Lauren Barrett A2 Photography Unit 3: Contrasts

Connecting Essay 4:

Karl Taylor’s take on new and old technology in Photography Polaroid collage from my Tech shoot

Karl Taylor is a photographer from the United States, and the concept of this photograph of his was to combine the rather traditional idea behind the original telephone and the most modern, up-to-date telecommunications hardware we

have to date, the iPhone. The concept is really interesting and the form is particularly useful in this photo, as the lighting and shadows show that the

people are more like 3D objects rather than still images on the screen, and that they actually come out to demonstrate the idea behind the cup-and-string

system. Besides this concept, I love the contrast in the black and white tones used to shoot the photo in, as this gives the mood a very traditional feel to it, whilst the selection of the red cups also gives off a modern tone. There is also

consistency in the theme of contrasts as the photographer has specifically chosen one male, and one female model, as well as a black, and a white iPhone.

With my photograph, I wanted to take the image itself and contrast it with the way I edited it. The concept was that I was to take a really modern-looking image,

with a modern, every-day model and a modern, high-tech camera, and to edit it in a way which contrasted the themes presented in the image itself. As it was

from the technology shoot, my main focus was the idea of the camera, and as the modern camera was featured in the image itself, I wanted to edit it in a Polaroid-style collage as this reflects some of the earlier stages in the development of the photography world. Colour was also important to me in showing this idea, so I gave the image a sepia filter to represent the more rustic, less-defined colours

normally seen in traditional Polaroids to make the representation more realistic. The composition was important for me, especially in the sense of the Polaroids

as I felt that the random, mixed-up layout of different sizes made the college look more realistic, and gave it a modern, quirky look about it.

Again with these two images, it is not a sense that they connect because they visually look the same, but because the separate photographer and I have both

been innovative with the same idea and theme of contrasts. In this sense we have both used editing techniques as a way to get the idea of contrasts across to the viewers, both using the development of technology as our muse. Colour is also another huge connection between mine and Karl’s work, as we have used it to

promote the traditional tones associated with older technology. Black and white, and sepia hues are essentially associated with tradition and older objects, whilst full colour is then used to reflect on the more modern imagery of today’s society,

all of which is reflected upon in the two photographs above.