Dawoud Bey’s photographs of the high school students immediately evoked an emotion in me. This is because they reminded me of my high school days and all the individuals I grew up with. Bey uses a lot of direct lighting on the subjects face to bring attention to the most important. Bey purposely positions their hands in different positions that will emphasize the emotion that is trying to be portrayed. For example, Omar describes the feeling of judgement and his defensive state is shown when Bey photographs him with closed fist and crossed arms. He also conveys it by using the facial emotions which is also evident in Omar who’s has a frowning face like in disapproval. Overall, the hand gesture must compliment the face in order to tell the story. Another detail he pays attention to is the background. Even though he fades out the background in order to tune out the noise and place the subject I’m focus, he is very thoughtful in the background environment. For example, Shalanta is photographed in a very vibrant background which I feel matches her personality which is colorful and full of life. You can also see this vibrancy of color in her clothes, nails and hair. It was also very educational to hear how his thought process allowed him to captivate these students in the amount of time that he was giving. He quickly had to analyze the student and figure out how and where to place them. Overall, I greatly enjoyed seeing his work.