Shanelle Luke
ComD 2330
The Photograph by Eugene Richards is titled “Truck hauling extracted oil”. This photo was taken in Watford City, ND. 2012. In this photo a truck is on fire. I assume that the extracted oil that it is carrying caused the fire. There also seem to be a dirt road and the truck seem to be off road as far as i can see. The sun id down and clouds are still visible. The main focus is the truck, the fire helps to bring the attention. The clouds in the sky gives an airy illusion even though the smoke from the fire represents air pollution. The open space makes me think of safety but then i notice that in the right corner behind the truck it looks like there is a building. The poles along the road shows direction and a pathway. In all this photo I get the mood of evacuation and darkness because I don’t see anyone and the only light is from the fire. This image was most likely taken to show the danger of oil and the expectation of its surprising dangers.
The of the formal elements that are most important in the photo are, The rule of third, Diagonals, and Symmetry. In the Photo the truck is at the right and the road is at the left while they both reside at the lower part of the photo. This is the rule of third because if i were to fold the photo three ways vertically and horizontally the truck and the road would be at meeting lines. This proves that in the photo the truck is an important item. When i look at the photo i can see the sky as a light part and the bottom part where the truck and the road is as dark. the horizontal line separate the sky and the main part of the picture. This is the Diagonal in the photo, it shows you the important part of the photo, where all the facts can be found. It also tells a story using other elements around the subject. Last, the photo has symmetry, if a line went down the middle on the left would be the road and the right would have the truck. They are the most important elements of the photo to me.
I really like this photo because simple frames tell a longer story. In other words less is more and this photo speaks lengths.
The link is where the photo can be found.
http://eugenerichards.com/the-landscape-of-oil/neub7c7r9d51ja7kg66jnn8e3h1mt2
Intense photo. It shows the dangers we don’t usually think about.
The rule of thirds and symmetry are generally opposites. This photo uses the rule of thirds because the main center of interest the truck is placed in the lower quadrant of the photos. It is not symmetrical.