essay question

DEADLINE: Essay Introduction Draft MUST be handed in Thursday 18 Dec 2024

DEADLINE: Final Essay MUST be handed in Fri 31 Jan 2025

Copy this essay plan into your own blog post, titled: Essay Draft:

Literary sources: Go to this blog post here: Theory: Literary Sources and copy relevant key texts relating to the subject of your essay and list in alphabetical order in your bibliography. In addition, find your own key texts in relation to artists selected for in-depth analysis in your essay and list these too. These texts could be interviews with the artist, or reviews/ critique’s written by others. See useful online sites/ sources here .

• Research and identify 3-5 literary sources from a variety of media such as books, journal/magazines, internet, Youtube/video that relates to your personal study and artists references .
• Begin to read essay, texts and interviews with your chosen artists as well as commentary from critics, historians and others.
• It’s important that you show evidence of reading and draw upon different pints of view – not only your own.
• Take notes when you’re reading…key words, concepts, passages, page number to be used for in-text referencing etc.

Essay Question

• Think of a hypothesis and list possible essay questions
• Below is a list of possible essay questions that may help you to formulate your own.

possible-essay-questions-to-investigate

Some examples of Personal Study essays from previous students:

Essay Plan
Make a plan that lists what you are going to write about in each paragraph – essay structure

• Essay question:
• Opening quote
• Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Essay writing: Here is a link to another blog post which will provide you with guideline about how to structure each paragraph in your essay.

ESSAY WRITING

‘Country Doctor’: W. Eugene Smith’s Landmark Photo Essay

“Available light is any damn light that is available!” – W. Eugene Smith

When we talk about his work, it’s very hard to present his pictures in a complete way. He typically shot what we would today call a photo essay: when he was assigned to cover a story, he would bring tens of thousands pictures to support the it. So even though I know it is not possible to cover every event in his life I have picked some assignments that I think will demonstrate his photography.

https://aboutphotography.blog/blog/william-eugene-smith-master-of-the-editorial-photo-essay

• Essay question: How has W Eugene Smith developed the modern photo essay?
• Opening quote ‘Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it’ (Sontag 1977:4)
• Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? How will you be responding to their work and essay question?
• Pg 1 (500 words): Historical/ theoretical context within art, photography and visual culture relevant to your area of study. Make links to art movements/ isms and some of the methods employed by critics and historian. 
• Pg 2 (500 words): Analyse first artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Pg 3 (500 words): Analyse second artist/photographer in relation to your essay question. Present and evaluate your own images and responses.
• Conclusion (250-500 words): Draw parallels, explore differences/ similarities between artists/photographers and that of your own work that you have produced
• Bibliography: List all relevant sources used

Bibliography

Sontag S. (1997) ‘In Plato’s Cave’ in On Photography London: Penguin Books

Landwer-Johan, K. W. Eugene Smith – Master of the Photo Essay. [online] https://www.kevinlj.com/w-eugene-smith-master-of-the-photo-essay/ [accessed 7th Jan 2025]

W Eugene Smith was the fundamental photographer when it came to the creation of the modern photo essay. It first became apparent after his ‘Country Doctor’ project, he spent 23 days photographing a local doctor in charge of caring for the entire ranching town. Smith created one of the most known photo essays to exist even in modern day, having done this he quickly became associated with the modern day photo essay format. Show cased within his work is sheer depth, looking into everyone element of life, forcing the viewers to acknowledge all the good but more over the less documented raw reality of some of the subjects, from war and all it’s atrocities to the bleak reality of a country town doctor pushed to him limits, in an isolated area. Unlike previous photo essay structures Smith left no rock unturned taking photo journalism to a new level, showcasing a new photo essay style in which he pushed to the limits to get a true account, unlike previous styles that simply took some good technical photos and left it at that, providing biased, unrealistic images. 

Para 2 -Smith’s dedication to his craft –  summary of work, style spent 4 days photographing doctor without film first 

W. Eugene Smith made a dramatic impact on the photo essay model as he took his projects to hear, rather than looking at it like a job, he involved himself in every part of the process possible. This gave a whole new light to photographers, re-inventing the job, not just the photo essay format. When creating his most prominent photo essay Smith spent four days following the doctor, shooting without film, allowing the doctor to relax in front of the lens. Advising future photographers to not only document but work to document reality, the true reality which often involves more work than expected. This completely contrasted the previous style of photo essay, produced within photojournalism, going from biased, small glances to raw, full insights into the reality of others. 

