Bill Owens (Suburbia)

The work Suburbia by photographer Bill Owens is a set of images which i cam across while reaching into photographers who use a lot of decor, objects and furniture within their work. Although the piece is originally not based around the decor of the house but in fact the people within them i personally found the way in which the photographs were taken to be something in which i would like the use within my own work. The idea behind Owens work was to capture the daily life of the middle classes in America in the 1970's to which when shown to the general public caused both shock and contriversy mainly in the fact that the photos lacked in what people had thought. They destroyed the idealistic view in which was placed upon the middle class rich families in America to that of one which could be mocked. The photos highlighted it in all its weird and wonderful glory with the inclusion of a Tupperware party accompanied by a strange yet compelling photograph of  a young girl named Valerie with her large collection of Ken and Barbie dolls while she discussed how they differ from her real parents as"They enjoy living and having a camper truck is the good life"

I like the simpleness of the frames and how Owens manages again similar to that Germain to capture all that is needed for to gain an insight into the object or people within. I especially like the use of black and white and how this creates the idea of repetitiveness between shots along with the inclusion of empty rooms to show the true nature of the lifelessness and hollowness of the neighbor hood captured.

I would like the take elements of this work for example type of layouts he seems to capture, along with the distance from the object captured to the camera which allows the viewer to fully understand where the photo is being taken. It also makes me want to experiment with using people within my photos as maybe this would help viewers gain a better understanding of the meaning behind the photographs as well as aiding to the overall context. This would only either be within one or two frames while the rest would continue looking at capturing certain furnishes and objects.