The photo I chose is DSC04207 by Suzanne Stein from the New York Street One collection of photographs. It features a woman vaping with gloves on while looking at her phone. The smoke from the vape surrounds the woman on a plain black background. Ironically, she seems worried about germs because of her gloves but not about the chemicals she’s inhaling. The contrast between her being careful to not get sick by wearing gloves, but she also doesn’t care if she gets sick from vaping is very ironic. Suzanne took this photo in 2017, before COVID, so the woman isn’t worried about catching that illness. Although, she still seemed unbothered by the possibility of getting lung cancer or other vaping-related conditions.
This photo shows the elements Figure to Ground because she is not touching the edge of the frame on any side. It also displays extreme contrast between the brightly shaded woman and the dark and moody background. The photo is also a good example of Center Eye Dominance with the woman’s left eye being directly in the center of the photograph. Her eye is still in the center of the photo providing balance, even if the eye is partially covered by the smoke. Another principle that contributes to the balance is Symmetry. Although the contents on either side of the center line aren’t identical, there is an equal amount of important content on both sides. The woman’s face is on the left side, and the smoke is on the right side; this creates a beautifully balanced and symmetrical piece.
Link: https://photos.smugmug.com/photos/i-7ZzmsqN/3/X4/i-7ZzmsqN-X4.jpg
Strong choice. The contrast between the lovely play of light and dark evoking Rembrandt and old master painting and the ugly details of her phone, the plastic gloves and the vape is stunning.
We haven’t discussed contrast of light and dark in class and the McCurry conflates figure ground with contrast and light and dark in the way it is demonstrated in the video.
How only parts of the subject, her hands primarily, her phone and her face emerge from the background is like the smoke. She floats in the background in her own world.
One of her eyes would be in the middle of the photo if she wasn’t looking down at her phone and if it wasn’t covered with smoke.
I don’t know if this photo is strictly speaking symmetrical. It is true though if you roughly outlined the contents that are not black that shape would be more or less symmetrical.
I think having her well contained in the frame, floating in the middle emphasizes her isolation, being in her own world of the phone and the smoke.