Stephen Gill, born 1971 (Stephen Gill (photographer), n.d.), has produced a series of collections that are predominantly inspired by living in East London. Many of his images are of everyday scenes that one might walk past and never take the time to stop and study them.
An example might be one shown below in Fig. 1 which is taken from his collection ‘Bridges’.
There is nothing remarkable about the image but when seen as a complete set, I do find myself studying them in more detail. It is a great example of the concept of typology and how a consistent set of images taken of a specific type can build to something more than the individual image.
For me, it is astonishing how far Gill has taken this concept. In his collection ‘A series of dissapointments’ Gill collected screwed up (presumably therefore losing) betting slips from outside of bookmakers (Warner, 2019). This shows the power of the concept, along with the dedication it takes to deliver on it.
Some viewers appreciate Gill’s huge attention to detail and cite how it is changing their view of photography. Hill, a commentator stating “Stephen Gill is changing the way I take photos, the way I see photos. The echoes of the exhibition I visited recently continue to resonate through me. Everything I see now is part of a potential series. ” (Hill, 2005). However a look at some of the comments to that page show that not everybody agrees.
I think the difference of opinion comes from looking at a single images versus looking at the collection. Personally, I feel that one has to view the set to fully appreciate the power of each image.
This particular piece of research was focused on his collection called Audio Portraits.
Audio Portraits
Stephen Gill’s collection ‘Audio Portraits’ shows how captioning can cause a viewer to see images in a different light. In his series, see Fig 2 for the collection, he has photographed a number of individuals that he met listening to music on headphones or ear pods.
The portraits show the individuals standing posed for the image, and they are all still wearing their headphones. The caption for each image is simply the music that the person was listening to at the time the image was taken. An example is below in Fig. 3.
When I view these images alongside their captions, I find myself comparing the way the person looks, the clothes they are wearing, the setting they are in, with what I would have expected them to be given the track that they are listening to.
In my chosen example in Figure 2, if I had to guess what they were listening to, it would have been something like Chemical Brothers or Basement Jaxx, something electronic, 1980s/90s not quite main stream music. Instead the track is Boyzone. When I discover this, it makes me realise that what I hold as a stereotype for either genre is wrong. In turn, this makes me re-evaluate the subject in the image, to look at him in much more detail.
Learning
I think there are three learning points here.
1. Typography can be very powerful if applied in a consistent manner across a specific type.
2. There can be much more to learn in an apparently straightforward portrait than one might think at first glance.
3. Creating an unexpected caption, even a very simple one, can create a tension between the image and the caption that can lead the viewer to spend far more time looking at each image, making up their own story. It seems to lead to a far more polysemic experience than might otherwise be the case.
Biography
En.wikipedia.org. n.d. Stephen Gill (Photographer). [online] Available at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Gill_(photographer)> [Accessed 18 March 2020].
Warner, M., 2019. The Pillar By Stephen Gill. [online] British Journal of Photography. Available at: <https://www.bjp-online.com/2019/07/the-pillar-by-stephen-gill/> [Accessed 18 March 2020].
Hill, D., 2005. Stephen Gill And Photographing The Everyday Invisible. [online] cityofsound. Available at: <https://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2005/05/stephen_gill_an.html> [Accessed 18 March 2020].
Figures
Figure 1. Gill, S., n.d. Portfolio » Portfolio – Bridges. [online] Stephengill.co.uk. Available at: <http://www.stephengill.co.uk/portfolio/portfolio/nggallery/album-1-2/bridges/thumbnails> [Accessed 18 March 2020].
Figure 2. Gill, S., 2014. Portfolio » Portfolio – Audio Portraits. [online] Stephengill.co.uk. Available at: <http://www.stephengill.co.uk/portfolio/portfolio/nggallery/album-1-2/audio-portraits/thumbnails> [Accessed 3 March 2020].
Figure 3. Gill, S., 2014. Boyzone. [image] Available at: <http://www.stephengill.co.uk/portfolio/portfolio/nggallery/album-1-2/audio-portraits/thumbnails> [Accessed 18 March 2020].