This image is a photo of me in traditional Hmong clothing holding a shovel in my parent's yard. My concept is to show a hard working woman who had dug up this trench for irrigation. Although there were some technological developments in the urban areas, the majority of the Hmong lived in the countryside and mountains of Asia far from the industrial parts of the land. Even today many of the Hmong still live in these areas of both East and Southeast Asia. I used all of the techniques learned in class and included some subtle fingerprints in the corners as well.
At first glance, I enjoy the subject and composition that the image envokes. It does not include major distractions like the background or featured props. It focuses on a single subject which I enjoy.The photograph is on an open plain landscape with the main subject being the focal point. The subject appears to be a woman dressed in cultural attire. The viewer's eye moves from the woman to what she is holding and then lands on the erosion creak/ hole. The landscape is very flat. The gaze of the subject is very direct with the viewer with a facial expression full of sympathetic emotion or tiredness. The tone of the image is very sad and weary.
ReplyDeleteMy interpretation is based around cultural appreciation or injustice. From the clothing it seems to reflect on a particular time in history that ties to labor of some sort from the use of the ax as a prop. Perhaps the history behind it has something to do with agriculture from the use of the flat land. The eroided space below could symbolize hard labor. The positioning of the subject with the ax could symbolize the magnitude of whatever the meaning was behind the photograph. It could also symbolize how deep of emotions that the subject carried.
The composition highlights the focal point well. The positioning of the woman is off centered which aids to the thought of everything not being so symmetrical. There is a clear division of negative and positive space. While the negative background shows the realistic background features of a wet plate, compared to the lower right side it is slightly unbalanced. As the viewer my eyes immediately draw towards what is light then to what is dark. The dark emulsion dots on the subject are also very perpendicular to the upper corner. It draws an abstracted line to the focal point which can be suitable to some or too much of a distraction. The emulsion alone appears very realistic and not created with a digital software.
Overall, the photograph has a great way of capturing the viewer's attention. Especially from the strong gaze. It invokes a story or past that makes me want to know more about it. The use of a negative background is very appreciated to see as well.