Photo Analysis: Week in Pictures

The photograph I chose to analyse is this one:

Covid Concert: Performances for patients' health

Firstly, the framing of the image has been done in a way that makes you aware of where this scene is taking place, in a hospital room. It also shows you who is there, and what is happening within the photo. This gives us a near full understanding of what is happening, with a patient in a hospital bed having a song or a performance being played for them by the hospital staff. This could make this event feel quite jovial in nature, as the hospital staff seem to be trying to keep things hopeful and positive for the patient.

The composition of the shot itself makes use of the rule of thirds to create a good-looking photograph, since the two people in the middle sort of split the photo into thirds. The hospital bed is also just nearly in the centre of the photo, and therefore nearly in the centre of the lines in the rule of thirds, but is blurred because it is in the foreground.

This doesn't particularly change any of the meaning embedded within the photo, it just makes the image look somewhat nicer than it would've been, had the photographer just taken a regular photo.

The use of colour in this photo is a bit interesting, actually. Since the entire room, and the staff's clothing is white, it does give off this very sterile, pure feel to the photo. However, there are some pops of colour that bring attention to things in the picture. For example, the guitar. The deep, wooden brown of the guitar is a nice distraction from all of the white in the room, and it also elevates the subject matter as well, since the guitar itself is the focus of the story.

Something else that stands out against the cold white is the blue face masks on the staff. This could give us a bit more context to when this picture was taken - during the midst of the coronavirus pandemic - and why it was taken. I mentioned before that the staff were trying to provide hope and positivity for the patient in the hospital bed, but we can now infer that the patient is actually in hospital because they have the coronavirus. This would not only explain the staff's face masks, but their attire as well.

The staff's body language is interesting as well.

The person on the far right seems quite jolly. We can tell from the way they're waving to the patient, as if to try to give them hope.

The one next to them has a completely different feel. Their shoulders are slumped, and their posture is somewhat sad-looking. Their arm isn't as outstretched as the one on the far right, which could connote a sense of them not putting much effort into what they've been asked to do, or being uninterested. It could also be a result of being told to do a pose in front of the camera.

The person playing the guitar seems to be looking at the patient, implying that their full attention is on the one in the bed. Apart from that, they just seem to be playing the guitar like they're performing for an adoring crowd at a concert.

We can't really derive much information from the person on the far left, since a lot of their body is covered up by medical equipment, but they seem to also have their hand up, like the two on the right of the photo. This doesn't tell us much, however, since the majority of the people in the photo are waving.

The mise-en-scene - or what's in the photo - is quite indicative of the photo's meaning. The objects worthy of mention are the hospital bed, the guitar, the medical equipment and the face masks. First, though, I want to talk about the setting of the hospital room. The hospital room gives a sense of sickness, however bright a white the room itself is. This is because hospitals are associated with sickness, injury, or even death. This is supported by the face masks, the medical equipment and the hospital bed. However, the guitar immediately contrasts this, as a guitar is something not usually found in a hospital. Guitars are associated with music, happiness and entertainment, but hospitals are certainly not. This paints a picture of many contrasts, consisting of themes such as sickness vs. heath, or even more abstract concepts such as optimism vs. pessimism.