Para 3 – link to own work, how I have responded documentary style 

Para 3 – country doctor, info on project, style, how many photos he took, how it was displayed, why this was a change to previous, look at single shots + analysis and photos

Para 4 – further projects, new projects inspired by Smith, how eye opening his work is, a little about how much he gave up/dedicated to create the new style of photo essay, why other photographers hadn’t already done it – didn’t want to give up what Smith did 

Para 5 – conclusion – completely changed style, for the better, showed photographers it’s not a job so much as you need to delve deep into the subject. Only had maybe one photo he was happy with, add photo, but still creating world changing pieces of photography. He was the first to truly explore every element and show the brutal reality of many things others hadn’t. Aimed to capture emotion, not good technical photos. 

Bibliography 

Landwer-Johan, K. W. Eugene Smith – Master of the Photo Essay. [online] https://www.kevinlj.com/w-eugene-smith-master-of-the-photo-essay/ [accessed 7th Jan 2025]  

Kaninsky, M. Eugene Smith -Country Doctor A Photo Essay By W. Eugene Smith [online] https://aboutphotography.blog/blog/2019/8/7/country-doctor-a-photo-essay-by-w-eugene-smith [accessed 9th Jan 2025] 

W. Eugene Smith: How Minamata Redefined Photojournalism with a Moral Purpose

Khan, N W. Eugene Smith: HOW MINAMATA REDEFINED PHOTOJOURNALISM WITH A MORAL PURPOSE. [online] https://www.thephoblographer.com/2024/08/16/w-eugene-smith-how-minamata-redefined-photojournalism-with-a-moral-purpose/  [08/16/2024] 

Contact Sheets

I went through the whole photoshoot, picking the best shots and flagging them, then going through the flagged options and colour coding the photos yellow and green to marking the best shots and ones I might use.

Edit One

I needed to crop and reangle this photo as it was slightly slated.

This photo needed, the highlights reduced as there was harsh lighting effecting the cars colour, once reduced I could decease the exposure and adjust the colour mixer panel. Selecting the darker blue, increasing the saturation to bring the cars true colour back to the photo.

Edit Two

This photo is similar to the last but I liked dog jumping up in this one, adding movement to the photo. I went through a very similar editing process, with adjusting the exposure, shadows, highlights and the colour mixer board. On the colour mixer board I tried to match the cars colour not only to the true colour but the previous edits photo.

Edit Three

This one I needed to reduce the shine on the dog that appeared due to the harsh lighting. To do this I used, the exposure on a decrease, as well as the highlights. I made other small adjustments to the image solving smaller issues within it. The cropped frame meant the angle re-adjustment wasn’t needed.

Edit Four

While this photo was similar to the last I haven’t decided which one I might use. The previous one is a better photo at first glance but I like the detail of the cars shown in this one. When editing this one I had to be careful to reduce highlights without making the background too dark as the car shown is why I like this photo.

Edit Five

I did try this photo in black and white to tie to previous shoots, however I preferred the colour as the contrast between the dark navy and wooden interior is not something you get in modern cars and creates a lovely contrast within the photo. I decreased the exposure to bring out the colours of the interior.

Edit Six

he blues in this photo highlight the unusal colour of the car. The dog adds human feel to the photo.

Edit Six

I loved the textures in this photo and the framing, having the person out of focus added to this photo. The dog staring into the camera works well as its a quiet moment of the dog in the car. I decreased the exposure as the photo was slightly over exposed so this added the detail back in, and added the cars details back in as before they were a little flat.

Edit Seven

I liked this photo however I knew it would be much stronger in a low contrast black and white, I liked the slightly out of focus look and the black and white enhanced this. It gives this feeling of connection and natural environment rather than a posed photoshoot. I loved the section of light on the windshield and bonnet and the black and white enhanced this showing how I used light and the shadows to create dynamic interesting photos.

Edit Eight

The colours in this photo made an interesting photo, I did try the shot in black and white to highlight the section on light on the persons back however it took away from the image. The models red hair contrasts well with the navy jumper, beige roof lining and dog. I moved the exposure down as the soft lighting washed the model out, adding depth back to the image creates a polished photo. I like the framing of this image as there isn’t too much of the car showing but the model looking over her shoulder creates a feeling of connection.

