Period 6 -- Practice Critical Analysis

9/4/2019

McLean, Virginia, December 1978 © Joel Sternfeld

Each week in class, you will write a critical analysis on a work of photographic art. An image will be published weekly on our class blog. Spend time studying the image and then write a detailed analysis of the photograph. Publish your analysis as a comment to the blog post; this comment should show the student’s name and time posted. Your analysis must be posted to the original blog post in order to be graded.

All analyses must be 4 paragraphs minimum, 5 sentences minimum per paragraph unless otherwise noted.

Students will write eleven critical analyses per semester, and the lowest grade per semester will be dropped.

On the class blog, if you look to the right you will see the word Analyze. There is a link to a handout you may download or print called your "How to See" handout. This will help you learn to write about art. 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

Abby

9/4/2019 11:37:37 am

The image depicts a small, abandoned looking farm stand with a large farmhouse burning in the background. The pumpkins and apples in the front of the image appear to be squished. There are dead apple trees and a fire truck with firefighters putting out the burning house. There is another firefighter looking at the pumpkins in the stand. This is a darker, more dull color palette, consisting of muted greys, greens, browns, and oranges.
The sky is overcast, but the image is bright and there aren’t any shadows that I can see. The image was taken from the photographer’s point of view. The entire image is crisp, there really isn’t a blurred out background or foreground depicting one subject. There are two main focal points, the house and the farmstand itself. In my opinion, the lines on the fence direct your eye towards the image, and it almost leads your eyes around the whole photograph.
The theme is essentially is calm chaos. The house is on fire, but the muted colors and serenity give it a calm ambiance. The image reminds me of a farm my family used to go to in Connecticut to pick out pumpkins every year. It looked very similar to the farm in the photograph. I find the photograph interesting, because it’s incredibly detailed and you could study it for a long time and still find something new at the end.
I like how the photo appears simple at first, but the more you look at it the more it seems to come to life. The details pop out more and you notice things you didn’t see before. The color of the fire almost seems to match the pumpkins, which is why I think it has an almost calm feeling. I would say this photo is successful, because at first it looks like a photo you would just skip over. However, the more you look at it, the more it makes sense and the pieces just come together so well.

chloe clark

9/4/2019 11:43:32 am

Sternfeld’s photograph consists of a farm market in the front of the image, a burning house in the background with fire trucks around it. Near the farm market, there are some busted pumpkins lying on the ground. A firefighter is standing at the farm market observing the pumpkins for sale. There are trees in the background that are not healthy. The colors include orange, yellow, green, and brown. The feel of autumn is represented with these warm colors.
The point of view in this image is from a bystander or a third person view, it is about eye level and far enough to see most of the scene, although there are a few things being cut off including the smoke, trees, and firetruck. The fence and the path help lead your eye across the image. The main subject fills up most of the image, but there is some open space in the right bottom.
A great theme for this photograph could be that what you see is not always what is true, because although there is a fire in the background and it seems as if the firefighter in the front is not doing his job, the truth of this image is that they are having a controlled burn and the firefighter is on break. This photo reminds me of times when I was younger and used to go to the pumpkin patch during autumn. It is interesting to me because you have to think harder to understand what is going on in the photo.
I like this image because it made me think about what I believed was happening and how the truth is much different than what you might be seeing. I found the irony to be interesting. I would say that this photo is successful, because at first glance you might think that you understand this image thoroughly, but you really do not know the full story.

Isabella Grossman link

9/4/2019 11:48:44 am

The piece of work being analyzed is a photograph taken by Joel Sternfeld taken in 1978. This image is composed of a burning house, what appears to be an abandoned farmers market stand, rotting and broken pumpkins and a lone firefighter shopping at the stand. The colors in this image which are earth tones are muted and understated with a hazy hue that emits feelings of fall. The lighting in this photograph far from harsh but rather extremely natural and raw as if looking at the scene with the naked eye. This image, although detailed, contains no close up views of human facial expression which is a really powerful weapon in a great photograph. The fact that this photo makes me feel things such as warmth, comfort and discomfort without targeting my emotions with the visible emotions of another person is a form of artwork all in itself. Sternfeld’s photo is chaos in the form of the burning house that is being balanced by serenity that takes form in the actions of the firefighter who is calmly browsing the farmers market stand.

