Indemandphotography

Today is the last day of the Industry Client for the Puffing Billy railway. I travelled on the 12:30 luncheon train. My aim today was to get images of passengers in the Dinner carriage. For the first twenty minutes no passenger on the dinner carriage complained. But once food was served, a gay couple asked the staff that I would stop taking photographs, while they were eating. So I stopped. Once I got to Menzies Creek station. I photographed station staff, at the junction box. Then hopped on the Belgrave bound train to take images of the workshop.

At the workshop, the workshop was so dimly lit, that getting a image was next to impossible. Also workshop staff were not happy to have there image taken.

I was happy I was able to get a image of the dinner carriage with passenger and staff.

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Today I rode upon Puffing Billy on the 10:30am schedule. This is when he most amount of tourist ride the train during the winter season. The tourist depart Puffing Billy at Menzies Creek station to continue on with there Yarra Valley tour by bus. Today was a good and ad day. bad day as it was the only day where the weather was not overcast nor sunny but drizzled weather. The ride from Menzies Creek to Emerald Lake and back was quite ride as few passengers rode the train.

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Today I felt that I had enough images, but the luncheon carriage image, which I was still awaiting permission from David Eaton, regarding getting passage upon that carriage. I today just took images of various locations that I thought may improve the story.

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Start of week two this week. I am hoping this week I am able to finish taking images at the end of this week. I took more location images either of the steam train as it travelled along the route. I tried again portraits of the staff at stop destinations.

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I started today to concentrate more on portrait/tourist images, that Puffing Billy wished for. This was images of passengers. Since I did not have the authoritie yet to travel upon the Puffing Billy steam train, I took the images of passengers during there stop at Menzies Creek, and Emerald lake. Some passengers were shy of me taking images of them, and some were happy for this to happen. I will stop this week, till I can travel upon the steam train.

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My Industry project will be in conjuction with Pufing Billy railway. One of my work collegues has asked me if I would be able to photograph for the Puffing Billy railway. Apparently the Puffing Billy railway images that they use are only film, and they do not pocess any digital images. Living in the local area, I was happy to help, as I knew the area locally. The amount of travel would be minimal. After the initial meeting with Puffing Billy railway media publicist David Eaton, I could not go into the workshop, or out of the bounds of where the public could travel. I could travel in these area’s on my second week, when I had the safety induction meeting. This was due to insurance/workcover issues.

In the first week, of taking photographs, I did not travel upon the Puffing Billy, but travelled in my car along the train line to get the scenic images, that Puffing Billy railway wanted. Most of the portrait images were taken at Menzies Creek station. These were the engine staff that were taken there. At Emerald lake which is the current winter end of the line, this is were I got portraits of the engine staff within the engine cabin. This is where engine staff were maintaining the engine before its journey back to Belgrave.

The second week of the exercise was travelling upon Puffing Billy itself. Asian tourists were happy for me to take there images, where else, other people from the public varied depending upon there mood.

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Rennie Ellis certainly lived up to his motto of being a social perv. Rennie was not a technical photographer, but more a emotional photographer. Many of Rennie Ellis images were not perfect but showed the emotional connection to the viewer. Rennie Ellis was able to capture the subject at some stage in a emotional stage of there life. Either this be sadness or happyness.

Rennie became a social documenter, after he became disillusioned with advertising. Rennie rose to Creative Director of the Monahan Dayman Advertising, but did not seek fullfillment. Rennie once stated this was done because he loved photography, and it was not advertising. Before Rennie fell into becoming a social documenter, he worked as a freelance photographer, for various magazine and agencies such as playboy, bulletin and walkabout.

The images Rennie Ellis captured were mainly at some event mainly these were social events. Rennie loved the party life of the 1980’s, were he was given unprecedented access to his subjects. His subjects were not shy to be captured in the event or the act. Rennie was good at capturing this event because you could see he lived and enjoyed this lifestyle, and gained the trust of his subjects because he knew them personally. This is where Rennie thrived in this environment. In the 1980’s where the party scene was at its greatest, the amount of images Rennie took, was the greatest amount. As Rennie enjoyed this scene, and part-took in this. it shows as though he would have liked to been in some of these images himself. Even via this scene he was able to get portraits of his subjects outside the party scene, in there natural environment. His collect infamous and famous shows the access via the party scene that subjects he was able to take.

