GRA 2330 Digital Photography

“A Musician from the 369th Regiment Marching Band, 1977,” was taken by Dawoud Bey, which is part of the Harlem, USA collection.  When I first came across this image, it gave me a hint of sublime. I’ve traveled many times, and it automatically reminded me of New Orleans.  The man in this image may not have the same background story as the people I met at New Orleans, but this image was taken in the late 70’s, only a decade after segregation was over.  The was a marching band playing, “When The Saint Go Marching In,” and I went up to talk to him, and we talked about the amount of devastation there were and how playing music for the people is what most do because it helps them escape from what they’re going through at the moment.
Dawoud Bey’s use of line really helps the viewer’s concentration be on the man’s face. This image contains a line gesture, in which the  eye is mainly attracted to the trumpet, it is at a slight angle that allows the eye to move upward toward the musician’s face. This photograph doesn’t have much of a frame, but rather a setting that hints at urban area in New York due to the graffiti on his left side.  The only patterns in this photograph, again are in the background, created by the bricks of the building and the blinds in the window of the building behind the elderly man. Everything In the image is in focus, meaning the photograph is composed with a deep depth of field; personally I feel it benefits us because it informs us of the setting the musician is in, which adds to his story. The lights in the photograph are mostly in his face, creating highlights on his nose and cheeks, which allow a glowing feel to his mood. The photograph is taken almost at a eye level, rather than a worm’s point of view and bird’s eye view. This allows the viewer to feel as if they’re in the particular setting with the subject of the photograph, almost like you are part of the story.

Empire State Building, Study 1, New York City, USA, 1978. By Michael Kenna.

Michael Kenna, a black and white landscape photographer, caught my attention with his minimalistic and mystical style. This particular image is one of my favorites. He has captured one of New York’s most famous landmarks, the Empire State Building in all its pride and glory. Kenna makes me feel small and he makes me experience the pulse of the city with this photograph.

This image is photographed from a low angle looking up on the building, I think, from this angle, he captures its greatness, and makes the viewer feel small in comparison. The framing of this photograph seem to be well thought through, he decided to crop the two darker buildings on either side to create a focal point – it forces you to look towards the middle. Kenna also decided to flip the picture so that the buildings are in a diagonal direction instead of vertical. To me, this seem to create a sense of upward striving and movement. In a way, he is grouping these objects together and this is creating a sense of proximity, the choice of doing so leads to a creation of line. Architecture design are often examples of patterns and lines, but Kenna is using the lines in between the buildings, the negative space, to enhance the lines of the Empire State Building and the movement in the image. However, from what I can see, there is no clear pattern on this image, except for the repetition on the buildings. Kenna is working with high contrast on many of his photographs, the buildings on the sides are very dark in comparison to the Empire State Building which is light grey. This too makes your eye go more towards the middle, the lighter part of the image. Depth of field is irrelevant in this image, the whole image is in focus.

Overall, I like Kenna’s style because I think that sometimes less is more and he seems to keep it simple. I also like his way of making landscape photography interesting in a minimalistic way.

Link to image: http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery.php?id=14

Michael Kenna’s photograph”Central Park Bench”is one of my favorites among his New York City photogragh collection.When you first look at it you think its nothing more than a bench, but if you take a closer look at it again you’ll see that the photo is very detailed in certain areas.Its a simple approach , but very eye catching.When I look at this photo I feel very calm.The mood is set by the black and white tones and the lights that look like twinkling stars.Almost like a dream,which is why I find it to be such an interesting piece of art.The photographer only focuses on the front part of the bench and as it gets farther away from him its blurred along with the tree and lights. From the cameras vantage point I see that Michael was squatting next to the bench to get that straight line structure because the camera is aligned with the bench.He framed the bench just right only get a clear shot of the bench and the floor in front of him instead of the whole scenery.

There are uses of horizontal and vertical lines mainly from the bench and cemented pathway.The photo was taken at night time and contrast with the white of the street light and lightbulbs on the tree.The tree with light farthest from the camera seems to have no shadow,while the on a little past the camera seems to make a shadow on the floor.There also seems to be some light that touches the bench softly making me think that there is another tree with lights on it placed in front of the bench.Which could mean theres some sort of pattern with the trees being aligned in the park. Only certain trees seem to have lights not all. The cemented stones could also be a continuous pattern.

Michael’s other photo “fifth Avenue” caught my attention right away. It made me remember why people refer to New york city as the the city of lights.The photo displayed big skyscrapers and lots of lights.Thus showing the busy and energetic lifestyle of New york city.

http://www.michaelkenna.net/gallery.php?id=14