Period 1 -- Critical Analysis #17

3/30/2017

Today you will be writing about an image from artist McNair Evans' series Confessions For A Son.

Write 4 paragraphs, 5 sentences minimum per paragraph. Remember, refer to your "How to See" handout for analyzing a photograph--

Describe specifics.
Describe form.
Describe the content.
Evaluate the image.

Read the Project Statement before you write:

Summary
Confessions for a Son juxtaposes photographs I made in 2010 and 2011 concerning the lasting psychological landscape of my fathers legacy with images taken by him roughly 40 years ago to explore a complex relationship between father and son and the disappearance of an American, agrarian way of life.

Statement
There was no man that my father admired more than his father, and no one his father admired more than the man who raised him. With tenderness of heart and warm humor my father met everyone as his equal.

Upon his death in November 2000, I was exposed to our family businesses insolvency. Dad faced a series of devastating fires, bad crops, perpetual over-extension and high-interest loans. Five generations of familial and financial stability fractured. While the economic effects were immediately obvious, the emotional implications lingered beneath the surface for nine years.

In 2010 I returned home to photograph the lasting psychological landscape of Dad’s legacy. Retracing my father’s life, I used photography to comprehend its events. Visiting the farms where we hunted, his college dorm rooms, and his oldest friends, I photographed his family members and businesses while researching his character and actions. I could not equate these.

These photographs narrate my journey between isolation and acceptance. Initially confused and angry, I grew to know him as a teenager, college student, co-worker, life-long friend, and father who lovingly withheld business realities. I witnessed shortcomings and successes and found empathy with a man who faced so much in his life. His sacrifices cost the ultimate price, and accepting that some questions may never be answered, I grew to love him again.

These works share my emotions after his death, my search to learn more abut him in recent years, and a journey of acceptance and forgiveness. These pictures are my way of saying its OK. Everything that happened is done and it’s OK. They are my way of taking ownership of everything that I felt, and all the anger and all the shame, and saying, “Yes, I felt that, and it’s OK to feel that, and I still love you.”

Zachary Perkins

3/30/2017 06:15:34 am

In this image, there is a teenager dressed in a uniform of some sort. He is wearing a red collared shirt and tan pants with a belt. His room is filled with shadows and a lot of the objects in his room are covered in a shadow. This image is using warm colors. What looks to be happening in this image is that the teen just arrived to his room and is looking't something to do.
This was taken in the point of view of the photographer because he is taking a picture of the teen, in which he is in the photo. The focal point in this image is the teenager. The angle the photographer took the photo at was in the corner of the room to the center of the edge of the room where the doors are. If you consider the teenager as the subject, he does not fill the frame of the image. The lines in this image are the window frame and the edges from the door.
Some themes and ideas I see in this image are isolation and acceptance. There might be a story being told in this image that explains why the boy is so isolated in this image. This image really reminds me of when I feel unaccepted, thus bringing me into an isolated world. Because the boy is looking somewhere else, the might be thinking about accepting the people or person that made him feel isolated. This is where I get the acceptance and isolation ideas.
I really like this image. The ideas really make me think outside the box on this image, and its really interesting that the photographer used shadows to show isolation and the little bits of light as acceptance. I think that this photo is very successful. When you mix feelings and metaphors in an image, it creates a sense that the image is powerful and contains a moving force. This image really moved me because now I know what to do when I feel isolated, accept others and thank them for what they had done for you, and never hate anyone for placing you in isolation.

Olivia Iskander

3/30/2017 06:20:44 am

The image is of the artist McNair Evans’ retracing/coping his father and the places he went/did. the colors that are being used are red, and lots of browns. The lighting is Dark shadows and a little bit of bright sunlight coming from a window. The objects included in the image is this boy and what looks like to be a room. In the image it looks like this boy is staring at the floor sad & stressed.

The image is underexposed just a little bit to give a shadowy affect. The image is in focus or at least thats how it looks in the dark light.The color is correct because the whites look white. There is no pixilation in this picture. The composition is not that pleasing to look at since some maybe confused as to what its trying to portray.

