Cost of living/ Addiction photography research.

I began to search for inspiration through photographers who had focused on a similar theme of addiction to myself. I felt by doing this i would highlight the positive elements that i should include when thinking about my pictures and also anything that i felt i didn't like or didn't think worked towards my desired effect. I came across a journalism/ feature photographer; 'Clarence Williams' who worked for The Los Angeles Times at the time. I came across his work through finding the 'Pulitzer Prize'. The Pulitzer Pride is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by Hungarian-American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City. In 1998 Clarence Williams was awarded with the prize in 'Feature photography' and below is a select few of the photos taken from his documentary on the plight of young children with parents addicted to alcohol and drugs.



This was the first photo i came across in the documentary and the emotion in the photo really struck me. I like Williams's use of depth of field in how you are initially drawn to the female shooting heroin, (which acts as a shock mechanism) and then once you look into the background the emotion and shocks builds. His clever use of the rule of thirds splits the image down the center and shows the immediate consequence of the mum's actions on the left to her daughter's on the right. The photo made me long and care for the young child and really interacts me with the documentaries focus.



I would say this is one of my favourite images taken from the documentary. Unlike the image above it doesn't carry the same emotion, however, it creates a similar shock effect. I feel this comes from the casualness of the male knocking back his beer, with no care in the world that the young boy is looking upon him as an inspirational role. This image struck me as a male myself as it creates a sense of pathos for the boy and makes the male audience question their relationship with their fatherly figure and how bad it would be if they was in this young boys position.

This image is no where near as obvious or as detailed as the above two as on first look it appears to have no really significant/ obvious shocking acts, however, Wiliams's use of a birds eye angle gives the audience the right to sit and examine the picture and pick away the subtle details that make this shot. Like many of the images the messiness and poor living conditions is emphasised in this image, however, what i feel is most effective is the fact that the two females are in the process of injection and sniffing drugs, ( notice the white powder on the plate, and also the arm tie in the hand of the female on the left) with such a casualness. If you only focused on the bottom part of this image and covered the top, the mannerism and pose of the two females creates a very social, casual, almost 'mothers meeting' sense which although there are drugs present is by no means threatening or shocking. However, as you scroll up and see the young child asleep next to them, the whole reaction of the viewer changes. I felt slightly disgusted and disturbed that such a wrong and immoral act could take place in such a casual way an arms length away from a delicate young child.



Again, not an image with obvious emphasis but the use of the rule of thirds is clever and allows the viewer to pick apart the contents of the image. It breaks the norm of a traditional father and daughter figure, as the father seems to have no care in the world that his daughter is clearly confused and depressed. The other interesting part of this image is the door. Many photographers use a doorway as a symbolism of a welcoming entry or a destined place awaiting, however, in this image the door is shut and the light is block due to the black out planks of what looks like wood. I feel Williams included the door for exactly this reason, of highlighting that this young girls life is suffocated around the consequence of her fathers addiction and their is no welcoming place for her to escape.

All of the photos within this documentary are black and white and I feel the emotiveness of the images wouldn't be any where near as effect if they were in colour. Black and white adds emphasis to the gloominess and dirtiness of all of the environments as it highlights the shadows, dirtiness and grubbiness of the walls, floor and belongings with its contrast to the light. In the two photos of the young brown haired girl, her white dress symbolises innocence and delicacy and by contrasting this with the dark, grubbiness of what surrounds her provokes a harsher, more shocking reaction than if colour was used.