Visual Literacy - Analysing Photographs

Page 1

‘‘Mourning’’

​ María Afonso, Cristina, Sara Alonso, Sara Bouza


Table of contents 1. Introduction .................................................. Page 3 2. Photo analysis………………………………... Page 3 a. Observation skills …………………..…... Page 3 b. Technical knowledge ………………..…. Page 3 3. Context, Meaning and Symbol……….…....... Page 3 4. Author information…………………………..... Page 5 5. Conclusion…………………………………….. Page 6 6. Bibliography…………………………………… Page 7


1.Introduction We are going to talk about the photo that we chose for this project. We chose this photograph because the photo expresses sad and melancholy. 2.Photo analysis In this photograph we see a woman in a cemetery. We think the cemetery is in an Arabic country and ​ for this reason we think the girl is muslim, the woman in the photograph is crying because she is visiting the family’s tomb. The woman in the photograph is praying for the souls of the deads. The photograph was taken in a cemetery that is in a country that is in war She is wearing traditional muslim clothes She is kneeling in front of the tomb. We can't see her face but her body ​ is language expresses that she is feeling blue, in signal of sadness.

The light in the photo is natural it comes from the sun. The photographer was standing when he took the photo. We think that the photographer chooses this framing because he is focusing the girl and with this cropping


you can’t see the sky, for this reason it has the effect of anguish. 3.Context, Meaning and Symbol In the photo there is a symbol and a metaphor. The symbol is the woman that means her religion and the metaphor is the cemetery that means the consequences of the war. SARA BOUZA: My story is in one muslim cemetery. One woman that is visiting her mother's or her father’s tomb (I think that the mother’s or father's tomb, because the woman seems young, for this reason I think that it is her mother’s or her father’s tomb). He or she died some years ago. The woman is sad. The she visited her mother’s or her father’s tomb, she comes back to her house with her husband and her children. MARÍA AFONSO: My story takes place in an African country.The woman is in front of her .Her relatives were killed during the war or by hunger.The woman went to visit them and she is sad.She prays for the dead.She


then returns to her “home” (because the cities are destroyed) and she continued with her life but alone CRISTINA: My story is about the war, the consequences of the war. I think that all her family, friends, neighbours are dead for the war because she is alone in the cemetery with the deads. I think that it is in a country in war because the cemetery is in bad conditions. She is praying for the deaths. SARA ALONSO:I think that this story takes place in a country that is in ​ war. The muslim woman was escaping from the war with one member of her family when a bomb exploded or a person killed her family and she is the only survivor in her family and now, she is visiting the tomb of a member of her family. 4. Author’s Information James Nachtwey was born on march 14, 1948. He lives in New York. He has received numerous honours for example, the World Press Photo Award, the Leica


Award and “Princesa de Asturias”(19/05/2016). He took the photo in Afghanistan, 1996.The woman is crying because her brother died. The brother died because the taliban throw a missile. 5.Conclusion In this project we learned about James Nachtwey, photo analysis and that “The man is the only animal that falls more than once on the same stone”, because we continue making the same mistakes, because wars aren't new mistakes.


6.Bibliography Information:

By The ASX Team​ .”​ From ‘Inferno’ to ‘War’: A Few Considerations on James Nachtwey, VII, and War Photography (2004)”. September, 2009 ­​ http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/09/james­nachtwey­from­inferno­to­war­a­fe w­considerations­on­james­nachtwey­vii­and­war­photography%E2%80%9D­2004.ht ml ​ (04/06/2016)

.Witness."I have been a witness, and these pictures are my testimony. The events I have recorded should not be forgotten and must not be repeated."​ ­ http://www.jamesnachtwey.com/​ (04/06/2016)

Manuel Morales.El País.El fotoperiodista James Nachtwey, premio Princesa de Asturias de Comunicación. ­​ http://cultura.elpais.com/cultura/2016/05/19/actualidad/1463652502_550527.html (04/06/2016) Video:

TED”Accepting his 2007 TED Prize, war photographer James Nachtwey shows his life’s work and asks TED to help him continue telling the story with innovative, exciting uses of news photography in the digital era.”​ .­​ https://www.ted.com/talks/james_nachtwey_s_searing_pictures_of_war?langu age=es#t­104437​ ( 04/06/2016) Photo of James Nachtwey: Prisma2.”GRANDESFOTÓGRAFOS:JAMESNACHTWEY”​ ­​ http://www.prisma2.co

m/master­James­Nachtwey.php?directorio=D:/Inetpub/webs/prisma2com/master/ma ster­James­Nachtwey&max=4&tmax=163​ (04/06/2016) ­Cultura Badajoz.”James Nachtwey «Premio Princesa de Asturias de Comunicación»”.​ ­​ http://culturabadajoz.com/james­nachtwey­premio­princesa­de­as turias­de­comunicacion/​ ​ (04/06/2016)


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