Select an image by any photographer of your choice and take a photograph in response to it.
This James Ravilious image is so raw and evocative, but it proved difficult to come up with my own response to it. In spite of the abhorrent conditions, Ivor Brock is determined to get that lamb to safety. The look of sheer unwavering determination in his eyes is the true essence of what this image is all about.
My objective was to convey his determination without using a direct comparison to human form or emotion. In much the same way as Cubism produced flattened and yet multifaceted images to represent the original image, I have done the same by dehumanising the original and, at first glance flattening it. However the beauty of maps is that the more you study them, the more they reveal, which can also be said of the Ravilious’ image. Looking at some of Pablo Picasso’s work, you can see how his Cubism genre paintings encourage the viewer to tease information from the canvas and encourage the viewer to ‘earn’ an understanding.
My first idea was to take a photo of a long straight road that led off into the distance. I couldn’t find anything that fitted what I had in my mind’s eye. A compromise would be a section of motorway, but they proved to be too wide, and would not give me the feeling of directness that I wanted. So from researching the motorway idea I had at least discovered that the single-minded determination had to be quite a narrow line as well as straight. I finally came up with the idea of a straight line on a map, much like you would see in an old war film, ‘the direct route of attack’. To augment this directness, and to tie in with the original image I felt that the straight line had to dissect some terrain that would prove challenging, and therefore came up with a section of a map which shows the Quantock hills.
Ivor Brock rescuing a lamb in a blizzard, Millhams, Dolton, Devon, 1978. Photo by James Ravilious. Photo: © Beaford Arts.
Terry Barrett tells us in his essay ‘Photographs and Context’1 that there are three basic sources of information that we can draw on to interpret a photograph. These are internal, external and original context. Before a balanced interpretation of an image can be claimed, all three contexts must be considered.
In constructing my response to James Ravilious’ image, I have drawn heavily from what Terry Barrett has termed ‘Internal Context’. That is to say the information contained within the edges of the image presented, or information which is evident. Unlike Robert Doisneau’s image of a man and woman drinking red wine in a Paris cafe, discussed by Gisele Freund2, I believe this to be an unambiguous photo. Moreover, this extends to the more abstract visual qualities of the image, such as the fact that it is a black and white photograph of a situation which probably actually contained little more colour in real life, thus adding to the ‘feel’ of the bitter coldness of the moment. Much like Cartier-Bresson’s image ‘Behind the Gare St. Lazare’ there is a distilled point or singularity within the image that (for me) totally dominates. In HCB’s it is the heel/reflection of the leaping man and in JR’s it is the eyes, or more specifically the intensity of the stare of Ivor Brock. For this reason alone I was inspired to illustrate this image.
To explore the image further and see if there is more to this seemingly ’simple’ image, I considered its ‘external Context’. This image is just one of a ‘series’ of approx. 10,000 images taken by J Ravilious to document country life (in Devon) at that time. These were taken from the idea’s inception in 1972 until his untimely death (Lymphoma) in 1990. Ravilious’ work is showcased in four books; ‘A Corner of England’3, ‘Down the Deep Lanes’4, ‘Heart of the Country’5 and ‘The Recent Past’6. All works of nonfiction, and by and large all images are candid shots of people going about their rural life. If a charge of guilt had to be laid at his feet it would be only that he wanted to portray humanity and integrity within his images. As a result of his ‘honest’ photography/portrayal of the folk around him, he was readily accepted within the community and people were easy when around him and his camera, offering no alter egos or other personas. All of these facts just go to enhance the ‘honesty’ of the image. The external context of this image is simple, consistent and rock solid.
Taking the ‘here & now’ of this image, and from behind the camera, as it were, whenever I look at this image I always consider that the conditions were unpleasant to say the least, but more than that, JR wasn’t sat at his kitchen window when he saw this situation unfolding, he must have been out documenting Ivor Brock for some time before this event panned out. And so, he will have been consumed with and involved with the rescue from its onset, and I assume, ‘purely’ documenting the proceedings as they happened. There will have been no other distraction or reasons to use poetic license. It is impossible to know how far away they were from comfort, but this is largely irrelevant to the narrative. I also ask myself; If there were other lambs to be rescued, would JR have been tempted to put his camera away and help rescue? Or would he have seen his job as being the recorder of facts?
So to conclude; my inspiration for this exercise was taken mainly from information presented from the ‘internal context’ of the image itself. However my love/attraction to Ravilious’ body of work , and hence the selection of this particular image, draws heavily from the external context (being the way his work has been presented (i.e. his books)). The original context gives food for thought and adds depth and dimension to this image, giving it a great patina.
REFERENCES
1 Teaching about Photography: Photographs and Contexts. Terry Barrett. Art Education, Vol. 39, No. 4. (Jul., 1986), pp. 33-36.
2 Freund, G. (1980). Photography and society. Boston: Godine, David R.
3 Ravilious, J. 1996. A Corner of England. Wellington. Halsgrove.
4 Beacham, P. Ravilious, J. 2000. Down the Deep Lanes. Devon Books.
5 Ravilious, J&R. 1980. Heart of the Country. London. Scolar Press.
6 Ravilious, J. 2017. The Recent Past. London. Wilmington Square Books.
I see! 