London trip: 28/01/2016

AS Photography

Alec Soth

Context • The term gathered leaves

references the way in which a group of sheets form together to make leaves.

• Soth travelled America taking images to form his series.

Artist statement• The exhibition features four of

Soth’s main series:• Sleeping by the Mississippi- 2004• Niagara- 2006• Broken Manual- 2010• Songbook- 2014

• Soth is a photojournalist, blogger, educator, self publisher and instagrammer.

• Soth specialises in documentary photography.

• He considers himself an American photographer documenting the landscape of his country.

Niagara- Misty 2005 This image is called

“Misty” and is part of the “Niagara” series.

This photo has an air of mystery as denotations of

the image are that the woman in the frame is

going swimming but her full face of makeup

contradicts this fact. The make up in the shot also

highlights the way in which societies modern beauty standards can

control women.

The depth of field of the image helps to draw the

viewers eye to the subject.

Niagara- Two towels 2005This image is called “Two

towels” and is part of the “Niagara” series.

The denotations of this image are that someone in a hotel has made two

towel sculptures of swans.

The connotations of this image however are that beauty can be found in even the most plain of

places and that humanity is unfaithful, the fact that humanity is unfaithful can be inferred from the fact that swans mate for life

and have been placed on a bed which is a world

known symbol for love but also relates to affairs.

Songbook- Miss Model contestants, Ohio

This image is called “Miss Model

contestants” and was part of the “Songbook”

series.

The denotations of this image are that these are contestants in a

beauty pagent.

The connotations of this image are the

sexual objectification of women and the idea

that beauty can equate to power.