JRMC 2230

I chose John Szarkowski as the photographer I want to do my research paper about. first of all, I like the black and white pictures way better than the colored photos. second of all, I like how spontaneous and real his pictures are. the way he decides on taking the shot is unbelievable in my point of view; the way people look at the camera, the way they kiss, the way they even smile is spectacular to me. I am amused with his style of taking the picture at the right moment- or his own right moment. Although most of his pictures are simple but it shows a lot about his style of taking a photograph. the reason why I chose Szarkowski was because of two of his pictures that touched me from within; one for a lady with the air playing with her dress and the other shows how racism was acknowledged in the past. I do not get moved easily by pictures but in Szarkowski's case, that was different.

Each and every day, women are bombarded with messages from the media that impose certain criteria for beauty on them and dictate how they ought to look like. They standardize beauty even though it is an utterly relative and subjective concept. The media limits the definition of female beauty and narrows it down to a singular figure. Consequently, this puts a lot of pressure on women and delivers the notion that they are not good enough. Thus, they strive to attain the unrealistic and sometimes impossible portrayal of beauty and femininity in the media. In this photograph, we can see how the Barbie face seems strikingly odd and does not fit well within the picture. This illustrates that the supposedly “ideal” standards of beauty cannot be applied to every woman out there. Moreover, the contrast between Barbie’s skin color and that of the model shows that beauty is such a broad concept that it can easily encompass the diverse shapes and figures of women. The contrast between Barbie’s blonde hair and the model’s brown hair serves to illustrate the same point. All in all, this photographs aims to show the absurdity of restricting female beauty and to draw women’s attention that uniqueness and individuality are what truly makes them beautiful in their own ways. 

Nowadays females are being judged for how they look and not for who they really are. This shows how people are very shallow and immature due to their assumption that women are portrayed by how they look. Any human has their own unique personality that defines them. Hence, if a woman is ugly then that does not mean that she has a bad personality, and vice versa. This photo was created in order to illustrate how people perceive women today. A woman’s personality is her beauty that is how she should be viewed. Rather than that people prefer to categorize women as beautiful or ugly, thick or thin, short or tall, etc. The main purpose of the powder in the picture is to cover the girl’s face in order to hide her face so people could perceive her in a different view rather than how she looks. People should not judge females by their outer appearance and that is the main objective of the picture.

The photo describes the effect of media on people that can be often negative. The media often adopts certain agendas that they manage to impose on people’s minds. The media content may not always represent the different sects of society, and it can even ignore the real needs and tendencies of the majority of the audience and receivers. Thereby, media creates a spiral of silence among the majority of people, giving them the impression that they are the minority. That is why a newspaper is featured like a person silencing Amira through putting her hand on her mouth. Moreover, people can be overwhelmed by the amount of messages delivered by the media that can be hard to distinguish their validity. Thus, people can be easily manipulated, and swayed between different opinions without being able to think independently, or just lose their interest to know because of feeling lost. That eventually leads to people isolating themselves in a sphere of fear and doubt on the authenticity of facts they perceive or take for granted, which is epitomized in the scared look on Amira’s face. Light is focused on Amira’s face to make the look in her eyes and the media’s hand on her mouth more obvious, and less light on the background that is the newspaper, as not always people realized the media effects. However, the white color of the newspaper makes it clear enough, reflecting the light. 

Society judges, undermines and tears down people. Humans walk around in shame and fear trying to achieve what society proclaims to be “valuable” and are beat down in the process, constantly competing for what is not theirs and trying to reach an unachievable goal. Women in particularly are victims of this suffering, often being labeled by one another and forced to become what society deems worthy. They find themselves hiding beneath a mask, unable to reveal their true selves, just to satisfy society’s conceptions. It is human nature to compete, to judge and to destroy, until the most capable of adapting strives: “survival of the fittest”. Through focus on a red apple, that represents the value, beauty and unachievable goal that society binds us to, the concept is portrayed. The lack of color in the photograph portrays the lack of identity in society, and the inability for each person to show their individuality. The many hands intertwined represent the competition and struggle to reach society’s fixed goal. The “labeled” tattoo on the arm represents the stereotypes, prejudice and judgments people have towards one another. Through the dark lighting, the viewer can experience the darkness and emptiness each individual feels after being consumed by society. By use of women as the main subjects of the photographs, the concept of challenge and envy is further demonstrated. Society serves as a weapon of destruction and leads to insecurity and difficulties in striving for one’s own goals, values and true identity.

this is the most spectacular photo I have seen until me. it is about a small boy with "fuck me" written on his forehead. this photo has a lot of meanings. one is about sexual abuse that happens to children especially the poor one. second meaning is about that child's ethnicity and that he is black. I am also wondering who wrote that on his forehead? is he a parent, relative, teacher, or someone he's never met. either way, why did he do that? and for what? Maybe the child has done something wrong and his parents is trying to punish him. This is something inappropriate for anyone to do for a little child in my point of view. I think that picture was taken after the incident immediately and he is looking to him while he walks away. his facial expressions are priceless and the way he's putting his hands backwards because of his incapability to do something for the one he did that. 

one of the most influential I have ever seen. it shows how terrified that person in the right from dying. if we look also on the expressions of the person who's holding the gun, we will find it very cold and cruel. it seems that that person on the right had been beaten up before getting killed. it is very effective and shows how afraid we get when we feel we are close to death. I can help but looking at the person on the right and his facial expressions. furthermore, there is a guy with a helmet looking at the scene without doing anything as if this is a normal thing. I cannot find any alternative way to describe this image but I have a title for it "Death Kills".

I feel the photographer is trying to show poverty from a new angel. I feel that the picture is talking about itself. in this life, sleep can be the best medicine for your heart. As well as family, as long as you're beside your family, nothing will go wrong. I love the fact that the baby is covered with dirt, yet he is sleeping like there is nothing wrong. and the fact that he is naked shows how pure and clean he is from inside. the fact that the baby is the only one whose covered with dirt shows he's comfortable in his sleep, he does not even feel that there is something on his body covering him. the look at the small girl's face describes her interest in the world and its wonders. The fact that the mother is protective of her younger child even when she's asleep shows how careful she is.

shape and texture

Golden Section

POV and GS

Point of view

shape

texture

form

motion