Brassed Off

Brassed Off is a film that was made in 1995 but set a few years earlier in the Yorkshire village of Grimley. The film centres around the local communities’ colliery or coal mine which is facing closure under Margaret Thatcher’s Tory Government. The plot follows six main characters whose lives all interlink through the pit’s brass band. It is hard to say if this film set out to be a comedy, or a social commentary, but in my opinion it manages to slot well into both of these categories. This however doesn’t seam to be a view I share with most of the critic reviews that I have read.

The overriding fault that was found with this film was that people thought the characters were ‘underdeveloped’ as the film was trying to do too much. Alternatively it was said that the film was overly sentimental and one that tries to preach to its audience. Whilst I can see their point, I actually really like watching this movie. I first saw Brassed Off on the stage in Sheffield, and it wasn’t until years later that I saw this film. It is one of the few times that I have seen a performance at both the theatre and film and struggled to choose which I preferred.

Although I enjoyed watching Brassed Off, I am struggling to pinpoint what exactly it is I liked. The acting of the cast and the script have to be two of the most contributing factors, but I think overall what I appreciated was the plot. Yes, there are points when you think that they have been a bit too excessive when showing how difficult life was for some people; however, in my opinion the acting in these places compensates for this. Through the talent of the cast and directing you are actually able to believe what would otherwise be a very overdramatic part to the film. I can see that Brassed Off would not appeal to everybody, but in my opinion it is a story that manages to incorporate love, pride, duty, injustice and humour all into one. For this reason, I think it will always be one of my favourite films.

Skoda Fabia website

I found this when I was looking to see if Skoda had made it’s “Full of Lovely Stuff” advert into more of a campaign. Although the website may not be the most flashy or impressive from a purely technical design point of view, I like the way that they have played on the success of the original concept and constructed the site around that. Because of the buzz that has followed the advert itself, many people wanted to know about if it was really constructed, how long it took, how they did it etc. The website seams to have more information on how they filmed the commercial rather than the technical specification of the car.

It is clear from the way that this advert was targeted that they were aiming for a different type of customer, one that is probably less worried as to its 0 to 60 speed and more wanting “just a car”. I think this is conveyed in the way that the website is laid out. It is not over complicated and has been done in a way that suggests the company is having fun and not taking itself too seriously (which brings it nicely back to the “full of lovely stuff” line).

The other thing that they have done quite cleverly is to make sure every part that you view has at least test drive link. I that Skoda in this case is good example of a company trying to differentiate itself in customer’s minds.

New Walk Museum & Art Gallery, Leicester

The thing that I liked about this museum/art gallery was that it was just that, two normally separate buildings in one. I can understand that this means it can’t dedicate as much space to one exhibit as some customers would like; but on the other hand it does encourage you to explore things you may not otherwise gone to see. Whilst I enjoyed the Liverpool Museum I am very aware that I was only able to see a small amount of what it had to offer due to the size of the place. Here however, I was able to visit the entire thing my lunch break from work.


I had initially gone to see the museum’s current flagship exhibit ‘Picasso Ceramics, The Attenborough Collection’ but as undoubtedly is the intention I found myself wandering through the rest of the building as well. Firstly I aught to mention that whilst I enjoyed walking through the Picasso works, I actually didn’t find them as interesting as the other areas. There were some pieces that you could clearly tell were done by the world famous artist, (one of which is shown in the extract from the guide booklet above) but others were less impressive. There were some there that wouldn’t have been singled out at all if it weren’t for the painter that had created them. I did like looking round but it was probably my lack of total enthusiasm that made me explore the other exhibits.

There were things on view ranging from dinosaurs to ancient Egyptians and also on the local rocks and landscape. It was quite odd to suddenly walk from looking at skeletons and interactive models of dinosaurs to twentieth centaury German art. I think that the result of this as I have said is that visitors, children in particular are given a far more rounded experience than they may otherwise have had.

