#visualsyntax

[joembpro]

Seeing everyday things in new ways makes photography interesting for me. You excerpt from the entire world a single scene or a small detail, down to the smallest insect or even a single cell. You can choose to photograph the moon, planets, or the entire visible Milky Way! There are so infinite ways to use the language of photography to tell the story you want. #photography #story #storytelling #visuallanguage #visualsyntax #meaning #abstraction #lineformcolor #photographyofplace #stephenshore #paulstrand #JoelMeyerowitz #alecsoth #capecod #capecodinsta #capecodinstagram #capelife #capecodphotographer #capecodphotography #nikon #z7ii #fineartphotography #builtenvironment #lyricdocumentary #documentaryphotography #documentarylandscape #architecturephotography #linguisticconcept (at Harwich Center) https://www.instagram.com/p/CjSrfnauifD/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[solipsistful]

visualsyntax replied to your post: Chuck Palahniuk and Jhonen Vasquez are basically...

We like them both but we definitely agree with you.

we like them too. :V

... or, well. okay so, we looked at the summary for his newest/about-to-come-out book (Adjustment Day) and we’re guessing it’s where his “research” re: MRAs is going, so... meh. we like everything pre-Rant + Fight Club 2. We don’t mean to be such hipsters going “his old stuff was better” but also that is a 100% true statement.

- Ace + Thomas

[alexandraghassemiehcomm311-blog]

Advertisements

In the class readings from Sut Jhally’s, “Image-based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture,” advertisements are described as “ a discourse through and about objects,”(Jhally). Advertisements communicate to our families and our individual identities because they fuel the consumer culture and the values of the the institution that include “the good life.” Marketing campaigns tell us that happiness is attainable through commercial goods. In addition, ads create social norms: “ Images having to do with gender strike at the core of individual identity,” Advertisements provide readers with their understating of social norms, and perpetuate onto people the guidelines to achieve  perfection that is demonstrated in their advertisements.Markets are pursuing a portrayal of happiness, based on a image-system.The difference between advertisements and media programs is the lack of credits. Jhally has an interesting point: advertisements having control over citizens and their state of thinking. In summary, advertisements are often intertwined with political and socioeconomic theories: “ while messages can be read adequately, most people do not understand how the language of images works. Just as knowledge of grammar is considered vital in learning,”(Jhally).

In the image below, and advertisement for Always shows how the tone of the visual image tries to debunk social gender norms. The marketing team came up with #likeagirl asking young girls to demonstrate what it means to throw, fight, and run like a girl. In addition, a still of the ad campaign shows a young character with the simple question: “ What does it mean to do things #likeagirl?” With the marketing campaign playing during the SuperBowl, the visual  images stand up against the stereotypes that depict women in the media in a negative light.Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yIxA3o84syY

In the readings from “ Showing the Unspoken,” Messaris explains that visual images correlate with visual pleasure that resonate with audiences through sexual connotations. In an example from the readings, Messaris describes the open protest against a Diesel ad that had two sailor men embracing in front of a crowd. With the crows celebrating the embankment of a ship during World War 2, an openly gay couple kissing in an advertisement was still not accepted by society at the time, which meant the advertisement pushed social boundaries. Messaris’ prediction of gays and lesbians in advertisements was correct, with social norms becoming proud and accepting of the gay community. Still, most advertisements include heterosexual couples and appeal to the heterosexual male more than gay men too. Also, art in advertisement use visual syntax’s of upper class connotations: The use of art to connote superior status has a long history in commercial advertising,” (Messaris). Advertisements use high art for cultural references that show an understanding of art. In the advertisement below, a child is sitting in the position of Auguste Rodin’s Thinker, selling the nutritional medicine targeted for children.

According to Messaris, words in advertisements appeal to audiences through controversial images of sexuality. In the Arby's ad, the visual image references sexual connotations through the women holding her chest, obviously trying to appeal to male customers. Arby’s persuaded customers through their written text: “We’re about to reveal something you’ll really drool over.” Notice Arby’s specifically chose reveal so that the women’s missing body parts would be the focus of the image.

Works Cited

Sut Jhally, “Image-based Culture: Advertising and Popular Culture” in Gender, Race and Class in Media (pp. 77-87).

Paul Messaris, “Showing the Unspoken” in Visual Persuasion: The Role of Images in Advertising (pp. 219-264).

[jbosley-blog1]

Compositional Analysis

"A Jewish Giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, NY" 1970-

As a viewer, the first compositional element of this vintage photograph is the point of view. The viewer is sitting at about the height of an average person. This is especially telling by the scale of the furniture, the parents, and “you” in comparison to the giant. Even though he is hunched over, which technically lessens his height, this posture actually makes him seem taller as it is a domineering pose. The lines are the next aspect of the photograph that I noticed. These lines form a triangle of a sorts, the tip being the focal point of the photograph. The line of the top of the couches as well as the lines of the ceiling angle towards the three people in the photograph. This is enhanced by the gazes of the mother and father. They are both looking up and at their son, whose head hits the point where the ceiling lines meet. This communicates a desire to draw the gaze of the viewer. The third and final most dominant compositional aspect of this 1970s photo is: color. Color is also used to encourage the audience to look towards the top of the photograph, where the giant stands. The darker colors are at the bottom of the picture. As your eyes shift upwards, lighter hues come into play until the middle, top of the photo is almost devoid of any dark shades. All in all, the photograph does one thing and that is to shift the focus entirely to the tall man standing in the room