This image is almost disturbing to see a nine year old with a gun like this. This image reminds me of Zed Nelson's 'Gun Nation' images and brings back the theme of gun culture/laws in America.
I think this image also adds something different to the set because it is very different. This is a 13 year old boy who is a Rattlesnake Skinner, this is quite an unusual occupation especially for a 13 year old. Along with the beekeeper, this makes the set just a little bit different to a group of people stood in front of a white background individually.
This picture is the strangest most unique one in the set. I think this image makes the set more successful because it adds something different. I like how he has used the bees on his body to illustrate what he does for a living - he is a bee keeper.
DISCLAIMER: All of these images were taken by Richard Avedon.
None of the above images are my own.
Images taken from http://www.richardavedon.com/
Richard Avedon was born on the 15th of May 1923 in New York. He has had a very successful career and has worked on magazines such as Harper's Bazaar, Vogue, Life and Interview.
This set of photographs called In The American West was shot from the late 1970's to the early 1980's. These photographs work well as a set because they are all black and white and high key. All of the images seem to have been taken using a tripod with the camera in the same place for every person and this creates unity. I really like this set of images because the people are real and this comes across in the set - they don't look like models and nothing looks staged.
The images have no information other than the names of the subjects, their occupation, where they live and when the photograph was taken. We also have some information about the subjects in the photographs because of what they are wearing/their expressions. These factors put the subjects out of context because they have been removed from their home/work environment and placed infront of a white background.
These images work well as a set and use narrative because they are showing how The American West has come together as a community. I think that Avedon is putting a really interesting point across to show the people that make up The American West even though the subjects probably didn't know each other and are indipendant in themselves.
I really like In The American West as a set. I really love the black and white shots and how they all have a true black, a bright white and lots of different grey tones - these are key for a successful aesthetically pleasing black and white image. I also like how the subjects don't have any facial expression. Their faces are quite blank, some may find this boring as they seem to convey no emotion but I think it adds something to the set and keeps it unified and it also makes the audience question why he chose to use the subjects this way or whether they were just blank faces anyway. I also like how Avedon appears to have chosen a lot of different, some eccentric, people. This also contributes to the set working so well. Everyone appears to have different jobs, different clothes, this makes the audience want to know more about them and intrigues the audience.
I think that Avedon was very successful in making his set show a wide range of people who live in the American West as a lot of them are from different places, some times quite far away from each other. This makes me question whether Avedon carefully went round these places looking for people to feature in his work - did he select people who had the right image he was looking for? I am also questioning if he pulled people out of their daily activities/work to come and model for him as some people (especially the last two images) are clearly showing what they do through what they are wearing in their photograph. The last two images are covered in oil and dust/coal as they were their occupations. The audience is left to question whether this is staged or whether they have just come from their workplace to model for Avedon.
This set of images are objective because they are giving information about the people who live in the American West and I believe that they are real people and not models. I don't believe that the set is subjective because he isn't trying to convey a message through these photographs and he isn't trying to put his own opinions across about these people in his images.
I may want to go and recreate this set of images for my own Documentary Photography project. I may have a studio set up with a camera in the same place for every model and photograph people who make up Leeds City College. I would like this to include a variety of people who make the college what it is. Students, Teachers, Cleaners, people who work in the Canteen, etc.
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