Exercise 3.4 A persuasive image

The exercise is in two parts:

• Find three examples of landscape photographs (or a set thereof) being used to assert a particular ideological point of view look for advertising as well as documentary and fine art;
• Consider an issue you feel strongly about and design an image that will have a persuasive effect upon a viewer.

 Ideological point of view

I selected three very different types of photograph (one a series), as follows:

Persimmon Homes image. Available from https://www.linkedin.com/company/persimmon-homes

House builders are one of the least imaginative sectors in advertising, mainly because their product is usually oversubscribed (except in times of economic woe) and there is no brand loyalty. People buy homes rarely; they are far more likely to buy based on location, availability and price than the particular builder, and many new home sites are in any case an amalgam of the product of several builders so an advert for one that draws in potential buyers is inevitably as much an advert for the others. House builders simply perceive little need to try very hard.

The consequence is that all images are very idealistic. This image from Persimmon is typical. It is  actually a generic image with the accompanying text as follows:

"Persimmon Homes is proud to be one of the UK's leading house builders. We build around 10,000 beautifully designed new homes each year in more than 400 prime locations nationwide. Along with our sister companies Charles Church, Westbury Partnerships and Hillreed Homes, we are committed to the highest standards of design, construction and service. "

The aspect is sunny - it could not be otherwise - and it is noticeable that the image is wide angle so as to invite a sense of space and incorporate more than one type of house - house builders are more conscious these days of not building identical boxes next to one another. A courtyard environment is implied; there are no cars (and no idea where any might be parked) and sop to the environment with the planted trees in the foreground. It is an image about product, the attendant landscape is a by-product; there is no context actual or implied as to the surrounding landscape - it is deliberately a closed image

 

Winner of Veolia Wildlife Photographer of Year 2011. Part of a series by Daniel Beltra on BP's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, available from http://www.nhm.ac.uk/visit/wpy/gallery/2011/images/wildlife-photojournalist-award/4506/still-life-in-oil.html

This image is one of the most haunting I have seen. It is not strictly a landscape image but part of a series that includes aerial views by Spanish photographer Daniel Beltra recording the aftermath of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. Beltra's commentary is interesting: he mentions the beauty of the textures and colours of the spill from above, and how they might not look out of place in a gallery:

"It's a route to understanding that doesn't depend on shock. I think it helps get the message to a wider audience, because if the image is aesthetically appealing, people are more likely to stop and read the caption."

There is a sort of beauty too about the pelicans; it is only once you understand why they are black and huddled together that the horrible truth emerges. The message is explicit but cloaked in subtlety. 

Talhy Stotzer, Shopping Mall, Dalian, China

This image was taken in a Chinese shopping mall. It is an allegory - a photograph of  a landscape photograph -  as described by Giblett (2012, p234) thus:

"I read this photograph in part as an ironic take on the simulation of nature in photographs in unsustainable shopping malls and the kind of crushing impact these malls have on the living human beings who work and shop in them. This is expressed in the photograph by the man’s bowed or lowered head, his downcast gaze not addressing the camera and photographer, and his clasped hands, all signifiers of the abject"

The image can be read on several levels depending on the viewer's point of view - the opening of the lift may be viewed as opening a door on the environment, or alternatively a crack that is opening in the facade of pretence that covering lift doors in a mall with an image of trees is 'environmental'. The man is looking down, hands clasped, almost as if he might be embarrassed if he was aware of the symbolism he is unwittingly part of.

Design an image around an issue I feel strongly about

I am no graphic artist so this will inevitably be rough, I very much like the graphic artistry used by the cover of the Economist each week; almost cartoon but not quite. The most recent edition featured a leader on the parlous state of Italian banks with the following cover:

The allusion to the potential problem for the EU as well as for Italy is added to by the car that has already plunged. The paper employs very skilled graphic artists.

As a very crude copy, I designed this montage. It reflects my interest in EU affairs. Although a 'Remainer', I am sceptical that the EU can survive in its current form; it is too bureaucratic in many ways yet it is not centralised enough within the eurozone; it is not possible long-term to have monetary union without fiscal union, else the tensions between the prudent economies (Germany, Austria) and the profligate (Italy, Greece) will lead to intolerable pressure in the end. The Italian banking crisis alluded to by the Economist will be the latest episode. 
 
Is it an effective montage? Probably not as it is too detailed - it probably needs one liners in the text boxes with a narrative beneath. But I enjoyed the making of it...

Reference:

Giblett, Rod (2012)  in Giblett, Rod and Tolonen, Juha Photography and Landscape. Bristol. The Mill