The rule of thirds is not being used in this image because the boy is standing in the middle. The angle the photographer took this photo at was just a little bit below the boy. The focal point is the boy standing there and its framed by the room. The lines are coming from the door and windows. The image is not symmetrical.

The themes/ideas in this image is the artist is just trying to recreate his fathers past. The artist made this image to try and understand some of the choices and things his father did. It doesn’t challenge or question beliefs at all. I don’t like the photo because they’re isn’t very much going on in it. I think the photo is successful though because of the story behind it.

Grant Kahl

3/30/2017 06:20:54 am

in this photo you can see a boy or possibly a young adult. he is wearing a red polo shirt and khakis. The stereotype of a “College student”. i know that this photo is from a college dorm from the contents of the photo. from the large wooden dresser in the bottom right shows that this is a living place. Along with the dresser the Desk in the background hints at a stack of books, trinkets, and binders which all hint towards student life.

The Photo was probably taken in the morning since the lighting in the background appears to be white and coming from a angle. due to this slanted lighting the photo has a high contrast between the left and right side. there is so little light on the right side that it looks to be underexposed. the hair on the boy lacks detail and the corners just become a pool of black. however the underexposed aspect of the photo seems to feel in place. with the precedence of his family mystery the blackness s could represent how little he knew about his father.

This photo was taken with the end goal understanding his father better. By going from place to place the photographer probably accomplished this. I think in this photo it kinda captures giving in that dorm. the town on the door, the bowling ball on the shelf. this is the life of a young person that is still exploring the world. taking this photo the producer probably had the intention on his father yet this photo captures the life of the young adult.

Personally i dislike this photo. the contrast is too much and decreases the detail in it. The way the boy sis looking make me feel like he just doesn’t care. the photo itself looks a little cheap to me. there really isn’t any artistic flow or looks. it is just a photo of a boy.

Ethan Austin link

3/30/2017 06:24:15 am

This photograph is focused on a boy in a dorm room most likely at a college. The boy is standing with his head turned and his hands at his sides. However, there is a shadow from the window's border that covers the boys face to hide his expression. In the background there is a desk and a couple of shelves stacked with books and binders.

The image is in full color. The main parts of the image are correctly exposed however there are some underexposed parts in the corners of the image where the light from the window does't come through. The foreground, mainly the boy in particular, is in focus and the background, to include the bookshelf and desk, are slightly out of focus. This image has an adequate resolution as there is nearly no pixelation.

This image to me is pleasing to look at. First of all, the lines from the window light shine diagonally across the entirety of the image all while drawing your attention to the boy in the middle. I also like how the boy's face is covered by the shadow.This allows for the viewer to put themselves in the subject's shoes. Also, the lack of a facial expression creates a kind of eerie or curious state in my mind.

This image has a mostly dark backstory because of the lighting and the lack of facial expression. This lack of expression leaves the subject's emotion up for interpretation of the viewer. The artists intention with this photograph was to retrace his fathers footsteps in order to get to know him better after he had passed away. In this image particularly, the setting is his father's old college dorm room and the subject is the present tenant of that room. This photo with the proper context is a good way to remember and honor his father through art.

William Oliver

3/30/2017 06:24:26 am

This is a photograph of a college student standing in his dorm. He is dressed preppy with khaki pants and a polo. His room looks like a normal students dorm and it has everything we have in our own rooms such as a shoe and towels hanging on the door and books and binders in it. From this view we only see half of a dresser, a door with towels hanging on it, a shelf with books and a soccer ball on it and a desk and a little of the wind. There are shadows going across the room that cover the students face.
This image seems to be correctly exposed and in focus and the colors look good as well. I think the important part of this photograph is that the way the shadows drape across the room we are not able to see his face. On the right side of the photograph the dresser is very close to us while as you scan to the left it gets deeper and you can see books and binders, but you cant make out what they say. The top right corner of this photograph is black and so we cant make out what is there. The bottom left corners under the desk is also black and so we cant make out what is under the desk.
This picture seems to be hiding much of who the student really is. We can make out his clothes and can get a guess on what is around him, but we don't have specifics. We are not able to see the face of the student and can not read what is on the books. I think this photograph is very dark and has a lot of questions in it. This photograph has very clear and understanding parts of it but it also has many dark and blurry questions within it.
I do like this photograph because I can see how it relates to the series. You can see the body type of the student but you cant see the face or the books and you don't get to really know who he is. Much like McNair’s father she only saw the body of her father and was not able to get to see the blurry photographs. I think this photograph is successful too because it is good and it relates very well to the series. I like this photograph and i think is is also very successful.

