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 as he took pictures during World War 2.

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.

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 so people will be against it.

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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.

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.

Photographic Category: The photographic category for this image is also war as it you can see the dead soldiers laying on the beach.

Image Analysis:

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.

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

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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.