Period 6 -- Critical Analysis #5

10/16/2017

Today you will be writing about this image by artist Sian Davey. The photograph is from her body of work titled Looking For Alice. We will look at some images from this series and discuss it in class before you write.

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's post, it will not be graded.

If you do not complete your analysis in class, you must finish it for homework before your next class on Wednesday, 10/18/17.

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

elizabeth wray

10/16/2017 12:26:12 pm

This image is apart of a series called “Looking for alice.” It is about a down syndrome girl named Alice. She is a young girl, probably around four years of age. In this image, she is toward the background looking at the main focus of the image. The main focus here is a teenage girl. She has brown hair and is wearing a black dress and blue tights underneath. The girl is tanner than Alice, probably hispanic.

In the image, the teenage girl is getting her picture taken by an iPhone. The iphone is blurred out with the focus on the girl. The phone is the only thing that is blurred out in this image, with everything else in focus. The lighting in the image is very good because the photographer only uses natural light. In this particular image, the natural lighting is a window that is to the left of the photo. You cannot see the window, but you can tell that it is there.

I think the story being told in this image is that Alice doesn’t fit in with the rest of the world because of her disease. She wants to get her picture taken with the older girl to feel normal, but she isn’t given enough attention. The artist made this image because she thought this moment was a good time to capture an image of her daughter. It has a lot of thought in the story and it is very deep.

I like this image because the lighting really soothes me. I like how the lighting and exposures are just right, even though in some images they seem a little dark. The natural lighting was a great idea. When i think to take images, I think to use natural lighting to help the affect. Next time I capture images, I will use the natural lighting and the way that this particular photographer did.

boyd meltzer link

10/16/2017 12:26:29 pm

This image depicts a few people present in the same room. The person in the back is a four year old girl named Alice. She is the focal point of this image. The tones are earthy. Blacks and browns are present. There is no bright lighting due to the image being captured indoors. The only lighting is window lighting. These four people seem to be enjoying themselves, taking pictures and smiling. However, Alice appears to be left out of the activity. She is viewing these festivities from the perspective of an outsider.

The composition is pleasing to look at because of the color scheme. The colors go well together. The depth of field was also done well. The rule of thirds is not being used because the focal point of the image is featured directly in the center. However, the other people featured in the image appear to be following the rule of thirds. The point of view of the image is that of someone in the center of the people. This can be inferred due to the third person, who is barely visible and seems to be standing at a close proximity to the photographer. The focal point is, as previously stated, Alice. She is being framed because the two older girls featured in the image service as a frame. The lines of the image do not appear to be ever - present. Mostly, the people are forming the lines, which are askew. There is a lot of extra space in the image. This space is used for the other girls.

A theme that appears to be used in the image is that of the outsider. Sometimes, there are certain people that wish to be part of an event, but are not invited by the people in the event. Alice is a young girl with Down syndrome, and the image tells the story of her wishes to be included. The artist made this image as a part of a series called Looking for Alice. This series features many images of Alice and it tells her story. This is an important image as part of this series. This image questions the belief that kids with mental disorders are “special” and discriminated against by the people who are mentally well. The image is interesting because it challenges that belief.

I like this image due to the story that it is able to tell. This could change viewer’s beliefs on this topic. This image seems influential, along with the rest of the series. The photograph would be successful if it was viewed by a wide audience. Perhaps they would think the same thing that I did.

