Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #4

11/15/2019

Today you will be writing about this self-portrait image by Japanese artist Natsumi Hayashi.

Your analysis must be 5 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's post, it will not be graded.

If you do not complete your analysis in class, you must finish it by midnight tonight.

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

Some things to consider:

What steps might the artist have had to take to make this photograph happen? Do you think this would be a simple or difficult image to create?
What does the perspective that this was taken from suggest about the artist?
A self-portrait tells us something about the person being photographed. What do you think this artist wants us to take away from her photograph?

8 Comments

Tomas Espejo

11/15/2019 11:37:56 am

The color that are being used in the photograph include: pink, green, yellow, silver and black. The color green is being used by her shirt, and the watch. The color black is being used for the cable in the pillar. Black is also being used as a background for the water fountain that she is drinking out of. The color silver is being used in the photograph by the water fountains main color. And finally pink is being used as the color of the girls shirt.

This image has some things in the photograph that are being cut off by the frame/edge of the photo. One thing that is being is being cut off is the ends of the track that the subway would run. Another thing that is being cut off by the frame is the half of the pillars. On the left hand side the pillar is being cut in half, and on the right hand in the pillar is missing a little bit to it. The final thing that is being cut off by the fame is the end of the lighting on the ceiling.

I think that this image can be described by beautiful, interesting, and noteworthy. This image is interesting because I can’t stop thinking of how the photographer got herself to basically float in the air. And also how she got the water to freeze in time while the person in the photo is attempting to drink it. I think that this image is beautiful because I love how the photographer got the person, and the water to freeze to get a good quality image. This image is noteworthy because i think it is very cool that she is floating in the air in the photo.

I have two feelings for this photo, I like it and dislike it. One reason why I enjoy observing at this photo is thinking of how the photographer took this image so perfect. Another reason why I like looking at this image is because it is really cool and interesting on how the cameraman got the person and the water to freeze while taking a picture of them both. Some of the reasons why I dislike this image is because it gets me annoyed looking at this picture and not knowing which buttons to press to make a replica of it. The final reason why I dislike this picture is because the only thing good about the photo is the person and water floating. Nothing else really pops out of the photo when you look at it carefully.

I think a lot of steps had to be made to take this photo, but I can’t go into detail about that because I don't know what the photographer did to make the photo. For the photo to come out this good, the photographer had to take this photo maybe 50 or 60 times to get it the way he liked it. The image that the person took is very good, and it probably took him or her a long time to finish editing it. Taking a picture like this would be very difficult to do because it requires a lot of steps. And is probably complicated on a number of levels. This image would be difficult for me but easy for a pro.

Jacob PErez

11/15/2019 11:40:48 am

This is an image of a girl using the water fountain but having the effect of floating. I think she is using the color gray as the wall color to show it as bland, and to bring all the attention to her. She does this by wearing a red backpack and pink clothes. The lighting used in this image is natural light, and it’s clear. She is trying to drink from the fountain while floating is what is happening.

This image is very pleasing to look at because she is in mid air, but looks like she is floating which most artists don't use in their images. But I do not think that the rule of thirds is being used in this image. The point of view of this image is a 1st person view, like a person just walked up and saw this happening. This image uses a shallow depth of wild but not very shallow. The focal point is definitely the artist floating in mid air. This image mostly fills in the empty space of the subway, the only spacious area would be located at the top left corner.

I think the idea of this image is that anything can be accomplished if you put your mind to it. I can infer this because maybe she wanted to make an image of herself floating, but struggled with what i can assume as the hard task of doing it. I think there can be a story behind this image , of a girl who wanted to be a great artist but had many obstacles in her way. But eventually she did overcome it and made this wonderful art piece to show that anything is possible. I would definitely say that is image is interesting because she is floating which as previously said is not commonly seen.

I for sure do like this image because of the fact that it is so rare to see a real life image defying gravity as this image does. The only reason i wouldn't like this image is because i feel that just having one person in this image is a little low. If say there was a crowd walking by as if she wasnt floating and going on with their day would bring even more interest to this image. I believe this image is successful in telling its story of passion. The only unsuccessful part of this image is among of vague nothingness in the background, but it could be done like this on purpose to bring all the attention to her.

