The one photograph I chose out of the ten that I really like is the last one. The obscurity of this particular image really interests me. I also really like the perspective at which it was taken at; the main focus, the focal point is on the man’s head where the scar is because my eyes are instantly drawn to this. I like the simplicity of the picture; there isn’t a lot going on and the colours aren’t too loud. This photo tells a story therefore is intriguing.
However, the image I dislike out of the ten on show is the second. For me, there is too much going on, too much for my eyes to try to focus on. I think it is a good image for its purpose, perhaps it’s adverting for an office or an agency of some sort but for me I don’t like its set out. It’s too serious and I tend to like causal, fun-looking images with lots of colour but this photo is quite dark in colour.
The third image I have picked out to analyse is the second one that was displayed to us. This image is of a young lad sat in the foreground of a police car with a hoodie on. This photograph, to me, seems very cultural and that it has a hidden meaning behind it; why is the kid sat by a police car? Is it intended? Is it set up? Or is it a ‘happy accident’? I’d like to know more about this image but the overall look of it, its environment seems to be focused on a particular lifestyle.
Perhaps the first way that we engage with photography is an emotional response – ‘like’ / ‘dislike’. At times we may not even understand why we like or dislike a photograph, but it will create an emotional response that is loaded with value and meaning – about us, the image, the colour, shape or form.
Emotional analysis is useful and certainly very powerful (it can override other responses, such as an intellectual response) but can be quite limited. So be careful.
Task:
Open up the folder ‘Photos for Analysis’ in Depts>Photography>Students>AS
Choose 3 photos
A photo that you immediately feel connected / interested in
A photo that you immediately feel alienated or disinterested in
A photo that you are not sure if you are interested in or not . .
Write up your initial feelings towards each photo. At least a paragraph/5 sentences/80 words etc
Reflect on what you write about . . . in other words try to understand your emotional response is it a colour, a person, a memory, a look, an object . . . .
Upload the photo and your analysis to the blog (I will help you log onto the blog, but if you can’t, write it up and post it at home)
Extension: To help you understand the more formal elements of photography look at this ppt rule-3rds-line-balance-export
Analysis 2: Formal Analysis & Textual Analysis
Colour
Light (natural / outside)
shadows
Rule of thirds
Line / leading lines
Depth
Symmetry / parallels
Balance
Shot size (BCU, Long shot, MCU)
angles
Framing
Focus
Depth of field
Aperture
Posture / gesture / look (non verbal communication = NVC)
Props
Setting
Sets
Clothing
Contrast
Tone /Colour palette
Shutter speed
Cropping
Post-production eg saturation
Type of lens eg telephoto / portraiture lens
distortion
Task:
Complete a Formal Analysis of 2 of your chosen photographs using at least 20 terms list above.
Analysis 3: Critical and Contextual Analysis
How to analyse a photograph critically?
During this A level you will be expected to critically – this does not mean analysing the negative aspects of the photograph. But it does mean that you are required to ‘read’ a photograph beyond the surface ie beyond your emotional response and beyond the purely technical or formal elements.
In other words, you need to think about a photograph in terms of intention, context & ideology (ie what attitudes, beliefs and ideas are held within the photograph). You should also know something of the history of photography and how each photograph fits into the overall subject.
Use the four bullet points below and the attached ppt to help ‘deconstruct’ and understand the three photos you have chosen.
“criticism is informed discourse about art to increase understanding and appreciation of art”
Describing ~ FORM ~ What is here? What am I looking at?
Interpreting ~ MEANING ~ What is it about?
Evaluating ~ JUDGEMENT ~ How good is it?
Theorizing ~ CONTEXT ~ Is it art? How does it relate to the history and theory of photography, art and culture?
Source: Criticizing Photographs: An Introduction to Understanding Images, by Terry Barrett, 1990, pg:3
Go back to 1 of your 3 photographs and analyse it in terms of a ‘critical & contextual study’. In other words, think about the form, meaning and context of the photograph. Is there a theoretical framework (formalism, feminism, semiotics, social/historical . . etc) for you to place the photograph and thereby understand its intention in more detail?
Include references from other (academic) sources
Include some a video extract that helps you to explain your analysis
EXAMPLE: CINDY SHERMAN
I didn’t think of what I was doing as political. To me it was a way to make the best out of what I liked to do privately, which was to dress up. –Cindy Sherman – Black and White Magazine
My intentions are neither feminist nor political. I try to put double or multiple meanings into my photos, which might give rise to a greater variety of interpretations… – Cindy Sherman – except from an interview with Wilfried Dickhoff., Prospect : Photography in Contemporary Art , ISBN: 390816219X , Page: 280
I have this juvenile fascination with things that are repulsive. It intrigues me why certain things are repulsive. To think about why something repulses me makes me that much more interested in it. I feel that I have to explore it.
I didn’t want to make “high” art, I had no interest in using paint, I wanted to find something that anyone could relate to without knowing about contemporary art. I wasn’t thinking in terms of precious prints or archival quality; I didn’t want the work to seem like a commodity.
So how could we interpret all of this (often) contradictory information. How does it help us to understand the changes in society that were occurring at this time – feminism, performance art, conceptual art, a ‘postmodern’ obsession with the media.
Watch above to get a better understanding of her approach to photographic form and the use of ‘performance’ in photography.
What does this tell us about purpose and/or point of photography?
How does this link photography to art?
Watch above from 2:00 to understand the relationship between Cindy Sherman’s character work and feminism.
An environmental portrait is a portrait executed in the subject’s usual environment, such as in their home or workplace, and typically illuminates the subject’s life and surroundings.
Arnold Newman(photographer) // Igor Stravinsky (Russian composer) 1946 // New York
Your homework assignment is to take 150-200 photos of a range of ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS…influenced by a key photographer such as Arnold Newman or August Sander (right)
August Sander // Pastry Cook 1928 // Germany
But… you may be influenced by an alternative, contemporary photographer that you have discovered or researched so please show clearly where your ideas and inspiration has developed from…
Use the links above to help familiarize yourself with SOME of the photographers we will be looking at more closely in class.
If you already use INSTAGRAM, FLICKR, TUMBLR or PINTEREST for your photography then please continue…if not, then please sign up and create accounts for yourself and keep yourself connected with whats going on in the world of image making, photographers, exhibitions, ideas and more!!!
Welcome to AS Photography at Hautlieu School. The aim of this course is to encourage you to think and act in a creatively expressive way. You will learn how to apply a range of lens-based skills to a set of challenges and assignments. We expect you to work hard and constructively critique the work of others as well as your own.
We will discuss your approach to the AS Summer task in the first week of term, and this will form the starting point for the unit itself. Be prepared to show your photography and engage in discussing your classmates’ images too…it will be an open and friendly forum designed to push your ideas and improve your skills with a camera.
“If you want to be a better photographer, stand in front of more interesting stuff.”
—Jim Richardson
I didn’t think of what I was doing as political. To me it was a way to make the best out of what I liked to do privately, which was to dress up.
Your homework assignment is to take 150-200 photos of a range of ENVIRONMENTAL PORTRAITS…influenced by a key photographer such as Arnold Newman or August Sander (right)