Vanessa Winship was born 1960 and is a British photographer who works on a series of long term projects of portrait, landscape, reportage and documentary photography.
Vanessa Winship studied film before teaching photography in London. She shortly joined Agence VU’ in 2005 and then began long-term projects in the Balkans with her husband, who is also a photographer called Georges Gerogiou. She prefers black and white and portrait format because it represents a bare and frontal. tone. She became known for her series on Anatolian schoolgirls in uniform, published in the book Sweet Nothings. Her work is raw, she doesn’t show this sweet and fluffy side to school girl, she extremely and methodically frames little girls who pose seriously, with serious eyes, clearly showing the backgrounds, etc classroom and mountainous.
In 2011, she began a trip to the United States that lead to the publication of the book ‘She Dances on Jackson’, whose title refers to a missed photograph. It was description of a scene she was unable to capture. Portraits, landscapes and urban views follow one another to form a poetic and melancholic vision of the country, made of details and interstices.
These projects have mainly been in the Eastern European part of the world but also in the USA. Vanessa created lots of books and some include Schwarzes Meer (2007), Sweet Nothings (2008) and She Dances on Jackson (2013).
Her first exhibition was at Fundación Mapfre gallery in Madrid in 2014. Her actual first major in UK solo exhibition was at a famous Barbican Art Gallery in London (2018) Her work has also been exhibited twice in the National Portrait Gallery in London and noticeably in Rencontres d’Arles in France.
Vanessa has won two World Press Photo Awards, ‘Photographer of the Year’ at the Sony World Photography Awards, the HCB Award (the first woman to do so) and in 2018 an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society. She is a member of Agence Vu photography agency.
Jason Jackson is a visual artist specializing in photography. Originally he was hailing from Riverhead, New York, however he has resided in Harlem for over 20 years. Jackson is extremely talented at illustrating current events through the lens of candid and spontaneous moments of everyday life. Most of his work is mainly based on Documentarian, Street, Travel and Portrait Photographer. He has lots of work where he shows an environmental portrait.
Some of his work is in black and white which I quite liked and want to use as an editing technique in my photos. His work is quite raw and harsh and tends to show the political climate and culture all around the world. He quotes “Shoot with authenticity and let the picture tell the story.” which really inspired me when it came to think about how I was shooting my pictures and really allowed me to be engaged in my work.
He also says, “Also, being a Black photographer I do believe that I have an obligation and responsibility to capture the “Black experience” in my work.
Some of his pictures,
Jackson did lots lots of projects, these are some of the names of his projects:
NYC STREETS.
Black Lives Matter, NYC.
NYC COLOUR.
EL Rostro Flea Market.
Mermaid Parade.
Loisaida Street Festival.
Street Gymnasts of Madrid
NYC STREETS
Black lives matter, NYC
NYC COLOUR
EL Rostro Flea Market.
Mermaid Parade.
Loisaida Street Festival.
Street Gymnasts of Madrid
Image analysis of one of the pictures above.
Technical: The lighting in the pictures seems to be taken with natural lighting. You can see that it is taken outside where light from the sun was very present. Even if the picture is edited in black and white, it is evident that the picture was well lit. The picture is extremely focused. You can tell the shutter speed is high because this picture is candid but also professional so to freeze the moment/movement, shutter speed needs to be increased. This picture also has depth of field and is quite soft. The picture has good exposure because, even though it was edited in black and white the light in this picture is truly clear. The trees are blurred and not focused. The people are the focus especially the man in the Centre sitting down. Lastly the picture has a cold tone to it because of the black and white.
Contextual & Conceptual: Although the context of this picture is not clear even after much research, El Rastro Flea Market is a market in Madrid which is among the most popular open-air flea markets in the city. It is held on Sundays and public vacations and offers a wide variety of products. The market is known for its variety of new and previously owned products, as well as the many antique shops surrounding the area. In my understanding, this picture shows a sense of sonder. Sonder means the profound feeling of realizing that everyone, including strangers passing in the street, has a life as complex as one’s own, which they are constantly living despite one’s personal lack of awareness of it. The man is the symbol of sonder. As you can see in the picture, everyone is in their own life, living and constructing their own life without worrying about other people’s lives, focusing on themselves. The man symbolises how just stopping for a moment and becoming uncomfortably aware from your surroundings, you realise that you are not the only one living and doing your own thing. The man is procrastinating about something, or he was tired and exhausted of sitting all day waiting for some type of income from the things he is selling on the floor but not having any luck because of people’s ignorance and self-absorbance.
