Intro

In 2006, Alec Soth came up with another series, Niagara. The concept behind this series was that after studying the context of Niagara falls, Soth discovered that what Niagara Falls symbolised has very ambiguous meanings, on one hand in is connected with love, marriage and family memories, whereas it can also have more painful connection; death, suffering and suicide. Soth decided therefore to explore this ambiguity in a poetic gesture, with love as the dominant theme

 

What Niagara Explores?

Niagara is a community based Project by Soth that explores the people that live and visit Niagara Falls and the community around it. Specifically the focus of this project is based on love and relationships. Soth photographs various young couples presumably in their twenties and thirties, who have come to Niagara Falls either on holiday or to get married, or a based in the area permanently. Soth’s photographs focus on; portraits of the young couple’s together; photos of letters the couples have sent to one another; photos; landscape shots of Niagara Fall; still lifes; and landscape shots of the urban environment surrounding Niagara Falls. Effectively ‘NIAGARA’ documents the ups and downs of relationships. The images reflect many different emotions in vary in context.

Narrative

The narrative starts off very positive and upbeat. This mood is achieved through the way Soth presents the opening few pages of the photo-book, full of outdoor landscape images with soft lighting and well spaced out compositions, as well as a playful scrapbook layout. This careful layout and presentation introduces the subjects, in particular exploring the theme of marriage; in an manner glamorising the prospect as joyous and exciting.  The narrative is also very raw and intimate, with Soth photographing nude subjects, a very brave and daring aspect to explore.

Over time as more is revealed about the subjects, and about the location of Niagara, Soth begin to show another side to the place and the subjects. Cracks in the relationships of the subjects start to show, illustated through the letters included. In addition, the landscape is conveyed as less joyful and positive through photographing at night-time, a poetic metaphor connecting the location, as well as the overall structure of the narrative as darker and more sinister then previously shown. This progression is important because it shows a rounded perspective of the Location and the subjects.

Style of Photography

The style of photography in ‘NIAGARA’ is very traditional and Soth pays  close attention to composition and detail. Soth carefully considers the surrounding environment before taking a photograph, and composition is a deliberate process that Soth attempts to create a well formed and balanced photograph that helps to convey the contexts of the narrative, as well as developing and structures the narrative in a manner which is subtle, reflective and poetic. Soth uses a combination of portraits, still-lifes and landscapes to create his story. What I found was quite clever is Soth’s inclusion of the letters that some of the couples sent to each other. Such a concept is a very clever way of both; providing breaks within the narrative; as well as helping the viewer to gain a deeper insight into the lives of the couples, in a manner which reveals more about them then perhaps a photograph on its own can, but is still personal at the same.

Summary

Three things I like about ‘NIAGARA’

• Use of many different photographic style
• Strong, well composed images
• Strong Development of Narrative

What I didn’t like

• Text could have made the story easier to follow
• The jump in layout made the narrative difficult to follow sometimes