I think some of the steps she took to accomplish this image was to first get access to an empty subway, maybe by asking the owner of it. Another step would be to set the camera on a tripod, set a timer, and get on a chair and point one of her legs upward. The final step would be to edit the chair or helpers out of the image. I think this image would have been very difficult to make. I think the artist wants us to take away two messages from this im

Andy Cubriel

11/15/2019 11:43:32 am

This photo shows a girl floating near a water fountain. She is pressing the button to get water, and it looks like she is in a subway station. There is a neon clock high up on a wall with the time reading, “10:14”, and there are several signs in the image that you are unable to read because the focus is on the girl and the water fountain. The girl has a backpack on, pink shorts, pink shoes, and she is wearing a giraffe shirt. The image uses pink, white, and grey for colors, to not evoke too much sadness or happiness from the image. The lighting from the image is studio, because it is inside where there is no natural light.

In my opinion, this image is very pleasing to look at. The colors are very tame, and the lighting isn’t too bright so it doesn't hurt your eyes to look at, and it’s not too dark, so you don’t have to strain your eyes to look at it. The photographer uses the rule of thirds in this image by placing herself off to the left hand side, having the water fountain in the middle, and the clock in the left hand upper corner. The point of view is eye level, just so we can see how the girl is floating relative to us. The depth of field is narrow, because you can only see the girl and the water fountain in great detail.

The theme I notice in this image is magical realism. The girl is in an ordinary everyday place, and she herself seems fairly ordinary, except for the fact that she is floating. The story to me seems to be that the girl noticed that nobody was around the subway station, and decided to use her ability to float to the water fountain and take a nice cool drink. This image reminds me of the subway station in New York, because you see all kinds of different people with different talents or stories. This image is very interesting because it makes you wonder about the process of creating this image.

I think the artist might have had to do compositing to make this image happen, meaning she took several photos of the same thing, such as her being on a table for one of the images, and then a photo without the table being taken, and then her mixing the photos to create a photo where there is no table. I believe it would have been difficult to take this photo, just because editing it could be difficult, and the fact that it is a self portrait, meaning she did all of this on her own. The perspective of this photo is eye level, and I believe it suggests that the woman is small. She can fit in the whole frame, despite her levitating, and us being at the height of an average person, so I believe that this suggests that the woman is little. I think the artist wants us to take away from the image that an average looking person can have special abilities.

I really like this image. It is easy on the eyes, and has a great exposure. The objects that are important in the image are in focus, and there isn't too much going on in the photograph. I think the photo is successful because the quality of the image is great, and it is really sharp. The photographer also took the image by themselves, so a good amount of work went into making it look good

Kate McDaniel

11/15/2019 11:47:34 am

This photo was taken by Natsumi Hayashi in what looks like a train station. The image is a self-portrait, and in this case, she is levitating over a water fountain. The main object is really the only thing that is in focus, however, the bright green clock is very apparent. The colors look very beige with occasional reds and greens. The lighting looks like the picture was taken at night, and the photo was also taken at what looks like to be an underground train station. It looks like the photo was taken at night because you can not see any other people around and the clock reads 10:14.

This image is confusing to looks at, probably because the main object is levitating off the ground. It looks like when the photo was being taken, the main object was kneeling on a chair over the water fountain. However, when they went in to edit, they just cropped the chair out. My eyes travel from one end of the photo to the other by following the lines in the image. They first travel up the gold pole on the left, down the red line, and back down the wall. The focal point of this photo is Natsumi, who took a self-portrait. It also looks like she is jumping to capture the photo.

This image looks like it could represent someone who is traveling, or maybe someone who missed their train. It could represent someone who is traveling because she is wearing a backpack and clothes that look like someone would wear to travel in. It could also represent someone who missed their train because no one that we can see is around and no one in the train station really stops to get water. Everyone is usually in a hurry. This image reminds me of when I used to travel a lot with my family and we would always take the train at least once.

I think this image is successful because the photographer made a picture that people want to look at. What I mean by that is people have to look at the picture for a while to understand what is really going on. I kind of like this picture because I like the set up of it. However, I also kind of don’t like the photo because the colors are very beige. In the end, I think this photo was successful.

