1. Write a book specification and describe in detail what your book will be about in terms of narrative, concept and design with reference to the same elements of bookmaking as above.
Narrative:What is your story? Describe in:
3 words
Struggles, Athlete, Recovery.
A sentence
It will show the physical, mental and emotional struggles an athlete has to deal with, due to injuries.
A paragraph
My story will give another view on my subject’s life and how the struggles he has to deal with are a lot harder than the viewers would see. I go in-depth with different angles of him to showcase the loneliness, separation and isolation he has to deal with whilst being injured.
Design: Consider the following
How you want your book to look and feel
Hard, stiff, clean, smooth with good clear images and text across all the pages.
Paper and ink
Premium Lustre
Format, size and orientation I used A3 for my landscape photographs and A4 for my portrait photographs.
Binding and cover Standard Landscape Hardcover Image wrap
Title Rise to Recovery
Structure and architecture I have text across a few pages before my images to structure my idea for loneliness and isolation across the storybook.
Design and layout I used some single page photographs for my portrait ones, but for my landscape images, I used a two-page spread layout, with black paper to match the theme of my images, but the paper and text colour changes throughout the essay.
Editing and sequencing I edited my photographs mainly in black and white, but for some images I used colour-popping to show the red and orange throughout basketball. I also, made the images that were still in colour, to all match the other images in colour by having a similar tint on the top of them.
Images and text My images are mainly in black and white but some are in colour with a same tint across all the in-colour images. For my text I used the font ‘High Tower Text’ with size 24pt for titles, 14pt for paragraphs and with a 24pt leading, spacing out my lines.
2. Produce a mood-board of design ideas for inspiration. Look atBLURB online book making website, photo books from photographers or see previous books produced by Hautlieu students on the table in class.
I chose these two images as my front cover image and back cover image. The reason I chose the front cover image, was because it explains my whole theme with the struggles my subject has to deal with through injuries in basketball and the still photograph in the dark, sat underneath the hoop with a spotlight shined down onto him, is very powerful for emotion.
I chose the back cover image to be that multiple photograph of my subject shooting and playing basketball on the court because as the storybook starts, he has the injuries, but as you progress through the storybook, you see he slowly heals and can then play back to normal again in the end. Hence the ‘Rise to Recovery’ title, but with the back cover image, it just shows how he is back to playing and can run and shoot around the whole court again.
I chose black pages as most of my photographs are in black and white, or involve it in the images. Also, black pages helps the photographs show isolation, loneliness and separation from playing basketball with friends.
I added my title ‘Rise to Recovery’ with my second main image after the front cover image, because this photograph is similar to the front cover but instead he is holding a basketball, looking down at it, instead of covering his face with his wrist. Also, it is in black and white to help showcase the physical, mental and emotional struggles that viewers may not be able to see.
I used this image of when he was in a boot from breaking his ankle, but I made it in black and white too, and selected it to go over the top of two pages.
For these photograph’s, I really wanted to keep the theme of black and white, but with the basketballs, shoes and even the graffiti in the background of the first image. I decided to do a colour-popping edit for both of them, only allowing the red and orange in each photographs to be let through resulting in these dark meaningful images.
This title, really expresses how his dreams of playing basketball everyday and night have now been shattered as he has to take onboard all these injuries preventing him from playing and excluding him from friend activities.
I then added these photographs with them all having a similar theme of how my subject ‘Bruce’ is excluded from playing with the rest and has to just sit down and watch from afar. I chose to have one photograph on each side that involves black and white to equal out the balance between the four photographs.
These photograph just involve my full photograph in the first image, with my subject sat down hiding behind his cast on his wrist, holding the basketball, sat under the hoop. But then, the image on the right is after I edited it and drew over his cast with a red, to show the frustration through his cast and injury and also it links to my reference of the girls coat in Schindler’s List.
These images just involve a picture of a basketball hoop against the wall, and a long exposure photograph of the court with all of its lines, on the right, which together is what resembles a basketball court. I made the hoop image in black and white to resemble forgotten/fade. This is because it is not being used anymore as my subject is injured, so it is being forgotten and fading.
I then chose to add this image which I created by making two cut outs of my subject layered on top of one another, with the ‘hue’ tool, which makes him kind of transparent, over the image of a basketball hoop against a wall. I used the title ‘Isolation’ because he is isolated away from everyone and is sat by himself in the dark.
I then changed the background of the paper to a light grey to match my inverted theme of this white inverted photograph of my subject in the same position centre of the hoop sat on a bench, with his jersey and ball darker compared to the rest of the image.
Then I created the title ‘Inverted’ on the next page, with two of the same photographs but in opposite inverts, with one in white and one in black next to each other.
The inverted photograph’s is from this overall image with this one in full colour next to a singular photograph of the hoop at millennium park, with the title on the left ‘Hoops, Ascend’ which resembles how he is ascending back to the top again and back out of injury to full playing.
Finally, I used this image I edited with multiple photographs in one big one, spreading across two pages, but keeping the black and white theme, which shows the overall story, of him having injuries but then after recovering he is rising back to playing again including dunking the basketball.
These are all of the images I have used in my photobook and including my reference images.
This was my idea for my layout with all of my final images but I will change it around.
This is my final layout including my final essay at the back.
For my text throughout the photobook, I used ‘High Tower Text’ font, with size 12pt, for paragraphs and size 24pt for titles. I used size 24pt for leading which spaced out my lines helping my essay look more professional and it was the idea I had in mind. I also used centre lining for all my text because I felt the layout looks better overall and looks better next to my images.
