceases to intrigue,’ writes Eric Cookson, a take on the appearance of given categories magistrate, property developer and Lloyds through which the photographer, of what­ underwriter, who has included photographs ever nation, class or creed, must seek expres­ of a shepherd boy in Egypt and a young sion. There is only one transcendent criter­ scholar from the independent school Eric ion and that is technique, which is raised by owns in England. The processes of life — the Yearbook to the level of a fetish. most remarkably those of labour — are thus The implications of this way of present­ bereaved of their reality, divorced from the ing the work are that the problems confront­ conditions in which they occur, and ab­ ing photographers are the same the world stracted to the point where they hardly re­ over but achieve their solution in the individ­ tain any meaning. Even a portfolio of pho­ ual photographer’s personality. Just as the tographs from Turkey, which are an in­ subject appears to take on a significance that tense and unsentimentalised image of ritual is, at once, universal and particular — just as circumcision ‘at an age when the boy will the sitter can present, at one and the same never forget it’, comes to seem no more than time, the face of humanity and the face of a a rendering of the ancient myth of the unique individual — so the great family of in­ ‘Seven Ages of Man’. ternational photographers, whose kinship is Woman does not seem to undergo this based on expertise, is made up of unique 1*?« IRKA i evolution. She inhabits a pre-cultural plane. individuals. picture 19 ERIKA SULZER-KLEINEMEIER picture 105 BOB CARLOS-CLARKE (G.B.) Pictured with a rose, a leafing tree, a Attempts by community photographers (Germany)

CAMERAWORK 6 9 Photography of the World ?

pictures 86/87 ANWAR HOSAIN (Bangladesh)

photography into direct competition with were as much a consequence of the develop­ existing means of manufacturing images. In ment of photography under capitalism as the particular, it engendered early conflict with former. It is only with the predominance of the great numbers of portrait painters and the free market and the consequent wither­ miniaturists, of all kinds and levels, who ing away of the old patron-artist relations tried, in vain, to protect their trade from the that the idea of the free artist emerges. advances of the photographic salons. It is in These are the conflicts which make up the context o f this economic struggle within the history of photography. On one side, early capitalism that the idea of spirit and the manufacturers of photographic equip­ soul in art first emerges. The very economic ment and materials have argued, since the processes which, particularly after the inven­ marketing of the first Kodak camera in tion of glass negatives enabling multiple re­ 1888, that anyone can take a photograph: production, led to the ever-accelerating de­ you just point the camera and press the velopment and exploitation of photography, button; they do the rest. On the other, mass also produced and sustained an ideological participation and the collective recording of recoil which seemed to contradict the work­ the world, have been denigrated in favour of ings of the economic laws yet which, here as the individual artist-photographer’s sub­ elsewhere, served to limit control of the jective interpretation of what he sees. Be­ means of production. tween the two — feeding on the conventions Photographic technology did not stand of the one and transmitting them to the still and soon the same contradiction was gen­ other — are the ranks of the mostly anony­ erated within the new medium itself. The mous producers of photographic images for first claims to artistic quality in photography mass consumption: the *power workers of come at a time when the first photographers, bourgeois ideology’ — the photojoumalists, pictures 135 to 137 STRUAN ROBERTSON who concentrated on the production of feature photographers, advertising image limited numbers of large-scale, high quality makers, illustrators and shop photographers. duction. They join that crew of ‘Fine prints, were themselves threatened by the There is a certain degree of mobility in Artists’ whom capitalist economies have commercial operators, led in France by these classes: a small minority of commer­ been prepared to support only to a limited Disderi, who industrialised the process, in­ cial photographers do emerge as “personal­ and temporary extent. They are, as they creasing their production and making their ities” in their own right and thereby win have recently been described: ‘people products available to a wider and wider title to greater artistic “freedom” in their rowing out to join a sinking ship.’ clientelle. For their part, the mass producers work; certain amateurs, not always of What we see here is a process which has of ‘visiting card’ portraits endeavoured to private means, do win photographic com ­ been characteristic of photography through­ make their mechanical output acceptable to petitions or have photographs published in out its history. From its beginnings in the the taste, as well as to the pocket, of the yearbooks such as this. Such social mobility eccentric experiments of isolated inventor- bourgeoisie. Whilst for theirs, the art photo­ is no greater here, however, than it is in scientists in the early decades of the nine­ graphers sought to consolidate their superior society at large, though the institutional and teenth century, photography underwent an rank by disdainfully rejecting commercial ideological channels which reproduce the extremely rapid development. In this, it necessity and by exploring, as in the fashion­ hierarchical order, procuring both domin­ followed the pattern of many other scienti­ able photography of today, every technical ance and consent, do not operate in a crude fic and technological differences — in the device such as blurring, tinting or gum print­ and exposed way. One such channel is The fields of printing, transport, engineering and ing, and every form of manipulation of the Photography Yearbook. It may repay chemistry, for example — which provided subject which might recapture that very further analysis. the impetus for, and received their unbridled ‘aura’ of art which the invention of photo­ exploitation in, the hectic growth of early graphy had so emphatically abolished. by JOHN TAGG capitalism. What united both categories of photo­ The market both for photographs and for grapher was that they operated in the capi­ photographic equipment did not cease to ex­ talist art market, either by selling their wares Photography Year Book 1977 pand in the nineteenth century, encompas­ and services on the high street, or by pre­ Published by: Fountain Press sing, by stages, more and more sectors of ferring their independent products in the Price: £7.50 picture 74 HENRY ANGELO-CASTRILLON (Istanbul based) society. However, this expansion brought vast and prestigious Salons of art. The latter Edited by: John Sanders

