Photo Story Project
Welcome to my photography story page, the presentation of my project.
You can also find my photographic improvement on my Photo Skills page.
00
Art reflection
Wim van Sinderen, the creator of the exhibition, chose to enhance Parents because of his picture My Mother at the Plansee in Tyrol that he has always carefully preserved as a “holiday slide” from his childhood.
His mother is on the foreground, the main subject of the picture but she is “only half-way into the frame” and blurry, which represent how busy she was, always doing housework. Was this week real holidays for this woman? The teenager even considers it as being “the very essence of his mother”.
Moreover, every other content visible in the frame inform us about the period the 70's: the old car, the patterns on the dress, the caravan.
Furthermore, the picture was taken very close to the ground, as if he was as tall as young child, even though he was 15 years old when he shot it.
The teenage photographer was feeling “too old to go on holiday with his parents”. Indeed, he could have taken pictures of the environment but he chose to spotlight his mother, which shows a lot of attachment to his family. Indeed, his “crazy point of view” is not that crazy!
When we were younger, my brother and I always took my dad’s camera during vacations to take pictures of our parents, because they were not often the main subjects. Indeed, we wanted to have nice memories of them in holiday, trying to take as good photos as our dad’s ones.
All in all, Wim van Sinderen’s picture is not of great quality, but the story and the memories are more important. This represents photography for most people, less artistic but more about having memories and immortalizing the moments.
For a long time, my opinion on photography was the same. However, I can now see photography as an art, especially thanks to everything I am learning in Visual Storytelling.
01
Inspiration
Moodboard
Giacomo Bruno is an Italian photographer born in 1991 based in Reggio Emilia, Italy. He produces personal projects on life, craft and agriculture, providing insights into how rural areas develop and survive across the globe.
He is doing portrait photography and reportage, in Latin America, China, Japan, Sri Lanka, South Africa and his projects have been published in leading international magazines, such as Corriere della Sera and Le Monde.fr, but also editorials and magazines like Perimetro, C41 Magazine and others. He also has collaborated with important international advertising agencies, such as McCann Worldgroup, Merchant Cantos and much more.
He made a food photography series about the Michelin-Star Restaurant Ca' Matilde, which gave me interesting ideas of the kind of picture I could take in the restaurant I will go to. In his portraits, he manage to guide us to look at the chef or his hands or the food according to his composition and the focus.
Melanie Lemahieu is a French event photographer, who wants to capture feelings and interactions between people in her commercial portraits. She graduated from the Dutch photography school Fotovakschool in Amsterdam.
According to her, her mission is to capture the memorable essence of each event and to offer imagery with a vibrant twist to her clients, imagery that has real heart & soul. Her goal is to help people building their image, authentically, and bring a story to life with creative and thoughtful photos.
Her food photography and chefs portraits captures the right moment, using kairos and pathos in her authentic pictures.
“Everybody deserves incredible and authentic photos"
02
Mood
Subject
Chefs in their restaurant
Theme
Passion of creation
03 A
by Duc Bui
SEMIOTICS
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PIERCE
Icon: The fire is a signs of heat, that will make the fish cooked and be ready to be eaten by his clients.
Index: The steam would represent the smell of good food that makes us feel hungry.
Symbol: The fish in his metallic cage signified how humans are killing animals to burn them and eat them, for their own pleasure.
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BARTHES
Denotation: The denotation of this picture is a chef preparing food for his client.
Connotation: The connotation of the picture is revealing mass consumption and consumerism, how we are eating more than what our body needs, and way more than what our planet can provide us.
RHETORICAL DEVICES
Ethos: As viewer we won't discredit or question the integrity of the photographer because we're facing the same thing, we assume the photographer is showing us a real scene that looks like reality.
Logos: The photographer is asking us to think about any detail of that picture, especially what is the most in focus: the fish and the fire.
Pathos: We can feel the heat of the fire, thanks to the strong red colors and warm atmosphere, and we can see the sweat on his forehead, making us understand how close to burning himself he can be.
Kairos: The picture is taking at the right moment, when the fire is burning strongly and we can see perfectly the starks and steam.
Photo analysis
03 B
Signs: Smiles and facial expressions should convey a good mood, passion in the kitchens. Even the chefs will share some moment together, on the contrary to the French cliché of strict Chefs, shouting at each other.
Here, they will show focus but with respect and passion.
Pathos: I want the viewer to feel how passionated the chefs are, how they are able to create art with simple food, to satisfy theirs customers. I want the viewers to see the chefs' concentration, perfectionism and achievement in my pictures.
Logos: Editing can help me provide certain evidence, to make my point more obvious but it should stay close enough to reality to remain credible and trustworthy.
Signs
04 A
by Axelle Verhoustraeten
FORM
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COMPOSITION
The photographer used the rule of thirds, where the element in focus is the bell and the papers on the top right. It refers to the orders of the clients, which is the reason why the chef is cooking: he needs clients who needs him and his talent.​
The shelf in the middle is creating symmetry and a separation between the chef face and his hands, his focused expression and his actions.​
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LIGHT
Direction: This shelf is dark and with the light under and behind, it disappears and lets us see the chef face expression above and his actions of cooking bellow, clearer where the light is more powerful.
Colour and intensity: The soft and cyan light behind the chef is creating a cold atmosphere in the background, as if everything was turned of and proves that there is nothing important to look at there. It contrasts even more with the harder warm light on the chef's face and hands, which is attracting the viewers' eyes and making the dishes even more white, clean and good looking.
Photo analysis II
04 B
Form
In the next restaurant I'll go, I should:
- be sure no one is behind, no element disturbing
- have enough contrast and light on the subject
- chose good leading lines
- follow a specific dish to have a clear story
- not too much space above
- focus more on the food to show what they are cooking
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- step backward when possible and chose a wider angle to see every important element
- be sure to see clear facial expressions