Visual:
Color: black and white, however there are some lighter white and blacks. It is not just bland, black, and white without shading. It has shading.
Tone: the tone in this picture varies, there are some light tones but some tones that are quite dark, mostly seen in clothes that are dark colored or just black.
Texture: The picture has a variety of textures. On the back, where there are trees, it is evident that the trees are quite blurred so not as focused but then if you look where the man is sitting in the center, the picture is much sharper and has more depth.
Form: the picture is overall 3D,
Pattern: in this picture there is quite a lot of repetition. There are lots of people, a lot of them are doing something, busy. There are lots of trees too.
Space: The space in this picture is quite full. There is not any part of the picture where there is a certain stillness to it. It is busy and chaotic.
Composition: This picture does not have any type of organization because it is a candid picture not professional, so the photographer did not organize it or purposefully set up the background like that. Some parts of people are not in frame so again it means that the setting was not organized. This photo was taken from eye level and has contrast between different shades of black and white. It does not follow the rule of thirds as lots of the space in the picture is full, so it does not the subject in the left or right third of an image, leaving the other two thirds more open.
Environmental portrait photography is the art of taking pictures that is used to tell a person’s story via its connection to what they are surrounded (environment) by in the picture. This connection regularly reviews the message that the environmental portrait photographer wants the viewer’s eye to receive.
Environment portrait is not as important for the end result as it is for other types of images that are produced. Environmental portrait photos can be obtained by doing either a candid or a staged photoshoot. However staged pictures are much more professional than candid pictures because most of the times candid pictures are taken there is movement which is not really professional.
My intentions for these photos was to produce a diverse set of photos that still followed the theme that I was asked to follow. For an example, for the still life arrangement of objects , I had a diverse set of objects yet they all connected to each other, how? well I wanted to create a mysterious/crime story with the arranged objects. The use of the hat was to show someone hiding their identity, the car to show that it can be used to flee, the class bottle like object was to show that maybe alcohol was involved, the food was to portray stolen goods, the candle was to imply that it was a dark crime and finally the animal was to show that an animal was involved in this dark crime.
For the tools I didn’t have a theme or story I wanted to show, I was inspired by Walker Evans work but I also wanted to corporate some of Darren Harvey-Regan work into my photoshoot. Like Walker Evans wanted to show was the simplicity yet beauties of common tools. I was able to show that. I took pictures of single tools, made sure that when I was editing them I was showing the details just like Walker yet I didn’t have the old look with my photos, I made them look more modern just like Darren’s by having a white and clear background instead of a black and white background like Walker.
I learnt a lot of things when it comes to practical. I learned how aperture, shutter speed and ISO is so important when taking photos. Setting them to the right setting is extremely important and is dependant on what types of photoshoots are being shoot. For an example if you want to photoshoot something that is moving, you should have a slower shutter speed. A lower shutter speed will also help create a darker scenery and having a higher shutter speed will illuminate the photo, increasing the lighting in the photo. If you are photographing a something, depending on how much or how little lighting there is, you should change the ISO. If the aperture is too low, the depth of field is low which is good for photos that are close ups but not good for photos that have need to be taken with a higher depth of field.
Theory wise, I learnt that almost everything, if not, everything has meaning when it comes to photography. When I was researching about the theory part in Still Life, I found out that in Northern European Renaissance was an idea that people love the pleasures of life, the things that make them feel important or wealthy, and yet it all means nothing because time soon passes and we die. Objects that were used to represent this was things like skulls which meant, ‘the certainty of mortality’ and burnt candles, ‘the passing of time’. Everything in photography has meaning. Although Still Life in before the 20th century meant various things, from the 20th and to 21st century, Still life is more of a reflection of an artists style and because of this Still Life paintings in the 20th century became more abstract and unrealistic images.
