Research Log

Research Log

This photograph was taken by Bruce Davidson. We can see that there is a lot of people packed on this train by the amount of people holding the rail. We can see women in the left hand side of the picture talking and we can see a girl in the foreground of the picture who looks nervous as she is biting her lip. The train is very dark so we can't see anyone in the background of the train. We can tell that the photographer has taken this image with a flash because the only light is showing on the people in front of the camera.

The girl next to the rail is the main focus of this image because she is the only person that we can see the majority of her face. The girl is biting her lip which makes us think that she is nervous and maybe doesn't enjoy public transport. It must be very sweaty on the train because of the amount of people which may make her feel even more nervous. Also, she could feel nervous because the women next to her are talking and she is alone.

The photograph was taken by Bruce Davidson in New York in the 1980s. We can tell this has been taken before modern times because the trains are not normally thus packed because people have bought cars and use them instead of the subway. Bruce Davidson took series of photos on the subway to show people's everyday activities. This shows peoples everyday activities because this is how people get to work and around on the subway. 

In this photograph we can see an old man laying down by the toilet. He appears sad and looks depressed. The bathroom he is in looks very dirty and his living conditions don't appear at a high standard. The toilet seat looks broken because it is hanging off the toilet, but we are unsure whether he has broken it or not. The man's eyes are close which tells us he is either sleeping or sad.

The only way someone would put their self in this position is if they were drunk. He appears drunk because he is unable to move and looks frail and weak. He doesn't look surprised to be in this position which tells us that he may be like this all the time showing that he is an alcoholic. This tells us that he might live a life where he wants to get drunk to block out his life.

This picture was taken by Richard Billingham who focussed on family life. He photographed his family life regarding his alcoholic father and his violent mother. We can confirm by doing research that his father is an alcoholic. We can also take from this that his father may be getting drunk to block out the pain that his wife is putting on him as she is very violent towards him.

In this photograph we can see a group of boys dressed in smart clothes looking like they have just been to school. It is ironic how they have just finished school and one of the boys is climbing up a sign that shows an area with a school. All the little boys underneath the boy on the sign look mesmerised by his actions. We can also see cars in the background and adults who are also wearing smart clothes.

The boys who are mesmerised seem to be admiring the boy up on the sign and maybe think that he is 'cool'. The fact this this boy is climbing up a school sign may be because he is trying to prove a point that he doesn't enjoy school so he is vandalising any aspect of school he can find. The big smile on his faced shows that he is proud of what he is doing and thinks that he is funny. He is acting like a typical school boy.

This image was taken by Robert Doisneau who focused on taking pictures in the street of Paris during the 1930s. We can tell that this has been taken a long time ago because it wouldn't be acceptable to perform this action now, the boys would get extremely into trouble. This links to everyday activities because this is how the boys behave on their way home from school.

In this photograph we can see several different people in front of the leaning tower of Pisa in Italy. Each of the people are performing similar actions. For example the girl in the front is creating a illusion that she is holding the tower up in her picture whereas the people behind her on the left are taking cute couple pictures in front of it. There are a lot of people in front of it taking pictures.

This could link to everyday activities because it shows what the tower goes through everyday. People come to take pictures with the tower in this stereotypical way, instead of documenting their lives this picture documents the towers life. Also, this picture could be seen in a comedy way because it looks funny how everyone is trying to get a good angle where their picture can look good.

This image was taken by Martin Parr. His photography is based on humour which is shown in this image because he is making fun out of these people trying to pose against the tower. 

In this photograph we can see lots of people running around the streets of New York looking very hectic, they all look like they are trying to get somewhere quick. We can see that all of these people are upper class because they are all wearing smart clothes, for example there is a man wearing a long brown trench coat with a tie. 

The fact that they are all rushing around shows us that something important may have happened and they are trying to get away. This could tell us that they want to get their jobs done quickly so they can refrain from going outside of their house.

This image was taken by Joel Meyerowitz. He took imaged during the aftermath of 9/11. This links to what I have already said about this image, the people are rushing around because they want to get back into their safe environments of their homes. 

In this photograph we can see a woman and three children. The main focus in this image is the woman because we cannot see the children's faces so we have no idea what they look like. The family look dirty because of the darker areas on their faces and the holes in their clothes.

The fact that the children have their heads resting on their mothers shoulder tell us that they are sad and are looking for some sympathy from her. Her face is also scrunched which tells us that she is also sad but is trying to keep it together and be strong for her children. The message that is spread to me through this image is that although women are portrayed as weak this woman is strong because of the love for her children.

This photograph was taken by Dorothea Lange. Researching into Lange I learnt that this woman is a migrant mother, this explains to us why her and her children are sad because they do not have a home. This photograph was taken to display how many Americans were feeling after the Great Depression in America.

In this photograph we can see a woman holding a glass of wine. She is wearing a revealing black outfit with red lipstick and red nails with blonde hair. Also, she is wearing a huge ring on her middle finger. 

The colour red symbolises power and strength, the fact that she has red nails and lipstick shows that she wants an element of her to be powerful and display strength. Her nails and lipstick stand out so power and strength is achieved. The colour black symbolises power and elegance so similar to the red she shows and element of power by wearing black. 

This photograph was taken by Martin Parr. It was from his series called Cakes and Balls where he went to Vienna and took images showing the stereotypical life of the place. This tells us that he is trying to show the importance and strength of the place Vienna is.

In this photograph we can see a black and white picture of a girl getting her make-up done. There is a lot of mess covering the table. The girl looks very skinny and thin however, we cannot tell if it is a man or a woman doing her make-up as we can only see two hands. 

The fact that the image is in black and white shows that it isn't meant to be a happy picture, it is very dull and is maybe trying to prove a point. The messy table is more in shot than the girl is, this can display that maybe the table is representing her life, her life is a mess. The fact she is having her make-up done could be because she is hiding something. 

This photograph was taken by Lee Friedlander, he takes images of urban life which relates to everyday activities because he shows the activities of people who life in the urban landscapes. This picture shows urban life because we can tell that she isn't upper class she lives in the suburbs.

In this photograph we can see what looks like a man sharpening a knife. We can tell that this is from olden times because we wouldn't normally sharpen a knife this way in modern times, we wouldn't really even sharpen knives. We can also see that he is wearing old clothes because they look scruffy.

The fact that we cannot see the identity of this man shows us that he may not be important to us at all, this could have racial relations because he is black and they were treated differently before modern times. This picture could also show how hard some people work, although black people were treated differently they still worked hard.

This photograph was taken by Marcel Kolacek who photographed peoples everyday activities that consisted of hard work. He photographed hard work that people enjoyed and loved. This can be shown in this image because the man is working hard.

In this photograph we can see two girls fighting, the smaller girl is on top of the other girl pulling her hair. Their facial expressions show that one is in pain and the other one is angry. 

I think this photograph is showing the relationship between siblings, although it is unaware if these two girls are sisters, we know that friends wouldn't be able to fight like this. It shows the many emotions that come with family, we love each other on minute but hate each other the next.

This photograph was taken by Betsie Van der Meer, she documented the everyday activities of siblings, this is shown in this picture as it shows the relationship between these sisters.