1. 105MC How to look at pictures Will Barton

2. Here’s a picture What is this? A still taken from a broadcast of an amateur video How do we read it? Why does it have such an impact? What other pictures is it like?

3. Disasters and horrors

4. Spectacularity Challenger Space Shuttle disaster January 28, 1986 Seven crew members killed Live on TV Still image selected from professional live coverage http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=_10T4UYpzV8 http://www.youtube.com /watch?v=_10T4UYpzV8

5. Titanic 15 April 1912 1517 lives lost Contemporary drawing 1997 Film Which image has more impact? The modern image is based on a contemporary artist’s impression

6. Hiroshima 8:15 A.M. on August 6, 1945 80,000 killed outright Total casualties 90,000– 140,000 Professional (official) still photograph

8. Shock ‘n’ Awe Baghdad March 21, 2003 No official casualty figures released – “Civilian casualties minimised” Oxford Research Group Iraq Watch estimated 6,616 civilian deaths Still image from TV coverage What does this picture look like?

9. John Martin Destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah 1852 The Great Day of His Wrath 1874 VERY BIG oil paintings created to display tom large paying audiences Biblical themes of violent destruction

10. Joseph Wright of Derby 1734-1797 Coalbrookdale by Night Ironforge Large oil paintings Similar lighting effects to Martin to convey the power and terror of the industrial revolution

11. At the video store…

12. Games and Music

13. Towers - Collapsing towers are symbols of pride brought low

14. Pearl Harbour news on top, Hollywood below

15. Which story ? Challenger – live horror news Titanic – unsinklable Hiroshima – death from the skies Shock and Awe – terrorism John Martin – Wrath of God Falling Towers – Pride humbled Pearl Harbour – surprise attack

16. Reading Pictures Photography and Painting Ways of Seeing Visual Literacy Staged photography: Robert Doisneau

17. Mr and Mrs Andrews (about 1750) Thomas GAINSBOROUGH 1727 - 1788 http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/cgi- bin/WebObjects.dll/CollectionPublisher.woa/wa/wor k?workNumber=ng6301

18. The Arnolfini Betrothal (1434) Jan VanEyck, Died: 1441 http://www.nationalgall ery.org.uk/cgi- bin/WebObjects.dll/Coll ectionPublisher.woa/wa /largeImage?workNumb er=NG186

19. Photography Derives from the tradition of painting Shape, presentation, composition, subject

20. Robert Doisneau 1950 Le baiser de l'hôtel de ville (Kiss by the Hôtel de Ville ) Connotation and Denotation Unreliable evidence – staged photographs and set-ups

21. How to read a picture What is it? How was it made? Who made it? What was it made for? Where is it? Why am I looking at it now? What sort of picture is it? What other pictures is it like? What is the meaning of the picture? What does it make me think about? What are the signifiers and what do they signify? What denotation and connotation are taking place?

22. Reading John Berger – Ways of Seeing Roland Barthes – Image, Music, Text Ernst Gombrich – The Story of Art Better still, don’t just read about pictures – go to an art gallery and look at some.