Contextual Essay 1

Image Analysis

The image I have chosen to analyse is John Rawlings – “One Cigarette, Two Lights”. After much deliberation I finally came to decide on this image, after researching the work of similar photographers, such as William Klein, Irving Penn, Lillian Bassman, Jeanloup Sieff and Helmut Newton. The works of these photographers interest me as they all are from the same era and share a great likeness but still portray their own qualities. I will now begin to analyse the image alone, without the title or any obligatory information and then I shall analyse it again after researching the photographer and his work.

First I read the image without the title or any information that would persuade my thoughts on how to analyse it. The photograph is in black and white and illustrates an elegant woman as being the main subject as she is placed in the centre and is gracefully sitting across a futon sofa, directly facing the camera. She holds a cigarette between the fingers of her left hand, with her right arm resting down the back of the sofa and before she can even speak; there are two arms which reach into the frame from either side to offer her a light. It looks to me as though she has just turned around to suddenly find these two men have rushed in to light up her cigarette but perhaps hoping to be the one to get to know her a little more. The woman wears a long sleeveless dress with a black and diamante belt showing off her waist. Her hair is pinned up and styled in a 1950’s manner and her make-up matches this decade. She wears earrings and a matching bracelet with a bold ring on her left hand. A curtain fills the background and seems to reflect some light back at the camera, although the curtain could have a washed out affect but this is hard for me to tell as the image is black and white.

The composition is interesting and at first glance I am brought to the woman’s face, as her eyebrows are raised which is creating a slightly surprised look about her and because the eye make-up is dark this contrasts with her paler skin tone, I find this is what attracts the viewer to this area first. I then look down to see her cigarette, which goes on to lead you to the two gentlemen’s arms that blur due to their hastiness to attend to this woman’s needs and then I realise they both hold a lighter or a match, which you can see has already been lit as there are two small flames which looks like a white blur. The way the woman’s legs lay reached out to the side as she twists round to face the camera, and the line from where the cushions meet on the sofa, both bring your eyes up, diagonally inwards towards the centre of the image. The two arms either side also reach into this section, drawing the eye in even more towards the main subject, in the centre. The contrast in the image is perfect. The brighter shades of the background and the sofa are dull and grey which fades them out to emphasise the least important elements, where as her dress and the two arms are much darker tones because they are the vital parts of what makes the image.

After taking into consideration the title of the image, the year it was taken and the reason behind it, a lot more can be read into it. Rawlings was a noted fashion photographer in his time, and worked for Condé Nast Publications, creating a considerable amount of work throughout his career, including over 200 covers for Vogue and Glamour magazine, plus his 30,000 photos in archive. He began his 30 year association as an apprentice assistant, for Condé Nast in 1936 when “Vogue” hired him to work alongside such photography legends as Cecil Beaton, George Platt Lynes and Irving Penn.

This image was taken during the last decade of his career, when he shot for a Vogue cover using a model that wore a dress designed by Mildred Orrick, who designed woman’s fashion with a natural and informal look for 30 years and after just a decade of emerging, her work in the 1950’s were a regular part of New York fashion shows. The design of this dress was very elegant and sophisticated, and definitely shows off her social status.

 Other factors which signify her higher status have been represented by her jewellery, general appearance and her poise, which suggests she knows what she’s doing and is the kind of woman to always catch a man’s eye, as this is her initial intention.

The title becomes easily apparent after shortly analysing the image, 1 Cigarette, 2 Lights; as it is literally describing the action taking place. Although without the title, it takes longer to suggest the scenario and may not be clear at first but after correctly reading the image I think, it is obvious what is occurring. The image is typical of the year it was taken, due to the costume, hair, make-up and overall setting of the shot. It has the glamour and essence of that era which gave birth to Rock plus Roll and many familiar celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Frank Sinatra and Elvis Presley, who all made this the decade of glamour.

After researching Rawlings greatest work I would love to follow in his Vogue footsteps but that is a long way off for me yet. The content of his work definitely inspires me, and has moved me a lot closer to shooting in black and white film, which is a great thing for me to say because I was so attached to my digital SLR.