Appraisal

Critical Appraisal : Object

For this project the brief is to develop a concept and eventually construct a still life photograph that will be inspired by our chosen concept. I decided to base my project on the 2011 riots as it was a very recent and horrific event that I feel affected everyone throughout the country. Through my photographs I wanted  to be able to portray a 'broken Britain' as a country that on the surface seemed strong and progressed could suddenly fall apart and become uncontrollable within a matter of hours. 

                           Ilya Varlamov                                                       Ilya Varlamov                                                   Dominic Wilcox                                        

I looked at Ilya Varlamov and Dominic Wilcox to start with. Varlamov had documented the Moscow riots and Wilcox had created a collection of mini moving sculptures and one of these pieces were focused of the London riots. I looked at both of these artists to get a greater understanding of how their creative decisions could portray the riots in different ways.

      

            Metz & Racine                                         Todd McLellan                                                Unknown

Metz & Racine and Todd McLellans’s work both inspired my composition. From Metz & Racine I took to idea of looking unstable through balance as it could create an uneasiness as if it is all about to fall apart. McLellan’s work although conceptually was irrelevant to my work inspired me with the appearance of destruction.  The unknown images were interesting as they allowed me to look at other ways I could portray rioting but within a classic still life.

 Laura Letinky

I chose to look at Laura Letinsky for my lighting reference as I liked the diffused lighting and minimal shadowing created. I felt that it was appropriate for my work as it was simplistic but also come across quite cold and severe.

 

set up one

 

 Set up two

 Contact sheet scan

Above are my test images where i experimented with different compostitions. The last image is one that I have scanned from my contact sheet but felt that there was still slightly too much shaddowing and that the composition was still not built up and unstable enough.

  Final Image

 I positioned the camera level with the table that the object were place on as i wanted the broken shards to creep towards the camera. I also decided to have the main structure in focus and the shards on the lower level out of focus. This is because they were not the main focus of the image. I managed to achieve lighting quite similar to Letinsky's and was also happy with my unblaenced and chaotic final composition.

I received positive feedback for my object final image overall as my tutor and group commented on my object choice and composition. The problem with my Photograph was that it did not really portray riots clearly. I felt this was fair criticism as this had crossed my mind. My objects however do portray a broken Britain which was my main statement and my objects were clearly recognisable as traditionally English. With this in mind I decided not to change my final image but alter my concept. I started this project with the London riots but have ended up looking more at a broken Britain through traditional objects. My image now represents the political issues that Britain has in general such as the recession but this also incidences like the riots. I have decided to just portray Britain as a country that although seemingly very strong still has cracks and issues in its politics and economy and my objects are not specific to any issue making it ideal for this concept.