I following feedback from my tutor I have reworked my essay to adjust the order of the points and remove the rather unnecessary definition of the punctum.

Most of my comments from my initial self-reflection remain valid as the content of the essay remains largely similar with the changes being largely cosmetic in nature, adjusting the running order and changing the wording to make my points of view a little clearer.

Although my tutor expressed it was dangerous to make a point of highlighting the punctum in an image as it can be personal – I have kept it in here because what I feel is the punctum here is different to a standard fashion image and integral to the viewing of the image.

Also I stuck to my thoughts that we are now viewing the image some 35+ years later and with our eye now and other knowledge we can read things to the images metaphors that perhaps were hidden at the time – in this case, the image appears to highly sexual on the surface – is that the subject was showing strength and rejecting temptation and advances of movie moguls.

Overall, whilst not perfect the essay offers the reader an insight into the image and how it fits into the photographer canon of work and an interesting perspective of what the thoughts were of the model during the shoot.

Fig. 1 Richard Avedon, Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent (1981)

A woman lies on her side alongside a plain floor against a plain background of the same neutral colour and material, gazing into the camera lens. She is naked except for a bracelet and the massive coils of a Burmese python wrapped around her legs, waist, and shoulders. She appears calm, even serene. Both she and the animal are long and sinuous—her own snake-like form is accentuated as the photograph has been cropped at her knees, which produces the illusion that her body might somehow run on. She is pale and evenly and softly lit by a source that must be positioned outside the upper left-hand corner of the frame since her face, arm, waist, and knee cast slight shadows to the right. The subtle tonal environment in terms of light and shade leads to a study of textures, materials, lights, and subtle distinctions between skin and scale, body, and background. The scene is undisturbed by action or events.

Or this is almost the case. A very careful look reveals that, in the midst of this scene of stillness, the forked tongue of the snake flickers out to ‘kiss’ the ear of the model—the tiniest sign of vital aliveness in an otherwise perfectly calm image.

Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, shot in 1981, is one of Avedon’s most famous and iconic photographs and, while similar in terms of the set-up, it also departs from his usual style of the period, where he photographed both famous and unknown figures against a stark white backdrop with no contextual information. Comparing it with Avedon’s portrait of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, one of his other most famous images, we see ‘a duality: they are photographs taken by a strong, complex personality, a photographer who possesses great humanity—and cold-bloodedness’ (Crenzien, 2014). In Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent we see a return to the softer, more sensual fashion images typical of his earlier work.

Fig. 2 Richard Avedon, Duke and

Avedon’s images usually emerged out of lengthy studio sessions and in his own words ‘A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he (sic) is being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he’s wearing or how he looks’ (cited in Williams, 2004). This approach distinguished Avedon’s work from that of American street photographers, such as Diane Arbus. Nevertheless, his method enabled him to produce images that remain with the viewer—they have punctum.

Appearing to cast Nastassja Kinski as Eve, the portrait emerges out of the juxtaposition of her human form and the reptilian form of the snake. The imminent threat that the snake seems to present is in intense contrast with the vulnerable body of the female subject and serenity of her expression—but the result is psychological intensity and interest, something that keeps the image alive and makes it interesting to look at closely. This juxtaposition also produces confrontation between a public image and what Avedon sees (or perceives) in the subject. Kinski was a familiar figure as she was one of the most beautiful women of the time and, whilst being exploited in her earlier roles, was beginning to gain control of her career and image. Avedon succeeded in placing her in a situation that produces unexpected sensations.