Edit Nine

Edit Ten

I like this photo, the nickname the car has been given has been written into the dust. The shadows add depth to the photo, almost underlining the word.

Edit Three

I tried this photo in colour, but it is much stronger in black and white. However when I first made the photo black and white I found the highlights, the bright sections of light are great at highlighting the parts of the car and making an interesting photo.

Edit Eleven

Having taken this photo through a window I was concerned here would be a glare, but instead it made the handbook standout. The left of the photo is mostly dark with different patterns and then the right side of the photo shows a section of the back of the seats. I like that you can see the age on the book, adding to the idea about the cars age. This was helped with the black and white as it removed the distracting colours from the background, leaving the focus on the book alone.

Edit Twelve

Being able to compare both photos was essential in the development of this shot, Originally I liked the colour version, with the shadows and sections of light highlighting the colour of the car. However I then compared it to the black and white version and found I liked that version better as the green mesh wasn’t as visible in the background, in fact it highlighted the writing on the cars back window. The black and white also brought out the details in the headlight and rust around it.

Final photos

I love the final outcomes of this shoot, I think there is a great mix of colour and black and white shots. Showing details, like the the original car handbook, to the owner and the car, to the dog in the car. All have created a mini narrative within the wider project. Showing the relationship between the car and the owner. I like how apparent the dust is in each shot, showing the age of the car as well as how the passion for the vehicle hasn’t changed over time. This is what I’m aiming to show in the next photoshoot with my father and his old bike that he still loves. Hoping to show how I have been around them most of my life and it has influenced my similar passions. The lighting in this shoot was harsh but created sections of light and darker shadows adding depth and feeling to the photos.

Contact Sheets

From this shoot, I ended up with 17 good shots. I need to go onto to edit these shots now as again the lighting proved tricky.

Edit One

I liked this shot, the texture from the tires to the repeated pattern from the spokes and chain. It is similar to the previous shoots detail shots meaning the shoots link together.

Edit Two

Having previously done a similar photo in the last shoot I liked the idea of having a similar photo from a different shoot, linking the shoots and subjects together. I chose the black and white as it added tone to the image, taking away the yellow tinge to the photo. It also highlighted the texture of the mud on the bash guard.

Edit Three

This photo needed cropping, as while it was composed well it would work better with the frame pulled in. the black and white is becoming a common theme throughout these photos as actually the colour doesn’t add much to the image, in fact it is a stronger photo in black and white as it counteracts the lens flare in the corners as it takes away the green colour making the lighting softer.

Edit Four

Unlike the previous photos, I trialled this photo in black and white but found it to work better in colour. Having kept the photo in colour I then increased the blues on the colour mixers as well as increasing the shadows to make the background a deeper black and decreasing the highlights to remove some of the glare from the white plastics. This helped the photo have a bright, vibrant colour, capturing the colour of the bikes graphics, similarly to how, in the previous shoot, I captured the true colour of the cars paint.

Edit Five

I went for a similar approach in this photo, by again increasing the shadows and decreasing the highlights. Following on with an increase in luminance in both blues on the colour mixer panel. This helped bring out the Yamaha blue on the plastic panels, highlight the Yamaha badge on the black plastic panel. It also benefitted the ‘rainbow’ on the exhaust, bringing out details specific to the bike in the photo.

Edit Six

This shot needed very little work but I did want to highlight the ‘WR’ just off centre in the shot. I did this by increasing the shadows, contrast and whites. Following with decreasing exposure, highlights and blacks. This helped bring out ‘WR’, the blue texture on the seat and the blue washers. All of this helped pull the rest of the shots together, having the same blue colour and neutral lighting, focused, detailed shots.

Edit Seven

This shot was trickier to edit as I wanted to highlight the ‘rainbow’ as I had done previously but I needed to make sure the chain didn’t end up looking too rusty as it’s actually gold in colour not rusty. Surprisingly by reducing the exposure and the highlights it made other details pop out, like the blue of the suspension spring and the blue washer again. All these features help pull the photo together and make sense of the composition of the shot.