The composition of Sternfeld’s McLean, Virginia is tactical and wonderfully executed. His use of natural lines to draw the viewer in towards his composition is intelligent and as we are being led into the scene by geometry we feel as though we are part of the piece and being placed into its physical setting. The point of view that this photograph was taken in was a 3rd person point of view. Viewers are left as bystanders and onlookers as we look into the photo as well as what is taking place from afar. There is no set focal point in this image and due to this it is not a balanced image. Because there is not a center point to which the viewer is drawn to, we are left unsure of where to really focus in on. The subjects of this image fill the frame with little to no extra space. Negative space and positive space in this image is scarce because of the detail and amount of space the subject fills.

The themes and ideas that are being demonstrated in this piece are controlled chaos, no one image is enough to tell a whole story and lastly that in midst of a problem there is always a bright side. The artist made this image to confuse viewers, to make them question what they are really seeing. In my opinion I feel that the artist enjoyed the irony of the subject and decided that the image would tell a story. This image brings me to fall when the air is chilly and hazy, when everything is quiet and cold except for the sounds of crinkling leaves, rustling trees and the feeling of a cup of warm tea and a cozy blanket. This image calms me despite its attempt to make me feel uncomfortable and skeptical. In my opinion the image is beautiful and provokes strong feelings either distaste or enjoyment.

Personally I love this piece of work due to the way it makes me feel, the way it makes me question. Im curious about what else I could potentially find out about the subject, what else is going on. Is there more to the story? I believe that the artist was attempting to make his viewers question him, make them feel something, provoke thought and discussions, laughs or hatred. I believe that Joel Sternfeld succeeded with this piece of work and I thoroughly applaud him for what he has succeeded in doing based on my conclusions from witnessing my peer’s reaction to the image.

Nathan Harrison

9/4/2019 11:49:39 am

The image shows a house on fire being fought by firefighters in the background behind a farm market that sells pumpkins, oranges, apples, and apple cider. In the very front is a bunch of pumpkins lying on the ground with a lot of them being broken. The image has a range of colors within, e.g green for the small patches of grass, gray for the smoke originating from the fire, orange for the flame of the fire, and tan for the wilting grass in the colder season of the year. The lighting of the image is the type of lighting on a cloudy day where it is just enough light resonating from the sun through the clouds to where someone can see clearly, but not too much to where shadows appear. In front of the farm market, there is a firefighter looking at the items that are displayed at the farm market and more firefighters on the extension ladder fighting the fire.
The picture is not too interesting to look at, but isn’t boring to look at as there is the question of why is there a firefighter browzing pumpkins and not busy fighting the fire. The photographer generally took the photo at a straight angle toward the farm market and the house on fire. I see a line following the poles in the ground acting as a fence to the dirt road within the picture. The image is well balanced as it shows the entire subject and not cutting out any side of the subject while keeping it quite centered. There isn’t really any extra unused space in the photo as the subject fills the image almost perfectly.
When people take a first glance at the photo, they would ask why is a firefighter busy gazing at pumpkins in a farm market while across the street there is a house on fire and his colleagues are busy fighting the fire themselves. While the intention of the photographer when he took this photo is unclear to me, the photo does create a nice discussion on why the photographer took this picture and what was really happening when he took it. The picture is not too interesting to look at, but isn’t boring to look at it.
The image is a little interesting to look at and think of the story that was happening when the photographer took the photo. The photographer took a successful photo as people can talk about this photo for a short while without forgetting it too quickly.