A step that this photographer may have had to go through is setting up the photo. The photo might have needed to be set up so it can look like the main object is levitating. Another step into making this image could be editing. Editing can come into play when the photographer wants to make the main object look like she’s levitating, so there could need some editing done. I think this would probably be a difficult image to create because of all the different components that come into play. This perspective could mean that the artist has had a dream about floating around or something that they may have gone through in the past. I think the artist wanted us to take away that you can really do anything if you put your mind into it.

Suly Welsh

11/18/2019 09:54:08 am

BLOG #4 | 11/15/19

"Today's Levitation 05/06/2011" by Natsumi Hayashi

This image portrays a young woman (probably in college, or around that age) who is about to drink water from a water fountain (while she's levitating) at what seems like a transportation terminal. I'm not sure if it's a train station because the tracks aren't really visible, but it is a terminal for some kind of transportation. There's a clock on the top right corner which is a neon green color (really ugly color, but matches very well with the other bright colors in the picture), and it's probably to check arrival or departure times of some sort. There's a yellow line on the floor that is used at rollercoasters to prevent people from getting too close to the mechanism and not get hurt; which could be there to show the place for a vehicle. The colors are very vivid. Most of the image has very neutral and beige-type colors, and this makes the colorful accents pop. The colorful accents are mostly red, yellow, and green. The lighting seems very strong and white, as if in a facility. It's very bright, but you can tell that it's not natural. It's that potent LED light bombing the whole picture.

This picture is pleasing to look at for me because it has a very fitted center of attention. The girl flying and the water fountain are splat right in the middle of the composition. The rule of thirds is not being used because the picture's main object is right in the middle, not at any of the outer squares or corners of a 3x3 photo grid. This was taken from an eye-level point of view but from a distance. It makes it seem as if the observer is watching from afar. As is they were hiding, and not supposed to see this girl levitating in the middle of a transportation station. There is no extra space in this image.

The theme in this image is levitation. There is a girl in a completely mundane place, doing a completely mundane thing- drinking water- but she is levitating, NOT MUNDANE AT ALL. It's such a simplistic idea- drinking water at a station, but there is this element of surrealism when you see the girl levitating. The fact that it's just this one girl makes the image all the more fascinating because it implies that you could see this at a normal place. It's not like it's a girl with a superhero costume, it's a regular girl in regular clothes. It's not this backdrop of being in outer space or a magical realm, it's this regular facility. It's not a girl performing a heroic act of slaying a mystical creature, it's just a girl trying to drink some water. I think the intention is like the intention of any magician when they play a trick: it's entertaining and it elicits an "out of the ordinary" feeling.

I really like this photograph. I think it's funny that after every blog, I like the new picture more and more. They just keep getting better and better. One of the things that really captured my attention is how different it is. It's such a simple picture for it being a
surreal-like concept. I'm a sucker for any art that has a subtle surreal or magical theme to it, and this is a perfect example of one. Plus, the photographer is a Japanese artist and Japanese artists are so freaking talented. We've been analyzing mostly American artists, so I think this was a nice and fresh change to what we've been seeing. I definitely think it's a successful image and is incredibly unique and fun to observe.

Ali Welsh

11/18/2019 06:10:50 pm

This self-portrait was taken by Japanese artist Natsumi Hayashi. It looks like it was taken on a public transportation like a subway. There is a woman who gives an illusion that her legs are floating while she is holding the water fountain with one hand, a clock, and two poles. The colors that are being used are red, peach, pink, yellow, grey, black, cream, green, white, blue, and brown. Hayashi used these colors to give a natural and friendly vibe. The lighting that is used looks like the lights from the ceiling without a studio set-up.

It is pleasing to look at since it is not hard to focus and calm. Hayashi took this photo from an eye perspective on a tripod when you look at the women getting water from the water fountain. The focal point is the women and the water fountain. The lines that guide you around the picture start at the bottom on the floor and goes to the right up the pool across to the left then down the left pole and across back to the right where you started. The image doesn’t fill the space since there is a lot of blank space around the focal point. The image cropped off the rest of the wall, pole, and floor tiles.

The theme of this picture is imaginary. It is imaginary because it has an illusion that the woman is flying. There is probably a story that reflects Hayashi but I don’t know it. I think the intention of Hayashi was to make the audience look twice at the picture due to the illusion. At the moment I don’t have something at the top of my mind that reminds me of this picture. It questioned my beliefs of gravity since the woman gives an illusion like she is flying or that there is no gravitational pull but the water from the water fountain comes out perfectly.