CAMERAWORK 6 10 Letters

Big and Little Art to just one of the several topics, it could It was the young Tom Hopkinson who may The correction which the artist imposes have been covered in detail and over the well have written the piece about Salazar. on his language is called style and gives the months could build up into a really useful I am convinced that it was he who made a recreated universe its unity and its Dear Camerawork, reference work. As it was, however, the ar­ far greater contribution to the political in­ boundaries. Even the very best photographs We were interested to read your articles ticle contained enough information to whet tegrity of Picture Post than has been betray reality — they result from the act of on the Arts Council and the problems of the appetite but not enough to stand up on recognised. selection and impose a limit on something funding, and on community art. its own. It is, I think, also an oversimplification to that has none. Whilst we cannot comment particularly Clark Kent imply that Tom Hopkinson was sacked on the situation in photography, we can as­ because of the Cold War. The occasion of Albert Camus sure you that the state of affairs in painting his dismissal was his refusal to withdraw the and graphic arts (in which the majority of ‘Flasher’ Dennett writes: You c a n ’t win 'em all! Some said ‘Give us story by James Cameron and Bert Hardy our members are active) presents a sorry tale m o re .’; others, like reader Kent, wanted less. about the South Koreans, then our allies. of the exclusion from aid of any artists who DO YOU SELL PHOTOS TO PUBLISHERS? The whole idea o f the article was to give a But it was really the climax o f a period if produce any kind of inspiring or truthful Meeting of freelance photographers and disenchantment by Sir Edward Hulton and work. Artists whose end product can serve brief but fundamental coverage o f the pos- picture editors to discuss prices, fix mini- many others with Labour policies at home only to mislead, to deceive or corrupt, sibilties — in short, to “whet the appetite”. mums and present a united front to It was hoped that the simple diagrams and and indeed Communism abroad. The roots receive generous funds. We have uppermost publishers. of the downfall were also involved in the in our minds performance artists and com ­ bibliography would encourage readers to ALL WELCOME fact that the editorial prerogative was being munity bandwagon-jumpers, who attempt to think and act for themselves. By reading Meeting: 7 p.m. on Monday, 25th May, at: increasingly eroded, most noticeably, by ‘entertain’ working people (often living in up the background material and then going Lady Hulton who, I am told, had increasing areas which have been systematically run into the darkroom and having fun learning ACTION SPACE influence as the years went on. down because of the economic policies of the techniques at their own pace, it is pos­ 16 Chenies Street, As you say, much more needs to be said central and local government). Such ‘art’ is sible to move away from “Instamatic ideolo­ London, WC1 about Picture Post. It has a glorious and sad funded by government grants at the same gy ” which demands no interaction or acti­ place in British journalism, but may I make time as this systematic running down is tak­ vity on the part o f the photographer except Details from Chris Steele Perkins-01 733-9406 the plea that the temptation to oversimplify ing place. This state of affairs impelled us to a glance at an instruction sheet. be avoided. set down our views in the pamphlet, Class Any readers interested in further research Incidentally, there is a provisional date We apologise that in the interview with War in the Arts, which your readers might should be able to attend our future technical for a major BBC T.V. programme on Picture Dave Hoffman in CAMERAWORK 5 the find o f some interest. workshops. Post o f June 1st — exactly 20 years after the picture captions were incorrect. They To turn to the thorny question o f Tower last issue. should have read as follows: left hand Hamlets Art Project, we can do no more Dear CAMERAWORK, I was very interested to read your report Colin Osman picture p. 10 ‘Cayley School Summer than agree with your contributor when he Project’; p. 10 right hand pic. ‘Whitechapel on Picture Post (CAMERAWORK 5), but I Co-Editor and Publisher, Creative Camera. states that the state-sponsored arts move­ Art Gallery open workshop’. Also on p. 11 feel I must comment. This is a period of 19 Doughty Street, London, WC1 ment is in a muddle. Where we would pos­ in column 4 paragraph 6, comma should be sibly take issue with him is in his naive view photographic history in which I have taken Simple Tom Picton wrote the Picture Post deleted from line 1 — should read “No that this is merely accidental. A state appar­ particular interest because many of the pri­ piece. workshops can. . .” atus exists which is large enough, powerful mary sources are still alive. As well as hours enough and sufficiently tactically diversi­ of taped interviews with Lorant, Hopkinson, fied as to be able to penetrate into every cor­ Hardy, Mann and Gidal, I have, as readers of ner of society, into every nook and cranny the 1976 Creative Camera Year Book will where social protest might threaten the real know, written a biographical study of Kurt Arts Council Extra interests o f those who really hold power. Hutton, the only photographer who was Even in the last analysis into the minds of there from the first to last issue of Picture A recent issue of The British Journal o f money being spent on travelling to and from individuals who — like your contributor — Post. Being old enough to remember Picture Photography misquoted the CAMERA­ a foreign place which can be very expensive. have been conditioned into acceptance of an Post as a weekly occurrence, I hope I can WORK interview with Bill Gaskins as saying If there is an application from anybody who idealised view of the harsh realities of class throw a slightly different light on this that the Arts Council was giving grants to wants to work abroad on anything, we tend and class struggle today. He is in fact active­ period. foreign photographers. To clarify the situa­ to say we would support it as if it was a pro­ ly assisting in the deception and the political Stefan Lorant was a good journalist with tion, we quote further from Barry Lane, ject taking place in this country. In other manipulation of masses of people, large or a