I learnt that most famous photographers photos expressed their views or shouted for ‘help’ using photography. For an example, Walker Evans, who was one of the photographer that we researched and had to produce photos based off of his work, was a talented photographer who expressed the effects of the depression and telling the story of the Americans in working class. His project. ‘beauties of common tools’, showed the simplicity yet hard working side of common tools. I think he did that to show people a different way of viewing working class. The working class are just like common tools, they are hard working yet they are so underappreciated. I strongly believe that, he was trying to show that with his project ‘beauties of common tools’. So I learnt photographer work always have some type of meaning, even if some have more depth than others.
Lastly, I learnt that presenting your project is very important because you provide a clear, detailed representation of what you want people to see your work as. If you don’t properly present your photos then its most likely that people won’t care for your work, but if you present your work with such creativity yet simplicity, it is more likely that people will appreciate your work and clearly see your vision.
These were the links that helped me understand more about the context of still life and links that inspired me to produce my final products.
In this picture I rated, coloured and flagged my photos so that I could have an idea of what pictures I liked most and so that I could edit the pictures that I liked without editing the unnecessary pictures.
This was my set up. I took my all photos from the top which meant that I had to get on top of a chair and take the photo from there so that I could properly take the photo. I placed the tools in the middle of the white paper and then free handed with my camera and made sure my hands were stable enough and then took the photos when I was satisfied with the position of the tool. I took some in landscape and some in portrait because some objects were larger but some objects looked really good in landscape but better in portrait. my camera had the setting where when I took a picture the light on the left flashed. I didn’t have a continues light shining on my tools.
For this photo I wanted to enhance the shadows and colour of the tool. I kept temperature and tint the untouched, increased exposure for the photo to be brighter, clarity to increase the details in the photo, dehaze to increase the contrast in flatter areas and vibrancy to bring more intensity to colours that were ‘muted’. Then I decreased the shadows so that the shadows were more evident. I kept the highlights, contrast, whites, blacks, texture and saturation untouched because it didn’t add much to the picture and was unnecessary. This photo was taken free hand, I was standing on top of chair to give me height so that I could take a picture from the top. The photo was taken with a flash setting so when I took the photo the light on the left flashed.
For this photo I wanted to give it more of a homey feel to it so I increased the temperature to make it warmer, decreased the tint so that I could affect the mood and later enhance it increasing other parts of the photo, increased the contrast to give the picture a more lively look, decrease the highlights to recover some of the details that aren’t as apparent, increased the blacks so that I can make a better use of the tonal range of the photo, increased the texture to show more of the details in the books, increased the clarity so that the letters in the book was much clearer and lastly decreased the vibrancy so that some of the brighter tones in the picture were ‘deafened’. I kept exposure, whites shadows, dehaze and saturation untouched because I felt like it didn’t add much to the photo.
For this picture I wanted to highlight the rust in the wrench so I kept the temperature, tint, exposure and dehaze untouched because it didn’t do anything useful to my photo. To highlight the rust I increased the exposure to make the photo brighter therefore it increased the colour of the rust, decreased the contrast to soften the image, not give it such a rough tone to it, increased the highlights to highlight some of the lightest parts in the photo, decreased the shadows so that it increased light in some of parts of the photo that are quite dark, increased the whites to make the background much lighter, increased the blacks to bring out the darkness of the tool, increased the texture to show the detail of the tools and show the texture of the rust, decreased the clarity to create a more smooth tone in the picture so that is isn’t as ‘rough’, increased the vibrancy to make darker parts of the tool really come out and become present and lastly I increased the saturation so that the rust on the tool would become more visible which was what I was aiming for.