Evaluation
For my evaluation, I chose my final images which are specific to my theme for a lonely, isolated basketball player who has to deal with injuries. But, what my photographs show and tell are the thoughts and feelings not everyone sees, but he has to deal with everyday whilst being unable to play. I used a lot of black and white photographs, or photographs in colour but involve black and white, like when I made just my subject in black and white to showcase how he is left out and/or how he is the one struggling whilst all his friends are playing.
I used black paper for most of my photobook, but for my inverted images, I chose to use a mid-grey colour for the paper, so my images blend nicer against the background.
Also, for my essay at the end, I started the introduction in black paper with white text, but as I got to the historical and theoretical context, I decided to switch the paper and text colour to opposite, so now the paper is white with the text in black and I carried on switching between the shades after each section of my essay.
Virtual Gallery
I created a virtual gallery in Photoshop, transforming my final images to fit in-between the frames against the walls, creating this.
Can truth and realism be shown through photography?
‘A photograph is a secret about a secret. The more it tells you, the less you know.’ Diane Arbus, 1971.
This quote captures photography’s power to tell a story but not the whole story, leaving some elements hidden. Photography is often seen as a way of capturing reality, but it raises a critical question which I will be addressing in this essay – can truth and reality be shown through photography? Truth is about accuracy in a specific moment or detail whereas reality includes the bigger picture. A photograph can capture a visual truth, or it may provoke thoughts as to what is really going on (the reality) or, more often, it can do both.
The reason I chose this theme came about from my background research in photography and practical experimentation with techniques. Also, photography’s ability to capture reality has long been debated and as I’ve grown up as a digital native, I wanted to add my perspective to it. Photography is a powerful method to document the world visually, which in turn, is used to further enhance human understanding of the world. But the fact that it is a physical or digital photograph means that decisions have already been made along the way to either increase or decrease its truthfulness. These decisions include the way photographers choose to frame their subjects, how they choose to edit, and the stories they want to convey, all of which converge to influence how the truth is captured and preserved. I am fascinated by how closely photography can document reality and also how modern photography techniques and technologies can undercover further truths, often in unexpected and surprising ways.
In this essay, I will explore the work of two influential photographers – Henri Cartier-Bresson and Jeff Wall. I will examine the context in which they worked and examine how each of them address the notion of truth and realism from their different positions of ‘spontaneous’ versus ‘staged’ images. I will demonstrate how their work influenced my work with my photograph series ‘Rise to Recovery’ showing an injured basketball player and how his truth can be accurately represented in staged photographs. By discussing the historical context of these photographers and by critically analysing their work, this essay will argue that whilst photography can preserve truth in an instant, it is still always ultimately shaped by the photographer’s own perspective and choices. The Guardian’s Points of View ad, (Guardian, 1986) demonstrates differing perspectives powerfully. A photograph cannot be as real as life itself, but is as close as it gets. Further, can it go beyond literal truths and provoke powerful emotional and deeper truths? Finally, this essay will discuss how photography in the digital age is assisting in uncovering previously unseen truths – adding a further perspective to the truth/reality debate.
Historical/Theoretical context
Photography, since its invention in the 1820s, was developed from scientific experimentation with early processes like the daguerreotype and the calotype. Once the ability to preserve long-lasting images was achieved, photography was viewed as the method to record real life with precision. Early photographers documented nature or scientific images, eg. the moon (Campbell, 2013), and soon photography evolved into an artistic method which reflected wider cultural movements. Realism of the 19th century documented ordinary life, highlighting poverty and injustice aiming for social reform. Works by Jacob Riis (1890) documented New York’s social housing and improved their conditions. In the 20th century, Modernism moved away from the gritty reality towards more subjective expression of life, and Henri Cartier-Bresson’s work is an example of this which will be examined in more detail later. By the mid 20th century, Postmodernism began to challenge photography’s claim to documenting truth. My second photographer Jeff Wall, staged seemingly spontaneous scenes, including ‘Mimic,’(Wall, 1982) shown in Image 1. Demonstrating how photography can manipulate reality very cleverly, as Wall recreated a moment of racial prejudice that he witnessed in Vancouver.
This is particularly relevant to my question of how photography can depict truth and reality, because a photograph simultaneously records reality whilst also constructing a perspective of it. It’s a juxtaposition which I find fascinating, and I feel no other medium is capable of doing this better. The other layer to discuss regarding truth is the Digital Age – the way the photograph is viewed nowadays is key. Whereas photographs were originally physical items, most photographs are now viewed digitally though a screen (Growcoot, 2023), adding levels of complexity. Originally the route was photograph to eyes, but is now photograph to screen to eyes. We also know from debates online, for example the blue/black dress optical illusion photograph (Pearson, 2015), that viewers can receive and interpret the same image very differently (see Image 2).
This means that whatever the photographer’s intention, there is no guarantee that their intension will be received the same. Similarly, we can now use science and special photography (x-rays, UV and infrared) to uncover hidden details in art and photography, as used by The Courtauld Institute in BBC’s Fake or Fortune programme. (BBC, n.d). Also, Metadata, can reveal the truth stored beneath a photograph to prove any manipulation. Truth therefore comes in layers – the immediate, the inferred and the uncovered. Truth and reality have many facets to explore, and in the next sections, will be analysed from two very different angles.
Henri Cartier-Bresson and the Decisive Moment.
Henri Cartier-Bresson’s idea of the ‘decisive moment’ is a central theme to his photography, and he is considered a pioneer of Photojournalism. The decisive moment is the exact moment when everything in a scene comes perfectly together to create an image that tells a complete story (Cartier-Bresson, 1952). His famous photograph ‘Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare’ (1932) shown in Image 3.