superb eye for a picture. He was imprison­ Photography Officer o f the Arts Council of words, we will give you all the normal costs, small. ed by the Nazis in Munich and wrote a vigor­ Great Britain. (This was cut out of the ori­ but not the travel. ---- More specifically on the role of art and ous book on his imprisonment. He did leave ginal article due to lack o f space.) culture, our experiences have shown us that Britian in 1940 (not 1939) because he feared Photographers responded to our report only an art capable of expressing in all its Britain would lose the War. His commit­ The British Journal of Photography has on the Arts Council (CAMERAWORK 5) richness and variety the real life experiences ment against Hitler and Nazi Germany was criticised you for giving money to foreign­ with a resounding silence. One o f the most and struggles o f the masses o f working personal and journalistic but, as shown by ers like Thomas Joshua Cooper and Josef vocal critics o f the Council — Chris Steele- people can fulfill a positive role in society the magazines that he edited, was largely Koudelka. What is your commitment? Perkins — has now joined the Photography today. naive. His anti-Nazi stance is indeed a sharp Committee. If it is the desire and intention of your contrast to the national dailies led by The Our commitment is towards what is contributor to really hit reaction and privil­ Times but you overstate it when you talk happening in Britain now. We expect people ege where it hurts — or ‘to reject authority about The Establishment Press fawning over to have lived and worked here for two years . . . or any structure’, he could do no better the dictator, for nearly everybody else was or so. It depends a bit on how much money The Royal Box than to join in the development of a progres­ also fawning over dictators including the th e y ’re asking for but generally speaking we sive realist art and culture. political parties — Red and Blue. d o n ’t give people money unless th e y ’ve been It is particularly naive to say that Picture here for at least two years. What w e ’re look­ League o f Socialist Artists Post was the first magazine or newspaper ing for is that whoever is getting the money 18 Camberwell Church Street which did not tell the public ‘lies’. The is in a sense committed to Britain, to London, S.E.5 Times, etc. were tragically wrong. The producing work here, contributing to British tel. 703 0561 working journalists as much as the capitalists photography. In other words, we d o n ’t feel at the top were wrong, but they were not justified in giving money to foreign photo­ consciously telling lies. It is possible for graphers who are just passing through. They people to be wrong and even to shut their might produce some good pictures, which Dear Camerawork, eyes to facts without being accused of lying. would be useful here, but we d o n ’t think I am putting together a book of photo­ It is unfair to blame the British journalists they should have a high priority. But graphs of the E.I area of London. I am for what the whole of Britain, not to foreigners who happen to be living and looking for pictures taken since 1970, by mention the Americans, were doing. working here as Tom Cooper was for four photographers who were living in the area At the time of reading your article, I had years and who has contributed enormously when they took their pictures. recently purchased an old copy of another to photography in general would seem to us Any photographers interested in contri­ English magazine. In the issue of October perfectly justified, and he was the only buting to this book are invited to send 9th, 1937, there was an article on Salazar of foreigner among five. Koudelka is a British proofs or contacts to the following address. Portugal. The comparatively brief text of resident and will hold a British passport in a five paragraphs says in the fifth “The truth is very short time. There can be no complaints David Hoffman that Portugal is under a dictatorship, with against that. 144 Field Gate Mansions everything that that implies — regimenting Romford St., E.I of the population, wholesale imprisonment Are your grants restricted to work in this tel. 247 2518 of political opponents, an iron censorship of country ? the Press, a determined boosting of nation­ alist spirit, a bitterly low standard of living No. We tend to give priority to things in Dear Camerawork, for the workers, and an ever-closcr co-oper­ this country. We d o n ’t like to see a lot of I was particularly interested in Terry ation with the Fascist countries, accompan­ “At last, thank God, we may be seeing the Dennett’s article on special printing ied by the usual lip-service to ‘our oldest start o f a new era in the Institute’s history. techniques. ally, Britain.” After decades of mediocrity and inadequacy If Terry is to be a regular contributor (as This, I think, can be accepted as fairly the magazine takes on a full-blooded pro­ he appears to be) I feel that it would be punchy stuff. It appeared in the magazine Body Count fessional look. With this long-needed change, better if he were to cover less ground with Weekly Illustrated founded by Stefan Lorant Y o u ’re preparing a lecture on ‘Identifi­ we may hope that it will begin to command more detail in future. soon after he left Germany but which soon cation of wanted m en ’. You think the recall for our profession the respect and attention To really talk about flashing as a means dispensed with his services so that Maurice of faces might be higher if they were pasted we so sorely need — and only just deserve. of contrast control, or to discuss unsharp Cowan, later Editor of Picturegoer, was in onto the bodies o f pretty girls. Ask around We need a vigorous new tail to wag an all- masking in the depth needed to enable some­ charge. This much-maligned magazine did — it sh o u ld n ’t be difficult to get hold of too-indifferent dog. ..” one who had not ever tried it to begin to use have as its Assistant Editor a young novelist suitable pictures. it as a practical method, really requires more and short story writer recently down from letter in The PHOTOGRAPHER (Journal space than they were given in CAMERA­ university who concealed beneath an unflap­ of the Institute o f Incorporated Photo­ WORK 5. pable exterior a political awareness and Army Officer ad in The Sunday Times graphers), February 1977 Had the double page spread been devoted integrity that I think has been overlooked. March 20, 1977.

