Detailed analysis of a chosen photograph - Essay Example

The photographer is sharing the piece of his perceptional reality with the audience. The ship in the middle of the river is always journeying towards the home. Formal Elements: The picture “Rowing Home the Schoof-stuff” is an attempt of Peter Henry Emerson to widen the human vision with the depiction of a sole human existence in the wider scope of a scene (depicting the long life of a laborer). Emerson used selective focus to intensify the idea of weariness and loneliness of a laborer on his way home.

The use of platinum printing is to fade away any bright toning and to add a more infused mood to create an impressionistic image. The image, like many other images following naturalism rules, did not use light, posturing and pretension. The concepts of retouching and the scientific elements that forego naturalist ideals of a scene are not used. The picture is innovative in creating and promoting impressionistic vision to be identified and followed by successors of Peterson. Historical Analysis The picture is taken by Emerson in 1886 as a part of his naturalist photography.

Emerson was known as the leader of the Photographic Naturalistic movement. His idea was to present photographs in their originality without reducing the legitimacy of any image using the scientific techniques of blurring a tone, increasing the light or over-emphasizing on some aspects by clever tools rather than artistic focus. He believed in using the camera as a tool of capturing the details and was against the fragmentation of the natural scenes scientifically. The picture under consideration is a strong evidence of how naturalist movement believed photography to be.

The picture is not fragmented or faked but rather used camera focus to omit or include details as required. The wider, calm and human-less background automatically turn the focus of the viewer to the laborer heading back. The wider scope of the picture is to show the extent of a laborer’s long and lone journey. Peterson, indeed, captured this image with an idea of showing the wider background without any being interrupting to the exposure of loneliness and tiresome journey of the laborer. Social and Artistic Analysis The image of a ship that is sailing in the sea is indeed an attempt to shed some light on the nature of lives that naval professionals opt.

The humanistic approach towards an existence of a soldier is a unique one and provides a great deal of insights in soldier’s life. The embedded message in the image communicates the need of caution for those who have their families in the grasp. The people are strongly recommended to hold on to their loved ones while they can because whether or not one like the assumption of death. The death has the profound power to take one’s closed ones in a blink of an eye. The black and white context of the picture conveys hopelessness and depression of the crew that is looking to get home while; their distance from their loved ones is effectively communicated with the help of black and white color scheme of the picture.

Additionally, the featured image captured a ship that is looking at dusk that its crew has to spend away from their families and friends. The human need to long for the closed ones is prominently evident in the image (Gidley 1994). The ships are customarily expected to throw the dead ones that meet their demise during the journey. The crewmen are aware of that fact and therefore, feared by the probability of death that might cause them to die away from the family. All of the humans