The real talking point

If you look at design blogs regularly then you've probably seen this photo before, or at least one of the other two in the series. The project was a comment on the confusing and somewhat farcical laws that surround the issues of photographing children. I probably didn't need to tell you that, it's a very good project very well executed, and therefore it communicates.
This was done by two of my good friends Samantha Harvey and Anna Brooks this year at uni. Now i don't know whether it's because I've seen this project develop over a long period of time, but the point that the image is trying to raise is a serious one. It does have underlying connotations about paedophilia, but ultimately it's an observation about the big brother society ours is slowly mutating into.
Of all the blogs this has been on, including It's Nice That and Creative Review, no one has commented on the actual message this photo sends out very well. It's being overlooked due the the technical accomplishments of the photography. All 3 are rather beautiful images in their own right, bold colours, the composition is spot on, as well as the little bit of nostalgia you feel when you see that the background looks something like your very own primary school; these things, and others, all contribute to the message becoming blurred. It is not Sam and Anna's fault at all and ironically the fact that this Orwellian tinged message is mostly overlooked, actually makes it communicate and comment on precisely that problem simultaneously.
We are not very good at viewing our own society from a neutral position, we are far too involved, moaning about tax rises, pensions and the state of youth today. What we are missing is messages from designers, artists, directors and authors that our world is changing right before our eyes in ways much more subtle than a few polar bears struggling to find solid ice and a slightly higher water mark on the white cliffs of Dover. We overlook them because of the masterful way in which these messages are woven into the fabric of context.
A film's message may be lost despite the fact it could (and probably is) shouting you in the face. We don't believe it because it comes in a box stamped "Hollywood", full of special effects, millions of pounds and beautiful people we would love to fuck...it's far fetched and nothing brewed in Hollywood could ever really happen, could it? Fundamentally though this film was once, just an idea, that most of the time is thought of by an intelligent person needing a medium for the message, but during its transformation from idea to blockbuster, the message becomes transparent. Invisible but so obviously there.
The message of a book is probably the most effective, as it's a much more tangible object than a film. We can imagine the intelligent person writing the lyrical prose, that we could never articulate even if we tried. You respect the author more than the director, you're ready to listen. The problem here is...the message doesn't reach most people, most novels never make it into the heady heights of popular culture, something that a film falls into without even trying to. It's a bit like a free loading, reality tv celebrity getting many more column inches than a scientist who just cured cancer.
The photograph above is much more in the book category, the frustrating thing here is, lots of intelligent people do see it...but once again the real grit behind the final object is passed over.
It's the same mentality which causes us to overlook changes in our own society, and move us a couple of pigeon steps closer to 1984.
Point in case: the smoking ban
It was the first law change for a very long time that actually reduced our freedom of choice. "you will not smoke because we say it's bad for you". Of course smoking is bad for us, the people around us, and it puts a big strain on the NHS and and and...easy justification for the government and ourselves to agree it should be banned in public. No protest, (or pretty inaudible anyway) done. What it tells the government though is, ban the things people feel bad about protesting about, even if it causes them to lose freedom, and it'll be fine. Do it over a long enough period of time and people will have forgotten they could even do the banned thing in the first place, also forgetting they lost freedom each time too; it will just creep up. Next on the list...alcohol and fatty foods.

This is the debate that photograph should provoke, not one about composition and how "lovely" the idea is.

www.samantha-harvey.co.uk/
www.anna-brooks.com/