Connecting Essay 2

This image found online features the mess and waste of food. The colours of this image are quite intriguing due to how little variety there is, but how vibrant they still are. The bright blue of the table makes the yellow colour of the drinks and the white of the cups pop against the background. The use of a narrow depth of field is also interesting as it focuses on the foreground of the image where there is just an empty cup and a spilt drink, however there is a lot more happening in the background of the image as there is, what appears to be, crushed nuts and more cups with drink in. This could mean that the spillage and waste is the focus of the image. The use of alcohol is also implied in this image, which I find interesting as it is not explicit that it has been used. It is implied through the use of bottle caps and a bottle opener being featured in this image. 

The image below is from one of my shoots from a night in with friends. The picture shows the leftover mess from food and drink. The use of black and white in this image creates some strong contrasts with tones, for example, with the grease in the pizza box. This emphasises the mess created. It is interesting as it suggests that young people are messy and do not clean up, conforming to the stereotype that young people can be lazy. There is also a bottle of alcohol towards the bottom left of the image which conforms to the stereotype of youth as rebellious as this means they were drinking alcohol.

The main similarity between these two images that they both feature a mess of leftovers. In both pictures we can see the empty cups/pizza boxes which lets us know that these images are the aftermath of something. Both images also feature the use of alcohol in a subtle way. The first image implies this through the use of bottle caps and a bottle opener. My image, however, shows this through a bottle of alcohol being just visible in the bottom left corner of the image. 

Whilst these images have a few similarities, they are quite difference in appearance. The first image is more of an editorial piece and uses bold, vibrant colours and narrow depth of field to capture what is going on. My image, however, is part of a documentary series and so is more of a natural mess rather than being set up for the image. Not only this, but my image is in black and white and so contrasts against the extreme vibrance of the first image. Another difference between the images is that the first images focuses on the mess leftover from drinks, whilst mine focuses more on food instead as the pizza boxes are the main focus of the image.