Author: Franchesca Salas

The photograph that I picked is “playing on the roof” by Thomas Holton.

An Asian American family  by the surname Lam is being photographed through periods of their life in their apartment, which is still an ongoing event. The photographer is trying to show how this family living in a compact apartment in Manhattan’s Chinatown goes about their lives and stfuggles. What is happening in this photograph is that  there is a child in a red sweatshirt and khaki pants. She is standing at the top of a flight of stairs whilst the outside light is lighting her up from behind. The intention behind this image is a child looking down at their parents to see if their parents are watching them. What I feel from this photograph is that it is almost like looking at a scene of a flashback, the colors are dulled out like a memory is usually depicted. It brings back feelings of nostalgia of a similar moment that happened in my life. What the photographer is trying to convey are moments of nostalgia with the faded lighting and being primarily focused on one subject. It can trigger memories for both parties, the one viewing through the lens or a general memory for someone remembering their childhood.

 The reason why this image stuck out to me so much is because of the lighting. It can also be interrupted as a figure to ground, most of the colors are in the greys except for the child. It brings out the attention to them. The main subject, the girl in red, is only highly focused and the other one is the leading lines, the stairs leading up to the  little girl who is standing at the top of the flight of stairs. This is an excellent use of leading lines because the leading lines lead up to a subject of focus. The next one is diagonal, the photograph is  taken from a corner which helps give a look into different planes of the ceiling. For example the the ceiling above the the floucenet lights are starting from the top right and heading in a diagonal towards the center, the vanishing point of the room.