Visit to the Contemporary Jewish Museum - Assignment Example

A 1950s shot of Neal Cassady with a girlfriend in San Francisco The great poet Allen Ginsberg took thisphotograph, of Neal Cassady with his girlfriend in San Francisco. Many attributes of this picture attracts attention to the viewer even though its quality it is still low, the picture composition is great with all the attraction being drawn to the couple, the background that of a movie theatre and with people passing by makes the picture look even more beautiful. The color of the photo, which was taken in different shades of white and black makes the photo look more appealing to the eyes and helps, identify with the mood of the photograph, the black and white color helps reminiscence the ancient romantic feelings and the chivalry that was practiced those days (London, Upton and Stone 24).

The photo is very simple in terms of its composition, the place where it has been taken has helped simplify the picture coupled with the magnificent background has drawn my attention towards the picture. In ancient days, it was generally accepted that some levels of modest should be observed in public but Cassidy and his girlfriend had the courage to defy these conservative expectations of them to go ahead and kiss. However, the disinterest displayed by most of the people in the background of the photo leaves many questions as to whether this was a manipulated scene or the photo was just taken in its natural setting.

The photographer, Allen Ginsberg, was not a professional photographer but a poet who had more expertise in poetry as compared to photography. To some extent, he may have been trying to put his poetic intuitions into a pictorial form to combine with his written poetry.Ginsberg paternal grandmother, Rebecca Ginsberg in 1953In this photo, Allen Ginsberg shows his paternal grandmother in a state of meditation or in deep thought, in front of her is a plate with a meal set on a table with a white surface.

Allen paints a somber mood with the picture with his grandmother seemingly sulky and the monotony of colors in the picture that goes to enhance the dull mood.To draw the attention of the viewer to the subject matter of the picture, he has placed the face of the woman at the centre of the photo ensuring that the viewers attention is drawn first to the dull face of the woman and it triggers imagination as to why is the woman dull, is she in prayer or meditating? Is she disgruntled with the food before her?

This leaves the viewer in suspense as he tries to look for answers to the above questions.Another attribute that draws a viewer to this picture and to a large extent most of Allen Ginsberg pictures is the simplistic nature contained in the photos, you do not have to wander around looking for the subject matter of the photo since it can be clearly seen form a glance at the photograph. This works though not from a professional photographer to gain fame among lovers of photography and to large extent lovers of art.

Works citedLondon, Barbara, Upton, John and Stone, Jim. Photography. Upper Saddle River, N.J: Pearson Prentice Hall, 2008. Print.