Flint Rose

9/4/2019 11:50:49 am

Mclean Virginia 1978 is a piece that I have come to enjoy greatly. Depicted in the foreground is a farmers market selling pumpkins. There is a Firefighter selecting a pumpkin. Upon looking closer we see that a house is burning in the background. There are two fire trucks putting out the fire. There is also see a batch of pumpkins destroyed outside the farmers market. The entire piece has a very washed orange color. All the tree’s leaves are dying and the sky is overcast.
The photo is taken from the point of view of a bystander. We as the viewer feel like we are looking through the eyes of somebody on the side of the road. The focus of the piece is the farmers market. The farmers market takes up more of the space of the photo. The viewer is supposed to see the farmers market before the fire in the back. The lack of movement in and around the farmers market compared to the fire in the back shows the contrast between the two buildings.
Joel Sternfeld chose to make the farmers market the focus of the piece to show what is on the Firefighters mind. We can see every detail of the farmers market. We cannot see details of the house on fire because that is not on the mind of the Firefighter. This piece tells a story, a story of a firefighter that chose to select his preferred pumpkin over saving people's lives. This story may not be what is happening in reality during 1978, but it is what is happening in the piece.
Joel Sternfeld gives us a piece that departs from reality to give us a display of irony. The photo depicts a firefighter buying some pumpkins while on break from a training exercise. Sternfeld chose to photograph it to tell an entirely different story. The photo is grounded in reality, but not set in it. His decision to photograph this event at this moment in the way he did created a whole nother story for people to view. A story of a firefighter who lazilly chose to buy pumpkins while he could be saving lives. The fact that this photo tells a fictional story while just being a photo of a farmers market makes me love it.

Kellen Dukatnik

9/4/2019 11:52:48 am

The Image by Joel Sternfeld is an image depicting a house on fire, a fire truck, fire-fighters, a farmers market with pumpkins and oranges, and a firefighter looking at the pumpkins. The image has colors of orange, yellow, red, white, and brown. The photographer may have used these colors to have that sort of fall or autumn vibe. The lighting used is natural lighting with an overcast. The image has firefighters putting out a fire, while another firefighter is buying pumpkins.
The image itself is quite pleasing to look at. The way the color orange stands out from the others creates this feeling of warmth. The photographer seems to have taken the photograph in the very front entrance of the pumpkin patch. The photograph has this fence that acts as a line. The fence directs your eyes to the firetruck which then leads to the burning house. The subjects fill the frame for the most part, there are a few spaces with just open sky or open grass.
The main idea of the image is irony. The photographer wants the viewer to notice how there is a firefighter buying pumpkins while a house burns in the background. The photograph also includes this sort of false story by not letting us know the house burning is a training exercise. The image reminds me of the pumpkin patch when I was far younger. The image is interesting because of the irony that it portrays.
I did enjoy the image. I liked how the color orange stood out, and the overcast on an autumn day, it reminds me of my birthday since it is in October, near Halloween. I like how it cancels out the chaos of the fire with the calmness of the firefighter buying from the market. The photograph is successful in what it wanted to show, which was irony in the firefighter buying stuff from the market while a fire was going on in the background. It was overall a great photo and very successful.

Isaiah Rettig link

9/4/2019 11:54:21 am

The picture depicts a pumpkin section of a farmers with a house fire in the background. In the shop a fireman is shown to be inspecting a pumpkin. Near the hut there is some cider out. In the foreground there are broken pumpkins laying out. In the background there are some firefighters attempting to put the fire out. All of the colors shown aren’t to bright and give off autumn vibes.
The image is pleasing to look at because of its calm atmosphere. The photographer was able to get both the front of the farmers’ market hut and the front of the house. The fence post make a line heading toward the hut, then the trees make a line toward the trucks and finally the ladder makes a line to the house. The firetruck in the back is cut off from the picture.
The artist took this image because he likes the irony the image holds. It seems that the fireman is ignoring his job to look at pumpkins while the house burning behind him is actually a practice exercise for other firefighters. The image makes sense in context but without it is seems bizarre. Joel Sternfeld also wanted to make people question what they see.
I like the photo not only because of its irony, but because of the sense of calm it gives off despite a house fire being in the background. The photograph is successful in the way it makes people question what they are seeing.

