DECEMBER1975

I seem to be focusing on Elliott Erwitt for my light and shade project in photography and even though I still think the sketchbook isn’t looking very good the tutor seems to think it’s not that bad. I guess he would say that though. Anyways, there are a few pictures I particularly enjoy, the first is set in Paris, with the Eiffel Tower in the background, two people embracing in the foreground and another person in the foreground jumping. I can imagine this picture in a few other ways too, crop the bottom so it’s level with the top part of the pavement for a different framing style and even if the person jumping wasn’t there this would still make for an interesting picture. It must have been raining, hence the umbrellas, even though this could have been staged, but there is a reflection on the ground where the rain has make the pavement wet and although it’s a little broken where to Efiel Tower is there is almost full reflection of the two people together. It’s this that changes the picture for me, the reflections, with what seems to be the light coming from the left of the frame the reflections are still, as they should be, directly in front, this draws me into the picture because at first glance they may appear to be shadows, they of course are not. The people themselves are the shadows and what might at first be thought of as shadows are reflections. It’s the first buzz of the picture that keeps me looking. Interesting?

The others are pictures with animals in them, namely, dogs, although there are a few others and one with a person with what looks like a dogs face, I’m not trying to suggest this person is ugly, literally the dogs face has been masked over the person. I’m going to be looking at these a little more simply because of the similarities in theme with another photographer I’ve been looking at. Perahps the mask is a theme in photography as it is in art?

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