payton down

10/16/2017 12:29:54 pm

This photo is of a four people hanging out in a room and taking photos of each other. They are girls of all ages and the colors being used are neutral bedroom tones, and the clothing of the subject is darker than anyone else's. Its bright from a window light maybe but it's indoors and not a set up. In the photo it looks like one of the girls is taking a photo of the other one. The other two are just standing in the background. Alice the smallest girl is staring off into space.
It isn't pleasing to look at but looking at it makes you wonder why this photo was taken. The subject is not perfectly centered in the middle which is using the rule of thirds. It looks like a normal bedroom with a girl hanging out with her family and/or friends. The point of view is normal person perspective. It isn't framed by anything but the room there is no frame in this photo. The focal point is the girl posing for the photo. It even looks like she is spraying the girl in front of her with perform. The photo isn't balanced because it is asymmetrical photo. There is much more space than just the subject. The frame cuts off the other side of the room. At the edge of the image is the door to the room and a wall.
The theme of the image is a teenager with a little sister and hanging out in this room. There might be a story based on the smaller girl. She has a blank look on her face, maybe she feels left out or maybe she is infatuated with her surroundings. This image reminds be of what my friends and i do when we hang out. It doesn't question anything from my perspective. I think the image is very interesting. The image shows this little girl and how she can react to what these older girls are doing.
I do like the photo, i think it is saying a lot about the life that the girl lives. I don't hate the photo at all because there is nothing to hate. The photographer is successful with her whole project in general, i think it was a way for her to understand her daughter and how her daughter acts and reacts to certain things. I liked this photo.

payton

10/16/2017 12:31:18 pm

This photo is of a four people hanging out in a room and taking photos of each other. They are girls of all ages and the colors being used are neutral bedroom tones, and the clothing of the subject is darker than anyone else's. Its bright from a window light maybe but it's indoors and not a set up. In the photo it looks like one of the girls is taking a photo of the other one. The other two are just standing in the background. Alice the smallest girl is staring off into space.

It isn't pleasing to look at but looking at it makes you wonder why this photo was taken. The subject is not perfectly centered in the middle which is using the rule of thirds. It looks like a normal bedroom with a girl hanging out with her family and/or friends. The point of view is normal person perspective. It isn't framed by anything but the room there is no frame in this photo. The focal point is the girl posing for the photo. It even looks like she is spraying the girl in front of her with perform. The photo isn't balanced because it is asymmetrical photo. There is much more space than just the subject. The frame cuts off the other side of the room. At the edge of the image is the door to the room and a wall.

The theme of the image is a teenager with a little sister and hanging out in this room. There might be a story based on the smaller girl. She has a blank look on her face, maybe she feels left out or maybe she is infatuated with her surroundings. This image reminds be of what my friends and i do when we hang out. It doesn't question anything from my perspective. I think the image is very interesting. The image shows this little girl and how she can react to what these older girls are doing.

I do like the photo, i think it is saying a lot about the life that the girl lives. I don't hate the photo at all because there is nothing to hate. The photographer is successful with her whole project in general, i think it was a way for her to understand her daughter and how her daughter acts and reacts to certain things. I liked this photo.

Annie Mosis

10/16/2017 12:35:56 pm

In this image you can see a girl in a black dress with blue leggings and fishnet socks over them. Her hair is curled and it looks to be turqoise at the end. And their are two ladies taking pictures of her. They're in a room with white walls a wooden door and there seems to be clutter in the background.In the background there's a little girl, this girl is named Alice. She is wearing a teal sweater and a grey skirt with animals on the bottom of them. She also has peach tights on. She looks isolated and alone in this picture. The lighting in this picture is from natural light from the windows. I think in this picture that the girl in the black dress is getting ready for a dane or some formal event.

I think this picture is pleasing to look at due to what is being captured in this picture. With the girl getting ready and Alice in the back watching. The photographer who took this image did it in a view to make it look as if you were there watching this moment happen. The photographer in this picture is using a short depth of field since not the whole image is in focus. This image is not frame but the main focus in this picture is the girl and Alice looking in the background. Their are lines that point to Alice in this image which direct the focus to her by the girl's hands holding something that is kind of pointing at her.In this image the artist crops off a lady holding her phone taking the picture.