Mateo

9/4/2019 11:57:49 am

This image is of a house on fire in the background of a farmers market where there is a firefighter looking at pumpkins. The image has more muted or less bright colors like grey and dark shades because it’s trying to portray a more serious or sad tone. The lighting in the image is dark because of the overcast and there is no sunlight. There is a house in the background with fire trucks and firefighters next to it trying to contain the fire inside of it. There is also a small building with a sign that is selling pumpkins and other fruits and one of the firefighters is looking at the pumpkins. There are firefighters and fire trucks trying to contain a fire that erupted at the house.
In my opinion, the image is not pleasing to look at because of the lack of colors and because of the simplicity of it. I like to look at an image and have more to look at than just the main subject. The point of view captured by the photographer is as a bystander or a third party watching what is happening. The focal point of the image is the house that is burning because it has the most going on around it. It’s framed by its surroundings, like the trees and the sky. There are lines in the treeline, the skyline and in the fence. They all direct you towards the subject, the house. I feel like the image is somewhat balanced because there is something happening on opposite sides of it but there is still some extra space to be filled. The edge of the image is in the sky and where the photographer was when they took the photo. Some trees and some smoke from the fire is cropped from the image.
The theme in this image is the balance between calm and chaos. It shows the two different sides of what is happening. The image is interesting to me because there is a fire happening in the house and the firefighter seem more interested in looking at pumpkins than doing his job. Overall I like the image because of the contrast it has and the irony that is pictured. It succeeded in conveying it’s point to me or idea to me and I enjoyed it.

Ben Barlow

9/4/2019 11:59:47 am

McLean, Virginia by Joel Sternfeld is a historic photo from his series American Prospects. Sternfeld is an artist from the United States who told stories about the places he visited through the pictures he took. This scene in particular takes place in 1978 during an emergency test drill in which firefighters put out burning buildings to test their capability. It is immediately apparent upon learning the circumstances that Sternfeld twists the piece to his advantage. In the foreground is seen a firefighter, seemingly bored by the house that is being engulfed behind him. More firefighters are seen, although they are the ones who are actually making an effort to save the structure from collapsing from the extending platform off the back of their truck in the distance. The primary color in the frame is orange from the pumpkins, which blends nicely with the vibrant flames trying to be put out. The huge smoke clouds also match with the dark trees in the background, which contrast sharply with the bright colors seen from the front. Overall I’d say that the mood of the photo is very grim because of the dark situation combining with the overcast weather.
For most people I would think this is not a pleasing photo to look at because of the strange conditions the artist presented. From his perspective, he can clearly see the whole entirety of event, standing in the distance as a bystander at eye level. The image is not balanced or symmetrical, but rather raw and unfinished. There is plenty of open space that describes the world around them.
I think the main theme of this photo from the artist’s perspective is kind of a broken chaos. The firefighter who stands alone appears to not really care what happens to the world around him while he is shopping for pumpkins at his local farmer’s market. Meanwhile, in the real world, these firefighters are dealing with very dangerous circumstances. While this certainly wasn’t reality, it really was the intent of Joel Sternfeld when he made the piece. For the audience looking at the frame one could only be amazed yet bewildered as to why that man is standing there looking at pumpkins.
I personally think that this piece is wonderful because of how the photographer was able to turn his surroundings into something for the intended audience to wonder about. From this view, yes, he was very successful because he got the viewers to see what he wanted them to.

marco Perales

9/4/2019 12:02:43 pm

Practice Critical Analysis

In the image it looks ironic because , due to the fireman not doing his job . The color in the picture show black , red , yellow , grey , and orange because thats how the scene should looks like .

Colors that are being used in the picture are good light, because without good lighting the person seeing the picture wont be able to see it .
Theirs a building with firetrucks in front of it trying to take the fire out also the yellow punkin stand that has been abandoned for many months looks like , however theirs still orange punkin’s that were smashed .
Firemen buying a punkin instead of doing his job . The image basically shows irony of how the fireman wasn’t doing his job .

No , its not pleasing to see nor does it give me any scene of gratitude nor give me any feel for that some what “art”. Due to the fact that it doesn’t give me an important message or theme to me in any way .

How the house was being put on fire .

The lines direct my eye by to the line by standing out like the fence , tree line , fire , and the sky .
The picture is symmetrical because if not then the picture would we tilted .
Theres no extra space .
At the edge of the image shows fences, apples , oranges , firetrucks , and trees.
The negative part is about a person not doing his job which could turn out to lead to a death .

That their is irony everywhere .
Yes it is being to from an image where it shows irony .
To get a shot of irony to make the customer to have a good laugh maybe .
It reminds of new braunfuls where me and my family would go pick a punkin for hallowen .
It is a picture that would be question for it being taken .

No I dont like it because of the firemen not doing his job .
Unsuccessful because the picture doesnt have a main point to it .

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Period 6 -- Practice Critical Analysis

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