Sam Shaw Research Post 2

Research Post

Sam Shaw

Context
Sam Shaw was an American photographer who was mostly famous for his images of Marilyn Monroe. He said about his images with Monroe that "I just want to show this fascinating woman, with her guard down, at work, at ease off-stage, during joyous moments in her life and as she often was—alone." This shows us that he wanted to document the side of her life that we didn't see, although he still managed to capture the stereotypical woman within her. He also took images of American life in the mid-twentieth century, including coal miners. I chose this photographer because it links to my idea of photographing stereotypical women and girls.

Photography

In this image we can see Marilyn Monroe on the phone and smiling looking into the camera. The background and her clothing are all bright colours, the only dark colours in the image is the phone. I think this links to stereotypical women as we associate brighter colours with women than we do with men. The fact that she is on the phone also shows that she is shown as a stereotypical girl as we associate girls with constantly talking on the phone with their friends. In the 1950s women didn't do much and didn't have important roles, this can be displayed in this image as she is doing nothing, just sitting around, women weren't thought as very important. It also links to how Shaw wanted to represent the real life of Monroe as it shows her away from her work environment which people are used to seeing her in.

In this photograph we can see Marilyn Monroe sitting on a bench reading a paper and wearing gloves. There is also a man next to her sitting with his back to her. The fact that she is wearing gloves whilst reading the paper shows she doesn't want to get dirty from the ink on the paper, this is a stereotypical thing to do as 1950s women kept pristine and clean. Although she is showing signs of a stereotypical women it is not a standard thing for women so she also defies the stereotypes of women. The fact the man sitting next to her has his back completely turned shows how little importance women had in the 1950s. Shaw has photographed her out of her environment which we can clearly see, she is showing a different side to her life that her fans and the people wouldn't normally  see.

In this image we can see Marilyn Monroe doing her make-up in the mirror, she has her make-up all set up in front of her. This shows the stereotypical life of a woman as this is what a woman as to go through to look the way she does. The lighting in this image represents where the main focus is which is on her face in the mirror as this is the most lit up place in the image. I think the lighting represents that we should be looking at her face rather then knowing her as a person. It can also link to the fact that there were man views in the 1950s about women linked to the fact that women were good to look at but there was nothing behind the looks. 

Influence Summary
This photographer has influenced my work as I like his image with Marilyn Monroe sitting in the mirror doing her make-up. I liked this shot because it shows the stereotype of women in the sense that they are expected to do their make-up. Also, I like the set up of this image because we can see her person as well as her reflection in the mirror. I chose to take this image into consideration and produce my own version of this image.

I used the same composition in this image as Shaw did. However, I chose to focus on the girl rather than the reflection in the mirror. I also didn't use the harsh lighting in this image as I preferred to use natural lighting. In my shoot based on the stereotypical life of a girl I also used Shaw's ideas of focusing on the mirror rather than the person which can be visible in my work record and contact sheet.