My favourite exhibit in this whole gallery was actually a small section that had been displayed the workshops such as ‘Inspired by Picasso- make a sculpture’ and ‘Screen-printing with a Picasso flavour’ earlier in the month. Here you got to see the work through a child’s eyes, which was a completely new way of viewing it. Some of the work here was done as a detailed study where the child had obviously taken ages to study and imitate what looking at as accurately as possible. Others had been far more imaginative trying instead to use his style to draw something that they wanted. Theses were quite refreshing to see especially when you compared the two styles. I think you often loose your imagination as you get older. Now I have a tendency to worry too much about getting marks and what the final outcome will look like, and forget to enjoy myself in the process; as some of these children had obviously enjoyed doing this artwork.

Robert Goddard's 'Never Go Back'

The publisher describes this book as being the ‘new mystery by the master of the clever twist’. This is actually a very accurate introduction to this novel By Robert Goddard titled ‘Never go back’. Since reading it I have found out that it is the last in a series of three books about the character Harry Barnett and although I had read several of this authors books, I had obviously missed these other two.

I have started reading mid way through a series without realising it and found it really difficult to finish the book as because you have so obviously missed chunks of what has happened. It wasn’t the same in this case, this book really stood on its own.

Like most of Robert Goddard’s books (and as indicated in the publisher’s released comment), this book tells the story of his lead character’s surprise encounter with an old friend which in turn leads to more mysteries and twists than the reader could ever anticipate. The plot line sees Harry Barnett travel to an RAF reunion in Scotland, back to a place that he hasn’t been for fifty years. After two members of their party die in suspicious circumstances and Harry himself is suspected of their murder, he endeavours to find out the reason behind the deaths himself and hence putting himself into the path of more trouble.

My main impression of this book is that is a very well written mystery novel. Whilst I don’t think it’s my favourite Robert Goddard’s books, it is none the less one I enjoyed reading. My favourite aspect of this author’s books in general is the way that he works to make sure he is always one step of the reader. Whilst I am not one of those people who takes pride in guessing what is coming next, sadly some stories are so predictable that you cant help but come to the correct conclusion. These books are not like this, they always have something else to discover as you carry on, with the result being that you are interested from cover to cover.

Finally a quick note about the cover, whilst I am not a fan of the proportions given to the text vs image (they almost seam to be fighting for your main attention) I actually quite like the decision to use the castle as the subject on the cover. This is a central part to the books plot, whilst its significance stays unknown to some extent until near the end.

The main downside I think with it (apart from the overly large text) is that it is not particularly eye-catching. I suppose that as with Pompeii they are hoping that the author’s name will be the main pull of the book. Whilst this may be true, I still think that a bit more attention in this area wouldn’t go a miss. As Michelle Almond pointed out in her blog, we all know the phase don’t judge a book by it’s cover but lets face it, this is exactly what we all do.

School Website Design

The image above was taken of my old infant school website, www.greenlane.leicester.sch.uk

I personally love it, and not just as it’s my former school, but because everything has been created in a fun way and with the children in mind. This is the element I like the most, it is not a clinical or generic website, it is one that is specific to the school and the children in it.

You can tell that it’s been created with the target audience in mind. This is shown in everything from the way of navigating, to the way that each section has been made to attractive for the children.

Yes there are elements that if it were my site I would change. However, overall I think that it is a fantastic site for it’s purpose which is to promote the school and create a fun way for the children to discover the internet.

On another note, some of the flash work that has been done by the original Webmaster is really clever. (My particular favourite is the ‘We are building a seaside’ shown in the photo above.)

Luciano Bonacini's Photography Exhibition

I came across this small art exhibition whilst on wandering round a local town on holiday. It was held in what would otherwise been a small shop in Malcesine, Italy, this itself was at first something that really surprised me. I have been to quite a few photography exhibitions in the past, this one appeared to be held in quite unassuming place and with only little publication that I am aware of. The thing that surprised me was not that an art exhibition would be held here, but more that the quality of the artist’s photographs that were there.

