Liz Varner Photo Critique

GB. ENGLAND. London. British choregrapher Frederick William Mallandaine ASHTON. 1956.

 

Marilyn Silverstone

Born in London, 1929. Died 1999. Became a photojournalist in 1955, traveling through Europe, Africa and the Middle East. In 1956, she traveled to India on assignment to photograph Ravi Shankar. She returned to the subcontinent in 1959; what was intended to be a short trip became the beginning of a fascination with India which lasted for the rest of her life. Her photographs of the arrival in India of the Dalai Lama, who was escaping from the Chinese invasion of Tibet, made the lead in Life. As a photographer, she was begging to be taken seriously.


<sup>Description
1. My first impression was the immediate contrast of the tall windows adding depth to the background, and the cramped foreground of a man in shadow. 
2. It looks like a portrait.
3. The subject of the photo is the man, Frederick William Malladaine.
4. Textures, colors, shapes- Shapes are angular, mostly straight lines, the windowpanes and the buildings in the background. In the foreground, the shapes are soft- curved tops of chairs, the man's bent knee, the curve of his skull. 
5. The lines of the window break the photo into three vertical sections, leading the eye up from the sitting man. The background creates depth and provides light, while the foreground is dark and in shadow, and the space is cramped- a man at a table, nowhere else for the eye to wander.

Analysis
1. What draws my eye in this photo is the tension between the lines of the windows and the shadows of the man at the table. The man is supposed to be the focus of the photo, but the eye cannot help but travel upwards along the windowpanes and to look out into the city, looking into the depth.
2.  The lines of the window break the photo into three vertical sections, leading the eye up from the sitting man. The background creates depth and provides light, while the foreground is dark and in shadow, and the space is cramped- a man at a table, nowhere else for the eye to wander. Like I said, there is tension between the two, but also a balance between the dark and the light.
3. Balance between light and dark/shadows, the most light in the top of the photo and the most shadows toward the bottom. Proportionally, the windows are long and the foreground is cramped, which gives the photo a disproportionate quality because so much more space is taken up by the windows than the man, who is the subject. 

Interpretation
1. The photo is a portrait of this famous British choreographer.
2. Message of the photographer is to show the choreographer as just a man, taking a break in his day for a cigarette. It's not a photo you would expect- not an action shot of him at work, conducting a line of dancers. 
3. Purpose of the photo is to show him "off duty" but also as a real person- she is capturing him as a real man, not as his profession.
4. Tranquility, relaxation, curiosity. I feel relaxed, watching him take a break in his day, but also curious as to what he is looking off to the side at. And the balance of the windows and him is also very nice, seeing the beauty of the city in the background. 
5. No, it's just a portrait, not reminiscent of anything.

Evaluation
1. No.
2. Yes
3. Yes, it is showing a different element of someone, a portrait of them outside of their profession.
4. No!
5. It's clear it is a portrait of a man, but there needs to be a caption to know who it is and why he is worthy of having his portrait taken. 
6. Definitely, the vertical breaks as well as the 2/3 of the windows and 1/3 of the man break up the photo beautifully, and are carefully planned.
7. Sure
8. Yes, continue to look for the contrast between light and dark and for spatial balance and tension.
9. Yes, I want to look over the city from a tall window. I also want to achieve this kind of balance in a photo.</sup>