Juxtaposition

The image is of the statue of Notre-Dame de France in Le Puy en Velay in South West France.

The statue and pedestal on which it stands is 22.7 metres high and the shot was taken from ground level. The statue in the bottom right corner is of a kneeling man praying. The position of the camera allows the viewer to follow the implied eye line of the supplicant to the face of the Virgin Mary who in turn is looking at the Christ child. The child is pointing to something in the distance that has significance because the town in which the statue stands is one of the starting points for the pilgrimage to Camino de Santiago.

Symbols

Growth - Something from nature; skyscraper next to a much smaller building; a simple graph.

Nature is an obvious choice offering an almost infinite number of images that would demonstrate growth the danger being that it may well have been used before. The skyscraper next to a smaller office block (perhaps the original headquarters of the company) would be an effective symbol for growth. The graph is perhaps the most used of all growth symbols so there would need to be something about it that was eye-catching, possibly created by using symbols rather than a straight line. One possibility that comes to mind is a graph demonstrating the rise in FTSE 100 executive pay by replacing a simple straight line graph by company logos.

Excess - a morbidly obese person; salt content of some foods; a drunk outside an establishment selling alcohol.

For the morbidly obese person a simple unclothed shot would have the greatest impact although there may be mileage in a close up say of the upper thigh or the 'love handles' just on one side inviting the viewer to guess at what they are looking. Salt content could be demonstrated by  piles of salt in front of the packaging of the relevant product or of someone emptying a salt cellar on to a plate of food. For the drunk shot decisions would have to be taken about the purpose of the written article - if it is about the degradation of the person addicted to alcohol then dirty ragged clothes with the person lying in the gutter may be the strongest image whilst to illustrate alcoholism amongst rich bored housewives a Harvey Nichols outfit with a Gucci handbag nearby may make the greatest impact.

Crime -  CCTV Cameras; Handcuffs; Prison Gate

Care would have to be taken with all of these shots to ensure that you don't fall foul of the authorities. Of the three handcuffs are the easiest and could be used in a still life either placed on a person or as a 'reflected'  image in a shop window displaying very desirable goods.  Another alternative is a pair of fur-lined handcuffs to illustrate the 'softness' of our punishment systems. The CCTV camera shot could be used to illustrate an article on the impact of crime on our right to privacy either as a simple straight forward image or a number of them 'ghosted' above a normal high street scene. The prison gate (preferably easily recognised by the general public e.g Wormwood Scrubs) is likely to have more impact if it is either fully open or the wicket gate open. Such an image could be used to demonstrate either someone being released into society or being incarcerated depending upon the article it is supporting. In Photoshop it would be possible to create a revolving door (there are no actual revolving main doors in the prison estate) image to illustrate an article on the re-offending and return to prison of many offenders.

Silence - interior shot of the reading room of a library;  ear protectors; a busy motorway.

The first shot for many implies silence but in many 'modern' libraries the idea of silence is a foreign concept. The same shot could be used to illustrate either concept. Similarly for the ear protectors that  offer silence for the wearer but also imply excessive noise. A busy motorway could be used to illustrate the underlying noise that pervades all our environments that there really is no place where absolute silence can be experienced.


Poverty - a simple wooden bowl; a shanty town; an outstretched hand.

Most would relate the bowl to the begging bowl that is an almost universal symbol of poverty as are the other two suggestions. Poverty is a relative concept because it depends upon how it is defined; what may be seen as a level of poverty in one part of the world could be seen as almost luxurious in another part. This aspect highlights the need to know what the article being illustrated is setting out to communicate.

Symbols in Advertising

In the second part of the project we are asked to write down five examples of concepts that are regularly depicted in advertising and publicity that cannot be shown directly.

Success - Advertisements selling goods that would be considered luxury items by many people are often depicted with other elements that suggest that the depicted person leads a successful life. The subliminal message is that by owning the product the purchaser will demonstrate to the wider world that he or she is a success.

Care - Recent commercials by the health provision company BUPA emphasise the high level of care that the prospective member can expect by joining BUPA. The hidden message is the implied comparison with the National Health Service and relies heavily on a belief that the NHS is impersonal, has long waiting lists and limited access to the really good consultants.

Increased competence - Here the message is that by buying a particular object the purchaser can achieve greater levels of competence. One has only to look at the advertisements placed by camera companies. Almost invariably the shot of the camera is given a background of a superb photograph that can only be aspired to by the average amateur photographer.

Anxiety Relief  - A fairly recent phenomenon is adverts by debt settling companies. It is suggested, indeed emphasised, that by putting your financial affairs in the hands of the company your worries will go away. They almost all start with an anxious person trying to sort out his affairs accompanied by an understanding other whose faces are suddenly wreathed in smiles when they realise that all their troubles have gone away.

Image - In a sense this concept underlies all forms of advertising whether it deals with the executive style of life or debt relief. Here the advertiser suggests that purchasing a particular product or service will in some way enhance your image in whatever way you think. Whether it be the latest luxury car, sea cruise or even many everyday things the advert tries to get you to believe that both in your own eyes and that of others you are will be a better person.

It is said that there only two concepts in advertising - fear and greed and all other concepts are subsets of these two. Fear is best exemplified by the adverts for cleaning materials that claim to kill most of the germs our children come into contact in their everyday lives. Greed is best shown by the Lottery that offers a fantastic lifestyle for the lucky winner.

