More Practitioner Research

Alex Majoli

Zerai works for the Vatican as a parish priest, ministering to the thousands of Eritrean Catholics who live in Switzerland. On his own time, he pursues his migration work under the auspices of Agenzia Habeshia, a charity he named using an ancient word for the Eritrean and Ethiopian people.

(http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/04/21/the-anchor)

This image by Majoli stands out to me and inspires my ideas for this project as I love the whole composition of the image. I think it's similar to Hewitt's and Sophie Green's work because it is a simple portrait, and the angles of the images are very similar to the ones in my test shoots.

Jerry Berndt (Portraits of Hope, Faith and Social Transformation):

I looked at Berndt's work because of the passion in the images that he took. The images that I was interested in are in black and white, which inspires me to experiment with my images and try them in black and white. I find his images simple in the sense that there is not that much in it, but it still tells a story about the people in them. It is a different kind of simple to Hewitt's work, as this is documentary photography and not staged portraits of individuals.
I like the sense of mystery in this image, because by itself you can't tell if the man is praying or crying, as you can't see his face.
In his whole project we see people raising their hands in peace, kneeling in submission and working together to bring about a more social order.

Justin Lane (Portraits of Young Christians):

http://justinlane.photoshelter.com/gallery/Portraits-of-Young-Christians/G00007v2rkVbuPZ0/

In the link above you will find Justin Lane's images of young Christians. I don't particularly find the way he shot the images amazing, in fact I find it quite average. They are shot in a studio with a basic red cloth background, and it is quite soft lighting. However, it's the idea of the images that really stood out to me. The images are of a group of individuals who are Christians, but most of them do not look like a generic Christian at all. The only way that you know they are Christian is a small clue in the images, such as them holding a bible or wearing a cross necklace.
My tutor gave me the idea to photograph Christians in their homes, but I hated the idea because I wanted the project to be all about Christianity and not bring any other part of their lives into the project. However, if I had researched Lane's work earlier, it would've given me the idea to photograph them in their homes and then subtly add something religious into the image, so then the viewer knows what the project is about, but it adds more personality to the image.
I know this now and if I were to do the project again I would definitely try a shoot in the individual's homes.

I like this image because it shows the individual's personality through his clothes, but you know he's religious because he's holding a bible tightly.