Anna Gaskall

This photograph is interesting to me because of it’s mysterious, abnormal nature that is constructed in which it allows us to delve deeper into the deeper meaning of the photograph, in other words: what is the purpose of the photograph and what is it trying to tell us?  Clearly, this appears to be a direct reference to a childhood memory, reconstructed to tell us how this photographer looks back in the past.  Interestingly, the loss of saturation in the photograph appears to us as quite an old and distant memory because there is a lack of detail on the features of the memory and therefore because of this age of this memory suggests this is quite personnel.  The trees through the use of increased contrast almost show an intricate and diverse environment or world within a world.  This in a sense suggests that this is the girls natural environment in which she should feel  comfortable.  However the fact that through the darkening shades of green and the shadows, the woodland appears quite ghost like and that there is some sort of a creepy and quite scary presence surrounding the girl.  This is interesting because of the girls clothes/  She is initially wearing white which suggests innocence and vulnerability however the slow tint towards more of a cream color suggests a sense of worn use and how the environment has started to have an effect on the girl.  The photograph has been taken from a face on angle and this has helped the viewer to distinguish clearly the effects the hostile environment has had on the girl, for example: she is in the air with her arms and legs stretched out.  This uncomfortable position reminds me that she doesn’t appear to actually want to be there, however she doesn’t have a choice in the matter due to the fact that by her ghostly presence she appears to be of under some sort of influence, reminding me of the dangerous nature of the environment.  This use of tableaux photography is interesting because it allows us to essentially interpret the story in which the photograph is trying to tell us in our own way but still in saying that somehow really understand and connect with the photographer’s emotions that she is expressing.

 Hannah Starkey

This photograph is strikingly the opposite of the previous photograph in terms of the environment surrounding the subjects but similarly however, both girls appear to be young, impressionable and vulnerable while being presented under some sort of influence.   I find it particularly interesting how Hannah Starkey has chosen to use Tableaux photography to tell a story of the feelings and emotions of the young girl, however I like how the style of documentary photography is incorporated to extradite the very dangers, pressures and struggles that are experienced in young people’s day to day lives in a modern day interpretation.  The elements of Tableaux photography that prevail in this image are the strong features of how the girl’s body language in response to presumably her mother but the fact there doesn’t appear to be much motherly contact or affection being expressed towards her daughter shows how the relationship appears particularly strained or damaged.  This allows us to pose questions that make us naturally curious to find out what these root causes were in this strained relationship.  I particularly like how we can interpret what these causes could be, and through Tableaux we can appreciate the feelings of the subject more easily.  Clearly through the dark surroundings, suggests to me  that the girl is perhaps going through some of her own difficulties that is part of growing up as she although appears confident and comfortable, it doesn’t look like her natural self.  For example by the fact it looks the parent has had to speak to her and put her in her place even though she appears comfortable in her own environment.  This shows by the fact that this environment isn’t actually her environment as there is her parent putting her in her place despite the parent clearly doesn’t belong there.  This therefore explains and tells the story of growing up through teenage years that many experience differing phases and how the parent is a model or guide for a growing up teenager.