Period 2 - Critical Analysis No.1

10/22/2021

Today you will be writing about this photograph by artist Joel Sternfeld. Your analysis must be 4 paragraphs, 5 sentences minimum per paragraph. Remember to post your analysis as a comment to the blog post that corresponds to your class. If you post your analysis to the wrong class post, it will not be graded.

If you do not finish your analysis in class, you must finish and post your analysis by the end of class Monday, 10/25/21.

Refer to your "How to See" handout for analyzing a photograph--

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

Your analyses will be graded on:

meeting minimum length requirements
depth of organization
evaluation of the content
grammar/punctuation

Carolina Meneses

10/22/2021 06:45:14 am

Carolina Meneses
In this picture you can see sheriff cars, people, and an elephant. This picture looks normal until you notice the elephant. This place is probably a small town where not much happens and this is something they probably don't see everyday. An elephant escaped and the sheriff didn't know what to do. There is a house hidden in the trees, the people there probably live in that house. The colors are warm and aren't very bright. The colors of this picture make it look like it was taken a long time ago. The picture looks dusty just like the street.
I don't think the rule of thirds is used because the most important part of the picture is in the middle. Even though it's in the middle it still works and it's still a good picture. I think he is probably standing on his car,because it looks like the picture was taken on an elevated surface. The depth of field is deep because by looking at the people look farther away. The subject looks small compared to the whole picture and it does not fill up the whole frame.
The theme in this image is to show how people react when something unexpected happens. I think the picture looks really calm and still, but at the same time this situation is chaotic. I think the artist's intention was to make the picture feel calm and normal. The artist makes an unexpected situation feel calm. This picture reminds me of an opening scene in an old movie.
Overall this picture is really interesting. This is a picture I feel like would catch my attention if it was in a museum. I like this picture because I like the old feel of it and the color. I think this photo is successful and is interesting.

Alexis Block

10/22/2021 07:10:48 am

While I was looking at this image, it looks like it is showing a dead elephant on the side of the road. It looks as if the elephant fell off of the truck and all the water that was on the truck is all over the water. In the image there are lots of people looking at the elephant on the floor and a car that was probably driving down the road and saw this happen. The lighting of this image is bright and the green color of the trees is not as vibrant. It looks like it's either summer or fall when this is taken because the grass is dead and the colors of the leaves are more brown.
I would say this picture is pleasing to look at because it is kinda like a scary picture that looks from a movie. This picture is also using the rule of thirds because the main subject of the picture isn't in the center, it is more off set in the picture. I would say the focal point of the image is on the elephant on the floor in the top left corner and another focal point is in the bottom right corner looking at the white car. There is extra space in the image with the trees and road but it makes up for the chaos in the focal points of the picture. The edge of the image takes place where the trees are and they don't have importance to the story of the image.
I would say there is a different story being told in the picture. The story shows what happened to the elephants and how everyone stood to help or watch what happened. I think the arthritis made this image because it was something you wouldn't normally see on a daily basis and through it would be a good picture to get. This image also reminds me of movies and books. This image reminds me of the book “One and only Ivan” which is also about an elephant.
I like this photograph because it is very interesting and enjoyable to look at. It captures many different ideas and shows many colors to portray a story in a photo. I think the photograph was very successful because again, it's very interesting to look at. One of the reasons it's so interesting to look at it is because you don't see this normally and it takes some time to try and understand what is going on in the image.

Brooke Kapoor

10/22/2021 07:20:00 am

This photo makes me feel extremely sad. I honestly thought it was blood, however now that I know the back story I know that the Elephant is only tranquilized. The elephant wouldn't have had to be tranquilized had the man who was "training," the elephants just let the elephant live free. Elephants are already endangered and deserve to have a beautiful life.
This image is of a tranquilized elephant who killed its trainer. However, I though the elephant got hit by a car and was bleeding out. A big part of this image is also the sheriff which helps paint the picture and describes the intensity of the situation.
The contrast of this photo is quite heavy. To be honest, it kind of hurts my eyes to look at, not because the picture is bad but because the color scheme is so drastically different. The color of the road is a beige light and soft color, compared to the green of the trees is vibrate and harsh. I also find the vacant space on the left corner of the picture quite interesting.
This picture could be communicating the endangerment of Elephants or it could just be a cool shot. To me, it looks like a dream because of the color contrast and how odd this photo is. This photo makes me feel sad for both the elephant and the deceased trainer.
I think the photographer succeeded but it's not my favorite image. I think the contrast is too high but the image itself is cool and has solid subjects. I think if he just fixes the editing, this photo would be great! I also love elephants so it makes me sad to think about all the things this elephant has been through both on that day the photo was taken and before.

