As already stated in my 'inspiration' piece of writing, I was massively inspired by the work of Eve Arnold, and her images - particularly the Joan Crawford shoot - inspired me to produce images of a similar subject matter. I noted, when researching Eve Arnold and her work, that in this particular series, she appears to focus mainly on Joan Crawford’s facial features and reflection, and I took a lot of my inspiration from this, for my own shoot. 

  The depth of field in this image is what I find to be one of the most interesting elements of the photograph. Everything in the image, with the exception of Crawford's eye, is out of focus - even if only slightly. This draws all the attention of the viewer to her eyes. This shoot is particularly famous due to the fact that Arnold was documenting Joan Crawford's preparation for a role, and in this image her application of make up is implying a sense of vanity - a theme which was rife in the late 1950s, when there were great expectations for women to be beautiful, especially in the move industry. I was particularly intrigued by the repetition of eye imagery in this shoot, and decided to replicate it myself, in my own shoot inspired by the work of Arnold. 

  The covering of her eyes in this image with eye pads links not only with the concept of vanity - an apparent motif in the work of Eve Arnold - but also with the idea of eyes being windows to the soul. If this is the case, then it would seem as though Joan Crawford was trying to keep something out. This image allows the viewer to see her in a much more vulnerable state, something which would have provoked a sense of shock in viewers of the time, because in 1959 there were no such thing as video diaries or twitter, so seeing such an iconic figure in such a vulnerable state, without make up or script, would have come as a shock to many people at the time.

  In my own images, I wanted to use a similar technique to Arnold by photographing specific facial features and, similarly to Arnold, I elected to focus majorly upon the eyes. However, in my images, instead of presenting a sense of vulnerability in my subject, I wanted to present other emotions instead. This image is probably my absolute favourite of the entire shoot, because it is evident from a single shot of the eye, that my subject is smiling, and not only smiling, but smiling with a genuine sense of happiness. Once again, I took inspiration from Eve Arnold in regard to the depth of field of the image, and took the photograph in such a way that the eye of my subject was the only thing in sharp focus, as I wanted the rest of the image, surrounding and framing the eye, to be slightly out of focus, to make the eye 'pop' even more, and draw more attention of the viewer, as the main focal point of the photograph.

  Similarly to Julian Germain, the work of Kaylynn Deveney has effectively shaped the work that I have produced for this unit. Influences from Deveney’s work are evident in the work that I myself have produced so far, and there are a number of very similar elements in both my work and the work of Kaylynn Deveney.

  Tea. Undeniably an extremely British concept (and one that I even considered exploring in depth in response to the ‘British Society’ summer brief). Both Kaylynn Deveney and I have explored this theme within our two separate series.

  Deveney has focused more upon tea in her imagery as an object, something to focus on in a photograph, a still life aspect almost. I, however, have tried to focus more on the holding of the cup or mug, and almost considering it to be an extension of the hand.

  Rather than photographing the mug on the table and captioning the image with a short description of the events that were taking place at the time, as done in Kaylynn Deveney's work, I instead began to explore body parts (such as hands, before leading on to my work with areas of the face - inspired by Eve Arnold), and see how they functioned when it came to something as everyday and trivial as having a cup of tea or coffee. However, this idea of hands does link somewhat to the work of Deveney herself, as she has focused in her 'Albert Hastings' series upon hands, with a specific focus on Albert's left-hand, the hand on which he still wears his wedding ring.

  The work of Julian Germain has proven to be extremely significant to me during this unit, as it has partially shaped the direction in which my work has been heading. The style of photography used by Germain is one that has a particular appeal to me, as a documentary photographer. The themes within our work are rather similar too, documenting the life of an elderly widow/widower. Exploration into the history of our subjects is another common factor between my work and Germain’s, which has actually provided me with the opportunity to discover more about my own family history due to the fact that I have been documenting my grandmother throughout this unit. 

  Much of the subject matter and composition in both my work and the work of Julian Germain is similar, allowing for a comparison to be made between the two series. The above image is by Julian Germain, taken from his 'for every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness' series. I really liked this image when I was initially carrying out research into Germain and his work (especially this series) and I feel as though this image is a brilliant embodiment of the concept of documentary photography. Personally, I feel as though looking into someone else’s cupboards is like taking a look into someone else’s life – a concept commonly accepted within documentary photography. 

  The above image is my own spin on the 'photographing the interior of someone's cupboard' concept. Instead of focusing on an almost empty food cupboard like Germain, I instead began to focus on my grandma's full-to-bursting kitchen cupboards. Though the styles of the two images are undoubtedly similar, there are differences in framing, as I have tried to avoid the negative space around the cabinet that has featured in Germain's image, and I have tried to include more things in my image in order to create a busier, more cluttered feel, which is how I feel best portrays my grandma's flat.