Kyle Meister

3/30/2017 06:24:27 am

In the image by McNair Evans, a boy stands still in the middle of his room. The room is dark and not well lit. McNair expresses meaning and admeration in each image. The photos he takes in this series are a flashback or remembrance of his father. McNair retraced his fathers life, with photography. By going back to farms he hunted, or college dorms he lived at.

The photo today is of a younger version of his father. Looks too be an image taken of his fathers younger years. The location of the image is the fathers old room. The lighting in the image shows that it was probably taken at sunset. The room is dark and gloomy. In my opinion i believe that he had a reason for there to be little light on his fathers face. The dark room almost covers the fathers face.

With most images the carry a story. Some more than others. In this image there is a story to be told. With the images representing his fathers life from the past to the future, there has to be a reason or meaning to his work. He is photographing a figure he loves and admires, with that there is a meaning to his imagery. The process of his photography series of his father became a way or better understanding of his father as a teenager, college student. He expressed sympathy toward his father, due to challenges in his life.

I really like the image. I admire the fact that he is taking photos of something he loves. To me that makes a good image. The images he took can be memories after his death. The images and his journey of taking them probably helped him get a better understanding of his fathers life and what struggles he hd gone through. In all the image is an emotional keepsake. The meaning of the photo to him and an observer will be completely different.

Preslee Vanlandingham link

3/30/2017 06:25:03 am

This image is of a boy in his room. He is surrounded by things that give the viewers possibly pieces of him. The colors are exposed only through the singular ray of sunlight going through the room and his deep red shirt that he's wearing. The lighting is dramatic in the sense that the shadows are dark and the highlights are bright. But the colors he light is reflecting on is soft.
It could be perceived as underexposed but the dark qualities of the image make it stand out and so it would be correctly exposed to me. Its pleasing to look at because of where the boy is in the image. The point of view would be as if you were to look up at him. The focal point is the boy which is framed by the fact that its not the closest thing or the farthest thing in the image. The lines in the background and the horizontal lines in the foreground all direct to the boy in the middle ground.
The subject does not fill the frame but thats essential because the setting helps to support the subject. The frame crops off the rest of the room. The negative space is the room while the boy himself is the positive space. The image is not symmetrical but the image is balanced. Its not difficult or bothersome to look at the placement of the image.
The themes and ideas close around childhood. The boyish room and the boy himself bring back faint recollections of childhood. The darkness and the inability to see the expression on the boy's face is representative of some of the more darker pieces of childhood. It reminds me of something troubling or sad. That ties in with the background info on the story and the image expressed that part of his father nicely.

Julian Gauntlett link

3/30/2017 06:30:14 am

This image shows a african american boy who is standing in the room of the photographers father. The boy has his shirt tucked in properly and has a collar t-shirt. He has a watch and is wearing a nice brown leather belt. The shadow of the room makes it not able to view his face but I can see a lot just from how he dresses who he is. He seems like a student maybe in boarding school and his fathers roommate. The colors are very vivid especially in the boys shirt which really pulls your eye to look at him. The lighting is dark shadows and its quite hard to see various things in the photo. In this photo the boy is just standing in an awkward pose which makes him seem unnatural.

This image is unexposed but it is in good focus. The color is correct and theres no pixelation, adequate resolution. The composition functions quite well and it is quite pleasing to view mainly because of the colors. The point of view is from right in front of the object. The focal point is the boy and it is not framed because it is just cropping the rest of his room. The bedroom dresser and the book shelves direct your eyes to the african american boy by the lines and how it was placed. The image is symmetrical and quite balanced. The object does not fill all the space. There is a lot of negative space around the object. There is positive space in the object.

