Period 7 -- Critical Analysis #11

12/13/2018

Today you will be writing about this photograph made by artist Gregory Crewdson.

Read this short biography for Crewdson before you write:

Gregory Crewdson is an American photographer best known for staging cinematic scenes of suburbia to dramatic effect. His surreal images are often melancholic or disturbing, offering ambiguous narrative suggestions and blurring the boundaries between fiction and reality, thanks to the artist’s painstaking preparation of elaborate sets, lighting, and cast. “My pictures are about a search for a moment—a perfect moment,” Crewdson has explained. Born on September 26, 1962 in Brooklyn, NY, the artist works with large production teams to scout and shoot his images. His work has been exhibited widely, notably including solo exhibitions at Gagosian Gallery in New York, the San Diego Museum of Art, and White Cube in London, among many others. A 1988 graduate of the Yale School of Art, he has served on its faculty since 1993 and is currently the director of its graduate studies in photography. The artist lives and works in New York, NY.

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 and post it by 4PM today!

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

Eduardo Saucedo

12/13/2018 01:02:06 pm

This image is about a guy that making some type of garden room. The image is using bright colors to make I more alive. The image uses a lot of dark shadows. The obits included are a person, grass, and some furniture. The guy is building a set or a place for his pets.

This image is very pleasing to look at because it makes me want to know what's under the grass. The rule of thirds is not being used. This photograph was taken from a normal person view. There is a depth of field that is being used. I don't think this image is framed. The gras symbolism the grass and those lines guide your eyes to the light and the person. The image is well balances symmetrically and asymmetrically. The subject fill in the entire frame, you find something interesting when you look at the image. The negative space is on top and the positive space is on the bottom.

The theme of this image is to expand your ideas and make them better. The story behind this image is that the artist was probably trying to build a set and he wanted to make a photograph of the set but a little modified. The artist made this image in order to make us dream more. This image reminds me of the movie Beetlejuice, because of the model or scale and the portal that opens in the room. This image does not question or challenge beliefs or assumptions. This image is very interesting, because it makes me want to know the true story behind the image.

I really like this image because the artist wanted to create something that would expand people's minds and make them see things a little different. The photographer is successful because he accomplished what he wanted to accomplish and that wanted to make something that no one would think about.

Hannah Growney

12/13/2018 01:07:38 pm

This is an image of a man in his living room, but it looks like the outdoors. It is uses very vivid and bright colors. It appears to be taken inside. In this image it is kind of dark. There is furniture and what seems to be something like grass. In this the mad seems to be pulling up grass to reveal something.

I don’t think that this is pleasing to look at. It makes me kind of uncomfortable.The rule of thirds isn’t being used because the man is in the middle of the frame. This seems to be taken in a studio environment. This is using a deep depth of field. I can see all the furniture in the background. The image isn’t balanced because of the “hill” and the man.

The subject fills the frame. The hill seems to take up the majority of the frame. On the edges of the image there is furniture and grass. The only thing the image cuts off is the other side of the hill. The positive space is the house and tree. The negative space is the background where the furniture is.

A theme in this image could be color green. I believe that there is a story being told in this image. I think it could’ve had to be with how his dad was a physiatrist. It could display how his father would get into peoples minds. As I physiatrist he would have to get to the “root” of the problem. With him digging up the grass that could be the “root.”

This image took a lot of time and money to make. It makes me uncomfortable. I do like how the artist took the time and effort to make this. It must have been quite difficult to create the sets and props. I think this image is good, but I don’t like how it makes me feel.

12/13/2018 01:11:05 pm

Campbell Streak-Jensen

12/13/2018 01:11:47 pm

The image is of a man in a room holding a roll of The man has a white shirt on that looks like it has been washed in dust. He is wearing jeans and the man is on his knees. He is kneeling on a green flooring. There is moss and fake grass.

There is a bright light coming from a hole in the ground. The room that the man is in has a very dim warm lighting. There is only one lamp in the room. There is a brick wall which stands out from the wallpaper. There is also a old piano in the corner of the room.

The photograph is pleasing to look at. The reason it is pleasing to look at is because there are a lot of colors. The color green goes well with the white light and warm light. There is another reason that it is pleasing to look at. The photograph makes me think. I really like photographs that make me wonder and think.

There is a story being told in this image. The story being told is that there is a man who is laying astroturf and he has found a hole in the floor with bright white light pouring out of it. The artist made the image because he wanted to blur the lines between fiction and reality. This reminds me of a movie. It reminds me of Alice in Wonderland.

I do like the photograph. I like it because it there are a lot of colors. The colors of the photograph intrigue me. I think the photographer was successful. He was successful in making me wonder what this photo is about.

ANDREA

12/13/2018 01:13:46 pm

Critical Analysis #11

This is an image of a man in a house. He has a look of awe in his face as he rips carpet to reveal a room underneath him. Also, there seems to be grass in the room that he is in, which blurs the line between indoors and outdoors. There are dark shadows which makes the image more dramatic. The man is being illuminated by a lamp, some ceiling lights, and also from the room below him.

