“I feel so invisible. That’s why I became an artist. I wanted to represent this society in artistic space.”

Mahtab Hussain

The reason I chose this image as it is one of my favourite from Hussain’s You Get Me? album and I think it is a very powerful image as the subject is engaging with the camera. I also decided that this would be one of the photos that I wanted to look into as I plan to achieve the same concepts as Mahtab Hussain and thought this would be the perfect starting point.

Hussain seems to have taken this photo in natural day light and the wall in the background supports the fact the photo is taken outside due to the condition that it is in. The light looks as if it is surrounding the whole area and coming straight on as there are no shadows created by the subjects figure however, the patterns in the walls are creating small shades below which reinforces the idea that the natural light is mainly strongest from above. The subtle increase in saturation in this image highlights the colour of his clothing as well as the wear and tear from the walls in the background and the image is not massively light sensitive as it is clear and focused. I see a very high level of control of this photo. The man is positioned in the center and he is looking directly at the lens although his body is slightly turned to the left.

The image is slightly contrasted and mainly enhances the natural shapes in the walls and signs of ware. The aperture used was most likely around f/32 which means the lens is smaller. A smaller aperture allows the middle ground and background to be in focus with the rest of the image. The shutter speed was most likely around 1/15 as the image is typically quite bright and focused, however, not over exposed. The slower shutter speed allows the camera to retrieve more light and makes it easier for contrasts to be seen. The textures are very intensifying and really work as a visual effect. There is a repetition of the same colours red and greenish mold which can be very meaningful in the photograph (see paragraph image No.2). The boys eyes are the main focus in the image as they are horizontally in the middle of the photograph leading the eye to his at first glance. Again, it could be argued that this is another method of manipulation as the viewer can feel more for the image as it tells a story.

Mahtab Hussain captured this image along with many other portraits. His idea behind these photographs was to show how people of his culture (Muslims) lived in a different country. In this case, London.

There is a lot of meaning behind this photograph. For example, in the image above, Hussain has saturated the colours which enhance green and red. These colours are most related to the Muslim culture, for instance, there are many different countries of where Muslims originate from. For example, the image above shows that the man in the image could potentially be representing the Bangladesh flag and how he lives in a foreign country.