Rennie captured Australian lifestyle via his employment as a newspaper photographer. He looked for the unusual, which gives his images a certain twist to the image. Even thou Rennie captured everyday Australian lifestyle images. The usual people at the events (football, races (Melbourne cup), beach, nightclubs etc). He shows he was able to connect with his subject and relax the subject into allowing him to take a image of them. This shows with the image. Rennie collections of aussie rules, lifes a beach, and cup fever show how he was able to collection images of everyday life. In aussie rules Ellis gained the raw emotion of fans. this is something that is shown at the newspapers of what we are supposed to capture. very few newspaper photographers have caught this raw emotion, and Rennie is considered the bar to aspire too. In lifes a beach collection Rennie captures the everyday life of how people go about there daily life at the beach in a simplistic fashion. he has captured all the essentials of beach life from the beach itself, to families and groups interaction. Again Rennie social perv status shows in the images Cottlesloe, Western Australia 1998 and Lady Jane, Lady Bay 1998. I’m not sure if its is porn, but more on the edge of normal society or people on the fringe.

Rennie current exhibition is a exhibition of all his collections. This images start from his early days to his last images. As stated the images are not technical, but more emotional images that make a connection to the viewer. Rennie capture everyday life from ordinary people in the suburbs to those who make history. I consider Rennie collections of “Aussie Rules” and “Lifes a Beach”, because these two collections capture the everyday life of ordinary people. In Aussie Rules, Rennie is able to capture the everyday emotions of the fans who are on the high, from finals fever. These fans ain’t afraid to show there emotional side of the game. These images are considered iconic from the newspaper industry, as no photographer has been able to capture those raw emotions close to Rennie Ellis. In the collection “Lifes a Beach” Rennie shows the everyday interaction between everyday people. Either they are friends or families on the beach. “Lifes a Beach” also shows an iconic Australian past time of the beach. Rennie’ great amount of work was during the hey days of the 1980’s when he captured the social club scene or as Rennie summed it up as being a social perv. Rennie enjoyed this scene, as the amount of unprecented access he was given, and the comfortability of his subjects (e.g. Molly Meldrum). Many of his subjects were just also starting out before themselves they became famous. I would not state that Rennie images got any better technically, but I felt there was a consistancy in the connectivity with the subject and the viewer.

Rennie has had many exhibitions, and pioneered photographic exhibitions within Australia, by even founding his own gallery to show his works/exhibitions and many other photographers. In the 1970’s when photography was gaining ground as a form of accepted art, this is when he decided to make his mark, by creating exhibitions. Rennie showed his firs exhibition in 1971 First Exhibition: Kings Cross, with Wesley Stacey, (Gallery A, Melbourne and Yellow house, Sydney. Publishes Kings Cross Sydney). Rennie starts his own gallerie in 1972 Founder and Director of Brummels Gallery of Photography (First exhibition: Two Views of Erotica – Carol Jerrems & Henry Talbot Officially opened by Paul Cox). In 1975 with some disenchantment, Rennie decides to go alone with his own gallerie, after disputes in creative direction with his partners from his Brummels Gallery and establishes studio Rennie Ellis & Associates in Greville Street, Prahran, Melbourne which he operates from up until his death.

Rennie Ellis was regarded by his peers as a photographer for his work, and was awarded many awards such as the Silver medallion for Photography from Art Directors Club of Melbourne for his photography in the Kings Cross Sydney book.

Rennie Ellis kept working till his death in 2003. His 50,000 plus images are kept in stock now.

