Statement of Intent:
My new theme is 'Conflict', and as shown below by my mind map, when I think of this term, I think of Bullying, Wars, Racism, Sexism and Abuse. Using this, I have decided to focus on Bullying and Abuse, as Abuse is a very serious topic that people need to be aware of. Bullying is also serious but is often overlooked, possibly making it even more serious. Despite my pictures perhaps being deemed as 'graphic', I believe it is necessary to emphasise the severity of the two subjects, and how badly they can affect both adults and children's lives. During my research, I have decided to use my pictures to promote the charities NSPCC and ActionForChildren. These charities both aim to stop child abuse,
Context:
This picture was taken by UNICEF (Universal Children's Emergency Fund) to show the destruction war causes. This picture was taken in Syria, and it shows the devastation and destruction of war that interrupts the lives of innocent families. This picture shows a family of four, a dad, mum, young boy and newborn baby, fleeing from their own home in order to find safety, shelter and education for the children. I believe this picture is to help us understand the struggle innocent families have when they are caught in the middle of horrific wars, and to make us feel sympathy as in this picture we can clearly see the despair, distress and desperation in their faces. I specifically feel sympathy for the people in this picture as I can see the baby on the left, which makes me feel disappointed to think about the hopeless life that baby may have.
Connection:
This picture will connect to my work as I want my pictures to tell a story and help people understand what less fortunate people go through and experience. My pictures will show real-life problems that many people are unaware of. The fact that the photographer has taken the picture to show the horrific journey this innocent family has to go through as there home is in the middle of a war zone. I believe the picture has also been taken to make us feel sympathy and make us want to help and donate in order to help the family have food, water, warm clothes and education for their children.
Comment:
A strength in this picture is that the photographer took the picture at just the right time, so people can see the desperation and pain in their faces to help them understand what the family is going through and how they are feeling. The photographer also took the picture with the camera at the right position to capture the family in the centre and the left of the picture, and the house is in the right of the picture. The picture was taken in the winter so all the plants surrounding the house are bare and spooky, making the house look even more lonely.
Composition:
The picture was taken from a worms eye view, which makes the family look vulnerable in the open, muddy field. The photo has a strong triangular leading line, from the man hat down to the boys face, which makes us focus on the despair on their faces. The picture has a deep depth of field because everything is in focus, and the family are close up to the camera. The picture uses a fast shutter speed to capture the moment well, to show the emotion on their faces. The photographer uses the rule of thirds so two thirds of the picture is quite a dark, murky field and the other third is a dull sky. My eye is drawn to the peoples faces because it shows you the terrified looks they have. Your eye could also be drawn to the mans bright red coat, because its bright colour stands out and contrasts the dark field, and red also usually means danger.
Content:
I can tell this picture is quite recent as we can see power lines in the background, which shows us that war is going on around us right now. Then picture was taken in Syria, and we can see the effects of the war as all the soil is covered in footprints. The only subjects in the picture are the family and the building, there is nothing on the horizon so our attention is not distracted by other buildings, which would ruin the mood and effect of the picture. By the clothes they are wearing we can tell that it is very cold, explaining to us that their journey is going to be very harsh and relentless.
This picture was taken by UNICEF (Universal Children's Emergency Fund) to show the destruction war causes. This picture was taken in Syria, and it shows the devastation and destruction of war that interrupts the lives of innocent families. This picture shows a family of four, a dad, mum, young boy and newborn baby, fleeing from their own home in order to find safety, shelter and education for the children. I believe this picture is to help us understand the struggle innocent families have when they are caught in the middle of horrific wars, and to make us feel sympathy as in this picture we can clearly see the despair, distress and desperation in their faces. I specifically feel sympathy for the people in this picture as I can see the baby on the left, which makes me feel disappointed to think about the hopeless life that baby may have.
Connection:
This picture will connect to my work as I want my pictures to tell a story and help people understand what less fortunate people go through and experience. My pictures will show real-life problems that many people are unaware of. The fact that the photographer has taken the picture to show the horrific journey this innocent family has to go through as there home is in the middle of a war zone. I believe the picture has also been taken to make us feel sympathy and make us want to help and donate in order to help the family have food, water, warm clothes and education for their children.
Comment:
A strength in this picture is that the photographer took the picture at just the right time, so people can see the desperation and pain in their faces to help them understand what the family is going through and how they are feeling. The photographer also took the picture with the camera at the right position to capture the family in the centre and the left of the picture, and the house is in the right of the picture. The picture was taken in the winter so all the plants surrounding the house are bare and spooky, making the house look even more lonely.
Composition:
The picture was taken from a worms eye view, which makes the family look vulnerable in the open, muddy field. The photo has a strong triangular leading line, from the man hat down to the boys face, which makes us focus on the despair on their faces. The picture has a deep depth of field because everything is in focus, and the family are close up to the camera. The picture uses a fast shutter speed to capture the moment well, to show the emotion on their faces. The photographer uses the rule of thirds so two thirds of the picture is quite a dark, murky field and the other third is a dull sky. My eye is drawn to the peoples faces because it shows you the terrified looks they have. Your eye could also be drawn to the mans bright red coat, because its bright colour stands out and contrasts the dark field, and red also usually means danger.
