Born in 1885 Jersey Channel Islands, Francis Foot’s desire to be a photographer started when phonogram records were realised and no noticed he could make a career out of it, therefore leading his family to open up a second store after his fathers occupation being a glass and china dealer at the time St Helier was affluent. He worked at the second store as a photographer and sold both photogram and gramophone records.
His interests in photography is shown within portraiture work where he captured images of Jersey citizens. At the time where he was taking these images it helped to show the cultural aspects of society which makes the work in the 20th century look better. He also looked into family portraiture and would occasionally capture his own family which is sometimes seen. Wealth was sometimes seen in the background of his images, as we;; as personal lives of the subjects.
Francis Foot’s Work
Her style
- Black and white imagery
- Mixture of high and low shutter speeds for different depth of fields
- Old camera with not many settings
- High ISO settings
- Exposure is usually at a high setting shown through the white parts of images
- Images in natural enviroments
Analysation image
Technical analysis- We can see that the camera used in this image was clearly not as good as a modern camera, making it more difficult to analyse the technical elements in this photograph. Due to the no intended blur of the photograph there was likely a high shutter speed used, there also could of been a high ISO used in order to create the grain in the image but this also could of been because of the poor camera quality. Exposure of the image also seems to be high because of how bright the dress looking in comparison to the bottom right of the picture which has created a slight blur. There has been a narrow depth of field used as the focus is on the child and stroller while the background of bushes is blurred. Previously mentioned Francis takes his pictures in a natural environment, thus taken outdoors which is is suggesting natural lighting as also being used to take this image. The image was taken in the 20th century, explaining the black and white.
Visual analysis- Visually we can see that there is one child in the photo, presented a little of the left of the picture and she is dressed in a white dress. The white could symbolise purity in the family giving an idea of upper class and wealth. The positing of the child could be planned as she is looking at the camera and has her hand on the baby stroller which could be seen as a posing position, therefore un naturalistic.
Conceptual analysis- I think that Francis wanted to show the wealth of the child in this image as the little girl can be seen in a clean white dress, a bow in her hair to represent purity, shiny black shoes, and is also captured next to a expensive looking baby stroller. This is showing that the children have a good life due to the financial situation of the parents, showing the contextual factor of how the class system had affected Jersey Channel Islands. This image is showing Francis is proud of his financial situation and what he can provide his children with, almost as if the took these images to brag.