Annotations: Anti Lockdown Protests in the USA (Rummler & Falconer, 2020)

 

The image denotes people protesting the coronavirus lockdowns in parts on the united states. These images show no social distancing to try and make a point that the virus is not that lethal and transmissible. The images connote the emotion of anger during the first lockdown when many Americans lost their jobs due to the lockdowns, the image communicates tension with the health message with more libertarian members out protesting with them carrying the Trump 2020 flag. The idea of the protests is to try and get the local, state and the federal government to unlock and try to return to a normal life.  The images have been controversial with people who are in favour of the lockdowns are saying this is a problem while the other side loves this protest.

As a viewer, I am affected by how the emotions have gone wild when it comes to protesting the coronavirus lockdowns. The images make you shocked with how many people are against the lockdowns in certain states of The United States, the images make me happy as they can peacefully protest. When looking at the images you are drawn into the number of people that are at the protests trying to make their voices heard, the images show how people want to live their lives. In direct contrast, the images will repulse people with no social distancing showing how the virus has managed to circulate so easily in parts of the US, the crowds for the type of person will people happy as they are protesting the lockdowns while others are angry as they are spreading the virus.

The strengths of these images are that they capture the narrative of how parts of the united states feel about the lockdowns, the weakness is that the images tell a story but does not show the other narrative of people is in favour of lockdowns. I am planning on using this as a reference point if I want to photograph anti lockdown protests in Kent or London

The work is significant to my project as it gives me another aspect to look at when it comes to the restrictions that the governments want to put in place. The use of composition with placing the protesters in the centre of the images gives them more power due to how the rule of thirds works in partnership. The position stands out to make the work to stand together. The visual styles that I am planning on taking forward are the styling of the protests to make my work stand out. If I do go on to photograph protests, I will go back and look at what has been done.

The intended audience was for newspapers and news organisation to show what has been going with the protests in the united states. The work is relevant to the time it was photographed to show what has happened I think it still holds today due to the ongoing protests against the lockdowns.

The context that I have seen the work has been online on my laptop this gives the images less power to shine due to it giving me a small picture. The work would be stronger in a gallery as the images would work well when they are made into the full proportion that people would need to see to get to understand what is going on. The use of the gallery in this instance would go under a series documenting the protests that had been going during the year to show how people reacted to them. I think looking at the images in a newspaper would give it more a formal context by highlighting what is going on when it comes to the protests and what each side made of it with left versus right and other political fractions.

Unhappy hour: London’s West End during lockdown

The images denote empty streets across London due to the closure of locations. The images are styled to be dark to highlight what is going on due to the current pandemic.  The images are all photographed at night due to many people going out to party in a normal time at this hour. 

The images connote the emotion of emptiness due to the streets being made empty during the first national lockdown. The images interpret how the parts of London that at night are normally busy are all deserted due to the lockdown. The images meaning is to document how the Lockdown has decimated parts of London’s culture capital.

As a viewer, I am affected by how empty the streets looked during the first lockdown.  The images make me feel upset for the companies that have been struggling throughout 2020. When looking at the images you look at the areas that are lit up with them conveying more information on how the area is dead due to the restrictions. The work makes people feel sad and disappointed that they cannot go out and have a pint in a pub in the west end.

The work is significant to my project as this highlight how my work could look if I was to go out and document what the lockdown is having during the party hours. The use of colour with the theme being dark as it stands out to the eye to make it stand out to the viewers. The idea from this is significant to the project as it stands out to the viewer as it comes together to make it important for people at home.

The strengths of this series are that it highlights what has been going when it comes to the first lockdown. The strengths are highlighted when you look at the images and see how the images are locked together to allow them to look fluid so it can stand to the eye.  The only weakness is that the captions shown are not ads in-depth as I would like it to be to show what they are about.

The visual styles that I am planning on taking forward are how the images have been photographed to show the lockdown has impact parts of Ashford My work will be different compared to this series as I am not planning on photographing in empty pubs or shops. I want the styles to have my viewpoint on it with the images having more colour and having a higher exposure.

The intended audience for this series is to create a news documentary of how parts of London has been affected by the first lockdown there was hardly anyone that left their house. It is important to document how Covid has impacted the capital. Looking at these images nearly a year on still shocks me due to how places were forced to close to protect the health service.  These images were designed to be part of a selection to document the bars to show how they need support to keep trading.

The context that I have seen the work has been online on my laptop this gives the images less power to shine due to it giving me a small picture. The work would be stronger in a gallery as the images would work well when they are made into the full proportion that people would need to see to get to understand what is going on. The images would work well as postcard to remember what has happened over the last year or so.