“Empire State Building from Twin Towers Viewfinder, New York City, USA, 1998”
Michael Kenna’s gallery contained photos of numerous well-known landmarks and locations in New York City from 1976-2010. I’ve always found landmarks of cities interesting, so these photos attracted my attention. The photo I chose is named “Empire State Building from Twin Towers Viewfinder, New York City, USA, 1998”. I chose this photo because it reminded me of one of the photos I took for the class activity last Wednesday. As the title mentions, the photograph was taken on the Twin Towers looking though the viewfinder. The picture is fuzzy and blurry, but you can still tell what building is being photographed. In my opinion, the longer you look at the photograph, the clearer the building looks. I believe Kenna’s intention was to show the viewer how recognizable the Empire State Building is. Even though the photo is not totally clear, you can still recognize one of NYC’s most known buildings.
The first formal element that comes to mind when looking at the photo is frame within a frame. Kenna uses the Twin Tower’s viewfinder to frame the Empire State Building and the other smaller building next to it. You could tell Kenna positioned the lens of the camera either inside of the view finder or zoomed into the viewfinder because of the darkness surrounding the main target (Empire State Building). Michael Kenna also used the rule of thirds. The Empire State Building is not exactly in the middle of the photo. It’s slightly offset to the right of the frame within the frame.
In Suzanne Stein’s, “R Train Platform, 59th and Central Park”, a couple is seen going in for a kiss as the woman holds a very large bouquet of white roses toward the upper right corner of the photograph. Behind them, a row of women sit, ranging from tallest to shortest, what seems to be eldest to more youthful as well, and all with different facial expressions or no expression at all. The background is clearly set at a Fifth Avenue platform, in the train station. I believe Stein’s intention in capturing this moment was to portray some sort of reaction to the couple that seems to be expressing their love, both physically and materialistically. The purpose of this image is to convey both a sense of love in New York City, hope for other women, as well as envy or jealousy that others may express when witnessing public displays of affection. The general mood of this photography feels quite mixed due to the various facial expressions that are being given off by the women who are witnessing this. It feels like all of the emotions a New Yorker would experience when witnessing something like this on the subway.
Rule of thirds, diagonals, and patterns and repetition are the most important in Stein’s photograph. Stein utilizes the rule of thirds to pinpoint the couple at the upper right corner, so that the viewer’s eyes are drawn to them first. This also makes the couple stand out more, making them the focus of the photograph. Stein utilizes diagonals through the descending height so effortlessly provided by the women sitting on the subway bench. The descending diagonal takes your eyes from the middle left frame to the end and finally toward the loving couple. The age difference and height difference is what led me to feel that there is some sort of loss in hope for romance or possibly a change in hopefulness. Stein also utilizes pattern and repetition again through the women presented in the photograph. They all appear to be wearing black or dark shades and the large bouquet of white roses interrupts this scheme.
Thomas Holton’s “A Stern Lecture” gives the audience a glimpse into the life of the Lams. In the photo, a total of five people can be identified in a photograph of the sleeping area in the Lams’ apartment. The “main point” of focus, however, is on the right of the photo where we see the father of the family hovering above his son and presumably giving him a stern lecture as the photo’s title implies. What is interesting about this photo is that despite it being the “main point” according to the title, the father and the son are located in the background while the mother of the household is located at the center of the photograph and in the foreground as if to say that these different events occurring around her—the stern lecture and sharing a bed between three people—are things that are a part of her daily life. If one views the photograph with the title in mind, however, then it would quickly become apparent that there is a lack of privacy for the son who is being lectured by the father. This is important because it then leads one to consider the next set of themes in the photograph: the lack of space and boundaries shared amongst the Lams and the closeness (figurative and literal) derived from it.Â
In order of least to greatest in significance, the identifiable formal elements in this photograph are: frame within a frame, figure to ground, and leading lines. To the left of the photograph, the mother as well as two other members of the family can be identified to either be sitting or lying down on the bottom section of a bunk bed. The bunk bed serves as a frame that separates the subjects within it from the rest of the photograph and imitates what could be a boundary that sections off the “stern lecture” taking place to the right of the photograph when, in fact, no such boundary or privacy exists, and so the recurring theme of a lack of space is highlighted once again. This leads to the next element: figure to ground; while there is a sharp focus on the mother of the family (the figure), the rest of the photograph—even the stern lecture—appears almost secondary (the ground.) In contrast to this, however, Holton chose to name this work after the secondary aspect of the photograph, which begs the question: why would one make the mother the center of focus for the photograph when it is the secondary aspect that the photo is named after? While it cannot be concretely confirmed what Holton’s intentions were, it is clear that the placement of the Mrs. Lam at the center of the photograph is anything but arbitrary. As the audience, one not only gets a glimpse into her life, but Mrs. Lam’s gaze that stares directly at the camera establishes a sort of connection between herself and the viewer of the photograph. It is the first thing that one’s eyes gravitate towards in the photograph and then gradually the rest of the photograph is explored by the audience’s eyes, effectively placing the audience in the shoes of Mrs. Lam. Lastly, while it is not outright apparent, one can observe an assortment of furniture, items, and decor to the right of the photograph that acts as leading lines: the ladder in the foreground, the wooden pole behind the bed, the linear pattern on the pillowcase, and even the linear ridges/raised surfaces along the white walls. This is an interesting take because the co-existence of the leading lines and the figure to ground relationship creates not one but two points of focus in the photograph. The most obvious of the two points of focus, as previously discussed, is Mrs. Lam who is located at the center of the photograph while the less obvious point of focus would be the stern lecture taking place to the right of the photograph. If Mrs. Lam was meant to be the subject that the audience should take notice of first, then the stern lecture taking place in the background is where the audience’s eyes should be drawn to next. From Mrs. Lam’s point of view to the stern lecture that takes place in the background, this sequence of events inclines the audience to relate to Mrs. Lam who experiences the lack of boundaries, closeness of her family, and parenting in her daily life.
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.
The image that I chose is a Family portrait from The Lams of Ludlow by Thomas Holton. This photo was taken in New York City Chinatown. The Lams of Ludlow shows a family of 5 living in a very small Chinatown apartment that is only 350 square feet. Holton follows the daily lives of the Lam family. This family photo shows a family of five standing with a dinner table full of food and jackets hanging in the background from small to big jackets. The purpose of this image is to show the living conditions of living in Chinatown. The mood that this image brings is welcoming and friendly. The intention of Thomas Holton is to show the lifestyle of living with a family of five in a very small living space. Also, to show a family struggling with space. Holton became a part of their family and continued to capture more pictures of the family.
The three formal elements from Steve McCurry that are most important in this photo are figure to ground, symmetry, and diagonals. Holton uses figures to ground by having a contrast between the family portrait and the objects in the background of the photo. Jackets and lights hanging with a sink on the side of this image. Also, This photo shows symmetry, The family portrait gives an even look when divided in half. The third component that Holton uses is diagonals. When looking at this photo, this photo does not look centered but looks slanted. These three elements help create the mood of the photograph by showing that Holton worked in a small area capturing these photos of the Lam family. These components that Holton used give a confined feeling but a family and friendly feeling.
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