Category: HW1_Composition (Page 2 of 3)

The photo I chose was written by Michael Kenna. It’s called “Central Park Reservoir, New York City, USA, 1998”. When I saw this picture, I first thought of an idiom —— the frog at the bottom of the well. Through one of the small iron nets, I saw the opposite side of the coast and thought it was the size of the whole world. It seems that people who have been bound by a small place for a long time think that this is the whole world, as a feeling of innocence and ignorance. However，If you feel this photo carefully, you will find that maybe I am a self-righteous person. Because after I felt this photo seriously, I thought of longing for this word. People trapped on this side are eager to reach the prosperous city on the other side and experience the noise of the busy city. Eager to escape from this narrow place, to reach a wider place, and look forward to the future. Of course, this is my feeling and imagination. This is not the real fact of this photo. But is my real feelings and thoughts. Maybe the photographer just wants to express a kind of loneliness. If the world is so small, it may not be lonely.

The three of the formal elements from the Steve McCurry video that are most important in the photo that I selected are Leading Lines, Frame within a frame, and Symmetry. The leading lines are used because there is a line between land and seawater, and there is also a horizontal line between trees and buildings. These two lines form a parallel line, so this composition can be leading lines. Frame within a frame is using elements of a scene to create a frame within your frame. The photographer used a small grid of iron mesh to frame the object（the building） into a prism. I think symmetry is used because taking the space between the two tallest buildings as the middle line, you will find that although things are not completely symmetrical, the proportion of negative space and positive space is the same.

The photo of the woman standing alone smoking while on her phone stood out to me the most because it reminds me on isolation and relaxation. It was part Suzanne Stein “New York Street One” collection. From what I’ve seen of Suzanne Stein is that she likes to take photos of people with cigarettes’ a lot. And that maybe it relates to her because she might be a smoker herself. Or that its like mainly a “New York” thing. It seems to be have taken during the pandemic winter because the woman is wearing some plastic gloves and that she’s also wearing a coat. The feeling of the photograph I would say isn’t moody but like it just seems to be there or relaxing?

In the photograph the elements that are used are Rule of Thirds, Dominant Eye and Figure to Ground. Rule of Thirds is used because mainly the subject is in the middle of the photograph, the hands , face , phone , smoke. It all condenses itself, allowing the viewer to see it all in one go. Figure to Ground is used from the negative space to positive space where there seems to be a lot of empty places within the photograph, which allows everything to pop out on it own. And dominant eye is because if you look close enough you can see some of the girls jacket blend in on the left side of the photo and a change in shadow towards the top left.

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.