This section is about project illustration and evidence of action. We have seen how a sequence of pictures can show a sequence of events but here we are asked to put a story across in one photograph - one photograph in which it can be seen that something has happened. The course manual gives the world of advertising as a good example of how ideas and concepts are put across in a single image. The banner photograph above on a hoarding surrounding a redevelopment for a new Matalan store gives the message that it sells bright modern clothes for the discerning young man and woman. Symbolism is one of the main techniques in illustration and the course manual says that if you choose an appropriate symbol, you can solve the problem of showing an abstract idea at a stroke. There is more on our research into symbolism in the Reading & research section of this log. It was interesting to see that among the pictures and photographers I researched. Dorothy Lange's "Migrant Mother" came up several times, whose work I'd seen mentioned in some of the course books recommended reading.
But continuing with the exercise, we visited the Wales Millennium Centre where activities were on for children - and something was happening as this exercise requires. An area was allocated for children to sit down and write out a wish. The individual sheets of paper with the childrens' wishes on them were being hung up on string. I enquired if this was a custom somewhere - perhaps some ancient tribe, or god-worshipping but my enquiry did not reveal an answer. I choose this photograph out of a set I took because the writing symbolises the wishes and hopes of the children and the three staff are promoting these wishes publicly in the display. One child has written "I would like a holiday in the sun please". Some are written in Welsh - and it's great that we have a language that is used and that is alive.
What are our hopes and wishes? Do we write them down? At one extreme is a good CV which records who we are and helps us in the career direction we are seeking to go in. At the other extreme are personal diaries, which generally do not become public like these childrens' wishes.
But continuing with the exercise, we visited the Wales Millennium Centre where activities were on for children - and something was happening as this exercise requires. An area was allocated for children to sit down and write out a wish. The individual sheets of paper with the childrens' wishes on them were being hung up on string. I enquired if this was a custom somewhere - perhaps some ancient tribe, or god-worshipping but my enquiry did not reveal an answer. I choose this photograph out of a set I took because the writing symbolises the wishes and hopes of the children and the three staff are promoting these wishes publicly in the display. One child has written "I would like a holiday in the sun please". Some are written in Welsh - and it's great that we have a language that is used and that is alive.
What are our hopes and wishes? Do we write them down? At one extreme is a good CV which records who we are and helps us in the career direction we are seeking to go in. At the other extreme are personal diaries, which generally do not become public like these childrens' wishes.
The next exercise is about illustration by symbols. The idea is to find symbols for a number of concepts. We were asked to list more than one symbol for the following concepts and to add short notes as to how we might use them in a photograph. If we wanted, we could take some actual photographs which is what I chose to do. The five symbols we were asked to consider were -
growth
excess,
crime
silence
and poverty.
For growth I thought this might be represented by a child being measured for their height, or a seedling of a plant, or a sales or production chart showing growth in the form of an increasing graph. I spotted a plant climbing on a tree trunk in the woods and decided that this would be the image I would use to portray growth in this instance.
For excess I thought of overweight people who might have eaten too much, or a large collection of alcoholic bottles illustrating too much drink. I chose to illustrate this theme with a Bentley car with a personalised number plate thinking that maybe the owner had an excess of money. This image could be one of a number of images used to illustrate a successful lifestyle in a marketing campaign say for a senior job, a competition involving winning money, or a campaign to promote the taking up a business idea or franchise.
For crime, I thought of the police doing an arrest. I just missed such a shot in the city centre by being not quite in the right position and having the right timing. Next I thought of signage such as symbolism of crime and crime prevention and took a photograph of a 'no cold calling' sign.
Silence in many peoples' minds is often thought of as a finger over the lips, or the silence signage used in libraries. I was in a church which was peaceful and quiet and looked at a marble statute on a tomb where the hands were positioned in prayer and this was the image I chose to illustrate silence as we associate prayer with silence.
For poverty a common symbol is an image of a beggar or poor people. A lot of these images are taken in underdeveloped countries. At the time of this exercise I was staying in one of the richest areas of the UK outside of London and there was little poverty to see, only wealth and opulence such as the Bentley car. However, people haven't always been well off here, so I posed a volunteer worker in one of the National Trust properties I visited to illustrate how people kept warm around fire hearths in olden days.
The five selected photos are below and can be enlarged by clicking on them. I have been aware of the importance of images to project an image or concept in sales and marketing in my career but this exercise and reading about symbolism will make me more aware of how it might apply to my own photography in the future.
The next exercise is about juxtaposition. I had to really think about this and research some examples to understand where I was going. The Virgin Mary line of sight photograph in the course manual when we were doing lines came to mind.
For this exercise we were asked to choose either the still-life approach or a larger scale
shot, which involved choosing a suitable viewpoint and lens focal length. I decided to go for a street shot.
I captured this young man juxtaposition another man on a street hording. It's that critcal moment when the boy stops and looks - the critical moment Cartier Bresson talked about. I wondered what he was thinking as he looked at the smart young man illustrated on the hording. Is this the sort of person he wants to be when he is grown up - and will he shop at Matalan? I liked this image so much, I made it my banner image for this Narrative & Illustration section.
The final exercise in this section is about rain. We were asked to imagine a magazine cover on this subject and produce a single strong attractive photograph that leaves no one in doubt about the subject. We were asked to think of all the effects of rain that we have ever seen, to keep it simple and interesting and original.
I was caught in a torrential shower and produced a series of images of people running, walking, cycling and using umbrellas as they tried to find cover. In the end I decided to use an image without people. The caption and message would be something like - "After a hot summer the beaches, bays and holiday destinations are devoid of tourists as people decide to stay at home."
I was caught in a torrential shower and produced a series of images of people running, walking, cycling and using umbrellas as they tried to find cover. In the end I decided to use an image without people. The caption and message would be something like - "After a hot summer the beaches, bays and holiday destinations are devoid of tourists as people decide to stay at home."
Finally, I wondered what this might look like as a Magazine cover. So here is the first edition of Holiday Magazine.