ambiguous redux

My inclusion in fLIP's on the streets edition gave me a kickstart to re-join my local group. I attended my last meeting in 2005 so it was a bit of a rip van winkle moment when I stumbled back in.

The timing of my (re)arrival became more propitious when we started talking about a new opportunity for the group to exhibit a sequence of images created by each photographer responding to the picture before to create a chain of apparently random but connected images. In one of those lovely moments of serendipity that street photography seems to cultivate I happened to have a copy of Ambiguous with me.  

Nice to see the idea have another life.  

Bit like me. 

modernising street photography

My latest embrace of the world of street continued with a wonderful weekend at the first London Street Photography Symposium. I found some lovely like-minded souls with whom to share ideas, walk the streets and hear their thoughts.

What struck me was the populism that the phrase "street photography" now holds. Nick Turpin recalled how he felt like the only street photographer in London, sorry the only photographer taking pictures on the street, when he started in the 80s. It was still an isolated, idiosyncratic practice. Since then the popularity of the term has grown, facilitated by the internet, to a point I regard as "peak street" in 2011. Now street photography is used comfortably to describe a variety of styles, subjects and forms of image making. I find parallels here - sorry it's a bad habit of mine - of the adoption by the mainstream of underground or transgressive creative forms like punk or rap, skateboarding or street art etc. With acceptance and familiarity come a dilution of the "ideals" of the original movement. Pale imitations proliferate, superficially similar but soulless. But don't get me wrong. There is no one way to do street. Like any faith it can accommodate many beliefs, disciples and prophets. However it's inspiring when you do stumble across the real deal.

What is interesting about street is how it's shadowed and refracted the mainstream technological developments of the medium. Think 35mm Leica and Contax in the 1920s, the Speed Graphic in the 30s. I've reflected on my own love of old school techniques. They grew organically, a product of my own circumstances in time and place, not as a deliberate homage.

My recent experiments with digital have made me reconsider my work in relation to the facets of that technology. I'd argue cameras on mobile phones are now fundamentally different to the classic machines I've referenced above. They are networked devices designed and used to record, manipulate and share, often in realtime, very personal moments with both intimate friends and anonymous authorities. Is there a new form of street photography that can reflect our times in that way? My ideas are still hazy. I'm not talking scavenger hunts!. Perhaps time to revisit Ambiguous?

Time will tell.

one chapter closes, another opens

Ambiguous is now available to buy on Blurb! I've attempted to keep it as affordable as possible - hence using Bookify and a small format - but there are plenty of ways of upgrading it with finer paper and covers. I actually enjoy the pocket-size feel of it: it's more of a travelling companion than a coffee table ornament. I really think it's stayed faithful to the original idea too. Hope you agree!

So, what next? Well I'd like to introduce you to a new project. No, not Ambiguous 2, with twice the budget and half the ideas, but something a little more ambitious and no it's not Ambiguous 3D!

The principles of this new project are familiar. Images from your archive, hard drive, shoe box, what you will. A re-viewing of them, putting to one side the original intention behind taking them. Some words too.This time I'd like you to pick out a bystander, someone with nothing to do with the original subject of the photograph. I'm not talking photobombing here. Just a face in the crowd, the back of a head, a reflection, a shadow,  Still with me? Good. Now the hard part.

Have you ever played a childrens' game of story-telling, making the plot up as you go, one line at a time? Well that's the simple idea behind this project. This time, instead of drawing on a personal memory based on fact, I'm appealing to your fictional flair! I'd like us to tell a story of that character in the picture - adding one or two lines at a time - threaded together by our images.

For example, here are some candidates of mine in mind to kickstart the project.

It could be the woman to the left closing her eyes, because of the sun perhaps, or the man seated scratching his nose, maybe it's itchy, to the right.

This won't be everyone's cup of tea I know. However I'm not anticipating Shakespeare. It's about seeing how far we can stretch reality and explore the truth of any photograph. Kids' stuff.

Interested? Willing to give it a shot? Of course you are!

To join the book project - no obligation, no fee, a small chance of immortality - please send an email with the subject line "Me too!" to sean@waysofwalking.net

I'll then be back in contact when I have a picture for you to respond to.

Oh one more thing. The name of this project?
Naturally, it's Incidental.

Land, ho!

Captain's log, March 14th 2012...
I'm proud to announce the safe arrival of the good ship Ambiguous. Passage has taken just over 12 months and taken in a number of ports around the globe. Progress had been constant, only becalmed around the turn of the year. The crew are a disparate bunch but all shown great endeavour in our enterprise.

Yes I imagine many of you believed this mission had proven the world really is flat, and fallen off it, but you are mistaken! I had little idea this project would take the time it has but I'm still incredibly pleased.

Looking at all the images submitted since last March is a walk through a family album of sorts. In the same way a snap of a childhood day at the beach prompts reflection beyond the frame on the circumstances of the event, each participant in the Ambiguous Book Project has not only given up an image but also some real insight into their lives. For me the ideas I've harboured around the meaning of images and the interpretations they are open to has been wonderful to explore.

