Research: Categories and Humphrey Spender

This research point is to review the work of Humphrey Spender and write a short summary in our learning logs referencing the web site:

http://spender.boltonmuseums.org.uk/

However this link is no longer valid. I have therefore used the following site, published by Bolton Council, who now own the images, for references for the photographer and his work.

https://boltonworktown.co.uk/about/worktown-people/humphrey-spender-1910-2005

The above site is well organised and also gives a very good mini biography of Humphrey Spender. As this section in the OCA course relates to categories it is worth listing out the categories that Spender's work has been put into. These are:

Blackpool, Ceremonies, Graffiti, Industry, Leisure, Observers, politics, Pub, Religion, Shopping, Sport, Street, Work

The images taken mainly follow a strict documentary style and it is obvious why nearly 100 years later that these have a significant importance. Spender was very sympathetic to the Northerners of Bolton and believed at an early stage that photography would help bring more awareness of social injustice and in the imbalance of wealth.

Many of his images have fantastic spot lighting, probably natural ad give a very warm and sympathetic view to life at these times.

The categories intrigued me, especially Graffiti. After reviewing the images it is quite amazing to see how the art of Graffiti has changed. Here we have simple drawings made in white chalk drawn mainly on brick walls. They are largely inoffensive and humorous;  I wonder what Spender would have made of modern spray canned multi-coloured works of art that adorn our cities today?

I was disappointed in the "Street" category, it was just images of people in a street; I suspect I was expecting something more along the lines of modern street photography. However I found the observers section very interesting.....

The Observers - Humphrey Spender

Exercise: August Sander

In this exercise we are to review the document that describes the work of August Sander and to write a reflective commentary of 200 words.........

Augustus Sander (1876-1964) was a German Photographer known for his project “People of the 20^th Century. In this project Sander categorised people into groups based on their trades or social standing.

Most of the work was photographed before the Second World War in the early part of the 20^th Century but Sander continued to work on this project until his death in 1964. During the war this “unherioic” work was despised by the Nazi Party, this led to a blanket ban on such work and the destruction of 1,000 or so negatives. This loss was though nothing compared to the loss of Erich, his son, who died in 1943 after 10 years in prison as an anti-Nazi protester.

Sander influenced an entirely new generation of documentary practitioners. In particular Diane Arbus who I have always admired. Perhaps the last group on Sander’s list, ironically called the “Last People”, would have influenced Arbus in her work photographing the circus freaks, giants, dwarfs and of course trans-genders. The following examples are synonymous with Arbus’ work.

Augustus Sander

Augustus Sander

The “Last People” interests me the most too. Whilst the other categories are self-explanatory the “Last People” I believe was originally intended to be of old people, but then extended to a group of people that had no category – they too were the 'last' to be categorised. So last in years and 'last' as a defacto definition.

It was a fitting tribute that Erich would be recognised in this group too.
https://www.nationalgalleries.org/art-and-artists/114431/death-mask-erich-sander-1944

Exercise: People Surveys - Daniel Meadows

In this exercise we are to Listen to Daniel Meadows talking about his work at  http://vimeo.com/28349336# and then to read Guy Lane's essay ‘The Photographer as Recorder’

In past modules of the OCA course I have covered Daniel Meadows at some length and have most likely listened to this video recording before. Sadly it is no longer available at Vimeo. In previous modules I was also very interested in Meadows story telling videos, constructed of still images that moved using panning techniques in video editing software. Many of these videos were about his work on Green Street and the Photobus Tour. I even made contact with Daniel Meadows via email and he encouraged me to make my own story telling video for the course, which I did.

Lane's essay was interesting and took me on a slant that was unexpected. Rather than concentrate on the work of Meadows he looked at how Meadows presented his work, canvased for funds and the image he wanted to give about his photographic project. This interpretation I found a little presumptuous and some of the conclusions far reaching.

For a student in his early twenties I never drew these conclusions from my observations. Lane's vision was that of someone who wanted to present himself as a photojournalist recording facts with images of a society and a time, namely the working class of Northern England. I understand and agree with this principal. Lane extracts words from the leaflet Meadows published to indicate his intentions  of this but I wonder if these words were soley fir this purpose of raising funds? In the early 1970's this would have been an appropriate thing to do. Likewise the comments on the accompanying photograph of Meadows and the bus was quite business like, in full portraiture and formal and "an appropriate practioner". Whilst this may have been the intention I know that Meadows is extremely tall and the full portrait with a narrow tall bus just works well in a proportion showing off a similar build of photographer and bus.On first seeing this image some while ago I though he was mimicking a bus conductor. Interestingly enough on Meadows website specific to the Photobus he has a much more casual image taken from the same period, likewise in the book published in 2011, "The Bus" he has again a much more casual image in the first few pages of the illustration. This leads me to believe that it was not intentional for commerce but part of the creation of art in photography.