Edit Eight

Originally I wasn’t sure I liked this shot, it seemed a bit of a throw away shot, but I liked the use of the foreground to pull the handle bars and wrist guards out of focus while keeping the seat and tail in focus. It created this double focused image, as you saw the seat and then flowed the line from it to the handle bars adding deeper depth to the photo. I changed the photo to black and white because it added so much to the tone of the images, the plastics panels allowed for large, smooth panels of different shades of grey. This only added further to the photo as while my tone is fairly low contrast for the black and white shots this ones had so many shades of grey it was interesting to look at and highlighted each section of the bike.

Edit Nine

Alternately I actually did like the raw shot, however to keep it blended with the rest of the shots, I increased the shadows, decreased the highlights and changed the blues on the colour mixer. This not only kept the photos consistent throughout the shoot but it solidified details, like the ‘WR’ and the blue parts of the bike that were otherwise washed out in the original image.

Edit Ten

Normally I’m not a fan of colour pop edits. However when I first saw this photo my first thought was, ‘what would this look like if I used a colour pop technique?’ To do this I went onto the colour mixer and reduced the saturation on every colour other than blues. This worked well, showing the details of any bikes graphics and highlighted the blue parts on the bike. It made for a strong image as in the previous shots I was trying to highlight the blue parts of the bike as it links to my mothers car and is specific to this bike being a Yamaha. This shot also won’t look out of place as the blue on the seat softens the black and white with blue elements. Having edited many of the previous shots in black and white this helped this shot blend in, keeping the tone the same as the previous shots helped as well.

Edit Eleven

This photo, was tricky. Again I struggled with the yellow lighting in this shot, I also found I didn’t really like the shot. It had potential but I found the background distracting and made the shot look unfinished. I went onto to try the photo in black and white but it didn’t help, however I then tried using the masking brush tool. With the tools exposure lowered I then coloured over the background to darken the distractions. This hugely benefitted the photo as it polished the image, creating more of a studio setting.

Edit Twelve

This shot is the same composition, just slightly zoomed in as the previous shot. However when editing it I wanted to keep to background as it is less distracting than it was in the previous shot, and in fact the soft lighting factors and soft grey tones benefit the photo. I did make this shot black and white, unlike the previous one as the shots looked too similar and I liked how the soft greys make the graphics lines and patterns clearer.

Edit Thirteen

This shot is a common one within the motorsport community, I liked the shot as it shows the bike through my eyes as I normally walk up to it on the left. The black and white, again does benefit the photo as it highlights the shadow of the bike and draws the bike out from the background. Even though I changed the photo to black and white it didn’t need additional editing and already fitted fairly well with the other black and white images I’ve produced. I did move the tone slider to reduce the yellow from the lighting though, this helped keep the greys, grey rather than have a yellow tinge.

Edit Fourteen

This is a very simple shot, an angled front on shot. However it does show the bike well and the close cropped frame draws the focus to the bike as there isn’t much room for looking around the photo. I liked the colour with the blue and red contrast but the yellow from the lighting had reflected on the white plastics so I preferred the shot in black and white, highlighting the details with light tone and many greys rather than black and white.

Edit Fifteen

This shot is very similar to the previous one, but I had changed the lighting and it created a very different effect, the bike looks like it is appearing out of the background, which is what I was originally going for as I wanted to focus on the bike itself. I kept this shot in colour just pulling the tone to a bluer setting. Having kept it in colour it has allowed for the bikes colours to be seen, showing the personal choices I made to customise the bike. (red wrist guards on a Yamaha)

Overall Summary

This shoot wasn’t easy, I found the lighting tricky to contend with, as it was dark outside and I only had two small lights to move around. However I did find this taught me a lot about what I actually wanted in the photo rather than just trying lots of things with little direction. This helped pull me in direction of planning each shot before hand, moving the lighting purposefully framing each shot. I went into the shoot with the intention of getting a mixture of detail shots and full shots of the bike, similar to my previous shoot. I had liked the results of my previous shoot so I wanted to link the two together by keeping the style similar. By having very little background showing I have presented the bike without much context, this allows the viewer to see how the bike is mine as such. Like any person who likes their bike/car there are certain things I’ve changed and kept on the bike, like the choice of red wrist guards on a Yamaha (a blue bike brand) it shows the love for the bike and the personal choices I ‘ve made for it both appearance and mechanically on the bike. This is shown through my parents bike and car. I picked up a lot of my choices from them, with them both having unusual aspects to their bikes/cars or just in general unusual taste. It’s clear I’ve followed in their footsteps with odd colour combinations on the bike, this is what I wanted to capture in this shoot, not only the bike itself being one of my bikes but how my parents have influenced even the smaller parts of the bikes.

