Bruce Gilden

Javier Ferrando

These images i have selected of Javier Ferrando’s images relate to cafe culture as they’re of things such as coffee products and machines.So these images fit well with my artist research as these images are actually about cafe culture.

This image as quite clearly of a worker making some coffee, you can tell that this image was not scened due to the slight tilt, the motion blur and the framing.But aside from that, this image shows us part of the process of making fresh coffee for customers.The motion blur actually plays a part in this image as it shows us that this machines method of working is by shaking side to side, which i would have not known if this was a still image.

 

 

Here we see various coffee products.An image like this would go great for my advertising ideas of various coffee choices.But not only does it include the coffee options, but it also includes a good old fashioned kettle, showing you don’t need a big fancy expensive coffee maker, just some hot water.

 

This shows us the mess left behind by customers, documenting the way they treat the cafe and then leave without moving anything.The coffee cups left behind is an ordinary thing i see in cafes but i think the coffee beans were there because of Javier as i saw an image of coffee beans placed on this table, obviously he had done the same and left them as they were! But it does show the repetitive theme of ‘Coffee’

 

Yet again another image which shows coffee choices but this docent have as many options as the last and this one is a lot closer cropped.This does help though as he has focused on the writing so we get to find out the brands and kinds of coffee used.

 

This image goes far deeper into the process of a cafe and goes all the way from serving the coffee to gathering the coffee.Here we are a witness to the environment and appearance of coffee fields.We see it’s hot wether due to the bright whites beaming onto the white clothes.Its a known fact that white clothing repels sun where as black clothes attract sun,so we can tell these people know what they are doing and have chosen the best clothing choices to stay cool alongside a hat to keep their head cool and the sun out of their eyes.

Here is a simple image of columbian coffee cups, which is visually appealing to the eye with the easy , gentle gradient and black and white colours.

PowerPoint Presentation for the class.

Using Microsoft PowerPoint and Google on the Mac PCs at college, i priced together a presentation stating what i find similar between my work and the work of other photographers in my Cafe Culture work.

All the images i had available were all documentary images, so of course i used documentary photographers.

Starting with Bruce Gilden, He tends to capture people quite close doing their day to day lifestyle

As you can tell here,i was close to a woman and a couple and captured them as they were rushing past me.I could have got a lot better shot if i had looked through the viewfinder, but then they would have had more time to react!I wanted it to be spontaneous and shocking.This image is somewhat blurred but that’s due to the rushing woman.

I adore this image.I was waiting at some traffic lights and there was a woman stood next to me, so , without thinking, i took a quick shot and continued to walk.It wasn’t until i examined the image that i enjoyed it.This woman who obviously adores red has dressed up so beautifully and elegantly, in almost a pin up girl style yet she is stoof in the cold, damp weather in Derby with buses driving past and others who don;t really care about their appearance across the road.This woman stands out alot.
It would have been great to of found her in the center of a group of th epublic who are visually unkempt.This would have been a lovely contrast.

But some of my images resembled that of Javier,in their simple yet ordinary style.

For example, people word all the time.We know there are workers in cafes, so to us it isnt extraordinary for us to find an image of them working.But this is documentary,and i am documenting this ladys job and the things she has to do,such as Javier did.

Not only did Javier get images on things like products but i did also, and this was admittedly not inspired by that of Javier.

These images are of items associated with coffee houses, wether it be inside or outside.

I know there are many other product photographers that i could have compared to, but Javier is the only one i have found that not only captured products(in a non- advertising way) but he also captures actions.

Robert captured beautiful shots of customers in cafes and coffee houses, no matter how easy or simple.

Even though he shot in black and white and i shot in colour for this image, they still relate in the fact that these are customers of a cafe.

 

This image has a little twist though.This is an image of customers inside of a cafe,but these ladies are also the workers of the cafe they are currently inside.They are on their break,and of all the places in the local area they could have gone, they stayed loyal to the business.

 

 

These are not workers, but teenagers who have visited the cafe for a coffee and maybe a bite to eat.They have gone in a decent sides group of friends and they are all visibly enjoying themselves and having a good laugh and bonding over something that they all can relate to as friends.

Here we see not teenagers,not workers, but middle aged , unkempt customers outside of what is visibly a somewhat cheap cafe.You can tell it is cheap due to the stereotype of people outside who appear to be noticably low on funds.Otherwise they could be wearing branded clothes with salon hair,but no.They’ve got a budget to stick to and they are not about to blow it on an expensive coffee!

This image specifically by Trent Parke relates to one of my images in a noticable way.

This image was not planned, nor did it appear this way when i looked through the viewfinder, but it works, and i find it amazing with the variety of layers within the image.Much like Trents, this is an image looking over somebodies should, except in my image we are looking over somebodys shoulder and we see so much information such as that this image is in Derby, and behind that we see a woman, but it we look where she is going, we see she is a customer to a cafe.

Reading into:Documentray images.

