Category: Virtual Coffeehouse #1 (Page 1 of 2)

In Teju Coles’s photo essay, my favorite picture I would like to say is of “A young Haitian man grieving  at the funeral of his mother in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.” In my opinion, this is a documentary photo, judging by the fact that the photo was taken at the moment a group of people are holding back the grieving man. Something that struck me has more to do with the background, this appears to be taken in a residential area, or at least a public setting, it has a large crowd of people indicating that the grieving man’s mother was very well known to people in that area. And with that, I’d like to represent my narrative of this photo. While yes, I can say that this photo shows the separation of a mother and son, it is correct, but I won’t do that, that’s too easy. How I see this photo is a much more a gathering, it shows that a common death in a group can bring everyone together to remember a great person in their life. The fact that people went out of their way to hold a public funeral for the grieving man’s mom shows the impact that that woman had in their life.

My favorite photo in Teju Coles’ essay “Perfect and Unrehearsed” was “A young Haitian man grieving at the funeral of his mother in Port-au-Prince” by Maggie Steber. The photo is more emotionally touching to me as the way the man is grieving and the way multiple people must hold him down as if the man is trying to reach out to their mother. The use of photograph here is amazing and even Coles recognized it as he praised it. The multiple appearance of the cross around the photo and the people holding the man down wearing bright colors give so much feel to the photo while the man grieving is wearing black. The lighting of the photo helps so much as well with the sun covered by the clouds but bright around the man who’s grieving. In a way, i can be seeing this as the man being pulled into the light. Also, the use of photo essay can be implemented as so much of this photo can tell someone what’s going on. Without the title of the photo, someone will still understand the context behind the photo with how the people are dressed and (again) the use of the cross.

The photograph from Teju Cole’s essay “Perfect and Unrehearsed” that I have selected to write about is “Three boys in Liberia”photographed in 1932 by Martin Munkacsi. This particular picture captures an important moment.The reality that the three young men are captured in the act of running in the picture indicates that the scene would have appeared differently had the shot been taken a second later.Taking it at a different time might also affect the appearance of the waves, since we can also see water and waves splashing up in the air in the background. Another approach to view this picture is as an informative picture.The picture captures a moment in time when people are having fun and running toward the beach. I get a feeling from looking at this picture that these young people are just being young people also I get the impression from this picture that these people are just being people and having a blast running about in the ocean. I Appreciate how, if not for their feet, it appears as though they are sprinting towards the camera in this picture, but since we can see them going away in the direction of the water.I believe the feeling of freedom is the main idea the author was trying to get over. The young people enjoying the clean ocean air while running around on the beach.

My favorite photo from Teju Coles’ essay is “A young Haitian man grieving at the funeral of his mother in Port-au-Prince, Haiti”, captured by Maggie Steber.  It is a documentary photo capturing the grief of a son calling out to his mother for one last time with the support of his community holding him up, not just the men physically holding him up but the sea of people walking with him. The photo being a wave of black, blue, white and grey, it represents a mix of death, hope, and security within this single photo. The dominant impression being the group of men in the forefront of the image. The men in the lower half of the picture are all in lighter colored dress shirts which make the son in all black stand out. The grieving young man has his arms stretched out a parallel to Jesus on the cross behind him and there are three crosses on the right side of the photo. The decisive moment was when suddenly the son shot up toward the sky and the last rays from the sunset catch his face. It gives a tragic story that as he has to deal with the death of his mother, an obviously difficult thing, he has to face the sunset of the day, possible the first one he has spent without her.

My favorite photo in Teju Cole’s essay is the one taken in Bombardopolis, Haiti by Alex Webb. It is a portrait because it includes a group of people and an animal. The photo stuck out to me because it isn’t clear the relationship these people have with each other. It makes me wonder if they are neighbors, friends, or just strangers. The first thing I noticed is the donkey’s head. It looks like he is carrying some sort of product. Next I noticed the woman with the blue dress and red scarf on her head. I believe either she or the donkey is the dominant impression because the viewer will most likely notice these two first. She is the most vibrant part of the photo as the rest is mostly beige and too dark to see any color. The man smoking also caught my attention and made me think about how it must have smelled in that moment. With the heat, the donkey, the man smoking, and the box he is holding appears to be a container of some sort of fish, we can only imagine the smell. It also reminds me of living here in New York and seeing so many unrelated people come together in one place. You don’t know where the people come from or where they are going and the same is true in the photo.

