Connecting Essay Two

This image was take-in Chinatown by a street photographer named James Maher - he is very good at capturing people on the street and expressing their feelings through facial expressions. An example is this photograph, which focuses on two subjects. Maher explains that he was trying to highlight the green clothes and accessories found in the image, as this colour was claimed to be fashionable at the time the picture was taken. By doing this, James Maher draws a line between the generations found in society and separates them, whilst showing the theme of culture at the same time. He separates the generations through the use of green, which is considered fashionable - the fact that the man hasn't got any green items on him but the woman does suggests that he is from an older generation and perhaps, doesn't care for fashion, whereas the woman does. This technique has allowed the photographer to show symbolise the difference between generations and portray how they exist in our society. Culture is also shown through the background in the picture; the shop has Chinese writing on it, emphasising the different traditions and beliefs present in this image. The use of the element of colour is also remarkable in this picture; as the photographer was trying to put emphasis on the colour green and ensure that his viewers are focusing on it, he decided to use a bright red background in order to show a high level of contrast and further show off the green. This not only adds colour to the image, making it more attractive as it compliments the green colour, but also shows connotations of the Chinese culture as green and red are colours that are normally used by them - this is shown in the shop as the window display are in bright green and red.

This is my picture from a culture shoot I did also in Chinatown. I took advantage of the colour available in this little alley way and chose an angle in which I could capture the selection of colour. My main aim for this image was to show culture through colour - for example, the colour red, yellow and green are all common in Chinese culture and are found in more of their traditions, such as festivals. Luckily, I was able to find shops painted those colours and photographed them in such a way so culture is shown; such as through the window of the restaurant, where the viewer can see Chinese decorations, which are highlighted as they light up. There are also Chinese writing all around the photograph, but they are not as obvious - this forces the viewer to pay more attention to the picture so that they can understand it fully. I decided to use a slow shutter speed (1/20) for this image as it allowed me to make the subjects slightly blurry. By doing this, I can ensure that the viewer is concentrating mostly on the colours and the buildings rather than the subjects around the image. However, the subjects are clear enough to be able to understand their facial expression and see what they are feeling.

Overall, these two pictures are very alike - they were both taken in the same area with very similar aims, by using the element of colour. They both contain the colours red and green as they are trying to illustrate the same culture, showing off their traditions. The picture from the internet contains subjects just like mine; this was done in order to show life in the picture and not show an empty scene. This also helped to show culture even more as the subjects are Asian, putting further emphasis on the culture being shown. Both pictures also use a similar angle, where depth of field is being shown as an element and shows the length of the street being photographed, this adds structure to the image and shows the viewer that there is more, evoking feelings of curiosity. On the other hand, the picture from Jame Maher contains more elements, such as shadow and repetition, whereas my image does not. This creates diversity in his work, giving it more structure, whereas my picture is rather straight forward.