Assignement 2C

'Talk to people' was the title of the next part of the assignment. I had to take my photographs and find a selection of people. I then had to ask them to look at the images and tell me what they thought is going on in the photographs. The intention was for them to produce a story that links all three of the images together. Due to the time scale of this assignment I had to use people I knew, so I got my family, flatmates and classmates on board! Here is what they got from my three images:

• Peter, 56, Primary Teacher: Booked into a hotel to stay for the night. Found this trunk and opened it to find a valuable necklace inside.


• Elaine, 47, Nurse: The woman in the photograph has booked in the hotel for her honeymoon, as she is currently engaged to be married.


• Claire, 20, Nursing Student: Girl throws herself of this high building. The trunk is found in her room and inside is the piece of jewellery.


• Andrew, 23, Business Student: A man books the penthouse suite in Paris for Valentines Day. He packs his big suitcase for the journey. On arrival the woman puts on her favourite green top and they head to the Eiffel Tower, where he gets down on one knew and proposes. (She says yes!)


• Orla, 22, Social Work Student: A girl is finally engaged to the love of her life whom she keeps a picture of in her locket. She also kept sentimental treasures in her old trunk, including a photo of a visit to Dubai. The photo from the hotel rooftop means a lot because that is where she got engaged.


• Chris, 29, English Student: Took a trip to this hotel by taxi. The driver takes the battered trunk from his boot as I try to guess how many stories high this building is. Whilst standing at the front desk a beautiful woman enters wearing striking necklace.


• Scott, 27, Community Education Student: Prostitute is going to see a client on top floor of the hotel. Has brought with her a trunk full of outfits for her client. (You can tell a lot about the way my flatmate thinks!)


• Stephan, 21, Electronic Engineering Student: The chest that contains the special necklace is hidden in the top floor of the skyscraper.

As you can see everyone is coming up with different stories from the same three images. Considering what Barthes wrote this does support his theory that depending on cultural backgrounds and differing knowledge individuals will take different meanings from the same image.