Captures a man mid-leap over a puddle with his reflection mirrored below, in black and white with an image of a leaping man on a poster in the distance. Cartier-Bresson showed life as is, with no interference from the photographer. Using a small, portable Leica camera, often strapped to his wrist, he was able to take photos quickly, remain unnoticed, capturing moments in their natural state. Roland Barthes observed in Camera Lucida (Barthes, 1981) that photographs show what ‘has been’ and this fits well with Cartier-Bresson’s images. However, some critics argue that his decisive moment is not as ‘real’ as it seems. Susan Sontag wrote that ‘to photograph is to frame, and to frame is to exclude’ (Sontag, 2003) which applies to Cartier-Bresson’s work. Even though his images look spontaneous and truthful, they are the result of careful planning, framing and waiting for the perfect shot, so showing only a partial reality from his interpretation. He himself seems to agree with Sontag’s view, demonstrated in his quote ‘There is a creative fraction of a second when you are taking a picture. Your eye must see a composition or an expression that life offers you, and you must know with intuition when to click the camera. This is the moment the photographer is creative.’ (Cartier-Bresson, 1957). Therefore, the creativity demonstrates that he knew his images are not real life but a carefully thought out decision of timing and framing. The photographer is deciding what part of the truth to capture and therefore it’s not objective reality.
In my own work, I was inspired by Cartier-Bresson’s focus on storytelling and composition, though I used staging not spontaneity. My photograph ‘Hoops, Shattered Dreams’ shown in image 4.
As part of my project ‘Rise to Recovery,’ shows an injured basketball player sitting alone under an unused hoop. I placed him deliberately against a dark wall emphasising his physical and emotional separation from the game. His head is bowed, a column of light highlights his body and his cast, covering his injured wrist. Whilst my scene is staged, it followed interviews with the subject to understand his story, and the photograph aims to reflect his emotional reality of isolation and frustration – still wanting to participate and feel included by wearing his team kit. This is much like the ‘decisive moment’ which captures the emotional core of a fleeting event, and like him, I used composition to focus the viewer’s attention and create a story within my chosen frame. Further inspired by Cartier-Bresson’s black and white imagery, I used Photoshop to turn my image black and white, darkening the edges and removing windows/light to increase the emotional impact. The resultant image ‘Isolation’ (Image 5).
Evokes increased bleakness, further emphasising emotional truth rather than purely literal truth, confirming that there are levels of truth in photography. I will now explore a different approach to truth via my second photographer.
Jeff Wall and Staged Realism
Jeff Wall’s photography challenges traditional ideas of truth by meticulously staging scenes that feel real. He was known for large-scale images which often resembled cinematic stills or famous paintings, designed to create a deliberate tension between reality and construction. A famous example is ‘The Destroyed Room’ (Wall, 1978) shown in Image 6.
Which depicts a chaotic room with furniture overturned, ripped walls, as if a terrible event has occurred. But absolutely everything is staged, raising questions about whether constructed images can convey truth or not. Wall himself stated ‘What I am interested in is making images that remain truthful to the spirit of the time, even if they are invented’ (American Suburb X, 2020). This highlights his belief that truth can be emotional or conceptual, not just literal. He deliberately hid some items from view, for example behind the upturned mattress, encouraging the viewer to wonder what lies beneath.
A supporter of Wall, Art Historian Michael Fried argued in his book that Wall’s work ‘achieved a sense of realism…that conveys truth and realism through its detailed composition’ (Fried, 2008). Critics though, challenge the idea that staged photography can represent truth at all. John Berger noted ‘Every image embodies a way of seeing’ (Berger, 1972, p.10) suggesting that Wall’s images reflect his personal interpretation of reality rather than an objective view, therefore agreeing with Cartier-Bresson’s view earlier. Further, in an interview with Michael Schwander (Wall, 1994), Jeff Wall stated ‘In photography, there is always an actual moment – the moment the shutter is released. Photography is based in that sense of instantaneous.’ This view acknowledges that even in staged scenes, there is a finite moment when the button is pressed, which connects to the ‘decisive moment’ by Cartier-Bresson. Both acknowledge then that whether a scene is constructed or not, they are both linked by recording a real moment in time – a truth. Wall’s quote also implies like Cartier-Bresson did, that the specific truth captured is still dependent on photographer’s choice. So although this might distance his work from traditional documentary photography, we have already seen earlier how even this doesn’t show objective truth due to photographer’s choice and so it can be argued that Wall’s approach is still valid for reality.
Wall’s use of colour further enhances the emotional impact of his work. In ‘The Destroyed Room’ vibrant red tones dominate the scene to amplify the drama of destruction and draws the viewer’s eye across the chaotic scene. Wall’s strategic use of colour, with bright red in the middle, inspired me to experiment with strategic colour too. I was also reminded of the ‘Girl in the red dress’ from Schindler’s List, (2012) in Image 7.
So, using the same red to depict pain, both emotional and physical, would be worth trying and this is shown in my Image 8, ‘Pain’.
Like Wall, I used staging to explore emotional truths, layered over literal truths. Whilst his work often represents larger dramatic scenes, mine focused on the personal struggles of a single subject. I was inspired by Wall’s decision to hide elements and so my subject’s face and cast are deliberately hidden, masking his physical and emotional pain. Wall’s ability to combine meticulous construction with emotional depth has shaped my understanding of photography as a medium to go beyond documentation to reveal truths about human experiences. Like Wall, I aim to create images that feel authentic in their emotional content, even though they are constructed. The next section examines technological advances adding and uncovering truth in photography in ways that have never been achieved before.
The Digital Age
The rise of digital photography, editing tools and metadata has further transformed the relationship between truth and realism. Photography is no longer limited to capturing only what is in front of the camera, as tools like Photoshop and Lightroom allow photographers to manipulate images as they decide. This has given rise to questions about how authentic certain images are (Bardis, 2004).