Luciano Bonacini’s photographs were fascinating to look at both technically and yet also in a way that made you realise that the artist had real talent. I spent ages just looking at the composition and trying to guess what settings the photographer would have used to capture the mood he did.


Unfortunately its quite hard to see the detail in the small prints that I was able to bring back with me, however hopefully they give some kind of indication to the original images. The majority of his subjects were naked women, shot in various positions and situations, (I overheard one visitor saying “one man’s art is another’s pornography). Having said that, apart from a handful of shots that I didn’t want to spend to long studying, most of these didn’t look out of place amongst the other still life shots.

Luciano Bonacini’s decision to photograph in black and white is one that I found particularly interesting. I am sure that I have said before when commenting on someone’s blog that the decision to put a photo into colour or Black and White can either detract from, or make the photo, this largely depends on the individual image itself. Although it doesn’t surprise me that the artist decided to shoot the entire 50 photos of “A Retrospective” in black and white, it has left me wondering if individually these some photos would not have had more impact in colour. Having said that the photos as a collective work do have a great impact and therefore I suppose that this was the right choice to make.

Since coming back from Italy I have tried to find out a bit more about this artist and how successful he has been. Sadly as my Italian is very poor I haven’t been able to work out much more than I could when at the exhibition itself, apart from the fact that the majority of the books around about this artist appear to be self published.

Personally I think that the work of this photographer is very different to that of the artist Mavis Roper that I mentioned previously in my blog. Mavis Roper’s work shows you so much about the subject and you feel that you are almost witnessing the scene itself through her lens. Luciano Bonacini’s work on the other hand somehow feels more detached and you are aware that you are seeing the scene through another person’s eyes. This is largely due to the staged shots of one in comparison to the more spontaneous photography of the other.

I don’t prefer one style over another by any means, but it has made me more aware that the viewer can tell the difference. i.e if you are creating a campaign where part of it’s appeal is to be seeing ‘real life’ situations then these should be as close to spontaneous as possible as staged photos have the tendency to look exactly that.

Norwich Union Direct Advert

I am sure the original advert I saw of this on tv was quite a bit longer but I can't seam to find it. (if anyone can track down a copy of the full length version I would be very grateful)

The main thing that I like about this advert is the fact that it doesn't try and imitate the successful if very irritating quote me happy campaign. The concept is quite simple and I really like their execution of it. It may not be a groundbreaking advert but it is definitely one that made me smile and stuck in my mind. I suppose therefore to some extent it has achieved what most advertisers hope to do, and increased awareness of the company.

(i can't seam to embed the video into my post so the link is as follows; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO4tW9iw350)

Irn Bru 2006 christmas Advert

Sadly this one passed me by at the time but I have just come across it on the internet.

Like other successful adverts it takes uses imagery that millions of people know (in this case it also uses a the song), the fact that it is familiar normally makes you more likely to pay attention and therefore makes you more likely to remember it. Aside from that, I just like the innocent yet amusing lyrics. Although it is only the end of August and therefore a bit premature to be thinking of christmas, it does strike exactly the right tone of voice for both the target audience and the time of year it was released.

La Traviata by Giuseppe Verdi ~ Arena di Verona Italy

La Traviata is the first opera that I have seen. I have never really been interested in this style of music before, but I had heard from various people that live opera is a various different experience to the one of listening to it on a CD.

Whilst on holiday my mum and I were staying about an hour away from the Arena di Verona so decided that we would give it a try. To be honest I had absolutely no idea of what to expect, I knew that the operatic concerts were held in an old roman amphitheatre; but I could never have imagined how amazing this would actually be. I think that each performance can hold up to about 17,000 people, with padded velvet seats at the bottom to those on the original stone tiers at the top. The photo below shows something of the scale and uniqueness of the venue. (Unfortunately we were misinformed before hand that cameras found inside the arena would be confiscated so I haven’t been able to include any of my own.)

