Connecting Essay: Nan Goldin -

Connecting Essay - 

(Nan Goldin)

(My own photograph)

The first photograph is the work of Nan Goldin and exemplifies a candid documentary style which tells the narrative of the whole situation in accordance with Henri Cartier-Bresson's decisive moment. The photograph appears to capture a moment in time that depicts partying, smoking and drinking and other such behaviours that Goldin was known for, usually more deviant than depicted in this image. The variety of subjects appears to represent the eclectic life of Golding and that each subject helps to represent her as much as they do themselves in their styles and poses. Each can be used to relate to ideologies of youth representation, some are seen as fun, others as troublesome and another as self-destructive in reference to smoking and such. Mostly though, this image is warmer in hue and saturation but also in its concept and representation as the main depiction of youth in this image is as fun if somewhat troublesome. Relating to denotation, the image in landscape orientation and is a colour photograph of multiple subjects. The use of depth of field and the compositional grid are used effectively to create a dynamic final image resulting in the audience being encouraged to look at each subject individually and then together as a collective identity. Despite this, Nan Goldin has said that her work isn't a documentary as such as she "was living for the moment, not documenting for the future".

My photograph is a film shot from my shoot 3 collage where I used the location of a party to capture the collective identity of youth and part of my identity in my personal friendships. The photograph was captured using ideas of the decisive moment in that the bubbles and confetti had to caught at the right time to tell the whole narrative. Furthermore, the two main subjects are both composed on lines of the rule of thirds grid composition method meaning that the viewers attention is immediately diverted to them and their narrative. The connotations of the image are relating to the idea of youth as fun according to Ann Gould's representation of the youth subculture. I also wanted to present the often misinterpreted youth in a way that is in a kindred spirit with childhood; the bubbles serve as a symbolic device in the construction of a naive and happy quality to the final photograph.

There are both similarities and differences between the two featured works in that some technical qualities such as composition are evidenced in both and conceptual ideas relating to youth representations can also be seen. For example, Goldin's photograph places two main subjects in the central foreground to initially draw attention before the rest of the image is explored and I also used two central subjects that are placed along the vertical lines of the rule of thirds composition. Furthermore, both final outcomes display the collective identity of youth in a more positive light as fun instead of some more favoured fine art photography perspectives of youth as dark. Despite this, a main difference between the two images is the colourisation in that Goldin's is a warm hue whilst mine is a cooler blue colour; although this was not fully intentional but was instead emphasised by the medium of the film.