In my own work, digital editing played a key role in enhancing the emotional impact of my photographs and I tried multiple approaches – the red cast, use of shadows, brightness, contrast and black and white versions. At one point, I accidentally inverted one of my images during editing, which suddenly revealed a new perspective (Image 8).
It showed unexpected details, such as the logo on the player’s jersey. This happy accident called ‘Inverted’ added depth to the image and became an integral part of my project, demonstrating how digital tools can uncover hidden layers of meaning, even with unintended consequences. My subject recovered from his injury and I took inspiration from Cartier-Bresson’s ‘Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare’ (1932) by photographing my subject mid-leap rising to the hoop. I combined this with the Inverted filter to achieve my resulting image ‘Hoops, Ascend’ (Image 10) set alongside Image 3 for comparison.
However, just as digital tools can unveil truth, the ease of digital manipulation challenges the viewer’s trust in photography overall. As Sontag noted, (Sontag, 1997) photography’s power lies in its perceived connection to reality, but digital editing blurs the line between truth and lies. Metadata (Image 11).
Which records details about how an image was captured and edited, offers one way to maintain transparency in digital photography. Therefore, truth can be challenged but with metadata, it can be confirmed.
I played with the idea of obvious untruths in ‘Twelve, Back,’ (Image 12).
Which combined elements of both photographers’ work. I staged an outdoor scene, with a tripod stood at the top of the court, to capture multiple action shots of him in various positions. Like Cartier-Bresson’s photography experience, I am also an experienced basketball player so I used this to my advantage by anticipating the ‘decisive moment’ shot. Using Photoshop, I then layered multiple cutouts of him over one image, increasing the brightness of his number 12 jerseys and creating shadows underneath to increase the realism. This photograph is a definite record of his emotional and physical truth, but as it’s clearly the same subject in five different positions, it can’t possibly be real. Even so, it may not be real in the image, but it demonstrates that to him, it’s his reality, and he’s back.
Conclusion
During my investigation, I set out to determine whether truth and reality can be shown in photography. My hypothesis was that while photography can show and preserve truth in an instant, it is ultimately shaped by the photographer’s own choices and perspective so cannot capture reality. After research and analysis of two prominent photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson and Jeff Wall, I found that whilst photography can capture the truth, it can never be objective, which confirms my hypothesis. In Cartier-Bresson’s decisive moment approach seen in Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare, this image feels very real and authentic due to its unposed spontaneity. Yet, he still chose what to frame, exclude and include, and when to press, confirmed by his own thoughts on photographer creativity. Jeff Wall’s approach whilst different, by planning, staging and recreating scenes, challenged the idea of reality yet his images still feel true. He also acknowledged photographer choice and the finite moment of pressing the shutter, in agreement with Cartier-Bresson.
My perspective changed throughout my study, as I initially believed only spontaneous shots were truthful. I now realise that staged photography also shows realism, sharing many similarities with the spontaneous approach, as both are still subjective, therefore one method is not more ‘real’ than the other. I also discovered much more, including that truth and reality has layers. I initially believed photography could only show literal truth but I demonstrated that photographs can convey deep, emotional truths and like my injured player, can capture his reality, even if staged. Therefore photography can show reality, just not the literal reality I originally expected. I was influenced to try new techniques, from colourisation (Image 8).
To digital editing to increase the emotional truth of a scene effectively (Image 12).
Through to my favourite image, ‘Inverted’ in Image 9.
Which reveals hidden elements. Image 8 didn’t work as well as I wanted so I will experiment further with the red colour/shading. My images were mainly focused on the subject, I’d like to try shots from what he sees eg. looking up through the hoop. I discovered metadata stored in digital photographs to prove or disprove its truth, and together with modern scientific techniques, is helping to uncover factual truths.
I only analysed two photographers and so there are more photographers and techniques to consider for future studies. There is also the angle of the viewer and social media – I touched on it in this essay regarding the modern screen-use, potentially changing what each viewer sees, interprets and shares and this could be investigated further to determine if viewers receive what the photographer intended.
Finally, whether through spontaneous moments, staged scenes, or through digitally-enhanced images, photography has the power to tell a story and get as close to the truth and reality as any medium. Diane Arbus’ quote at the start suggested that photography’s secrets lie not just in what it shows, but in what it leaves hidden, and this essay proved this to be the case, with photographer creativity always making that choice.
Images
Image 1. ‘Mimic (1982)’ Jeff Wall.
Image 2. ‘Photo finally solves the black and blue/white and gold dress debate (2015)’ Nick Pearson.
Image 3. ‘Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare (1932)‘ Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Image 4. ‘Hoops, Shattered Dreams (2024)’ Tommy Little.
Image 5. ‘Isolation (2024)’ Tommy Little.
Image 6. ‘The Destroyed Room (1978)’ Jeff Wall.
Image 7. ‘Girl in Red Symbolism (2012)’ Schindler’s List.
Image 8. ‘Pain (2024)’ Tommy Little.
Image 9. ‘Inverted (2025)’ Tommy Little.
Image 3&10. ‘Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare (1932)‘ Henri Cartier-Bresson. ‘Hoops, Ascend (2025)’ Tommy Little.
amer4127 (2020) Evocations of the everyday: The street pictures of jeff wall (2009), AMERICAN SUBURB X. Available at: https://americansuburbx.com/2016/06/evocations-of-the-everyday-the-street-pictures-of-jeff-wall-2009.html (Accessed: 27 January 2025).
Arbus, D. (1971), quoted in Smithsonian Magazine (2018) A Window into the World of Diane Arbus. Available at: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/window-world-diane-arbus-180968861/ (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
Bardis, A. (2004) ‘Digital photography and the question of realism’, Journal of Visual Art Practice, 3(3), pp. 209–218. doi: 10.1386/jvap.3.3.209/0.