The Bus - Daniel Meadows 1973 -2001

Exercise: Information and expression

This is a two part exercise. First to read John Marz's essay on Sebastiao Salgado and secondly to research into the work of Salgado and give evidence of this in our learning log.

Salgado was a highly intelligent person, gaining a Phd in economics that would have given him a handsome salary. Instead of this path he chose the world of photojournalism, to his love of photography and its use to document the poor and unfortunate of the world. Coming from Brazil, a poor country in itself would have given  Salgado  a compassionate understanding of what it is like to be in such a position. As Marz points out his photography is "pictured through Latin American eyes".

Salgado's first published work was the "Other Americans" in 1985.  This work demonstrates well the interest in Latin American, its title reaching out that there is more to the America's than just the USA, a direct play on Robert Franks work no doubt. The images are well staged and capture an atmosphere of neglect, perseverance and struggle. All taken in black and white they are crisp and well defined. The do not demonstrate war or violence just poverty but in a kind and sympathetic way reporting back to a wider community of the everyday struggle of the Latin Americans.

A great source of the images can be found at http://monovisions.com/sebastiao-salgado-other-americas/. I found the image of half naked children playing with bones for toys quite disturbing, whereas the following image could be taken for a modern "photo-bomb" and I wonder if it was staged this way or not. The contrasts between the sad and happy faces cause tension in the image and I cannot fathom it out; perhaps this is the intention.

The Other Americans - Sebastiao Salgado 

Marz calls out individual images and questions why they are all so dour. The girl though in this image gives a light heartened smile to liven things up.

Salgado's other publication of note was "Terra" in which he documented the native's of Brazil and Ecuador in their struggle to gain land that was taken by historical colonisation. This would be similar to that of the native North Americans.

Salgado is also renowned  for the work in worn torn cities and spaces of violence and destruction. There is a very good article that I have read from the guardian on this with the title "Viewer or Voyeur" ref: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2010/mar/08/world-press-photo-sean-ohagan

This is an interested piece that discusses Salgado's world of photography and whether we look at the gore of such images with disdain or with a lust for more?

The following statement from Salgado sums this up very nicely.

In the course of my various reportages, I had witnessed so many tragedies that I believed I was now accustomed, but I hadn’t expected to encounter such violence, hatred, and brutality.” – Sebastião Salgado 

Exercise: Symbols

This exercise is in two parts. Firstly using our own research we are to find 5 images from Robert Frank's Americans and show where symbols are used and how they function.

The second part is to read the introduction written by Jack Kerouac to the Americas highlighting symbolic references.

I have always admred this work since I first discovered it on the OCA courses and have made several blog entries already. This exercise will hopefully help me to understand why I admire it so much.

1.  In this image the symbols are the American flags and hidden faces. This symbolising American people may not want to reveal their identity and remain anonymous. Is this an America they can associate with?

Robert Frank - The Americans

2. The Contrast of skin colour, symbolising class divides with a black nanny caring for a white child. Frank's was always looking for images that illustrated he social divide of post war America. This symbolises a new generation in which perhaps little will change.

Robert Frank - The Americans

3. Another Symbol of social divide here is the champagne and associated wealth

Robert Frank - The Americans

4. Taken at a Hollywood premier. Symbolic that the actress is the largest part of the image but not the focus. In focus are the women admirers and followers, the normal Americans that are perhaps kept in the shadows of America.

Robert Frank - The Americans

5. I really like this image. For me the symbols are the mundane look of the elevator girl. Stuck in this job with no movement, whilst people around move about. The use of both blurred moved and a sharper static people emphasises this.

Robert Frank - The Americans

Kerouac's introduction into this book really does wet the appetite and goes a long way to planting the seeds of symbols. He makes a clear association of his past with the image taken in a Backyard in Venice California. This image has symbols or defiance, being sheltered by America yet in a run down old yard where the old car is left to rot (another symbol).