Shortly before the opera began the people on the tiers all lit candles, I can’t really describe what it was like to sit listening to someone singing without amplification, fill the stadium with their voice whilst being surrounded by candlelight. It really was a unique experience. Like most people, I had a preconceived idea of what I thought opera music was like. Whilst I know there are many performances that are warbled and difficult to listen to, I have to say I actually didn’t find this with La Traviata.

The opera of La Traviata tells the story of the lead character Violetta Valery (Inca Mula) a Parisian courtesan),and how she falls in love with and is later forced to leave the young gentleman Alfredo Germont (Roberto Aronica). Alfredo’s father Giorgio (Franco Vassalo) is the one to encourage Violetta to leave his son as their relationship he says is bringing disgrace upon his family. After scenes at a party where Alfredo, not knowing the true reason why Violetta left, publicly humiliates her and throws money at her feet for her ‘services’. Giorgio later confesses to his son what really happened. The opera concludes with Violetta who has been ill with tuberculosis dying in the arms of Alfredo after the two have been reconciled only moments before.

La Traviata is split into three different acts with four distinct sets the designs and costumes of which were created by Paul Brown a welsh designer. Apart from the setting this is the element that interested me the most. Since going to the opera about a week ago, I have found out that whilst director Julian Kovatchev was very true to the plot and score of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera, he also commissioned some more daring visual accompaniments.

At the time I didn’t understand why the American couple who were sitting behind us were so shocked by the set and costumes saying “just shut your eyes and listen to the music it makes it much better”. I of course knowing nothing of what to expect was actually found that the sets helped me to understand what was going on (with everything being sung in Italian and me knowing little more than I have included above before we went in) however I now know why they found them so shocking. The following is an image of what most people would expect from an opera such as La Traviata and my very poor sketch that I did shortly after I had been of what the actual costumes looked like.


















As I explained above I didn’t have my camera on me so the following are photos I found on the internet of some of the operatic sets, as you can see they are a long way from the elegant ball rooms that are common in this performance.

Being so totally new to opera I am probably not the best one to comment on how appropriate these designs are, however my personal opinion was that they added to rather than detracted from the performance. As was highlighted by the fact all Arena announcements were done in four different languages, there is a very wide audience that goes to these operas. Many like me will not have really gone knowing anything of the plotline and therefore seeing it performed in such a outlandish and theatrical way meant you got a better picture of what was going on. There were elements that were far from traditional of course but I these were all there with some purpose, often to highlight a fact that some people may not otherwise be aware of such as a change of location or attitude in the characters.



On a different note, the technical construction of the sets was actually amazing, the heart shaped backdrop that can be seen from above folded out from the floor as did the fan of cards in the other image.

Overall I loved my visit to see La Traviata in Verona. I have to admit I won’t be rushing to listen to opera music when at home, however if ever given the opportunity to see another live performance I would go. The technical ability of the cast was amazing as was their ability to convey intense emotion in their singing, I don’t think I will ever forget Violetta’s dying moments on stage. It was such a fantastic experience, I would say that even if like me you don’t think you enjoy opera music but you get the opportunity to go, take it. Seeing something of this scale in the setting of Verona at night is something that I will always remember.

Penguin Books "We print the words, You do the Covers"

I decided to go to into borders earlier to look continue my book cover investigation, I deliberately went in not looking for anything in particular so I could just walk up and down the isles and see what stood out. There were several different ones that I did notice but the most significant were the Penguin Design your own book cover novels.

The editorial Director commented on this innovative project saying “Anyone can draw sketch or scribble their own cover, and make the outside of the book as personal as their reaction to the insides.” I love this idea, every person reacts differently to books, situations and stories, the reason I chose to look at book cover art in the first place was because I noticed very few reflected the contents of the novel.

