Essay Instructions: Analyze - To examine critically, so as to bring out the essential elements or give the essence of:
to analyze a picture.
Assess - To analyze and determine the nature and quality of achievement through means
appropriate to the subject.
Context - A set of interrelated conditions (such as social, economic, political) in the visual arts
that influence and give meaning to the development and reception of thoughts, ideas, or concepts
and that define specific cultures and eras.
Principle - a primary truth or fundamental element i.e. the principles of design
FIRST use your own eyes.
THE PROCESS OF ACCESSING.
There are two parts to the process: 1) appreciating and evaluating
the photograph, And 2) organizing the notes and writing the essay.
1) APPRECIATING AND EVALUATING
DESCRIPTION. What is it? What is the subject matter?
Can you recognize any of the people, places, thing’s
portrayed? IN GENERAL TERMS SIMPLY DESCRIBE
THE PHOTOGRAPH: but first…….
LOOK.
LOOK carefully and give yourself a chance to respond to
the photograph personally, and try to figure out what the
photograph is all about on your own.
THEN: Be critical but not negative. Analyze your reaction to the photograph and think about how different
audiences at different times may have perceived it.
YOUR VIEW: As you look at the photograph and discover
more about it, you should eventually form a personal point
of view about some aspect of the photograph. When you
begin to write, or organize your essay, you will want to
clearly state your viewpoint early on. The rest of your essay will support
or qualify this point of view. It may be helpful if you think of your essay in
question form. (For example, if you are looking at a particular
photograph, and you take the point of view that the photograph
played an important role in defining the signature style of the
photographer you can formulate your opinion as the following
question: How does this particular photograph epitomise the ‘style’
of the photographer.
ANALYSIS. When analyzing a photograph we focus on both content and formal qualities.
Content Analysis:
What is going on in the photograph? Can you recognize
anything? Is there an obvious story or message? Is the location
incidental or does it add a social, religious, moral or political
comment? Use any information you can find about the
photograph: captions under the picture, museum labels, articles,
the photographer him/herself if available, etc – When, and where
was it made? What is this photograph’s cultural context? (the
time and country it was made in)
Each culture and each age sees the world somewhat differently. What was happening historically,
culturally and technologically at the time it was made? What can you find out about the photographers’
experiences and concerns? How was the original audience’s knowledge and values different from ours?
What is the context of the photograph now? (e.g. Is it considered an important photograph? Has it
influenced other photographers? Where and how is it displayed or used?)
Formal Analysis:
ELEMENTS:
LINE - Are there curvy, jagged, or straight lines?
Black or White TONES - Is there a range of tones from dark to
light? (Squint your eyes). Where is the darkest value? The
lightest?
COLOUR – What colours have been used? What kind of colour
scheme do you see (many colours, only one or two, light colours,
dark colours, etc)? Describe the colours in terms of their harmony
or contrast with each other.
LIGHT - Does there appear to be a strong sense of light in the
image? Is it harsh or soft? Is the light coming from a particular
direction?
SHAPES - Do you see geometric hard shapes or organic, soft
shapes? Do positive shapes, such as objects, dominate the
composition, or are there more negative shapes that represent
empty voids? Is there one principle shape or is it composed of
interrelating combinations of shapes?
SPACE - Is the space deep or shallow? How has the
photographer created a sense of space? (By overlapping objects
(into the distance), position on the picture plane (near the camera
or far away), linear perspective (converging lines as in a street),
atmospheric perspective (fading grey tones into the distance or a
more blue horizon)?
What is the Depth of Field? IS the background
blurred? Or sharp in focus?
PRINCIPLES.
Notice how the following principles integrate the elements of formal
analysis and build on one another to make an exciting picture.
DOMINANCE/EMPHASIS - Close your eyes. When you open
them and look at the
Image, what is the first thing that you notice? Why? How does
the arrangement of the parts of the photograph draw your
attention to in the image?
CONTRAST - Are there strong visual contrasts—lights and
darks, textures, solids and voids, etc.?
REPETITION/RHYTHM/PATTERN - Repetition of visual
elements can create unity—a sense of order or wholeness that
holds the photograph together visually. What elements are
repeated? Do they form a strong visual rhythm? Do they form a
pattern? Do they contribute to a sense of unity?
MOVEMENT – How does your eye move around the
photograph? How do rhythms and patterns contribute a sense of
visual movement?
VARIETY - Variety creates interest. Can you see a variety of
visual elements such as different tonal (black and white) or colour
values, different shapes, textures, etc.?
BALANCE - Is the visual weight on one side of the image about
the same as the other? How about the top to bottom and
diagonally? Is the photograph symmetrical or asymmetrical? Has
the Golden Ratio 1.618 been used?
UNITY – Does the photograph hold together as an overall entity,
or is it pleasing in parts yet unsatisfactory as a whole? (Or
pleasing as a whole in spite of less successful parts?)
2) INTERPRETATION.
What do you think the photograph means based on Interpretation of your
analysis,? What does the image communicate: beauty, life, glamour, social
status, politics, adventure, travel, sex? What is its purpose – commercial or
art?
What does it mean to you personally? What did it mean to its original
audience? Was it a public or a private piece? What was the photographer’s
intent? What feelings do you get from the photograph? What is its mood?
Does it capture a mood or emotion that you have already experienced? Can
you imagine the photographer’s feelings while producing the photograph?
Was it a planned photograph or was it chance he was in the right place at the
right time. How does the photographer’s use of the elements and principles
of design contribute to the mood?
Please note:
There is also a wild card category called the ‘+’ (plus) factor in all
photography and art which refers to the inexpressible (that which cannot be
defined), what art critics used to call ‘the sublime,’ something beyond
rational description. It cannot be analyzed or summed up; it is invisible to
the eye but elevates the image to greatness.
There are faxes for this order.