For this photo I wanted to make the red on the tool really pop out and I also wanted to make the photo warmer. I kept exposure, whites, and dehaze untouched because they didn’t do any good to the photo. To give the photo life I increased the temperature and tint to give it a warmer tone, decreased the contrast to make the photo a little muted so its not as harsh which is the opposite to warm, increased the highlights to make areas that are lacking of light become lighter therefore intensify the colour of the tool, increase the shadows so that the shadow the the tool created became more clear, decreased the blacks so that the background isn’t as dark but not too bright either, increased the texture so that the details in the photo are powerfully shown, increased the clarity so that the details in the photo reached their full potential, increased the vibrancy so that the red would really be brought out and finally I decreased the saturation so the photo didn’t have an ‘indie’ look to it.
For this photo I wanted to make it the same as the picture before this which was make the red on the tool to really pop out and I also wanted to make the photo warmer. So I I kept exposure, whites, and dehaze untouched because they didn’t do any good to the photo. To give the photo life I increased the temperature and tint to give it a warmer tone, decreased the contrast to make the photo a little muted so its not as harsh which is the opposite to warm, increased the highlights to make areas that are lacking of light become lighter therefore intensify the colour of the tool, increase the shadows so that the shadow the the tool created became more clear, decreased the blacks so that the background isn’t as dark but not too bright either, increased the texture so that the details in the photo are powerfully shown, increased the clarity so that the details in the photo reached their full potential, increased the vibrancy so that the red would really be brought out and finally I decreased the saturation so the photo didn’t have an ‘indie’ look to it.
In this photo I wanted to darken the red but give more colour to the background so, I kept the temperature, tint, exposure, blacks, dehaze and saturation untouched as I felt like it didn’t do much to the photo. I increased the contrast to sharpen the image, highlights to give some light to parts of the picture that didn’t have as much light, texture to add more dimension so the photo isn’t as flat, clarity to make the image clearer and increased the vibrancy to give the picture more life and colour. Then I decreased the shadows to lighten darker parts in photos, whites to make the photo cooler and finally decreased the saturation so that the picture to mute colours I didn’t want apparent.
For this picture I wanted to show more texture and bring more colour to the photo so, I increased the temperature to increase balance in the photo, tint to expand the colours in the photo, highlights to make parts in the photo that were bright even brighter, whites to show more of the whites in the picture, blacks to give the red a more deep colour, texture to show all the little details in the photo, clarity to clearly show the details on the tool and background, dehaze to darken the image and add more saturation to the picture and finally increased the vibrance to bring more vibrancy to the colours in the photo. Next I decreased the exposure to make the picture darker, contrast to increase the differences in the photo, shadows to make some of the unneeded shadows go away and finally I decreased the saturation so that the photo didn’t have ‘fake’ look to it.
For this photo I wanted to bring out the colour that wasn’t as noticeable in the original photo so I kept the vibrance and saturation untouched because they gave the photo an ‘indie’ look to it. I increased the tint, to give the photo more colour, highlights to bring out more light in bright areas, whites to bring out more of the whites in the photo, blacks to show the unseen colours on the tool, texture to increase the details in the photo and finally increased the dehaze to help with the haze in the photo. Then I decreased the temperature in the photo to create and imbalance in the photo that I can build by decreasing other parts in the picture, decreased contrast to make the photo more vivid, shadows to decrease the unwanted shadows in the photo and finally decreased the clarity so that the details in the photo weren’t too harsh.
For this photo I wanted to increase the texture and lighting, so I kept the vibrance in the photo untouched so that it didn’t take the details from the photo. I increased the temperature to give it a more warm colour to it, exposure to increase the lighting on the background, contrast to sharpen the photo, shadows to give the tool more shadow, whites to increase the whites in the background and make it brighter, texture to show the Fine details in the photo and finally increased clarity to enhance the details on the photo. After I decreased the tint so that the photo didn’t have uneccesaary tint on it, highlights to recover lost details, blacks to not make the photo darker, dehaze so that the haze in the photo isn’t as evident and finally I decreased the saturation to mute and fade unwanted colours in the photo.
