The photographer I went with was Suzanne Stein and the photograph is called ” Larry and Rebel.” In this photograph we can see that a man has nothing but his dog with him. The area in which was taken was at Spring Street between 6th and 7th Streets in Downtown Los Angeles. This picture can indicate when all is lost maybe we can only have our pet for comfort. What I felt like the photographer was trying to get was that maybe people who aren’t in these type of positions should appreciate their life because it could always turn out worse than it already is. To elaborate more on this is that, some people complain about not having the best type of clothing or home, basically being materialistic, however the person should be blessed for having a roof over their head because without that they wouldn’t be surviving anything. As I stated before I feel as though the purpose of this image was to also show us that maybe the closest thing to us other than family is your pet. Your pet or in this case your dog can feel the same struggles of pain as yourself. No matter what state you may be in you shouldn’t give up and keep pushing. The mood in this photograph can be given as sadness and an act of give up because it seems as if the owner doesn’t know what to do anymore and the dog just looks broken.
The photographer uses the act of a dominant eye within the aspect of the dog. This is shown because it shows as if the dog is the main focus of this piece. Rule of thirds is also shown in this photograph by how the dog and his owner are. There’s also figure to ground in the photograph between the beings and the background of the outside despite the focus being on them.
https://www.suzannesteinphoto.com/Street/i-6XG8SfT
There is a lot of mixed emotion in this photo – a kind of desperation with the closeness of the man and the dog. Neither look well. This is emphasized for the dog with how it is looking down. It is probably quite a small dog as its head is the size of the man’s hand.
The dog’s head is certainly on the left side of the photo but the man’s hand also draws our attention maybe even more than the dog. His hand looks so large and I can’t help but note the scabs. This makes it difficult to say this is an example of the rule of thirds. I would say this composition is a triangle with the three elements being the man’s head, the dog and the man’s hand.
We haven’t talked yet in class about shallow depth of field but this is a great example of it. Depth of field refers to focus. The dog and hand are in focus while the man’s face is out of focus.