Tuesday, 25 March 2014

Image Rationale - Subcultures

Subcultures have been a major part of societies for many years. From the skating subculture, to graffiti, to mods and bikers, there have been so many methods of showing your individuality and these have all developed massively as time has progressed. 
One of the main subcultures in today's society is the drug culture, especially in Leeds amongst young people. I decided to base my photograph on this particular topic as I feel it is something that is commonly seen among people my own age and therefore is more personal for myself to relate to.
''A subculture is a group of people with a culture that that differentiates them from the larger culture to which they belong'' My image is exploring this definition, trying to document the drug culture and sum it up in one image.
I decided to use multiple images into one frame to try and explore more of the subculture, as I found it very difficult to actually sum up the whole subculture in one photograph. I did this by trying to capture, detail shots alongside relationship ones, in order to represent not only the subject, or the drug, but even the environment as well. 
I began to look at photographic projects on smoking and drug culture, and came across 'Medicine' by Robyn Tworney. She was trying to document the usage of Cannibis in America, and I found her project both conceptually inspirational as well as technically. In particular, I liked this Photograph of hers:



I then went on to do my own photograph, making sure to try and lay it out so that the concept was clear and the composition was visually interesting as well. Here is my final image:


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