1) The document discusses how to analyze and interpret visual images such as photographs, paintings and advertisements. It provides guidance on aspects to examine such as the intended audience, use of lighting and composition, and relationship between images and text. 2) A checklist is presented with questions to consider when analyzing advertisements, such as the intended impression, appeal to emotion, honesty of claims, and effectiveness. 3) Tips are provided for writing about pictures, including looking at the arrangement of figures, use of lighting, and asking what the image is communicating and why it elicits certain responses.

1. READING AND
WRITING ABOUT
VISUAL CULTURE
LESSON 6: ELT 7

2. "I am after the one unique picture whose
composition possesses such vigor and
richness, and whose content so radiates
outwards from it, that this single picture
is a whole story in itself".
Henri Cartier-Bresson

3. The Language of Pictures
It may sound odd to talk about "reading" pictures and
about the "language" of pictures but pictures, like
words, convey messages.
Advertisers know this, and that's why their
advertisements for soft drinks include images of
attractive young couples frolicking at the beach. The
not-so-hidden message is that consumers of these
products are healthy, prosperous, relaxed, and sexually
attractive.

4. Like compositions made of words--
stories, poems, even vigorous
sentences-many pictures are
carefully constructed things, built
up in a certain way in order to
make a statement.

5. Example: In medieval religious
pictures Jesus or Mary may be
shown larger than the
surroundings figures to indicate
their greater spiritual status.

6. But even in realistic paintings,
the more important figures are
likely to be given a greater
share of the light or a more
central position than the lesser
figures.

7. The American photographer Minor
White was speaking for almost all
photographers when he said, "I
don't take pictures, I make them."
Photographs

8. Even professional photographers have
Even professional photographers have
a variety of purposes, for instance, to
a variety of purposes, for instance, to
provide wedding portraits, to report
provide wedding portraits, to report
the news, to sell automobiles, or to
the news, to sell automobiles, or to
record some visual phenomena that
record some visual phenomena that
they think must be recorded.
they think must be recorded.

9. Sometimes these purposes can be mingled.
Sometimes these purposes can be mingled.
Sometimes these purposes can be mingled.
Thus, during the Depression of the early
Thus, during the Depression of the early
Thus, during the Depression of the early
1930s, the Resettlement Administration
1930s, the Resettlement Administration
1930s, the Resettlement Administration
employed photographers such as Dorothea
employed photographers such as Dorothea
employed photographers such as Dorothea
Lange to help convince the nation that
Lange to help convince the nation that
Lange to help convince the nation that
migrant workers and dispossessed farmers
migrant workers and dispossessed farmers
migrant workers and dispossessed farmers
needed assistance
needed assistance
needed assistance.
.
.

11. Beginning with
advertisements

12. Beginning with
Advertisements

13. She's very Charlie
Charlie turns out to be the
name of a woman.
The booty pat in this image is what the kiss is
in the usual perfume ad. But the booty pat is
mostly seen being delivered man to man,
leader to follower, in a very controlled
environment, usually in athletic event.
James B. Twitchell "Twenty Ads That Shook the World"
(2009)

14. Analyzing advertisements by asking
yourself questions about them is a good
way to develop
the habit of thinking analytically, a habit
that will help you to write about
literature.

15. When asking students to to analyze an
advertisement, be sure to include the image with
the essay.
In the opening paragraph the student will probably offer a
lead-in ("Among the most annoying ads in the current
issue...of...", or "A good deal of today's advertising is highly
sexual," rather than the bland "In this advertisement...")

17. Consider the following issues:
1) To whom is the ad addressed?
2) Is the appeal of the text logical ("tests prove," "doctors
recommend"), or emotional ( for instance, addressing our
sympathy, our patriotism, our love of family)?
3) What is the relationship between the image and the
text? How does the design of the ad establish relationship?

18. In your conclusion you will probably
evaluate the ad, perhaps on two grounds:
How honest is the ad?
Honest or not, how effective do you
find it?

19. CHECKLIST:
ANALYZING
Advertisements
Have the following been considered?

20. CHECKLIST: ANALYZING
Advertisements
What is the viewer's first impression of the ad? Excitement, perhaps
conveyed by a variety of colors and large type? Dignity, perhaps
conveyed, chiefly by grays, lots of empty, and smaller type? Ask yourself
especially if by grays, lots of space, and smaller type?
Ask yourself especially if, given the product, the ad is in some way
surprising.
(As Twitchell points out, it was surprising for a perfume ad to show a
woman doing something--- and especially patting a man's behind.)

21. CHECKLIST: ANALYZING
Advertisements
What is the audienve for the ad?Affluent young women?
College students? Housewives? Retired persons?
Does the image appeal to an emotion-- for instance to our
sense of fairness, pity, patriotism, envy ("You too can get
admiring looks"), fear ("Worried about aging skin? Use...")?

22. CHECKLIST: ANALYZING
Advertisements
Is the image intentionally shocking (for instance a fetus being
aborted)?
Does the text make a logical, rational appeal ("Three out of
four doctors recommend...." "Tests at a leading university
show...")?
Is the supposed rational appeal really rational?

23. CHECKLIST: ANALYZING
Advertisements
What does the text do? Is it chiefly devoted to giving
information? To being entertaining?
How successful is the ad/ And how honest is it?

24. WRITING ABOUT
PICTURES

25. Basic things to look for in
understanding the language of
pictures?
Are the figures harmoniously related, perhaps by a similar
stance or shared action?
In a landscape, what is the relation between humans and nature? Are the
figures at ease in nature, or are they dwarfed by it?
If the picture is a portrait, how do the furnishings and the background and
the angle of the head or the posture of the head and body (as well as of
course, as the facial expression) contribute to the ease of the character of
the person portrayed.
Do the figures share the space evenly, or does one figure
overpower another, taking most of the space or light?
1
2
3
4

26. Basic things to look for in
understanding the language of
pictures?
5. What is the effect of light in the picture? Does it
5. What is the effect of light in the picture? Does it
produce sharp contrasts, brightly illuminating some parts
produce sharp contrasts, brightly illuminating some parts
and throwing others into darkness? Does the light seem
and throwing others into darkness? Does the light seem
theatrical or natural, disturbing or comforting? If the
theatrical or natural, disturbing or comforting? If the
picture is in color, is the color realistic or is it expressive,
picture is in color, is the color realistic or is it expressive,
or both?
or both?

27. Responses to pictures can be stimulated
by asking two questions.
What is this doing? Why is this
figure here and not there, why
is this tree so brightly
illuminated, why are the
shadows omitted, why is this
seated figure leaning forward
like that?
1.
2. Why do I have this response?
Why do I find this figure pathetic,
this landscape oppressive, this
child revoltingly sentimental but
that child fascinating?

28. Now, refer to :
"Thinking about Dorothea
Lange's "Migrant Mother,
Nipomo California"
handouts

29. REFERENCE
Literature for Composition
by Sylvan Barnet, William
Burto and William Cain,8th
ed, 2007

30. Good luck!