We visited the Museum of the City of New York and looked at two exhibits, the first was a gallery of photographs from Thomas Holton, Annie Ling, and An Rong Xu, the next exhibit featured Stanley Kubrik’s photography. The atmosphere of the first gallery had a very sophisticated feel and very stoic which takes after the photos that were featured. All of the photos were taken from 2003 and on wards with Holtons photos being the oldest. In the exhibit Through a Different Lens from Stanley Kubrik, the photos taken are from 1945 with all of them being black and white photos but feel like it has a sense of color. These photos give us a lens to look through to see what life was like back in the day.
Annie Ling’s photos from the 81 Bowery shows us the lifestyle of the people living there. We can feel how cramped it is having to live there with the many angles and perspectives she captures. One photo in particular caught my attention which is the photo where you can see people sleeping on the fire escape with the city lights in the background. You can feel just how different their inside lives are compared to the bustling city next to them. She was very successful in her work to show the lives of the people living in 81 Bowery. In the next exhibit with Kubrik’s photos I saw a photo of a worker painting an entire billboard from life meaning he painted someone who was standing in front of him on a huge scale. It is really impressive to be able to do that but now we have technology which makes it incredibly easy to replicate the same task. You can feel just how different the times are just from walking around the city.
My favorite photo from both the exhibits has to be the one I talked about from Annie Lings gallery. The photo was perfectly executed using the contrast of the city to the lives of the people she documented. The aperture she used to blur the background worked so well to blur the lights from the cars and buildings. The perspective from the railing of the fire escape work so well to lead our eyes to the street. Which is why I think this photo is the best for me.
So shallow depth of field is a great technique to use for urban portraits in that it helps focus the viewer on the subject while still getting the benefits of shooting on location.