Kaleb Yu

10/22/2021 07:20:48 am

Upon first glance, the image is very bizarre. From the local sheriff, to the elephant lying in the middle of the road. You can see many people crowding around the elephant, almost as if it’s an exhibit, which it kind of is. When will you ever see an elephant lying in the middle of the road in the countryside?
But I digress. The overall image seems surreal to me, almost as if everyone in the photo doesn’t know what to do. I mean, it’s literally an elephant in the road. I initially thought that it was a gasoline leak coming from the truck, but boy was I wrong. The use of the rule of thirds really captures the attention of the observer to the elephant incident and even to the sheriff. It’s funny because I feel like the sheriff really adds to the chaos of the overall situation.
Even the time of day adds an extra layer to the overall feel of the photograph. To me it looks like it’s a bit past noon. The image feels hot; it feels dry, though I probably say that because of the overall abundance of dead grass. I want to describe this photo as dry because of how the water almost “cleans” the road, washing away the dust and what not.
The image even looks like it’s an angle. I want to say it’s at a bird’s-eye-view, but with the way the road sort of increases in inclination, I’m not too sure. But for the sake of simplicity, I’ll say that it’s at a bird’s-eye-view. The photographer even uses the whole frame, implementing the whole setting, rather than focusing on just the elephant or the sheriff. As I said many times before, this adds even more chaos to the overall feel of the image. So that’s three elements of composition that the photographer used in this photo: point-of-view, rule of three thirds, and using the whole frame.

Georgia Martinez

10/22/2021 07:22:37 am

The Image depicts a road, probably in a small town or between towns. It is surrounded by trees and brush. There is another path going off the road that is a little rockier. There is a sheriff's car parked with the door open, and further ahead on the road there is a large truck and another car. There is also an elephant that appears to be unconscious on the road and is being hosed down by a woman. There are several other people watching on the side of the road and the sheriff is overseeing all of it. There are two buildings, maybe houses, in the brush where people may live or work. The brush is very yellow so it is probably summer and very hot outside. It is a very brightly lit photo and looks like it was taken in the middle of the day. The photo has a certain faded quality about it that seems to remove it from the present day.
The photo is taken pretty far away from the action of the elephant and all of the people. That is more in the background and the sheriff’s care is more in the foreground. It is taken from a bird’s eye view because we seem to be looking down on all of it. The sheriff’s car is in the bottommost and farthest right third, and the elephant and people seem to be just off center in the picture, using the rule of thirds. My eye was immediately drawn to the sheriff’s car, but I made my way to focusing on the elephant and trucks, the subject of the photo. The subject does not take up the full frame of the photo, but it is still very clearly the subject.
I think the purpose of the photo is to capture the unusual on a usually quiet street. This does not seem to be the natural habitat of an elephant, so its presence is definitely not typical. That is clearly shown by the large crowd of people watching and the fact that the sheriff came out. It could also be showing how much power we have over animals, because here are these tiny humans controlling a large and powerful animal. In a way, it shows how small people are from taking the picture from far away, and yet, they are still in more control than an elephant.
I do like the photo because it gives an unique perspective of an unexpected subject. It depicts more than what you would usually see, and it captured the different aspects of the photo really well. I think it was very successful. It does a good job at forcing the viewer to look at all of the different parts of the picture, and still clearly displays what the subject is. It gives a different perspective on what is happening in the moment, and really allows the viewer to think about what is happening.

Kendrick De Luna

10/22/2021 07:24:46 am

Seeing this picture my eye tends to look at the sheriff car that is closest to us. I didn't see the elephant at first glance. I saw the car then the trees around the wet spot. This picture gives me an odd feeling because you really have to look at the picture to see what's going on.
I thought the elephant was dead and that it was leaking blood. This photo has to be an older photo because the cars are older or it is just an older smaller town that doesn't have a lot of money to update the cop cars. As I'm typing this I see more and more on the sides watching this whole thing happen. I also noticed the roads look kind of beat and in a rural town.
It gives me an odd feeling because this just doesn't feel real. When will I go outside and see an elephant laying down asleep. The theme of this picture to me is a confusing theme because my eyes are confused because there is so much going on and just going all over the picture looking at everything going on.
Inclusion i don't like this picture. It gives me a headache and makes me think too much. Reading the backstory and finding out the elephant isn't dead confused me even more. Making me look at the little details.