Final Photos

Having looked through the pictures I then arranged them in a grid, placing images that work well together, together. I found I had a lot more interesting detail shots than bigger picture photos, but the wider framed photos were important to provide context. With a mixture of editing styles from simple low contrast black and white images to bright, luminance colour shots to a mixture of both with colour pop style editing. I think this worked well, keeping all the photos interesting but by having three ‘set’ editing themes all the photos are cohesive, working well together to show the colours, textures, patterns of the bike which is what I wanted to achieve.

Mood Board

Plan

This shoot was challenging in terms of lighting and angles. After spending well over an hour shooting I only got 42 photos, I did get some good shots though. As shown above there were a few good shots but they do need some work as the lighting was yellow at times.

Edit One

I like the composition of this photo as it has a good angle and shows a good portion of the car. However before editing the colouring is very yellow which while it does give the photo a nostalgic look to it, it would be hard to link all the photos together in terms of lighting as daylight photos. It also means the true colour of the car is shown. To change the lighting I adjusted the temperature to remove some of the blue hue, I then went into colour mixer and selected mixer and went into the yellow and chose to turn down saturation so the yellow lighting was lessoned.

Edit Two

I spotted this heart drawn onto the car, it made for an interesting photo so I composed it outside of the rule of thirds as I didn’t want it to be the main focus so much as a part of the photo. I wanted a photo as I have a habit of drawing hearts onto my bike when it’s muddy so it will be a connecting shot to my own bike which probably also has a heart drawn onto it. I chose to make the shot black and white as I think it adds to the atmospheric feel to the photo. Within this edit I adjusted the tone to make it a high contrast image. This shot in itself is abstract, with minimal parts of the car shown but it will connect well with the next shoot as well as providing some family connection with the car having a heart drawn onto my mothers car and then a heart drawn onto my bike.

Edit Three

This photo is a great contextual image, I think it shows the love for the car and the age of the car being present in that all the books about it are still books not videos or online manuals. The composition of the shot is good so I didn’t need to crop it. However the colours are dulled down, so to fix this I reduced the exposure and then adjusted other contributing sliders. This helped bring out the true colours and made for a better photo.

Edit Four

This shot was a confusing one to edit, I liked the original shot but the colour of the metal was wrong as the yellow lighting effected it. To counteract this I changed the exposure and then the highlights and shadows. I still did not love this image as now the car was not true to it’s real colour. Black and white was the next step as then the yellowness wouldn’t effect it. I chose a high contrast, stark editing style, this highlights the details and shadows of the photo. I liked this as the ‘ford’ stands out really well against the darker background.

Edit Five

This shot on the other hand didn’t need much editing as the yellow lighting suited the brown of the dust.

Edit Six

This is again another shot that doesn’t need much editing as the colours already went well. Having used the 70-20mm lens the frame is already a tightly framed shot so the composition was important, having framed the car on an angle to the lens it added dynamic to the photo as well as providing a well composed shot, with interesting angles.

Edit Seven

This shot is interesting within itself with the age and condition of the car showing. However I found the background distracting so decided to change the photo to black and white to add not only deeper tone to the car but remove some of the complexities in the background. This also worked really well to neutralise the yellow tone from the lighting.

Edit Eight

This shot while a creative, interesting image, having been shot through a windshield with multiple leading lines and context on the car. Overall I like this shot but it is a much more impactful image in black and white as while the book still appears worn from its age it doesn’t have the same washed out colours. The tone of the image is completely transformed once the image was edited to black and white as the high contrast shot, similarly to the previous shot it removes all the background busyness that doesn’t benefit the shot. This also provides a base for any future black and white shots as I have a style to base it off of.

Edit Nine

This image again is much stronger in black and white, it has removed the washed out colours and new key colour but kept the apparent wear to the car. It has also brought out the highlights in the shot, showing the badge in the steering wheel and outlining the wheel itself.

