Assignment
This assignment sets the task of collecting six to eight images that support or go against the notion of Cartier-Bresson’s Decisive Moment. In my assessment of this concept, I could see arguments for and against the idea and planned to explore the idea further as part of this assignment.
Thinking and Initial Steps
In between writing down my initial thoughts and visiting Camden, I also visited The Radical Eye at Tate Modern and one of the ideas there that intrigued me was a question raised by Man Ray who wondered, if he was capturing an image of an artist, whose responsibility was it to capture the expression? The artist or the photographer? By extension, I wondered if this could be applied to Decisive Moment. Is the moment that of the photographer pressing the shutter or can the photographer instead capture a moment that has been and gone but left a trace?
As I planned in my initial thinking, when I arrived in Camden, I spent half an hour sitting in and around the market to absorb the atmosphere and surroundings. I started to take some photographs of a few the stalls, these can be seen on the Camden Market Contact Sheet.
But as I was taking these images, I could see the rest of Camden in the background and I started to think that the market has become a little bit false compared to the town itself. The trendy food stalls charging £10 for a burger only yards away from what is a visibly poor area just felt wrong and triggered an emotion in me.
My Target Area and Influences
I decided to leave the market and go and capture what I have called Real Camden.
As I walked the area I realised that I needed to decide how I was going to capture it. Reflecting on my experiences of Exercise 3.2, visiting the Radical Eye, researching Egglestone, and my views on the Decisive Moment, I decided to capture with three factors in mind:
- I wanted to capture mainly the surroundings rather than people and make the images somewhat timeless (Egglestone)
- I wanted to capture the trace of somebody else’s decisive moment. (Exercise 3.2 and Man Ray).
- I wanted to show the condition of the area, in contrast to the market (my thought process).
All of my chosen images and those on the Real Camden contact sheet are taken within 200 meters of Camden Market. I think they show a different side to the town to that which the usual market images portray.
Selected Images
Telephone Box
I found this around the back of the main market. Given the attempts of the market to go ‘up-market’ and in some cases evoke a traditional English feel (see the deckchairs on Camden Market-12) I found it odd that somebody would decide to hide it away. Now it is sat in a corner slowly decaying and the workers are carrying on with their lives around it.
Foam
In this image I was interested in the total lack of pride that the resident has shown to the front of where they live. Firstly open bin bags are fastened to the fence, which cannot be good for rats but what caught my eye was the window. Somebody has chosen to seal up the window using expanding foam, but as it has expanded it has oozed out and dripped down the wall. To decide to fix the window but then leave the mess seems like a strange decision to me and signifies just how little the resident cares about how where they live looks like.
Bill Stickers Will Be Prosecuted
Nearly every surface in Camden seems to have been exploited by graffiti artists but what caught my eye here is the sign effectively banning posters being fixed to the wall. I find it amusing that somebody has chosen to leave their mark right next to the sign, which I think was there first. Of course, the painting is fully compliant with the sign!
Camden Market?
Down an old backstreet and next to crumbling buildings somebody chose to create their own version of a market. And despite the dilapidation of the building, one can see that somebody has chosen to fix some coloured lights to it. This sight caught my attention as it is such a contrast to the other Camden Market. Which is the real one?
Rug
Here somebody has chosen to hook what looks like a prayer rug over the fence. I wonder why they did that? Was it to climb over? It doesn’t look like it was hung up to dry after being washed. The building behind is a Christian Infants School. Sadly there was no angle to get the school sign and the rug into the same shot as that would have created a nice juxtaposition. I think that the overall look evokes the feel of the area and so I chose to include the image in the set.
Ash Tray
Every bit of space seems to get used in Camden. Here somebody has chosen to use a smashed-up electricity junction box on the right as an ash tray. I find it ironic that somebody is choosing to keep the area tidy, repeatedly, but at the same time making the fixture even more dilapidated.
Nat has Herpes
Walking through the area is quite depressing to see but when entering this little park an aura of peace and tranquillity descends. That aura only serves to make the message that somebody has chosen to paint on the bin feel even more crass.
Do Not Leave Rubbish
This image is taken on a road which has a whole row of spaces such as the one shown. This one is the only space in which somebody has put up the sign – and it is the only one that has rubbish in it! It is as if somebody saw the sign and deliberately chose to throw their rubbish there specifically because of it.
Contact Sheets
