Category: HW1_Composition (Page 1 of 3)

I chose the picture Tha Lams Of Ludlow Street, by Thomas Hulton. I think what the photographer is trying to portray in this picture is bright faces that seem to be family members. The background looks like this family struggles to live in a small apartment with five people, making it very crowded. However, if you look at the faces of each subject, there are smiles on their faces. This shows that even though they are not experiencing the best living conditions, being together as a family is more than enough. If the family were not in the photo, I would say the picture as a whole would not look as joyful. There is food on the table as well that the family is posing behind, which also shows a sense of thankfulness.

If the photo were to be black and white, that would also look depressing. On the other hand, the colorful objects in the space, like the jackets hanging, give it a more lively look. The photographer used “figure to ground” in this photo. The contrast of the family and the background catches the eye. “Diagonals” were also used as another technique, as you can see by looking at the slanted table.

Photography is the art of making imagery through manipulation of light. In my humble opinion, nothing best illustrates this description more than Thomas Holton’s photo called “Break Time”. The subject matter of the photo is a woman, possibly the mother, sitting alone in what looks like the family’s living room or kitchen. The intention of the photographer in this photo is to portray the life of someone just living their everyday life. The feeling that is portrayed in the photograph is the sense of loneliness but also some hints of strength. My favorite part of the photo is definitely the overall color palette of the image. It has that toned down colors that really give the photo a cinematic feel to it. Moreover, even though the overall tone of the image is somewhat lonely with the usage of a warmer light, it adds a very homey/warm vibe to the photo.

One of the elements that immediately catches my eye is the repetition of the color red. It is very eye-catching and gives the overall mood of the photo somewhat of a warmness to it. The second element that is apparent in the photo is the usage of the right wall to have separation between the figure and ground. Moreover, this gives the photo a more 3d look that stops the photo from looking flat. And lastly the element present in the photo is the usage of leading lines. We can see this everywhere in the photo, from the handle of the unused chair to the door itself. But the strongest line is definitely the table that is being used by the women which directly leads the viewers eyes to the subject. 

https://www.suzannesteinphoto.com/New-York/i-SMHSKz8/A

Upon all the photographers listed, I was most in intrigued with the works of Suzanne Stein. Their work was most visually engaging in its sharp contrasts of colors and subject matter. One photograph that stood out to me more was titled “R Train Platform, 59th and Central Park”. This photograph takes place in the R train 5th Ave train station, it mainly depicts this young couple on the right of the frame holding a exquisite bouquet of white roses whilst five women are sitting in the bench holding either indifferent or bored facial expressions. It depicts two contrasting emotions between the expression of love and passion with indifference. I believe it’s purpose is to show how whilst there could be love shown in this grand city it could not be felt all throughout. With a couple showing loving emotion, they could be outshone by the indifference of the other people as seen within this photograph.
Within “R Train Platform, 59th and Central Park”, we see three important formal elements mentioned in Steve McCurry’s video. Firstly, we see the usage of Rule of Thirds, many would look at this picture and see the main subject, that being the couple, in the right hand portion of the frame. Whilst we see the five women portioned on the left hand portion of the frame. This helps capture this contrasting emotion of passion and indifference as we see them divided within the picture. Furthermore, we see the use of diagonals being used to create movement within the picture. Stein had captured the picture in such a way that we feel the depth of the subway station and fluidity of movements. This creates, as mentioned before, an extra depth to the picture and creates a bigger divide as this movement seems to cut between the subject and the five women sitting on the bench. Finally, we see the usage of leading lines to help aid the eye in focusing on our main subjects, the kissing couple. We see the ladies on the right all lined up and taken at such an angle it in such a way as it is leading to the couple. It also helps aid the mood, we first are drawn to the five indifferent women only to draw our eyes to the couple down the line. it creates a sequence of emotions to the viewer. Thus, concluding the impactful picture taken by Suzanne Stein and the formal elements used as stated by Steve McCurry.

http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery.php?id=14

The photograph I chose is Michael Kenna, Twin Towers, Study 2, New York City, USA, 2000. The photograph is taken in New York City of the Twin Tower skyscraper buildings. I chose this photograph because I liked the angle it was taken at. It makes the Twin Towers look really tall even though they already are. What also stood out to me in the photograph is the contrast of the Twin Tower buildings and the sky in the back. The buildings are really dark while the sky is really bright. It makes the buildings seem kind of ominous looking.

The three photography elements I see in this photograph are fill the frame, figure to ground, and leading lines. For fill the frame element, the Twin Tower buildings take up a lot of the frame of the photo with the sky being the only thing in the background. This brings me to the next photo element in the piece, figure to ground. The Twin Tower buildings are really dark in contrast to the sky and clouds. The sky and clouds are really light. In the photo, the Twin Towers lead your eyes from the bottom of the photo to the sky at the top of the photo which is leading lines.