Final Thoughts

Before looking through my album I would  like you to take a moment anf think about pictures from your childhood. Remember the special occasions on which you parents would take out a camera, tell you where to stand and shout out ‘Cheese!’. Remember the formality rather than the novelty of having your image taken, it was an occasion. Everyone smiling, the camera was immortalising a happy moment such as a birthday, a holiday or maybe a christening either way you were always aware the camera was there.

Remember picking up the images from the developers, the excitement of ripping open the envelope and the disappointment of those which did not come through. I remember my mother’s eyes on me like a hawk making sure I held the pictures by the sides and didn’t get any finger prints on the images. I remember every so often as a child I would walk into the living room and open the bottom cupboard of our big white wall unit, which was filled with family photo albums, I would pull one out and look through the pictures, bringing back to life memories and occasions of the past, many of which I was too young to remember.

As we all know, with time comes change, and the family album has not avoided such. That cupboard at the bottom of the wall unit in my parent’s living room has not welcomed any new albums for a long time. The abundance of photographs we are now able to take has perhaps reduced the excitement and anticipation of the moment. The change is not necessarily bad as we are now able to record to many moments of our lives and more ‘real’ moments rather than posed as people carelessly snap away. Not to mention that social networking seems to be taking the place of the actual family album.

Through this album I hope to take the viewer on a nostalgic trip to the past. To remember the aesthetics of our photographs and the procedures of slowly looking through the family album. The pictures are of my older brother which i have not taken in the traditional method. Instead i added a contemporary thoush by suing a disposable camera as if it were a digital one. I did this with the hope of achieving a more personal account of a person who I have known my entire life.

I hope through these images you will recognise our relationship and our bond, while developing an understanding and interest for the person being photographed and a sentiment for the project as a whole. 

The Final Set

My project is finally coming to an end and below are the final set of images I have taken, documenting my brother.

I imagine the orange on the side of the image may have resulted from the fact that I used a camera with expired film for this set.

April 4th; My brother's Birthday

26 today... yay

Perhaps bound to happen, my drunken brother felt obliged to take a photograph himself for once.

I like the composition of the photograph above, which lays focus t-shirt more than anything.

Mother has come to visit! She's just got out of the shower.  

These images came through very grey, I wonder if it is due to the film being expired again. I quite like the effect it has left,  its almost as if something has been placed infront of the lense when taking the image.

'Good Morning Handsom' - His favourtie mug, and just behind our favourite cereal. It kind of looks like I placed the mug so that the text can show properly, but I didn't. In fact I have only mentioned the mug because the text shows.

 There are a couple images off this shoot which I like. Its probably not my favourite set but over all its a decent series.

Elephant in the Room

The title of this blog, reflects nothing really, I just couldn’t bare writing ‘Snaps’ again. I have basically followed through with the project and taken some more pictures as is necessary and the following are the results.

Douglas just arrived back from playing football, which he does once or twice a week. 98% of the time his team lose (that is a genuine statistic), but I admire the allegiance to the team despite being, well shit really.

The war wounds. I kind of like this image and I kind of don't.  I like the way the flash is sometimes too strong and over exposes the images but detail lost here was significant.

 I decided to take a couple pictures of 'stuff' belonging to my brother, rather than just my brother. Above is a drawing a Spanish friend had made of Douglas and Trish which hangs above their bed. I love how the disposable camera creates the dark corners, which is really aparent in this photograph cause of the white wall.

 Above; Their wardrobe, I didn't open the door or anything, this is how it's generally left.

At the start of this project Douglas kind of just sat there while I took pictures of him, but now he seems to be getting a little more excitable when the camera comes out, which could potentially ruin my project, depending on how I approach his (sometimes) erratic behaviour. Anyway, he decided to pull his top over his head. 



I was sat on the stairs conversing with Douglas and Trish while taking these pictures, which is what I often do, just kind of randomly snap while we're talking or doing something/nothing. Trish mentioned she bought a new top and brought it out to show me and Douglas. What makes this photo kind of funny is that Douglas blatantly couldn't care less about the new top Trish bought and is more focused on having his picture taken. Trish dangeling it up high and his lack of interest really show through and the fact that its all genuine makes me like this picture. 

I  do like the image above, mainly due to its unorthodox composition, I haven't got much else to say about it though.

Above & Below; I ruined these two images by having my hair dangling down and coming into the frame. Although it isn't really a big deal, because it kind of plays on the fact that I'm carelessly taking the images, as if I were using a digital camera. Either way, I'm afraid they won't make the final cut.



Above; If it weren't for his hair looking ridiculous and the massive bags under his eyes, this picture would have nothing going for it.

Snaps

Below I have posted some more pictures I have taken using a disposable camera.

Above is Douglas pulling a 'funny' face. This image I think works well in representing a relationship because the subject is being silly for the photographer.

Above is a picture of Doug napping. I kind of like the picture because it's so genuine and the angle its taken at is a little awkward, which is because I slowly opened the door and quickly took the photo before he woke up.

Above; Opening a birthday present I got him.

Above; him looking at the t-shirt and it seems my finger got in the way.

Above; Douglas asked me to take a picture of him doing this, I don't know why.

It seems Trish may have gotten her hands on the camera.

Above; Douglas prancing around the house in his underwear before he goes in for a shower.



Above; I quite like the picture above cause it shows of his tattoo.

Above; I took this image to be able to get a clearer image of his tattoo. He has been a Liverpool fanatic since he was a kid so as soon as he could get a tattoo he got this one. He's had it for years and I'm so used to it now it weird. And I wanted to get it in a picture because everyone knows Douglas loves football, its a massive part of who he is and a massive part of his daily routine.

Above; He's wearing some lycra aerobics suit which he got for some 80's fancy dress party a while back.

Above; Classic mistake.

Above; In a previous post I had mentioned Douglas's feet. His feet are massive and always have bloken and bruised toe nails because of football. They have always grossed me out and he used to put them in my face when we were kids which would drive me insane. So I decided to take a picture of his feet, cause it doesn't matter when it is, they always look gross.