Do People Still Have Status Symbols in Photos???

Do People Still Have Status Symbols in Photos???

In this lesson we started off by analyzing photos of 'Queen Elizabeth 1st' by questioning the objects that she had in her paintings and what there meanings and purpose were. For example in this painting called 'The Armada Potrait of Elizabeth 1st' - (1588) of 'Queen Elizabeth 1st' she has many objects shown and surrounding her. Firstly her hand is placed on a globe representing her power and highlighting the control she had over the world, symbolising as if she had the world in her hand like a Godly figure. Her crown is in her bakcground which is an obvious symbol of money and wealth which she would want to portray to her people as well she  has lots of peals around her neck which was to show her purity. In purity in the image of her as being known as the 'Virgin Queen' as she did not need a male figure in her life as she was a powerful, independent women which was further highlighted by the other object previously mentioned.  She would showed these pearls in many paintings to exaggerate this point to the viewer. The two painting in her background are showing the defeat Elizabeth had to the Spanish in the 'Spanish Armada' and due to their failure of this attack this enhanced the Queen's popularity with her people making it an iconic event in history which should wanted people to remember, hence why should would disply them in her portraits. Lastly, in this portrait we can see that the image is mainly made up of reds and golds. Golds representing the idea and symbolism of power and wealth and Red symbolising courage and confidence which the finally having all these aspects in one portrait represents 'Queen Elizabeth 1st' as a very powerful, confidence and independent leader. 

We then questioned ourselves about whether people 'still have status symbols in photos' today. I believe that people do as they are shown in everyday life such as celebrities in magazines, social media, newspapers etc. We then went further to discuss that in the Elizabethan era symbols were used more to show what they had or who they represented as most people could not read or write. Therefore it was shown through symbols, compare to modern day when objects are mainly used in images to show off branding etc. For example in this photo of the famous pop singer 'Justin Beiber' he is stood in front of an expensive car, lether jacket and expencive jewllery showing off his wealth. This is also similar to 'Queen Elizabeth 1st' painting as they are both showing off their wealth to others that may not be able to afford what they can. These kind of images are used to show wealth but a lot of the time in modern day images like these are used to advertise products that are shown with celbrities to sell them to the genral public.

I found this image of the singer/actress 'Demi Lovato' posing for 'Teen Vogue' sitting amounts flowers in a old town bedroom. The picture is of the younger Demi which shows her as a innocent girl looking very sweet because she is surrounded by harmless and innocent objects. The filter of the image is mainly made up of pastel colours, creating a soft warm feel to the photo which is also portrayed through her character e.g. because of the way she is sat and her clothing. Her clothing shows her not wearing any bold colours but instead a white dress which represents purity and inncocence the colour of prefection as if she has no faults. The magazine would want her to appear faultless as this would attract their target auidnece as most teen girls want to have that 'perfect image'. With having her hair behind her head this highlights this point further but also shows her as being simple/natural like the flowers in the image, implying her natural beauty. 

Referring to all these images I then attempted to create an image of my own that would represent me using objects that I own. I booked out a studio with a group from my course and we set up the lighting and background that I needed for my shoot, which we did experience a couple of technical problems but with attempts figured the layout. With my portrait I wanted to create an image that would define me as a person, so I did some research to find myself some inspiration and found this picture of the famous Youtuber 'Zoe Sugg' and thought it would work perfectly as the image really shows off the hair which I believe is a very key element to me and my look, plus it made it more personal as I love 'Youtube'. I then as in 'Zoe's' image she places flowers in her hair but I thought that I would place objects that represent me into my hair that I owned. I started by having make-up and brushes which shows my love and passion for make-up which is why I am on this course. The pencils represent my other creative side of arts, crafts and my love for drawing. The Buda highlights my Indie fashion style but also is to show my love for culture as I would love to travel one day. Lastly, the flowers and festival bands are to show my passion for music and festivals as I have been to a couple and now is a big aspect of my life. On the other hand, the flowers also portrays my personalitiy as flowers are seen as calm and gentle but also have a vibrance to them. 

By Amelia Richmond-Knight