Richard Billingham

here is a photobook called Rays a laugh done by Richard Billingham this was a series done over an amount of time of his parents, his dad who was alcoholic and his mum who drank as well but smoked a lot both of them led an unhealthy lifestyle.These images where very honest and real i think that he was very brave to this and did not feel ashamed. I also feel this gives some awareness of what alcohol can do. This was shot on a film camera with a flash as you can tell by the grain in the photos and they flash creates these amazing bright colours by increasing the saturation. I really like the bold contrast colours as they make these images very striking and eye catching making them look even more real. These images are so candid yet they have been thought about them. It looks as if Richard has thought about the kind of shots he would of liked and then when he saw that moment he shot it. I really like this method as it creates one of images that may look a little different to the images you originally intended it's almost like he is being a fly on the wall like they're not aware of the camera there is something beautiful about this method. From the images it almost looks like his dad is very childlike which is ironic considering its his dad. Just by looking at these images you can tell he has an alcohol problem straight away and that their life style is very unhealthy and they do not take care of themselves which is important to many of us. I find his work very inspiring as not many people what want people to see this life as they may feel ashamed by it. He has used strong bold colours which contradict the emotions of what he is going threw as it cannot be a nice thing to watch.I also like the fact he has not tried to make the images look more appealing or pretty and has focused on nothing but the truth he has not tried to shy away from the fact some people may find these images offensive or may feel uneasy and this has not phased him one bit.