“The Crowd” is a photograph of a crowd of people in a street in what I assume to be New York City. This photograph was taken by Eugene Richards.When looking at the crowd, the words congestion and clutter come to mind when trying to describe the mood. Busy would be another term I would use, not because there’s a lot going on, but judging by the looks on the people’s faces, it seems like they are all busy or late to some meeting somewhere.
The scaffolding on the right and the building with the shrubbery on the left make a sort of semi frame around the people. The photo appears to be taken at eye-level, giving a clear and personal look at many of the faces in the crowd. There’s enough small spaces in the crowd that you can see that it stretches on for a while, giving a slightly bleak sense of depth due to the fact the photograph is black and white. upon further investigation, this image becomes bleaker when you understand its significance: it was taken in the weeks following the attacks on the World Trade Center. The entire collection this piece comes from becomes much darker when you get their context. Which is why I believe Richards shot this in black and white. You can’t depict such a horrifying event in bright and vivid colors; That would be an insult to those who suffered and perished. The dreariness in these people’s faces, the subtle hints of anxiety and anguish, become much more apparent when you understand the circumstances surrounding this image. “The Crowd” stands on its own as a fascinating photograph, but to fully absorb it, to understand it, you need to see the full collection of Richard’s “Stepping Through the Ashes,” and view the pain yourself.
This photo breaks some general composition rules to create a sense of anxiety. Cutting off the woman in the front so we only see her head is awkward but it makes us wonder about what is outside of the frame. I think too the way all the people are in the bottom half with the buildings weighing on them causes a feeling of tension when we look at the photo.