Evidence of Action

Here the viewer of the photograph can see something has happened by the presence of the blood on the knife, the severed thumb and the dripping blood that links the other two elements. The assumption can be made that some unknown person cut off his or her thumb whilst attempting to create a halloween pumpkin.

Although fairly obvious in this picture I believe it is important to provide a link between the various parts of the image to allow the viewer to create the story. Disparate objects that have no apparent link can lead to a confused viewer or an assumption wide of the mark.

However the photographer has to assume a certain level of knowledge on the part of the viewer to get his message across. Here we require knowledge that the object bottom left is a thumb (or at least part of a digit), that blood only flows downhill like water unless pumped in some way and that sharp knives can, used improperly, sever a digit.

For those of a squeamish disposition the blood and the thumb are stage props. I still have all my digits!

An Evening with Colin Prior

I visited St Ives Photographic Club yesterday to hear a lecture by Colin Prior a well known landscape photographer. I had heard good reviews of his work but to put it mildly I found it disappointing. Although there were some very good images, there was a lot of repetition and some that were not so good. I left at the interval.

I wondered why the evening had worked out as it had given the reputation of the presenter. I came to the conclusion that it was the venue. The hall is a large room with very high ceilings and the roof trusses visible. Acoustics therefore were poor which made listening to the commentary very difficult. In addition the screen used was not of the best quality so that the images were not shown to their best.

Perhaps more importantly of all the placing of the screen meant that it was tiny in relation to its surroundings and most of the images were panoramas that filled less than a third of the screen. The effect was akin to trying to judge the image from a 6x7 en print that really does not work for the grandeur of landscapes. Interestingly the images that had the greatest impact were those that were almost full screen in size allowing the viewer to 'enter' the picture.

Lesson learnt - we need to be aware of the environment in which the photographs are going to be displayed to ensure the best chance of them having the impact desired.

A Narrative Picture Essay - Arroz Con Pollo

I decided to keep things relatively simple and more under my control so that the learning experience was greater. Anything lying outside your own control such as the Lord Mayor's Show or local equivalent means that you are at risk of poor weather, unruly (always getting in front of the camera) crowds and officials that view all photographers as potential terrorists.

We all eat and many of us cook our own food and I felt that there was a picture essay in this everyday task.

The first thing we have to do is decide what we want to eat, whether to go for the tried and trusted or venture into something new. For the latter we probably need some guidance from a cookbook. A browse through its pages may well find us looking at a recipe that looks promising.

Here we have come across the recipe for Arroz Con Pollo. (Note - I have deliberately blurred the pages to avoid any copyright issues) - primarily a chicken, sausage and rice dish.

Usually we have to shop for the ingredients so off to the local supermarket to return laden with all that we need.

Having unpacked the bag(s) we can then proceed to prepare the ingredients ready for the pan:

There is usually the need to weigh some of the ingredients and also cut some of them.

Happily some of them come in handy sized units so that eventually we have our ingredients ready:

The next step is to place them in the pan as required by the instructions in the recipe:

Tomatoes

Rice

Pimento

Everything else except

Peas

for the observant you will have noticed that these went in approx 1 hours later

Having got all the ingredients in the pan it is time to give them a good stir to ensure that everything is mixed together well:

Having ensured that all is cooked the only thing left to do is to serve:

General comments - This was a very interesting exercise and something that I had never done. I had cooked this meal before so knew the process and the order in which things happened. This knowledge helped enormously when I came to prepare the photo shoot script. Also in setting up the camera and lights so that they were not in the way yet offered the best chance of a good image.

Lighting was a problem particularly as the day drew on and the amount of natural light fell. I decided, after experimenting, to use flash without a diffuser. I found that it offered the best image particularly on bright surfaces and I also liked the deep shadows that gave a sense of form and depth to the various utensils and other elements in the image.

We are asked to print the pictures and to lay them out to enhance the story being told. I have to admit that I have not done this but did use the power of Photoshop to create a virtual layout. I tried a whole series of different placements of the photographs but found in the end that the most successful was the linear one that is followed in this blog. The other alternative was a setting similar to an algorithm with elements to the side dealing with preparation and cooking. However it only seemed to work if lines were included so that the process could be easily followed.

Becoming a Judge!

On Sunday 18th October I attended a Judge's Workshop run by the EAF. I have always been critical of those who judge Club competitions whilst recognising that there are some very good ones. It seemed to me that it would be useful to undergo the initial training both that I had some idea of what they are taught but also to be able to, if successful, to be able to judge myself so I at least know the pressures under which they work.

I also have to admit to a selfish motive as I thought it it would be a very real opportunity to learn more about photography and how particular genres came into and fell out of favour.

I found the day fascinating and also very informative as 8 of us 'judged' and then discussed a variety of images. What I found surprising, although I don't know why,  was the number of opinions that can be held within a small group about any particular image. All those things that I have learnt over the past few months from the Course and from years of experience are capable of a range of interpretations that sometimes cannot be reconciled. It raised in my mind a number of questions about the validity and strength of what is often seen as a 'given' in photography. One of the most interesting was when one of my imagers came up and listening to the comments I realised that what I thought was glaringly obvious, such as the point of the photograph, was much less obvious to others.

Much to think about.