Vernacular photography

Vernacular photography is images taken by unknown or amateur photographers, concentrating on everyday life and things. Usually this refers to photographs such as  family portraits, class pictures and images from photo booths rather than things with a larger importance. Often the images are unintentionally artistic and I believe that is why they have become so popular.

This is a good example of what a vernacular photo stereotypically looks like. The subject matter is a birthday, more specifically the cutting of a cake, a normal event in most people's year. Vernacular photography always covers things that aren't out of the ordinary. However the image, I believe, is well composed - probably unintentionally - the two larger candles framing the family. The candles also create an element of shadow within the image, and the flash used gives it an element of tone and texture - the light bouncing off the walls giving a feel of the dark room and the reflection off the table suggests a smooth, polished texture. The artistic elements within the image come together to stop this being just a family photograph and turns it into a piece of vernacular art.

I particularly like this vernacular image due to the emotions of the child being captured so well. The child in question looks particularly unperplexed at the prospect of being placed upon this strange horse-like toy, and possibly looks too nonchalant for a child her age, especially when someone is trying to cause them to have fun. The pole the child is holding creates a leading line in the image, drawing your eyes up from the hooves past the comical

 face of the child. Depth of field is also used well in the image, the top half of the image being out of focus and, once more, bringing attention back to the intended subject. The image is composed well, bringing in the rule of thirds, and the contrast of the white and dark shades of the horse and the girl's coat create an attractive aesthetic affect.

Found Photography

Found Photography is a genre of photography in which photographs that are either lost, unclaimed or discarded are 'found' by people, mainly artists, and are then recovered or displayed. It's themes follow vernacular photography, its subjects relating to everyday life and things, but the difference is that the photographer behind the image is unknown, along with the story and the subject's meaning. The mystery behind the image is the main cause of this genres appeal, allowing people to create and think about their own story to the photographs.

This image is an example of found photography. The subjects - the woman and the cat - are completely unknown, as well as the 'shooter' behind the image, however this image has been 'found' and recovered by someone and now recognised as a piece of art. Accidental, but art nonetheless. This is possibly due to the interesting composition of the photograph and how it makes the subjects look. The way the subjects are facing, the woman left and asleep and the cat right and staring, almost make them look as if they are polar opposites. The cat appears curious and thirsty to see the world, whereas the woman looks as though she is bored of seeing things. The way she is leaning her head against the cat, I think, shows a close, loving bond and I believe that emotion is important in a photograph. The way reflection is used in the image is effective, creating an almost mystical reflection in the car window, and lighting is also used well, streaming in in leading lines towards the cat.

Snapshot aesthetic

Snapshot aesthetic is a trend within photography which began in 1960's America. Like vernacular photography, snapshot aesthetic focuses on everyday life and subjects, however the framing of the image itself was often off; thus subjects were often cut off the image. The image presented by the artists of this trend usually had no link to each other and purely relied on juxtaposition and disjunction between the photographs. In my opinion this movement was popular because the images often look like a moment just captured rather than something set up and planned, and therefore the images have a large sense of realism.

This image, I think, is a good example of the snapshot aesthetic movement. The image itself was actually taken very recently, however it doesn't have a very modern look to the photograph due to the overall look and feel of the photograph. The dark lighting of the image makes the shot look very unplanned as they have not had time to organise the lighting, this is also shown through the glimmer of light from the bike handle, perhaps showing a flash has been used. The compostion of the image has cut off the subjects eyes suggesting - or rather wanting the viewer to think - that it has been taken quickly and this gives it a very amatuer feel. On the other hand, the image comes across as very unintentionally artistic, due to a good use of the rule of thirds with the bike and the subject, as well as the hints of light in the background. There is also a relatively small depth of field.

How do I think this could be used in my work?

For my theme 'sense of place' I think I could use venacular and snapshot aesthetic photography to give a feel of such places like homes, especially during events like birthdays, and also for street scenes, as often you cannot take too long planning candid street shots - you have to capture the moments quickly. I think I will also attempt to 'find' my own found photographs, especially if they link to my theme, and will look through family photo albums to see what is in there. I also think I could take inspiration for composition from these styles and movements, as they are different to the norm and give the images quite a retro feel which is uses for some places and capturing the emotions.