Krish Puri

10/22/2021 07:26:58 am

Within the scene, I can see a large elephant lying down or possibly collapsed in the middle of a road. The setting is possibly in an area with high elevation and cooler temperatures due to the fact that there are pine trees. It looks to be spring or summer due to the fact that there is no snow and the people aren’t wearing jackets. There is a sheriff car stopped on the road implying that the situation is serious. There are people gathered next to the elephant, implying that something out of the ordinary has occurred. There is either blood or water dripping down the elephant. There is a shadow of the elephant, telling us there is sun.

The image is not appealing to look at because it is sad to see the elephant just lying there on the road. The point of view is from an aerial perspective, birds eye view. The sheriff's car uses the rule of thirds. The depth is shown by the road and the trees. The image isn’t symmetrical.

The theme in this image is that people care for others. All of these people have stopped on the road to see what happened to the elephant. The story being told here is about an escaped elephant asleep after being tranquilized. This image brings up the elephant controversy in today's society. This image beautifully depicts how a majestic elephant has fallen and is being protected by nature with the trees surrounding it.

I like this photo because it shows how even the most powerful of us can fall. This image failed in my opinion because it didn’t put enough emphasis on the elephant. This is because of the extremely large frame used. The elephant should be in the middle of the rule of thirds. This would shift the main focus to the elephant.

ethan green

10/22/2021 07:33:40 am

The image shows an unconscious elephant that had been hit by a tranquilizing dart. At first the image caught my eye in a weird kind of way, I thought that the weird spillage on the road was blood and not just sweat. I thought it was like poachers killing an elephant and taking away its iron. I notice the sheriff in the background which tells me that they might be doing something illegal. The setting looks kind of remote which is perfect for a killing or something sketchy and against the rules. It caught my eye because the trees were really pretty and tall and the sun made them have huge shadows reflecting to the ground.

The image is not pleasing because there is a helpless elephant in the middle of the road with sweat stains and liquid poured out onto the street. The rule of thirds is being applied to this picture because the light posts line up with the ground, one of the 2 vertical lines in the rule of thirds. And the top of the house in the background lines up with the top horizontal line in the rule of thirds as well. The photo's point of interest is definitely the elephant because of the utter randomness of it and how sad it is.

I don't really see a story behind it because it is kind of random. It doesn't really change my views on anything really, it just looks kind of strange in a way that I don’t lie. It kind of looks like a dream in the way of how random it is. It looks like something I would never think could ever happen.

I don’t really like the image because it's weird. It's really starting and it looks illegal to look at. I’m very confused on what exactly is going on and there are a lot of focal points. The only thing that is good is the rule of thirds. Everything lines up well in this particular photo.

Dorganator

10/22/2021 07:35:01 am

Upon first seeing this image my eyes immediately flew to the small green and white house on the right side. This house is perfectly located to attract attention while not distracting from what I presume may be the main article of the image. This house is surrounded by trees and helps show how rural this area is. If it were completely barren or purely trees, this image wouldn’t seem rural, it would seem blatantly bland and empty. This house is, dare I say, the most important part of the image.
The next attractive part of the image was the white four door sedan on the road. This car really stands out. Like the house, but even more so, it obeys the rule of thirds. Its white nature establishes it as one of the foremost objects in the image.This white car is very attractive, and much like the house, it helps add to the less barren but still empty feeling.
Of course, the main article, the elephant and the men, is right in the middle. The main article does very little to stand out as the color is blended to the background. Furthermore, it is not really in focus disallowing high end viewing of it. Though it is on the rule of thirds, the colors and low focus really prevent it from standing out. However, it has to be the main article as the story behind the image implies that the elephant is the primary subject.
In conclusion, the image is either poorly made or a masterpiece by accident. It could just be a bad image, which is what I personally believe it is. However, arguments could be made to say that it is like Netflix’s The Highwaymen to Bonnie and Clyde. The focus and attractiveness could show that the sheriff is the main protagonist and the elephant, who is the target of sympathy, is the antagonist. Instead of focusing on the bad guys' progression, it follows the good guys and their attempt to catch the sympathetic antagonists.

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Period 2 - Critical Analysis No.1

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