The Lams of Ludlow Street II
The photograph I chose was taken by Thomas Holton, called The Lams of Ludlow Street II. This one in particular stood out to me because of the contrast and how even though it’s one picture, it tells two stories.
In this piece, there is a girl and a boy. Looks like they are both siblings. The right half of the picture is the younger sister lying in bed and staring at the camera. Meanwhile, the brother, who is clearly older, is studying at his desk. The contrast between the light and dark background kind of forces us to differentiate the siblings by showing a glimpse into their daily lives. There is a clear sign of diagonals from the bed to the curtains. There are also patterns and repetition on the bed and curtains as well. The sister looks a bit sad, could be because she wants to play with the brother but the brother is busy. There is a sense of strong emotions involved. The photo depicts great defeat and seriousness.
What a great picture of a sibling relationship! And also of how the brother and sister have their own lives in very tight quarters.
The bed is at a diagonal but the important thing compositionally is how the verticals divide the space so that each person is in their own space. Note too that the left third of the older brother has a blue tint and the right side is a warm yellow, another way the two spaces are set apart. We won’t really address color temperature in this class as there is only so much we can address in 15 weeks but you can see how important it can be for a photo here.