Have a look at the gallery of art that this has produced, I could talk about the idea and concept of this for ages, but to be honest its best if you view the results yourself.

http://www.penguin.co.uk/static/cs/uk/0/minisites/mypenguin/gallery.html

Wallace and Gromit, Curse of the Ware Rabbit

When I was younger I used to be a fan of the short films like the ‘Wrong Trousers’ and ‘A close Shave’. I didn’t actually make it to see When ‘The Curse of The Ware Rabbit’ at the cinema, but at the time I remember being surprised when I found out it had received a mixed reception. After going to The ‘Animated Adventures’ exhibition I decided I would see if I could borrow this and finally get round to watching it (it says something that it took me ages to find someone with a copy of the film).


Overall I was actually quite disappointed after watching the Wallace and Gromit’s first feature length film. You would never expect the most realistic or even plausible plot line with this type of film; however, with this in mind I expected to get lost in their world of gadgets and ridiculous scenarios for over an hour. Unfortunately although all the parts were there for this to be a success, the original animator and creator Nick Parks, the same two main characters and a large amount of ‘British-ness’ it somehow didn’t have the same captivating power I expected.

At first I thought it was just because I had grown up since I first watched these shows, but my mum who had also watched the first ones said about 20mins in, they should have stopped at the last one, this isn’t nearly as good. I can’t quite put my finger on what it was that didn’t really work in my opinion, but all I can say is the plot didn’t seam to grab me and although their inventive flair was present, it wasn’t nearly so prominent as in it’s predecessors.

Having said the film did open with one of the best invention sequences I have seen so far, for anyone who hasn’t seen Wallace and Gromit before, they remind me slightly of the Honda advert from a few years ago called the cog, where one small action set off the well planned sequence of movement before it reached the end point. The alarm Clock sequence is similar in this way, it is very much how I remember the old short films to be, there are a few extracts in the following trailer of how it works if your interested.



Overall I wasn’t that impressed with this film, however this was more due to the plot than the animation itself. It was quite refreshing to see the fingerprints in the plastercine, and you could really feel how much attention had gone into creating each individual set and expression. I still like the style of animation, but once again (at the risk of sounding like a broken record) the thing that I love more than anything is the detail that went into creating it.

Henrich Nauen

Henrich Nauen was a German painter who lived from 1880-1941. This image was a portrait of his friend Dr Walter Kaesbach. The image that I have included is unfortunately a poor quality as I took it on my phone, but the actual print is one of the most gripping portraits that I have come across. I have always been interested in this area of art, as being not particularly talented when it comes to drawing peoples faces, I have been curious as to how other people do this. I haven’t been able to find many other images of the subject to compare it to, so I don’t know if it is a true likeness or not. However, in my opinion, the portrait is so expressive it probably wouldn’t reflect any more of Dr Kaesbach’s personality if it were a photograph.

I can’t quite determine what it is about the facial expression that I love. I saw this in a local gallery, and every time I walked past the portrait I saw something different reflected within it. At first I thought that it was quite a sad, reflective and vulnerable piece. It almost appeared that this was done as tribute to Henrich Nauen’s friend instead of a portrait for him to display in his house. However, the more I looked at it the more I felt that this was also about this man’s power. There are many strong dominant lines in the portrait which give me the feeling of strength and determination.

I have looked into the other works of Henrich Nauen, but haven’t seen anything that I admire quite as much as this portrait. It was that when I first looked at it I felt like I was looking at a person not a piece of art, this was what I really liked about it.

Animated Adventures Exhibition

Most people will have seen something of Wallace and Gromit over the years. Before I went to this exhibition about all I knew of the way that they were animated was that they were based around plaster sine models that had interchangeable mouths to get the right shape according to the sound that the character was making. The exhibition showed the process from the initial concept drawings through to the animation of these two famous and a few of the studios other characters. The first thing I noticed was how amazing the initial illustrations were, most people will roughly sketch out stick figures of where they want things, but all of these could clearly be linked to scenes in the film.


