LILY HALLIDAY
Y O U T H
K A T E P A R K E R
To introduce the theme of 'youth' to my project, I have researched into the photographer Kate Parker. She captures various photographs of kids being kids, running around, playing with friends and causing mayhem. Her photos capture the essence of children perfectly, showing their upbeat moods and playful manner.
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Her photographic series follow through with a monochromatic effect, in my opinion allowing the viewer to focus a lot more on the subject of the photo. Although, the lack of colour doesn't help emphasise the emotion within each photo. Usually you would associate happiness and joy (an emotion within the majority of the photos) with bright colours, rather than greyscale. It is very common to associate happiness with bright colours, so I feel as if Parker has created more of a contrast using black and white with vivid movement and expressions.
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Where as, I also view this lack of colour as a focus on the emotions themselves, as nothing else distracts you from the emotions displayed on each individuals face. I believe the greyscale effect also helps to emphasise the visual elements such as shape, line and tone. Each photographs content is different to the next - showing different activities and expressions but all with children. Parker truly brings out the perception people have of youth within children today - playful, messy, loud and full on. I have also noticed that there are no boys within the images - they are all girls. This could represent something more significant possibly containing a hidden message of some sort.
Another aspect that stands out for me is the use of light within her photos. The use of light itself is very effective within these particular photos due to the subject and what light can represent. In this case, the light could represent the innocent nature of a child and the birth of new memories. White, a colour that is often associate with light, has colour connotations of purity, innocence, wholeness and completion words that are often associated with children. It is seen as the colour of new beginnings, quite like a child beginning their life. Blank canvas' can be written on, which a childhood does creating initial memories of someone’s youth and life.
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The light within each photo has been used effectively and in a certain way to give off a different appearance. For example the quality of the light ranges in each photo, showing brightness at the centre and top of the photos. The use of light in itself portrays a range of meanings and emotions - in this case I portray the use of light as innocence and bright futures for each of the young girls.
The use of light is very significant within this photograph, portraying the happiness within the expression of each child. The intense light positioned at the top right hand corner shines above all of the children pouring out over them, suggesting purity and innocence. The light even manages to capture the hairs on the back of the girls head, giving a very delicate appearance. The position of the children is very crowded and compact, showing energy and movement - the true essence of children.
P H O T O S H O O T P L A N
​Like Parker, I plan to set my shoot on a large field surrounded by trees and wide open spaces. Even though Parker chooses many different locations and setting within her work, I have chosen the most common and in my opinion most effective setting that will emphasise the idea of playful, loud and happy children. I have also planned to carry out the shoot on a very warm summers day due to the fact that lighting is a very key aspect within Parkers work. I also previously mentioned that the aspect of light helps to emphasise the energetic playful manner of the children within her photos. This is an aspect I would like to bring forward into this shoot. For the models within my shoot I have chosen my two younger sisters, one aged 7 and the other 8 also working well in the style of Parker due to the fact that her models are all under the age of 10. In my opinion, I believe this is the best age that will allow me to capture the essence of children and their excited actions.
O U T C O M E
I have found this shoot successful in portraying the essence of children and their playful manner, informed by Parker. I carried out the photo shoot walking to and from the field behind my house that allowed me to capture the girls running around, screaming and having fun whilst changing my surroundings. I found that the weather was perfect in emphasising the bright mood and expressions I was capturing in each shot, similar to Parker. The only problem I found with some of the photographs was that they appeared quite staged, more so the photos of the girls sitting down and looking directly at the camera. Overall, I have found this shoot purposeful in portraying my ideas and theme so far, but I hope to develop this further and create a much deeper meaning to my work.
E D I T S
To make my photographs more visually interesting and visually similar to Parkers, I have added a greyscale effect and slightly adjusted the contrast to create more depth. I have chosen my selected favourites to edit that I believe capture the essence of children the best, showing their innocent and playful manner.
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I believe these edits have been successful and purposeful working in the style of Parker, but at this point in time I want to explore a much deeper theme rather than the simple essence of children to make my work more effective. Now I have explored the initial perceptions of children, I will move onto other perceptions allowing my theme and ideas to develop further.