Gregs Photos

Went up to Leeds today to have a look at an exhibition of work by Marc Riboud at the Leeds City Museum. It was a exhibition of a series he produced in the 50's for a photo news magazine as part of its 'Best and worst British cities' series. With this exhibition being in a museum it was the photos historical and social content that was the main focus, rather than the photos themselves, but having said that isn't that the point of documentary photography, the photos were intended as a document of the city to show the magazines readers what it was like there and then.

Leeds, 1954. © Marc Riboud

This got me thinking, at the moment my project is quite personal, my window, my breakfast etc, why not broaden this to include the vast and varied surroundings that make up my world. It doesn't need to follow some sort of pattern like first and last, but rather just to stand as a document of what my world is here and now. Ribouds photographs were intended for curious people who lived elsewhere as a through the keyhole look at somewhere different, that was the audience they were intended for, now though they are placed in a museum as a window into the past, their audience and purpose has changed.
Now the audience for my project is only the staff and students at Trent, but will this always be the case? Will they mean something different in 50 years? Should I take this into consideration? Probably not.

Another thing I picked up on was that recurring issue of photography and truth, it said that Riboud always used black and white film as it was considered a guarantee of authenticity, I really don't think that a photograph can ever be completely truthful, the photographers choices and decisions will always influence the outcome. I suppose that's why this project is called representing my world, representation seems an easier concept to grasp than documentation, at least at the moment.

This trip has given me renewed enthusiasm to go out making, I felt a bit trapped before, tied down to patterns and links, now I feel I can broaden things and take into account much more that makes up my world.