This image is interesting and beautiful since it is not something that you would see daily. Hayashi did a successful job in creating this image different than most pictures that we see daily because this image catches our attention and makes us doubt our beliefs in gravity. I think this image was difficult to take since in general self-portraits are hard to take and to give the illusion that she is flying is harder. I like this picture and is not hard to focus since there isn’t too much going on. The quality of the image is good and it’s also sharp so the work turned out stunning. I think Hayashi did edit this picture because if she was jumping she would grip a little more on the water fountain but for barely holding it, and the floor under her being so smooth with no shadows shows that she erased something.

Gabby Beck

11/18/2019 06:31:36 pm

The image shows a girl floating above the ground and holding onto a water fountain. There is a clock behind her reading 10:14 and she seems to be in some sort of a facility or train station. There are alot of neutral colors except for the girl who is wearing a green shirt with pink shorts. The lighting is from the lights on the ceiling and they are pretty bright. It looks like time has stopped and the girl is frozen in midair and the water from the fountain is frozen in an arch.

The image is interesting to look at because the colors contrast nicely. The photographer took the image from an eye level point of view. The image seems pretty symmetrical because the girl and water fountain are in between two poles. The image cuts off part of a pole, the ceiling, and floor. There is extra space behind the girl like the wall and the floor is also extra space.

The idea in the photo is levitation and the thought that you can defy odds, even gravity’s. The intent of this image was probably to encourage people to reach for the stars or go for what they believe. This image reminds me of being in space and having the ability to float in the air. The image is interesting because you have a normal train station and then you see a girl floating over a water fountain. This photo questions our ability to levitate or fly.

I like this photo because it has nice lighting and colors. It is also appealing in the way that it is confusing because you would never think to see a levitating girl in a train station, but here we are! I would say that the image is successful. This is not only because of the pleasant contrast of colors, but the fact that the girl is doing an abnormal thing that catches our attention. The photograph shows a sort of freedom and grace when she floats in the air.

There were most likely a multitude of steps to taking these photos. She would have to set up her tripod and focus the camera where she will jump. She would have to have a timer on if she was taking a self portrait and time her jump just perfectly. The lighting would have to be bright so she could have a fast shutter speed to take the photo. There are probably a lot more steps into making this photo but the outcome is definitely worth it.

Colin Finerghty

11/18/2019 08:08:36 pm

In this image, the first thing that my eye goes to is the girl that is levitating above a water fountain. Her hand grips the edge of the water fountain almost making it look like she’s holding on to it so she doesn't fly away. The water is flowing out of the nozzle of the fountain. The setting seems to be a train station in a foreign country due to the fact that there is writing on a pillar that is in another language than English. The object in the image is a girl that has a face if almost thrill on it as she glares into the stream fo water coming out of the spot of the water fountain. There are almost all bland colors being used other than a little pop of pink in a stipe on the wall and a mark of yellow on the ground.

This image is very pleasing to look at, it's satisfying due to the fact that there is literally a person levitating over a water fountain, I mean that's pretty cool! The rule of thirds is not being used because the girl that is levitating is in the middle of the image. The point of view for this image is square because is not low and not high it is right in the middle of the image. This image is symmetrical because it is not upside down or anything wonky it's right on level. The subject does not fill the whole frame because there is a lot of the background of what looks to be a subway system or a train station.

I feel like an idea that is going on in this image is magic, The girl in the photo is levitating and it’s cool to look at and almost looks like a magic trick, and it’s like she does this every day, like a normal schedule for her but this time she is floating. This image does remind me of Disney movies with all of the magic that they have in them. This image is very interesting because it’s like it should not be possible, it’s not natural to float like that or keep the position while drinking water, so it’s just a cool concept.

I really do like this image because the fact that it has a lot of thought and imagination in it. It is Pleasing to look out and has a story to tell behind it. It’s almost like looking at a Disney film, full of magic, and thought. I like this photograph overall and I think it is a very cool shot.

This photo may have been taken at a very high shutter speed to capture her in mid-air. Or it could have been taken with her standing on the project and then when they went to edit the picture thy basically erased the chair out of the picture. There are a couple of ways that the image could have been taken, but those, in my opinion, were most likely the way they were.

Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #4

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