Our next task is to compair 3 of our own universal theme photos with 3 from a website called:
http://www.nationalmediamuseum.org.uk/Collection/Resources/40Photos. We have to look at how we have represented the universal themes with the photos we have taken and why we chose to take the photos for each theme.We then have to do the same for the 3 photos we choose from the website. Then we have to look at the similarities and differences between our photos and the ones we have chosen from the website that we think best match our own.
The 3 photos I have chosen that are my own are:
The 3 photos I have chosen to compair to my own are:
I will start by comparing the 2 portrait photos, my one of Jake
and the Snake Woman one. They are both portraying a character of some kind. My
photograph of Jake is almost like he is a giant trying to eat the ‘tiny’ woman
on the ground in front of him. The Snake Woman picture is obviously portraying Medusa,
I can tell this from all the snakes on her head, as hair perhaps, and the one
around her neck. Of course we have all heard of the Greek Goddess ‘Medusa’ to
have had a head of snakes instead of hair. Because of this I think they both
fit the Universal Theme of ‘The Human Figure’ very well. Another thing that
they have in common is that they were both set up, the Medusa picture will have
had more of a set up, with the lighting, make-up and so on considering that it
was taken in a studio, where as I was using natural lighting from outside and
the right person at the right time, as timing is everything with these kinds of
shots. The Medusa photo was taken from a collection of ‘Goddess’ photographs
that Madame Yevonde created. Some of the differences are
that as I mentioned before, my photograph was taken outside while hers was done
in a studio. Another difference is lighting. The lighting on my picture is very
bright and no special effects, whereas on her photograph it has been well lit
from the front to really bring out her face and then the photo has been cropped
to highlight the bits of the photo she wants in focus and the bits she doesn’t.
The eyes of the ‘Medusa’ character really draws you in to look at it, my
picture doesn’t really have a focus point. There is also an element of comedy in my picture and hers is quite forward and to the point.
Next I will look at my close-up wool photo and the strange
staircase photo by Frederick Evans. I think they are both
very abstract, in the sense that when you first look at them you see something completely
different to what the picture is actually of, it creates an element of confusion. When I first looked at the stairs
photograph, I thought it was a wave of water inside a building, and then I
thought it was a spiral staircase but it isn’t and when you first glance at my
wool picture it also looks like a colourful wave of water. This is why, in my
opinion, they are perfect for the ‘Abstract’ Universal Theme. The lighting in
Frederick’s picture is perfect and according to the article accompanying the
photograph; “Evans ensured that every detail of the interiors he photographed
was properly lit. He was an advocate of 'pure' photography and, unlike some
pictorialists, opposed any alteration or manipulation of his negatives or
prints. He was a perfectionist, primarily interested in the effects of light
and shade and prepared to wait for long periods for the desired lighting
conditions.” I used sunlight for my main form of lighting, as well as my
bedroom light, which I think worked quite well. The other thing that Frederick
focused on was: Line, Space, Texture, Shape and Tone to be in keeping with his architecture
photographs.
The last 2 picture I am comparing are both to do with War.
My photo is more to do with the grieving and missing someone while the other
picture by Roger Fenton is about the everlasting devastation left
by war, and really mine is too. His photograph is of all the left over cannonballs
in a baron waste land that was once not ruined by the brutality of war. In a similar
sense, my photograph tells a story of someone who has loved and lost, whether
in a war or a terrible accident, either way they are both upsetting in different
ways. There are a few main differences between the style and where they were
taken. For starters I have edited my image on Photoshop, and used props and
set-up this shot, whereas Roger was actually at the scene of devastation and
has not edited it at all. There is no specialised lighting used in his image
and I have edited and changed mine to give it a vintage effect. Hey are both
very fitting for the Universal Theme of ‘Events’.
I think the 3 images from the website above matched my own images very well, not just in quality but in the themes that they can be categoriesed in.