The main idea this image is to tell the story of Alice. Alice is a little girl who is 4 that has down syndrome. The mother of Alice takes pictures of her al through what they do. I believe that the artist (Alice's mom) takes the picture not only to get closer to her daughter but to show others that Alice is beautiful and lovely and that she can feel feeling too. I think Alice's mom takes these picture to bring the question up about abortion of kids with syndromes. This image reminds me of a girl I know names Sara. She is a smart beautiful girl who also has down syndrome. Imagining the world without her would be so different. She has effected me in way only she could have. The probably how Alice's mom feels about Alice.

I do really like this photo. I like this photo for not only how it looks but also the message it went with. I like the warm tones this artists uses. I believe that the artist message is strong and I find it cool that her taking these pictures of Alice have brought them closer together.This image is really cool and I think she is very successful in her message and this photo is very noteworthy, beautiful, and interesting. This image along with her other ones are pictures that we can learn a lesson from.

Brandon Collins

10/16/2017 12:37:38 pm

The image is of four girls in a room three of the girls seem to be having fun while the fourth girl, which is the youngest one, looks like she feels left out. The image is using a lot of plane colors and some dark colors. The image could have these colors because there is bright window light going into the room. There are no specific objects in focus other than the four year old girl named Alice.

The picture is not the most pleasing to look at cause Alice is the only one who is really focused on but she is behind all theses people that are blurry or not in focus.The view is in third person, like a person that is part of the group of girls having fun seeing Alice. The depth of field is hard to tell because not everything is focused like a shallow depth, but i’m going to guess it is a narrow depth of field.The wall is one big negative space because it is just white nothing on it to give it detail.

I feel like a theme of this image would be something on the line of being left out or the feeling of loneliness, because Alice is a four year old baby girl that has been diagnosed with down syndrome. Everyone who does not have a some sort of mental disability looks at the people who do differently almost like there not human. As Alice sees the girls have fun she may be wondering if she can ever fit in with people who don't have a disability. The artist could have taken this photo show people that mentally disabled people are human too.

I don't know how i feel about this photo. It is good because it almost shows you the truth about people that are different from you how they think and how they feel. But i also dislike it because it shows that the people that dont notice or see how they are feeling they won't pay any attention at all. In conclusion i feel like this image is successful because it show people a different perspective on the topic.

Will Mauldin

10/16/2017 12:38:52 pm

This image is depicting a few young girls standing in a room. I’m assuming they’re sisters. One of them, whom I’m guessing is the oldest, is spraying the middle daughter with perfume. They appear to be getting ready for an event, based on the outfit the oldest girl is wearing. I see the youngest girl in the middle, and she is the only person in full focus in the photo. She appears to be looking up at her older sister with curiosity. It seems like Alice looks up to them a lot. There is a lot of whites and warmer colors being used in this photo, giving it a gentle tone.
The composition in this picture is very good, with the focus solely on the little girl in the background, rather than the older girls in the foreground. I don’t see much of the rule of thirds being used in the photo, but the depth of field is focused in the center background of the photo. This depth effect draws our attention to the child looking up to her siblings in adoration. The focal point is on Alice, but there is no real frame being used. Instead, Alice is just the sole focus of this photo. The subject doesn’t fill the frame, but the extra space is being taken up by the other girls in the photo, even though they’re not in focus. The frame cuts off another girl holding a cell phone to the right of the photo.
I think a story being told in this image is through the little girl looking up to her older sisters. Alice sees what her sisters are doing, and stares at it in wonder. I think the artist made this image to highlight the wonders a child has at that age. This image does not challenge any beliefs of mine, but is still a beautiful image regardless.
Overall I like this image a lot because it reminds me of being a small child looking up to the “big kids” around me, and I think that nostalgia is what makes this image successful.

Jordan Bell

10/16/2017 12:50:59 pm

In this photograph, by Sian Davey, pictures four people in a messy neutral colored room. The little girl, Alice, is the only subject that is totally infocus, in the middle of the frame and looking directly at the camera. The two older girls who are closer to the camera are not in focus or paying attention to Alice. The image is closer to being underexposed with the main light coming through a window. In the image, the girls seem to be playing around and have smiles on their faces. However, Alice is not smiling and seems to be confused and distant from the action.

