Deconstruction: Mitch Epstein

Out of the list of photographers i was asked to look at, the work of Mitch Epstein really stood out to me. He is an american photographer, and im going to be looking at his work on the city, and the social commentry he makes through it.

This is the first image i am going to anylise. The image depicts an area of new york, probably not on the island of manhatten, with the city skyline on the horizon. The lack of colour in the image gives it a moody look to go with the stormy weather. The photographer has obviously gone to the top of one of these buildings to take the photo, and has picked a location that has made the twin towers feature prominantly in the image. He has also waited for a break in the clouds, which has framed these buildings and the rest of the city skyline.

These choices the photographer was trying to show a contrast between the high end business side of the city, and the less sophisticated outskirts, and the contrast between the types of people who reside in these areas. Again with the composition, the foreground is completly taken up with these blocks of flats, which extent to just over half way up the image. This focus on the foreground completly dominating the background could also be a comment on the large scale of lower working class citizens there are in and around new york, and that the "important people" who work in the city, are completly overcast by the majority of normal people who live there.

This image decides to take on a completly different idea on the city. The camera appears to be suspended high above next to these two security cameras. This may possibly be taken from on top of a bridge or tall building. The use of colour is very limited, only really showing a few greens around the city's edge. The composition of the image is very cleaver. The pole the cameras are mounted on is almost a mirror of the city's coastline. To me, this image is really talking about the american governments obsession with control and monitoring their people. This is an issue that can be related to over the whole world, and i think this is a very strong way of showing that point. The camera looks as though it is pointing down over the city, whilst the other one faces away, asif turning a blind eye to the goings on in the city. I think the scale of the cameras compared to the city is a way of saying that it is obvious and in our face that we are being monitered, and that we have no real control over it. Its a comment on privacy, and where the boundries between public and private are.

The third image ive chosen to look at is another from Epstein's collection "The City". The main reason ive chosen to look at these images rather than the others he has made, is because i am very interested in the urban landscape, and what social/political commentaries you can show through these types of images. In comparison to the other 2 images, this has very little in the way of subject matter, but what is shown is very important. The image at first looks as though it is a natural picture, although with images like this, it would have to be set up so as not to pry into someones personal life. The scene in the bottom left corner shows someone laying completly naked in their bed. This image again crosses the boundries between public and private life, because its showing someing performing a very private act, but this person also has their curtains open and is displaying the act very publically.