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Tips for the Photographer
If you are a photographer, your family pictures
may be rather different to most. My wife always
says I don't photograph the kind of things normal
people do. I just offer to lend her a camera,
though she has yet to take me up on it. My
approach has always been simple - I photograph
things that interest me. If I'm interested enough
and do a good job, then they are likely to
interest others too.
Situation & Family
Most family pictures are of people posing to have
their picture taken, smiling or acting up for the
camera, sometimes taking it more seriously.
Occasionally it is convenient or necessary to pose
people, but generally I've preferred to capture
more spontaneous moments.
A posed image, but one in where the subject's
attention has wandered. (© Peter Marshall, 1980)
You can get more interesting pictures by
photographing people doing things - talking to
each other, working or playing games. If you are
working for publication, then you will want to be
suggesting various activities, getting people to
dress up and to play roles for you.
It may be possible to photography people you know
while at work, but make sure if you do that you
get permission from their employers to do so. A
picture of your Uncle Alfred might not be of great
interest or likely to sell, but there are far more
possibilities if you can photograph him at work.
Especially if, like my Uncle Alf, he has an
interesting or unusual job; he was a commercial
beekeeper, but unfortunately died before I learnt
to use a camera.
Although I didn't photograph him, I was able to
take pictures some years later of his widow - my
aunt, also now long dead. These are pictures that
have a great deal of interest for my family, but
also I think touch on wider issues that make them
of interest to others. As well as photographing
her, I also took pictures that showed the house
she had lived her married life in, full of the
photographs and other memories. Like her, the
house was a survivor from another age, still
furnished in the same style as when they had moved
in almost fifty years earlier. I've used a couple
of these pictures as illustrations to this
feature.
Nudity
Another problem with
family pictures
can be nudity. As parents we get used to seeing
our young children without clothes. Few of us see
any real problem with photographing our own
children at bath time or sprawling naked on a rug,
but the authorities may. There have been a number
of cases where processing lab staff have contacted
police over images they have found. In the UK one
television personality found herself being charged
by the police and her name splashed over the
papers, although the case was eventually dropped.
Sally Mann
Most photographers at least will be familiar with
the fine work of Sally Mann, large-format
photography made in collaboration with her young
and often naked children. Again her work has
raised criticism from many who have regarded it as
exploitation of her children, although I find this
difficult to take seriously. Certainly people who
are acting improperly towards their offspring are
unlikely to publish photographic evidence.
Mann's work is beautiful, and shows a great deal
about the feelings and love in her family, both
between her and her children and also in the
relationships between them. It is hard to
understand how anyone can find this offensive. It
is powerful and moving work that gives a positive
and enriching view of life.
However we do need to be aware that there are
people around who take a more negative view, and
also laws that we need to take notice of. There
are also sick people who may view pictures of
child nudity in different ways to us. It is an
area where some caution is required as to what is
shown and where.
Many other photographers have also worked with
their own families. Among those whose work seems
to me to be strongest are Emmett Gowin and Nick
Waplington (see box, top right.)
Don't miss out
However I would feel I had missed an opportunity
if I had not photographed the events in my life
when my children were young - and a part of this
are all the activities of parenthood, bathing,
feeding, changing and so on. These are a part of
my photographic archive, although there are
probably some that I would want to keep private
among friends and family for various reasons.
Others I'm happy to show in public.
Nudity as shown in pictures such as this is seldom
unacceptable, as neither the faces nor any genital
areas of the subjects are shown. (© Peter
Marshall, 1980)
Holiday times give us more time with friends and
families, and the approach of a new year is
traditionally a time for reflection and the making
of resolutions.
People are more important than anything else in
all our lives, and our families and friends surely
the most important. It seems natural that they
should have an important part in the work of any
photographer. For me they have been the starting
point for an exploration of photography that has
led me out in many and varied directions.
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