Juxtaposition

For this task i was asked to explore juxtaposition within photography. Juxtaposition is a technique used within photography which combines opposing ideas within one photograph. For example, in the cases i have used within the photographs which i have taken for this task, both new and old buildings have been photographed within the same frame in order to show this contrast. Juxtaposition within photography shows off the contrast between two objects weather this be the contrast between big and small or old and new or simply just two similar yet different subjects within the same frame. Within this task i was asked to go out into Bradford and take some photographs containing juxtaposition. within the photographs which I took, I mainly stuck to taking photographs of the old and new contrast as i felt that this was the easiest to capture within the location i was in. The top left photograph seen within this contact print however shows the contrast between old and new and also the contrast between bright colours of the 'iCreams' sign and the more muted colours of the surrounding buildings. I feel that this worked well as a juxtaposition as it shows two different contrasts happening without being too overwhelming with too much going on. The top right photographs seen within this contact print shows the Subway building. I chose to use this as a juxtaposition as it shows the contrast between old and new quite nicely as the building itself is quite old however the Subway sore is relatively new in comparison. This means that there is a contrast occurring at all times within this building as the old and new contrast is always present. For the photograph seen in the bottom right of this photograph i chose to again capture the old and new contrast, this time by photographing 'The Pavilion' with the ice rink in the background. Again, this works as a juxtaposition as the old and new contrast is present with the pavilion being new in contrast to the ice rink which has been standing in the same place as it is now for many years. Finally, the photograph shown in the bottom left of this contact print was taken within City park and is of one of the egg shaped sculptures with the town hall in the background. This photograph is my favourite out of the four as i feel that this photograph best displays juxtaposition. This photograph again shows the contrast between old and new as the town hall seen towards the background of this photograph is a lot older than the sculpture seen towards the foreground of this photograph. The colours within this photograph are very muted so there is not a lot of interest within this photograph and i feel that it would look better on a nicer day when the sky is blue. I feel that this would look a lot better as a blue sky would add more colour and more interest into the photograph without taking away from the subject of the photograph. I plan to reshoot this photograph in better weather in order to get the results i would like. 

Here are the photographs seen in the contact print at their full size so they are easier to view:

A little while after taking the original photographs, the weather picked up meaning that blue skies were present within the same day. This meant that I has the perfect opportunity to go back out and reshoot the photograph of the town hall and the egg shaped sculpture. I chose to only re shoot this photograph within these weather conditions as the original of this photograph was, in my opinion, the best out of the four which I took with the other not being as good so i wanted to see what this photograph in particular would look like had the weather been better. Before taking this photograph i predicted that a blue sky would add more colour and interest to the photograph and looking at the photograph which I reshot I can see that the prediction which i made was right. The reshot image is a lot more interesting than the original as the blue sky makes the images colours more bright and interesting and less muted and dull. In addition to the blue sky adding more colour to the photograph, the sun also brightens up the photograph making it appear a happier scene and altering the mood of the photograph. As the sun was out, this means that shadows of the trees branches were cast onto the sculpture. I feel that this works well within this photograph as it adds a little more detail to the photograph and again adds more interest and more to look at to the photograph. Overall I am very happy with the way this image turned out as it is essentially the same photograph as the original however the blue sky and the sunny day had somehow managed to change the photograph and the message it gives across.