My favorite photo from Perfect and Unrehearsed is by far Alex Webb’s picture taken in Bombardopolis, Haiti. This photo captures the perfect combination of movement and casual routine that you can feel as though you can see the moment behind a hot sunny day no different from any other. I feel even with the people in this photo it is still an art photo, due to the contrast in distance between those in the photo and the abstract look the shadows give to the environment. Looking at the picture, the dominant impression to me was the cigarette next to the women’s head, and after following it could I see the man hidden close to the photographer’s camera smoking it. Only then was my mind able to wander around the photo, seeing the mans hand, the donkey and person riding it, the two children in the background, the state of the houses, and more. I feel like the photo overall couldn’t have anything to make it feel more candid, just from a quick look you can tell the way everyone is simply going about their day and seeing the photographer is nothing impactful enough to make them switch whatever they’re doing. Reading the essay around it was equally impactful, giving us insight on not only each photographers style but also pointing out shapes or elements in the photo that definitely could’ve went unnoticed if I hadn’t read it.

In Teju Cole’s essay “Perfect and Unrehearsed,”  the photo that I liked the most was “Three boys in Liberia.” This is because of many things, starting off with the fact that it is an art photo. It is obvious to tell that this photo is a decisive moment, meaning the photographer took the photo decisively. That is one reason that I like it; it isn’t rehearsed or practiced to get a photo like that. It also gives a story of three boys playing in the sea. It leaves the viewer with questions such as “Who exactly are these boys?” or “Why is it in black and white?”. To continue, another reason why this photo stood out to me was because it was in black and white. This means that there is no color, and all there is is black, white, and gray. I believe this further enhances the lighting and the darkness of the entire photo, even if the viewer cannot tell what time of day it is. It further deepens the contrast of certain aspects of the photo, such as the boys to the sea. To add on, the dominant impression is definitely the three boys running into the water because they are the main focus of the photo and their contrast to the background. They definitely are the main focus because they bring so much life into this still photo.

        The photo in Teju Coles’ essay ,”Perfect and Unrehearsed” that particularly stands out to me is the “Three boys in Liberia”. This photo was taken by Martin Munkacsi  and sourced from Howard Greenberg Gallery.
        This photo would be classified an art photograph because, it presents the artist’s vision of the scene .The first thing I noticed about this photograph was the silhouette of the three boys .I cannot really tell the time of the day this photograph was taken since it is in black and white . In this photo you see three boys running towards the waves  . You also notice footprints in the sand ,splashes of water, sea-foam and ripples in the sea.
           This photograph gives me a sense of nostalgia .  It brings back  many memories. It transports me to the days of long ago , when I was a child and had no care in the world.This photograph shows that photography could reach eternity through the moment because if the boys were already in the water the photo would have given a different effect .You can tell the decisive moment by the feet placement , and the splash made by the hit of the wave .   That was the moment. This photo was taken artfully , because it strips away all distractions making the viewer focus on the  subject of the photograph which is the three boys .

My favorite photo that I have chosen to write about from Teju Cole’s essay “Perfect and Unrehearsed” is “Three boys in Liberia” taken by Martin Munkacsi in 1932. This photograph is a decisive moment type of photo. In the photograph we see 3 boys caught in the middle of running which tells us if the photograph was taken a second later their movement and the photograph would look different. In the back we can also see water and waves splashing up in the air that were caught in that moment so taking it in a different time would also impact the look of the waves. This photograph can also be seen as a documentary photo. The photograph shows us an event and action of kids enjoying and running towards the water. Looking at this photograph the story it is giving me is that these kids are just being kids and having the time of their lives running and playing around with the ocean’s water. I enjoy how in the photo if it wasn’t for their feet it can also seem like they are running towards the photographer but since we can it is clear they are running away towards the water. I think the dominant impression the author tried to convey is the feeling of being free. The boys being able to run around on the beach with the fresh ocean air. 

The photograph A Haitian man grieving at the funeral of his mother in Port-au-Prince, Haiti captured by Maggie Steber, was the photo that stood out to me in the essay. I would consider this photo a documentary because we are seeing pictures from a funeral capturing a grieving family member, capturing reactions from a tragedy. This photograph feels like it’s a decisive moment. In the photograph you can see that the grieving son is showing an extreme amount of sadness to the point where he is physically hurting & is being helped by five men. I think it’s a decisive moment because if the photographer would’ve taken the photo moments before &  the son wasn’t being helped by these five men then you wouldn’t see the amount of emotion & pain you see in the actual photograph where he looks deeply heartbroken. The photograph seems to have been taken during the day, which makes me feel that if I wasn’t informed of the backstory, I would wonder what exactly is going on, especially because usually during a funeral you would traditionally see everyone wearing black, in this photograph the one person that appears to be wearing black is the son himself. Maggie Steber, the photographer of this photo, did a great job of capturing the pain & heartbreak of this grieving son. I find it hard to capture such deep emotion in photos so this photo feels really intense, you can almost feel the pain through the photo.