This photo was taken by Richard Billingham; all of his pictures are of his parents and brother in their home in the West Midlands and were originally intended as source material for his paintings. My first impression of the piece is that it’s extremely strange but could portray how much of a crazy house these people live in. The cat looks as if he is levitating rather than jumping as his legs are straight. The man underneath looks very surprised and as if he is being pushed out the way.

In the foreground the cat is the main focal point, as the only white part of a darkened image it is made more obvious. The man is in the middle ground where the image contains come depth of field, his fingers are out of focus but he gradually gets more in focus the further back the image goes. The background contains lots of distractions but adds to the mad and crazy effect.

The image doesn’t have fantastic focus but I think it is the style Billingham wanted; all of his images have this old fashioned effect. There are no influential lines displaying depth or width, only lines on the wallpaper which may create height but do not make a significant difference to the image. The rule of thirds may have been used as if the lines were there, there would be something in each section with the main focal point in the middle.

I think the photographer wanted us to see a type of life style, the cat may cause mayhem in the house and he has captured it in his image. The image has lots of distractions caused by the mess and clutter in the room, I think the photographer may want to show the type of life style that the family has, they don’t seem to care about what’s going on in their home but the man is sitting on a camping chair wearing smart clothes. The family may want to have a good image outside of the home but do not care about giving their home to have a good image.

As the image is so strange at  first I thought the image may have been created using a programme like Photoshop and putting the picture of the man and the cat together but after looking at it and the rest of Bellingham’s collection none of his images are edited like that. I have also realised that the image shows more than a crazy cat, it shows a lifestyle and how people choose to live. The image has inspired me to create my own piece in the same style, displaying a life style with a unique focal point.

 
 
The photograph I have chosen to write about is called 'Maddie on things' like wise to the rest of Theron Humphrey's photo collection. My first impression of the piece is that it is simple, but I think the image could portray friendship as Humphrey believes a dog is a mans best friend. Theron Humphrey is not only a photographer but an animal rescuer who travels all around america.

 
In the foreground there are two long dog feet which due to the beige speckled floor background are not instantly visible, in the middle ground are Humphrey's feet , in bold brown heavy looking shoes they become very noticeable. The image has great focus, every wrinkle and seam in Humphrey's shoes is shown, this creates great detail without having too many distractions. The light is coming from one direction, onto the front of the shoes and no where else, this created no shadows and so adds to the images clarity.  There are no influential lines in the image creating depth or width only small lines found on the shoes. As all of the colours in the images are very natural, the image is not over whelming but is still unique and influential. The rule of thirds has not been used in the image, the feet are at the bottom of the image with empty space either side and above them creating a border drawing attention to the main focal point.

 
i think the photographer wanted us to feel the trust between himself and his pet, he is very closely standing over the dog which is much smaller then him, but the dog shows no fear and does not move. this could also portray the closeness between the two. Humphrey only takes pictures of his dog however in various unusual places or doing unusual things, for example on a skate board or dressing like a human I think he treats his dog like a person and so shows this in his work.

 my thoughts about the image have changed, i now think this photo is very personal to Theron Humphrey but others can relate to it. I don't think this image has been edited a lot but if i was Humphrey I may has experimented with making the contrast higher. from this piece i have learnt to show some emotions thought my images, and to make them have a meaning weather hidden to others or not. I have been inspired by this piece to create my own photo with the same emotion and theme. This image relates to my work because Humphrey and his dog Maddie live and travel together, Humphrey treats her like part of his family and this is an area I want to explore.


 
 
My chosen exam question is 'The Home'. I would like to explore the people and different things within the home. 'The home' allows me to take shots from different angles using different techniques like depth of field. I want to capture different emotions, humour, happiness and unusual minds to create overall unique images. I also want to capture different life styles and how people live and act in there home. I want to experiment taking photos influenced by photographers that inspire me but in my own style. For example, Theron Humphrey, Richard Billingham and Nicholas Max
 
 To create this image inspired by both Dali and Minkkinen I used the same technique as my first Dali edit, inserting each object in the image individually. The Mikkinen influence in this image is that there is a hand coming out of the cup. It was inserted by selecting the hand alone from its original image using the lasso tool and removing any areas overlapping the cup using the eraser tool. I think this adds even more surrealism and makes the image very distinctive. 

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