Project 64: Evidence of Action

Evidence of action (can you tell what I've been doing this weekend?):


This is a very thought provoking section of the course, because it explores a number of new concepts. Firstly the "meaning" of an image - it concerns production of an image that can be universally "read" by everyone. And secondly, in the current world of stock libraries and widespread use of images in the internet, it requires an image that can be universally "read" by a viewer whilst being visually attractive (nobody would use a bad photo on their webpages) and sufficiently differentiated so that the same picture isn't used ever time a particular subject comes up (although see my comments on Northern Rock below).

This is quite relevant to the field in which I work. I am a trained accountant, which is an abstract concept in itself. Secondly I work in the banking industry, so you have a double whammy of abstract concepts. I have found myself exploring the techniques adopted in my sector to illustrate publication material. I have come to the following conclusions.

1. Such images are often very "pretty". Occasionally they are not even relevant - a manual of accounting standards with the lead illustration of a dandelion? Admittedly a very nice dandelion which was pin sharp. But I still don't get it - it's like someone making a joke that you don't understand, and you end up thinking about it for weeks trying to crack it. Drop me a line if you can see the connection by the way. Another one used on a similar publication was a water abstract - shimmering blue water with a hint of orange. Maybe referring to the depth of the material??? Perhaps some reference to drowning in legislation or utter boredom.
   
2. A famous phrase/expression is often used as the title to link the article subject to the image. For example "Public Sector Pensions - The Elephant in the Room", accompanied by a picture of an elephant trunk. This makes the image/ symbol a 2 step derivative from the subject of the article, but allows an abstract subject to be attractively illustrated in a way that is easily grasped by the viewer. Clearly finding an image that symbolised public sector pensions on its own would be difficult.
   
3. A third example which I often see at work is the use of narrow depth of field and a dictionary to highlight a word that is difficult to illustrate by a picture. For example communication.
   
4. Cliche is rife, but provided the pictures are technically competent and visually attractive, this doesn't seem to matter. An example is my annual pension statement (don't even go there!). It is typically illustrated by golden eggs in a nest - and a very nice image it is too, to make up for the depressing figures inside. Golden eggs is a bit rich, rotten eggs in a nest would be more apt but obviously not such a nice image (and how do you illustrate smells?)
   

An interesting example in recent times is "The Credit Crunch". This remains a headline story over 3 years since it began, and is therefore visually illustrated on a daily basis. The photos of the queues outside Northern Rock continue to be used as the most common illustrative symbol - although it had started sometime before, and didn't hit many people until some months later when the job losses started rolling in, the run on Northern Rock continues to be the defining start point of this era for most people. Although repetitive, the impact of those images continues to be so strong that I expect they will be used in illustration for some time yet.

The notes asks us to consider symbols for growth. Off the top of my head, acorns, oak trees, plant shoots, eggs, pregnancy bump shots, pictures of graphs going upwards. I guess they've all been done before. Photographers nowadays have the benefit of photoshop and the ease of producing composites using layers. One photo may be to superimpose the different life stages onto one image e.g. baby, toddler, young child, young teen, late teen adult. Another image might be to superimpose a silhouette of a tree on top of a close up of an acorn (might try this!). There is also growth in the economic sense - a tiger economy such as China. Although a tiger is logically used as a symbol for this, there is also the image of a city skyline where the silhouettes of cranes are used to symbolise rapid growth in wealth (A city crane count is a good indicator of economic health).

Anyway, here's a few "stock" images I took earlier, illustrating communication, recession, banking & finance and early learning.