The photographs I chose were “stepping through the ashes” by photographer Eugene Richards. The set of photographs were in black and white, and presented a very serious tone. They were pictures of destroyed buildings, gloomy looking people, ripped paper that was hung up and more. All these elements gave the photographs a very dark and serious mood, which was mainly caused by them being in black and white. The use of no black and white over color, influenced the feeling that those pictures were taken at a dark moment in time, having color would have taken that element away. There was nothing that was pleasant about the set of images, in other words no photo gave off a sense of joy or optimism. Instead, Eugene decided to focus on the affect of the situation upon the people and the environment.
In terms of the overall composition of the photos, various elements were used and executed quiet well. Eugene’s use of black and white was done exceptionally well, as they were numerous values of gray within each picture. The darks would compliment the lights, making things such as the depressed look on a person’s face really pop out. The of shapes and lines were very well done and made the pictures more engaging. Due to the fact that in some pictures you can see the shape of rectangular silhouettes of buildings mixed in with the face of a person staring out a window. Putting two elements like that together so cleverly makes each picture tell it’s own story. One picture in particular has a woman with a devastated expression on her face, the shadows around her eyes balanced out with the light highlights, illuminates both her face and expression. The picture though is taken in such a way, it almost seems like her face is being reflected on a building.
In your last few sentences you mention a very strong photograph. Certainly the bars of light on her face are an important compositional device. So is the placement of her head in the frame. The picture is very off-balance adding to the sense of disquiet.