PETER SPURGEON
Peter Spurgeon is a still life photographer who shoots mainly on a black background to highlight the simplicity of life as a child; he also effectively captures the vibrancy of the colourful objects to portray the rose-tinted and bright view that young people have of the world. Spurgeon made his projects personal by using objects and hoards from his own childhood. He primarily photographs ordinary, every-day items, placed in the centre of the photo in a neat arrangement; this could symbolize how young people are easily pleased and fascinated with simple things as they are naïve to the world of adults. |
This photo is made of mainly primary colours and repeated cylindrical shapes which highlight the simplicity of the toy yet it could keep a toddler entertained for hours. Furthermore, there are similarities between these wooden blocks and a glockenspiel to insinuate that this toy begins to teach children the skills they will have later in life, for example, playing a musical instrument. On the other hand this photograph is composed of lots of geometric shapes however the hammer has been placed at a dynamic angle to the toy to make the impression of a snapshot of a moving object. To add to this, the hammer is a pale and boring texture to create a contrast to the painted blocks. In order to create this photo, Spurgeon used a low key set up with the spotlight shone from directly in front of the toy to create minimal shadows. I could use this photo to help me because the photographer has used a very simplistic object to reflect a deeper message effectively.
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Peter Spurgeon has arranged a line of lots of different colours and heights of pencils to give the impression of ‘organised chaos’ through the lack of pattern- this could reflect the lifestyle of a child as their actions are often unplanned and random. Similarly, most of the pencils are worn at the bottom to show the hard-wearing, non-stop day to day routine of someone who is young. By the lack of background, Spurgeon diverts the full focus of a viewer to the pencils, in this way, viewers are encouraged to think like a child in that they would consider colouring to be very important to them rather than being concerned with the problems that adults are aware of.
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