CAMERAWORK 6 ______11 An Unfashionable Opinion

I wrote my letter because I welcomed a lively new photographic magazine; and criti­ cised it because of its tendency to be a left wing tract. I am unrepentant and still think the young left are narrow and intolerant (so are a lot of artists by the way), and far too bound by theory. One is not necessarily in­ tolerant to criticise intolerance. How does the new left react to established religions? Does it like the attitude that the existence of God is stated as fact. Does it think that the Victorian theory of sex — one man one woman for life — fits human nature? 1 doubt it; so d o n ’t be surprised at the way outsiders react when looking in at the religion of Marxism or Maoism. I did not actually write the letter for pub­ lication, but was aware it could be used; I am quite happy to stick my neck out, I am certainly honest in that 1 put forward un­ fashionable opinions. I can assure you that in life one pays the price for going o n e ’s own way. However I want to turn the discussion to photography. 1 really would like to know why the photographs of Robert Golden, purely by themselves, can influence people politically. Over and above being an accur­ ate portrayal o f what is in front of him. That excellent working class photographer Bert Hardy is quoted in your last issue, “. . . I was never a political animal. . . 1 think I just photographed what I saw. I never angled anything.” In the interview we know what Robert G o ld e n ’s aims are, but I d o n ’t see it in the illustrations — I d o n ’t see what they have got that Brandt (middle class) or Hardy (working class) h a sn ’t when they photograph the working classes. I would like your readers, or editorial committee, to North Kensington 1957 try and pinpoint in straightforward language what the difference is; because if it c a n ’t be demonstrated individuals are going to have “The first group is from the series of street "The second group is o f a couple of satirical to decide are they going to spend their time children that made me known. Taken mostly photographs. Both were very popular at the time, taking photographs, or are they going into in the late 5 0 ’s. ” but one at least is ineffective because it only politics. preaches to the converted.” 1 c a n ’t answer the challenge o f Roger Cox (that never has been) because 1 d o n ’t think photographs can show how things can be changed. 1 take Victor B u rgin ’s line that the influence of photography is through the words attached to it. Like a political orator giving an emotional speech backed up by the hard facts given by a duller man, the photo­

