Ryan Banks

AO1 – Understanding Photography

The genre of the images I’ll be looking at are war, they are simply just images that are took during the war or have something to do with war. The photographer I’ll be looking at is Robert Capa.

Robert Capa, born as Endre Friedmann, is a well-known photographer for taking images of the war. He covered 5 different wars across including The Spanish Civil War and The Second Japanese War, World War II, he also documented the course of World War II in London, North Africa, Italy and The Battle of Normandy on Omaha Beach. He is famous because at the time he was the only documentary photographer on the war. He went to extreme lengths, such as going to the war and going on the front lines to get the images he has got. He’s very well known in this category because of the iconic images he took through out, such as the “Falling Soldier” image which shows a soldier falling to his death after being shot.

Most of Robert Capa’s images are anti-war as they focus a lot on death and struggles in the war. One of his images shows a woman standing with a gun to her as she holds a flower back, which intends to give it the theme of ‘Anti-War”.

In this image you can see that the category being covered is war. You know this, as the picture is some dead soldiers lying on the beach after the attacks of D-Day.

Purpose - The photographs are being taken mainly for media purposes. By publicising images of the bad sides of the war, such as 3 dead soldiers washed up on the beach, it will change people’s opinions on the war and they’ll become against it. The photographs are also taken to be sold to the media so the photographers can make money from them by selling them to the media, personal buyers etc. This encourages photographers to go to extreme lengths such as taking a camera into the battles of D-Day.

Ryan Banks

Photographic Category: The photographic category for this image is war as it is clearly a photo of dead soldiers on the beach.

Image Analysis:

Narrative – The image is took to express the death in World War II and to show how they’re just left in the middle of the beach, dead. Images like this are to publicise the bad sides of war and show all the innocent deaths to give a negative opinion on war and make people against it.

Miss-en-Scene – The image is set on a beach with dead soldiers in black and white, this would suggest that the image was took in World War II. The colour of the image, black and white, is because the image would have been taken during the war and it would be a very old photo.

Focus – The focus on the image is mainly the dead soldiers in the foreground and the background with the trees and boat is more out of focus as the image is only trying to show death.

Purpose – The purpose of this image, like the first one, is to show the bad sides of war such as the death. By publishing these kind of images in the media for the world to see will make people turn against war and try to stop it. Also like the first one and like every other picture taken by a photographer, the purpose is to make money from the image, as they have to earn a living.

Composition – The image is framed with the dead bodies almost scattered on the screen. The closest dead body is placed in the centre of the image at the bottom, this is because the dead bodies are the main focus of the image.

Image Analysis:

Ryan Banks

Narrative – The image is took to show the amount of dead bodies on the beach and to really express the amount of innocent death there is. These kinds of images are taken to show the bad sides of the war.

Composition – The top line for the rules of three runs along the horizon of the sea, in the centre of the image is the dead bodies, which shows what the focus of the image is. The dead bodies in the image look like a leading line going through the centre of the image, this emphasises both the focus and the image as it fills the centre of the images with the dead bodies and it emphasises the amount of dead bodies there are.

Miss-en-Scene – The setting for this image, like the last one, is also on a beach with things in the background such as tanks and boats which would also suggest that the image is from World War II, if not then maybe from another war. Focus – The main focuses in the image are the dead bodies in the foreground and the people looking at them with the boats and tanks all in the background out of the focus. This is because the image is taken to show the death in war so it’s in the focus.

Framing – The subject for this image is the dead bodies lying along the beach. Its almost like a leading line running either side of the bodies as they are lined up, making the viewer follow the line of dead bodies to emphasise how many they are.

Meaning – The meaning for both these images are the same as they was took around the same time as each other. The meaning for these images is death, both images are trying to emphasise the amount of death in World War II to make people see its bad and to get it stopped. These images make the viewers think of all the innocent bodies just left in the middle of a beach, dead, and encourages people to turn against it.