Author: Germaine Amoussou

This photograph is called The Lams of Ludlow Street by Thomas Holton as a project of one Chinese family. This photograph was taken in New York City’s Chinatown. I feel this photograph because he didn’t take pictures of Chinatown like the way it is beautiful or the culture looks like in the neighborhood. The way the family looks on camera looks happy on camera, the children’s uniform is interesting to take photos of at breakfast time, and it is powerful that their mother looks that morning with the little food they have. I really like the way the jackets are arranged on the hanger with Christmas lights. It’s very creative and artistic. One thing that really stood out to me a lot was the way the photographer arranged them with two males and a girl in between; and if you also take a look, you can see that the boy on the right was standing on a chair to match the height of the father. The purpose is that it is difficult to live in another country the way most of us live in tiny apartments. Even if the job people get is difficult to get paid for, some people that don’t speak English in their job are more difficult to get paid or to find a job. 

Two of the formal elements most important in the photo are the Rule of Thirds and framing. The Rule of Thirds is the basic compositional structure of a photograph. This photograph is divided into 9 segments by using 3 vertical and 3 horizontal lines. I notice he is shooting images left, right, and centre, and he places key elements of your scene in one or more of these areas in a photo. The Rule of Thirds makes it more pleasing to view. Framing is a photography compositional technique that isolates a subject using elements within a scene as a frame. In this photo, the elements create a scene to direct attention to this family.