graphic image provides the impact and RogerMayne RogerMayne emotion, while the words or captions tell us what it is supposed to mean. Though I sym­ pathise with the sensitivity o f Eugene Smith, I cannot understand the man expecting to influence world events, and castigating him­ self for failing to do so. Casteneda’s Don Juan says “. . . The world is indeed full of frightening things and we are helpless creatures surrounded by forces that are inex­ plicable and unbending. The average man, in ignorance, believes that these forces can be explained or changed; he d o e sn ’t really know how to do that, but he expects that actions of mankind will explain them or change them sooner or later. The sorcerer on the other hand, does not think of Garden Party, Lambeth Palace 1956. explaining or changing them; instead, he centre: Archbishop Fisher learns to use such forces by redirecting him­ self and adapting to their direction. . .” That is my philosophy. Making a picture seems as logical as build­ I enclose photographs o f mine, to use ing a house if you work with the right prin­ them to discuss the ambiguity of ciples. The human side you need not photography. occupy yourself with. Either you have it or The first group is from the series of street Leeds 1958 you have not. If you have it, it permeates children that made me known. Taken most­ party. Germano Facetti (then on New Left As a general point everyone tends to the work in spite of everything. ly in the late 5 0 ’s. One interpretation con­ Review) exclaimed “Pure vitriol" but on bring their own interpretations of photo­ Henri Matisse, 1939. centrates on the nature of the streets them­ showing it to my mother and aunt, good graphs, especially in dealing with the artistic selves: because they are so decayed — lets church ladies, they were mildly amused, rather than documentary type o f image. demolish the lot; build new estates, tower “Aren ’t they peerless.” The other, the Even more so nowadays with the deliberate But most o f the people, adults and chil­ blocks, etc. Another interpretation would “British Achievements Speak for Britain” use o f ambiguity. dren, photographed on the street o f strange concentrate on the people in the pictures: poster in a bleak Leeds townscape does I cities, are poor. For it is prevailingly the children absorbed in their lives; a sense of think discomfit the establishment, but really poor o f the world who gather on doorsteps, community. This would lead to the I think because it is a literary picture (with a in parks, and on public beaches. They lack opposite action - renovate the streets; built-in caption). It did certainly evoke a by ROGER MAYNE space indoors and have no gardens where accept the street as a marvellous town plan­ hostile reaction when used in a sequence of their children can play safely under the ning form (Jane Jacobs). Another angle to photographs o f mine in Time & Tide (during trees. They lack walls to shut the stranger Colway Manor Lyme Regis consider is whether the photographs are its brief period as a liberal paper interested out o f their lives. negative or positive — sad and critical, or life Dorset DT7 3HD in photography): — Cover: chauffeur dozing Margaret Mead affirming. At the time I took them I in his Rolls Royce overprinted THE STAG­ P.S. With all the talk o f exploitation — how in Family thought the former, being then a depressed NANT SOCIETY. Middle pages: full page much are photographers openly allowing sort of person; now I am more inclined to photograph o f huntsman on his horse, back­ the second view. themselves to be exploited in a desperate ground hounds in a winter landscape, over­ Soon my fingers will fumble, and in my effort to be seen and heard. Guilty myself. The second group is a couple o f satirical printed CLASS BARRIERS AND TRADIT­ hands are my life. photographs. Both were very popular at the O f course this mag is non-profit-making. . . IONAL VALUES — turn over to the “British Fred Gandolfi time, but one at least is ineffective because Achievements” photo double spread over­ (explaining why he made a special 10 x 8 it only preaches to the converted. This is printed THE STAGNANT SOCIETY camera for himself.) the Archbishop of Canterbury at a garden (Picture Editor, Jan Pienkowski).

