Image Detective: Compositional Analysis

Assignment Prompt

Image Detectives compositional analysis

First Draft

The World’s “Highest” Standard of Living

 

Margaret Bourke-White “The Louisville Flood” February 1937

 

 

 

 

Craig Palmeri

9/11/19

English 170

Writing and Rhetoric

 

Margaret Bourke-White’s photo “The Louisville Flood” get its power from the contrast of the large poster and the people standing in the line below. The poster is a direct contradiction of ideals and reality when viewed with the line of people. The poster displays a propaganda like image which displays the ideal high standard of living above people who appear to in poverty. The people in line are holding various baskets and bags. It can be assumed that the people are using whatever they have around to collect something, most likely food. Bourke-White uses cropping, frame magnetism, juxtaposition, and the proximity of the photographer to the subject to create power for the photo.

Cropping plays a crucial role in the how the viewer interprets the photo. Bourke-White uses cropping on the line of people stretched across the photo below the poster. By cropping of the ends of the line, you are left to imagine how long the line really extends and where the line is truly going. The length of the line being unknown creates the effect of not knowing how large the effect of poverty is on the people not shown in the line. The photo is also cropped just at the edges of the poster. This helps create the contrast of the people and the poster because it prevents the viewer from seeing the buildings around the poster. The viewer can only see the poster and the line. This focuses the viewers attention onto just the line and the photo. This highlights the contrast of the two but at the same time leaves the viewer to imagine the surrounding area and scene. This is important because it creates interest in where the subjects are and what they are doing. The people could be waiting in line for anything, although the viewer is led to believe they are in line for handouts based on the focus of the poster and the line below. The power of the photo is increased by the curiosity sparked in the viewer by the cropping of the photo.

Frame magnetism affects the line of people in the photograph. Frame magnetism creates the larger line effect in the photo. The ends of the line of people being so close to the edge gives the viewer the feeling that the line extends past the boarders of the photograph. This enhances the power of the photo because it helps cement the idea of how many people are affected by poverty. The frame magnetism plays a role in the photo that is closely related to the cropping of the photograph. The cropping of the photo creates the frame magnetism that affects the perception of line size.

Juxtaposition is a major factor in the image “The Louisville Flood”. The sharp contrast between the poster and the line of people helps create what the photographer may have been trying to say. The people’s clothes in the line are dark compared to the lighter color of the poster. This emphasizes the difference of the status of the people in line compared to the ideal portrayed in the poster. The poster is also just above the heads of the people suggesting that maybe the goal of achieving the standard of living portrayed by the poster is just outside their grasp. The people in the line are African American and the people in the poster are Caucasian. From the time period that the photo was taken, the viewer can conclude the people in line were not able to take certain advancements in their lives because of their race. In the poster, the family in the car is driving through the country. This is a direct contrast to the people in line as they are in an urban environment packed in a line. They cannot move forward or backward. They are just stuck in a line that has an unknown length. This gives the impression that the people in line do not have an escape from poverty. They are stuck while the people in the poster are moving to the future. The contrast of the people and the poster enhances the power of the photo because it shows a direct comparison of poverty and the ideal life. Without the contrast in the image, the message of the photo would be lost. The major source of power from the image to the viewer is from comparing the people to the poster.

The proximity of the photographer to the subjects help create a sense of power in the photo. Bourke-White takes this photo from a short distance. She appears to have taken this photo from the middle of the street. This is important because it places her close enough to be a witness, but just out of reach from being truly involved. This could suggest that the subject is important but does not directly affect the photographer herself. This adds to the power of the photo because it suggests that despite the subject not affecting the photographer, they felt it was important to document what was happening around them.

Overall, Bourke-White establish power on the theme of poverty. The most powerful strategies used to create power by Margaret Bourke-White were juxtaposition and cropping. While at first glance the photo can seem like it just talks about poverty, there is racial tone in the photo that shows one example of a racial divide during the time period in which the photo was taken. The photo seems to establish the idea of the American dream being unobtainable for African Americans in the time period. The photo appears to be Bourke-White bringing attention to poverty and racial discrimination.