Barthes, R. (1981) Camera Lucida: Reflections on Photography. Translated by R. Howard. New York: Hill and Wang, p. 85.
BBC One. (no date) Fake or fortune?, could a painting described as ‘in the style of sir Joshua Reynolds’ have something murkier lurking beneath the paint? (no date) BBC One. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gj6sh3 (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
Berger, J. (1972) Ways of Seeing. London: BBC and Penguin Books, p.10
Campbell, E.F. (2013) The first photograph of the Moon, Time. Available at: https://time.com/3805947/the-first-photograph-of-the-moon/ (Accessed: 29 January 2025).
Cartier-Bresson, H. (1952) The Decisive Moment. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Cartier-Bresson, H. (1957) ‘Photography is not like painting’, The Washington Post, 10 November.
Fried, M. (2008) Why Photography Matters as Art as Never Before. New Haven: Yale University Press.
Growcoot, M. (2023) Almost all photos are now taken on smartphones, according to study, PetaPixel. Available at: https://petapixel.com/2023/06/20/almost-all-photos-are-now-taken-on-smartphones-according-to-study/ (Accessed: 23 January 2025).
Guardian ad 1986 – Points of View advert – YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_SsccRkLLzU (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
Henri Cartier-Bresson. behind the Gare St. Lazare. 1932 | moma. Available at: https://www.moma.org/collection/works/98333 (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
Jeff Wall, ‘Jeff Wall interviewed by Martin Schwander’, Jeff Wall, Restoration [Kunstmuseam Luzern and. Kunsthalle Dusseldorf, 1994]. 22-30.
Jeff Wall, Mimic. (1982) Transparency in Lightbox. 198x229cm [78x90in]. Collection, Odessa Hendeles Art Foundation, Toronto.
Metadata forensics: Uncovering hidden truths in digital files (2024) Metadata Forensics: Uncovering Hidden Truths in Digital Files | Ironhack Blog. Available at: https://www.ironhack.com/us/blog/metadata-forensics-when-files-can-speak-and-reveal-the-truth (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
Modern classics: Jeff Wall – the destroyed room, 1978 (2021) artlead. Available at: https://artlead.net/journal/modern-classics-jeff-wall-destroyed-room-1978/ (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
Pearson, N. (2015) Photo finally solves the black and blue/white and gold dress debate, 9News. Available at: https://www.9news.com.au/world/photo-finally-solves-the-black-and-blue-white-and-gold-dress-debate/15465485-dad8-45d2-8da0-8d20558b5013 (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
Riis, J. (1890) How the other half lives, by Jacob Riis (1890) How The Other Half Lives, by Jacob Riis: Available at: https://www.historyonthenet.com/authentichistory/1898-1913/2-progressivism/2-riis/index.html (Accessed: 23 January 2025).
Scharf, A. Henri Cartier-Bresson, Encyclopœdia Britannica. Available at: https://www.britannica.com/biography/Henri-Cartier-Bresson (Accessed: 24 January 2025).
Sontag, S. (2003) Regarding the Pain of Others. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, p. 46.
Sontag, S. (1997) On Photography. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.
The girl in red symbolism (2012) Schindler’s List. Available at: https://schindlerslisteight.wordpress.com/character-analysis/the-girl-in-red-symbolism/ (Accessed: 25 January 2025).
DEADLINE: Essay Introduction-Pg 1 Draft MUST be handed in Monday 20 Jan 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.
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: Can truth and realism be shown through photography.
Opening quote “Photography is the truth. The moment you capture it, you preserve the reality, but only for an instant.” – Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Introduction (250-500 words): What is your area study? Which artists will you be analysing and why? Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Cindy Sherman. 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.
For my first photoshoot, I went into the studio and took multiple photos of my friend who has tore her posterior talofibular and anterior talofibular ligaments so she is in a boot. But that helps out my theme as my theme is all about injured players who used to play everyday but now have to go back to normal day to day life in their cast/crutches.
I also used my other friend who deeply loves basketball, and let him use a pair of crutches and he had his leg behind him like he almost, ‘doesn’t have a leg, or its broken and he’s just holding it behind’. I also took a lot of photos of my friend just talking to someone else whilst on the crutches because I wanted him in the moment just looking like he doesn’t know.
Photoshoot 2
Hoops ‘n’ Dreams
For my second photoshoot which is my main photo ideas, I chose the idea with one of my teammates who struggles a lot with injuries. I have an idea of him and how is daily struggles that lead to loneliness and sadness having worked and trained all his life to play basketball, but due to having constant injuries involving breaking his ankle 3 times, and currently he has a broken wrist from basketball. He can only watch our games, support the team and can’t train anything like he used to at his full potential and intensity.
Many of these photos, I had an idea of how a few people are playing basketball, whilst he is just watching from the side of the court, looking sad and an idea of ‘what if’ (I didn’t get injured), or (where would I be at today without injuries). I really love this photo of him just holding a basketball with a cast on his wrist sat on a table below a basketball hoop with no emotion in his face/looking down at himself.
Additionally, a large factor involved in his backstory is that despite him owning many basketball shoes, Jerseys, shorts and skills, he is unable to use them anymore at this current moment because of his injury. As a result of this, he continues to wonder, ‘why did I train so hard to just constantly get injured.’
For my edits, I only changed the Clarity which makes the photo look more textured instead of smooth, because I felt like, the use of the concrete walls, old-styled table and basketball hoop matches his leg hair/muscle outlines and bone outlines to also not just show loneliness but to show the masculinity as well. I also added a radial gradient to help make a fake ‘spotlight’ over my subject to show light shining down on him making him the main focus point in the photo, to allow the viewer to see his emotion and expression.
