Beauty in Hell: Tony Corocher
Describe what you see:
A black and white photo of a black girl who is smiling with her finger in her mouth at the camera as well as a young boy who is on the left to her but he is frowning at the camera. The girl is wearing a pretty satin dress, which seems clean. The boy is wearing a nice top. Their location is a very horrible setting where they are deprived of proper homes, streets and path ways. There is a person lying on the floor very dead like. The houses are built poorly with weak materials and the sky looks cloudy. The ground is breaking away with rubbish and mud.
What are the visual and compositional elements?
The fact the photo is in black and white gives it that intense and serious/ sad tone, but the girl’s facial expression changes it, this in itself represents that black and white contrast and that beauty and hell. There is also contrast from the boy frowning and the girl smiling. The rule of three is present in having subjects in all areas of the pictures, there is the main focus on the left and the other subject is on the right. The children are the left and their ‘hell’ is on the right, this in itself acts as a symmetry like mirroring but opposing.
What were the photographer’s idea behind this image?
I think the idea was that the little girl is being represented as as the purity within the picture as well as the young boy. The black and white effect was chosen for that idea of hell, it creates the intense vibe. Their surroundings is the hell they live in but they children are the beauty because their young selves are innocent. Maybe the photographer is saying that as you grow older you become less innocent. We can get consumed by the world we live in and it becomes destructive over time.
ANDREAS GURSKY 99c Store
Describe what you see:
I see a large store that sells food, there is people dotted around the store and near to the left which looks like the check out point. There are 99cent signs at the back, the isles look colourful and packed. It sees there is a mirror on the roof or a reflective ceiling. There are columns holding the roof up.
What are the visual and compositional elements?
Visually, it is quite colourful at the front and becomes more muted towards the back. It looks like a painting because of how busy it looks, the visuals look fake in their own way. There is a sense of symmetry with the columns, especially the on in the middle, it sections the isles off, and this is where the rule of thirds can come in. Each side has isles and the only difference is the check out section unbalances the photo. The columns also represent negative space in chopping up the photo adding flat blocks within a photo that is 3D. The colouring of the food is contrasting as they aren’t all the same colours next to each other, however the isles do have the same colours. There is pattern and line through the way the food is layed out in lines of isles stacked as it goes backwards.
What were the photographer’s idea behind this image?
I think the idea was that the photographer wanted to capture the busyness of the store as it is packed with lots of goods, it shows an interesting side to something we do as people. It doesn’t completely focus on us shopping, it captures the layering and colouring. It represents how we can sell so many important things (food) for so cheap. We can get consumed by goods, it shows a sense of power and greed with how much there is.
Floriane De Lassee: Inside Views 2004-2011
Describe what you see:
I see a person through a window on a piano and the roof is opposite to a large building. It seems as if it is in the dark at night time within the city. The shot is taken outside both buildings. The city buildings are very rich and mighty looking.
What are the visual and compositional elements?
Visually, there is a lot of colour contrast through the lighting, as it is supposed to be twilight lighting within the sky and the lighting from the building, the picture is taken from behind the other building within the backstreets of the city. Because of the location it shadows behind the main light creating that harsh black contrast next to it. The next contrast is the walls/ light from the window with the person playing the piano. Again, the black contrasts with the white walls inside due to the home light inside the house. There are two subjects either side of this photograph, and there are different levels, which shows the rule of three. The sky shows a sense of negative space as it is bare as well as the dark toned sections.
What were the photographer’s ideas behind this image?
I think the ideas were to capture the contrast within the shot to represent that transition from outside town/ busyness to something peaceful. It is a personal insight to someone’s home in the dark, the colouring and tones were there for the idea of this intrusive and mysterious theme. The twilight and negative space creates that intense night time look, I think the idea was to capture how we at night time can settle down and really relax.
Zena Hampson Photography 