COMD 1340 D164 Spring 2020

The photograph I chose is an untitled one by Suzanne Stein. The photo consists of man and woman dancing in the rain at the West Indian Day parade. They are both surrounded by a whole bunch of people on the parkway. The woman is dressed in her costume with the Bajan flag around her leg and the man is dressed in black with a Trini flag around his head. They are both soaking wet and everything they have on is sticking to them. Since it’s the West Indian Day parade that means the location of the photo is Eastern Parkway in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. I think the intention of the photographer was to capture two people sharing a moment even though a whole bunch of people are around them. The photo shows what seems like an intimate moment even though there’s a big possibility that these people don’t know each other. The feeling that I get from this photo is that of living your best life. The photo is saying have fun regardless of what’s going on around you.

One of the formal elements that I notice in the photo is Leading Line. The yellow line in the road makes you want to raise your head up and lead you up to their faces. Another element I notice is Diagonals. The direction of the photo was taken mad the yellow lines in the road diagonal which gives the photo a sense of movement. And one last element I notice is Fill the Frame. The couple in the photo take up majority of the frame, making them the focal point while everything else going on around them is secondary.

https://www.suzannesteinphoto.com/New-York/i-7PWJVsr/A

     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

I chose a photograph from Suzanne Stein’s New York One and the photo that spoke out to me was the After School L train to Brooklyn photo. It shows a mother holding on to the pole on the L train as her daughter rests her head on her chest. She seems to be really tired and exhausted and can’t wait to go home. This photograph spoke  out to me because mothers will always have their children’s back and hold them up (literally sometimes) if they have too. In this case, the mother looks exhausted as well, she’s holding a cup of Dunkin Donuts coffee and her eyes seem pretty low, as if she had a long day, maybe she was a t work or working around the house.  A mother can work all day and still find the strength and courage to help her child and comfort them. I personally am always tired going home after school but I’m always alone. I chose this photograph because every morning when I take the A train with my mom, I lay my head on her shoulder and take a nap till my stop comes. I never thought about her being tired or wanting to be the one taking the nap but now that I can see this hard working mother looking restless and still comforting her child, I feel bad for my mom and the fact that I never asked her if she wanted to rest her head for the ride, I just always assume she can comfort me and wake me up when I need to.

This photograph follows the Rule of Thirds tip, Dominant eye tip and maybe diagonals with the advertisements on top. Rule of thirds because the photo was mainly the pole and the hands holding on to it but toward the left side you can see the mother and the child so it rules out the main focus (the hands). Dominant eye because the woman (mother) in the photograph is looking up away from the camera giving that effect.

https://www.suzannesteinphoto.com/New-York/i-DmNVLTb/A

I am looking forward to working with all of you this semester as we  improve our photography skills and create some great images.