Family portrait analysis

here i have decided to use two images both are of two girl, sister actually who are photographed. there are both similarities and differences in the two.

in both of these photographs the girls are captured together but Tina barney shows how opposite to popular belief the younger sibling in front is standing on a chair whig shows how she may have been led by parents to believe she is superior to her elder sister, and may take priority over her older sister. if you look closer at the Tina barney you can see how the older sister is giving a dirty look to her younger sister. the older has the classic ‘teenage girl’ look and she appears to be irritated or annoyed by her sister. i believe that there is jealousy in this photograph in that the older sister has a thumb on the mantle piece almost as a comforter and that she may need some support, whilst leaning towards the toy on the mantle I think she wishes she was younger so she was like her sister opposite to the general thought that younger sisters look up to their elder siblings, also the older is slightly hidden behind the other furniture suggesting that she perhaps isn’t as important, or that she is used to being hidden away or in the background. on the other hand the younger sister is completely exposed and comfortable with the situation she is in, with an open posture that   oozes confidence and maturity (unlike her sister who looks as though she is being childish and petty), whilst standing on a chair as if to say she is on a kind of winners podium she may be the favourite child in the family unit.

These two images are different to each other in that one is shot in the comfort of a family home which suggests that there is love in the household, whereas the Wendy Mcmurdo is shot in a studio behind a theatre which could suggest that the family unit is being acted out and that the two girls aren’t actually close to each other at all, but just pretending to be (acting out the scene).

TINA BARNEY, little sister

WENDY McMURDO, glance