With this juxtaposition, Avedon’s photograph raises fundamental questions about the power of photography itself. Speaking of his early experience with photography, Avedon recalled how ‘all the photographs in our family album were built on some kind of lie about who we were and revealed a truth about who we wanted to be’ (cited in Mooallem, 2017). Throughout his career, Avedon negotiated this balance between truth and fantasy very skilfully. It is this quality that makes Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent such a compelling picture since it manages to tread a fine line between fact and fiction. While its lighting and tonalities all describe a real relationship between body and space, the event we witness has the mark of the unreal. While, superficially, the portrait appears to cast Kinski as Eve falling for the temptation of the serpent, Avedon captured that precise moment where it is clear that this Eve is not interested in what the serpent has to offer, and nor is she frightened by the power the serpent wields over her. When viewed in 2018 in conjunction with recent interviews, it seems that Avedon perhaps saw and captured what Nastassja Kinski was sub-consciously trying to achieve in her career and image—to live and behave on her own terms.

In conclusion, Avedon’s Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent, shot as part of a fashion shoot for Vogue, is typical of the way in which Avedon used his immense skill as a photographer to change the traditional idea of a fashion image from one in which the model appears as little more than a ‘clothes horse’ and whose role is to passively exhibit fashion ensembles to one in which the model is treated as a subject in his or her own right. Moreover, it is down to Avedon’s treatment of models that they are now as equally important and just as famous as the designers’ clothes that they wear. Traditionally, posing has been static and the focus is only on exhibiting the clothes. In this image Avedon moves away from this convention in multiple ways: firstly, by presenting the model as nude, clothed only by a reptile and bracelet; secondly, by having the model in a supine  position with the image cropped at the knee; and, thirdly, by capturing an unpredictable chance encounter and, perhaps most importantly in this case, as revealed by Vogue editor Polly Mellen (YouTube, 2015), Avedon listened to the model and worked with her to create a stunning portrait.

Bibliography

Barthes, R. (1988). Camera lucida. New York: The Noonday Press.

Bate, D. (2009). Photography: The key concepts. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury.

Crenzien, H. (2007). Richard Avedon. Humlebæk: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Forbes, T. (2017). The brilliant photos of Richard Avedon. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNWe_vHAQ5s [Accessed 28 Oct. 2018].

Jeffrey, I. (2000). The photography book. London: Phaidon.

Jeffrey, I. (2010). Photography. London: Thames and Hudson.

Jenkins, D. (2015). Nastassja Kinski interview: ‘I’ve had such low self-esteem’. [online] The Telegraph. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11394696/Nastassja-Kinski-interview-Ive-had-such-low-self-esteem.html [Accessed 9 Nov. 2018].

Mooallem, S. (2017). Avedon’s America. [online] Villagevoice.com. Available at: https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/08/08/avedons-america/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2018].

Wells, L. (2015). Photography: A critical introduction. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Williams, V. (2004). Richard Avedon. [online] The Independent. Available at:       https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/richard-avedon-550783.html [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

YouTube. (2015). Polly Mellen talks about the original Kinski Avedon shoot. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-koFesJp0Bw [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

Dear Robert

Thank you for your feedback and annotated essay.

Reading your feedback and comments, I understand your points. This is my first essay reading a photograph, so I was a difficult struggle to mental under what I would be including. A bit like my first attempt in Instruction to Film Culture – I wrote from within and as with that course I will learn how to structure and develop my essays. 1000 isn’t a great deal and in hindsight I have tried to cover too much therefore only touched on some of the points.

With regards to the description of, and comments about punctum I am a little confused. As you say it can be a personal thing what is the punctum of an image. However, this is something, after reading the course notes and the relevant section in Barthes Camera Lucidia, that stood out for me. Made me understand punctum and almost perfectly defined hence why I decided to add it. Not sure why I would be wrong to talk about what I consider to be the punctum of an image – I understand your point not all photographs have punctum and its dangerous to talk about in all images but here there is a something happening that stands it out from a generic fashion image.

I have read the image as we would see it now in 2017, not as it would have been read in 1981. From my research and understanding yes, the image was taken as part of a Vogue fashion shoot, but wasn’t set up by an art director. The shoot was fairly standard fashion shot nothing earth-shattering. Polly Mellon (Vogue Fashion Editor) asked Kinski if there was anything, she would like to which she answered I like snakes. A python was fetched, and the shot was taken impromptu – the suggestion of nude came from Avedon. (In answer to you comment on the bracelet – Polly Mellon regret having her wear it too).