The rule of thirds is not being used because the subjects are mainly clustered around the middle of the photo. The photo was taken at eye level directly in front of the subjects. The focal point of the image is Alice and the image is not being framed. Lines such as other subjects arms and floor boards direct the viewer's attention to Alice. The subjects do not fill the entire frame. At the edge of the image there is a pillow or rug, a door and the arm of some other person that the frame cropped off.

A story behind this image could be what Alice is feeling and how other people interact with her. Sian Davey made this image to document Alice and the rest of Davey’s family to help her love and accept Alice. This photograph reminds me of a girl at a camp that I used to go to. Everybody was friendly and supportive towards her but never thought of her as a friend or someone they could relate to. This image could question the way kids with illnesses of any type are treated and how that might affect those kids.

I like this photograph because of the contrast of motion and focusness of the subjects. When I first looked at the image my eye went to the girl in the black dress because she takes up the most space. Then my eye traveled to Alice, to the arm holding the phone, the very blurry girl and finally back to Alice. There seems to be a peaceful constant flow from one subject to the next that always seems to end at Alice. This photograph is successful because of the expression on Alice’s face and where she is positioned in the photo alludes to the child’s aloofness.

Parker Brown

10/17/2017 06:38:59 pm

I think the image is a picture of a girl spraying perfume on another girl, while another person is also taking the girls picture with a phone. There is also a little girl in the back staring straight at the camera. The picture might be of two girls having a sleepover at one of their houses, and they are leaving the little girl out. There is a lot of shadows being used in a lot of places. The picture has a lot of white colors, but the shadows in the picture make the image seem not very bright.

It is not super pleasing to look at because there is a lot of things happening in the image, and for me it is a lot to look at at one time. I do think the rule of thirds is being used. The two teenage girls bodies are both on the lines. The point of view looks like it is from another person who is standing up, and noticing the little girl in the back. The image cuts off the head of the girl taking a picture with her phone.

I think an idea in the picture is to get people to notice and pay attention to certain people even if they have a disability. I think the the little girl in the image is getting ignored because she is different. The image reminds me of the kind of kid in school that no one likes, so everyone just ignores him completely. I think the image is kind of interesting, but I think it might be sad too. I’m not completely sure if the girl is getting ignored, but if she is then it would be a sad image.

If what I think the image is correct, then I don’t think I like the image. If the girl is being left out then it is only a sad photo. If the photo was taken to make people treat disabled people just like normal human beings, then it is a sad photo taken for a good cause. I really don’t know if the image is successful or unsuccessful. If the image made people treat disabled people normal then it was successful, but I don’t know if it did or not.

Claire Williams

10/17/2017 07:14:18 pm

This image is of a young teen girl combing through her hair with her friends, a younger sibling watching from the side, a lady admiring her, and some other lady taking a photograph of her on her phone. The main colors being used are black, blue, white, and grey. This makes this image on the cold temperature spectrum. The lighting seems to be just a bit underexposed and there are a few small shadows towards the top of the image. It looks like the girl is maybe getting ready to go out somewhere and her family is taking pictures of her.

I don’t find it very pleasing to look at because of how it is a little blurry and tilted. The rule of thirds is being used because the main subject, the girl, is towards the left third of the image. It looks like this was taken at a normal point of view, with the photographer possibly holding the camera around their chest area. There is a shallow depth of field being used because of how the left side of the image is blurred. The line from the lady’s arm who was taking the phone picture draws you to the girl, and the girls arm directs your attention toward the little girl standing in the middle of the frame.