Reference: http://www.rennieellis.com.au

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Robert Cappa’s famous quote of “if your pictures aren’t good enough, your not close enough”, was correct in the days of world war two, when war photography was not as dangerous as it is today. In the 1940’s the press was more patriotic to the nation, and were willing to self censor themselves for the good of the nation. Media represenatives were allowed to be embedded with operating units directly. Media personnel from World War two till the Vietnam war, were given free reign on how they reported the news of the conflict. The Military did not censor what the media captured, as they believed the media self-regulated themselves. This happened in every way till the Vietnam war, where television changed a lot of the perception of public opinion to war. Media information used to be a few days to a week behind reporting the events to the public. So sensitive information was never given to the public in real-time. Vietnam war changed this when television, when information of the conflict was only a few hours away. For also the first time, the war was a more brutal war than previous wars. The carnage and destruction was truely unedited, than previous wars. Also the media did not like previous conflicts see themselves as there patriotic duty to support the conflict. Sentiment at home also did not have the support of the conflict by the general population. Previous conflicts saw had a evil dictator, or ideology behind the enemy to distinguish themselves. The media also documented more on the destruction in the conflict that was inflict to innocent citizens who were classified as no combatants. In previous conflicts these images were taken after the event where the true anguish on the general population was not shown. E.g. population walking among the ruins of buildings where else in the Vietnam conflict images of the dead populance was taken and broadcast either via television or print media. These images swayed the public opinion to believe that the Vietnamese populance were the victims and the United States were the agressor. When Walter Cronkite made the famous quote after the Tet offensive in the Vietnam War that he could not see the United States winning the war, this swayed public opinion. The United States military learnt very quickly after wards any future conflicts they needed to control the flow of information.

Grenada and Panama after the Vietnam conflict were training grounds for the United States military to learnt how to control the flow of information. The United States military did not allow the media to be embedded with military units, and restricted where and how the media could travel into the conflict zone. Also the military controlled the images that were distributed back to the public. Both of these conflicts the United States military by controlling the flow of images was able to regain public support. These conflicts were not seen as unpopular with the United Stated populance.

Gulf War one, was a real test for the Military to control the flow of information. Units were no longer allowed to have any embedded media personnel. Media was kept back. This allowed the US Military to control the flow of information, and what was shown to the public. Each media personnel was assigned a Military laison media personnel who regulated what those media personnel could ask and capture (motion and still). Many freelance media personnel decided that they could get close to the action by embedding with other coalition force units, or travelled along side the units, in there own transportation. These freelance media units were close to the action to capture the images, and also outside the restriction of the United States military control. Also foreign media who travelled with there own nations military units were not as restricted in there control to capture information. Mainly this was the British media, who knew about the United States military control, and decide to circumvent this by travelling with Middle Eastern military units who where part of the coalition force. The United States military realised this by the end of Gulf War one conflict, as the United States media, followed suite with foreign and freelance media, and travelled outside the zone of the United States military control to obtain the information. This was pushed as freelance and foreign media hurt United Stated media by obtaining the information first. United States cable networks were hurt by the rating of foreign media. Also United States media networks had to purchase the information which cost them dearly. The United States military by the end of the Gulf War one realised if they did not control the conflict, they could not control the flow of information. The United Stated military were able to control the country’s media, but lost control by the end as they followed suite with they style and practices of foreign media. The damage was no where as serious as Vietnam war created upon the United States populance in belief to the truth to what there government told them.

The Balkans conflict was seen as gold mine for the media, where there was no media restriction, due to no United States miltary involvement till they joined the European peace keeping efforts at the end of the conflict. Sides on the conflict learnt from the United States military efforts from Gulf War one, and conflicts before, that the control of information can determine there status within the worlds populance. The many sides in the Balkans conflict allowed the media to travel with them to show how the atrocities of the other side. The images shown to the world where very distressing. Again like Vietnam the images captured shown were more of the civilian casaulties than the combatants themselves. Like Vietnam those images captured had a lot of emotion. More distressing were images of mass graves from the ethnic clensing, like the concentration camps of world war two. Again in the Balkans conflict had concentration camps. Instead of Germans killing Jewish people, it was Serbians and Croatians instead this time around. Each group was able to manipulate world opinion. When the European union with the Americans, Australians started the peace keeping efforts, the truth about both sides came out, and some of the worlds media realised how much they were manipulated by the sides of the conflict. The media got so close in this conflict that Robert Cappa would have been proud of them, by the closeness they in the conflict. Unlike the previous conflict of the Gulf War One, media travelled with the combatants, as in Vietnam and World War Two.

