HW 1 Composition- Jesus Pena

I chose a photograph of the “Brooklyn Bridge,” the 22nd photo on the gallery link by Michael Kenna, taken in New York City, USA, year 2000, according to Michael Kenna’s website. This photo looks interesting to me due to the angle, the lighting and the way the image looks at different glances. After many looks, the bridge looks like it is farther away due to the angle of it which makes the bridge seem like when someone is hallucinating and things get farther in certain movies. Look upward makes things even more amazing since it is something that can be overlooked while on the bridge but looking at this photo, it looks bigger somehow, it makes me wanna go visit the bridge again to see if my perception of the bridge is changed and or improved after seeing this perspective. I definitely feel like it was the Photographer’s intention to get people more interested in the bridge through his photo that makes it look great compositionally. I get a sad and adventurous mood from the photo due to the bridge looking more intimidating, the structure holding it gives off a sense fear due to the black and white theme. I am definitely fascinated by how the lighting and coloring of the image make the bridge look. I find myself finding some “Compositional Principles,” of the image instantly since the bridge is at the center and the lighting made it easier to pay attention to the bridge more than the big buildings that are also part of the background, which helped me to appreciate how good the bridge looks and can look. If not for seeing this image, I probably wouldn’t have remembered how the bridge looks, I am inspired by this image and the artist’s vision of what he wanted people to see.

The line on the ground shows importance of the use of tip 2 by Steve McCurry, “Leading Lines,” in which the line is in the almost in the middle area of the photo. I find the way that the picture is angled and how close it is to the ground very similar to how remember the bridge but without people. The bridge is almost always busy so it is intriguing to see it empty, the sides of the bridge are also something that I never really payed attention to but now it seems more important than I recently thought. The picture looks almost Symmetrical according to “tip 9″ of McCurry’s Photo Comp. tips, due to the line on the floor that leads to the middle of the bridge. The third compositional principle is tip 5, Figure to Ground,” since there is a great contrast between the ground and the background, in which the background is the metal structure of the bridge which fills the background really well.

http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery_images/c522ea3.jpg

http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery.php?id=14. Image 22 on the gallery