A Generation of Killers
Unlike many of my shoots, this shoot is a satire of people's opinions as opposed to actual events. I personally find the prospect ridiculous the playing with toy guns as a child would make them violent. Science has shown that this is not the case, in fact! However, many people still believe that censorship is the answer, and in response to this I decided to produce a photo shoot depicting the kind of reality we might expect if this opinion was true... but making it seem ridiculous by using toy guns instead of realistic-looking ones. I tried to pick the most sci-fi looking, colourful guns I could, and by removing all colours except for the guns I created a start contrast between the acts of violence on screen and the toys being used within them. Ultimately the aim of this shoot is to remind people that not all violent toys are inappropriate, but there should be a boundary for the wellbeing of the child, as I expressed in my 'A World Kids Love' shoots.
I loved how the harsh shadowing on the face contrasted strikingly with the brightly-coloured gun in this shot, to produce an interesting juxtaposition.
The simple merciless act of executing a downed prisoner combined with the innocence of the toy is enough to make this shot chilling.
I decided to take another version of this image with the executioner laughing, in order to try and create further juxtaposition, but seeing as this occurred in black-and-white space I did not feel it worked as well as I had hoped. The idea was to make the affair seem like a game turned sinister, but I felt the other iteration of this image was more effective.
I loved how the harsh shadowing on the face contrasted strikingly with the brightly-coloured gun in this shot, to produce an interesting juxtaposition.