Content:
I can tell this picture is quite recent as we can see power lines in the background, which shows us that war is going on around us right now. Then picture was taken in Syria, and we can see the effects of the war as all the soil is covered in footprints. The only subjects in the picture are the family and the building, there is nothing on the horizon so our attention is not distracted by other buildings, which would ruin the mood and effect of the picture. By the clothes they are wearing we can tell that it is very cold, explaining to us that their journey is going to be very harsh and relentless.
Mood Board about 'Child Abuse':
I chose these pictures as they show the effects of child abuse very well. In the first picture, it shows a bruised boy holding out his hand. The photographer has chose to have the boys hand in the centre of the photo, as it brings our attention to it straight away and makes us think about the meaning. The effect of having the boy holding out his hand shows that the boy is desperate and is begging for the abuse to stop as he has been hurt enough. The second photo uses content to show the effects of child abuse very well. The photo shows a toddler with a horrific bruise around her eye, explaining to people that child abuse affects very young and frail children, and this picture clearly shows the terrible physical aspects of child abuse. In the photo the little girl also looks lost and confused, showing that she is so young she doesn't understand why she is being hit, and may not even know that it is wrong to be hit. The bottom two photos also clearly show how child abuse can affect children. The picture on the left shows a boy clinging onto his teddy bear, showing that when he is being abused, he feels lonely and unloved. The picture on the right shows a girl who is very upset and is alone in the picture, which shows how being abused can make you feel isolated.
'Action for Children':
I have found a charity that works to stop children being abused and neglected. The charity is called 'Action for Children' and they want to make sure all children are living in happy, loving homes. Their current main aim is to campaign and influence the government to help them fight for children's rights. Their ambition is to make sure all children are in the right environment to reach their full potential. They believe that all children deserve an equal hand in life, and they won't stop campaigning until they do. To make sure their work helps the most vulnerable children and young people, they are pressing for change on three key themes: The best start in life, good mental health and a safe and loving home.
"Neglect affects 1 in 10 children... and that's too many" ~ Action for Children
Photoshoot Plan:
Photoshoot 1:
Best Photo: Worst Photo:
I believe this is my best photo from this photoshoot as I have used correct aperture and selected the correct white balance, which gives the picture the correct lighting. The subjects of the photo are in focus and I have blurred out the background so it brings our focus straight to the subjects.
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I believe this isn't as good as some of the other photos as the whole picture is i focus, meaning your focus is distracted. Also to me you can tell that the picture is staged and to add to that the fake blood doesn't look realistic.
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Photoshoot 2:
Best Photo:
I believe this is my best picture as i have used correct aperture and selected the right white balance. Also the subject of the photo is in focus while the rest isn't, grabbing our attention. Adding to this, the bright red colour of the blood stands out.
Photoshoot 3:
Editing My Photo:
This is my original photo that I took in 'Photoshoot 2'
For my first step I pressed on the black and white circle button that's in the bottom right and it turns the picture black and white. Using the colour bars I can change the colour tone of the picture. I changed the colour bars to these settings to change the colour tone of the picture and I believe these settings help set the mood of the picture. I then added the logo of my chosen charity. I enlarged the logo and chosen the one with the red background to make it stand out against the black and white photo. I then added text and changed the colour of it to red to make it stand out. The colour red also sets a dark, scary mood, which helps show the pictures purpose. |
Final Poster:
Editing My Photo:
This is the original photo that i took in Photoshoot 3
For my first step I pressed on the black and white circle button that's in the bottom right and it turns the picture black and white. Using the colour bars I can change the colour tone of the picture. I changed the colour bars to these settings to change the colour tone of the picture and I believe these settings help set the mood of the picture. I chose to add the NSPCC logo as I appreciate how they help struggling children. |
Final Poster:
My Conflict Evaluation:
The project theme was Conflict, meaning people who live in fear and are stuck in between crisis. I thoroughly enjoyed this project as it allowed me to be more creative with my photo ideas. I enjoyed going outside and being given the time to brainstorm ideas and get creative with my friends thinking about how we can effectively portray our theme through our photos. This topic has allowed me to gain experience and knowledge about Adobe Photoshop, which I used to enhance my photos. However I would like to have more practice with the Photoshop software as I still have a lot to learn about it which could help me later in the course. Whilst researching I came across 'Action for Children', a charity that help children who are victims to domestic abuse. This persuaded me to choose the sub-topic 'Domestic Abuse', as I respect how the charity helps children in need. I liked using props to enhance my photos and making them look more realistic. Without them the pictures can look too forced, making them less effective. I believe the most successful part of the project for me was being able to show my creative side through my pictures. The only problems I encountered during this project was thinking of how I could improve my pictures using Photoshop, proving to me that I need to gain more experience with the software. To overcome these problems I asked for help from my teacher and peers and asked them to show me how to use the tools within Adobe Photoshop. This helped me improve my pictures to the best of my ability. If I had the chance to redo this topic I would choose a different sub-topic within conflict as I had ideas that didn't link with my 'Domestic Abuse', but would have came out had I chose to pursue a different sub-topic.