Assignment 6: Photo Analysis

 The Beggar Woman (a social documentary photo)

 Source: picture taken by Aniz Fatema in Bangladesh, from www.treklens.com- a social documentary website.

Intended audience: this website basically holds all the photos by photojournalists who post what they see in their travels and leisure time. Members of this online community can critique and share their thoughts on each others’ photos.

 

My two cents worth

Fala and I came across many different photos of the poor and underprivileged when we finally stumbled upon this photograph. We found it different from most other photos of the poor because of the lack of distress in this one. More often then not, we see photos of the disabled and impoverished in a miserable state that causes the audience to develop a sense of pity and sadness for the subject and his/her situation.

However, we really like this photo because of the simplicity in composition. While the audience might still feel a sense pity towards her, it doesn’t create a sense of distress in us when we look at the photograph. For once, i’m able to say that a photojournalist has captured the ‘good side’ of a somewhat underprivileged society because the emphasis is on the old woman’s expression rather than her surroundings. Her expression, to me, conveys a sort of feeling as if she embraces her circumstances, her fate. And the strength and even serenity that comes through from her eyes shows that this is not always a bad thing.

 One worry we had was that since the old lady is looking into the camera, it may prove that this photo may be somewhat composed and unnatural, defeating the true nature of a social documentary which is to capture things as they are. however, i believe that an effective social documentary photo should be about telling the audience what that subject is about and how he or she is feeling. And fortunately for this photo, inspite of the possibility that the photographer could have asked her to look into the camera etc, the audience is still able to draw their own conclusions from what the see in her expression.

 

Analysis

Focus:

- wide depth of field, hence everything in the frame is in focus.

- sharpness in photo creates the feeling of harshness of her surroundings, of her reality.

Framing:

- long shot captures some of the surroundings along with her. More meaning about her life and state of being can be understood with her surroundings captured as well. 

Full Face Shot:

- exudes honesty in her feelings and expression.

Camera Angle:

- at first glance, looks like a stright shot, but actually, the camera angle is slightly tilted downwards. this creates a sense of sympathy from the audience as it depicts vulnerability for the old lady.

Colour:

- dull and lack of vibrancy adds to the rustic feel

Composition:

- leading lines from the bamboo leads our eyes from top to bottom of frame (absorbing every detail of the photo)

- the lady being the focal point in the frame adds symmetry, and with other elements in the photo (eg.sack, gravel, beaten up wall) creates a sense of balance to the composition. More pleasing to the eye and doesn’t create that disturbing and uneasy feeling.

 

How audience may view it through Piere’s Theory

Iconic: old, dusty, rustic place. old dirty sari. make-shift walking stick made of bamboo pole.

Indexical: surroundings show that she is in a life of hardships. her sari depicts she is in a certain Indian culture. make-shift walking stick further displays her impoverished state.

Symbolic: raises that issue of class disparity in Bangladesh. The poor really have little to call their own, living everyday as it comes. Her expression also symbolises a sense of resignation to her fate and embracing her underprivileged life.

 

This picture below is similar in the sense that the photgrapher has chosen to show us audience that those who are impoverished can be happy and lead meaningfu lives as well. While the impact may not be as strong as the next few photos (below), it reaches audiences in a different manner. It raises our awareness about less forunate societies beyond that of our own.

 

In comparison, most other photos of the underprivileged seem to be armed with the purpose of raising our awareness such that we are encoiuraged to do something more. The impact here is much greater as we feel more discomfort and unease.

 

Self-assessment

I would give Fala and myself 94/100 for this assignment ( 48/50 for analyis and 46/50 for execution). Even though we may not have chosen the most interesting of social documentary photos to comment, we felt that this one, which left a strong impression on us was worthy of analysis in comparison with other depressing photos.

We wanted to show that our photo, though subtle in nature and not as impactful equally aims to raise certain issues about the society.

I particularly enjoyed Paul and Meimei’s advertisement. They deserve full marks because of the amount of research and analysis that went into their presentation. I also thought that Ivy and Xuying’s photodocumentary was interesting and their comparison photos made me understand the impact of their chosen photo much better. They also get full marks from me.

 

~ by stephaniechia on October 25, 2007.