There is a sexual, even phallic feel to the picture, you are correct that she aware of her sexuality, but we are now aware from interviews Kinski suffered low self-esteem stemming from abandonment from her father, leading to appear nude in films from a very young age and rumour about her relationships with directors. I wasn’t trying to be pretentious with the comments around her career, moreover, when viewed in hindsight, there is a strength in that sexuality that was not obvious at the time – that she is not scared or interested in the temptation the film world was throwing at her. It seems now a much stronger image just a generic sexy poster to but on a wall.

However, I will take your points on board an assess and structure the essay to get a more as you suggest stream-lined essay.

With regards to the coursework particularly the reading of the Breitling advert – yes, I was aware of the manipulation, but I don’t seem to have found that word when I was writing it. Everything you have commented it what I thought, hence why I read your comments I was a little upset until I revisited my blog post and I have just skirt and touch on the ideas on expressed them fully. Again, I will redress that more my own learning and development.

a4 highlighted feedback A4 Tutor Annotated 

Wish we luck with the restructure and rework

Demonstration of technical and Visual Skills

Having undertaken Introduction to Film Culture – became used to essay writing although the assignment questions on that course were a little more focused – so been given free rain for only a 1000 essay was quite hard.

Attention to detail with my spelling and typo’s can be my weakness, I hope that I have checked and double checked this enough; I know how annoying it can be to read something littered with grammatical errors. It seems to read ok

 Quality of outcome

I would never have thought I would say this but a 1000 word essay is quite short to cover all your potential points for this essay I have covered

• a description of the image
• a brief background on the photographer
• punctum – a key part of this image
• and interpretation of the image looking a the background of the subject.

I feel that the essay is balanced raises points for the reader to consider, discussing the theory of Punctum for the reading them moving on to the juxtapositions of the snake and human and how the metaphor can be initially misread if not tied to the punctum. I would have like to go further and touch on perhaps #metoo and gender perception male gaze but this was not possible with the essay length.

Demonstration of creativity

Creativity in my essay – I have not picked a photograph that has been dissected over and over again by academic, so I feel that my essay does cover a unique point of view, in its interpretation of the metaphors. I have given the essay to a female friend who likes art but not a student of art and is the mother of a teenage daughter, to give me her feedback on the essay and she liked the interpretation. Which was reassuring as it always a hard call defending a female nude, taking by a male photographer that for much of a history has been the staple of [male] students bedroom walls.

A woman lies on her side against a plain floor and plain background of the same neutral colour and material, gazing into the camera lens, naked except for a bracelet and the massive coils of a Burmese python wrapped around her legs, waist, and shoulders. She appears calm, even serene. Both she and the animal are long and sinuous—her own snake-like form is accentuated the cropping of the photograph at her knees which produces the illusion that her body might somehow run on. She is pale, evenly and softly lit from a source which must be positioned outside the upper left corner of the frame since her face, arm, waist, and knee cast slight shadows the right. The subtle tonal environment of light and shade leads to a study of textures, materials, lights, and of subtle distinctions between skin and scale, body and background. The scene is undisturbed by action or event.

Or almost—looking very carefully reveals that in the midst of this scene of stillness the forked tongue of the snake flickers out to “kiss” the ear of the model—the tiniest sign of vital aliveness in an otherwise perfectly calm image.

Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent shot in 1981 is one of Avedon’s most famous and iconic photographs, yet it also departs from his usual style of the period, where he photographed both famous and unknown figures against a stark white backdrop with no contextual information. These portraits reveal Avedon as “radical and brutal,” his photographs exhibiting “a duality: they are photographs taken by a strong, complex personality, a photographer who possesses great humanity—and cold-bloodedness” (Avedon & Crenzien, 2014). Avedon’s portrait of Duke and Duchess of Windsor being one of the most famous, whereas is in Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent we see a return to the softer, more sensual fashion images typical of his earlier work.

