Richard Billingham

Richard Billingham is a artist and a photographer well known for his body of work called, Ray's A Laugh which is a portrayal of the poverty and the family which he grew up in. He took the photographs with the cheapest film he could find to give the photographs faded colours and bad focus which adds to the authenticity of the series of photos. The photographs start with the portrayal of heavy drinkers and chain smokers but as the series goes on, it emerges and seems that there is something seriously wrong with the mother with her mental needs. The audience get to see the deep, personalities of the family touching the audience and makes the audience feel some deep sorrow towards Richard and how he grew up. 

Looking at the photos in relation to mine, they are very similar in the way child hood memories were captures and the people around Richard when he was growing up. Deep emotions are portrayed within this photo, based around his family as well as my photos are emotionally deep and personal. Although Billingham has created the affect of the photo using cheap film to fade colours and not focus, my photos are original and from when i was younger so the quality of the photos are not at the best quality but adds to the vintage style of the photography. 

Comparing my photographs with Richard Billinghams, i can see the similarity of the effect of the photos and how vintage they look and they subjects within the picture are in a natural pose with nothing looking like it is fake. 

I like how personal the photographs are to the artist and how they show his child hood capturing moments in time where his emotions and family were going through tough times and how they lived their every day lives. Like my photography, it is very personal to me. I also like how he hasn't used the best camera available, he has used a old fashion, film camera that makes the photos look vintage without having to edit the photos in any way. I also like how honest the photography is and how he is not afraid to show how he lived his child hood and how his family acted when together within the same house hold.