The Cruel Radiance

The Cruel Radiance, 2012, Susie Linfield, Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. ISBN: 978-0-226-48251-4. This is a very interesting book and I found it to be a good read. Linfield writes in defence of photography against what she describes as a popular and institutional attack on the medium by critics and even other photographers. She

Shizuka Yokomizo – Stranger

Shizuka Yokomizo’ project, Stranger, 1998 -2000, consisted of Yokomizo sending anonymous letters to her subjects asking them to stand in front of their from windows at an appointed time, and she would then spend a couple of minutes photographing them through their window from the street. Shizuka Yokomizo, Stranger, 1998 -2000. Dear Stranger, I am

The Suit and the Photograph (1979) by John Berger

Young Farmers, 1914, August Sander. Country Band, Seigerland, 1913, August Sander. Stadtmissionare, 1931, August Sander. In John Berger’s essay, The Suit and the Photograph, Berger examines Sanders famous photograph The Young Farmers (1914). Berger suggests that the status of these three individuals can be deduced from their clothes. He begins by explaining that the dark

Summary for Part 3, “Look at Me!” – The Representation of Self.

In section 3, “Look at Me!”, I studied the subject of ‘self’ and how it has and is used and interpreted in the portrait. I learned that the idea of the ‘selfie’ goes back beyond photography. Originally the early selfies where exclusively for the rich and powerful to express wealth and more importantly, power, examples

Exercise 2.6 – Candid Portrait

Working with my friend Graham, I set-up a basic studio with a barstool and a white background, I directed his poses using my camera fixed to a tripod. After 5 minutes I gave the control of the photographic direction to Graham, who firstly wanted me to take the camera off the tripod and then photograph

Research Point – Propaganda in an image.

Photo by Eddie Adams/Associated Press ‘Execution of a Viet Cong officer’, Saigon, Vietnam, 1968. South Vietnam National Police Chief Nguyen Ngoc Loan executes suspected Viet Cong member Nguyen Van Lem, on the second day of the Tet Offensive during the Vietnam War. The act was stunning in its casualness. Associated Press photographer Eddie Adams was

Reflection Point 2.1

Stuart Hall 1932 – 2014, Jamaican, cultural theorist and sociologist. lived in the UK from 1951, Known as the ‘Godfather of multiculturalism’. Professor of Sociology at the Open University between 1979 – 1997. His writing on race, gender sexuality and identity was considered groundbreaking, with a far reaching impact and descried as, “a spellbinding orator”.