Fig. 2 Richard Avedon, Duke and Duchess of Windsor (1957)

Avedon’s images usually emerged out of lengthy studio sessions and in his own words “A photographic portrait is a picture of someone who knows he (sic) is being photographed, and what he does with this knowledge is as much a part of the photograph as what he’s wearing or how he looks.” (Avedon & Williams, 2004). This approach distinguished Avedon’s work from that of the American street photographers, such as Diane Arbus. Nevertheless, this method enables him to produce images that remain with the viewer – they have punctum. The punctum in Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent is the flickering tongue of the snake caressing Kinski’s ear.

Roland Barthes in Camera Lucida introduces and makes a key distinction between punctum and studium— the latter standing in for the general cultural, social, and historical context of meaning in images. Barthes defines punctum “is the sting, speck, cut, little hole—and also a cast of the dice. A photograph’s punctum is that accident which pricks me (but also bruises me, is poignant to me)” (Barthes, 2012). Here the “pricked” nature of the punctum which Barthes defines with this physical metaphor, seems almost literally to be true as the snake’s tongue flicks against the model’s ear. In fact, the punctum could almost be redefined as the lick of the snake’s tongue—the moment when the totally unpredictable, thrilling, ever-so-slightly dangerous event occurs and is captured on camera. The serenity of the model only serves to heighten the intensity of this flicker of punctuating action.

Taking a boarder view, Avedon’s Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent is typical of the way in which Avedon changed the traditional fashion image from one in which the model appeared as little more than a “clothes horse” whose role was to passively exhibit fashion ensembles, to one in which the model was treated as a subject in their own right. Traditional posing had been static, in this image Avedon moves away from this convention in multiple ways: firstly, by presenting the model nude, clothed only by a reptile and bracelet; second, by having the model lay down supine and be cropped at the knee; and third, by capturing an unpredictable chance encounter.

The portrait emerges out of the juxtaposition of the human form of Nastassja Kinski with the reptilian form of the snake. The imminent threat which the snake seems to present an intense contrast with the vulnerable body of the female subject and serenity of her expression —but the result is psychological intensity and interest, something which keeps the image alive and interesting to look at closely.    This juxtaposition also produces confrontation between a public image and what Avedon sees (or perceives) in the subject. Kinski was familiar at this as one of the most beautiful women of the time, who whilst she had exploited in her earlier roles, was beginning to gain control of her career and image. Avedon has succeed in placing her in a situation that produces unexpected sensations.

With this juxtaposition, Avedon’s photograph raises fundamental questions about the power of photography itself. Speaking of his early experience with photography, Avedon recalled how “all the photographs in our family album were built on some kind of lie about who we were and revealed a truth about who we wanted to be” (Avedon & Mooallem, 2017). Throughout his career, Avedon negotiated this balance between truth and fantasy very skilfully. It is this quality which makes Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent such a compelling picture since it manages to tread the fine line between fact and fiction. While its lighting and tonalities all describe a real relationship between body and space, the event we witness has the mark of the unreal. The portrait appears to cast Kinski as Eve, falling for the temptation of the serpent, however, Avedon has captured that precise moment where it is clear that this Eve is not interested in what the serpent has to offer, nor she frightened by the power the serpent wields over her Avedon perhaps saw and captured what Nastassja Kinski was sub-consciously trying to achieve within her career and image – to do things on her own terms. Something that would still take a while come. (1008 words)

Bibliography

Barthes, R. (1988). Camera lucida. New York: The Noonday Press.

Bate, D. (2009). Photography: The Key Concepts. 2nd ed. London: Bloomsbury.

Berger, J. (2008). Ways of seeing. London: Penguin.

Crenzien, H. (2007). Rhicard Avedon. Humlebæk: Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.

Forbes, T. (2017). THE BRILLIANT PHOTOS OF RICHARD AVEDON. [online] YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNWe_vHAQ5s [Accessed 28 Oct. 2018].

