The entire “Lams of Ludlow Street – 5 Years Later” collection of images is, as a whole, extremely depressing, expressive and yet hauntingly unavoidable. This collection follows the life of the Lam family, a large family living in a tiny apartment in NYC, in which Thomas Holton, the photographer, studied them for two years and then photographed them again 5 years later. The images show extremely cramped living conditions and the expressions on the family members faces expresses exactly how they feel about it. The specific picture that I chose was one entitled, “Dinner for Seven,” featuring 9 bowls/plates on a table, offering very small portions of food. The table is also lined with newspaper as a tablecloth, and you can see the family members hands holding chopsticks. Coming from an Italian/Latin background, this photo is incredibly scarce in food, in my opinion. My cultures are prone to appetizers, multiple entrees & deserts; an overflow of food. On the table, each person has their own small bowl of rice, and they share a small fish, what looks like chicken breast and some sort of white and green vegetable. There is one napkin on the table and a rag. I feel that this photo would be overlooked by most because or the lack of people in it, but if you take a second to look at it, you can see why the photographer chose to include this image in the collection, out of probably hundreds to choose from. The square shape of the table encases the round shape of the bowls and plates and the overall dull colors of the newspapers seem to emphasize the colors of the food. There isn’t too much light and dark in the photo but more of a blurred effect where the people and floor are blurred to present the main focus of the photo which is the food, specifically the main 3 dishes. Although this photo could easily be hinting at the dire lack of food for such a large family, it also could be capturing a time where this was considered a large amount of food for them, which would make it a sort of bitter-sweet picture.
