"Visual Literacy - Analysing Photographs"

“Girl & elephant” Gregory Colbert

By: Antía, Marta, Francisco and Patricia

Table of contents: 1. Introduction­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ page 1 2. Author’s biography­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ page 1 3. Observation skills­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ page 2 4. Building technical knowledge­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ page 3 5. Context­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ page 3/4 6. Conclusion­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ page 4 7. Bibliography­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­ page 5

1. Introduction:

In this project we are going to talk about a photo by Gregory Colbert that we have analyzed.

First, we worked individually analyzing the photo. Then we accorded our opinion about the photo. Afterwards we searched for information about the author and his photo. Finally we ​ give ​ our opinion​ .

2. ​ Author’s biography:

Gregory Colbert was born in 1960 in Toronto. He is a Canadian film­maker and photographer. He was the creator of “Ashes and Snow”, an exhibition of photographic artworks and films housed in the Nomadic Museum.

His works are collaborations between humans and other species that express the poetic sensibility and imagination of humans and animals.

His

images offer a vision of the natural world. He travelled to different places.

He represents an interdependence and symmetry between humanity and the rest of life​ .

3. ​ Observation skills:

We see a girl and an elephant in a river. We think that the girl is saying goodbye to the elephant, because she had a lot of affection for him.

The subject of the picture is the love between people and animals.

Behind the subject there could be some bushes or a forest. The photographer is in front of subject.

She said goodbye because she has to emigrate. Afterwards, she came back with her family and they left the country to have a better life.

Maybe the photo was taken nowadays in an Indian river, it has got warm colours, the clothes are old and dirty.

We think that they are both good friends and she feels great affection for the elephant because it is her only support. She is stroking it.

The photographer thinks it’s a sad story in which he or she empathizes with the girl and he or she is trying to represent her feelings.

The girl is 13 years old. We think that she is from India and the photo is from nowadays. She is wearing a white dress.

We think that she is from India because of her clothes and her facial features seem from there and she is crouching in the lake.

The girl and the elephant maybe have a kind of relationship, and they are sad because of their farewell. They are both disillusioned.

She is sad because she is looking down. She is worried for the situation she is living, we think this because her eyes are closed and she is feeling pity.

4. ​ Building technical knowledge:

We think that it is a close up and the photographer tries to represent their facial expression. His point of view is in front of them. He was crouching in the river. We think that the photo was taken at the same level of the river. The photographer tries to represent their feelings.

We think that the light is natural because it seems the sun light and it is coming from above. It is bright.

The background is diffused and the foreground is contrasted and it is blurry.

The light creates a feeling of sadness and it makes us think that it’s focused in the elephant and the girl’s dress.

The girl and the elephant are included in the picture frame. We think that outside of the frame there is a big field.

We think that the graphic composition is focused on their faces and the photographer chooses this frame to highlight the sadness.

The cropping wants to stand out the main objective.

5. ​ Context:

The photographer’s purposes is to transmit a moral lesson to the spectators and she wants to take this picture to represent the love between animals and people.

We think that the photo was taken between 80’s and 90’s and it communicates us that the girl’s clothes are contemporary.

The photograph says that they are saying goodbye and it makes us feel sad because the girl’s face is very sad.

The impact of this photograph is the situation about the girl and the elephant because they are sad and the elephant’s eye catches our attention.

It inspires us to be more creativ​ e​ and to dream more.

We think that the way that the girl is stroking the elephant is a symbol. The metaphor of this picture maybe ​ is ​ that animals can have the same feelings as a person.

6. ​ Conclusion:

We liked working in this project because it made us use our imagination and learned to be more creative. This photo taught us how to think about the types of relationships between people and animals.

We think that the most difficult part of the project was the coordination between us, and the easiest one was to search for information about the photographer.

We think that all the members of the group didn’t work at the same level.

Marta’s and Antía’s conclusion: We think that we did the biggest part of the project because we did practically all the draft.

Patricia's conclusion: I think that I didn’t do practically anything.

Paco´s conclusion : I think that our problem was the coordination and I recognize that I didn’t work hard enough.

7. ​ Bibliography: Author: ➢ Colbert, Gregory http://api.ning.com/files/uWN8m4TSMD4VIxd7xRmHIe1VQ25JA LFPMhoha7eKdZEBQgRjtkoggxIZsu­tFMqS5x9x*a2i*qC­F4sSy v*1NA__/gregorycolbert1.jpg​ ­ (Accessed 31/5/2016) ➢ “Photo.com” https://www.terra.org/html/s/artista/foto/gregorycolbert/gregorycol bert.html​ ­ (Accessed 31/5/2016) ➢ “Terra.org” http://www.all­about­photo.com/photographer.php?name=gregory­ colbert&id=205​ ­ (Accessed 31/5/2016) ➢ Video “Ashes and Snow” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WR7yzPLXNAM​ ­ (Accessed 4/6/16)