Contextual Studies – Task Four

‘Juergen Teller, Go-Sees, 1999’ uses a complex composition and perspective to create an interesting insight into the model’s relation to the scene and the theme of outside and inside. Within the image, the model is placed in the archway of the front door of an apartment, in an urban area; looking inwards into the building which she seems to have just entered. The model only talks up a small portion of the frame while the area which she is positioned in creates the overall emotion within the image. The curtains, staircase and pavement share the same beige colour pallete, while the model’s shirt blends in with the red door and moving car which connects the woman into the surrounding environment. The strong light which illuminates the subject from behind and the lower light within the building makes the viewer first look into the urban street in the background and then into the foreground of the building’s drapes and stairs. This image addresses the theme of inside and outside as it shows the two simultaneously together and creates a narrative within the frame caused by the model stepping out of the day light lit street into the dark, dingy house/apartment.

‘Guy Bourdin, Vogue, 1975’ produces a range of composition and lighting, juxtaposing the real-life models who walk the street, with the mannequins which are motionless inside the store window. The lighting within the store window holds a pastel colour range while outside on the street holds a much warmer tone, creating another difference within the frame and separating the two types of subjects. Displaying the women walking the streets as mannequin-like in stance and style, the viewer is given a narrative and journey of how clothing/fashion starts off within stores and on mannequins and then results in the general public wearing the outfits. The photograph can be interpreted as the outfits once being on the mannequins and then being removed once they are in real peoples’ wardrobes. This produces a theme of contrast between inside and outside, fake and real, industry and authentic real life.

The notion of inside and outside explores the idea of what happens in public and what happens in private. The concept of the two being disconnected or connected leaves the viewer thinking about how the inside within an image can inspire the outside, as scene in ‘Guy Bourdin, Vogue, 1975’, where the store window inspired the models walking by. On the other hand, the notion of the outside inspiring the inside can leave the viewer contemplating what aspects of outside/public life affects inside, as seen in ‘Juergen Teller, Go-Sees, 1999’ which focuses on the red from the car on the street and paint on the outside of the door, inspiring the model’s use of red within fashion. Another aspect of inside and outside within photography is that it creates deep amounts of depth within the frame, producing usually a large depth of field, meaning all of the frame in in focus for the viewer.

Contextual Studies – Task Three

Street
-a public thoroughfare, usually paved, in a village, town, or city, including the sidewalk or sidewalks.
-such a thoroughfare together with adjacent buildings, lots, etc.
-the roadway of such a thoroughfare, as distinguished from the pathway
-a main way or thoroughfare, as distinguished from a lane, alley, or the like.

http://www.dictionary.com. (2019). Definition of street | Dictionary.com. Available at: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/street?s=t (Accessed 21 Oct. 2019).

Keywords related to street:
-Street fashion
-Candid
-Public
-Protest
-Demonstration
-Rally
-March
-Urban Landscape
-Flaneur
-Social
-Photojournalism
-Industrial
-Festival
-Homeless
-Architecture
-Gang culture
-Sub-culture
-Being watched
-CCTV

Advertising, Corporate, Tourism, Culture, Capital

Youth culture, Vintage, Smart Fashion, Vibrant / saturated, Cinematic

Lack of privacy, Candid, Lines / composition, Irritated, punchy contrast

Mirroring, reflection, silhouette, watched

The Street

The street is a place of various views, fashion and culture which due to these factors, is home to sub-cultures and ‘scenes’ which define the image which the street holds. Used to go from A to B, a street means much more than transport; bringing ideas to musicians, artists and photographers through the use of continuous new ideas and concepts. The street holds fashion trends from local people, which is incorporated into high-end fashion and society. The use of window and billboard advertisements cause vibrant backdrops for urban youth culture and fashion photography alike, causing a feeling of ecstasy within urban nightlife.

Contextual Studies – Task One

War Photography, Conflict, Rebellion, Combat Location, Danger, Confrontation, Liberated, Revolution, Uprising, Disobedience, Uprising, Army, Bloodshed, Hostility, Strike, Battle, Anti-establishment.

Documentation, Portrait, Crime, News, Press, Media, Publishing, Confession, Leak, Exposure, Scandal, Dispute

Abstract, Other-worldly, Parallel, Contemporary, Art, Conceptual, Theoretical, Vision, Fashion

‘Bahrain I’ 2005, Andreas Gursky
 
Bahrain I’- a portrait shot of a racetrack landscape, taken in the Persian Gulf, incorporates documentary, fine art and abstract genres. The photo uses an interesting perspective and scale to create an other-worldly effect for the viewer. The interesting perspective was achieved via the use of a helicopter and also manipulated with digital software to enhance the abstract effect. The black racetrack juxtaposes with the desert sand which causes a curving stream effect along the ground. The lack of people and/or cars in the scene makes understanding the image harder for me personally as I couldn’t decipher what the landscape was. After researching the photo, I found that Gursky managed to achieve this effect on his viewers by combining multiple shots taken on the helicopter into one frame. 
 
I chose to describe ‘Bahrain I’ as I really appreciated Andreas Gursky ability to turn a racetrack, situated in middle of a desert, into a makeshift optical illusion. Coming up with ideas for the Environment unit, I thought about the theme of making ordinary objects and scenes somehow abstract or fine art based, and Gursky’s work expresses the idea perfectly. Gursky’s use of curves and lines also drags my attention fully into the scene and the beige surrounding makes the track seem somehow flat and two dimensional from the bottom of the frame and then suddenly three dimensional once the viewer recognises the buildings and skyline within the top of the frame. While looking closer at the photo, the viewer can recognise faint phone advertising along the track which “serve to bring the photograph back into the here and now of a society distinguished by the ubiquity of trademarks” (Strozzina.org. 2019. Manipulating Reality, http://www.strozzina.org/manipulatingreality/e_gursky.php – Accessed 4 Oct. 2019). 

John Tagg: “The photograph is not a magical ‘emanation’ but a material product of a material apparatus set to work in different contexts, by specific forces, for more or less defined purposes.” The Burden of Representation, 3

John Tagg’s description of what photography means to him is a literal interpretation of how a photograph is created and what it’s purpose can be. Tagg’s idea stems from the belief that a photo is the result of an object which has the ability to record information for a certain context. The theme that a photograph is not a ‘magical emanation’ and instead being a product of a photographer recording a scene for a specific purpose seems to lack a certain sense of emotion that most photographers put within their projects. Although Tagg’s description is technically correct, I personally feel as if the black and white explanation paints photography to be a medium which doesn’t hold much substance within the art community and incorporates a similar view of many art scholars of pre 20^thcentury who believed that photographs could not cause the same emotional and/or social impact as a painting or sculpture could.