I believe there is a hidden symbol in the quotation from Shakespeare, here referencing Frank's work to true art. Other symbols called out are the rattlesnake and the gopher, meant for evil and perhaps the general population in a level and low world, symbolising low morals with no change.

A photograph of kids staying in the car could be a symbol of conformance, of danger is the taking of the image a form of defiance?

Throughout the passage Kerouac also uses a play on words, for example "pitchers" which may mean pictures or the way in which the pictures are presented (pitched). His language also has echos of the slang that many black or underprivileged Americans would have used at this time symbolising their differences.

Exercise: Comparing Shields' image to the actual article

This is a very interesting exercise in that we are to read the newspaper article from which Shields' image of the previous exercise was taken. This article gives us the full context of the image and we are to compare our initial deconstruction of the image and how it changes our perception.

The article is quite boring and relates to a housing association taken over the housing estate in the image. The image shot in Glasgow could be anywhere but I did pick up on the only relevant denotation of the site being a housing site.

The article spoke of much discussion and now an agreement has been made to move forward. This could be taken by the two boys embracing each other as an agreement. This is further endorsed by the shirt teams being Rangers and Celtic, opposites at loggerheads [ I missed this but given the location of Glasgow it is now obvious ].

So yes the text does change my perception of the image. What is shown with the text shows agreement, a way forward over the progression of the housing estate in the background. Without the text though I would find it hard to believe that anyone would have read this.

Exercise: Connotations & Denotations

Analysing Martin Shields' photograph of two young footballers we are to write a descriptive pose of the connotations that the image infers to us and the denotations or what the image shows us.

This is a simple image that is full of context. We see two boys dressed in football clothing walking arm in arm on a housing estate. The image infers that the boys are friends as they have their arms around each other, or this could be a mutual appreciation for the football they have just played. As the boys are walking away from the camera in also infers that this is the end of the game, but perhaps not.

They are dressed in different kit which implies that they either support different teams or have been playing for different teams. They also each carry a football perhaps suggesting equality. These are all inferences or connotations.

In terms of denotations we can see the background of a housing estate with a large amount of grass, perhaps this is their playground or football pitch. The boys seem happy or contented, not rivals but friends.

(c) Martin Shields

Exercise: Marcus Bleasdale

The exercise is to read an article published in Eight Magazine on the photojournalist Marcus Bleasdale [b. 1968]. Although not strictly instructed to do so I have made short notes on his views below.

Marcus Bleasdale

Originally a banker with a keen hobby of photography. Resigned from his post at being disillusioned on how banks ignored the human aspect of war over currency fluctuations. Two days later he was in Kosovo.

Finance was an initial problem. Views that conflict and photojournalism do not go hand in hand quoting the work of Eugene Smith.

References Joseph Conrad's book Heart of Darkness as inspiration in words of what the mind describes. Bleasdale's book One Hundred Years of Darkness follows in these footsteps through the Belgian Congo with each image taken referencing a part of the original novel.

Strong views on areas that the media ignores where genocide may have taken place, almost certainly over the mineral wealth of the country. Cites Dafur where Bleasdale visited off his own back, not able to get any commission. From this he created the work "Human Rights Watch" that earned him Best Photography Book in 2010 by POYi (pictures of the year international)

Took the work HRW and forced this onto audiences that were directly responsible for the conflict mining in the Congo, namely a Swiss Bank. Blames many organisations including the UN for failing the people of the Congo.

This has lead to success in organisations no longer trading gold with Uganda as it was also coming from the Congo. This leads to less money being available to finance war in the Congo.

Feels a strong responsibility to report the helplessness of Africa over war, famine, and disease.

Has published just three books but a raft of awards from 2004 to 2015 for his work.

Marcus Bleasdale - Human Rights Watch

Research Point: Socially Committed B&W Photographers

This the first research point is to look deeper into the following photographers making notes on whether social documentary was their prime focus.

• Chris Killip
• Nick Danziger
• Bill Brandt
• Jacob Riis
• Lewis Hine

Chris Killip

Chris Killip is from what I has exclusively published work on social documentary in B&W. There have been areas that whilst document the social times or the day, these are not necessarily for social reform. Most of the images are around the working class of England but he has also been commissioned for book covers and to photograph the Pirelli UKfactory in Burton in 1988. Here though the main subject is not tyres but the workers and families of the factory detailing their lifes.

