Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #8

1/10/2020

Today you will be writing about this photograph by artist Jerry Uelsmann. This photograph is a composite, or an image made up of several combined photographs.

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 for homework by midnight.

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:

This photograph is a composite—i.e., it is made up of more than one image.

How is Uelsmann (the photographer) using compositing to influence the overall mood and feeling of the image?
How do you think this image was created?

Tomas Espejo

1/10/2020 11:29:10 am

Some colors that I would observe in the photograph include: Black, white, grey, and a little bit of brown. Black is really being used for most of the image and so is white and grey. You can see a little bit of brown covering the stand on the right hand side of the photo. Black is mostly being used in the sky and on the floor, part of the shadows. Whtie is being used for the floor and a lot of the sky. Grey is a mixture of them both surrounding the entire photo.

Some of the things that are being cut off by the edge of the image include the rest of the room and the remaining part of the sky. The top of the photo and top left, and right are cutting off most of the sky. On the left side of the image it is cutting off the outer part of the room and some of the floor. The right side of the picture is cutting off the other side of the room and some part of the floor. But mostly the floor and the room are the objects in the picture that are being cut off the most.

This image is interesting, noteworthy, and beautiful. I think it is interesting because this picture is in balck and white, and to me I like those kinds of photographs. Another reason why i think it is interesting because there is a man on the little ledge of the paper in front of the room. This picture of noteworthy because I would enjoy investigating on how the photographer out the little man on the table in front of the room. I think that this image is beautiful because of how the sun is emerging from the sky at the top of the picture.

I like this photo and also dislike it. An example of why I dislike it is because i cat see most of the room that the photograph is centered on. I also dislike it because of how dull the photograph without color and without expression. To me this picture doesn't pop anything out. I like photography because of how there is a little man on the table in front of the room and photo. Another reason why I enjoy observing this photo is because how the sun is pooping out of the sky.

I think this image was created by the photographer taking a picture of a rando room and timing it just right on how the sun is pooping out of the sky. He aos had to adjust the lighting in the photograph. After he took this picture he edited it and made I as it was black and white. After he made it black and white the photographer took a selfie of himself were the table used to be. Then he edited it so as to make himself smaller and fit onto the table.

Jacob Perez

1/10/2020 11:29:36 am

This is an image of a person walking on what seems to be a map. The room doesn't have a ceiling at all, exposing the open night sky. I also see that this room is an older model due to its build pattern and place of fireplace. The map that the man is walking on is on a stool that looks for studying. The dominant color is being used to either represent sadness, creepiness, or telling us this image is trying to represent that of an older time.

This image isn't that pleasing to look at due to the fact that the image is dominantly gray, giving it a touchy feelings. This image is from the point of view of a small child walking into this room. The focal point of this image is for sure the map that the man is standing on. The rule of thirds is not being used in this image. Also this image is not symmetrical at all. The only positive space in this image is the sun that is behind a cloud, the rest of the image is mostly negative spacing.

I think the theme or idea of this image if that you can get into your work and forget about the wonders of the outdoors. I think the story of this image is a man who is deep into literature and he spends almost all of his days in his reading room. This man has become so linked into his reasons that he is now feeling like he is in the books themselves. Due to this he never experienced the feelings that come with the adventure of the outdoors. I think he made this image to tell people that even if you get caught up in your work that's no excuse to just stay inside all cooped up in your work.

I do like this image because most images now a days are all happy and joyful. Now there is nothing wrong with that it's just nice to see something different. It is just like in the movies, the hero always wins and the villain loses. It's very interesting to watch the villain win for once. I think the image is successful in expressing its idea and theme of still needing to go outside and spend time with your family no matter how much work you have.

He is using compositing to influence us by opening the dark sky to tell us about the great outdoors. He also uses it by putting the man into his work to tell us about how he is almost trapped in it. I think this image was created by him taking a picture of the sky right before it was about to rain, thus giving more clouds and a darker feeling. He then took a picture of his work room or someone else's work room. Then he just simply cut out the roof and inserted the gloomy sky.

Andy Cubriel

1/10/2020 11:44:42 am

This image is of an old style room, with the roof missing, allowing the sky to be seen. There is a fireplace filled with wood, a door, a plate on the mantle of the fireplace, a drawer, and a drafting table. On the drafting table, there is a man walking up, as if he is climbing up a mountain. The lighting is a mix, because the room is fairly dark, but the sky which can be seen through the roof, is lit up. It is studio light, and natural light. In the image, there is not much happening except for the man walking up the book.

I would say that this image is pleasing to look at. The photo looks like a lot of different exposures were taken to make everything look better. The rule of thirds is being used by having the drafting table be slightly off center, so that the image looks more interesting. The photographer took this photo at what I call “Toddler view™”, meaning he took the photo from the point of view of a small child. This means you can see up past the table, but you are not on top of the table’s height. The subject fills most of the frame, but what the room didn’t take up, the photographer filled with clouds.

