Tomer Ifrah

Tomer Ifrah is an Israel born photographer. He specialises in documentary photography, he attempts to address social issues and daily life stories. Since he travels to vastly different locations for each of his photography shoots and comes into contact with many different living conditions and ways of life. Within his photography he reflects different emotions through means such as colour which can then inform the reader on the location and its connotations.

This image features a mountain side in Azerbaijan. The image depicts an old way of life that can be found within this area. The audience can see this as the frame consists only of nature with animals roaming free. This is not a common sight within urban life. This idea of a more traditional location is emphasised through the use of a black and white filter which offers connotations to another time.

This image depicts the metro within Moscow. Here we see a woman sitting on a train carriage. This image depicts journey as being an isolated experience. The composition of the image emphasises this idea as the woman is made small within the image and she is also placed within the frame of a window with so much vacant space surrounding her. This image also depicts ideas of Russia being a more traditional state as the image shows the woman wearing very old fashioned clothing. Tones of brown are used within the image in order to depict a more vintage style of image.

This image shows a group of people standing by the bank of the river. The audience is given a sense that there is something out of the ordinary as they can see a mattress on the floor, suggesting that the people have been sleeping there. This theme of being out of place is emphasised by the use of a black and white filter which helps enhance contrasts within the image, making the people seem completely separate from their environment. This offers a sense of journey as it implies that the people are completely out of their comfort zone since they clearly do not belong within this setting and have decided to travel and sleep within this location.

This image shows journey through the use of a story. We can see a couple kissing within a train station as a train carriage zooms past. The frame focuses less on the couple, allowing for more space within the frame. This allows more contextual information to be stored, for example the train zooming past demonstrates the setting for the image. The outfit of the man indicates that he is going somewhere while the woman contrasts with her different and darker attire. This implies that they are not going to the same place. This final piece of context implies that this is actually a goodbye kiss, showing the more emotional effects of journey.

Summary

To summarise, Tomer Ifrah carefully analyses the locations and cultures in which he photographs and attempts to fill the frame with as much references to these aspects as possible. He communicates the different tones of each location through the use of colour and focuses on what each location means to a person. He demonstrates this through framing and composition.