Photographer Research- Julian Germain

Julian Germain

I have chosen to look at Julian Germain's photography because I feel that his work tells stories of people's lives as some of his work focuses on the lives of elderly people. I like how his work is very simple yet a message is told in each of them.

In this first picture it shows age as the world has progressed very much from this 3 wheeled car. The coincide with the old car there is an elderly man sat in the drivers seat which again supports the idea of age. In this picture the colours are very bold and bright; because of this there is contrast made. Alongside these elements there is form and shape demonstrated throughout the photo.

This is a very simple photo of an open cupboard with jarred items in. Although this is a very simple picture, it still tells a story; that the food is convenient for elderly people and it is the only food they will really eat because it is easy enough to prepare. The elements shown in this photo are colour, shape and form.

This photograph is evidence of someone having cooked a meal. In the blurred background there is an elderly person next to the oven whilst the table is set and the dinner is presented. It suggests that the elderly person has worked long and hard for the meal. In this photo there is colour, form and contrasts in light.

Although this is just a picture of a kettle boiling it shows the idea of age as the kettle and the oven is old. The kettle shows a lot of rust and the paint has worn away which implies that it is old. The elements shown in this photo are shape, colour and form. The shape is shown by the oven whilst the colour shown by the bright wall.

From researching Julian Germain's work I will try to capture photos which can tell a story. As the work of his is quite simple I will take that into account by making my shoots simple. His work shows that simplicity can be effective and that it can in fact tell a story. Therefore in my future work I will make an effort to try and capture photos which I feel can be related to a story.

To summarise, so far in my work I have tried to ensure that I have kept the photographs simple and I feel that so far I have been successful I doing so. Although I have kept the frames simple I do not feel that they tell a story as much as the work does of his. I will try and consider this further within my work by considering the objects that I use even further alongside the backgrounds used too.

Overall, his work has not had an influence on my work although both his work and mine have a focus on human presence, the work is completely different to each other in the objects used and also the compositions within the photographs. I have kept my photographs simple to try and capture similarities but it hasn't worked as the photographs are too different.