Day: May 3, 2018

Describe: The photos in the photo essay Performers by Gordon Parks display various types of famous performers such as Oprah Winfrey, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, and many more. He captured shots of them performing, candids of small and large groups of people, and a few portraits. It shows us a behind the scenes insight of the life of a performer.

Analyze:The photos were taken using eye level angled shots. He uses framing subject in the photo of Geraldine Page, He uses butterfly lighting on the photo of George London. He uses rule of odds for a many photos to create a natural effect and help one subject stand out from the rest. Leading lines is also used in the photo of Louis Armstrong playing the trumpet. Rule of thirds is also used horizontally in a few photos. The types of lighting used varies from natural lighting, butterfly lighting, short lighting, and broad lighting.

Interpret: The photos create a lighthearted mood because it reveals the true essence of many performers, allowing the viewer to feel a connection with the photos. I hadn’t originally expected there to be many off guard photos taken of the performers; I thought it would be more of them in action, so it was nice to see them more as a person, rather than a performer.

Evaluate: The photographer was successful in making his message clear throughout the photos. I liked his style of shooting, the way the photos came out are visually stunning and easy to read. There isn’t really anything that can be improved but I may have added a few more portraits of some of the artist.

1.Describe : In the first picture it shows a man laying on the floor who has just been murdered and a woman who can be his wife hugging him. The second photo is in a funeral, the man is in a casket and his wife is looking over him, she has her mouth open and I can imagine she’s talking to him. In the third picture she seems calmer, she’s sitting on a chair on her phone with her hand over the casket. In the fourth photo there’s many people around, and the wife is laying down on chairs. In the fifth picture the wife and her or his family are sitting around a table, she looks very upset.
2.Analye : In the first picture the angle can be birds eye view or high angle also the light is coming from the right side so it makes the shadows be on the left side. The second photo is eye level, also the lighting is all over not focusing on one specific spot. The third photo can be rule of thirds because she’s sitting on the right side and there’s nothing to balance her on the left side. The three other photos are all eye level and they all have outside lighting I don’t studio lighting was used.
3.Interpret : These photo’s obviously communicate that it’s about dead and about someone that passed away. The emotion it presents is sad, depressing, it’s a very emotional topic. Before I read what it was about just looking at the pictures I thought maybe the man on the floor got ran over or something like that because he’s in the middle of the street, but after reading everything it has to do with someone thinking that this guy was selling drugs even though he wasn’t, but I guess where they live people just have to think you’re doing it and they can kill you.
4.Evaluate/Judge : The author definitely expressed what he was trying to show in his photos. I like that he showed what happens to a family after someone they love dies, I think it’s very cool because if people are doing bad thinks they can see that it isn’t only going to affect them, it destroys there whole family and friends. They could of improved by incorporating more compositions into the photos, for me the only one that had a wow factor was the very first one because it was a very good picture on its own and then he edited it and it made it look even better.

Describe 

In these pictures, I see women posing with clothes. Some of the pictures have men in them too. Some pictures are in black and white while other pictures are in colors. The pictures that are in color are very bright. They demonstrate the evolution of the fashion and the evolution of the camera technology because some are in black in white and then there are ones that are in color and look more modern.

Analyze

The picture vary from rule of thirds and then breaking the rule of thirds. Some of the pictures are low angles and high angles. Some of the pictures are in black in white. All the pictures have good lighting. Some of these pictures look like they are environmental portraits. And on one of them it looks like they are using wind to make the clothes look like it floating. The scenery is different in each picture. Some of them are portraits while other have like a story going on in the back ground.

Interpret

I believe the story that Gordon Parks is trying to tell is the story of women and their fashion. I feel like he is trying to show the evolution of fashion throughout the years of 1945-1965. My first impression was wow because I love the clothes from the 1950s. The color pictures got most of my attention because the colors are bold and pop in the picture. It was pleasure to my eyes because all the color are colors I like to see and wear. What was a surprise to me that the colors of the women’s clothes were actually so bright because I thought that women had to dress formal with formal colors such as black and white and other soft colors.

Judge/Evaluate 

I believe the pictures overall are amazing. I really loved that he captures what women wore and how he made them in color. Most people believe that history was all about men and almost never about what women did. What I thought that was unique was that he staged and used props to make the women stand out with their clothes. I think that it is important to look at the history of fashion because how fashion now a days get to where people wear less and less clothes and people are okay with it. I think Parks demonstrate how respectful the fashion was in these years. I feel like Parks was successful because I could see what women wore and how the evolution of fashion was in these years. Not just the dresses but other the accessories, hair styles and makeup.

Describe: In all the different photos it shows different Philippine people writing stuff down in front of pictures of themselves. They are attending their own mock funeral. They are all wearing the same type of rope and they all get into their own coffins. There are pictures of other workers tying up their wrists and covering their eyes with cloth. There are lots of people ad lots of coffins.

Analyze: These photos were taken almost all at eye level angle, some at a low looking angle, none at a ground level angle which would have been a good one. They all probably had a fast shutter speed and a high f-stop with an ISO of maybe like 1600. The area didn’t have much light so the photographer had to have changed all these settings. The photographer used lots of patterns in the pictures with the coffins and with the preparation of the coffins.

Interpret: They say the reason was a type of therapy and that could be it but I think that these people were depressed. If they were all curious to see how it would feel to be dead, then they really have things that they are just not talking about. I think that these people came out of it with a wakeup call. They realized that their life is precious, and what their families would go through if they really died.

Evaluate: I think that the photographer did a good job, I feel like he or she could have gotten better images of the tears. I also feel like they took a lot of the same pictures. They should try to use many different angles rather than just eye level. But all in all I would have to give this piece an eight out of ten.