I also have the idea of a team all doing a group huddle with their hands all together celebrating as a team, or getting ready to go into the game/half time. With Bruce (my subject) on the bench not with the team feeling sad and lonely again wishing he was part of the team and could play. I can achieve this by going to Langford or Beulieu courts which have basketball games every week and set it up with the players and my subject.
Another photo I took was this photo with the placement I got my subject to be sat in looking sad, holding his wrist, whilst the other people are playing together shooting around.
I then decided to make the left side of the photo in black and white with his arm in black and white as well to show difference as well.
I did minimal edits to the exposure and then added a radial gradient over my subject and used the brush tool to make the background black and white as well.
I have started a multi-exposure photo edit using photoshop, with a lot of different photos of Bruce all in different angles or places with the main photo of him sitting on the table looking down under the hoop.
I Started with this photo of my subject in the middle of the page. I chose this one because there is a hoop above him and with the light shining on him it helps show he is the main subject and could be used as the front cover for my story book. I then decided to crop off the two sides of the walls and replace it with a black background.
Then did it on both sides and imported another photo of Bruce sat down and removed the background off of him. Then created a light shadow/black outline around him to make him suit and blend in with the black background.
I then used the brush tool on photoshop and drew on the sharp edges from the black backgrounds to the main photo, the line in-between I didn’t want it to look sharp and also drew over the yellow line at the bottom and the top blue squares which I didn’t want in my photo.
Then I imported another photo of my subject but this photo was him with his body and face turned away from the camera so you can see his Jersey and number, and his arm resting on his knee. I also put him bigger than the other photos because I feel like for the best multi-exposure photo edit, all of the individual photos need to be different sizes and in different directions/places.
I then made the photo black and white because I want to show the theme of sadness/loneliness and the black and white overlay, really persuades the end photos and the sadness behind injuries in sport.
I then changed the lighting, brightness, exposure and contrast on each photo of Bruce. I chose to increase the brightness but also increase the contrast. So, his jersey stands out more, his wrist cast also stands out more, and overall it makes the whole photo darker but the subject stand out more and is better for a main cover as I want the viewers to focus on him.
Next, I imported this photo of his arm when he took a layup shot. I like this photo because it’s not his body or face and so there is no emotion through it, but, with his arm and wrist all covered up and in a cast, it shows the pain and struggles he has to deal with just to play again.
I then made it black and white to match the other photos and again increased the brightness which increased his arm sleeve brightness and the lighter parts on the ball. But, also increased the contrast so the whole arm/fingers/ball stands out compared to the dark/black background.
I next needed one last photo to take up the top middle/right space of my multi-exposure photo cover. But, I chose this photo of Bruce my subject going for a dunk before he had the injury with no cast on. But, I am not too sure how I want to implement the photo background involving the actual hoop he was dunking on and so I tried using the rubber tool and rubbed out an area of the black for the background to be seen but I will redo it and either involve a shape as the background or use the rubber tool again but make it look less random.
I also increased the brightness and contrast for this photo as you can see his jersey has very bright parts on and his knees/legs are very reflective and have bright areas too.
What I will do next, is fix the background of the top right photo of my subject, either using shapes or I will use the rubber and properly draw out a background. I could also try merge the brick background from the middle into the black sides as they look good together but they are still very opposite and don’t quite blend well yet.
I fixed the top right photo keeping the background around him dunking in the full photo because I like how it looks, cutting out the outsides of it though and the bottom of it just above my bottom picture of Bruce.
I also increased the brightness of each image as I felt like they were all too dark and now you can see them all clearer, especially the top right photograph, and you can see more emotion in Bruce’s face in the bottom right photograph.
‘In the Shadow of the Hoop’
I have done another small photoshoot at Millennium Park with my Subject Bruce. I chose Millennium Park because this is where he started playing basketball on an outside court with restrictions such as a net above the court which doesn’t allow high shots. Bad grip on the floor which is tarmac which has also caused past injuries to him.
For the beginning of my photoshoot I used Sports Mode on the camera with these settings.
It made my photos have Low ISO and low F-stop with a very fast Exposure time. The reason for these settings are set to that are because my subject is moving whilst shooting the basketball and so I have to capture him in frame and the ball moving in the air.
For these photos I used portrait mode with these settings.
Twelve Back
I am starting a multi image photograph with a lot of different photos of Bruce (my subject), playing around the court taking different shots or doing different moves.
I started by cropping the left side of the image to make it more central and added brightness and contrast onto Bruce making his jersey and the ball and even his arms and legs stand out more.
I then added another photo of Bruce doing a spin move with the ball, I removed the background around him so its just his figure and I also increased the brightness and contrast on him too, to stand out more for the overall image.
I then added another photo of my subject, but what I really like is how his jersey is white so it stand out a lot when I increase the brightness and contrast of him and also how the number 12 from his jersey is showcased all around in the photo and that is what the overall photograph will be called.
Next I added this photo of Bruce taking a jump-shot with him in the air, I raised him up because he was in the air whilst shooting and I will need to add a shadow below him to make him seem more ‘in the air’. I also added more brightness and contrast onto him to match the other images.
I finally added this last photo of Bruce next to the free throw line with his number 12 fully showing to the camera, with increasing the contrast and brightness as well so he stands out the most.
I then decided to make the whole image in black and white which helped with the different brightness from each photograph of Bruce and I when I add shadows to each photo of Bruce it will look better.
This is the end photo I created on Photoshop with the shadows involved as well but I wanted to add a Vignette around the whole photo which I did in Lightroom creating this.
