Sunday 27 September 2009

Analysis of Photograph by Ugene Hoshiko

This photograph taken by Ugene Hoshiko inspires a major aspect of my self-portrait and that is the emotion that the image delivers. In this photograph, 'happiness' is easily identifiable from the bright smiles on the subjects' faces to the variety of colours used throughout. What initially led me to selecting this image as inspiration was that when researching Dorian Gray I was interested by the hedonism Lord Henry expresses and how he believes that beauty is the only thing worth living for.

This led me to contemplate what I thought life was worth living for. After consideration, I settled on 'happiness', as without this feeling nothing in life is worth living for, including beauty. Beauty and money are often associated with 'happiness' but true happiness is not the result of these values and is the results of having a good conscience.

The variety of bright colours present in this picture provide a sense of 'happiness', this connotation is the result of years of advertising and the infallible views that our society holds. For example, McDonalds have successfully created a 'happy' persona around their company name by constantly using bright colours such as 'yellow' around their promotional items. Despite this, their actual food products are linked to sadness, as they are unhealthy foods that don't do your body any good but they still manage to successfully hide this fact through advertising.

The relation between colour and happiness is also expressed in the film 'Pleasantville' as the city in this film eventually realise that 'true happiness' can never be hidden and eventually the town turns to colour.

I particularly like this image as it shows 'happiness' through all ages, as we see a mother carrying her baby and both are revealing 'happiness' in their faces. I also enjoy outdoor activities alot, and the background displays this, so for me, this image is particularly appealing as it displays true happiness through outdoor activities.

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