Connecting Essay 1

Connecting Essay:

The above image is a photograph from my shoot number 12, which I took in the college studio on the camera settings of ISO 200, F 29, and a shutter speed of 1/125. The detailing on the leaf of the cabbage look like veins, running across the leaf surface, this indicates that these are sustaining the cabbage's life supply, like how our veins carry our blood which supplies our body with oxygen; this symbolises how we are similar to organic objects like cabbages as we both need oxygen to survive. The cabbage is placed to the left of the image, creating a negative space in the right hand side of the image, I chose to not let the cabbage fill the whole of the frame as I wanted to symbolise that nature doesn't have to be everywhere for people to appreciate it's beauty; moreover, I believed that by only showing part of the cabbage I would highlight how nature is slowly being destroyed and fading. I chose to convert my photograph into black and white in order to emphasise the texture more within the image, additionally by converting this image into black and white it creates a darker connotation to the image, as the photograph appears to be dark and grainy overall.  

This image is photographed by Edward Weston, I chose to compare this image with one of my own as likewise to Weston I have photographed images in the studio of a cabbage. The denotation of this image is that it's a photograph of a cabbage leaf in a studio. Weston has captured the flow of the leaf, through the curvaceous lines that run down the leaf, which eventually flow outwards, in a river-like fashion. A higher key lighting is used in this photograph, in comparison to my own; the difference in lighting works well as the top of the cabbage is lighter, linking to a connotation of feminism- whereas, the lower parts of the leaf are darker and obtain more shadowing, linking to a connotation of masculinity; this change in lighting may be to symbolises the stereotypical differences in society involving men and woman and societies expectation of this. 

Overall, I believe my work and Weston's links well as they are both exploring the form of a cabbage within a studio setting; furthermore, both of the images are in black and white which explores the textures within each photograph more, as the folds on the leaves of the object creates shadowing. The angles in which the cabbage's are placed in the two photographs are different, as in my photo the cabbage is placed to the left, whereas in Weston's photograph his is placed central, this may be due to the various aims of his shoot and of mine. Both photographs explore the veins that are on the cabbage's surface and how their shape defines the overall meaning of the cabbage, as in Weston's photograph the lines are softer and more curved- contrasting the lines in my image which are harsher and more jagged, again this may be due to the contrasting aims of mine and Weston's shoots.