Janol Apin

Janol Apin, Title of series: Metropolisson, taken between 1993-1999, Photos were published book by Métropolisson Lacarothe. There are 120 photos in the series that are 21cm x 28cm.

The genre approach for this series is comedy, Apin uses constructed imagery to show the literal meanings for the metro stations in Paris in a humorous way. These images show comedy being played out in the visual. Apin uses film for this series, the images are taken in black and white and Apin also uses lighting to give a kind of harsh look.

The photo below is landscape, its taken in black and white film. The name of the Paris train station "Champ de Mars" is in the left top hand corner and in the centre left of the picture is an astronaut. Harsh lighting is used to create big shadows in the right and left of the photo, with the astronaut being lit brightly.

Apin is a French photographer. Her inspiration draws on artists that uses black and white photography and that use humour and poetry through their images. Apin drew on those precepts for these images.

Apin series is a great example of having literal meaning in photographs. I like the theme of taking names literally and then showing the real meaning in the photograph. I like how the different photographs are taken from different angles and not just from the same point of view. I'm thinking of taking this theme and developing it in my own photographic series.