Select a favourite image
Find out the following information
The date the image was made
The nationality of the photographer
The photographer’s agenda
Where the image was made
How the image was made and any significance attached to equipment choice
The social and Political Environment / climate in which it was constructed
The form in which the image was published
Any documented discussion surrounding the image
Whether the meaning of the image has adjusted over time
Finished requirements / tasks
1) Create a word processed document (350 words) - post on your blog
a) Denotation -describe the image (what is literally in the frame) 100 words
b) Connotation (how does the image work/gain meaning) 250 words
2) An A2 poster to be displayed – incorporating Image and Text Your poster may be designed and made using any method of production/any materials: computer generated/Rendered and Scanned etc
This is my chosen image;
'Concorde' by Wolfgang Tillmans
My essay;
The image that I have selected for this task, is in an image taken by Wolfgang Tillmans. The image consists of a Concorde flying overhead with some tree branches in view. Tillmans is a German artist who was born in Remscheid on August 16 1968. He studied at Bournemouth and Poole college of Art from 1990 to 1992. He won the Turner prize in 2000. He is mainly known for his distinctive photography style of using multiple photographic genres in his work. He has become one of the most unique and influential photographers of the 1990’s with his spectacular collections of images. He has produced raw, personal
And powerful images that fit into genres, such as, landscape, still life and portraiture. He has photographed his close friends, portraying their lifestyle and showcasing something that is considered dirty and wrong into something beautiful as well as series of wonderful patterns that are so visually compelling.
All of his collections and images are beautiful and they all have meaning.
The image that I have selected is from a series called ‘Concorde’. The collection is showcased in his own book with the same-named title. The book is filled with 62 pages of colour photographs of the Concorde images.
In the Spring of 1997, Tillmans stood under the fly passes of Heathrow, Richmond and Clapham airports. He did this for several weeks, looking up into the sky and photographing the approaching concords.
There is something so beautiful about this particular collection of images. Out of the 62 images in this collection, I have selected number 86 which is an image of a Concorde L449-15A. I have selected this one, because after carefully looking at all of the images I decided that to me, this one was the most interesting. It’s not necessarily the most beautiful one, which is another reason to why I feel compelled to use it. The image is very simple. All that you can see is the underneath of a Concorde and some branches. The negative space is filled with the sky. I think that this image has been composed really well, with the great shape of the Concorde being the thing that the viewer is most drawn to. The Concorde is pointing upwards and is situated to the slight right of the image. The branches are protruding from the bottom left of the image, creating a stunning subject for the viewer to see alongside the Concorde itself. The branches are covered in leaves that look tiny and blurred, emphasising that the Concorde is high in the sky.
Tillmans thinks of Concorde’s as anti-social instruments that are environmentally unsustainable that somehow still carries sympathy. He thought that the sympathy had to do with the shape of it and the outside of it. So he found it important to focus on that idea for his photographs not the idea of luxury and privileged access. He also found it important not to contact British Airways or Heathrow Airport to get permission because he said that ‘the whole point of the project was about this democratic symbol in the sky, something on which we can all project our dreams for a better future through technology. I think that, that does make the collection more special and unique, the fact that he sneaked into the areas for where he would be able to capture the flying concords and in some of the images you can see the fence in which he peered through in order to get what he desired. Tillman’s also said that a Concorde is ‘a glamorous but cramped and slightly boring routine’. I think that by knowing this, I can think of the image in a new perspective. At first I thought that it reflected the nature of British aircrafts quite well with the shape of it filling the cloudy but blue sky and with the spindly classically English tree, truly portraying a Concorde in England, but with the gathered information I realise that he took these images for a purpose. To show the world the wondrous beauty of a Concorde as well as the environmental devastation it produces. The image that I selected does truly show this. There is the natural beauty of the light sky and whimsical branches, but then there’s the beauty of the Concorde itself, which is enigmatic and over-powering.
By Sunnyrose Ridley
this essay was only supposed to be 350 words, but I had too much to write so it's over 700 words.
Poster Inspiration;
Poster Ideas;
My Poster;
This is my final poster design. The background that I have used is an old news article of a plane crash. I have chosen to use this to represent the destruction and devastation caused by concordes as connoted by Tillmans in his original image. Also because in my research I discoverd that there was a major plane crash in 1997, which was the same year as Tillmans took his image. I scrunched up the news article then scanned it in. I scrunched it up, to give it a very distressed look which further reflects the destruction. I made the background text quite opaque, so it's barely visible. This was so the poster has a simpler look and isnt too fussy. i decided on this because Tillmans' image is very simple and I wanted to reflect that in my poster.
I have used the very tree in Tillmans' image in my poster, but I have added birds to it. The birds represent the beauty of the concorde. The quote that I have used is by Sir John Houghton. It's about Global warming. I have decided to use this quote because I think that it goes well with the idea of Concordes causing global damage.
