Displaying the bread in grids is the most obvious way to present them in order to be able to compare and contrast the differences and similarities between the slices. Although I kept a record of the individual brands/prices of each loaf, by removing the packaging and photographing each slice individually I was struck at how difficult it was to identify each slice without my notes. (Except for the Jackson’s bloomer which has a distinctive shape.) I was also struck by the imperfections where slices have become misshapen, perhaps due to production or handling. The individual texture and crumb of each slice and the air bubbles are also something I find fascinating and an aspect that could be worthy of exploring further.
4×3 (No border)
2. 3×3 (No border)
3. 3×3 (Border)
4. 11×1 (Horizontal)
5. 1×11 (Vertical)
Thoughts:
- The cropped images again work better as the slices are more uniform and consistent in their presentation. However, the scale of each slice is not accurate which is an issue with accurate representation – shooting each slice at actual size and presented in a consistent way, such as central in the frame, is something that will cause a headache at the time of shooting, but coming up with a way of achieving this could be worth the work for the end result.
- The white border works better than I had envisaged – if the images were shown in a gallery setting I could imagine them being individually framed or individual prints placed straight onto the wall.
- The differences in white balance and lighting in the white grid images without borders work unexpectedly well as they show an imperfection that somehow makes the grids seem less formal – the sets that attempt to show consistency and make the viewer look harder for errors that once found become distracting.
- My initial thoughts are that the black background works best, however, by putting them together there are subtle differences in the background that were not easily detected when the images were presented alone and become a distraction here.
Fascinating, all factory-made mass-production breads?
Yeah, been thinking about mass produced commodities a lot and keep coming back to bread…it is the epitome of the everyday consumer object yet so often fetishised and elevated. The mass produced loaf makes bread affordable and readily available, yet the process also removes it from the very simplicity that makes bread so special in the first place. On a visual level, I wanted to look at how these objects compare when stripped of their branding and packaging….not sure where (if anywhere) I am going with it all…
I can’t help thinking how white they all look – and how it makes me think about how bread is also slang for money as is dough!
Exactly! There is so much symbolism and connotations for bread!