CAMERAWORK 6 r* r'1 We would like to thank everybody for their Joyce, Mike Katz, Jak Kilby, Sirkka Lissa help and support for our second Jumble Sale Konttinen, Barry Latcgan, Barry Lewis, and Print Auction (held on March 13th), Clive Limpkin, Michael Lyster, Suzie with special thanks to Mr. Chambers at Fox Maeder, Mariel, Neil Martinson, Jessie Ann Photos. Altogether we raised a total of Matthews, Roger Mayne, Daniel Meadows, nearly .£1,800 (gross) towards the fund for Paul Misso, Rayond Moore, Lesley McIntyre, the new building at 119-121 Roman Road, Ian Macmillan, Diane ‘Hank’ Olsen, Roger London, E.l. Perry, Shirley Read, Dominic Sansoni, We would also like to thank Dorothy Jurgen Schadcberg, Claire Schwob, Brian Bohm for her kind help and generosity and Seed, P. Shallcross, Derek Smith, George Sue Davies at the Photographers Gallery for Solomonidcs, Humphrey Spender, Chris her loan of display frames for the print Steele Perkins, Paddy Summerficld, Homer auction. Sykes, Doris Thomas, Pamla Toler, Paul Trevor, Peter Turner, Toni Tye-Walkcr, Prints were given by: Mike Abrahams, John Walmsley, Patrick Ward, Bob Watkins, Gerry Badger, David Bailey, Ed Barber, Janine Wiedel, Herbi Yoshinori Yamaguchi. Jonathan Bayer, Linda Benedict-Jones, Equipment, Books Sc Magazines were Michael Bennett, John Blakemore, Barry given by: Tony Bock, British Journal of Blitz, Charles Kempster Blyth.Tony Bock, Photography, F.K.V. Photo Service, Fox Jane Bown, Bill Brandt, lan Cook, Johan Photos, Gordon Fraser, Graham Hughes, Copes, Gabriela Cordova, Amanda Currey, Grove Photographic, Keith Johnson Photo­ Colin Curwood, Eric de Mare, Mark Ed­ graphic, Philip Jones Griffiths, Leopold wards, Maggie Ellenby, Jane England, Penny Professional Services, Mayflower Studio, Eyles, Terry Fincher, Trevor Ford, Ric Gem- Alec Murray, Maggie Murray, Garth Red­ mell. Fay Godwin, Judy Goldhill, Mike stone, Summit Photographs, Time-Life Goldwater, Peter Gordon-Stubbs, Richard Books, Universal Pictorial Press, Julia Greenhill, Sally Greenhill, Neil Guilliver, Vellacott, Frank Webster, Valerie Wilmer. Judy Harrison, Paul Harrison, Tara Heine- The “Jumble Team’’ were: Ed Barber, mann, David Hoffman, David Hurn, Mike Goldwater, Dick Huntington and Sylvester Jacobs, Michael Joseph, Paul George Solomonides.

JOIN THE WORKSHOP Foundation subscription to the Workshop includes six issues of CAMERAWORK, posters for monthly exhibitions, plus invita­ tions to all openings. The cost of this is only £4.00 per year (students £3.00). Subscription to CAMERAWORK only £2.50 for one year. Please write to us and send your subscription now. (Please indicate which issue you wish to start with). Over­ seas subscription costs £1.00 in addition to above costs. Send to H.M.P.W., 27 Alie Street, London, E.l. Tel: 01 488 2595.

TOURING EXHIBITIONS The HMPW offers a num ber o f exhibitions for touring including: Men photographed by women Women: Who are We? by Claire Shwob Circus Travelling by Lawrence Migdale The Orkney Islands by Chick Chalmers Doing Photography by Blackfriars Young Photography Group Contact us for full list and cost of hiring.

NEW TOURING SHOWS HMPW offers a num ber of new exhibitions Kids and Photography . .. Workshop 2. for touring, including: ‘People Portraits’ Edward Barber ‘Family Self-Portrait’ Richard Greenhill HELP ‘Portugal: a social revolution?’ We need help to transcribe tapes, paste-up, fold and mail CAMERAWORK; * Paul Harrison mail posters and help with the general running of the workshop. Contact us for availability and cost of hiring. Please contact us if you would like to help.