Compositional elements of "Don't Walk and Red"

Photographer Jay Maisel is known for his vibrantly colored images, and his “Don’t Walk and Red” is an example.

Overall, the composition is limited to essentially two different colors: black and red (with the exception of a few splashes of yellow and gray). The silhouettes of the men and crosswalk sign and pole act as points of emphasis, carrying visual weight which balances the image. The image is balanced asymmetrically about the vertical axis. Although the balance is asymmetrical, because the men and crosswalk sign occupy approximately the same amount of space, equilibrium is achieved. The lack of a horizon line is somewhat disorienting, yet the image still “feels” balanced to viewers.

Maisel uses isolation as another means of visual emphasis in his composition. The foreground figures’ isolation from the background also a ttracts the viewer’s eye.

The high contrast between the darks and highly saturated red is eye-catching and demands a viewer’s attention. There is almost a complete lack of shadows in this image, which achieves an interesting almost two-dimensional effect upon the sign and men in the foreground. Maisel’s use of lighting and elimination of almost all shadows in this image contributes to this two-dimensionality. Furthermore, the exaggeration of the red background almost pushes the image beyond the limit of reality. It is difficult to gauge the foreground subjects’ distance from the red wall; making the red appear infinite.

A sense of rhythm is achieved in the composition if we consider the foreground subjects to be only shapes and blocks of black color. The repetition of these “shapes” and jazzy colors evokes a sense of music.

Also present in the image is a psychic line. The men appear to be looking towards the crosswalk sign and beyond it. This line creates tension and attracts the viewer’s attention, creating the existence of mental connection between the subjects and the viewer.

In summary, Jay Maisel’s “Don’t Walk and Red” is a fine example of a composition that represents many principles of design: visual emphasis through isolation, color, and contrast; use of lighting to achieve dramatic effects; a sense of rhythm through repetition of shapes and color; balance with shape and color; and psychic line to create a sense of tension and mental connection between the subjects and viewers of the image. The result is an eye-catching and overall pleasing image.

Edited Writing Assignment #1

The Basilica of San Francesco in Assisi is the subject of my photograph. The picture was taken in November of 2011, during my study abroad trip to Italy.

Although I have very similar shots of the church from my class trip to Assisi, this one holds particular significance for me. The context of the time when the photograph was taken contributes to its significance. Outside the frame is me, reading aloud from my journal, and the photographer: my sister, Lisa, who traveled Italy with me for a week.

During the moments Lisa took pictures of the church, I decided to share with her some poetry from my journal. I was enrolled in a poetry course at the time, and the entire study abroad experience lent itself to pages of writing. The poem I read was inspired by the basilica and the life of St. Francis. 

The basilica itself is possibly the most interesting I visited while abroad. It is also multi-level: The crypt, where St. Francis’ tomb lies, is the basement of the building, the ground floor level is the original church, and built directly above it is the new church.

The older church is very dimly lit, with masonic architecture and glittering golden mosaics. In the masonic style, many of the arches were not mathematically calculated, so there are slight variations in the angles and tilting of the ceiling and beams. Staring at crooked arches is rather disorienting, and evokes a sense similar to vertigo for observers. Side chapels contain devotions to saints other than Francis, and much of the artwork on the walls remains unexplained. Conversely, the upper-level church was built in the Italian Gothic style, with much more illumination from windows and the color palette. Giotto, a famous Italian painter, decorated the panels along the nave with frescoes, which in great pictorial detail depict the life of St. Francis. 

As Giotto visually explains, Francis had great faith and was a revolutionary. At a time in the Catholic Church when much of the clergy was very affluent and ostentatious, Francis chose austere poverty. He promoted much-needed reform that stretched all the way to the pope. 

Therefore, the picture reminds me of St. Francis’ life and of the beautiful architecture of the basilica. The reason for the structure, the structure itself, and the context of the photograph are why this specific church represents me well. Furthermore, my memory of the moment inspires me artistically.

Image Manipulation

Original image

The subjects of my image of interest are my mother, aunt, and best friend. The shot was a candid one, and captures my mom and aunt resting on a bench and conversing with my friend Kristen. The setting is an organic vineyard in Tuscany, located just down the hill and approximately a mile from Texas A&M’s campus in Italy. 

