Comparison Image Analysis - Essay Example

Comparison Image Analysis Art is an immense mirror sensitive to every change or event occurring to our society; and visual art is probably the best reflection of the epoch, of time, of people’s emotions and moods. Owing to technological progress, people have been able to capture moments in the most sensible and vivid way, looking at events through the lens of the photo camera. This ‘magical’ device helps the photographers not only make staged photographs with the composition prepared beforehand, but also spontaneous shots, alive and touching. Moreover, these unplanned images tend to evoke a wider array of emotions, as there are often special stories standing behind them, which can deepen understanding of the artwork. Such photos communicate social, political and cultural messages and eternal themes understandable in every age and in every area. An exclusive moment captured through the lens of a photographer may impress far more than a glamorous staged photo. Two of the world’s most impressive photos we are going to consider in this paper are the famous “The Falling Man” shot by Richard Drew in 2001 and the picture of a Japanese woman amidst the earthquake aftermath taken by Asahi Shimbun in 2011. In these pictures, the photographers have managed to express the tragic essence of disaster and despair of our epoch with help of visual and technological means available nowadays. Moreover, although these two shots are rather different in their form, implied sense of both of them communicates similar messages. The pictures under consideration evoke the tempest of emotions, though they do not belong to staged photography and were not initially intended or designed beforehand. Both of them were taken on the spot, during or after certain tragic events. Drew’s “Falling Man” depicts a small figure of a man falling from the World Trade Center and Shimbun’s photo shot a decade later portrays a miserable Japanese woman sitting amidst the ruins and devastation brought by the earthquake and subsequent tsunami. The background of these images makes them far more comprehensive and – at the same time – enhances the effect produces understandable on the viewer. Thus, the nature of these shots makes the context necessary for their full perception. However, “The Falling Man” seems harder for understanding without knowledge of the background, whereas the background of the second photo is more explicit: the viewer immediately perceives obvious circumstances in the form of ruined dwellings and general devastation. The first association that might come to the viewer’s mind while looking at the second photo is “disaster”: looking at the woman and the ruins, one might begin to speculate about her story and the circumstances that led her to that situation; but it is not the same with “The Falling Man”. Looking at the relatively small figure of a man soaring upside down backgrounded by some construction of metal, one is unlikely to associate this picture with disaster; instead, one is more likely to think about mere suicide looking at this quite surrealistic image, if the context is unknown. However, the stories of both pictures are all about disaster and tragedy. “The Falling Man” was shot on September 11, 2001, when two hijacked planes rammed into the towers of the World Trade Center marking the rise of global terrorism. Countless records of those tragic events – the disaster caused by human beings – show overwhelming panic and despair in witnesses and victims of the terroristic attack. Countless lives were ruined at that day, and the world had proved to be rather vulnerable in the face of global terroristic threat. The fire spread further and thick smoke made it difficult to breathe. Many people either fell or made an inconceivable decision to jump as the fire ravaged the towers. Ten years later, when Shimbun captured the moment of despair, the disaster was caused by nature rather than by humans, yet it led to even greater destruction and casualties, as Japan suffered from several powerful aftershocks following the earthquake (Taylor). Therefore, both photos strike with their spontaneity and sheer vividness, as they contain no deliberate or fake elements. Although the photos are rather similar in their inner contents, the photographers used technical capabilities and features in different ways. Particularly, the use of composition is rather peculiar in the two shots, yet is contributes much to realization of the inner sense in the external form. “The Falling Man” is framed in a square, having strict and outspoken geometry of the shot. Well-distinguished vertical lines of the tower filling in the entire frame in the background create balance and certain dynamics in the photograph: the small figure of the man in the foreground seems to be soaring, as the background seems so to be solid and autonomous. At the same time, vertically arranged lines of the tower are virtually leading us down; we understand the direction of the man’s movement and can virtually sense the speed of his falling. Although the shot is cropped to a square, which deprives it of additional space, it still imposes sensation of dynamics and almost makes one dizzy. On the other hand, the photo of the Japanese woman is not cropped, it is horizontally oriented and literally redunds with space. While the depth of field covers only the very foreground with the woman sitting on the road, the out-of-focus background contains ruins of the houses and lumps of various things scattered all around. Cropping of the shot is extremely favorable in this case, as perspective and cropping of this image create the necessary impression. Looking at this picture and the sizes of the woman and her entire devastated background, one can reevaluate power and significance we, the tiny and feeble human beings, have in comparison to nature. The photo tells that we cannot protect ourselves completely from the whims of Mother Nature. This woman embodies the generalization of average inhabitants of Northern Japan, who suffered greatly from that disaster. Both photographs utilize color in certain ways, as the epoch we live in makes it possible to experiment with and modify color characteristics of photos. However, the purpose of color modification is often more aesthetical, which is not the case for these photographs. As far as they – first of all –seek to impress and communicate the theme via the striking captured moment, color can be either important or insignificant at all. In “The Falling Man”, color is of little significance, the picture being of rather low vibrance and contrast. Yet, repetition darker and lighter lines contributes to geometric stability of the composition and supports the foreboding impression of flight. In the photo of the earthquake consequences, color plays greater role: owing to the fact that the photographer has preserved color in this picture, the sensation of chaos and devastation is enhanced due to countless colorful pieces scattered everywhere. This forlorn crying woman sitting on the ground amidst chaos and destruction is the reflection of despair and misery the natural disaster can bring. On the other hand, we don’t see any emotions of the falling man (he is too far from us, so as we don’t see his face at all), yet we can try to imagine what he felt at that very moment, falling down from the burning tower. Being separated by a decade, the two photographs under consideration present a brilliant reflection of the theme that was relevant then and is highly relevant now; both of them illustrate lurid effects of disaster and tragic essence of it. The highest value of the photos and the key reason why they make shivers go down the viewer’s spine is their immaculate veracity and total absence of artificiality. Having a modern highly technological cameras at their disposal, the photographers demonstrated the art of capturing the moment and thus created the images that do not need any embellishment and faked additional details. The impression they produce on viewers are dictated exactly by the precision of moment capturing and the powerful message related to the ever-relevant theme of tragedy and disaster. Images’ visual characteristics – color, cropping and composition word together to impress and evoke overwhelming emotions, though the pictures are rather different in terms of visual aspects. Nevertheless, we can conclude that even despite numerous differences, the photographs are impressive and strongly dependent on the context and background stories, knowledge of which plays a significant role in perception of the photo and the theme in general. http://cdn.instantshift.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/human-emotion-powerful-photos-a-68.jpg http://cdn.instantshift.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/10/human-emotion-powerful-photos-a-75.jpg Work Cited Taylor, Alan. Japan Earthquake: Rescue, Recovery, and Reaction, 2011. From: http://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2011/03/japan-earthquake-rescue-recovery-and-reaction/100024/ Read More