Brief

Part 2

• Choose a suitable image for each of the 4 genres. 

• From your reading of the Bate Photography Theory chapter, make your own analysis of your chosen images including both the denotation and connotations of your selected images.

Juan, Count of Montizón, Obaysch, London Zoo’s first hippopotamus (1852) Image via Wikipedia (public domain image).

• Add the 4 images and your written analysis of each image to your preferred online work space (your learning log or padlet).

• Reflect on this process.

 

 

It was clear that my own knowledge (either real and true or otherwise) allowed me to make much of my analysis of the images I had selected and I was surprised at how much I obviously take for granted to help me understand the world around me on a daily basis; Where I live, my age, where I was brought up and my education were all utilised in some shape or form to come up the the conclusions. For example Fig. 1, In my culture roses signify love. Fig. 2, a red carpet signifies importance and Fig. 3, mist can signify the mysterious or sinister. This is not true for many other cultures.

Still Life

Joseph Sudek was a Czech photographer born in 1896

“Around 1940 Josef Sudek began to photograph the world through his studio window, often incorporating the windowsill as a kind of stage. Ordinary objects, as depicted here, ceased to be merely representations and became powerful metaphors for emotional states” (Getty)

Denotation
Three roses in a glass sitting in a windows on a rustic looking window sill. They are in full bloom and in what looks like a drinking glass rather than a vase. There is a shell to the left of the roses and a lid with drops of water to the right. There are also what looks like tacks lying on the window sill. There looks to be water both on the inside and outside of the window. Perhaps rain on the outside and condensation on the inside. There are rivulets of  water running down the window. The outside is blurred by the water on the windows but there is a hint of woodland and countryside. The dark frame around the window has been included in the photograph.

Connotation
The image as a whole has a sense of sadness and quiet about it. The roses which often are a sign of love may indicate a lost love in this sad scenario. The rivulets of rain, suggestive of tears could also indicate this. The drops of rain on the lid also suggesting tear drops. The seashell is perhaps a keepsake of brighter and happier times that are now gone. The image is also giving a sense of a hard life. Its a small window with rough wooden frame and window sill. The person doesn’t have a vase so has used a drinking glass. All the items have spaces between them giving the image a feeling of loneliness.

 

Portraiture 

Annie Leibovitz is an American photographer born in 1949

Denotation
Boxer and celebrity Muhammed Ali dressed completely in black, lying on his side in a relaxed yet uncomfortable pose at the bottom of a red carpeted staircase. He is on his side with one hand supporting his head and his arm draped across his body. Double large curved wooden banisters leading down onto a marble floor.

Connotation
 The red carpet is synonymous with celebrity or VIP status, and the large curved banister on the stairs and marble floor suggest luxury and money. The black clothing is suggesting some kind of Iconic strong male figure, but the pose is softer and more romantic. It has a look of the now famous scene from the movie American Beauty where the young girl is seen from above lying on a bed of red flower petals. His right arm is diagonally across his body in a protective gesture, perhaps from the camera lens or press in general. He is looking off into the distance as if he is fed up of the attention.

 

Landscape

David Brookover is an American photographer born in 1954. He uses traditional techniques and processes in his landscape, and abstract images such as platinum and silver geletin.

Denotation
A row of windswept trees showing more of the trunks than canopies. A wooden fence runs behind them. A road or path is running along side the trees with what looks like very dry grass or crop either side. There are bits of bark and twigs from the trees lying on the ground. Mist in the background blocks out whatever is beyond the path. I thought the image was in black and white at first as the colours are very muted. It looks like an image that has been taken in autumn.

Connotation
The windswept trees seem to be looming over the path making it feel like an unfriendly place to be. The mist gives the image a mysterious feel adding to the feeling of unease. The path looks sinister as it leads you into the mist with the looming trees, igniting the imagination as to what sinister scenario lies beyond. It is devoid of signs of life which along with the muted colours give it a lonely feel. The fence indicates that there is something near that needs a boundary but we don’t know what.

 

Documentary

I was very tempted to opt for an image from one of my most admired photographers, but decided it was a good opportunity to have a  look round and see what else I might be missing. I found myself being immersed in the world that is Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin. I have created an additional post to reflect this research Link

“Adam Broomberg (born 1970, Johannesburg, South Africa) and Oliver Chanarin (born 1971, London, UK) are artists living and working between London and Berlin. They are professors of photography at the Hochschule für bildende Künste (HFBK) in Hamburg and teach on the MA Photography & Society programme at The Royal Academy of Art (KABK), The Hague which they co-designed”

Denotation
Three shirtless men in what looks like a small prison cell. One standing, leaning on a bunk bed. One sitting on the top bunk bed and one sitting on the windowsill with his legs through the bars and presumably dangling outside the open window between the bars. There is a set of bunk beds, a toilet with an old wooden cover and a sink with a couple of tiles behind it on the wall. The walls are white but marked either as decor or from age and use. It is hard to tell if the males are all white, but it looks like the one on the window sill may be black and the others white. They look about the same age. I’m guessing maybe between 20 and 30. The light is very bright coming through the window. They seem to be posed in a triangle. 

Connotation
Bright light coming through the window, highlights the fact that they are imprisoned away from the bright outside world. I wondered if the three men signified three states of mind that prisoners may go through One guy seems to be both inside and outside as he looks back into the cell from the window sill whilst his legs are outside. This could suggest the longing to be outside. One guy is sitting on the bed perhaps resigned to his fate whilst the third chap is standing between them. Not resigned but not yet longing for the outside. The fact that there are three people and only 2 beds and one toilet could give the impression that this is a crowded prison but the cell itself is quite bright and there is plenty if space between them. The lack of shirts make them seem quite relaxed.

Reflection

This was a great exercise to really allow me to experience how useful it is to describe what is in the image before trying to work out what it means. I have always tried to work out what it means before just simply recording what it there. By looking at what was physically in the images I was able to start thinking about what they might mean. So much simpler and easier and the thoughts tended to evolve rather than me trying to force them and get no where. It also added to the fact that the views one life experience makes a very big difference to what they might make of an image. What I see and feel is like to be very different from what someone else sees or feels, especial if they are from a different culture. Subsequently the photographer and his or her life experience will also make a difference in what they choose to represent an object or feeling. I spent a month in Japan, both in the cities and in the countryside and realised how much a shared culture matters when navigation the world. Of all the places I have travelled to this was the one where I was the most “culturally challenged”. More so because it wasn’t a place where I was being protected from the culture in any way , which had been the case for me on other trips that would be seen to be unsafe.

 

Bibliography

Figure 1
Available at: https://www.getty.edu/search/?qt=sudek%20late%20roses&pg=1
[Accessed 18th October 2022]

Figure 2
Available at: https://www.artsy.net/artist/annie-leibovitz
[Accessed 18th October 2022]

Figure 3
Available at: https://www.phototraces.com/
[Accessed 19th October 2022]

Figure 4
Available at: https://prisonphotography.org/2009/10/16/slow-photography-broomberg-and-chanarin/
[Accessed 19th October 2022]

Adam Broomberg and Oliver Chanarin Bio
Available at: http://www.broombergchanarin.com/new-page-1
[Accessed 19th October 2022]