12) TASK 2: Critical Making and Reflection, 500 words - 8/12/17

The subject of my set of images are objects that portray steps to happiness (according to a BBC Lifestyle Happiness Manifesto), and the subject of the comparative set of images are products used in daily life to satisfy our basic needs.

The intended meaning of my set of images is to deconstruct these steps to happiness in a playful and ironic way, and I feel this meaning shows through successfully. For instance, I used fake plants in the first image to portray the happiness step ‘Plant Something’, and in my final image for the happiness step ‘Phone a Friend’ I included some sex hotline pages from magazines. To show the playful nature within my shots I used bright pink and blue colours, experimented with different compositions (such as birds-eye shots), and played around with the laces on the shoes to show feelings of love and happiness. I feel the intended meaning of the comparative set of images is to show these products without elaborate back stories or encapsulating lighting, because they do not need these elements. The meaning Stier is displaying is that these products are there to be used. His images do not need to make the viewer dream about owning them and think how much better life would be with these products, because we need them in our lives.

In terms of photographic genres, both sets of images fit into the category of Still Life, specifically product shots because of their “high standard of technique, the perfection of material and the scientific methods” (David Bate – The Object of Still Life). The genre of product shots is also displayed because they show objects “against a ‘clean’ background, and visually isolated from any specific cultural context” (David Bate – The Object of Still Life). This is done because when taken out of its normal context, “an object has more emotive power” (David Bate – The Object of Still Life). I feel both sets of images also fit into the sub-genre of social fantasy, because they are deconstructing the idea to “promise to fulfil the parts of the viewing individual that are still un-fulfilled” (David Bate – The Object of Still Life).

One of my key inspirations for this set of images was Elise Mesner’s series ‘Idealistic Surroundings’. It’s a set of clean studio shots with playful compositions and lots of bright colours, also paired with specifically directed lighting on her subjects. My motivation behind my work was wanting to show this seemingly straightforward happiness manifesto in a more satirical light, because I feel you cannot label everyone’s journey to happiness with the exact same instructions.

This set of Stier’s images are usually seen in publication form, that being his own publication of a mix of his work, as well as in the BJP and other photography magazines. However, Stier also has quite an online presence in terms of displaying work on his website, and through online magazines.

The likely audience for my images are people interested in self-help and lifestyle advice, and I feel the audience for Stier’s images is the consumerist market and people that are interested in buying products. However, although I feel the images fit these audiences, there is an underlying notion of satire and irony, because both sets are trying to show “the ‘unmasking’ of appearances, not making myths through appearance” (David Bate – The Object of Still Life) like the majority of advertising images and product photography. However, as David Campany highlights in his essay ‘Glass Camouflage’ “there is never an absolute separation of the fantasy and reality either of images or of objects”.

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