Finally for this photo, I wanted to bring the yellow that wasn’t really show in the original, unedited photo. First of all, I increased the temperature to give the tool a more warm tone to it and to intensify the yellowish brown on the tool, exposure to expose more the colours in photo contrast to sharpen the photo, texture to show the details on the tool, clarity to bring more clarity to the background therefore lifting the colour in the photo, dehaze to darken the image a little, vibrance to bring out the colours in the photo and finally saturation to portray the photo with an ‘alive’ tone to it. Lastly I decreased the tint to improve the contrast in the photo, highlights to so that lost detail in the photo is recovered, shadows to bring out more of the shadows in the photo, whites to give a boost to the white in the background and finally I decreased the blacks so that to make the photo brighter which gave it more life.
In this picture I rated, coloured and flagged my photos so that I could have an idea of what photos I liked most and so that I could edit the pictures that I liked without editing the unnecessary pictures.
In some pictures I used the copy-stand and in other i used an infinity screen.
For this photo I chose objects that I picked from the studio that portrayed a mysterious atmosphere. I wanted to give the photo more life so I added some techniques to the photo to reach its minimum peak. I kept the tint, temperature, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, texture, dehaze and saturation untouched because I felt like the photo didn’t need them. I increased exposure to expose more the light in the photo, clarity to show more of the details in the photo, and finally increased the vibrancy to give the photo more colour. This picture was taken in an infinity screen with continuous light from the left and from a small light on the bottom of the infinity screen.
For this photo I wanted to create a warm and cosy tone to it. when I took this picture I looked at it and I really liked how it looked in general. I strongly believed that it showed the cosy feel to it yet it also was warm which, so I decided not to touch it and leave the picture just as it is . This picture was taken from an infinity screen with continuous light from the left and a small light on the bottom of the infinity screen.
Again for this photo I kept it untouched because I liked how it looked by itself. I wanted to have a photo that showed a slight off white look to it and was cool. I think that the photo naturally is cold and bleak so there was no need to edit it. This photo was taken in an infinity screen without the bottom light which gave it a cooler tone.
For this picture I wanted to play around with the white balance on the camera. I didn’t want the photo to have different lighting. I decreased the white balance to give the photo a more cool tone to it and finally to edit it, I increased the exposure the to make it lighter and cooler. This photo was taken from an infinity screen with a continuous light on the left.
For this photo I wanted to enhance the gold colour off the lipstick and also increase the white in the photo. I kept the temperature, tint, contrast, highlights, shadows, whites, blacks, texture, dehaze and saturation untouched because it did no good to the photo and didn’t help my aim with the photo. I increased the exposure to expose the brighter parts of the photo, clarity to show more off the texture in the photo and show the gold that the the original photo wasn’t showing and finally I increased the saturation to increase the saturation of the gold on the lipstick. This photo was taken from a copy-stand with continuous light coming from the sides.
For this photo, I wanted a homely and summery feel to it. When I took this photo I felt like I had already achieved what I wanted, without editing I think that it already had a homey feel to it so I left it unedited. This photo was taken from an infinity screen with a continuous light coming from the left
For this photo, I wanted to produce a clean and posh tone to the photo because I felt like the objects had that posh tone. When I took this photo I liked how it was very bright and illuminated the colours of the objects. I zoomed in the photo to show more of the details of the objects. Because I was happy with the photo unedited, I left the photo as it is and didn’t edit any of it. This photo was taken free hand with a black background and a white ‘floor’. The camera had a Flash setting so every time I took a photo, the light on the left flashed.
Again, For this photo I wanted to produce a clean and posh tone to the photo because I felt like the objects had that posh tone. When I took this photo I liked how it was very bright and illuminated the colours of the objects. I didn’t zoom in the camera lens, I kept my distance from the objects but made sure you couldn’t see the outside from the set up. Because I was happy with the photo unedited, I left the photo as it is and didn’t edit any of it. This photo was taken free hand with a black background and a white ‘floor’. The camera had a Flash setting so every time I took a photo, the light on the left flashed.
This is the set up I used to take the last two photos.
Walker Evans was a talented and inspiring photographer in the late 1920s. He started his career by making snapshots during a European trip, however he only published his first images in the 1930s when he returned to New York.
In his ‘beauties of common tools’ shoot, he shows the eyeful side of common tools. Although cameras with colour became a thing in the 1950s which was the around the time he took photos of his so called project, ‘beauties of common tools’, his images are not in colour because black and white was still the norm even though cameras already had colour. He stuck to the norm.