I loved seeing the different stages of a figure being constructed; the photo I have shown above was one of the Ware Rabbit taking shape. The wire frame is used to build around and in a way restrict the proportions of the character and the way it can move, to prevent this altering too much throughout the film. The time and detail that had gone into each stage was fantastic, I have read somewhere that it can take a whole day to create just two seconds of finished film, it’s amazing to think of the dedication it would take to finish the final 85 minutes.

The exhibition itself had so many different aspects; there were the things you would expect such as the written boards documenting the process from start to finish along with videos of the models being made. But there were also set models, and interactive parts where you could add your own sound effects to a pre done animation or create your own motion sequence with a still set camera and a range of plastic figures and scenes. Another thing I really liked was the fact that they had used the 3D glasses technique but with scenes from the film, these were put inside an interior lit building from the set with the red and blue lenses inlaid. In a way this film showed something of the film, either intentionally or not in that the level of detail is everywhere.


You could really appreciate the time and effort that had gone into both the film and exhibition; I have not actually seen the film myself but think after going to this I will try and look it out. The main thing that this has shown me is how important the little details are, even the newspapers have writing on and the store windows are all constructed. Although I don’t for one minute think that I could produce anything like these results, I think it would be really interesting to explore this and other types of animation in the future.

World Museum Liverpool, (From Wallace and Gromit to Egyptian Mummies)

The first thing I noticed was that it has a real mix of exhibitions being advertised and held here. The building holds thousands of exhibits; the official line the museum uses to describe them is ‘with everything from real life bugs to Egyptian mummies, prehistoric pottery to space exploration, as well as lots of hands-on-fun, there’s something for everyone. But aside from this slightly predictable advertising introduction, I was actually impressed by what they had done.

I am one of those that have bad memories of school days in dull buildings surrounded by old things I didn’t want to look at, but I decided it would be at least worth a try. It may be that I have grown up since I was first dragged round these things but I actually didn’t find this too bad. I had been advised before I went that it’s best to pick what you want to see first and then go to those bits. Although you end up missing things you do avoid most of the people moving from one interactive part to the next.

The main bit we went into was the ‘atrium’ which was one of the parts the bought and rebuilt after the fires and bombing during the war. I had gone to see the Wallace and Gromit ‘Animated Adventures’ exhibition (which I will review separately), where as my boyfriend also wanted to go again to see the Egyptian Mummies that he had seen as a kid.

The actual sections were laid out well and weren’t so huge that you got fed up before you reached the other side, but the main thing we were disappointed in was that it looked like they had forgotten to turn half the lights on. This was a shame as you couldn’t see some of the things let alone read about them.

Aside from that there was quite a good mix of hands on things and more traditional exhibits. In my opinion one of the things that this museum did well was manage to make it accessible for both children and adults. I have read some reviews that say that it re-opened in 2005 with a more dumbed down appeal. I can’t really comment on that as this weekend was the first time I visited, but all I can say is they will never get the hands on technologically orientated younger generation in the doors unless they include things to appeal directly to them. Overall although I normally prefer Art Galleries to Museums, I was quite impressed with the World Museum Liverpool, and I would consider going back, just in a few years and another time except during the school holidays.

Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King

Photo from jonathan.rawle.org

I only saw this building at a distance and sadly didn’t get a chance to go and have a closer look; I have since found out that this is Liverpool’s Roman Catholic Cathedral. The building itself has quite an interesting history; plans were being deliberate from 1847 when the first design for Catholic Cathedral in Liverpool was first commissioned, to 1960 when a worldwide competition was launched to find a new and more affordable design.

The selected design was done by Sir Frederick Gibberd, its outside construction is both imposing and striking, as is necessary for it to be so noticeable from a distance. I am not totally sure if I like the look of the exterior, one book I read on Liverpool Architecture described it as “product of the space age” and a “capsule on the launch-pad, waiting for lift off” both of these are actually quite accurate. Although I admire its ambition and intention I think it is too concrete and abrupt for me to say that I like it.

