Tony Ray-Jones aim was to try and photograph British life before it became to 'Americanised', in the early 60's America and its influence had yet to fully take hold in this country and after studying in America at Yale and then returning to his home shore's Ray-Jones began to look for a subject for his work and eventually set on the idea of the English at Leisure as the starting point. You can find alot of surreal humour in his work but for me it's some of the contrast within society that he's captured that stand out, for example take the second photo here below a well dress couple having a picnic surrounded by cows and sheep. With my modern perspective this looks incredibly strange but its quiet a strong photo. I also really like the Eton school children in the final image seemingly avoiding there parents on a parent teacher day.
Images taken from Science and Society Picture Library.
Ray-Jones once said "Photography can be a mirror and reflect life as it is, but I also think that perhaps it is possible to walk like Alice, through a looking-glass, and find another kind of world with the camera". I like this idea and I think you can kind of see this in the photos above because they do feel a little like this. I really like his surreal approach to British life but I'm not quiet sure that's the kind of feel or approach I'm looking for with my Major Project, I'm beginning to wonder whether in my case a more serious documentary approach might be better to capture a village during changing and challenging economic times?
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