Final Images

After editing these photos I noticed, while I didn’t dislike the results I felt I could get more similar shots with a different lens. I would like to redo this shoot with a 18-105mm lens as I would have a lot more range in the shots I could get. I did however end up with a strong set of images with a mixture of colour and black and white shots. I think the detail shots were particularly successful and created a strong starting point for this project. Having researched Keith Dotson’s work on old cars in a forest, left to rot I wanted to take a similar approach using highly tonal images with a range of wider angled shots and closely framed shots, although shown in both mine and Dotson’s work neither of us feature much of the background as for wat we are trying to show in the images it is not too important and can be distracting.

Mood Board

Plan

Lighting

I will be shooting at night so I will have to be careful with lighting, however I will use two of these lights to focus and create the lighting situation I want for each shot. This means I can create dramatic shadows or use direct lighting. This will be time consuming but will allow me to create a specific atmosphere for each shot.

W Eugene Smith – Significant American photographer and humanitarian

Biography

William Eugene Smith, a prolific photographer working mainly in the mid 1900s. Being known for creating the photo essay as we know it now. He began his photography career as he was fascinated with planes and wanted to buy photos of them, instead being given a camera to take photos himself. By 15 he was making a name for himself having all sorts of images published from sports, to landscapes all done to document current situations whether it be sports scores or the impact of the wild weather at the time. This quickly made the basis for his career.

After graduating high school in 1936 he gained a scholarship, through Catholic Church connections, to study photography at the university of Notre Dame, however then quitting university at 18. He spent the following two years in New York working for Newsweek, becoming known for his detailed work and unusual personality. Later on he was fired from Newsweek, due to the newspaper wanting Smith to use a larger format camera as technology advanced but Smith refused to stop using his 35mm Contax. A year later Smith started working for a magazine company, Life, of which he quickly became friendly with the magazines, at the time, photo editor. As he progressed in his career he got married and had children, continuing to have up and downs in his personal life before ending up with Sherry Suris in New York having completed the Minamata book in 1974. 

War work 

As the time progressed, so did Smith’s career. World War Two approached quickly, leaving Smith as a war correspondent in 1943 while still supplying photos for life magazine now just of the war rather than previous subjects. Smith is renowned for his work during the war being on front lines with American troops and on many other missions. Smith found his way within the war, stating ‘you can’t raise a nation to kill and murder without injury to the mind… it is the reason I am covering the war for I want my pictures to carry some message against the greed, the stupidity and the intolerances that cause these wars and the breaking of many bodies.’ Smith made huge amounts of progress in his work from 1943 to 1945 but with this came dangers, in 1945 Smith was injured by mortar fire while photographing a battle. This led to the following two years being filled with surgeries. However as Smiths condition improved, he began to photograph again. A photo made famous by another photographer after he exhibited it was actually his first photo after the accident, the photo being of his two children walking in his garden at home. Even having had the set backs of the war, Smith continued to photograph for Life magazine till 1955. The year in which his photo from 1946 was made famous by Edward Steichen. Smith contributed to the development of the photo essay significantly in this time, producing many articles and photo essays, the most prominent being the country doctor. As time progressed so did Smiths work before drawing him back to his roots in America, where he began to teach at the Art department and department of Journalism at the University of Arizona. Subsequently living the rest of his life teaching and organising his work before suffering a second significant stroke, which sadly he passed away from in 1978. 

Smith is a monumental photographer, who created around 50 images, changing the trajectory of how we perceived and experienced history. Not only having documented World War II, he covered subjects such as the Minamata disease, the ever changing environment and many other issues we still have today. He was essential in raising awareness and understanding to the goings on around the world, otherwise biased in its documentation or simply hidden. 

Not only did his photography inspire and change how we perceived, he was the creator of the modern photo essay. Having spent many years developing it to the form we know today. 

