http://thomasholton.com/ >Photography>The Lams Of Ludlow Street>The 9th Image
The photograph I choice is by, Thomas Holton, and it’s called, “The Lams of Ludlow Street”. “The Lams of Ludlow Street” is an investigation into the life of one Chinese family living in New York City’s Chinatown neighborhood. The photographer intentions was to understand the every day life of the people living in Chinatown. Holton stated, I increasingly began to participate in their everyday family rituals and to recognize the dynamics and relationships within their family. I went to weddings, helped with the food shopping, went to the children’s school and eventually traveled to China and Hong Kong to visit their relatives. I began to feel like family.” Therefore, Holton took his work very seriously. He not only took photographs of the people, he also became one of the people he was studying. This particular photograph is of a girl standing on top of the stair-case. The room is very bright while the stair-well is much darker. The purpose of this image is to show the lifestyle these people are living in, what their home looks like. The mood and feeling of this photograph is dark and lonely. This mood is set because of the lighting in the stair-well.
This photograph uses several formal elements to make this photo successful. Three of which are; Leading Lines, Contrast of light and dark, and Patterns/ Repetition. You can see leading lines from the right of the photo, they are caused by the sealing and the wall joining. They lead your eyes to the darkest part of the photo which I assume is the exit door. Contrast of light and dark is formed by the bright light behind the child in the room and the light on the right side of the wall. The rest of the photo appears to fade into darkness. And finally, Patterns/ Repetition is formed from the steps and the step railings.
Overall, these elements helps create the mood of this photograph because they all connected well. It capture the lifestyle of the people living in Chinatown.
it is great that you started with a bit about what Holton did to create this series and what a commitment he made to get these photos. I think that gives an real understanding of why these are so strong. He is not on the outside looking in. He is really photographing from within the family experience.