The Photo I chose is Bedroom by Thomas Holton from ” The Lams of Ludlow Street” photo collection. It is a photo of a bedroom belonging to a Chinese family living in Chinatown New York. Something I noticed about the picture is that it seems naturally put together instead of purposely being set up in the way it is and the clothes and sheet hanging looks like a normal thing. there are also blankets on a bed which seems like laundry was just done and they needed to be folded and the bed has wrinkles and lines which seems like people was on it right before the photo was taken. The colors in the photo fits well with it and the bed colors lightens up the mood of the photo which has a chill feeling.

one of the three formal elements that is important to the photo is Diagonals and they are shown in the ceiling and bottom wall of the room, and it shows great movement. Patterns is also shown in the upper right of the photo with pictures lined up in a pattern and the beds are also in a pattern. The third element would be Framing, and it is shown with the windows and also the whole image looks framed.

https://images.squarespace-cdn.com/content/v1/5fb3d40f8529db35ddebae94/1605624985234-MG397Q76B7IEWLBWONGA/Bedroom.jpg?format=1000w

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