Most of Evans work was inspired by the effects of the depression and telling the story of the American working class. Evans project ‘beauties of common tools’ illustrates the simplicity of common tools. I think that in some way he compared working class to common tools. I strongly believe that he saw that common tools were just as hard working as working class.
Who is Darren Harvey-Regan?
Darren Harvey-Regan was a photographer interested in the concept that photographs do not exist just to show things, but are physical things that become objects themselves.
After Evans portfolio called ‘beauties of a common tool’ Harvey-Regan constructed a montage of Evans’s images to make new forms. Becoming inspired by the images, Harvey-Regan found matching tools, cut them in half and stuck them various halves together, then photographed his interesting work.
His idea to create such beautiful but bizarre objects was all because of Evans.
Comparing and contrasting the work of the two artists.
When it comes to Evans work, his work is quite cold. The photos have an eerie feel to it. The photos have this sense of strangeness to it and because of this, it creates this uniqueness and curiosity atmosphere that makes us question what Evans saw in those tools.
Darren’s work in the other hand is very neutral. They don’t have this strangeness to it and although Darren was inspired by Evans work, Darren’s work isn’t quit the same. His lighting is a lot harsher than Evans. However, Darren’s photoshoot inspired by Evans has a bizarreness and uniqueness to it. The fact that he combined two completely different tools together, suggests a very odd feeling to the photos. His photos are quiet simple, they don’t have much depth to them unlike Evans.
Now lets compare these two pictures
Evans picture, which is in the right has a very antique undertone. You can see that it was taken from a much older camera that didn’t have as much quality as Darren’s camera which has a clearer quality.
In Evans picture, the photo is in black and white even though there was colour in the period that Evans took this picture but it just wasn’t as common to use colour, because of this, Evans picture doesn’t have as much detail as Darren’s however when it comes to showing lighting, Evans shows it perfectly in his picture.
On Evans picture, at the top of the tool it is much lighter and in fact seems like its glowing. I think this is to show that the tool is used constantly because the parts where the tool is darker is where its not really being used. Evans is showing the importance of common tools and how hardworking they are. In the other hand, Darren’s picture of the tools is much darker. This implies that the tools are really old, maybe the tools weren’t as used now as they were used in the 1900s hence why the tools looks rusty.
A big difference between Evans and Darren’s work is that Darren combined two tools together and Evans never did that, Evans showed the ‘true’ form of the tools. However a similarity is that they both photograph common tools and they both wanted to show the beauty of the tools.
There are seven basic elements of photographic art: line, shape, form, texture, colour, size, and depth.
Line: lines in photography are either straight, combined or a mixture of both. Different type of lines can mean lots of different things.
Shape: When a line, or more than one line, closes or connects, a shape is formed. there is lots of ways of defining what shape is but a definition that stands out to be is ‘spatial form or contour’
Form: Just as with shapes, there are two basic types of form, geometric (or regular) and organic. Geometric forms are the familiar sphere, cube, cone, cylinder…etc Organic forms are the objects that surround us in our three-dimensional world.
texture: In photography, texture can be felt with both the fingers (the print) and virtually (with the viewer’s eye). Texture can be described as many things and texture often enhances an image, showing its ‘vulnerable’ side.
colour: showing colour in a photograph can bring life to a photograph. a definition for colour that really stand out is, ‘a colour other than and as contrasted with black, white, or grey’.
size: size is the most elusive topic. showing how small/big something is can show the reality of an object/thing. types of size: Large, medium, or small
depth: depth is the most eye opening topic. a simple definition for depth is ‘the direct linear measurement from front to back’. looking at the depth of something can create a ‘form’ to the photography.
A work of art that shows inanimate objects from the natural or human-caused world, typically fruit, flowers and objects that contrasts with texture, like as bowls and glassware Still life has origins in Ancient Greco-Roman art and the Middle Ages. Still life painting appeared as a distinct genre in Western painting in the late 16th century and has remained significant since then.