Image Analysis

“The Walk to Paradise Garden” – W. Eugene Smith in 1946

This photo was the first photo Eugene Smith took after his accident in 1945. It was his a photo of children running in the garden. For what should be a simple photo it is impactful, not only with the historical connections of it being the first photo after his accident. The lighting adds impact with the trees already framing the shot creating a tunnel of light and a small path of light where the children had walked. The children are off centre in the frame, but this works with light opening up on the right balancing the image. In the photo is a young boy and young girl holding hands the taller boy leading the way into a brightly lit open area of trees rather than the tunnel in which the photo has been taken. The children have been silhouetted against the bright light as the leave the leafy tunnel. The photo invites curiosity and childlike innocence, portrayed with the title ‘The walk to paradise garden’ suggests a childlike approach of running through gardens, enjoyed the sun and finding what a child would consider ‘paradise’. However I think this can also link to Smith himself as while the photo was taken from a low angle, a child’s eyeline the title and the idea that it is his garden and his children in the photo does add impact, considering his previous few years deep in the depths of war and the most brutal forms of humanity, the simple bliss of getting to watch his children play tells a completely different story. This photo is not only impactful but tells a tale as old as time, of children innocently enjoying life and adults escaping with them for a second recognising their former selves within the children. Overall not only technically is this a lovely photo is beams childhood and the stories within it. Smith is known for creating the modern version of the photo essay, this technique is ever present in his work, even single shots like this one tell a story, often from multiple perspectives like this one.

For this project I want to explore my connection and love for cars and bikes, from my passions for racing my own bike to my parents love for enduro events and rally cars. I want to capture the intensity and stress of racing events to the tinkering that is always going on. Particularly I want to showcase the difference loves and passions for the sport but in all we are all connected and have built a community. A large part of my family is involved in motorsports to a degree which has had influence on my own enjoyment and interest in the sport. I remember when I was younger my father would be watching moto GP while making me lunch, I never understood it until I got older and started to understand the bikes, teams, and actually understanding the concept of racing. When I was younger I have always been around cars and bikes, I watched my father take his bike away for enduro events in Spain and before that I heard all about the adventures he had been on. One I particularly enjoy hearing about is when he brought a motorbike, a Royal Enfield, in India and then rode it back to Jersey by himself, he still has this bike to this day! Alongside growing up involved in bikes I grew up around farming communities, with tractors and 4X4 which sparked my interest in off-road cars, having driven my first manual car at 10 to put fence posts in a field, since then I haven’t looked back with now having my own 4X4. Both my parents taught me how to ride/drive and I have pushed myself and tried different riding styles of my own and have my own bikes. So while I would like to reflect on their current use of cars/bikes I would also like to show sentimental things, from when they were my age or slightly older and now they don’t have as much time for but I do. I aim to show, almost the handing down of passions, remembering the good times and now their daughter (me) having me own fun and creating memories with my bikes.

To start this project read through the exam boards notes on the theme observe, seek and challenge. I then made a mind map with all my ideas, I also used a dictionary and thesaurus to understand different concepts and add other words in relating to subtitles. I found with collaborating on the mind map helped me experiment and try new ideas, it also added knowledge and each others understandings of the words so I learnt different perspectives and ideas.

Mood boards

Abstract

Following on from the harbour project I liked the detailed, abstract shots I had taken and then used in my zine. I like the way they can add to story and make people notice the smaller parts within a bigger picture.

Tableaux

I looked at this type of photography in my mirrors and windows project and found I liked the effect of my photos. I could choose the shot down to the smallest details, making the photos powerful as I had complete control over what I wanted the photos to show.

Documentary

I really enjoyed taking photos in a documentary style for the mirrors and windows project. I photographed the twisty sprints and found I could be really creative and create dynamic, interesting photos capturing the even and how people went about it.

Studio Portraits

Having previously done studio portraits I found I could create interesting, detailed photos using the different lighting techniques. I like the drama and intensity you can create in the photos and I think it would be beneficial in any project with portraiture as it helps provide a solid starting point for any other types of portraits for a project.

Ideas

Potentially for my project I’d like to explore motorsport in Jersey, having been brought up around rally cars and motorbikes I have always have an avid interest in the motorsport in Jersey. I have always found there are great pictures of individual competitors but I found no one has quite captured the atmosphere of all the aspects of the sport, from the last minute rush to get to a part fixed or the intense wait, waiting for the scrutineering to be passed. The mood board above has a rough idea of what I would like to capture, the actual racing to the ‘behind the scenes’.

Jeff Wall The Drain 1989

For my first photoshoot I will look into the idea of Jeff Wall’s ‘The Drain’ I really like the narrative the photos tell, they appear quite nostalgic in a way people playing in the stream. Equally they also have a creepy undertone as it looks like some of the people have appeared from the tunnels.

Photoshoot Plan

‘Window’ Photoshoot Plan

I have always had an interest in capturing candid sports photos, when researching this project, mirrors and windows, my first thought for windows was motorsport pit lanes or service photos. A true insight into raw emotion, small details, the machines themselves and how teams work.

Mood Board