https://www.suzannesteinphoto.com/Paris/
This photograph has no name (not that I can find it), but it was taken by Suzanne Stein. This is the eighth piece that you’ll find on her portfolio home web page. It can also be found in the Paris street category of her website. I’m going to start off by saying that when I looked through her work on her website, I honestly felt a little bit uncomfortable on the type of photos she took, but this picture I thought was a bit easier to look at. There isn’t any information that I could find on this one image, but immediately I can tell that this photo was taken during the pandemic (which is when I am currently writing this). It’s set on a crowded subway train and all the passengers are wearing masks. Wearing a mask is a crucial part during these current times, most people would typically be working and attending school from their homes via a computer screen. How people would view society from yesterday has radically changed. It’s clear that this is a new era in human history. For those who work in a job that requires physical labor, still need a transport to get to and from work. The purpose and intention of this picture could be that it’s meant to show what life is or was during the early 2020s. Everyone has to wear a mask and be socially distant, which is something that cannot be possibly achieved in a crowded place like this. I said Suzanne’s other works made me feel uncomfortable, but the mood I get from this picture is very gloomy, depressing. You don’t know what any of these people are going through in their personal lives, what challenges they are going through. Loved ones lost or in need of help, financial stress, having to work 9 to 5 jobs, maybe someone was laid off, typical stuff.
A formal element in photography that I can make out are patterns. If there’s any sense of pattern or repetition that I can go off by is that there are people in this crowded space who wear masks. What breaks this pattern are people who don’t wear a mask like the little girl on the bottom right corner of the image. Although there are multiple subjects, I can still use the rule the thirds to map out different sections of the image, which can also lead me to leading lines. The subway car has seatings on both sides in the interior. The photographer took the picture in the center of the car. There are people sitting on both sides of the car and a bigger crowd standing in the center. The passenger seats face parallel to each other while the passengers standing in the center of the car have their backs facing the viewer.
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