4pts. Due Feb 9, 12 noon. Post to OpenLab.
Review the Steve McCurry video:
http://petapixel.com/2015/03/16/9-photo-composition-tips-as-seen-in-photographs-by-steve-mccurry/
Look at the work of the photographers listed below. Then select one photograph by one of these photographers that really speaks to you and that you think is visually engaging. Once you have selected a photograph, write a 300-word post on OpenLab about the photograph.
Category: Student posts>HW1-Composition
1. Identify the photograph with the name of the photographer and the name of the photograph. Write a short description of the subject matter and location. Then, identify the intention of the photographer. What is the purpose of the image? What is the mood or feeling of the photograph?
2. Select three of the formal elements from the Steve McCurry video that are most important in the photo that you selected. Write a second paragraph describing the photographer’s use of those three compositional principles.
1. Rule of Thirds
2. Leading Lines
3. Diagonals
4. Frame within a frame
5. Figure to Ground
6. Fill the Frame
7. Dominant Eye
8. Patterns and Repetition
9. Symmetry
How do these elements help create the mood or feeling of the photograph?
Please include a link to the photograph so I can easily find it or describe it very clearly.
1. Suzanne Stein
https://www.suzannesteinphoto.com
Pick from either New York Street One or Two
2. Dawoud Bey
http://www.dawoudbey.net/
Harlem Stories
3. Thomas Holton
http://www.thomasholton.com/
The Lams of Ludlow Street
4. Michael Kenna-
http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery.php?id=14
New York
Dawoud Bey
Four children at Lenox Avenue
Subject matter:
Four school aged children in Harlem, New York. The children’s poise a well-groomed appearance is indictive of the respectable maturity of the community, The photographers attaching is to showcase the subject in a positive manner. The purpose of the image is to display the culture of the Harlem community in 1977. The children’s uniform like attire and holding what appears like school bag or holding a book suggests that excellence is expected of them. The mood of the photograph reflects the children appearing to not only organize their belongings but also perhaps to process and reflecting on what they had just learned.
Formal elements:
The photographer use framing, a door that is ajar, from which the children may have just exited, two windows, one being hexagon shaped and the other circled, a partially shown door and other windows is also shown in the far-left corner. Rule of thirds is used, the window which reads closed, the door that is ajar, the school bag and wallet be held. Patterns & repetition is being used. The attire being worn is black and white or all white, dark pants for the males and a dress for the females. These elements help create the mood of promise, there’s a since of optimism, the ground is clean their wardrobe is neat excellence is expected.
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/gallery/2021/jun/02/dawoud-bey-street-photography-harlem-new-york