Connecting Essay: Julius D High -

Connecting Essay - 

(Julius D High)

(My own work)

The first image, by Julius D High, conveys one persons interpretation of love when faced with the question that is the prompt for all D High's captions. The location is used to tell a story about the person in that it is where the photographer found them and approached them and as such probably has meaning to the individual. Moreover, the pink colour of the background is often symbolic of love which is the theme of the series. Each work within the "What is love?" series is a diptych of two polaroids with a caption beneath that focuses on the response to the prompted question which can also be seen in the "35mm Film" series. Contextually, this is from the "What is love?" series that has been a photographic journey across multiple American states and captures everyday people and their beliefs and ideologies thus giving them a voice. 

My photograph is depicting a singular subject composed centrally in relation to the rule of thirds grid and was captured using the medium of polaroid photography. I asked my subject to physically manipulated this photograph using pens to tell something about themselves; this subject answered the prompt "Why did you choose this design?" by saying "I chose this design because of the connotations of equality associated with a rainbow and the idea of wonder found in space". The rainbows connotations are linked to pride in relation to the LGBTQ+ community whilst the stars are more explicit in their symbolism. The photographic medium is a polaroid diptych with a caption beneath, which serves as a computer experiment, that addresses what is important to the subject but also how it is important in the construction of their identity. 

There are obvious links between the work of Julius D High and mine seen directly beneath it. For instance, the technical composition is a diptych of two polaroids side by side with a caption beneath that initially conveys the subjects name and age in bold and then their response to the prompted question. On the other hand, the technical detail of physical manipulation is seen only in my images as this was an idea that I did not take from D High but instead thought of myself and discovered that other photographs such as Jamie Livingston had also employed a similar skill. Moreover, there is a difference relating to the conceptual approach that I took and that of Julius D High. I decided to study the idea of identity, specifically self-identity, through a series of connected images whereas D High explores the idea and expression of love through the question "What is your personal interpretation of love?".