Photographers Research - Alec Soth

Alec Soth is an American photographer based in Minnesota, he was born in 1969. His photography is taken with a climatic feel with elements of folklore that hint at a story behind the image. He takes photographs of people that he meets, so for example, a few of these photographs are of people living by the Mississippi river.

In this photo, the man is lying with his head resting on a stone, he looks asleep although it's not very common for people to sleep outdoors, even less so on a rock because rocks are very uncomfortable. I think that this image is meant to show that he is dead because he doesn't look very peaceful and it is not a usual place to sleep. This image might be signifying how when we die, we go back to nature.

This photograph is of a woman, she is showing off her jumper as it has lots of bible quotes on it. Mississippi is part of the bible belt and it is a very important thing to a lot of people in America, people tend to be more religious than in England. In England, it has progressed a lot since religion was ingrained into society, for example, my parents were both brought up as Christians in the 1970s, however I was never brought up religious and I don't know anybody my age that regularly goes to church, it is much less important now than it was before. Although, in America it is still very ingrained into society, especially in less developed areas like Texas and Mississippi where they are less connected, a lot of older people won't have computers or smartphones and will probably depend on letters and landlines for communication.

This image shows a woman lying on a bed, she isn't wearing much clothing but she still seems comfortable with having her photograph taken like this. If you were in a place like England, it doesn't often get hot enough for people to dress like this, however in Mississippi it is hot quite a lot so people are more comfortable with having their photograph taken. If this was taken in England it might be seen as quite provocative, whereas in America this is quite normal. The woman is looking straight into the lens which might show that she has no shame or fear of this photograph and where it might go, most of his photographs are like this, he wants to show a realistic representation of life in Mississippi.

This photograph is of a man called Joseph in a Prison in Mississippi, he is wearing a top that says preacher man on it, this contrasts heavily with the tattoo he has and the location the photograph was taken in, he calls himself a preacher whilst he has a tear tattoo on his cheek, this shows contrast because a tear tattoo can signify somebody you've killed. Despite this, he calls himself a preacher, a preacher is somebody who preaches the importance of religion usually, religion usually tells people to be peaceful and kind, killing someone is the opposite of this and I think that Alec Soth wanted to show the juxtaposition of this.

Shoot Six - Straight Images

Exposure: 1/125 

F Stop: 20

ISO: 200

Exposure: 1/125

F stop: 20

ISO: 200

Exposure: 1/125

F stop: 20

ISO: 200

Shoot Six - Contact Sheet

Shoot Four - Work Diary

In this shoot I went to Norwich to visit my grandparents, I took photographs out in Norwich near a church and in a garden

Aperture: 5.6

Shutter Speed: 1/125

ISO: 100

This is my best photograph, I think that it is framed really well, as it shows the head and shoulders of the subject, without cutting out too much. I also really like the location of the photograph as it looks very pretty and different from a lot of the photographs I already have. A majority of my photographs have a plainer background like just the sky. This is different because it has other people in it as well.

Aperture: 4.5

Shutter Speed: 1/80

ISO: 400

This is my worst photograph because of the lighting, the photograph is very dark and it means the subject looks quite hidden, in addition to this, the photograph isn't framed very well, it has a chair in the corner which just clutters the photograph in my opinion. I am not pleased with this photograph which is why I decided not to use it in my straight images.

Progression:

Overall, I think this shoot worked quite well, I was able to get some well shot photographs, however I don't think it worked as well as some of my other shoots so I may reshoot or try a different shoot. I think in future shoots I will probably focus on youth more than elderly people because I can experiment with more techniques in my future shoots.

Photographers research - Gavin Watson

Gavin Watson was born in London in 1965. When he was fourteen he got his first camera and began to take photographs of his brother and his friends, at sixteen, he started working at Camera Press as a darkroom assistant. He continued to photograph his younger brother and their friends who were a group of skinheads. Skinheads had become associated with the right-wing extremism of political parties like the National Front in the 1970s, his photograph were published in the books Skins (1994) and Skins and Punks (2008).

This photograph shows a boy on a train smoking. We know that this photograph was taken quite a while ago as smoking on the London underground was banned in 1987 after the fire at Kings Cross. Furthermore, a majority of Watson's photographs were taken in the 1970s and 1980s. I really like this photograph because the other people in the photograph are facing away from the boy smoking, this could portray to us that none of the adults want to be associated with him. I also like the lighting in this photograph because it creates a lot of shadows on the boys face, which shows the dark and the light sides to him.

This photograph shows two young boys, they are standing in a position which makes them seem much older than they are, they are lent over looking down at something below them, the boy in the background looks quite angry at something and is standing with his hand on his hip, not many young children stand like this naturally, I think that they have probably learnt how to act from older siblings that are involved in the skin head like these kids are. I don't think that this photograph was staged, although the position doesn't look like a normal position for a child to be standing in, it looks like he is naturally standing that way, rather than him being told to stand like that.

This photograph shows a teenage girl leaning against a door, she has shaved her head but left the fringe which was a very popular hairstyle at the time. I really like this photograph because of the contrast between the black on the door and the white of the wall, Watson may have posed her like this to show how teenagers are seen, they are often seen as negative and are stereotyped as rebellious individuals, however it is often the case that rather than doing this to rebel, many teenagers dress differently as a form of expression, or simply because they like the style. Furthermore, she is wearing quite dark colours, which also shows her as rebellious and negative.

This photograph is very candid and it shows teenagers how they actually are, many of Watson's photographs show teenagers as rebellious and aggressive, however this photo shows the opposite to that, the model looks worried, possibly about how she looks. She is leaning against a wall and looking to the left, which shows us that there must be something or someone over there. 

People that like to be away from too many people tend to stand against walls and keep away from the centre of attention so it's possible that she feels uncomfortable and wants to home