The Photograph below is called, “Moon Over Downtown”, New York City, USA, 2006 by Michael Kenna. This photograph stood out to me because of its scenery and photograph elements. You can clearly see that the main object being focused on it the city in the back. It kind of shows a strong connection towards Manhattan being an island. Showing off the emptiness of the photograph with the ocean then with the city’s bright lights and atmosphere. It gives off a sort of quiet and tense feeling of the city being surrounded by endless ocean. Could also represent the sense of opportunities, where the moon is guiding us by its light path leading to the city. As well as the gloomy or vibrant old style colors with the grays along side the white from the lights.
Some elements within this photograph would be Leading Lines, Figure to Ground & Symmetry. Figure to Ground strongly affects this by the ocean taking up most of the photograph and the city being place in the middle but far into the background. Another would be Symmetry because when you fold this photograph, both sides look very similar to each other thanks to the city being at the center. Lastly, Leading lines with the light from the moon casting off on the ocean showcasing a sort of “path” leading towards the city. Even though its very limited, the moon’s light helps guide my eyes towards the city in the back. Overall if I had to structure the elements by the photo, 1st would be Figure to Ground, 2nd is Symmetry & 3rd would be Leading Lines.
Of the interpretations you offer in the first paragraph, I think the idea that the photo presents Manhattan as surrounded by “endless ocean” is an interesting one. New York is a waterfront city though we can spend our whole lives away from the water and not realize it.
Yu describe the photo composition well. he photo is symmetrical and I think the figure to ground relationship is key to understanding the photo in that the city is surrounded by water and sky. The moonlight is a sort of path leading to the city. this is a good example of a leading line not being a perspective line.