Killip spent much of his career as a Director and Curator for the Side Gallery, Newcastle-upon-Tyne where he spent much of his life. He moved to USA becoming a visiting lecturer and professor at Harvard University 1994-98. Killip is now retired but continues to live in the USA, he is still publishing work of images taken many years ago with a book due for publication in 2018 containing his images of the Punk scene in Newcastle during the late 1970's.

Nick Danziger

Nick Danzziger on the other hand is more varied in his work. He still covers a large element of social reform but also has widened his photo journalism net to include an award winning series on Tony Blair during the Iraq war. As for B&W this is not exclusive has many of his images online are also in colour.

His roots though do seem to be in social reform and recently has worked on the effects on women in war torn areas of the world where poverty excels. His book "The British
" [ 2001 ] is B&W was award the "Best monochrome illustrated book"  by the British Book Design & Production awards in 2002. The images here cover a contrast of the poorer and the richest in our society, almost certainly calling out the social divide. Interestingly though the first image off his website for this work is a black barrister clothed in traditional robes leaving a taxi. Is this a play on the fact that social reform is not just about ethnic background?

Nick Danziger - The British 2001

Bill Brandt

Brandt [1904-1983] was one of the most celebrated British photojournalists of the 20th century. His online archive contains three sections:

• Documentary
• Nudes
• Landscapes

His images are of exceptional quality and a only taken in B&W. Like Danziger the play on contrasting backgrounds is used to highlight social divide.

I found his work interesting on the nudes where nudes and landscapes are sometimes combined. These are not images supporting social reform but more so images of fine art.

Jacob Riis

Riis [1849 - 1914] was a Danish-American photographer documenting social reform, especially that of New York City. Many of the areas he wished to photograph were dark conditions and Riis soon became on of the early adopters of flash photography. For this and equipment available I am quite stunned by the images taken. The concept of bringing light to the darkness of a depraved NYC must have been awe inspiring, here an image taken in 1888 of the most crime ridden areas of New York. I will look more into his work.

Bandit Roost - Jacob Riis 1888

Lewis Hine

Lewis Hine [1874 - 1940] is described as an American sociologist and photographer, with his work on social reform being instrumental on changing child labour laws in the USA.

His photographic life started in 1907 taking images of the steel-making industry. In 1908 he became the photographer for the National Child Labor Committee, leaving his job as a teacher at the Ethical Culture School NY. He continues taking images for 10 years. This was a dangerous time as it was illegal to take such images as they were thought to threaten industry, figures for child mortality were not published, and often the violence would be dispensed by the police.

During the war Hine followed the American Red Cross in Europe, and also was commissioned to take images of the construction of the Empire State building. Here he did though make a social statement in his work detailing the precarious positions workers found themselves in.

Children in Mills - Lewis Hine

Exercise: Discussing Documentary

This exercise is to read the article ‘Discussing Documentary’ by Maartje van den Heuvel 2005 and write a short summary.

I found this an interesting and easy to read document that gave many examples of where documentary has been used and assigned to past and more recent photographers. The document also talks at length about documentary being used as an awareness mechanism for social reform. I have to question a lot of this as "social reform" seems to be a very common theme amongst many of the documents presented so far in this course. Yes it is an important fact but I am not convinced of the real intent. All artists want their work to be recognised and understood, the concept in Heuvel's document of "visual literacy" clearly enforces this. Do photographers therefore concentrate around subjects and visualisations in areas that will question the viewers morals and self-views to gain popularity? I for one admire such documentary as it humbles me and makes me feel lucky to be where I am. Although I would not categorise this as sensationalising I have to wonder why so much of the notorious documentary is associated with social reform.

Heuvel does though include other genres of documentary and addresses a very important change in how media is used and influences our lives connected using the Internet. I was interested in how the face of documentary has changed in various countries at various times to suit political gains and the development of social reform. e.g. Russia pre-Soviet Union, occupied Netherlands during WWII following Hilter's banishment of Vereinigung der Arbeiter-Fotographen etc. I also found that the references of reenactment of critical events in time were very interesting, examples such as the hijacking and murder of Israeli athletes in 1972 by Christopher Draeger. Is this really something new or is this always been a trend of documentary throughout time, even before the first photograph was ever taken, e.g. The Last Supper - Da Vinci 1495-1498.

Christopher Draeger - Black September

Exercise: Bill Brandt’s Art of the Document’ by David Campany

This exercise is to read David Campany's article on Bill Brandt to leave comments and also comment on why Black & White has become so respected in documentary.