I think the main theme is pride. Because of how this girl’s family is gathered to look at her and take photos of her, I think they are proud of how she looks. I think that the image is telling a story of this girl going out possibly to her first school dance. I think that the artist made this image to show the sisterhood of women. All of the people pictured in this image are women and I think that was for a reason. This shows the tight bond between the family members in completely female families. This image reminds me of when I’m going out to a formal event and my family and/or friends are taking photos of me.

I don’t necessarily like looking at this photo. The reasoning that I think was behind it, yes, I do like that because love and support from family is very important. I personally think this photograph is successful. I don’t like it’s composition and how it looks. However, when I look deeper into the meaning of this photograph, I like it more.

Matthew Weiss

10/17/2017 09:50:27 pm

The image is from a series by Sian Davey where she photographed her daughter Alice, who has down syndrome. She created this to show how Alice was just as much a part of their family as anyone else is, and how alice is just as much an individual, as everyone else. In this photo, Alice is in the background, behind the others, but she is the only person in focus. The photo has alice towards the back of the room, looking at her sisters, but still focuses in on Alice looking at her sisters taking a picture of each other

In the image, it takes a second to find the main focus and subject, Alice. The image uses depth of field as a way to highlight Alice, as it places her in focus. In addition to that, hers sisters are placed around her in a way that sort of frames alice, and shows her staring into everything that is happening around her. The way that she on a different level of the image in that she is on a different depth, subtly suggests that she isn’t engaging with her sisters, which she isn’t, but also that she might feel isolated, and left out from everything going on. In the image, Alice is in the middle, of one person to her left, taking a picture of the person on her right.

The image shows what some of the struggles might be that Alice faces when it comes to family dynamics. It does this in the way that shows how she may struggle to find a place, but the image brings this to light in a way that helps us understand how she feels. The series that this image was from was to help Alice be shown as an individual. This photo specifically does this very well, by helping us become as close as we can be to understanding how she feels. The image is interesting because it allows us to see into Alice, and understand her better than we would otherwise.

I like this image. I think that Sian Davey did a wonderful job in the entire series. However, with this photo in particular, it shows with her family and this shows another side of Alice’s hardships. With this, it is another thing that we can witness through the photo. This is what sets it apart from the other, already amazing and thought provoking photos in the series.

Lucas Prado

10/17/2017 10:19:05 pm

This image includes four girls in what looks like a bedroom, with pillows strewn about. It includes Alice and three other girls; Alice has a blue sweater, a white skirt with different colored animals, and long red socks on while standing towards the background. She also has a bit of a frown on her face, while the other girls are smiling. The main girl in focus has on a black dress with long, blue socks, holding a bottle of perfume and spraying the third girl. The third girl has a white shirt and notably red hair. The last girl is out of frame, with her arm and part of hair in frame, taking a photo of the girl in the black dress with her phone. The only lighting in the room is the light from the open window.

The main focal point of the image is Alice, shown by how she is in the center of the image. The photo has a fairly deep depth of field, with Alice in focus towards the background and the other girls in the image being slightly blurred out of focus. With Alice, the subject, being towards the back, there is lots of extra space in the image. The rest of the photo, particularly near the edges, is the room that they’re in. Given that they’re in a messy room, the image is asymmetrical.

The main theme behind the image, as the artist says, is the story of the life of Alice. This is the story of a mother who had to grow to love her kid after finding out that she had down syndrome. It questions a bit of how we view people with handicaps in a way, as Alice is almost ignored in this photo. The mother didn’t originally love her just because she had down syndrome, which is very ethically concerning. That's what makes this image more interesting: not only is it a set of photos of Alice, but also the mother showing how she grew to love Alice through the photos.

Given the background info to this image, I like it quite a bit. It is successful in telling the bittersweet story of Alice and her mother: how she grew to like her. Without context, however, the image seems to be only a set of family photos. If I didn’t know about the story behind Alice, I would just assume that it’s just another candid moment captured. To me, photos tend to be less interesting if there is no narrative or reason behind them. Luckily, this photo has a good narrative behind it, and so I like it.