In this photograph you can see my idea with the shadows under Bruce/my subject. But, the drawing shadows I made, I don’t like so I will try Photoshop Generative Fill to create shadows.
This is my overall final photo of Bruce my subject playing basketball around Millennium Park Court and I am calling it Twelve, Back.
Another Photo edit I have created was an inverted photo of my subject, starting with this photo.
I liked this photo because it is a little blurry with the hoop, my subject and the ball all fuzzy and out of focus. But, what I did is I used another photo where my subject is sat in the same position doing the same pose, but in focus, then selected his outline, copied it, pasted it over the fuzzy out of focus photo over the top.
It looked better because my subject was in focus but the background and environment was all blurry and fuzzy, creating a main focus.
I then cropped the image to be more central and in the rule of thirds with the hoop and my subject on the lines. But, I also increased the brightness, contrast and exposure so he is more lighter and brighter than the background so he is the main focal point for the viewers.
I then added an inverted filter over the top of the whole image creating this black and white overall photograph with my subject darker in the middle showing the sadness looking down at himself, holding the basketball, not showing his face, sat under the hoop.
I decided to keep his shoes up to his socks still blurry and rubbed out with 50% opacity rubber tool, the top focused layer because I don’t want the viewer focusing on the bottom half of the photo, only my subject in the middle sat on the table under the hoop, with the backboard also a bit darker then the rest which also stands out but not as much as my subject as that is the main view for this photo.
I then didn’t like the top of the photo with those glass squares, so I cropped the photo down to the top of the backboard which created this photograph.
I then used generative fill on Photoshop 2025, to replace the top with fake brick layers/get rid of the darker areas and be grey instead, resulting in the final image.
This is my overall photograph for it, but what I might do next, is actually keep it un-cropped like the photograph with the glass panels, but then use generative fill to just replace them with grey bricks so the photo still looks far away and long with the hoop on the wall above him.
I also did a plain black and white photo of my subject sat under the hoop, showing sadness emotion but without his face being seen, instead being covered by his cast on his wrist. I will next photoshop the top part again getting rid of the glass panels to make the photo more focused on him and the hoop.
Then I will create a photo of my subject under the hoop like the one above, but instead it will all still be in black and white, apart from his wrist/cast. This will be in Red, to show the focus point, and show more emotion through the photo such as anger and the frustration he has to deal with, from getting injured constantly and not being able to play but only to watch from afar.
I chose this environment because it is closed off with no natural lighting, I also positioned my subject Bruce to be against the dark brick wall which is cold and can help pursue the sadness and loneliness of my subject. Finally, with him covering his face with his injured wrist with the cast on, makes the viewer concentrate and think more about what emotions and feelings he is going through. It also resembles how he couldn’t be involved in the action on the real court, instead he was sat down on a table under a redundant hoop away from the other people playing.
Another aspect of this image is how my subject in his training gear, whilst not being able to train, shows his dedication, passion and optimism for the sport, that he will hope to play once again. But it is too painful to watch other people running and jump around, whilst he can’t participate.
I started editing this photograph of my subject attempting to dunk a basketball. I managed to capture this action shot mid-jump because of my knowledge of basketball, I can anticipate when the perfect snapshot would be.
I started by increasing the brightness on my subject and the overall image whilst lowering the contrast overall as well. I did this because I wanted to use the inverted filter again, so he would have to stand out brighter, to match my cover photo of my subject sat on the bench in a white invert.
I tried both inverts with my subject in black with the black objects in white, and the black in white. I preferred the black overall inverted photo because it is opposite to the front cover, which tells the viewer how he started in injury and has to recover, and at the end of the photobook, it will be this darker inverted photo of my subject jumping and playing fully again because he is fully recovered.
I then wanted to try the other side of the invert, with my subject in white with his shorts and the number still staying in black. I did this by adding another layer of him over the top and just inverting him. But, I felt he was too bright, so I decreased the brightness and contrast on the copied layer to separate him from the background better resulting with this final photo.
I created this image of my subject who I positioned centre, underneath the basketball hoop, sat on a bench hiding behind his cast, hiding his face. I made the photo in black and white to show the emotion through this photograph, with it all in black and white to show isolation and sadness, but with the cast in red to show frustration because he has all this anger from these injuries and that he can’t play because of them. Also, I related it and got inspiration from Schindler’s List, which in this movie, it is all made in black and white, apart from one singular thing, which is this young girl’s red coat. This created another sense for the movie to stand out and point out the struggles they all have to go through and later you see the girl in her coat dead. I matched the red cast to her dress to show the main focus point about his injury and the reasons behind it, like how it tells the viewer the struggles and sadness, he has to go through with the injuries.
I created this photo from using the plain background of the hoop, then cutting out separate photo of my subject sat down, crossed arms and lowering his head. I layered him twice, one on top of the other and then used the ‘Hue’ mode to make him transparent, and the other layer using lighten mode to make the whole two photographs of him brighter.
Tom Hunter does similar style photos to Philip-Lorca diCorcia with the still, staged photos with the theme of loneliness. Also, Tom Hunter is a London-based British artist working in photography and film. His photographs often reference and reimagine classical paintings.
Emotional: The effect of these images makes me feel sadness, with a use of loneliness joined, this is because a lot of his photos are very dull, dark and gives a ‘lost’ sense in them. There is no stereo type for them but it shows how they might not have money or might be struggling with something. They also have no emotion in their faces, which help express the sadness and depression.
Visual: These photos are very central based with the person being the main focus in their environment. They are also on the darker shade of editing with commonly not looking at the camera with light coming in either through the natural light like the window, or the sun on the woman in the grass, or an electrical light like the lamp on the second photo, but even the lamp makes the photo look dull.
