“As a Frenchman, I really like the ‘Englishness’ of the work of Tony Ray-Jones in general and this picture in particular. There’s a lot of his own personal style on show here; it’s almost like a caricature as there’s a sense of humour behind the stories he tells.
While he had a very light touch, he’s not trying to take the Mickey out of the characters. You almost think he’s in love with the people he sees but at the same time he’s showing the reality of every situation. In this photograph, you see what’s really happening behind the scenes at what, presumably, should have been a glamorous event.
I think Ray-Jones learned to become completely ‘invisible’; here he is, right in the centre of the ‘action’ but everyone’s ignoring him. That’s very hard to achieve in this kind of photo-documentary.
That alone made Ray-Jonesa fantastic photographer who changed a lot of minds about what photography could accomplish. On top of that, there’s the actual composition of the photograph.
There’s the guy on the right looking at the young lady’s bottom, for example; his gaze is pulling us towards the centre and then your eyes jump around the picture taking in all the other details such as the signs, the other onlookers and the old man in a suit drinking his tea. The balance is perfect.
Ray-Jones’ work is ideal for the second Guernsey Photography Festival, which explores the theme of ‘identity’. It’s interesting that the island has been influenced by both French and English culture and I want to open a debate locally about what makes the place tick while looking at how photographers have captured different identities.
There will be around 30 exhibitions plus talks, demonstrations and community activities throughout the month. We have, for example, a show by the African photographer Samuel Fosso who has been producing self-portraits for 25 years; we’re exhibiting him outdoors in a beautiful garden.
I moved here with my family three years ago and, as a photographer myself, was surprised to find that there were four very active photographic clubs on a small island of just 60,000 people.
People come here wanting to take their own photographs of such a beautiful place. The purpose of the festival, however, is to inspire people to look beyond the traditional landscape photography and to be a bit more curious; in the same way, perhaps, that Ray-Jones looked beyond the confines of commercial photography in the 1960s.
If you work on your skills and widen your vision, you can tell a variety of different stories.”
Jean-Christophe Godet is the director of the Guernsey Photography Festival which runs throughout June in venues across St Peter Port