Gilly Thompson

10/18/2017 10:53:20 am

This photograph by Sian Davey is one of the many photos in her collection called “Looking for Alice” . These photos were taken to show what her child’s life was like and how Sian was effected by her child’s disability. In the photo there is an older girl, probably teens or older. She is wearing a black dress that is mesh at her shoulders. Under her dress she's wearing blue tights with a fish netting tights over it. Her hair is curled. It appears that at the bottom of her wavy hair it's dyed a blue-green color at the tips. Someone off camera but has their arm in the image is taking a photo of the older girl on her iphone. Another girl is very blurry peeking gover looking at the phone. None of the girls are in Focus except Alice and the background, which is kind of messy. Behind the older girl it looks like some clothes and a pair of shoes. To the right behind the girl peeking over at the phone there is a door with a towel hanging over the door. In the photo it looks like the older girl was getting ready for something. Alice being the only girl in focus almost looks confused as she looks at the other girls. Alice is wearing red tights, a dress with animals on the bottom of it and a gray button up sweater over it. The gray sweater has a white and red pattern on the bottom of it.

The lighting is very natural. The shadowing in this image are probably from window lighting. I think the composition of this image is very pleasing. I think the rule of thirds isn’t being used in this image because Alice is in the center being the main focus . The main focus of the image is Alice. You can tell Alice is the focus because everything around her is blurry. This photo is very busy. It appears that a lot of things are going on in this. The image is filled with things leaving not much empty space for anything around .

The theme of this image is something happy is going on . Preparing for something . The story being told in this image is the older girl is most likely getting ready for a dance or a date or something more formal. The youngest girl Alice is looking at them confused . This image is very interesting and I wish I could know what the young girl was thinking looking at the older girl. She looks at her sister longingly maybe wanting to understand what’s fully going on .

I think this image is a success in the way that she wanted to use her images to show the emotion of her child. And to better understand her child. I think the lighting is pleasing and over all I enjoy looking at this photograph.

Kylie Bruehler

10/18/2017 06:15:46 pm

This is a photograph of a group of women in a room and a little girl is standing in alone in the room watching the women. One of the women appears to be taking a picture with a phone camera either of herself or the girl in front of her. The girl looks to be a teenager, smaller and younger than the other women in the room. The younger girls is praying something out of a bottle onto one of the other woman’s neck, possibly perfume. The woman and the girl are out of focus, but the little girl standing in the back of the room is in focus. The little girl might be the main focus of the picture. She is standing away from the girl and the woman but she is observing all that they are doing. The image might tell us something about curiosity and youth.

The colors used in the image are mostly bland and nothing in the picture particularly stands out with color, but the way that the objects in the photo are arranged and the way that the objects are focused shows the main focus of the image. The little girl stands out the most because she is the thing that is in focus behind everything else pictured. The photographer might have wanted her to be the object in focus for a specific reason. The photographer might be the parent of the little girl and wanted to focus the attention on her. The photographer might have wanted to focus on the little girl to show her emotion in the group of people.

The way that the image is set shows a lot of activity in the front of the image including all of the women and the older girl and in the background the little girl is still and in focus. The way that the little girl is showing her face shows her emotion. The little girl might be feeling lonely or left out because she is standing away from the other women. She might be curious or confused about what the women are doing. She may just be watching them or looking up to them in a way. The little girl represents youth and innocence in the image.

I think that overall the image is very successful. I don’t know the exact reason for the photographer’s idea to focus on the little girl, but I like how the image is composed. I like how the focus is on the little girl though she is not front and center in the image. She shows a certain peace in the middle of all of the movement. When I see the image, I wonder what the little girl is thinking or how she feels towards the other women in the room. The other girl and the women in the room do not seem to notice the girl and she is kind of off in her own thoughts and how the picture is focused takes the viewer to that place.

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