Jason Jackson.

Jason Jackson is a visual artist specializing in photography. Originally he was hailing from Riverhead, New York, however he has resided in Harlem for over 20 years. Jackson is extremely talented at illustrating current events through the lens of candid and spontaneous moments of everyday life. Most of his work is mainly based on Documentarian, Street, Travel and Portrait Photographer. He has lots of work where he shows an environmental portrait.

Some of his work is in black and white which I quite liked and want to use as an editing technique in my photos. His work is quite raw and harsh and tends to show the political climate and culture all around the world. He quotes “Shoot with authenticity and let the picture tell the story.” which really inspired me when it came to think about how I was shooting my pictures and really allowed me to be engaged in my work.

He also says, “Also, being a Black photographer I do believe that I have an obligation and responsibility to capture the “Black experience” in my work.

Some of his pictures,

Jackson did lots lots of projects, these are some of the names of his projects:

• NYC STREETS.
• Black Lives Matter, NYC.
• NYC COLOUR.
• EL Rostro Flea Market.
• Mermaid Parade.
• Loisaida Street Festival.
• Street Gymnasts of Madrid

NYC STREETS

Black lives matter, NYC

NYC COLOUR

EL Rostro Flea Market.

Mermaid Parade.

Loisaida Street Festival.

Street Gymnasts of Madrid

Image analysis of one of the pictures above.

Technical: The lighting in the pictures seems to be taken with natural lighting. You can see that it is taken outside where light from the sun was very present. Even if the picture is edited in black and white, it is evident that the picture was well lit. The picture is extremely focused. You can tell the shutter speed is high because this picture is candid but also professional so to freeze the moment/movement, shutter speed needs to be increased. This picture also has depth of field and is quite soft. The picture has good exposure because, even though it was edited in black and white the light in this picture is truly clear. The trees are blurred and not focused. The people are the focus especially the man in the Centre sitting down. Lastly the picture has a cold tone to it because of the black and white.  

Contextual & Conceptual: Although the context of this picture is not clear even after much research, El Rastro Flea Market is a market in Madrid which is among the most popular open-air flea markets in the city. It is held on Sundays and public vacations and offers a wide variety of products. The market is known for its variety of new and previously owned products, as well as the many antique shops surrounding the area. In my understanding, this picture shows a sense of sonder. Sonder means the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it. The man is the symbol of sonder. As you can see in the picture, everyone is in their own life, living and constructing their own life without worrying about other people’s lives, focusing on themselves. The man symbolises how just stopping for a moment and becoming uncomfortably aware from your surroundings, you realise that you are not the only one living and doing your own thing. The man is procrastinating about something, or he was tired and exhausted of sitting all day waiting for some type of income from the things he is selling on the floor but not having any luck because of people’s ignorance and self-absorbance.

Visual:

• Color: black and white, however there are some lighter white and blacks. It is not just bland, black, and white without shading. It has shading.  
• Tone: the tone in this picture varies, there are some light tones but some tones that are quite dark, mostly seen in clothes that are dark colored or just black.  
• Texture: The picture has a variety of textures. On the back, where there are trees, it is evident that the trees are quite blurred so not as focused but then if you look where the man is sitting in the center, the picture is much sharper and has more depth.  
• Form: the picture is overall 3D,  
• Pattern: in this picture there is quite a lot of repetition. There are lots of people, a lot of them are doing something, busy. There are lots of trees too.  
• Space: The space in this picture is quite full. There is not any part of the picture where there is a certain stillness to it. It is busy and chaotic.  
• Composition: This picture does not have any type of organization because it is a candid picture not professional, so the photographer did not organize it or purposefully set up the background like that. Some parts of people are not in frame so again it means that the setting was not organized. This photo was taken from eye level and has contrast between different shades of black and white. It does not follow the rule of thirds as lots of the space in the picture is full, so it does not the subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open.