I was not aware of Bill Brandt before reading this article, I was though reassured that he was a distinguished photographer of documentary in his earlier life. Being German and coming to England would have amused him to see our strange social culture and how we stand within it. Being from a wealthy background gave him the opportunity to exploit this - Campany cites that many of the images would have had great forethought and staging.

Nonetheless Brandt's book "The English at Home" has some brilliant contrasting images that certainly do call out the social divide and the oddities of such a social system. A divide that Campany calls out "is not ready to be received". The book at the time of publishing was not a success, but like so many works ahead of its age it gets recognised in the future.

It is right that this work is finally attributed with the word Art and is recognised  as a piece of documentary calling out the social divide of the time. I sometimes wonder if this enigma ever leaves us. Are we not now still searching for information on those at the top of the social scale, the rich, the famous, the royals, the celebrities.... this divide never leaves us it just morphs from one for to another.

In his later life Brandt turned to more "artistic" images of the body and landscapes and carried on with B&W photography. Here he captures the body of the landscape alongside the landscape of the body; the two mixing well. Strong tones and contrast are used here to great effect to draw clearer lines of distinction which would not have worked in any other way. B&W is an intrinsic part of this art form.

It is no winder that many documentary photographers prefer B&W. Although less information is presented it also draws the viewer deeper into the image, examining in detail the artefacts that are sometimes overlooked.

Exercise: Survival Programmes

Reading the article "Survival Programmes" showed some marvellous photography by the three collaborators Nicholas Battye,Chris Steele-Perkins and Paul Trevor. The images were taken in the early 1970's and republished twenty fives years later, still looking very fresh yet with some nostalgia and a marker that times have indeed improved.

The work captured poverty and social injustice in the inner cities of the UK&I. It also combined a literal narrative of comments, thoughts and views of those living in the photographs which I found intriguing. The concept on breaking free was one of those thoughts, so not so much a form of "survival" but of one escape as well perhaps.

The images are all shot in black and white, this gives the timeless age of documentary and keeps them both in the past but also in a time that could be anytime.

Being put together by a magazine I have to wonder if the editor has manipulated the message of the images. Many of them are about oppression not from each other through gangs but oppression by the state. Does this distort the real message or poverty and social injustice and use it as a political message that may have a wider audience and cause more awareness? Why did the state have to intervene? This has not been answered in the short number of images available but does demonstrate how documentary can easily be manipulated.

Survival Programmes

With that said though the images do also show survival of a more personal nature and I really, really liked the following image. It has so much going on in it, you would think that it was staged. A truly wonderful image showing a time of relief perhaps through the hardships of life.

  

Gordon Parks

Reading through some of the material in the course has led me to look closer at the American Farmers Association, a group of photographers capturing images of social injustice from 1942-1944. I chose to look closer at Gordon Parks as his work tended to also group racial injustice alongside poverty and social justice. It would have been a time in America only 70 years ago that questions the segregation by race and restricted privileges.

Parks [b. 1912 Kansas] was himself born into poverty, this would have surely driven him to search for a better way, and what better than to translate his emotions and political views into documentary. His images are largely of African Americans, many show oppression and sadness but in contrast many show life in the face of adversity and the challenges of living in an America as a black person.

The following image was taken from an archive known as Fort Scott 1950. The use of light is fantastic, and the way in which the two people seem disconnected gives a slight juxtaposition, perhaps with the woman wanting something better with her life.

Gordon Parks - Tenement Dwellers, Chicago 1950

The second image taken from the FSA series just warms me. This is one of Park's more famous images for obvious reasons, one of the lighter ones.

Gordon Parks - Woman & Dog in Window, Harlem New York 1943

I found Park's best work though was Segregation Story 1956. A brilliant collection recording in true documentary fashion what it must have been like for Black Americans during this awful time of being classified as a different human being. It is truly work like this that opens doors and opens minds increasing awareness of social injustice to a level that forces change for the good of mankind. Documentary has a lot to live up to and a tremendous role to play in our society as we strive to improve living standards and share more of what we have.

Gordon Parks - Department Store Alabama 1956 

Gordon Parks -  Segregated Drinking Fountain, Alabama 1956

Exercise: PhotoNotes

This exercise involves reading an online article written by Elizabeth McCausland, published in January 1939. We are then to write short notes and a single paragraph on why this is important to this course.