The image was manipulated in two steps: first, a point operation was applied. Secondly, a neighborhood operation in the form of a digital filter was applied. The point operation increased the image contrast, using a piecewise linear transfer function, and affected each pixel one at a time. I chose to manipulate the image in this order, simply because I felt that contrast adjustment was the higher priority.

In Photoshop, the manipulator simply has to navigate the interface in order to apply point or neighborhood operations. Under  the brightness/contrast submenu, I upped the contrast to a level of forty-two. Mathematically, the lower intensity values of the input image up to level 42 were mapped to zero in the output image. Aesthetically, the shadows became darker and the lighter values brightened. Because it is a numeric transformation, it is irreversible and image information was lost. My reasoning for increasing the image contrast was to emphasize the interesting shadows of the silhouette of the people and bench, and the beautiful halo effect from the atmospheric backlight. Darkening the shadows of the tree on top of the image allows it to better serve as more of a frame. Furthermore, I wanted to draw the eye to the people, rather than the vineyard in the background.

I then applied a Gaussian blur filter to the image. This digital filter uses discrete convolution, which combines an area of pixels to produce each output pixel. In addition, this low-pass filter suppresses the high frequencies of the image, in which details and sharp edges exist. With the Gaussian blur, each output pixel is the mathematical average of the input neighboring pixel values. Based on the preview option, I chose a radius of 3.9 for my Gaussian filter. The blur at this level blended the pixel values to create an almost painted effect. Though the changes are fairly slight, I am pleased at the resulting image, because it achieved the aesthetic effects I wanted: emphasis on the persons, shadows, and backlighting; a muting of green of the olive trees and background; and a painterly rendering.

Manipulated image

Images & Political Agendas

I selected the April 25, 2005 cover of Time magazine to consider the concepts of denotative and connotative meanings, ideology, and the myth of photographic truth.

The image denotes a seated Ann Coulter, who is a prominent American political commentator and lawyer. Less specifically, the cover features a blonde woman appearing to be in her mid-40s sitting cross-legged on a brown, leather, modern-looking chair. She dons a conservative navy dress with stockings, and is making direct eye contact with the camera. The perspective makes her legs appear as long as or longer than her entire torso and face.

What Coulter and the image connote for most Americans are such descriptors such as conservative, right-wing, Republican. Yet, the image most certainly connotes different meanings for Republicans than it does for Democrats, or even Independents. Personally, its connotative meaning brings to mind a number of adjectives and trains of thought. I associate Ann with extremist beliefs, outlandish comments, and incredibly narrow-minded forms of expression. I’m also saddened by her, because for me, she represents the facts that our country is extremely polarized in political ideology, that citizens must choose one side or the other, and that people like her demonize other intelligent, well-spoken conservatives. 

The image’s connotative meanings go hand-in-hand with the concept of ideology and its relationship to the practice of looking at images. Obviously, any representation of a prominent political figure can provoke a discussion on differing ideologies. I’ve already touched some on the varying connotative meanings Coulter’s depiction may produce for people of opposing political parties or views. The social assumptions that Republicans make are often very different from the ones Democrat make; both ideologies are different ways of viewing the world, how it works, and how it can be bettered through political means. The way a person looks at an image is dependent on their individual ideology and way of viewing the world. The way a person frames an image is also dependent upon their ideology. The photographer who framed this shot portrays Coulter in a rather unflattering way. Arguably, that photographer could be influenced by a differing ideology from Coulter. 

Oftentimes, it is easy to determine if a news source has a political bias simply by looking at the images they choose to feature. For instance, Fox News tends to have a conservative viewpoint, and the photos they feature of liberal or left-wing policy leaders are typically unflattering angles, lighting, and coloring. The same can be said of more liberal news sources such as MSNBC. 

One of the most intriguing aspects of the Practices of Looking article is the myth of photographic truth. This concept applies to the image of Coulter if we consider that the photographer may have had some sort of ideological, albeit subconscious, bias against her. The image is not an unmediated copy of the real world. 

Is Film Photography Dead?

I imagine the blood pressure of contemporary diehard analog photographers spikes every time an infidel to their cause utters, “Film is dead.” They are a little like the devout citizens of 1966, when Time magazine questioned, “Is God Dead?”* It is blasphemous to question film. It is sacrilege and damning to--God forbid--leave their church. They would rather be martyrs for film than acknowledge reality, which is this: Film is not dead…yet. It is dying.

