Dexter McLean

In 1950 Steve McCurry was born in America. When he was just 18 years old he travelled to Afghanistan and India to photograph different people. What I really love about his book ‘The Iconic Photographs’, is that the shots are so simple yet powerful. I don’t see Steve McCurry as a photographer I see him as an artist. He uses a technique that I haven’t seen any photographer use before, he uses positive film, which make the photographs colour very vibrant. This is very difficult technique to use; a light metre is often required to make sure that when taking the photos, the quality of the images are good. One of his most famous images is of a young Afghan girl. 20 years after taking this photo he returned to Afghanistan and found the same girl to take another photograph with the same pose. The photo is so simple but evokes so many feelings. It’s like there is a whole story behind her eyes. In the second photo you can look in her eyes and see it is the same person, however her eyes tell the story of a hard life, one that shows she is trying to persevere.

I chose this image because it is one of my favourite images in the book, it is very simple and I like the way he is leaning. His left shoulder is very out of focus, which means McCurry is using a very wide aperture. I like the black background because it brings a lot of attention to the strong colours in the scarf.

This girl seems very nervous, I don’t think she is very comfortable, but I like it because it looks as though she isn’t giving full attention to the camera, her eyes are slightly at an angle to the shot.

If I was given the opportunity through my fundraising attempts, I know I can create something like this but with disabled people in Jamaica.

In this post I will be talking about 2 of my favourite photography books on disability and I also want to talk about my own photography project, where I am trying to raise some funds.

In this photograph (on left) displays the work of Bryan Adams. In my opinion, this photo is too formal. The subjects posture is very stiff, the clothes he is wearing are very formal and in the book, all the images are taken on a white background. I would have liked it if Adams experimented more with different backgrounds and taken some shots outside.

In Michael Stokes book ‘Always Loyal’ (photo top right), his photography is always seeking perfection, i.e. his subjects are always completely hairless. I feel that too much post editing has been done in the photos, causing the images to look too commercial and unrealistic; almost resembling a painting instead of a photograph. Another example of the over photo-shopped works by Stokes is in one of his shots, where a bullet is displayed and is as big as a person.

In this book, Stokes photography suggests to me that his target audience would be mostly for heterosexual woman, however there are many images in the book that would also suggest that his works are also for homosexual men.

In my image (bottom right), I am trying to do something different. I am trying to photograph people who are born with a disability, as I don’t think they are represented in the media. My target audience with this photography is those people who were born disabled, if they start to see people like them being represented in the media, it has the power to give them hope of a bright future, even with their disability. It is because of this why raising funds for my project in Jamaica is so important to me.

This short documentary was made by a BBC reporter with Cerebral Palsy, with the aim of highlighting the difficulties and progress made regarding disabled access in the party scene in Ibiza. I agree and can relate with a lot of the things that Alex said in this video. I went to Portugal with my university and experienced the party scene and experienced the same issues with access. The main difference between Alex and myself was that I can walk, so accessing some areas was more possible for me, even though I have the same disability.

Alex shows that disabled people like everyone else, want to let off stream and partying should be accessible for those who do want to let off steam in that way. People make the assumption that the disabled community wouldn’t want to merge with the rest of the community. In Jamaica, partying was one of the ways I let off steam. It’s difficult to party as much as I’d like to as I couldn’t go by myself, I feel like I would need a carer with me and this isn’t always possible.

I came across this video by James Sullivan documenting a small part of disabled community in Jamaica. James talks about the difficulties of being in a wheelchair, especially a push wheelchair and demonstrated the need to have to travel on the roadside, because of the state of the pavements.

James gets taken around by Patrick who is a wheelchair user in Jamaica. Patrick was shot in the past, which was the cause of his disability. Patrick managed to obtain a grant to learn how to be a wheelchair mechanic; he then used these skills to give back to the disabled community. Patrick’s desires and cause is similar to my own. I hope to help the community back in Jamaica by raising the level of media attention given to the disabled community, especially in Jamaica where the community is in need.

Less than 1% of disabled people in Jamaica are employed and Jamaica 15% of people in Jamaica are registered as being disabled. I believe that these statistics don’t show the whole picture. In some cases disabled people don’t even have a wheelchair to move around, and some disabled people wouldn’t even leave their homes as they’re kept inside to stop the public talking about them.