Diane Arbus:

At first glance, this is an image of a small boy.It is in black and white and the boy has a very old fashioned style in clothing, suggesting this image was taken possibly around 1950-1960s, not long after a war.He seems upset, and alone.We automatically assume there is something wrong with this child.The loose clothing suggests some kind of abuse.
But i doubt this is the case,the boy seems healthy.
If we check the environment which he is in, we can see it is a lovely sunny day in the park,whats to say this boy isn’t just playing and then posed for the camera?
We see he is holding some sort of toy in his hand, upon closer inspection we see this is a grenade. Of course not a real grenade, but it’s still a toy grenade.
The fact that this child seems to be fine with weaponry suggests that this child has been influenced by war,he finds that things such as grenades are okay.This poor young boy probably plays pretend soldier with that grenade, not knowing the real truth behind war.It has become such a normal thing for him, this poor boy thinks it’s a part of life.It’s not.

This is yet another black and white image, and due to this and the style of hair and clothing we can see this image was also taken at an earlier date.
This is an image of what we first assume to be a couple.Strangely, these people see rather young.But that seems impossible due to their choice in clothing,they are dressed way too maturely.The face does not match the body.This could be due to numerous reasons, they could either just have young looking faces or they could actually be children.
But why would they be acting as adults?Well it could just be as simple as playing dress up, playing the role of mum and dad.This suggests that they could also be brother and sister, instead of boyfriend and girlfriend.The way they have posed isn’t incredibly intimate, so they could have any kind of relationship.
But i think it could be a lot more than just playing dress up.
Yes they’re young and they’re in adult clothes.But maybe they HAVE TO wear that.
Has anybody ever thought that the reason these people are dressed as mature adults is because they’ve had to throw away their youth and jump straight in to adulthood?Maybe they don’t have a mum and dad to dress up as.They have to provide for themselves in the world now, they have responsibilities to maintain and they won’t be able to if they act like the children they really are.

Martin Parr:

This seems so normal it hurts.It’s obviously british due to the english in the background.
In my area, this is all i see on a day to day basis.Teenage girls, acting like adults but still failing to conceal the child in them,except they do this by being incredibly immature,which you can’t always catch on camera, so Ribena juice boxes will have to do.
These ladies are obviously teenagers, around the age of 17 perhaps.
There is an obvious clash of objects here.We associate cigarettes with adults,and stereotypically people who have had it rough.Whereas we associate juice cartons with children,a toddler-sized portion of fruit juice.
This image seems to represent the stage between the two.Teenagers evolving from the children they were into the adults they wish to become.

Personally, i find the contents of this image disgusting. Not because of the photographer, but because of the woman Martin has photographed.
I would never let my child run around naked in front of a beach full of strangers, no matter what his/her age is.This image tells me that there’s people out there that think it’s completely fine to let your child parade her naked body to everyone within eyesight.And there must be at east 100 people within a visible radius as the beach seems incredibly full.I’m guessing this is a holiday beach due to the mix of kinds of people in view and the bright  exotic sun.
This does show that there are people that believe its okay to do and show whatever you want when you’re on holiday, because it’s not like anyone knows you! However they may not know you, but you also do not know them.They could be anybody doing anything.You’re not doing a very good job at protecting your child from possible paedophiles when you do this.

This is another one of Martin Parrs images on a beach, whereas on this one we can see a couple of people I’m the background along with the subject being a woman feeding her baby.
When we examine the adults, we can tell it must be a very hot day for them to wear such little and be so tanned!
This fact gets me worried, as this baby is obviously incredibly young

Walker Evans

Born November 3rd, 1903,
Passed April 10th, 1975.

He took up photography in 1928.
His influences were Eugene Atget and August Sander.

Walker Evans was, and still is best known for his work with the Farm Security Administration where he was documenting the effects of the great depression.
(Farm Security Administration(FSA) was originally Resettlement Administration(RA) in 1935 as part of the New Deal in the United States.He worked with FSA up unit 1938. It was an effort during the Great Depression to combat American rural poverty.It’s famous for its photography program during 1935-1944 which documented the challenges of the rural poverty.)

In the summer of 1936,whilst he was working with FSA, Walker and James Agee(Writer) were sent on an assignment by Fortune magazine so create an article during the Great Depression in Hale County, Alabama.

During his time with FSA, his main camera which he used was a large format, 8×10 inch camera.He often also used this with a triple converter lens.

His goal was to create images that are ‘Literate,authorative, and transcendent.’

These images below were taken during the great depression

 

 

 

At the time, these images would have seen fairly normal, the locals would have looked at these images and said “Oh, i see this exact thing on a daily basis, this is nothing special”. But now, we look at  it and we see a pure, vintage, beautiful old photograph that doesn’t decieve us with crazy angles and strange objects, it has enlightened us on the reality of how the shops appeared back in the day.And i find it beautiful.

I included this specific photographer due to his interesting idea of capturing a shot of a shop front from directly in front of it. This is a great idea to do with cafes and i wouldn’t mind testing out this idea with a variety of cafe businesses.