Obama - Sophie Brown - 2009

This photo has been cross processed by Sophie Brown to give it a washed out appearance. I like this photo for many reasons, the first of which is that I think it en-captures the amount of support and hype that Barack Obama created when he stood for President. It shows that the media support after he had been voted in, and how much of a role model he is to become. I love the colours in this photograph too, the bright red, blue and white all stand out prominently for me. The key words that stand out are "Hope", "Believe" and "Yes we can". The composition of the photo works very well, with each individual magazine having a different image and headline it makes it an interesting photograph to look at.

What are you looking at? - Banksy - 2004

This image is a piece of graffiti done by guerilla artist Banksy in 2004; it is situated in London's Marble Arch. A lot of Banksy's work is political and reflects modern culture. This piece of a CCTV camera looking at the words "What are you looking at?" is a clear mockery of the surveillance culture that the United Kingdom enforces nowadays. The amount of CCTV camera's in the UK is reaching staggering levels and in Banksy's silent protest of art he not only tells the Government how he feels, but will also let the public know his feelings too. The words have been stencilled on using spray paint, a technique that is often used by Banksy to rely his idea's and beliefs to the country. Often with works by Banksy they are removed after a while by local councils, but some let him keep his art up because that is how they see it, as art.

Life Drawing - Adam Bacon - 2009

This is a photograph of some life drawing that I did in the first semester. I really enjoyed the experience of doing something totally new such as life drawing. To begin with I found it slightly uncomfortable, but once it got going and I had done a couple of drawings I was more at ease and really took the experience in. This is my favourite piece from the day, I used charcoal very aggressively against the paper to create the bold lines. Even though I am not a very good drawer I feel really happy about this piece, I think the viewer will be able to tell that it is a man sitting slightly away from my viewpoint.

A Bigger Splash - David Hockney - 1967

This is a painting by artist David Hockney entitled A Bigger Splash. I like this painting and I think out of all of Hockney's collection this is my favourite. What I like is the way the image depicts a calm idyllic place that has been disturbed by the splash in the pool. His use of straight lines dominates the painting sectioning off each of the different area's within the painting. The rule of thirds is used horizontally between the blue sky, the building and then the pool and diving board in the bottom third. On the top of the building there is a slightly thicker white line, this emphasises the place to which the diver has entered the pool. What was a calm image is contrasted with the splash that is created by the diver.

Road - Adam Bacon - 2009

This is a photograph I took during the snow of February 2009. What I like about this photo is that it has several different elements to it which makes it a pleasurable viewing. The first is the shadows of the tress onto the road, because it was taken early in the morning, the shadows are crisp and sharp as the sunlight hits the trees. The rule of thirds can be applied to this image with the road as a middle third and the pavement either side as two thirds, this breaks the image up well. Also within the image is a good sense of perspective as we look down the road to the houses at the end. I also like the broad range of colours within the image including the red of the house on the right and the blue of the sky.

Right - Adam Bacon - 2009

This is one of my own photographs. I took it in February 2009 during that years snowfall in my home town of Market Harborough. The lines of the road give the photo a central point which the eye is drawn to to begin with. Quickly we are drawn to the road sign standing prominently in the first third of the photo, this adds a bit of character to the image. The idyllic white of the snow on the trees and the pavement also make the image quite picturesque, in contradiction to this there is slushed up snow on the road to show how the traffic has had difficulty getting through. Small details in the background, such as the cars on the road and the child in red, give the image depth as it forces you to look closer to find out what the objects are.