 

 

 

Reflection

After writing the compositional analysis, I learned about truly looking at the effects used in the photo. The compositional analysis made it apparent that there are techniques and aspects of images that can affect the meaning of the image. Before, I used to just look at an image and derive a meaning just from what was depicted. The compositional analysis helped me to think about how each part of a photo impacts the meaning, not just the content within. How the content is portrayed has a profound effect on the viewer’s interpretation. The most difficult aspect for writing the compositional analysis was trying to find how the composition of the photograph affected the meaning for me. I was not used to this type of thinking or inspection of photos. After revising my paper, I learned that I struggled with sentence structure, as well as repetition and clarity. I would often repeat sentences with variations in the wording. The repetition of sentences along with some poor sentence structure impacted the clarity of the overall paper. The aspect of the compositional analysis that I was most confident about was finding the power given to the photo by the techniques used by the photographer. The most important writing skills I will need to transfer to other analysis projects are improving my sentence structure and avoiding repetition. These skills will help me better tackle other analysis papers better because it will help me get my message across. These skills will improve my clarity in writing, making my analysis easier to understand.

 

 

Final Draft

The World’s “Highest” Standard of Living

 

Margaret Bourke-White “The Louisville Flood” February 1937

 

 

 

 

Craig Palmeri

9/11/19

English 170

Writing and Rhetoric

 

Margaret Bourke-White’s photo “The Louisville Flood” get its power from the contrast of the large poster and the people standing in the line below. The poster is a direct contradiction of ideals and reality when viewed with the line of people. The poster displays a propaganda like image which displays the ideal high standard of living above people who appear to in poverty. The people in line are holding various baskets and bags. It can be assumed that the people are using whatever they have around to collect something, most likely food. Bourke-White uses cropping, frame magnetism, juxtaposition, and the proximity of the photographer to the subject to create power for the photo.

Cropping plays a crucial role in the how the viewer interprets the photo. Bourke-White crops through the line of people stretched across the photo below the poster. By cropping of the ends of the line, you are left to imagine how long the line really extends and where the line is truly going. The uncertainty of the length of the creates the effect of not knowing how large the effect of poverty is on the people not shown in the line. The photo is also cropped just at the edges of the poster. The viewer can only see the poster and the line. This focuses the viewers attention onto just the line and the poster. This highlights the contrast between the two but at the same time leaves the viewer to imagine the surrounding area and scene. This is important because it creates interest in where the subjects are and what they are doing. The people could be waiting in line for anything, although the viewer is led to believe they are in line for handouts based on the focus of the poster and the line below. The power of the photo is increased by the curiosity sparked in the viewer by the cropping of the photo.

Frame magnetism affects the line of people in the photograph. Frame magnetism creates visual tension at the ends of the line. The visual tension along with the cropping creates the felling that the line stretches far beyond the edges of the photo. The ends of the line of people are so close to the edge it gives the viewer the feeling that the line extends past the boarders of the photograph. This enhances the power of the photo because it helps cement the idea of how many people are affected by poverty. The frame magnetism plays a role in the photo that is closely related to the cropping of the photograph. The cropping of the photo creates the frame magnetism that affects the perception of line size.

Juxtaposition is a major factor in the image “The Louisville Flood.” The sharp contrast between the poster and the line of people helps create what the photographer may have been trying to say. The people’s clothes in the line are dark compared to the lighter color of the poster. This emphasizes the difference of the status of the people in line compared to the ideal portrayed in the poster. The poster is also just above the heads of the people suggesting that maybe the goal of achieving the “Highest Standard of Living” portrayed by the poster is just outside their grasp. The people in the line are African American and the people in the poster are Caucasian. From the time period that the photo was taken, the viewer can conclude the people in line were not able to take certain advancements in their lives because of their race. In the poster, the family in the car is driving through the country. This is a direct contrast to the African Americans as they are in an urban environment packed in a line. They cannot move forward or backward. They are just stuck in a line that has an unknown length. This gives the impression that the African Americans do not have an escape from poverty. They are stuck while the people in the poster are moving to the future. The contrast of the African Americans and the poster enhances the power of the photo because it shows a direct comparison of poverty and the ideal life. Without the contrast in the image, the message of the photo would be lost. The major source of power from the image to the viewer is from comparing the African Americans to the poster.

The proximity of the photographer to the subjects help create a sense of power in the photo. Bourke-White takes this photo from a short distance. She appears to have taken this photo from the middle of the street. This is important because it places her close enough to be a witness, but just out of reach from being truly involved. This could suggest that the subject is important but does not directly affect the photographer herself. This adds to the power of the photo because it suggests that despite the subject not affecting the photographer, they felt it was important to document what was happening around them.

Overall, Bourke-White establish power on the theme of poverty. The most powerful strategies used to create power by Margaret Bourke-White were juxtaposition and cropping. While at first glance the photo can seem like it just talks about poverty, there is racial tone in the photo that shows one example of a racial divide during the time period in which the photo was taken. The photo seems to establish the idea of the American dream being unobtainable for African Americans in the time period. The photo appears to be Bourke-White bringing attention to poverty and racial discrimination.