The theme and story of this image is that this photographer is looking deep finding photos of his father that past aways old life. This image reminds me of some thriller and scary movie I had watched as a kid. This image is quite interesting and I can evaluate this and look at it for a while.

I honestly like this image because of the mystery behind it and of how interesting it can be and is. This photograph in my opinion is really successful and many ways including being mysterious and spooky to being interesting and wild.

Simon Bruhn

3/30/2017 06:31:35 am

The image by McNair Evans is taken in his father’s old dorm room. It taken as he is sifting through his father’s life, and the way his father lived is somewhat represented by the student now living in the dorm. The dorm room itself looks very similar to what it probably looked like when the father lived there. It looks typical of an older college dorm building, and also typical of young adult life. The student also probably does much the same things as the father, and so all of this leads to a good representation of the short amount of time the father spent living there.

The image does not attempt to be clean, and it doesn’t worry about distracting you from the person that is being photographed. The bookshelf and desk in the back are full of things, and I found myself paying more attention to it than to the person. I don’t think that takes away from the image, however, because the father’s bookshelf was probably similar, and so it acts as a better connection than the person himself. Other things, such as the towel hanging from the door, also have the same affect. The lighting from he window also illuminates these objects.

The picture uses the affect that having the one light source to the side of the subject crates. The image has a high contrast, and this can happen to one object, such as the person. The lighting shows his body, but it obscures his face. This can help the image’s purpose, as it makes it easier to insert yourself in the image. The lighting affect also creates contrast from one corner of the room to the other, and it makes the image seem much more dramatic.

I don’t really like the image. The lighting creates a bit of a super hero affect, and so it comes across as much more dramatic than I think it ought to be. Perhaps taking the photo while the student was walking out of the room would have been better, as I prefer looking at the artifacts in the room over the person. The lighting otherwise, however, is nice, and creates an easy image to look at, as it seems more like the kind of lighting we get in real life. One other suggestion, though, would be let the person look out the window a little bit, as I find my eye drawn there but unable to see anything.

Raven

3/30/2017 06:35:53 am

This photograph by McNair Evans is a photo of a boy in the dorm room, the dorm room that McNair Evans’s father lived in for college. The colors in this photo are reds, browns, blacks, whites, and blues. The lighting in this photo has dark shadows and some bright sunlight. The image includes a boy and all the things in his dorm.

This image has good exposer, some of the photo is dark, pretty much black, that is in the top right corner, the bottom left corner, and a few other small places. The image is not in complete focus, the items located on the left side of the boy are not in focus. I think the main focused point is the door nob, that is where it looks most clear. The whites are white. There is no pixelation.

This image doesn’t have anything unpleasing in it. The composition works well for the story behind this photo. The rule of thirds is being used, the boy is not in the center of the photo, the photo looks more relaxed because of this. The photo was taken at the angle where the boy would fill the hight of the photo, and the photo has depth. The lines in the photo are horizontal, the window, dresser, bookshelf, and the lines on the boys shirt.

The image is pretty balanced, I feel that the left side go the photo has more going on, the desk, bookshelf. There is extra space in the image, the right side of the photo, McNair Evans could have cut off the photo at the door, but the photo is much more balanced with it.

The story behind the photo and the series is the son, McNair Evans, has gone to all the places his father had been and photographed them. The story is quite beautiful, McNair Evans is reliving his fathers life, but though photos he is taking.

I don’t like the photo but i don’t dislike it. The photo just doesn’t do much for me. The story behind the serice does, I really liked the story explaining the photos. Over all it is a well composed photo.

