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Ansel Adam's Photograph Analysis

Page history last edited by Patricia D 14 years, 6 months ago

Option 1:

 

Finding a Focus and Meaning in an Unclear Picture

 

A placid lake rests to the right of the frame, surrounded by rocky land. Behind the lake sits a massive mountain, which is lighter than the lake, and much lighter than the surrounding land. The mountain casts a shadow over the lake and the land because of its enormous height. On the lake's surface reflects an image of the mountain peak or some other obscure shape. Sparse trees occupy the corner of the image. The land around the lake rises and falls as it slopes down to meet the edge of the lake. There might be more flat land and possibly another body of water behind the hills in the photo, but the details are fuzzy from this view. The mountain rests at the way back of the image and the lake occupies the foreground. The scene being referred to is a black and white photograph taken by Ansel Adams that I viewed during a trip to the Lora Robins' Gallery. This image resonated with me the most because of the contrasting aspects of light and darkness between the mountain and the lake, creating a competition for the primary focus of the image. Also, the photo being taken on a slant increases the focus competition.

 

Since the picture is black and white there are going to be aspects that stand out more than others because the eye is going to be drawn to the lighter sections first. Right away, this might trick the viewer into thinking that the lighter portions are the focal point of the photo, but it might not be what the photographer intended, whose intentions are unknown. In this photo, the mountain remains the lightest portion of the whole picture and seems to be emanating light, like the sun might be slowly illuminating it somewhere, but no sun shows in the photo. It seems like the mountain is aspiring to be the most powerful aspect of the image because it is the largest part and seems more inviting to the eye to look at. This illustrates it as the most likely central focus.

 

The lake is darker than the mountains, but not as dark as the land around it. The sloping land has many peaks and valleys similar to the mountain, but does not give the land the powerful, active look as it does to the mountain. The lake and the land seem to represent placidness because everything seems so peaceful and still. The lake itself, gives the impression that it was cut into the land, because of it being further defined than the surroundings. Even though not as light as the mountain, the lake still plays off it by being a secondary focus. There is also the observation that the whole lake is not shown in the picture, giving it a vast quality, because it either is so large that Ansel Adams could not fit it in the photo or he was more interested in the mountain behind that lake, which seems to be the case. The lake does not seem to be the main focal spot in the image.

 

The angle of the photo is also very unique, seeming more on a slant than being straight forward. The angle pronounces a more mysterious aspect to the photo because it seems to have been taken this way to center the mountain in the background, with its highest point in the middle of the picture. Since the photo is on an angle, the viewer is only able to see a part of the lake and a few trees in the corner of the photo, suggesting once again that the lake might not be the primary focus that photographer, Ansel Adams, wanted the viewer to dwell on. The mountain being so far in the background and the lake with the sloping land being in the foreground adds to the mysterious nature of the mountain, due to the fact that this arrangement causes the mountain to seem far off in the distance and hard to reach, even though it is the largest portion of the image.

 

Also, appearing in the lake is an unclear reflection of something. This shape is formless, however, the rest of the photo gives the impression that it might be the mountain in the background, but this observation is uncertain. The shape might puzzle the viewer because if its ambiguous quality, with the purpose of making the audience stare longer and ponder about the photo more than second. I know that I want to know what the shape is, but cannot quite place it. I think that the shadow gives depth to the photo to make it seem like there is more going on than just the looking landscape, that there is action happening below the surface of the lake.

 

The sky in the background illustrates another captivating aspect of the photo. Some parts of the sky, especially nearest the mountain, seem lighter than the other black parts, like the mountain is lighting them up. It nominates the mountain to assume an even more dynamic presence by containing the ability to illuminate all the darkness in the photo, because the sun is absent to do so. The rest of the sky is pitch black possibly signaling that dawn is just breaking and the sun has not risen enough to push the night away. Although, as time of day cannot be specifically identified because neither the sun nor the moon are present in the photo and color is absent as well.

 

Overall, the elements convey the impression that they do not fit together, but were placed in just this way for the photo because the colors vary so much and each element is defined differently. Ansel Adams' photo seems like it is supposed to encourage the viewer to want to go climb the mountain, but there are other obstacles in the way, such as the lake and the terrain. This being said, I would say that the mountain is the main focal spot of the photo and the lake is the secondary focus. It is a very close decision for me to choose the mountain as the focal point because the lake comes in a close second. This Ansel Adam's photograph really makes me wonder what he had in mind because I could not definitely decide the actually focal point and purpose of the lake.

 

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Comments (3)

Joe Essid said

at 2:25 pm on Oct 1, 2009

Your focus, at the end of paragraph one, works well as the end point for a 10-on-1 analysis. So your job shifts from discovering a good claim to making the language of the other points clear and concise.

--"Rot Roh!" Essid Pet-Peeve here..."The mountain cast" (subject/verb agreement). That should be "casts."

--While that can be fixed with a keystroke, the overuse of "is" and "are" in place of action verbs will take you more time. Use the guidelines from Writing Analytically, pages 298-300 before deadline tonight and let the action in! Sometimes you will keep an "is" or "are" because you describe a state of being. At others, such as "The land is sloping" the change is simple, so you have "the land slopes" instead. A few instances will be tough. "There is also an unclear reflection of something in the a the lake" need changing too, but where is the action in this? What is the thing making that action? I'll fix it for you, but you need to do the rest.

--Revision: "A formless shape reflects in the lake, and this shape might be..."

--And READ ALOUD. There's a full letter grade's worth of boo-boos that could be found and eliminated by a careful reading aloud.

Elliot B said

at 3:53 pm on Oct 1, 2009

1) I can see a slight departure withe the "unclear focus of the picture." This could open up into a claim of what the focus should be.
2) The last sentence of the first paragraph could be taken as the thesis.
3) The thesis does not meet the requirements of a "why" or "how."
4) Weak Thesis Type 1, this thesis needs to make a claim!
5) As Dr. Essid said, stop using is and are, start using strong action words.

Good Luck!
Elliot

Jenna said

at 4:13 pm on Oct 1, 2009

Your thesis sentence is slightly hard to understand. I think it is the inclusion of the phrase "...for the reasons that have to do with.. " that is throwing it off. Rephrasing would help. Maybe using "because" is a better option, unless you can figure out more "elegant" academic wording.

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