Jill Greenberg - End Times
by Renee Brown
1. Technology
1.1. Greenberg uses applications on her computer that allow her to paint and draw onto her shot to create depth and layers.
2. Composition
2.1. The focal point of the photograph, in this instance is the crying child is in the centre of the photograph. The focal point is the child's crying face, the bright light behind the childs head also allows the focal point to be the face as it heightens emotion and what the audience should see.
3. Focal Point
3.1. The focal point is the body, but most importantly the emotion in which it is showing. The body is centered within the frame, yet the emotion is what we are draw too.
3.2. The simple studio background and lighting allows for the facial expressions on the monkeys, babies and bears to be highlighted and focused.
4. Intention
4.1. To show the pure emotions of children through the images of them crying.
4.2. She photographs animals to draw parallels with human qualities and behaviours
4.3. eliciting a child’s hyperbolic reaction to extremely minimal provocation
5. Meaning
5.1. To show how blatantly unaware children are about the state in which our world is in. They children are reacting to what is going on in their lives, and don't understand the dire situation or world is in now and will be in their future. The children are purely focusing on themselves, as they have no concept of knowledge apart from this.
6. Description
6.1. This artwork captures the emotions of children when they are upset. You can visually see how upset the child is with tears streaking her face and running down to her chin
7. Light
7.1. Greenberg uses monkey lighting
7.2. Greenberg uses a spotlight effect to capture and highlight the emotion and features of the little girl crying.
7.3. Greenberg uses bright lighting to capture
7.4. Outdoor studio lighting setup
8. Audience Response - Feelings
8.1. "the most controversial photo of the year"
8.2. Because the audience felt as if Greenberg had done something wrong to provoke these children they had feelings of empathy, concern and sadness for the children whilst feeling angry towards Greenberg for these images.
8.3. Most people who viewed Greenberg's series images of crying babies were very upset at the sight of little children crying and began to express their anger in emails and letters that were sent to Jill.
8.3.1. people thought that this work was 'child abuse'
8.3.2. the images became a sort of visual meme and were stolen and used rampantly without consent