Symbols

This exercise is all about finding symbols for the following number of concepts:


Growth 

• Green shoots -  could be used in photograph taken in winter / early spring showing tips of shoots pushing up through the soil possibly covered by a heavy frost or snow 
• Graph going upwards dramatically -  could be used in an office setting to show success of a business/ project showing wallchart
• Building site -  an image could show skeleton and half built offices or homes with building activity e.g. crane or workmen in action

Excess

• Luxury goods - a number of images come to mind :
• a composition showing a wardrobe overflowing with expensive looking shoes / carrier bags/ shoe boxes - could be stage managed as still life
• juxtaposition of late night revellers dressed in evening wear and clutching champagne bottles in side street near to someone sleeping rough or dustbin overflowing with ordinary cheap rubbish - tricky to do re timing / location and subjects
• very large empty champagne bottle stuffed into top of ordinary / tatty dustbin of street rubbish...again challenge would be finding a large enough bottle and the right kind of rubbish but more manageable as it doesn't involve people
• Food
• a small plate stacked almost impossibly high with food ...something from such as a all you can eat buffet (as seen more often in the States) - a still life image or action if the image can capture someone willing to be seen loading up their plate..

Crime

• Pair of handcuffs - an obvious symbol of policing but if photographed placed around the wrists and seen from the back this could conjure up the aftermath of a crime committed.
• Fingerprint ( dusted  or captured on glass etc) or bloodstained hand print - maybe included in a still life alongside a magnifying glass
• Swag bag - this idea although somewhat hackneyed comes from childhood memories of cartoons where the burglar always had a stripey jersey and sack on their shoulder marked 'Swag'..in terms of a photograph, this could be a still life of the marked sack with stolen item sticking out of the top or maybe a night scene of someone handing down a sack from a first floor window to an ' accomplice'.... 

             
 Silence

• Finger placed against mouth - someone hushing children looking a sleeping baby/ person
• Snowscape after first fall of snow - could be a landscape but probably more effective if a road/ street usually very busy with traffic / shoppers
• Someone or people at prayer / meditation - images could capture the interior of church populated by one or two people with heads bowed in prayer
• Library - possible a stereotype these days placing the concept of library and  silence together -  any photograph would need to have a very traditional library interior e.g. wooden panelling / academic setting as certainly modern public libraries do not encourage the image of silence...again one of two people head bowed reading of writing in solitude..

Poverty

• Three gold balls ( pawnbroker's sign)

P430  :  f8 @ 1/500  ISO 100  114mm  AWB

I took this image earlier in the year in our local high street - I like the juxtaposition of the three gold balls and the burglar alarm which seems to highlight the value of the pawnbrokers interior. A sign of the times but there seem to be more pawnbrokers/ gold for cash / immediate loan shops appearing in our shopping centres indicating an increased demand for cash to help people through the week.
However, a more interesting image would be one that captured someone ( young or old rather than middle aged ) or people using the pawnbrokers - would be a very sensitive shot to take and maybe from a distance using a telescopic lens.

• Cupped palm extended - possibly a stereotyped image but very effective - could be taken from the view of the person asking for money maybe from sitting level looking up at the expressions of the passersby
• 'Slum' / derelict housing - the kind of image I'm thinking of here would be maybe children playing on a derelict site or washing hanging out in a run down estate
• Hole in sole of a shoe/ boot - memories of my mother's childhood when her mother repaired holes in shoes with cardboard have prompted this symbol ( also Chaplin's 'The Tramp' !!) - this could be a still life , maybe placed on a battered kitchen table ( wood or Formica type ) with cardboard shape ready alongside ?
• Living out of a bag / trolley - Bag People - in some ways this way of life may be less about poverty and more about choosing to live outside the 'system' ( whatever system threatens the individual) - on balance I think I feel the living out of a bag symbol prompts the idea of living below the poverty line so it could be used here to express poverty ...thinking of what kind of photograph to produce  - maybe a trolley full of belongings positioned in a more affluent location e.g. high street or waiting for the owner to return from checking out the overflowing rubbish nearby ( also caught with the composition ) / or owner and trolley / bag resting on bench / seat within a built environment i.e streets / park / housing areas.