Now we enter the Book part of the project. I've been working on layout ideas and will be shortly contacting all the participants with details.

Prepare for landing!

turning for home

Since my last post in July the scope of the Ambiguous Book Project has entered uncharted territory. I've found it fascinating how we've moved out of the urban, through the suburban, beyond countryside into wilderness.

As we approach the fiftieth, that's right 50th, image of the sequence we're almost home but I'm sure not without some more twists before we're done.

In the meantime I've been thinking of how the book can be formatted and structured. In this instance the primary challenges of any book, the edit and the sequence, have already been taken care of. The very nature of Ambiguous means every image is included and they will each be presented in relationship to the one they respond to. In that sense all I'll need to do is click Get Photos then Autoflow and, ladies and gentlemen, my work is done. It's certainly an attractive option. I've taken an invisible hand to the project so far, gently nudging it on its path since launch back in February. 

However this collection of images is becoming such a wonderful resource I just wonder, I just wonder...

In keeping with the spirit of the essential ambiguity of photographs I toy with an idea made famous by David Bailey's Box of Pin-Ups. A loose, unbound collection of prints that can be seen in any sequence the viewer chooses. Willfully perverse though it may seem I find there's something in the idea of literally throwing Ambiguous up in the air and letting the viewer take a treasure hunt approach to join the images together as they fall...Yes? No? I think it's one I'll have to save for another day unless Blurb suddenly add this to their ever expanding list of publishing options. Why they may even have a Direct From Facebook one soon...wait a minute, what's this?

Hold on to your hats. Can we complete the project by next February to meet it's first birthday? I certainly hope so!

 

25...and counting

I had anticipated announcing the completion of the first part of the Ambiguous Book Project around now. The initial response of "I'm in!" from nearly thirty photographers however has almost doubled thanks to the fine support of the good people at Blurb.

Their Q&A with me prompted a second wave of participants from all around the world. I did contemplate starting-up Ambiguous 2, the Sequel, but felt it little presumptuous as I hadn't even published the first one! In fact the second wave of ambiguants have really enriched the project.

For a start there are more women. I've self-consciously written before about the gender bias of street photography. (On a side note I'd recommend the current show at the Photofusion Gallery, On Street Photography: A Woman's Perspective, part of the marvellous London Street Photography Festival.)

In addition countries represented now extend over the horizon to India, Russia, Ireland, Colombia, Spain, Austria and Australia.

There is also the promise of even more wonderful images to discover.

The only direction I give participants is to interpret the photograph I send them as freely as they wish. In fact it's interesting to consider how much curation is behind this project. At one level there is none. There's no qualification criteria, no committee sitting in judgement, no entry fee, no sponsor to satisfy. It's an entirely open collective effort and I'm just acting as a mailbox.

And yet, and yet...I have to accept that this particular utopia has been founded in my shadow. In the city of Ambiguo there number Blurbarians, Blurberati and Blurbaristas. A significant majority of Monochromists and at least one fundamental Analogue-Monochromist. Romantics rub shoulders with Realists. Watchers flirt with Waiters. Bus Riders vie with Train Catchers. Barflys, Beachbums and Fastfood Junkies indulge themselves...It's my kinda town.

However what's even more of a bonus are the thoughts and words behind those pictures.

I'm delighted that the essence of the project - the capricious, mutating meaning of any photograph - has connected so well. People really spend time, revisiting their archive, mulling, finding a nugget of possibility. I receive emails of frustration. I empathise. I say, I know. It's not easy. But believe me it's worth it! We're building something special.

fly wall hornet sting

The Ambiguous Book Project has certainly made me re-think. Re-think not just the powerful images that have been submitted but my whole approach to photography.

I've come from a place where words like serendipity, chance, observational, non-intervention are my maxims. I've shied away from putting myself in the picture, both figuratively and metaphorically. I confess, after a little scrutiny, that's certainly disingenuous. I was struck by a quote from Werner Herzog in a recent interview in the New York Times.

“I insist that even if you make documentaries, we are filmmakers, and we must never be flies on the wall, unobtrusive and just registering. As filmmakers we should be the hornets that go out and sting. The fly on the wall is a perspective that is suspicious to me per se. Every single camera angle is already a choice and a statement.”

One of the motivations behind the from the hip technique I've pursued is a dissatisfaction with my own overt efforts to control the composition of my pictures. Formally they were competent but the rational thought behind their construction drained the life from them. They rarely reflected how I felt. To retain that soul I gave up all control over the composition of the image to my old friends (the cop out twins?) serendipity and chance...

Granted it's not entirely random. In deference to Werner Herzog I am deliberately introducing the camera into a situation that I have determined is an opportunity. The moment of exposure, the sting if you will, is of my choosing. However, in this scenario, the target is not.

Introducing that ambiguity into my photography from the very moment of conception has always attracted me. As well as the essential originality of the image - the first time I see it is on a contact sheet - the images that I respond to most have an innate democracy. Each element has equal significance, an equal vote to win my attention.



