Paul Graham is an English born, self taught documentary photographer whose work has won various awards including the likes of the Deutsche Börse Photography Prize as well as the Hasselblad Award. Graham is a very prolific artist with many published works and exhibitions. As stated before he is a documentary photographer and as such most of his work features small aperture to capture a lot of detail in the scene. I like the flat tones he uses juxtaposed with strong colors, often sticking to two or three main colors as to not over saturate the image.

The image appears to use a high F stop due to the wide range of detail captured. The photo’s look as though they were taken using a Digital SLR with a low ISO due to the abundant natural lighting in the scene (using a higher ISO would leave the image overexposed) as well as the lack of noise in the image despite the age of the camera considering this work was published back in 1983. There is some slight color noise in the darkest areas of the photograph however this is likely due to the age/ quality of the sensor. There is a strong tonal contrast image between the lights and darks however the highlights aren’t too overpowering. The vibrancy of the colors despite such a flat scene suggests the use of a slow shutter in conjunction with a tripod due to the lack of any motion blur.

The image features two strong key colors, that being the orange of the paint as well as the bright green on the grass/ trees in the area accompanied by some more subtle blue tones. There as some light purple tones visible in the darker areas of the image. The image uses the Fibonacci curve as to draw attention to the writing on the wall. The images composition features very strong lines separating layers of the foreground and the background. There is a strong sense of texture created in the image by the rough surface of the concrete as well as the detail in the grass/ trees. The roofs of the houses almost create the effect of a repeating pattern.

Luigi Ghirri is an Italian born artist and photographer. Ghirri has achieved a far reaching reputation as a pioneer of contemporary photography due to his very systematic approach to photography. His picture often feature very baron backgrounds with a strongly contrasting subject. His photography often features very strong lines and structures, often photographing man-made objects or natural objects featuring very strong geometric shapes.

The lighting in the image is very flat and soft. This image is naturally lit however it seems as though it may have been overcast due to the lack of harsh shadows. It appears as thought the image was taken around mid-day as any shadows appear directly beneath the slide. The image appears to have been taken using a high F stop since the whole image is mostly in focus and there appears to be very little vignetting. There appears to be a considerable amount of grain and Gaussian blur in the image which suggests it is either taken on film (also suggested by slight discoloration on the right) or an old digital camera. The image looks rather cold.

The image features very flat tones across the background which is broken up by the strong contrast created by the bright red slide in the foreground. There is some texture created by the small ripples throughout the sand in the foreground. The piece features very strong lines  with a strong emphasis on triangles created by the slide and the small stream of water across the sound. The ripples in the sand create a repeating pattern until they slowly go out of focus as they reach the background.

The image creates an uncomfortable feeling due to the lack of human activity in an area that is supposed to be full of life. It creates an uncanny scene as something just appears to be out of place, perhaps the strong contrast created by the slide.

The rest of this collection strongly stuck to the same look however most of them had stronger contrast and saturation then the image I analysed.

Luigi also has some interesting work which has been painted back in to which helps to emphasize the strong lines in the image.

I believe Luigi will influence my project as i like the subjects which he chooses to photograph and his strong use of contrasting colors. I find the idea of using flat tones to be interesting as well as it challenges you to use contrasting colors  instead of contrasting tones.

Of the several definitions of ‘journey’ I will likely either explore the definition originating from the old french word for ‘a day’s work’. or i may choose to explore the definition of journey, ‘a long and often difficult process of personal change and development’ as I much prefer these variations on the idea of journeys and pathways and believe that this will allow for more creative exploration of ideas. I will likely explore the idea of abstract in combination with possessions. I would likely only use possessions if I were to explore the personal change/ development definition of a journey.