Diamond (2001) was taken by Dawoud Bey, an African American photographer. To me the subject matter was to show a message to the viewer that not all kids are happy. By the location of the photo, it seem like it was taken in a park or a very clean backyard. It is kinda hard to tell because the background is blurry, but that’s not the main focus of the photo. The photographer intention was to aimed to tell the story of African-Americans in the 20th century, from the Great Migration to the civil rights movement. An outcry accompanied the opening, according to https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/dawoud-bey-at-art-institute-renaissance-society/Content?oid=6277581. The purpose of the photo was to show a message from the Great migration to the Civil Rights movement. In my opinion, the feeling of the photograph is unhappy, confused, and devastated. This photo really speaks to me because during that time, it wasn’t very pleasing and I can visually engage to the photo because I wouldn’t be to happy to. It was rough for African American during that time of era.
One formal element that was used was ‘Dominant Eye”. The reason why I choose dominant eye because everything else is burr out and the main focus is the African American kid. My eye go straight to the kid face. Another formal element was ” Fill The Frame”. I choose fill the frame because everything is center and the photo takes out the background which is less important. The subject takes up all the space of the photo and the subject is very up close. Focus on details on the kid’s face and focus how the kid’s expression which I feel like he is sad. Lastly, another formal element that I feel like that was used was “Figure to Ground “. There’s a contrast between the background and the subject.
Great choice of a photo to look at more closely. A portrait photo can try to show someone at their best or it can try to get into the emotions of the person as Bey does here. He framed this boy tightly -filled the frame so to speak-so the photo brings us close to him and he looks right at us. It is hard to not feel his pain. Bey also used shallow depth of field to let the background elements go out of focus, reducing their importance and to letting them distract us from the boy.
The article you linked to tells a bit of Bey’s story-he grew up in Queens. My favorite series of his work is Class Pictures. Google it. He is an important photographer who won a Guggenheim Prize last year.