ARTH1100 TuTh History of Photography F2015

The theme that was addressed in Robert Franks photographs is the national pride of America. Frank has captured photos of people who are living in America after the events of World War 2 were everyone is living happily. These photos are a form of art showcasing the lives of many Americans. Also the photographs are not staged but natural. We look back at Robert Franks photographs as a symbol of America.

Food photography is currently one of the trending photography topic there is as of today. Although it’s been overly done, this photography style can be useful in other form. There’s people who take picture of food for their own pleasure and there’s some who do it for other purposes. I personally believe that food photography is a great use for marketing. Especially using it through Instagram. Social media played a huge part when it comes down to marketing something. It’s a great way to sell their idea to the audiences. Since currently Instagram is one of the top social media in our society, using it as a marketing tool is fantastic. This helps promote the restaurant and their food. It can also helps increase restaurant businesses as well as gaining fame to the Instagram account owner. It’s a win win. Although some people find food photography is a form off art but it’s just not as powerful as using it for marketing purposes. No matter how nice you make the food is, the way you took the picture (The camera angle, the composition, prop uses, etc), you’re still promoting something. So in this particular case, I strongly believe food photography is mainly good for marketing whether than a form of art.

I believe the difference between food photography for marketing and food photography for art is how devoted you are to your photographs. Food photography for marketing, is a great way to use your artistic image to make money. Post it on social media, quote the place and the name of the food, to gain interest. Although, the Instagram users has confessed that if it didn’t taste spectacular as the image, they’d still continue to post it because of their relationship with the restaurant. Especially some of the food that’s used for marketing, is only used for false presentation and advertisement. Food photography for art, is a way to demonstrate the perspective view of the food, and it’s reality. Martin Parr may not have the most appealing imagery of the food he is eating, but at least he has shown what is true. Knowing that the food looks exactly the same as the photo, can most definitely become pleasing, rather than being disappointed. An example is, Wendy’s burger or KFC chicken and microwavable food that looks promising, but doesn’t look like the photo you’ve seen. Honestly, either one is preferably fine, as long as the food that you are taking a photo of, whether it’s art or marketing, looks like the actual thing. As well as posting images, where the food is tasty as it looks(referring to the Instagram users).

When viewing Martin Parr’s work I saw that each food didn’t look as appealing. While Instagram photos did look appealing. Which made me think of  food that’s used in advertising which can be showed everywhere. For example every fast food restaurant that makes their food look amazing. But when you order it and see it you notice it doesn’t look like the pictures. Instagram food photographers always post images of food that looks so delicious and they might even provide an address. It’s literally advertises restaurants and even reviews them. Both Parr’s photographs and Instagram are alike because they show what’s on their plate. They show the real thing the moment they get the meal. Which marketing doesn’t do. We all see delicious food being advertise but it’s not the real picture. I prefer Instagram photos because I take images of the food I just got as well.

When reading the article the writer mentioned that both The Falling Soldier and the photograph, showing a man in a further state of collapse show the same man. Both man do look similar but you can’t really tell. It can be possibly due, to the angle of the image that it’s hard to tell if it’s the same person. When looking at both images I can’t really tell if they are staged. Even if it was staged it ended up being publish and the photographer became famous for those images. Everyone views the photos differently and we can’t be certain if they are staged or not. Both images will forever be viewed as the best war photos that still has controversy regarding if it’s staged or not.