Signs....

So... here are some signs from my first visit to photograph Wick harbour (27th March 2012). I'm guessing the signs won't change much between now and the next time that I go and take pictures so I won't be taking pictures of them again.

Picture#1

This photo (above) has the emblem and the contact telephone number for Wick Harbour. It's reminding people (tourists or otherwise) that the walkways in the harbour can be dangerous in poor weather. It's true: in high winds the sea can storm right over the harbour wall, which is almost impossible to imagine in good weather! Unfortunately, I don't really have any photos to show this as salt spray and camera lenses don't really get on too well with each other!

Picture#2

Here's another sign with the Wick Harbour emblem on, although no contact number this time. The purpose of this sign is not to warn people of the dangers associated with the harbour, but to boast that the harbour building is using renewable energy - thereby "proving" that the harbour is moving into the 21st century as it is clearly considering and acting on contemporary issues. One particularly interesting thing about the sign (shown clearly on this photo) is that the font choice for the Sponsors is far easier to read than the main body of text, suggesting that it is more important to see who sponsored the Photovoltaic Roof than it is to read what the roof actually does.

Picture#3

This picture is fairly self-explanatory. It shows the sign on the lifebelt equipment that is prominently placed on the harbour front. I particularly like the warning at the bottom: "do not interfere with this equipment - the life it saves could be yours!". It's clearly suitably foreboding, as no one has tampered with the lifebelt for as long as I've been in Wick, possibly also symptomatic of the fact that many people who live in coastal towns have a considerable respect for the sea, but then again I could just be psychoanalysing people too in-depth!

Picture#4

The sign on this photo is an advertisement for the Wick Heritage Museum (which takes as its main focus Wick's role in the herring industry). This photograph shows the sign on an old building, which is actually the old lifeboat station. I think the sign looks quite old, and I'm not sure whether that's because it is (!) or whether it is a conscious decision on the part of the Heritage Museum to make it look old, and therefore tie in with the harbour's history. The boat on the centre of the sign is called the Isabella Fortuna, and is dated 1890. Here is a bit more about it.

Picture#5

This is the final sign that I photographed. It is another advertisement, but quite different from Picture#4, in that it is full of coloured photographs. It is advertising marine tours that sail out of Wick (and Lybster) and what you can expect to see if you travel on one. This is a large board next to the marina and the orange boat seen behind the sign is similar to the one that is used for the tours. Obviously they only run in good weather!

Plan for Project.

The Brief

Wick harbour used to be a major herring port, but since the collapse of the herring industry after the Second World War, the harbour is a far less significant player in the industry and economics of the town. The aim of this project is to document the harbour as it is today, with the intention of illustrating what industry still exists, as well as the harbour’s part in the day to day activities of the town. Producing the project in early spring rather than summer will also give a clear idea of the harbour’s role outside of the tourist season.

The Methodological Considerations

As this project takes as its focal point the harbour, my aim is not to photograph people. Therefore, any identifying features of individuals accidentally captured on the pictures will be removed from the photograph. Care will also have to taken during photographing as the harbour is still the site of industrial activity and a lot of heavy machinery.

Equipment Needs

To conduct this project, I will need a digital camera (the one I will be using is a Fujifilm Finepix S1600) and a computer. The computer must have software able to pixellate any faces, as well as internet access for the creation of the blog.

Sample Considerations

The activity in the harbour will be photographed on at least two separate occasions, which should allow for comparisons to be made.

Ethical Issues To Be Considered

As this project is not about photographing people, and any identifying features will be removed from the photographs prior to them being put onto the blog, ethics should not pose any concerns.

Restraints and Issues Expected

Because this is an outdoor project, the weather will be a consideration, as my camera has a tendency to function poorly when it’s cold, and I avoid taking photos with it when it’s raining heavily. However, I don’t anticipate any other issues arising during the development of the project.

A comment on Validity and Reliability in Visual Methods

It is easy to put too much weight on research that is gathered quantitatively, especially as digital photography encourages people to take multiple pictures of one shot in order to produce at least one image that they are pleased with.

On the other hand, qualitative research is perhaps more useful to sociologists as it shows what might be considered a “truer” depiction of society. Validity and reliability are both concerned with discovering the truth, and understanding the place that accuracy occupies in the production and development of various Visual Methods.

Validity of an image focuses mostly on how the research was gathered, and whether it was appropriate for the subject matter. Validity should never be considered on its own, and images that are created must also be questioned with regard to their reliability before they are understood to be a true depiction. In what circumstances were they taken? Even a family photograph may give a false idea of the circumstances: did people smile simply because they were told to? Alternatively, an image of a child crying may evoke strong feelings in an adult looking at the picture, but without knowing the circumstances in which it was taken it is impossible to tell for what reason the child is crying.

The study of Validity and Reliability in Visual Methods may be concerned with offering a true depiction, but it remains important to study both of these in relation to the context in which the picture was created.

A comment on the Journalistic Image as Visual Sociology.

The world that is portrayed through the media is a very visual one, and photo journalism plays a key role its portrayal. The old adage ‘a picture is worth a thousand words’ is evident in the success that has been enjoyed by the Journalistic Image.

With this is mind, it is important to look at just how useful the journalistic image is in terms of understanding Visual Sociology.

Questions have been raised regarding “the public’s perception of the relationship between an ostensibly journalistic image and reality” (Wheeler 2002: 9), which disputes the claim that the camera never lies. It becomes apparent whilst studying the journalistic image that photographers have, for as long as cameras have been in existence, been using other technology to alter the reality that was the focus of the image. For example, “The Harvest of Death” (1863) American Civil War photograph by Timothy H. O’Sullivan was actually “a composite made from three photographs” (Wheeler 2002: 15).

When it is considered that the journalistic image is not always an accurate representation of the truth, it important then to question how representative it is of Visual Sociology. Although journalistic images are not necessarily historically accurate in how they depict people and events, they can still be seen as a key part of Visual Sociology because they are encoded by the photographer in such a way that certain societies share a collective consciousness that allows them to decode a particular meaning behind the photograph, and the image is created with that in mind.

Wheeler, T. (2002) Phototruth or Photofiction. Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.

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