In the Afghanistan and Iraq conflicts media were allowed to be embedded within military units. The United States military realised from Gulf War One and the Balkins conflict, it was better to have some control over the media than no control with the media. Again certain media personnel were punshed when they realised information that the United States military were not happy that it was released. This time thou the rules have changed, the media were also considered fair game as targets in the conflict. With the enemy (taliban and iraq insurgents) considered media personnel them the enemy. Many freelance media personnel were killed covering the news, and many more were kidnapped for money, or were then killed by the enemy to make a statement. Many media personnel became afraid of travelling alone, and decided that travelling embedded with the military was the only safe way. The United States military were happy as they were able to control the flow of information. Another outlet the worlds media saw to cover the information was to hire local populance to go out and cover the footage/images, that is now counted too dangerous. It also became dangerous for local employees of the world media once the enemy knew they who they were working for.

Israeli-Palestinian conflict took another step, with both sides the Israeli military created its own media laison unit. So instead of allowing the worlds media to embed themselves with the Israeli military, the Israeli military would only provide footage/images to the worlds media, instead of allowing the worlds media talking there own footage/images. The Israeli military camped there media laison unit in the same room as the worlds media, that the Israeli military allows to distribute there information. This was also a psychological warfare strategy where the Israeli military make friendship with the worlds media instead of treating them like the enemy as the United States military doctrine dictates. The Palestinians also picked up on this style of psychological warfare. They copied the Israeli military, by inviting/smuggling the worlds media into the Gaza Strip to view the horror of what the Israeli military. This did hurt the Israeli military information warfare doctrine, as the Palestinian were able to present there side of the story via the world media.

With 24 hour news channels now, patroitism, and duty to your country does not exist anymore (no common purpose and common sense of country). Media organisations now race to who can deliver the news snippet first. many times they do not, check if they give sensitive information away, nor sometimes do they check there information also. Some reporters such as fox news were removed from being embedded with units, due to leaking sensitive information of the units they were with (mainly location information). United States media organisations are the most hard hit by this change as the worlds media now cover the events themselves, where else in Vietnam, they used footage/images from United States media. After Vietnam there was a large uptake in freelance media personnel (greatest growth was during the Iraq/Afghanistan war. Another attribute to this was the worlds western media became targets themselves, and they hired local personnel to captured footage/images for them (also it was a cheaper option)), as the Worlds Media had a greater hunger for events to be captured.

Soldiers themselves are now blogging and posting images of what they do in conflict zones. Either these are blogs or images that soldiers themselves and post upon websites like flickr etc. The Iraq/Afghanistan conflict has taught the worlds militaries to that they could not contain this but created standards of what the military personnel could post upon the internet. A good example of this is when Australian soldiers posted upon there website that there equipment was sub-standard, the Australian media picked up upon this, and the Australian Defence force had to go into damage control. Equipment was changed to personnel who where deployed overseas. As the Palestinians have learnt from the Israeli military, that distributing there version of events worked well. The Taliban and Iraq insurgents have also created there own media distribution either via the internet or distributed to the worlds media. This made it harder for the western nations to control the flow of information. With the worlds media now a target themselves, and worried to travel out to gather the footage/images the British and United States military realise like the Israeli military, that they can have a role in control in the flow of information.

So from World War Two when Robert Cappa was embedded with the military it was a simpler time, as he was not considered a target. Todays media are considered a target by the enemy. That is why locals in those nations are hired to capture the footage/images. but even they have become targets themselves. So Robert Cappa’s quote “if your pictures aren’t good enough, you’re not close enough” can get you killed now, as respect for those who capture news are not considered a neutral target.

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