Connecting essay 1

This is an image taken by Dan Boulton, I chose this photo to compare with my own work because I used his work on my research log and I found it really interesting. This individual photo is really interesting because Boulton has been able to capture the movement of the subject just about to go on his skateboard- he looking at what/ where he can go. Further more, the black and white effect creates a more grunge appeal to the photo, also connected with the amount of people in the background of this photo- they are all watching him about to go on the ramps. Another reason I chose this photo was because I believe it conforms really well with my work idea of youth subculture, there is someone in the foreground, the main focus on his own. Yet behind him there is lots of different people watching him showing that even though they may not be friends, they still want to watch his actions, seeing if he is any good at skateboarding, or even watching to get ideas/ tips. The reason this complies nicely with my work is because it shows how youth are massively influenced by there peers- their youth culture. Another reason why I have chosen this photo is because I really like how the graffiti in the background almost hides the people in the background. As the editing is in black and white, it is hard to tell who is the subjects and what is the graffiti, I find this symbolic because it implies that graffiti is youth and youth is graffiti- they work together. 

This is a photo I took which I chose to use for this connecting essay because I find it works really well with the skateboarding theme of youth. The reason I find this photo works well with youth is because even though my subject isn't skateboarding at this moment in time, you can see him watching someone else (he was watching his friend going down the ramp at this point in time- waiting for him to be able to go). This photo works well in black and white because the graffiti appears to merge together and include my subject within the graffiti. I find this photo really represents the documentary theme that I was aiming for because it shows Henri-Cartier Benssons Critical moment, after this photo was taken, this subject then went on his skateboard- it would have been a different photo.

Overall, I find these two pictures interlink really well because alongside both being black and white, they also both show the "critical moment", if either photo was to of been taken one short moment later, the photo would have been massively different. For example if Boulton took his photo a moment later, he may have capture the subject on the skateboard instead of contemplating/ about to go on his skateboard. Further more, I think both of these photos connect because the black and white effect creates a form of symbolism with the subjects in both photos- the symbolism that it is youth who do the graffiti at it shows their emotion and thoughts- something that could be suggested to be quite difficult to find from a youth. Another massive factor which interlinks these photos is that the same location has been used- South Bank Skate-park. I used Boulton in my research Log and it was his work which inspired me to go try photos at south bank and as shown in my shoots I have actually been the two times as I have found it quite successful in showing what I had intended to.