Gefter, P. (2006). In Portraits by Others, a Look That Caught Avedon’s Eye. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/27/arts/design/27geft.html [Accessed 9 Nov. 2018].

Hopkinson, A. and Avedon, R. (2004). Obituary: Richard Avedon. [online] the Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/news/2004/oct/02/guardianobituaries.artsobituaries1 [Accessed 28 Oct. 2018].

Horyn, C. (2009). The Work of Fashion Photographer Richard Avedon. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/14/fashion/14AVEDON.html [Accessed 9 Nov. 2018].

Jeffrey, I. (2000). The Photography book. London: Phaidon.

Jeffrey, I. (2010). Photography. London: Thames and Hudson.

Jenkins, D. (2015). Nastassja Kinski interview: ‘I’ve had such low self-esteem’. [online] Telegraph.co.uk. Available at: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/11394696/Nastassja-Kinski-interview-Ive-had-such-low-self-esteem.html [Accessed 9 Nov. 2018].

Lawson, C. (1975). Richard Avedon—An Artist Despite His Success?. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/1975/09/07/archives/richard-avedon-an-artist-despite-his-success-richard-avedon-an.html [Accessed 28 Oct. 2018].

Mooallem, S. (2017). Avedon’s America. [online] Villagevoice.com. Available at: https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/08/08/avedons-america/ [Accessed 9 Nov. 2018].

Schwendener, M. (2011). ‘Richard Avedon: Photographer of Influence’ – Review. [online] Nytimes.com. Available at: https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/26/nyregion/richard-avedon-photographer-of-influence-review.html [Accessed 9 Nov. 2018].

Wells, L. (2015). Photography: A Critical Introduction. London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group.

Williams, V. (2004). Richard Avedon. [online] The Independent. Available at: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/richard-avedon-550783.html [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

YouTube. (2015). Polly Mellen talks about the original Kinski Avedon shoot. [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-koFesJp0Bw [Accessed 10 Nov. 2018].

Assignment 4 calls for us to write a 1000 word essay about any image, and I have given this a lot of thought to choose the right image. And I have chosen an image that has fascinated me since i was at school and was on display in an independent poster/art shop (not Athena) in what is now the Victoria Quarter in Leeds. I walked past there on my way home from high school from 1983 to 1989, the original image was taken in 1981 so I would estimate that my fascination started circa 1985 around when i started to take more interest in movies and photography

The image is Richard Avedon’s, Nastassja Kinski and the Serpent (1981)

When I first started with photography as a teenager I was fascinated with the portraits by Terry O’Niel, Richard Avedon, David Bailey & Annie Lieberwitz and I still have a soft spot for this style of images as basically I’ve not out grown a childhood dream to be David Bailey.

Why was a I drawn to this image as a teenager, when I am terrified of snakes (to this day this is the only image of a snake that doesn’t not physically give me goosebumps), is Nastassja Kinski I had seen Tess (Roman Polanski., 1979) and Paris, Texas (Wim Wenders, 1984) and I liked been unusual when asked who;’s your favour actress I would answer Nastassja Kinski usually to blank faces. I was always the quiet person at school not athletic nor actually academically brilliant but what i did have was good general knowledge and love of movies at that could be my ‘superpower” knowledge gave me strength.

This wanders away from the image and why I want to talk about it, the image is now dangerously close to 40 years old and I think it deserves a reviewing in 1. todays #metoo world, 2. with my 48 year old eyes not 15/16.

Initial Notes

• Background of the image appears that Kniski was involved in the planning of the shoot – not maipulated.
• Very different to American West that Avedon was also working on at the time, and so of harsher celeb portraits (windsors?)
• Shot for Vogue but not fashion? a portrait?
• Casting Kinski as Eve? she was sex symbol at the time infamous for nutity in films. Snake temptation
• Snake also shed their skin are seen in some cultures as renewal new life.
• Kinski Passive to the snake unmoved by it – ignoring it even.
• starting to get better roles – Tess – for her acting ability

Avedon

• Prolific career changed shape of fashion photography, photographic anyone who was anyone.

