1. This picture I chose was taken by Michael Kenna and it’s a shot of upper manhattan and the washington bridge. One thing you will notice is that the photo is in black and white and I got to say I think it compliments the view with manhattan and all its lights. It really tells the truth that this city never sleeps. I think the intention of this shot was to give a good look at the city at night to show the bright lights it has. The black and white kind of makes it look like this photo was taken in the 60’s. I feel like the purpose of this image was to show manhattan in the night. One thing Iike about this photo is that it shows the upper side of Manhattan and you see a lot of the old buildings that have probably been here for like 30/50 years. The bottom of Manhattan has a lot of newer buildings and a time square, so showing the top side of Manhattan gives people more looks to Manhattan then the parts that are always advertised in the media. It gives me a griminess mood like old 80’s comic books like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

2. For this photo I got to say the three elements that it shows are Leading Lines, Patterns, and Diagonal. I said Leading Lines because the way the photo is set and how Manhattan looks makes you focus your eyes to the top right. I said Pattern because the noir look makes the buildings bleed out to each other, but still comes out unique because of the building lights and the different sizes of the buildings. And Last I said Diagonal was because in the front you see Manhattan going bottom left to top right and behind it you see the Washington bridge going top right to left. It gives off the sense of movement and the different paths of New York.  

https://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery_images/b87a7b0@2x.jpg

A photograph that was listed that I think is visually engaging is “Welcome to Imperial” by Thomas Holton. The photo appears to be a light up sign that could be placed at a bar scenery or even a local bowling alley, the sign gives the theme of some amusement that takes place at nightime. I believe the intention of the photographer was to take a photo that could easily grasp attention to the eye because of the dark background and the bright word display can catch someone’s attention easier than colors that blend well together.  The purpose of the image may be to attract more people to this location or have people be more aware of this location.  The mood is very vague and gives a feeling of enticement,  possibly even  fun due the audience not knowing where the location of the sign is or what the sign may be hinting towards about the location.

  Three of the formal elements from the Steve McCurry video that are most important in the photo I selected are leading lines, frame within a frame and figure to ground. The reason I chose this photo is due to it being an eye catcher and its dark background yet vibrant colors at the same time which gives the photo contrast displaying, figure to ground. The ceiling also appears to have leading lines that connect to the outer frame of the board  which will guide the observer to the light up sign that says “Welcome to Imperial” without the artist having to be there to do so. Frame within a frame could also be seen in this photo, if you look closely around the bold words you see a rectangle outline around the sign that provides an outer frame on the words to make it more bold in contrast to the background.