The earliest example of still life is in the beginning of the 1600s and later influenced by ‘tulip-mania’, were the popular floral paintings; these were followed by flowers with fruit, then the humble ‘breakfast pieces 17th Century Still Life peaked by the 1670s and seemed to stagnate thereafter, maybe because of the deaths in the 1680s and 1690s. What survived was the two aspects fixed in the Dutch psyche: decorative hunting still lives and the flower paintings.
Mood board
One artist that is highly focused in still life is a talented man called Mat Collishaw. Mat Collishaw, born in 1966, received his BFA from Goldsmith College, London, in 1989 and began his career exhibiting the acclaimed work Bullet Hole alongside his Goldsmiths contemporaries at the legendary show Freeze in 1988, and at Modern Medicine in 1990.
The beauty of Collishaw’s work is compelling, seductive, captivating, hypnotic yet repelling as we realise the darker fantasies within. His work is quite dark because he states that “I am fuelled by things in my past which were suppressed or held at a distance, which have generated some form of hunger to make my work.”
This is quite concerning as his work explores things like Pornography, the crucifixion, gleaming fairies, syphilitic child prostitutes, bestiality, bondage, addiction, religion, exaltation and despair, even the final hours of a death-row inmate but Mat has no dark corner he is unwilling to explore which is fascinating.
These pictures are from his project called ‘last meal on death rows’ taken in 2011. The pictures show the bizarreness of death rowers last meals and how different their priorities are within meals. Some meals are massive yet some meals are little to nothing. I think that it shows how unique and different death row meals can be.
Mat Collishaw project that was an innovative body of work was to show a different perspective of criminals last meals. He somehow brought ‘light’ yet darkness to their last meals. Some images are quite simple yet some show chaos.
One of the pictures that I am going to analyse is the picture below that was in the project ‘last meal on death rows’
Technical: The lighting in this photo isn’t natural. its quite dark and has no source of bright lights. Visual: There is shrimps, what looks like some type of sandwich and sometime of beverage. Contextual: This photo is a photo representing a prisoners death row meal. Conceptual: It shows the how criminals in death row prioritised in food. it shows how different their food choices can be. I also think that the food choice is quite bizarre.
History of still life painting.
Ancient Egypt: The earliest known still-life artwork was produced in ancient Egypt. The paintings were produced in temples as offerings for the gods. Realism was not important. Ancient Greece and Rome: these were more realistic than the Egyptians efforts. Still-life appears in mosaics on the floors and paintings, especially at Pompell colours and shading re more realistic. Northern European renaissance: After the fall of Rome, interest in still-life disappeared until the 1500s in Northern Europe. While Italian renaissance had renewed interest in ancient Greece and Rome. the north developed oil paint, which allowed for greater detail in paintings. objects began to take on symbolism, as well as depicting wealth and showing the artists skill. realism was essential to these artists. Northern European renaissance: in addition to being an art form of its own still-life objects were included in other types of paintings. the items chosen were meant to be symbols about the subjects of the paintings. Northern European Renaissance: a very specific type of still life is the vanitas painting. the idea was that people love the pleasures of life, the things that make them feel important or wealthy. and yet it all means nothing because time soon passes and we die. Artist used symbols to show this, like skulls, burnt candles, and witting flowers. Impressionism: after the renaissance ended. impressionist and post-impressionist artists in the 1800s continued to paint still lives instead of realism. they experiences with colour , shapes, and the wet paint was applied to the canvas to create beautiful; works. symbolism becomes less important. Cubism: Pablo Picasso and Georges barques invented cubism as a way of showing several sides of an objects at once. they felt it was better representation of an object because you could see more to it. Modern still life painting: modern painting is more of a reflection of an artists style. so paintings during the 20th century have developed into more abstract and unrealistic images. some artists use collage, paint, or photography to create modern-art still lives.
Vanitas: A still life painting of a 17th-century Dutch genre containing symbols of death or change as a reminder of their inevitability.
Memento Mori: Memento mori is a Latin phrase meaning ‘remember you must die’. A basic memento mori painting would be a portrait with a skull but other symbols commonly found are hour glasses or clocks, extinguished or guttering candles, fruit, and flowers.