So what's my problem? Well the images I see submitted to the project are deliberately composed yet still evocative, full of soul. The interpretations each photographer has offered enriches the experience further. Perhaps I just need to lighten up. Not worry about a composition that speaks directly of my experience. After all it's only supposed to be a representation, right?

now we are 10

I'm really proud to say our first ten images have been contributed to the Ambiguous Book Project. I'm already struck by the quality of the photographs and fascinated by the insight shared by the participants.

I'm heartened that Anita French responded to the challenge with an image that immediately expresses the essence of the project: not just a striking image but one considered in terms of thoughts triggered by my picture.

From the States we bounce back to Europe, to the Netherlands to be specific and to Michiel Faro. I really like Michiel's take on his image, "..different yet strangely coherent directions" has resonance for the whole project!

Zun Lee from Canada's interpretation really excites me. Using a single element of the previous picture he conjures up a whole new world of possibility.

At this point I was interested to see if the sequence would start to focus on characters and their stories. However Fabrizio Quagliuso brilliantly switches focus to the fabric of the city and its equal significance.

The image from Tiffany Jones is a marvellous counterpoint. It's a powerful example to me how insight into the photographer's own thinking can enrich the experience for the viewer.

Our voyage next takes me to Pakistan and a gift from Ali Sultan that, even now when I look at it again, has deep emotional impact. An ambivalent image for an ambivalent world.

Orville Robertson evokes a sense of a place I was once very familiar with. It's a real lesson to me in how any rules of composition, when it comes to photographing on the street, are there to be redefined.

And guess what? Donald Martinez has done just that. His interpretation of Orville's image neatly flips the arrangement of elements to mirror its mood.

A wonderful sequence is now developing thanks to Anika de Souza. The inanimate transforms into the intimate.

Superbly complemented by Matt Scandrett, I'm transported both in space and time.

I smile when I look at these last two images as I've been congratulating participants in embracing the project. Here are two, sorry four, people doing just that!

OK. Deep breath. Onwards and upwards.

the good ship Ambiguous sets sail

Heavens, I'm so excited by the Ambiguous Project.

25 souls have signed up for the voyage, from all points of the compass. I've even been drawn to the siren call of Facebook, after resisting for so long.

True to my convictions about photography I believe the act of creation is as important as the final output. To make that happen I've set up a page so we can all share in the making of the book.




OK the first image has been cast into the ferment.

It's one of mine, taken at the Elephant & Castle in London in the late 80s. There were a few thoughts in my head when I chose it. As it's the first in the Ambiguous sequence I had the advantage, and burden, of selecting anything.

This particular image appealed to me as it's one I've personally spent time contemplating. I originally chose to keep and print this picture for reasons to do with the composition. However that's changed over time and now when I look at it the location and subject of the image itself evoke special memories, both of my childhood and, in later life, as a young father myself.

In other words it fits my brief for the project perfectly.



 I can't wait to see what happens next.

announcing the ambiguous book project!

If you arrived here via my books on Blurb then thank you for making the journey. Look around, touch what you want, don't worry it won't break. While you're here let me tell you about a chance to publish your own work as part of a new Blurb project I'm planning...

If it wasn't reward enough for choosing my book loved; life; London for their stand at Format 11,  Blurb have also kindly offered me a voucher to spend in their store. To spread that goodwill around I'm using it to fund a collaboration. Let me explain my idea.

I'd like to present a sequence of photographs in book form that reflect the experience of the street. The theme? Ambiguity. The modus operandi? A simple game of word association...but using pictures instead.

This is not a kind of Street Photography Now project that you go out and shoot. No, this is about images you've already made. The idea is to really look at those pictures again. Find something in them. Something that may have not been the original reason to take or save them. Something that you, and it need only be you, can connect with an image selected by another photographer who, in turn, has made a connection to another image...and so on and so on. The link could be the circumstances surrounding it, an otherwise insignificant element within it, a simple leap of imagination. Surprise yourself!

OK, still interested? Let me answer some questions...

How are you going to choose the participating photographers?
I'm not. I welcome anyone who's motivated to respond. I'm not fussy! I'm not looking for Flickr account links or website URLs.

So this is all about black and white, old school, urban gloom? 
You disappoint me. I love colour! I welcome any format too: digital or lomo, iPhone or pinhole.

It's a London thing, right?
Not at all. Small town America, mega city China. Anywhere in between.

How much do you want me to pay? 
Nothing. Nada. Zip. All I request is a little of your precious time, gratis. Believe me, it'll be a great investment!

OK, so how much can I make?
See answer above. Be advised this is not a path to riches. This is a non-profit exercise for all of us. The book will be sold at cost on Blurb, just for the warm glow of satisfaction of creating something unique.

This sounds too good. Where's the small print? 
I see you're a hard sell.
Believe me, I want to make this process as simple as possible.
Yes, I'll co-ordinate the exchange of images and the production of the book.
No, you don't have to sign up to Blurb. 
Yes, you will be credited as co-author of the finished book.
No, your image will not be used for any other purpose than this project without your permission. Same goes for your email address.

OK, I'm in! Where do I sign?
Wonderful. Just send me an email with the subject "I'm in!" to sean@waysofwalking.net

I'll be in touch to start the chain.