Erica Mcdonald...

Erica Mcdonald was born in Cleveland, ohio, and is a photographer and educator who lives in New York. She is a documentary photographer who has done many series of documentary images that reflect a time in history or a day in the life of someone. She is inspired by the creativity of documenting and tracking the day of someone and the things they do by simply one personality or one object. She also likes to include some kind of narrative or event of the day to her work to engage the viewer and allow them to empathise with the photographs.

One of her series, is called 'along the way' and takes pictures of just a couple of people in one image that tells a whole story to whats happening and what event they are at. She called it ' along the way' due to the fact that she would spend a whole day at an event or with a group of people and would just follow them around and track the events that ale place in that particular moment. The simplicity of having just one or two objects or people allows the viewer to empathise and connect with the images and the narrative that goes with it.

In the mood board above she took a series of black and white single images and had a couple of people in each photo and this represented a wedding day.She had pictures of single bridesmaids, and children dancing with relatives drinking in the background. The effectiveness of the simple and somewhat plain images means that you can see exactly what is happening and see the whole story just through an image of one person.

Image Analysis…

 

In this image there is objectively two elderly women dancing, on a dance floor with a little hut in the background with balloons hanging from it suggesting its a birthday or celebration occasion. The black and white effect gives the photo a more authentic and homely feel to it, making it feel almost sentimental to someone. It clearly captures a moment between two people that reflects the atmosphere of the occasion and also gives the viewer an insight into what the event is even though we have no source of knowledge about where this photo was taken. Subjectively it portrays the close relationship between two people. It also symbolises the fact that although they are elderly ladies they are still able to have fun. The fact that there doesn't appear to be anyone else joining the dancing suggests the playful behaviour of the women. McDonald tries to capture a moment within her work and in this image she captures the moment of two relatives dancing and laughing with each other. It shows the simplicity of her work, that can have an impact on the viewer and create an empathy through her work. Although there is only two people in tis image it still shows the liveliness of the occasion and gives a sentimental ad emotional connection to the viewer.