This is why I will keep promoting my project, because I feel the impact of it will be very good for the disabled society in Jamaica.

Statics found at: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2016/04/18/acting-on-disability-discrimination-jamaica

Black is the New Black Exhibition by Simon Frederick @ National Portrait Gallery – 27th October ‘18

I went to see the ‘Black is the New Black Exhibition’, an exhibition by Simon Frederick. He photographed the most famous black people in the UK, who are working in different fields, like Naomi Campbell who is a model and Chuka Umunna who is a politician for The Labour Party. I was really looking forward to this exhibition, because I watched a documentary about it. When I saw the documentary, it gave me an idea that maybe in the future I can do something like this on disabled people, because I don’t feel they are represented. At the exhibition, I was a little bit disappointed with the way the photos were presented and the room it was put in.

For an exhibition that was publicised as being the 'largest group of portraits of Afro-Caribbean sitters into the National Portrait Gallery’s Collection', the room was very small leaving not much space to view each photo, as a result, some photos were very high up, meaning you couldn’t get the real impact of the quality of the photography. The location of the exhibition seemed to be out of the spotlight, only visible on the way to other exhibitions, especially for an exhibition of its level of significance. There was also no information on the walls about the exhibition or the people in the photographs, there were only handheld boards, which were shared amongst the viewers, taking away from the flow of the viewing experience.

This display reminded me of the response to a research paper, ‘The Arts Britain’s Ignore 1976’ that I came across when writing my BA dissertation. The response to that paper from arts organisations, was to give only 4% of their budgets to minority ethnics, and this exhibition reminded me of that.

Although we’ve come a long way when it comes to the representation of black people, this exhibition showed that we still have a long way to go, which is a shame.

I am a big fan of the Taylor Wessing Exhibition, I try to go to see it every year when I can. The exhibition is the product of a competition for portrait photographers from all over the world. They choose the best images and display them in the National Portrait Gallery. This year, they awarded first prize to a South African born, Photography graduate, who moved to London after her degree. Alice Mann, went back to Cape Town, South Africa and spent 3 months photographing different teams from the Drum Majorette Competition.

This picture in particular is my favourite from the exhibition. The way the Drummie engages the camera is very simple. The shot reminds me of what I love about photography, simple yet striking, brining chills to the spine. I feel the reason why the image works so well is because the colours of the Drummie’s outfit is so bright, which makes her face stand out. The first thing that captured my attention in the photo is the girls face and the contrast of it to the uniform. I believe Mann chose to shoot the Drummie on a plain background, because she didn’t want to take any attention away from the girl. The only thing I would change about this image is the field of view, to make the background more out of focus to isolate the subject more.

It’s photography like this that makes me eager to get back to my photography when I return to education in February next year.

My next favourite image from the Taylor Wessing show, is by Juan Trujillo Andrades, the shot is called ‘Saif’. This image depicts a young boxer. The reason why I chose this image is because this young boy was a victim of the Grenfell Tower catastrophe. I feel that the image captures the trauma and depression that the boy is experiencing; the boy’s eyes look as if they are popping out. Saif, the name of the young boy, looks as if he has suffered a personal loss, maybe that of friends and family. Although Saif looks as if part of his has given up, there is a sense that he’s still fighting back.

Hello, my name is Dexter McLean I went to Middlesex University to do my BA in Photography and achieved a 1st class degree. The reason why I started this page is because I want to discuss people who are disabled and the fact that they're underrepresented in the media.

I was doing my masters and then I took a gap year for one year to focus on my GoFundMe project, which is about going to Jamaica to take pictures of disabled people. I don’t feel Jamaica have the opportunity and the finance to look after their disabled community.

It has been really hard to promote this project but I feel there is a big need for it, I am going to talk about different issues that I feel I need to talk about. I want to use this platform to discuss different exhibitions, movies and I really want to get different opinions. I also really want to get disabled people to talk about the issues they experience as disabled people.

I feel the media can do so much more for people. Bryan Adams (Wounded - The Legacy of the War) and Michael Stokes (Always Loyal) are my favourite books. My main question and concern is, when is the media going to give people who were born with a disability more opportunity to work in the media. I don’t feel disabled people are seen in a sexual way in the media. When are we going to wake up and speak about these issues.

Please send this page to everyone, the more people that see it, the better.