Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham Research

Background:

This English photographer and video artist was born in Birmingham on 27th of September 1970, Billingham. He began to take photographs while studying fine arts at the Sunderland University, he returned to Birmingham after graduating and began to take photographs of his family for his paintings. As he took so many pictures his family began to stop noticing, his photos were first shown at the Baribican art gallery in London in 1994 titled "Who's looking at the family".

Influences 

Billinghams influences I would say are his family, as he started to capture them for his art he was clearly interested in using them for his work already, I think the fact that they both had addictions made it more interesting to capture as addictions are a good thing to capture it shows the rawness of people especially as his family stopped noticing after a while so everything captured was the truth full of feelings and emotions.

Ideas

I think his ideas came from his family just like his influences, but also from his art. This is because without attending the art university and using his family as influences for his paintings he would not of began to photograph them.

Representation of relationships

This image represents relationships as it shows the relationship between the man and woman, rather a marriage or relationship of some sort. The way the man looks is almost as if he is getting told of for something, the females face also help to prove this as it looks like she is shouting.

Formal elements

The formal elements of this image would be colour, though there is no vibrant colour involved there are many different colours involved, the colours are dull which helps contribute to the almost sad feeling you get from this picture.

Compositional elements 

An example of compositional elements of this image would be pattern, this would be on the womans dress and the wall paper, this adds character to the image. Another one would be depth of field, it is a shallow depth in this image as it is only focusing on the foreground. I think rule of thirds could be used in this image, the woman is on the right hand side line, the male on the left, also the shelf in the background would be on the lower line and the top line would be on the top of the shelf. You could say view point is involved in this image as the view point would be of an on looker of the scene in front of them.

Critique

This is an interesting image, I like the rawness of Richard Billinghams photography, the only critique I would give this image would have to be the colour and background, I don't like how the colours are as dull as they are and how the background is as messy and busy as it is, but I will not make that a bad thing about the image as it shows that is it not staged and its the reality of family.

Representation of relationships

This image for me shows the relationship between a man and his problems, knowing his problem is an addiction and it is an alcohol addiction would make the relationship man and addiction. But from just seeing the image I would say man and his problems as he looks like he's battling his demons.

Formal Elements 

The formal elements involved in this image would be pattern, this is due to the wallpaper in the background, another formal element would be shape, this is due to the numerous shapes involved within the picture, finally colour is a element used as the colours used in this image, though dull are all relatively similar colours, such as browns and off whites.

Compositional Elements

The compositional elements in this image would start at leading lines, this keeps your eyes in the picture, another element used would be the depth of field which is deep this is because you can see all of the image in focus. The triangle in this image just like the leading line help to keep your eyes in the picture and not wondering round.

Critique

The critique of this image just like the other one is not a big thing as the feeling you get from the image helps, the only critique I would say would have to be the use of flash which has left a harsh light on the back wall, I would also say that Billingham could of gotten more to the eye level of his father to add more intimacy to the image.

Representation of relationships

I would say the relationship of this image would be the relationship between husband and wife, this is because she looks almost as if she is looking after him, he seems like he is in bed and she is helping him.

Formal Elements

I would say colour plays a part in the the elements in this image as most  of the image is white but you have a very bright red involved and next to is a deep blue which adds a bright colour to the image. Another element would be pattern which is due to the womans dress. The red and white colours help to contribute to the feeling of her caring for him as those mixed with the blue make it seem caring and almost like hospital colours especially with the amount of while used.

Compositional Elements

The compositional elements used in this image are triangles, there are a few which help to keep your eyes in the image, You could say that the rule of third are involved, this top line on the woman's arm, the bottom line where the red finishes and the right line on the man, the left on the woman. Similar to the other image the depth of field in this image is a deep one as everything is in focus.

Critique

The critique I would give this image is the over use of white, though it helps with the feelings of the image, it washes everything out, I also do not like how, what I think is the cat, is at the front it is distracting and seems like a blur.