Photo from Wikipedia

On the other hand the more that I have found out about the interior of this design the more interested I have become. The top part of the design is a large stain glass lantern which floods the building with brightly coloured light. This use of these Multi-Coloured panes are designed to evoke different moods throughout. This element reflects how powerfull colour and lighting can be in altering the feel of something.

Photo From freefoto.com

At the centre of the circular nave underneath the 1000 tonne lantern is the marble alter, having the service conducted from the centre of the congregation is quite a unique feature and puts the speaker at “heart of the circle of worshipers”.

One of the things I like the most about this Cathedral is slogan that it was designed around ‘A Cathedral in our time’. It may be fairly irrelevant to most people, but as I was reading up about this building, the more I saw of the design the more I remembered this phrase. In my opinion this is the mark of a design that has achieved what it set out to even if there are mixed opinions on its architectural style.

The need for good photography

As soon as I saw these photos, they reminded me of Martin Delin's post 'Photos to die for'.

Here he was basically questioning what it is that makes some photos so much more captivating than others? When I saw Mavis Ropers photos, it made me wonder this same thing. I would really love to be able to take photos like these, so often the photography used in Graphic Design can make the difference between people paying attention to and ignoring an idea. (look at the marks and spencer tv adverts and premium brand food packaging that both use delicious looking images to tempt customers.)

I guess a lot can be put down to the technical knowledge of the photographer such as the exposure and focus of both shots, but the rest has to be down to her tallent of capturing the moment and seeing the photo oportunity in the first place.

Philippe Chancel DPRK

Philippe Chancel’s exhibition DPRK (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) is one of the most impressive and powerful sequences that I have seen. The French born artist uses his work to explore art, documentary and photographic journalism; the result is a striking set of images with one very distinct style. In 2005 he was allowed to access and photograph within North Korea’s public sphere, DPRK is a selection of what he saw in his time out there and gives an insight into life in an otherwise very secretive culture.


I first saw this exhibition in a Liverpool last year; the photo that I still remember now is the one that I have shown above. They had a large-scale print of ‘Reunification Avenue’ on a wall by itself and looking back at it I can see why. This one image says so much about the communist country that he was in. The first thing I picked up on was its uniformity and cleanliness; it looks such a surreal image I first thought it might have been doctored. All the buildings here are constructed in the same style, with each side of the road being a virtual reflection of the other even down to the lampposts and road markings. Everything is so uniform, which is as much reflective of the country’s culture as the single street Philippe Chancel is photographing.

The next thing that struck me was the proportion within the photo. The eight-lane road is obviously being photographed in day light, yet it looks deserted and unnecessarily wide. This is especially true when you look at the amount of land, or in this case area in the photo that has been dedicated to what I assume is public housing. Everything here is done for the benefit of the whole not the individual, and when you look at this photo even those who like me know very little about communist regimes can interpret that.


The next two images included I have been unable to find the titles of, but are equally as expressive without. The Image above is shocking for an obvious reason. Even in today’s society where we are used to seeing images designed to challenge us, seeing a photo where child carries a gun is still haunting.

One thing I really want to mention here is that it is not only the subject that makes these photographs so powerful. Philippe Chancel would probably have had a split second opportunity to take this photo in which the smaller of the two boys is looking directly into the lens. This timing alongside the overall composition is equally key to the photo’s success. It shows the younger boy’s look of suspicion and almost fear at a photographer being there, this in turn draws the contrast between what is considered the norm in both western and Korean culture


The final photo that I have included is so dramatic not only due to the building in the centre but also the seemingly deserted place all bar one figure. I read a review of this exhibition that concluded “Although I admire this work, I also find it quite disturbing, which is a reflection of the power of the photography rather than a criticism”. This is how I feel when I look at this image. Although architecturally I am sure that this building is truly unique, its not this that you look at, it’s the implication in the sculpture and the way it towers over the solitary figure. It reflects true power and uniformity, but overall I can’t find a better word to sum it up than disturbing.