Monday 19 May 2014

Mark Neville

A couple of months ago we guest lecture from the documentary photographer Mark Neville.
He came in specifically to talk about one of his most famous series of work, entitled 'Port Glasgow'.
This series was based on the small town Port Glasgow in Scotland. Neville spent a long time there, getting to know his surroundings and some of the people who lived there. He documented his stay with photographs. Taking pictures of the different activities that were going on, its environment, and very intimate moment with the new people he had met on his stay. 
Photographing the highs and the lows of this community.

When photographing people, Neville used to rig up large flash lights, which would sometimes go off unsuspectingly. Therefore the poses of the people were more natural, and he was able capture images that wouldn't be possible if the people knew that they were being photographed at that exact time.  

After gathering all his images, Neville then went on to produce a photobook, but the book was only given to the residents of the town, and was not published commercially. He had a mixed reaction from the book. Some just simply threw it away, while others loved it, and believed it was great to have their town be centre of attention. The book grew in popularity, but Neville kept to his guns and didn't produce any more books. Because of this book were now being sold for hundreds, and even thousands of pounds.    


This image was an inspiration within my printed page module. I had chosen to base my book around the concept of fashion and why does it work in a certain way.
This image links to my module because the hats that the women are wearing, Neville made them wear them as a bit of fun. Thinking maybe someone looked at these images in the future and thought "what strange hats the people used to wear then". 
It questions what is right with fashion. 


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