1. Written in 1939 this is a very fresh approach to Documentary.
2. Documentary has a documented history of development and rapid growth with strong impulses producing intense work.
3. Documentary is described as a "New Function" of the direct and realistic for the "profound and sober".
4. References are made 35 years prior to the article of practitioners such as Lewis Hine's child labour images, giving evidence that documentary is nothing new.
5. Two types (new and old) of practitioners that are "continents "apart"
6. The article challenges the concept of the "honesty" of photography quite rightly. 
7. McCausland repeatedly references The Farm Security Administration and capturing social injustice. This would have been very prevalent at the time of writing and I wonder if this has led to many photographers at the time shaping the modern face of documentary, giving an element of truth and form.

This article separates documentary from other genres of photography as well as establishing documentary as an art form. The concept of interpreting the unseen in an image is discussed at length; for example the social divide messages and how the photographer uses the physical to describe social injustice. It is these two points that help to progress the art of documentary and for practitioners to develop skills and recognise not only their immediate surroundings but how the image will be interpreted.   

Assignment 1: Local Communities

I intend to present all Assignments for assessment as a short printed document with each image on a separate A4 page, printed on high quality pearl paper. This will include any specific preparation, experiences, reference work and conclusions for the project.

For the learning log I have uploaded a PDF version of this document including high resolution screen size images, also included them in this article are the images a lower screen resolution for completeness. I have yet to decide on the final medium for assessment but will work this through as I progress through the course.

The images I took are of a local Junior American Football team, the final chosen 10 are shown below. Click on any for a full size screen show or select the PDF to see the full submission.

Assignment 1

The Walk Home

Walking home late at night I was made very conscious of street lighting hidden behind trees, causing a great diffusion of light. Using my smartphone I decided to take images as if the street lighting was a bright heavenly body, shining in the still of the night. I continued with taking images until I got to the road I live in.

I tried to obfuscate any street lighting poles or direct nearby lights to give the impression of a night sun as much as possible and left all of the images completely untouched in term of processing.

I was quite pleased when I looked at these the following day and thought they could be used here on this learning log as a document of my night journey home...here are the four best.

Assignment 1: Preparation & Selection

Assignment number 1 from this course is to to produce a small photo essay of 10 images demonstrating the experiences, lives and history of a local community. I have chosen  a local American Football team, the Kent Exiles, who I followed on the road to becoming the UK Junior Champions.

I have taken many images on various days, many of them action shots but many also about the people around the team and off the pitch. Choosing 10 will be a difficult task from the following contact sheets. My aim is choose a variety of images to hopefully complement each other. 

I was bitterly disappointed to miss out on some wonderful shots at the point of victory due to the camera having the incorrect settings, basically not enough light leading to low shutter speeds. These are also included on the penultimate contact sheet.

Clicking on any image will open a full size slideshow of the contacts.

Shawn Hubbard: Making the Cut

Shawn Hubbard is an American photographer than concentrates on capturing raw emotions and memorable moments associated with sports. I was given his name by my tutor in regard to the upcoming assignment to evaluate his work.

His style is becoming more and more fashionable in sports photography. Previously the job of a sports photographer was to capture the magic moment of the goal, touch-down, tackle contentious moments such as fouls. Capturing the action was the primary focus using fast large lenses mounted on mono-pods from single positions, and this would be the only images captured....

Now though we seek more and the role of the modern sports photographer becomes more of story teller, capturing moments on and off the pitch in less technicality and more emotional imagery.

Shaun Hubbard's images capture the essence of a sporting day. He has captured some bright and powerful images of NFL American Football, mixing in some traditional images with those off pitch displaying the emotions of players, managers and supporters and behind the scenes shots in locker rooms.

The work of Hubbard I found most interesting though was "Making the Cut", a series of images telling the story of the cheerleaders. Starting at what looks like covering specialist training, coaching, auditions and finally graduating to a match. Not knowing their culture we may be excused for thinking that this is a 'chick' pastime but it is not. The images show the hard work, determination and more importantly the team spirit and drive to be the best. The images also portray a group of individuals that are supportive of each other in their quest to be chosen. This is the attribute of North Americans that I admire the most; their genuine praise and happiness for those that succeed around them even when they themselves may fail.

There are too many images from this collection to show, but hear a few that I really enjoyed.

Images Shaun Hubbard https://www.shawnhubbardphoto.com/Stories/Making-The-Cut