Stage One
Levelled Photos
Contact Sheet
Developments
In this essay I will be looking at the artist Joel Meyerowitz, the photographs that I will be looking at were taken of the devastation left behind from the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Centre in New York City in 2001. These are the photos that I will be analysing.
Meyerowitz is an American street, portrait and landscape photographer, he is born on March 6th, 1938, in New York. This is significant to the artwork because it shows Meyerowitz’s personal connection to the environment. He began to take photos in colour in 1962 making him one of the first to work with colour. There was originally significant resistance to the idea of colour photography as people didn’t see it as a serious art. He would switch between black and white and colour but then decided to primarily choose to work in colour using colour film, often using an 8x10 camera to produce photos of people and places. He then went on to teach photography at the cooper union in New York in the early 1970s and worked in television including on BBC four documentaries called ‘the genius of Photography’ in 2003 and ‘Finding Vivian Maier’ in 2013 and a documentary called ‘sense of time’ in 2014. Meyerowitz's extensive career also includes the release of 25 books
To understand the context of the photographs it is important to find out more about what happened after 9/11 with the way things were removed from sight and how the workers did that. Aftermath: World Trade Centre is a book written by Meyerowitz to document the clean-up prosses after 9/11, he released the book on September 11, 2006, on the 5 anniversary of the attacks. In the book, it does not only include the photos that he took but his personal account of the experience, he then went on to release a new edition of the book in 2011. Joel was the only photographer allowed unrestricted access to ‘ground zero’ immediately after the attack, meaning he had a unique opportunity to document the process.
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How has the work been arranged? This photo has been arranged with the target of the photo right in the centre to capture the viewer's attention right away to what is the focus of the photo, showing straight away the meaning of the photo.
What composition rules has he used? He has used leading line with the way that the building goes straight up from the ground and has straight egest on one side and on the other it is still carrying the strait lines just a bit rougher
Is the design of the work determined by the use of recurring lines rhythms or forms? The use of recurring lines, in this photo you have lines that outline the building going straight up the sides of the building.
Content
What is the subject matter of this work, what is it about? The photo documents the aftermath of 9/11, showing the immediate effect it had on the buildings in the city. The building represents the devastation that was put on the city in multiple ways, how people lost their lives and homes, and the cost it will take to rebuild. It also shows a slight glim of what the city used to look like before.
Is the subject matter incidental or of importance? The subject matter is important to document what happened.
Is the content immediately apparent or are there hidden aspects alluded to through, for example, the use of symbols, metaphor or analogy? The subject is immediately apparent as the main focus of the photo is the demolished building. What is also just as important is the fallen rubble from the building that has been scatted in the surrounding area, showing the impact of what happened.
Process
How was the work made and what was it made with? The camera that Meyerowitz used was an 8x10 format camera.
Do you think the work was executed rapidly or did it evolve slowly over a long period? The photos were shot rapidly, which shows the raw reality of the effects of what had happened.
Mood
Like all of Meyerowitz’s photographs from this series the buildings are not very saturated and have dull colours, this creates a sombre and depressing mood which is consistent with the events which lead to the destruction of the buildings. The colour of the sky is bright in contrast to the dark building this juxtaposition further emphasises the sad-looking buildings and I believe Meyerowitz did this on purpose waiting for a sunny day to capture these photographs.
Form
What kind of colour scheme has been employed? The colour scheme that is in effect is greys, white and a dull beige. The use of dull colours gives you a sad impression reflection on the tragedies that had happened.
Does one colour predominate or do two or more have equal significance? The greys in the background and the beige in the ruins of the buildings predominate. Giving the photo contrast with the colour scheme, the beige gives the ruins some colour showing the once happy lives that would have lived there compared to the grey buildings in the background showing the new mood of the city, the cold and eerie feel of the city.
CONTENT
Was it the intention to treat it representationally or has there been deliberate exaggeration, distortion or abstraction and if so why? This photo intended to show what had happened in its original form after the events that had taken place showing a true representation of what had happened. This photo has lots of purposes such as showing what had happened, representing the people that lived there and the lives lost and for educational purposes.
Was the subject matter based on direct observation, or was it remembered, invented or imagined? The photos are the work of direct observation, taken straight after the attacks of 9/11 as Meyerowitz was the only photographer that was allowed at ‘ground zero’.
PROCESS
How was the work made and what was it made with? The camera that Meyerowitz used was an 8x10 format camera.
MOOD
The mood of this image is sad and depressing as you can see the direct wreckage of what happened and you can see and the initial impact that it had on people's lives and the devastation that it has caused them, this is contrasted with the perfectly intact buildings behind in the distance that hasn’t been affected by what has happened. The buildings in the background are a direct representation of what the city used to be like and the life that was lived in the buildings that were affected by the attacks. The photo has an uneasy feel to it, the eerie feel of the photo also gives the impression that something sinister has happened.
FORM
Is the design of the work determined by the use of recurring shapes, lines, rhythms, tones or forms?
How has the work been arranged?
The work has been arranged with the main focus of the photo in the middle centre so that the viewer's attention is drawn immediately to the wreckage of the buildings with the still perfectly intact skyscrapers in the background. Using the contrast of colours, the greys of the skyscrapers and the blue in the sky
CONTENT
Is the content immediately apparent or are there hidden aspects alluded to through, for example, the use of symbol, metaphor or analogy? The focus of the photo is immediately apparent with that being the demolished buildings, you can see the digger that is removing the rubble in the photo as well showing the main aim of the photo is the removal of all the rubble.
What is the subject matter of this work, what is it about? The photo is about the process after 9/11 and removing all the debris from the ground around the buildings that had been demolished in the attacks, this is showing the recovery of the city and what people are doing to help get all of the buildings removed that need to be.
PROCESS
Do you think the work was executed rapidly or did it evolve slowly over a long period? The photo was executed rapidly as he was taking the photo of people working and documenting the real-life actions of what people did after the attacks of 9/11.
What range and variety of skills must the artist have required in order to produce this work? He must be able to quickly find good angles and lighting, to be able to set his camera up to the right settings needed to take the photos.
MOOD
The mood of this photo is still sad like the other photos but this one show more of the healing of the city with the way they are removing the demolished buildings, this also shows through the blue sky in the background giving the illusion that there is a lighter mood. The greys of the buildings in the background are a reminder of the sad and depressing times that people have/are going through, same with the way they are removing the buildings that have been affected, this is also a reminder of what people have gone through and continue to go through as for them this building would have been people’s homes or work. By removing the buildings, they are closing a chapter of people's lives without knowing what those people have gone through and forcing them to almost move on.
While analysing these photos I have learnt more about the events that took place on 9/11 and how people moved on from what had happened and the events that happened after including the removal prosses. While I was analysing the photos I used multiple different websites to find out more about the events that took place, these websites include:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joel_Meyerowitz
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aftermath:_World_Trade_Center_Archive
https://www.joelmeyerowitz.com/publications-/aftermath