Caden Fincke

3/30/2017 06:39:54 am

The image is of a young, black man in his college dorm room. The man is wearing khaki pants with a brown belt and a red polo with white stripes. The image uses a lot of dark shadows as the lighting is only from the window of the room. This darkens parts of the room while still shedding light on some parts of the image. Most notably this is used with the man as his bod is pretty well lit, but his face is hidden by the shadows as he stares at the floor.
The image appears properly exposed, but is still dark due to the high amount of shadows in the image. The photo uses mostly lighter colors such as red, light browns, and white which help to contrast with the dark shadows in the room. The main focal point of the image is the young man. The man is in focus mainly on the young man, but has a relatively deep depth of field. The image isn’t necessarily using the rule of thirds, but it does off center the man in the image slightly.
The positive space in the image is the man and the negative is the room and the various objects in it. The image is not symmetrical, but is still mostly balanced in the amount of negative space. The subject fills the image from top to bottom, but the subject leaves a lot of negative space to the either side of himself. The photographer takes the image from a slight angle that still feel head on to the young man, but allows for the lighting to create these various shadows that hide the man's identity. This creates a very pleasing image to look at.
I think the artist is trying to portray his grief and anger as he attempts to understand his father and his father's actions. The man is portraying him, but can also portray anyone in a similar situation as the face is hidden. The man’s vibrant colors being concealed by the shadows, represents a relationship that never truly became what it could which leads to his anger and grief. It could also be showing his confusion in understanding his father’s choices in life as he appears to be pondering in his father’s old isolated area. Overall I really enjoy this image and the way the artist used the lighting scenario to hide the man’s face and put yourself in his place.

Patrick Berhens link

3/30/2017 06:43:35 am

Nostalgic vibes radiate off of McNair Evans’s series entitled Confessions for a Son. In the image, McNair heavily uses shadows. This largely in part due to the fact that it creates the opportunity to evoke nostalgic feelings from the viewer. These shadows also allow the viewer to more deeply connect to the subject in the middle of the image, as the subject’s face is blacked out, thus allotting for the viewer to immerse themselves into the subject. In addition, McNair allowed natural light to seep into the set. This ties the image together, balancing it all out, not allowing for the shadows and subject to overwhelm the frame.
These factors combined create an extremely attractive image. As these factors prevail in drastically making the image fantastic, other smaller factors contribute to the overall feeling as well. The image functions under the rule of thirds guidelines, placing the subject slightly off center, while placing other objects (such as a dresser) on the right side of the image. Obviously, this makes the image unbalanced; however, this unbalanced nature gives the image a feeling of college and youth culture in America. The notebooks and pencils strewn across the back table show the free-flowing nature still possessed by most, if not all, of the youth in American.
McNair created this series of images to tell the story of his father’s life and to come to terms with his father. This image in particular expresses his father’s experiences in college, showing the similarities and timeless qualities of youth culture. Whether he deliberately set out to do this or not, McNair creates a platform for the viewer to immerse themselves in the subject. Subsequently, this allots for the submersion into and genesis of a new world all from a single image. This factor gives his father’s life for interpretation from the masses, thus allows for his father’s memory to continue to go on.
Amazing. The image can only be described as amazing. Though it features little to nothing that yields excitement, the image carries a quality of depth. Allowing the viewer to fully escape into a different universe, even for half a second. The image itself carries no formulaic qualities in the least bit. Rather, seems to be driven by pure passion, and is molded by basic qualities of photography, which create this effect of nostalgic immersion.

Alexis Parsons

4/12/2017 08:17:20 am

in this photo there is a kid standing in his room. this photograph is by McNair Evans. the kid is standing in his room. in the room behind him there is a soccer ball and some binders. there is also a window to the left.
the boy is in a red and white stripped button polo. he is wearing khakis pants. he also is wearing a blue watch on his left hand. he is wearing a brown belt which matches the dresser to his left.
the boys face is in the shadow so you can't see it. it gives off a sort or mysterious hew in the photo. the photo is relatively dark except for the light coming from the window. this photo has a darkish shadow theme.
the shutter speed for this photo was pretty slow because the exposure is low. the boy is more in focus than the room. to cause this the aperture had to be bigger. the photographer was taking the photo off of a tripod because the room is very even in scale.

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Period 1 -- Critical Analysis #17

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