The theme in this image to me is randomness, and boredom. The randomness comes from having a fancy wood room, with the window open. The reason this is so random to me is that a wood room would be ruined by any rain. The boredom comes from the man walking up along the book on the drafting table, ambling aimlessly, reminding me of a boring dream. I think the artist made this image to show the point that writers spend most of their time writing aimlessly, similar to how the man seems to be ambling across the table, in an attempt to write something that would allow them to not have to write in order to put food on the table.

Overall, I like this image. It’s very interesting to look at, and the more that you look at it, the more you notice. While that should answer the questions you have, it doesn’t, and leaves more room for interpretation. I think this photograph is successful. It very clearly took a lot of time to make, with all the editing that went into it, and all the photos that needed to be made. That is not to mention that multiple exposures were probably having to be made.

The photographer is using compositing to influence the overall mood of the image. He does this by taking things that seem like they clash, and adding them to the photo. An example of this is the stress that would be experienced while writing at a drawing table, and the calmness of the sky being shown in the photo. He also evokes a sad feeling using compositing, by showing the man wandering on the desk, like he has no purpose. I know that this image was made using compositing. That means he took multiple photos, and exposures and edited them together to make an overall better image. He had to do this in a dark room, because photoshop did not exist yet, meaning that this process was a lot more painstaking.

Gabby Beck

1/12/2020 02:11:25 pm

The image shows an open room with a desk in the center and a small man on a map. The room is decorated to look old timey and fashionable and is in black and white. There is one beam of sunlight that shines a light on the man and creates dark shadows throughout the room. There are multiple objects around the room for décor, but the most significant are the man and the desk. The man seems to be on a sort of adventure because there is a map and the sky opens up like its leading him.

For me the image isn’t pleasing to look at because the sky looks a little fake and I’m just not a big fan of black and white. The rule of thirds is being used in this because the subject of the photo is not in the middle of the picture; it is positioned at the bottom. The photo is mostly framed by the walls of the room, but then is left open in the sky. The walls and sky are a lot of extra space in the photo. The other part of the room in the photograph are cut off and the wall cuts off the sky above.

I see there is a theme of adventure and mystery because there is a map on the desk and there is a tiny man! The man seems to be looking for something or has a goal in mind. The clouds in the photo reminds me of watching sped up videos where the clouds are just cruising by. This picture questions our thoughts on reality because that man can’t really be that small and who would have a room that opens you up to all the elements. The image is interesting in the way that he made the photo, taking many pieces and composing it into a completely different thought.

I do like the photo’s ideas but I don’t like how it was composed. The sky looks kind of fake and I appeal more to colorful photos. I don’t really think this photo was very successful. I just think there is a lot going on in it that it makes it too much to understand. The idea of magic mystery and adventure in the image is cool thought because it opens up a whole new possibility.

This photo was composed of multiple other photos by Jerry Uelsmann. The original photo must have just been the room with all of the furniture. Then he takes a photo of the sky, cuts out the ceiling of the room, and places the sky there. Then he might have taken a picture of a man from far away, making him small. Then he would’ve photoshopped that man onto the desk. Finally, he convert all the colors to black and white.

Colin Finerghty

1/12/2020 08:02:07 pm

The first thing that catches my eye in this photo is the use of colors, there are very dark colors including black, light and dark grey and even white. The next thing I see is a desk with a person walking on top of it, kinda odd. The next interesting thing is see is the ceiling of the picture, well it's not a ceiling it's a day sky. The setting of the room is like a study room or an office type area.

This image is pleasing to look at because of everything that is going on, there are different colors being used in different ways and the ceiling is weird and there's even a person walking on a huge desk. The rule of thirds is being used in this picture, there is the sky ceiling and then the middle with the desk and then the floor. The point of view is from the front. Its framed by how large the room is. The image is symmetrical and straight. The positive space is the desk and the negative is the background of the image.

The story that I think is being told may be how big the world is. Compared to the size of the human the human on the desk everything is much much larger than it so that's what it may be showing. This reminds me of a dream I once had when everything was a lot bigger than me. The image is very interesting due to the fact that there is not a lot of story.

I really like this image because of how it is portrayed, it's just interesting like you don't see it every day. I feel like this photo was successful in being weird and almost quirky but failed at trying to tell the person a story.

How I think this image was taken was by doing the compseting thing in photoshop where you put your camera on a tripod and you take multiple pictures and layer them together due to the fact that there is a blue sky which is definitely not an open air office and then a room and then a person walking on that desk, everything that is going on in the image is just pointing to that is what is being used.

Ahmad

1/12/2020 11:03:47 pm

The image was made by the artist Jerry Uelsmann. The image looks like an office with a writer’s desk and a little man on the desk. The image uses a black and white theme because it shows more of the mood. The lighting looks like it may be studio-setup because they are using the negative. The objects included are a desk, shelves, roofless sky, the man on the desk, and some book shelves.

The focal point is mainly the desk. The rule of thirds is being used at the bottom left where the subject is. The photographer took the photo in a third-person perspective or point of view. The subject doesn’t fill the space because there is a lot of space. The frame doesn’t really cut off because it is all just a room.