Technical: The people are always in the centre of the photo or if there is two people like the first one with the woman and her baby, they are both evenly each side with the woman holding a piece of paper in the centre of the photo.
Conceptual: These photos make theses subjects look lonely or make them look like they are struggling with something to showcase it through the photos that many people wouldn’t expect with their day to day lifes.
Contextual:
All of these photos have a similar theme with both women in the last two photos by themselves expressing sadness, or being lost, or almost having an idea of ‘no plan for their life’.
The first photo involves a women with her baby in a house/flat that looks run down, whilst looking at her bills or some piece of paper to do with money. This gives an idea to the photo that she might not have enough money to support herself and her baby and doesn’t know what to do.
I can use Tom Hunter as another artist reference because firstly, he has similar photos to Philip-Lorca diCorcia but also, for my actual photoshoot theme, with the basketball player/team, I can photoshoot them ‘expressing sadness’ after a game loss, or maybe photoshoot the whole team happy celebrating together after a win, but then focusing on one player after they all leave and go home with him regretting plays and mistakes he made during the game linking back to the sadness.
Philip-Lorca diCorcia uses a lot of still, dull, no emotion photos that involve a lot of loneliness throughout his photos.
There is a specific photo he uses which is called ‘Bruno. 1993’. I think this photo resembles the ‘Ophelia’ photo which many artists have recreated before.
I think his photos are all staged with having a constant theme of odd-looking people stood or sat down by themselves, or showing loneliness in their house or their environment, but with his ‘Bruno. 1993’, photo I think it was his version of Ophelia.
With the grass, forest theme all around and with the person in the middle lying on their back with there arms either side, maybe it’s trying to show they died, or passed away peacefully, but diCorcia used a baby instead of a women to show his take on this recreation.
I will be producing two photoshoots, with one being a document – (realism/ factual/ public) and the other photoshoot being tableaux (romanticism/ fiction/staged).
Documentary For my Documentary/realism and factual photoshoot, I will be using ideas such as street photography and a mix of environmental portraiture going around town/popular places in Jersey and taking different photos of how different people live there life, or what they do for work and how their lifestyle is. For another photoshoot, I want to take multiple photos of how the traffic builds up either on the avenue or near the tunnel underneath the roundabout in town.
I have another better idea, of going to a bonfire night with a lot of people around watching the bonfire and fireworks and taking photos of random couples hugging, having arms around each other, maybe even kissing each other whilst a firework goes off. This may turn out not as good as I imagine because it will be very dark and especially because there will constant flashing lights from the fire works, plus the fire flames from the bonfire.
Tableaux For my Tableaux photoshoot I have multiple ideas of either masculinity and femininity with showing different stereotypes or flipping the stereotypes around. Another idea would be about a story line with two friends meeting up to either sell drugs, or a different story line with them meeting up. Another idea links with the idea I just mentioned, but instead it could be a crime scene where one kills another and hides his body or similar thoughts to that. Finally, could do a photoshoot with either emotions or phobias such as claustrophobia with a photo of someone trapped in a small place surrounding themselves.
I went to the fireworks/bonfire night and these are some of the photos I took.
I selected a few photos I want to edit which are these photos.
Here I really liked the use of the bonfire with the grass almost path to the bonfire, which I can edit to create an essential ‘fake’ pathway which leads to the bonfire using Black and White on the outside of the photo with uplifting the green in the grass and the orangey/red bonfire.
In this photo I really like the use of both a male and female sat down watching the fireworks over them, I could of gotten lower to the ground and centred the fireworks in between them, but I have an idea of maybe either keeping them both ‘alive’ in the photo and in colour, or creating a B/W silhouette around one of the couple, with an idea of ‘The other partner wishing loved one was watching the fireworks with them’, but they are as a “ghost” sat next to them in B/W, sort of photo.
Something sort of like this where the male partner remembers when they watched the fireworks together in the past, she was next to him watching the fireworks but she isn’t physically there, just spiritually watching next to him.
Started by designing and drawing out a mood board, with explaining what each term, ‘Observe, Seek and Challenge’ meant. Then got stuck on ideas, so started to draw different icons around the title such as, hearts, lighting bolts, flowers, waves, genders, even square roots, to try give me ideas.
This ended up helping as now I have an idea that I want to do which involves waves and surfing or something alone the 5 mile road which involves a surfer with his board and next to this bungalow.
My next idea involves two basketball players, one being very tall whilst the other isn’t so tall and give a documentary photoshoot of how they get ready pre-games or how they play in-game.
Another idea is to showcase the difficulties and challenges between male and female basketball and why they can’t play in the same league. Also, how different athletes get ready before the game and play during the game.
Sam Taylor-Johnson spoke about how ‘Men act and women appear. Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at.’ This is showing and explaining the ‘Male gaze’ arguing that it has an indirect influence, forcing women to unconsciously ‘self-police’, their own behaviour.
Finally, I have an idea which I will go forward with, which involves using my friend who is very into basketball and plays it everyday and night. But, he gets injured a lot, so I am basing my idea for observe, seek and challenge around him and showing where he trains, (Langford/Beaulieu), where he started, (millennium park), who he plays with, (the coach, the team), his injury signs like, scars, stitches, casts, crutches.
Langford Sports Centre, which is the main place we train at and the place my Subject trains the most.
Beaulieu Sports Hall, which is where most of the games are held at and one of the main courts in Jersey.
Millennium Park, the outside court we all started playing basketball at especially my subject Bruce. It doesn’t have the skatepark in now so I will have to go take photos of it in the current time.
Demonstrating how photography can manipulate reality very cleverly, as Wall recreated a moment of racial prejudice that he witnessed in Vancouver. 
