Starting Contextual Studies

Intro:

Context of Photographs.


Questions to consider when looking at the context of an image;

• Why
• When
• What for
• Who for 
• Who will see
• Where will it be seen 

Understanding the term 'Modernity';

1. Google: "Modernity is a term of art used in the humanities and social sciences to designate both a historical period, as well as the ensemble of particular socio-cultural norms, attitudes and practices that arose in post-medieval Europe and have developed since, in various ways and at various times, around the world."

   
   

   
   

   Picturing the City

   When looking at urban photography it is interesting to look at where todays urban photography style has stemmed from and how it has developed into what it is today. Before photography painting was the closest way to capturing a scene, it wasn't until photography was developed that artists views of urban surroundings began to change. Paintings of the urban landscape often presented real life but in a much more picturesque way before the development of photography.

   
   

   

   Gustave Caillebotte: Paris Street, Rainy Day

   http://blindflaneur.com/contact/browse-the-archives/flaneurs-gallery/gustave-caillebotte-paris-street-rainy-day/

   
   

   Many photographers began exploring a more modern style of urban photography, which captured the 'under belly' of the city as a way of raising awareness. 

   
   

   Example of this is the photography by Jacob Riis, whom captured images of the desperate and deprived people and areas of New York during the 19th Century.

   http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2089243/Slumdogs-New-York-The-remarkable-images-capturing-immigrant-families-unrecognisable-19th-century-New-York.html

   
   

   
   

   

   
   

   

   
   

   The level that this photograph has been taken at means the viewer feels more like they're in the situation themselves. Its as though you're knelt down to the same level as the suffering children. The way the childen are huddled in the centre of the image and the way the image has been taken from a straight on view point means that the walls either side of the children draw the viewers eye into the centre even more so. 

   
   

   This style of photography particularly appeals to me as i am so interested in street photography as it is. However what i like most about street and documentary photography is being able to capture the real nitty gritty sights of the streets we see every day and think nothing of. 

   
   

   
   

   

   Thomas Annan.

   http://tomclarkblog.blogspot.co.uk/2011/11/tight-spaces-thomas-annan-old-closes.html