Kinski

• Daughter of famous actor who we know know was abusive
• Admits lack of esteem it earlier work
• perhaps exploited in roles due to age and background of abandoned father
• career never really blossomed as expected given talent

Parallels for today

• #metoo – passive to the snake resisting the advances of executives? Reasons career is 2nd division?

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/YkQsRVrWM6c” frameborder=”0″ allow=”autoplay; encrypted-media” allowfullscreen></iframe>

I stumbled up on the above Youtube video, i  it s ashort summarisation of Barthes Death of the Author, not wanting to go much further as it something i have ready covered it is nice summary that really helps to cement understanding of the concept in Barthes writimgh as they can be very heavy work rwading and interpreting.

References

YouTube. (2014). ‘The Death of the Author’ Simplified (Roland Barthes). [online] Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkQsRVrWM6c#action=share [Accessed 28 Oct. 2018].

This is Barthes last book and was written shortly after his mother’s death. The Book is about what makes a photograph memorable, but it also Barthes processing the grief for his mother through trying to understand which picture can truly represent her.

Barthes starts by discussing why photographic portraits never seem right to the subject. He sees this as being a result of the four different narratives that take place when someone takes a photograph of someone else:

• They are the person the subject thinks he is,
• the person the photographer thinks the subject is,
• the person the subject wants other people to think he is, and
• the person the photographer uses to make his art.

(Barthes, 1982, 13)

The combination of these four and the subject’s mismatched idea of how his own true character should be represented (as opposed to how others see him) leads to a disconnect that the subject (universally?) finds it difficult to bridge.

Barthes then moves onto what is the core the book what makes an image memorable. Barthes states what makes an appealing image, one we like, is based on the Studium – a combination of attractive composition and subject, alongside the meanings and history surrounding it that we take for granted. There are many images that have the Studium – we like them but they don’t stay in our memories afterwards. The hook for a future recall is the Punctum – that detail which separates the everyday image from the memorable one. He suggests that a Punctum is a personal reaction to an image; what makes a specific image resonate for one individual might have no meaning at all to another. The second may see something else as the Punctum, or indeed not register one at all. Not all images have a Punctum.

The book then goes on his search for a likeness of his mother that he recognises as showing who she really was, and how, eventually he finds it in an old photo of her as a five year old child. He defines the photo as displaying her true personality, rather than the stilted poses which most photo portraits are.

The book also goes into detail about why Barthes feels that a photo is a dead moment – gone forever – but always there as a record that is we know that the people in the image were gathered at that location on that day [in the past]. Although, this particular notion may not be a relivant these days with image manipulation technology we have at our fingertips.

Continuing, rather morbidly Barthes expresses that photos can represent Death – both those of the people in the photos, but also himself (and therefore us a reader). They are a doorway to the past, and at the same time, an indication of what will happen in the future, i.e. everybody dies. This is not something I really agree with or understand just because we freeze a moment it doesn’t really foretell death. Perhaps they was written as a way of processing grief it has coloured his thoughts?

Finally, he talks about the difference between Looking and Seeing, with the latter being unconcentrated and subliminal, whereas the former is active and meaningful a concept that John Berger covered in the Way of Seeing.

For me the essence I will take from this book is Studium and Puctum as these are elements that our photography must have in the correct portion and his opinions on why we don’t like our own photo’s finallt , help me understand why I don’t like images of myself – always thought it was because I thought I looked like my Grandma.

I choose to move on from the death aspect – it is not a concept that I can understand or envisage. Because for me a photograph represents life, my mum passed away 18 months ago and whilst she will never leave my memory and “photo on the mantlepiece” go along way to keep my memories fresh. It doesn’t remind me that she has gone nor did I think when too it she will die one day.