Analysis of photobook:

Digital photobook images:

‘Help’ Essay:

Whilst analysing Daniel Butt’s photobook, I noticed that it was very detailed and showed a good representation of how mental health is represented within photography. He ended up referring to his title which was ‘How can something that doesn’t physically exist be represented through photography?’ throughout the essay, linking it back to his key photographers and answering this hypothesis effectively. He explains that he is going to explore the subjects and techniques that display things that don’t exist through camera changes and multiple exposures. The way he highlights these areas is he provides context behind other photographers such as Leif Sandberg. He provides an in-depth analysis of the photographer and how he effectively showcases things physically not existing within photography. After providing an analysis, he presents his own photography in response to the artist and links back to his question within his title. He also takes the approach of linking Sandberg’s work to that of the ‘Vanitas paintings’, indicating that they display “the transience of life”, similar to what Sandberg showcases.

Throughout the photobook, Daniel Butt has included images from Leif Sandberg to showcase how he is able to display a link towards his hypothesis and mentions that his images focus on emotions and one in particular was regarding the topic of a cancer scare. Sandberg’s images are very unsettling and look to be very blurry, messy and have possible images overlapping with one another. Butt showcases his images and suggests that he wanted to “show the duality that can sometimes be seen within people suffering from mental health issues, both in the literal aspects of not being able to physically see what is going on inside people’s heads, despite what they’re feeling, as well as how people try to hide their emotions in order to seem stronger.” At the very end of his photobook he compares his image to that of Sandberg’s and suggests that his images are a lot cleaner with his overlapping images compared to Sandberg’s messy, anxiety-filled imagery. Butt also includes a bibliography at the very end of his photobook to display areas he took inspiration from for his essay.

Grade boundaries: E=1 D=6 C=9 B=11 A=14 A*=16

My mark: 16/18

Grade: A*