Connecting essay 1

Artist- Dash Snow

My image- Life

The artists image is by Dash Snow who specialised in documentary photography.  His work is interesting as it largely consists of compositions of polaroids.  Snow used polaroids with the intention of creating a means to remember the night they were taken when the memories may otherwise have been lost as a result of intoxication.  Snow's polaroids are often presented at galleries in composite selections against a white background in order to create a more interesting viewing experience.  Snow's work features a range of everyday activities from busy city streets and shop windows to post fight scenes of gore and graphic sexual content.  Snow's focus has always been on the decisive moment and a desire to capture life as it can only be lived once.

My images that I have chosen form a composite from my series of "Life" based shoots.  The aim from these shoots was to capture moments and days of my life by using an Instax mini instant film camera.  The composite featured above is from when I went to Brixton to see a concert by the Wytches with one of my friends.  I have composed my images on a white background in a composition which I feel is visually interesting due to the combination of both landscape and portrait images.  My images all have a similar colour scheme of dark colours as a result of the fact that my shoot took place in the evening in February where there are short nights.  I feel that this ties the images together nicely however as it adds a sense of continuity to the series.  The use of instant film also gives the images a nostalgic quality due to the fact that they cannot be edited in the same way as a digital image meaning that what is depicted is an accurate illustration of the events which took place.

There are numerous similarities between my images and Snow's images such as the composition of the images and colour of background used and the fact that both shoots used a form of instant film to capture the events which took place.  Differences between my images and Snow's images however are that my images were shot over a shorter period of time as can be seen from Snow's shift in location in his Polaroids.  Another notable difference is the fact that my images feature an evening of my life which I wished to remember however Snow's imagery features a much broader subject of life whilst still being tied to himself due to his fast paced and adventurous lifestyle.