In my final piece, I want to create a sense of grandeur about the architecture I am photographing, as well as showing the sadness and hostility of the homeless people I am also positioning within the frame. Therefore, to get inspiration for my work, I researched the work of Rodchenko, Edward Hopper & Pieter Hugo specifically because, as practitioners, they capture human emotion (Hopper and Hugo) as well as grandeur of architecture, whilst also presenting an unclear and eerie tone to their work (Rodchenko). I am therefore going to combine all of their work in order to create a sense of grandeur and size, whilst also capturing sadness in the homeless subjects I am going to photograph.
Below, are some examples of the work I have analysed and studied for inspiration. Although I did analyse many other pieces of work, these are a few of those that I believed to be the most thought-provoking and interesting:
Rodchenko’s ‘Building’- I feel this photo captures what I would like to. It creates a sense of grandeur about the building within the frame, whilst also creating an eerie and almost creepy tone to the work, therefore creating a sense of unhappiness as a result as the audience cannot be truly comfortable when looking at this photograph.
Edward Hopper’s ‘Sad Woman’ – This photograph clearly shows the mood of the woman, who is the focus of the photo and is positioned clearly (although slightly off the centre of the frame.). Her body language and facial expression are clearly visible and therefore give the audience an understanding into her mood – much like I would like to achieve with the photos of homeless people.
Pieter Hugo’s ‘Sad Child’ & ‘Scary Man’ – The photo of the child is all about the provoking of emotion, and it does it exceptionally well. The photo clearly shows the young boy crying as he is focused clearly within the centre of the frame, with the background being blurred, ensuring the audience focus on the child. The sheer emotion in this piece is very powerful, and its use of emotion is what inspired me to create something similar (although not as close up). The photo of the disgruntled looking man is also interesting as it clearly shows his facial expression and the audience can therefore begin to decode his emotion, creating a sense of enigma about the piece. I also found this photo very interesting.
Dani Oshi’s ‘Building’ – This is another example of presenting grandeur through architecture, and I thought it was very good! The colours contrast each other and the use of light here is used well. The clear focus on the individual crevices of the building is also very intriguing, and the diffusion of light in each of the windows is also very aesthetically pleasing.
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