I imagine the unbending saints of film secretly desire the occurrence of a catastrophic Y2K-esque event. They are probably preparing their “I told you so” speeches even as I write: “You see?! What good is your quantization now?” Of course, as good saints, they will graciously teach the ignorant digitally-dependent the ways of film. The photography world will be at peace, even if mass chaos everywhere else is ongoing. But until that hypothetical day, digital photography remains superior to analog. The photography society is a democracy, and although the film camp has a small voice, their argument is obsolete. Majority rules.

Film is dying, especially as countries face the some of the worst economic crises in history. While purchasing a digital camera is a significant initial investment, the cost of film is rising. The accessibility is decreasing. And most certainly the expense over a lifetime of film alone far exceeds that of a single digital camera plus accessories.

Film is dying, even as the film camp protests that digital cannot supersede the total control that an experienced film photographer has while framing an image, and the control in a darkroom. The lab argument is certainly a stretch, as many factors in that environment are incredibly difficult to control. What if your toddler doddles in to your darkroom in the midst of developing the single greatest roll of film you’ve ever shot? Or what if the chemicals have expired, or have different measurements of their components unbeknownst to you? Chaos ensues, that of the uncontrollable kind.

Film is dying, especially as sensors in digital cameras are becoming more and more developed, even capable of capturing RAW, uncompressed and lossless images (which before the development of, was the single greatest upper hand film photographers possessed).

Are there any upsides to film? Film photographers have a limited number of shots to work with, and must carefully select their subjects. This may seem like a downside, but a trip to any tourist attraction may change that opinion. Oftentimes, tourists view their entire trip behind the lens of a digital camera. Secondly, the picture cannot be viewed immediately after the shutter closes. This forces a refreshing kind of patience to a fast-paced culture that is conditioned to accessing images and information almost instantaneously.

Considering the pace of life, very few people have the time, money, or energy to learn the techniques of analog imagery. Digital images are too easy to create, manipulate, and transmit in an increasingly technology-dependent world. And that’s the reality of it.

Sources:

We Hereby Declare the Death of Film Photography, Steve Jansen

*I am in no way making commentary on the “God is dead” debate.

The Basilica of San Francesco

The basilica of San Francesco in Assisi is the subject of my photograph. The picture was taken in November 2011, during my study abroad trip to Italy.

Although I have very similar shots of the church from our October class field trip to Assisi, this one holds particular significance. What cannot be seen in the 400 by 400 pixel constriction is me, leaning against the wall and reading out of a booklet. What also remains unseen is the photographer: my older sister, Lisa, who stayed with me for a week.

One of the courses I took abroad was poetry, and the entire journey lent itself to pages of it. I’ve always written poetry, but had never been so inspired nor so encouraged by another person in my professor. Just a little to the right of the church, I am reading for my sister a poem I wrote about the church and St. Francis. It’s quite difficult for me to share my own poetry, and this picture captures a moment when I felt comfortable to share one with Lisa. I also painted a watercolor based off this image for my sister.The moment and the structure inspire me artistically.

The church, the true subject of the picture, is possibly the most interesting I saw while abroad. Like many churches, it’s multi-level. The crypt is the basement of the building, where St. Francis rests in his tomb. Unlike other churches, there are two chapels stacked, one on top of the other. The older is on the first floor, while the newer was built above it.

The older chapel is very dimly lit and evokes a strange feeling as you observe the masonic architecture and glittering mosaics. In the masonic style, many of the arches are not mathematically calculated, so you get a dose of vertigo at the slight variations in the angles and tilting of the ceiling and beams. Side chapels contain devotions to other saints, and much of the artwork remains unexplained. The upper chapel is Italian gothic, with much more illumination from windows and the color palette. Giotto, a famous Italian painter, decorated the panels along the nave with frescoes, which in great pictorial detail  depict the life of St. Francis. 

I’m fascinated by St. Francis, not only because of his great faith, but also by the revolutionary quality of his life. At a time in the Catholic Church when much of the clergy was very ostentatious, Francis chose austere poverty in his pursuit of Christ. He is like the Old Testament prophets, who promoted much-needed reform in their religious communities.

The reason for the structure, the structure itself, and the context of the photograph are why St. Francis’ Basilica represents me well.