Cindy Sherman Research

The photographer Cindy Sherman took this image in 1981. Within this shot I think Sherman focused on how a woman feels and emotions judging on the facial expression and the note she's got in her hand. From this picture you can imply that it's a suicide or as if something traumatic has happened. The exposure here I think is a little under exposed with an artificial life coming from the top left corner. I think she purposely did this so you can deliberately see her facial expression. Judging from her expression, she's deep in thought about something, probably something on the note. She almost looks 'dead like' because of the position of her body, which implies towards the viewer that a horrible occurrence has happened.

The focus her is very sharp. I think she did this again to draw the eyes especially at her body because again her body isn't positioned as if she's placed herself in that certain positions, it's as if she's fell or dead.

There’s no depth of field used within this image, I think this was to show that there’s no specific object that’s important, that the whole image itself is important.

The lighting here is quite harsh, there are quite a lot of yellow and orange, I think this is ironic because yellow and orange connote happiness and life, whereas this picture suggests sadness and 'the end' of life to a certain extent.

I dislike where the note is, I think the note should be more centered rather than on her side because it depicts more emotion and dramatizes the image. However, you could argue that the note being on her side could show the way she's fell and its quite a distance away from her face, which suggests she doesn't want to re-read it, that explains why its so scrunched up rather than nicely folded. Also the grip on paper is quite loose.

I also dislike the cropping in this image, I think it's been cropped too tight, it show the position of the leg and arm because if the leg is straight it suggests towards the audience that she's placed herself in that position whereas if the leg is dramatically bent you can tell that she's not purposely been put in that position so immediately you 'd think she's fell. Personally, I believe the leg is an important part of the image.

The colours that are mainly used in this image are orange. Orange usually symbolizes happiness, however here Cindy is showing weakness and lack of independence which isn't only ironic but is she's also contradicting her beliefs about women being powerful and strong because her she shoes weakness on a piece of paper. This indicates that the paper is more superior to her because she's showing how a note is controlling her feelings. Maybe this is a way of telling girls to be more dependent not themselves rather than their feelings? Also Sherman is wearing red nail varnish, which connotes that something dangerous has happened or is going to happen, that the note in her opposite hand is dangerous.

Her whole body posture is on a diagonal, which keeps our eyes viewing her body up and down, rather than the background behind her.

There’s also no leading lines used to guide our eyes. I think within this image there’s no need to have leading lines because the posture of the body already draws our eyes.

The photo is quite bright near the top half of her body and gradually gets darker as it gets closer to the note. This shows that the note brings sadness and darkness and the reason that the shadow is starting to cover most of her body, like her emotions the note is taking over her.

The mood of this photo in general is quite frightening and sad because of the young women lay on the floor upset and knowing Sherman is a feminist, so it shows a feminist being over powered with just a basic day to day object. I do think the photographer intended on this overpowering mood. I don't think she particularly succeeded telling her story behind the image to a younger audience, however generally I think she did because it wouldn't be the richest photography that’s on the market. I like the image to a certain extent because of her facial expression and the positioning she's in because it suggests a lot of things. However, the image is quite confusing especially to someone who has never seen or heard about the work she does.