Some ideas I can think of is that there is an infinite opportunities for freedom which is why there is no roof. I don’t see a story forming up in the image. I also don’t see the intention of the image, especially with the negatives. The image does have a lot of books which reminds me of an office. The image is noteworthy.

I, personally, like this image because it makes me think about the intention of the artist had. It looks very dream-like and I compliment the artist. I think the image was a success. If his intentions were to make me confused but still make me like it, he has succeeded. If he could give us a little background, it would be really helpful.

the image is a composite which is 2 images basically combined. The artist uses compositing to add the roof to being a sky. He does that to influence the mood of the photograph. I feel like they used a tripod to take the photo because it looks so still. He also used the negative of the photograph to make it black and white

Alissa Welsh

1/13/2020 11:04:00 am

This image was taken by Jerry Uelsmann. It looks like it was taken inside an office with a sky as the ceiling. A little man is walking in the podium on top of a book, there is wood on and beside the fireplace, a plate hanging, two vintage chairs, bookshelves, a candle, two vases with flowers, a mirror, a desk, a drawer, sun half behind clouds, and clouds floating around. This image is black and white so those are the only colors that are being shown. Uelsmann made the photo black and white to help the viewer to focus on a subject’s emotional state. With that said, inside the office, it uses the ceiling light while the sky uses the sun.

This image is nice to look at since the sky as the roof makes it look unrealistic. Uelsmann took this picture from an eye point of view from a little kid. The rule of thirds is slightly used with the podium not being in the center instead of slightly to the left. The focal point is the podium and the little man who is walking on the book. The lines to go around would be from the carpet to the top of the shelves around and down. There is a blank space between the sun and clouds. The image crops off the rest of the shelves, the corner of the carpet, the floor, and clouds.

The theme of this image is magical. It is magical because the image creates an illusion like there was no roof. There is probably a story behind this image but I don’t know it. This picture reminds me of a movie of two witches since when they were facing the evil witch they were in an office and the roof opened. The image at first questioned my belief if the roof was a painting, from glass, or if offices can go on with no roof since the way the sun rays reflect and the little man for me at first looked like a bird.

Looking at this picture I think Uelsmann made himself small because that’s how at a time he felt. To make this image, Uelsmann used composition which is using more than one photo and putting them together. So Uelsmann took a picture of the office and one of the sky and put them together. I think this image was creating reflecting his feelings and have that timeless and unique style. What stood out the most for me was the little man.

I think Uelsmann did a great job of giving that illusion and a creepy mysterious vibe to the audience. I liked the image but not a lot since I had trouble looking at some objects since it’s black and white. I’m curious to know what Uelsmann was going through when he took this image. It may be a metaphor for leaving a mark or footprints since he is walking in the book. I would like to know if this image was a studio set up or not.

Suly Welsh

1/13/2020 11:33:34 am

BLOG #8 | 1/10/2020

A piece from Jerry Uelsmann: Untitled (a.k.a. Philosopher's Desk).

This is a black and white image of a room. It is not an ordinary room because the ceiling is the sky and we can see a little man standing on a desk in the middle of the room. The image is black and white, but the whole image seems to have a dark tone to it except for the sun shining at the left-hand top, and an illuminated desk in the middle of the room. The room resembles an antique workroom for old men. The kind that businessmen worked in at home during the first half of the 1900s. The sky is cloudy and the room looks quiet, but there is still this tiny man standing on a tiny book on top of the desk.

The composition is truly magnificent. You really get to appreciate the layers in this image because they were placed in such a peculiar and creative way. Even though the room doesn't have a ceiling, the sky makes up for it and it still looks natural. Unrealistic and mystical, but natural in the way that it accentuates the room perfectly. I'd say that the rule of thirds is being used in this image because our main focus is the desk with the tiny man. For starters, it is one of the brightest areas in the image and it is set towards the bottom left corner of this image. The photographer used a wide depth of field because everything in this image is refined and unblurred (the back and the front setting of the image).

I don't know what theme the photographer is trying to get at, except for the aesthetic theme of it. I was browsing some of his other pieces and they all seem to have a fantastical and fairytale-like essence to them. The black and white shadows help the aesthetic theme of these images to feel more unreal. Since most people see in color, seeing this just adds a level of detachment to our world and just makes it easier (for me, at least) to become immersed more personally with the image and its content. This image reminds me of the first book of C.S. Lewis' Narnia chronicles. When the uncle is in his study room but then his nephew finds some rings which transport him to narnia, so the ordinary study has some magic to it (like this image).

I really like this image and it was successful in enticing me and captivating my attention. As I've said in some past blogs, I really enjoy pictures that seem creepy and weird. This is one of them. It is a gorgeous image because I've always had a weakness for study rooms and having this secluded little area where you can have your library and drink some coffee by the fireplace while reading it up. I think this made me feel the perfect balance of creepy and intrigue. This is one of those pictures that I just want to auto place myself in and I'd be euphoric.

Comments are closed.

Period 5 -- Critical Analysis #8

Analyze

Archives

Categories

Home