3ºESO A Project Manuela, Mario, Teo and Xiao 3ºESO A
Table of contents 1. Introduction ………………….………. p.3 2. Observation skills: ……………..…….. p.3 2.1. The content of the photograph …………...………..... p.3 2.1.a. Description. ................................................................. p.3
2.2. The story behind the photograph ………...…………. p.4
3. Technical knowledge: ………..……….. p.6 3.1. Point of view. ....................................................................... p. 6 3.2. Lighting. ................................................................................ p. 6 3.3. Framing. ................................................................................ p. 7 3.4. Cropping. ............................................................................... p. 7
4. Context, meaning and symbolism: ...…. p.7 4.1. Context and purpose of the photograph. ......................... p.7 4.2. Meaning. ................................................................................. p.7 4.3. Symbolism. ............................................................................. p.7
5. Author information ......………………... p.8 6. Conclusion ………......……………….... p.9 7. Bibliography ……….....………….……. p.10
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1. Introduction This project is about analysing an image. We are going to talk about the different aspects of it, such as the characters, composition, action, framing… We’ll also talk about the story that , we think , is behind this photograph.
2. Observation skills. 2.1 The content of the photograph: There is a wirebarbed fence. In front of it there is a man holding a baby and behind the fence there is another man who’s holding the same baby. Behind this man we can see a big field with what seems to be a forest on the left and a blurred figure on the right. About what’s going on in the picture, there are different ways to interpret it. We can either see the front man giving the baby or either receiving it from the man behind the barbedwire fence. We think it’s because they want to save the baby. All the persons in the picture are equally important but the man behind the barbedwire fence is the one who’s seen with more clarity.
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Behind the subject there is a big field, on the left there is some sort of forest. On the right there is what seems to be a big column of smoke. In front of the subject there is the man in front of the barbedwire fence and the photographer. The two men are around 30 years old. They are from some arabic country. They’re from the late XX century. They are wearing habitual clothes. We deduce they’re poor. They’re both kneeled with their hands extended. As we said before, one of the two men can be giving the baby or receiving it. The two men have a tense expression and they seem to be filled with determination. They are also worried about the situation and the upcoming future. We think they both might be thinking and feeling the same. We deduce all of this due to their facial expression.
2.2 The story behind the photograph: Manuela’s story : Before the photo was taken, I think that the man and his baby were running towards the barbedwire fence. Next, the photo was taken. I think that the man will get to pass the baby to the other side of the barbedwire fence and run away with his baby. I think that the story behind the photograph is a story of a man that tries to pass his baby to save his live. I think that because of the man’s expression, his face showing his despair. 4
In my opinion, when the photographer took the photo, he was thinking to show the world the desperate situation of some immigrants or a person that is running away from the war. Teo’s story : I think the action in this photograph takes time around 2003 and 2011, because for me they are involved in the Iraq war, because of the man's factions and the background. The man had a wife and probably, more children, but he only could save this child. He maybe ran across the battlefield, through explosions to save his baby’s life . He knows he will die, but it is a small cost to save the baby. Probably the soldier is terrified with the condition of the man, because he knows he can't do anything to save him, but he can save his child. The two men passed the baby across the barbed wire fence, and then the man died, and the soldier ran away with the baby in his arms to the camp, where they can heal the baby's wounds. If the baby had survived, now he would be between 10 and 11 years old. Xiao’s story : This is the story that is behind this photograph (in my opinion): two men (probably they are brothers, or very good friends) are trying to escape from their country, cause a war is happening, and they want to save their lives. They are trying to save a baby (maybe this baby is the son of one of these men). They are trying to escape from any country that is 5
under the thread of a war, like Syria, Vietnam or some country like that. I think that this photo was taken in 1985. Mario’s story : For me, the action takes place in the SovietAfghan war in Afghanistan back to 1984. I see that it’s the man who’s behind the fence the one who’s giving the baby to the other man. He and his children were living peacefully until the war came out. After many massacres and losing his wife the man decided that the baby should escape to a safer place. He couldn’t exit the country so he thought that at least he should save his child. Afterwards he made contact with a friend who lived in Pakistan. His friend accepted the petition and so it was. The man and his friend established the rendezvous at the barbedwire fence which was the frontier between Afghanistan and Pakistan. The father gave him the baby and the friend made a promise take care of him. The photographer was a war reporter at that moment and he met the father, so he decided to photograph that moment to symbolise what war provokes.
3. Technical knowledge The photographer's point of view is situated under the wire fence seeing the man behind it. He’s lying on the ground the moment he’s taking the photo. There is a natural light coming from the sky though the colourless that the photo has.
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It has a soft and diffused lightning. The photo has some kind of blur. The colours don’t contrast. The man behind the wire fence is the most clear figure and the light draws the attention to him. The mood of this picture is negative but it can transmit different feelings depending of the person: sadness, desperation... We think that outside of the frame there is the rest of the wire fence and the rest of the landscape. The photographer decided to take this picture this way to emphasise the humans in the picture, he didn’t want to include anything else preventing the viewer from getting distracted. The cropping provides a standpoint on the men and the baby. It helps the subject to take up almost all the photo.
4. Context, meaning, symbolism. We think this photo was taken for a journal or magazine with the purpose of showing the effects of war on people. He could’ve also taken it unintentionally, without previous planning and he thought it could be really good to give an image of the situation. This photograph gives a big impact at first sight. It’s like a shock because you’re seeing a real situation. We felt lots of sensations mixed among them. You can feel yourself nostalgic, sad, hopeful, happy, depressed, etc. In our opinion, the fence, the baby and the man receiving the baby and the father are, all of them, different symbols; the 7
fence represents the separation between freedom and slavism, or a representation of war. The baby maybe is a representation of the man’s hope, his family legacy. The man receiving the baby could be like an “angel”, his saviour. The father represents the paternal love.
5. Author information. Warren Richardson was born in Australia in 1968. His work is mostly about human and environmental issues. He travelled to the SerbianHungarian border in 2015 to work about the refugees crysis. He recollected many stories from the refugees and he also took many moments of how they were passing through that situation.
He won the World Press Photo of the Year 2015 with the photo we analyzed.
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6. Conclusion. As a group, we think this project was worth. We learned a lot about photography and how to analyse it. This project showed us that a black and white photo doesn’t have to be an old one and that wars are closer than we thought. We got submerged into the past thinking this photo was from the XX century or the early XXI century but it ended up being more actual that we thought. It helped us to make aware of how humans are the only animal capable of destroy itself through xenophobia. It’s incredible how, instead of building bridges, we build wire fences to separate the “different ones” from getting a better life. Now we’re going to express our personal opinion about this project. Xiao’s opinion: I liked so much to do this project. I learned that the proverb “A picture is worth that one hundred words” is not true. Seeing this picture, all the members of the group thought about different stories, and I enjoyed comparing my personal opinion with the rest of my schoolmates and listening to the stories that they had invented. I learned some things about the photography, and it was fun to work with this team. Mario’s opinion: This project taught me a lot of things. I learned that black and white photos don’t have to be old 9
photos. I really liked the research on this project. I hoped we could work in a good way, I think we did a good job. I also learned more about the world of photography. In some way, this photo woke me up about the actual situation. Manuela’s opinion: I think that project was funny and the theme was very interesting to learn how to see the hidden message in the photograph. Also I learned that photographs don't have to be what you think they are the first time you see them. At the beginning I didn’t like this group, but now, after working together, I like this group, because of our work. Teo’s opinion: For me this project was one of the funnest projects I’ve ever done. The photo is one of the stiffest I had ever seen, because of the context. It has opened my eyes to a situation which is happening nowadays. The group work was so delightful and I really enjoyed it.
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7.Bibliography
Ferrer, Isabel. ‘ La imagen de un bebé refugiado gana el World Press Photo’ . El país digital. 20 February 2016. < http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2016/02/18/actualidad/1455793506_976162.h tml > [Accessed: 23 may 2016] Fulop, Ildiko. ‘Warren Richardson’. World Press Photo. < http://www.worldpressphoto.org/people/warrenrichardson > [Accessed: 30 May 2016] Richardson, Warren. ‘Refugee Crisis Hungary’ . Warrenrichardson. < http://www.warrenrichardson.com/ > [Accessed: 26 May 2016] ‘Soviet–Afghan War’ . Wikipedia . < https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soviet%E2%80%93Afghan_War > [Accessed: 19 May 2016] ‘Warren Richardson profile’ . World Press Photo. < http://www.worldpressphoto.org/people/warrenrichardson > [Accessed: 30 May 2016]
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