As the man is to the right side of the image, the photo is using the rule of thirds. However, it is still obvious that the man is the subject. There is a deep depth of field being used so that everything can be seen with clarity. I would say that the composition is pleasing to look at because of the bright colors in contrast with the darker ones. The man, or the subject, is not filling the all of the space in the image.

Yes, there is a story being told in this image. To me, this picture is telling the story of a man in an apocalyptic world. He has hidden in his house for days, living off of only what he has with him. In a fit of rage, he begins to tear away his carpet. However, what he finds took him by surprise.

The artist made this image to tell a story. However, this story is unclear. So, it is necessary for the viewer to create one of their own. This can lead to letting your imagination run wild, and to impress yourself with what your mind can come up with. Also, you can enjoy how aesthetically pleasing the picture is.

Yes, I like this image. I found myself enjoying the contrast of colors, as well as how I could create a story based on just a photograph. The picture, in my opinion, is successful. Everyone should be able to let their minds run wild when observing an image as interesting as this one. I sure did.

Reagan

12/13/2018 01:20:06 pm

This photo pictures a bald man wearing a fading white dirty t-shirt. This photo a variety of colors. It has a dark and neon green covering the front floor. In the back the green colors fade into black. The walls have a purple tent.

In this photo everything is in focus. It has a deep depth of field. The man is the main focus, but so is the grass. If you only glance at the photo you will miss the two different walls. One wall has tan wall paper and the other is a brick wall.

The grass lines direct your attention to the man. The wall directs your eye to the grass. This photo is using the rule of thirds. Since the focus is on the left side it using the rule of thirds. This is a pretty photo and has a lot of detail.

This photo doesn’t have a story. It is just made to work your imagination. The colors and items in the photo make your mind go wild. The multiple textures and different walls make your question the photo. The piano in the background help you related to the mysterious photo.

I like this photo. I like all the colors. I think the photo, it has a lot of attention to detail. The artist wanted to confuse people and bring people back to their childhood. I think the artist got what he wanted from this photo.

Paolo Hernandez

12/13/2018 01:23:01 pm

This image contains a man with a set of a jungle. He has this set of a jungle in his house. There is a lot of green and blue in this image. He is photoshopped because you can tell that this image is fake. It is impossible to be in a setting like that. There is no way that a man can be bigger than a jungle or in a jungle or in a house.

This image is cool to look at because it brings a happy vibe. This image is taking up the hole frame. It is using the rule of thirds. The focal point is the man with the white shirt. This image fills the frame. The jungle set and the man take up most of the frame. The image cuts off most of the trees of the jungle.

There is a story being told. It reminds me of some sort of movie. Like the movie Jumanji which is a great movie. It is very funny because it has Kevin Hart and Dwayne Johnson. It is interesting because it looks very cool. This image is very interesting.

I like this image because of the lighting. This image is very successful. The only thing I don’t like about this image is that there is a ton of cigarettes. The man most likely smoked a lot while he was making his jungle set. This is very interesting to look at because there is a lot of things to look at.

The background is very interesting because it contains a lot of things. It has a lamp. It also has a brick wall. There is also a piano in the background. I like the brown background. It is a very great combination of a brown wall and the green and blue lighting in the jungle set.

Shayna Bolton

12/13/2018 01:23:40 pm

The image shows a man who seems to be ripping up the floor in his house. He is wearing gardening gloves and there are cigarettes everywhere around him. His floor is made of some sort of grass or moss and underneath you can see the wood. It uses a lot of green to on the floor and towards the bottom of the photo. The man and the background are more muted colors which make it pop.

The lighting does not seem to be natural lighting from the sun. It's much darker and there is a lamp in the background, presumably that is the source. The lighting is less blue like in the day time and more yellow as if the bulb is starting to go out. It seems as if he is looking down into a bright hole. White light seems to be coming out of the hole and shining onto him.

Other than the man kneeling on the grass in his house, there is a doorway behind him. It seems that in the doorway there is another room in his house that is better lit. Directly behind him there is a lamp on a dresser, the main source of light in the room. Near the doorway there is a grand piano which is folded up to save space. In the image he is ripping up the ground and peering into a hole.

I think it is pleasing to look at because it gives the illusion of him finding something interesting. He seems happy with whatever he has discovered in the photo. The feelings of someone in the photo can affect the viewer as well, making them happy. The rule of thirds is being used here. The man is on the right side of the photo and that draws the eye to him.

The point of view seems to be about in the middle of the photo. The photo is taken neither bug’s nor bird’s eye point of view. A more shallow depth of field is being used in this photo, rather than a deep one. The man is clear and in focus, while the background is less clear and more blurry. The focal point is the man and the hole he is looking at, he is being framed by the grass around him.

Sarah Guerra

12/13/2018 01:23:58 pm

The image is of a man replacing grass inside of a house. The main colors used are green and brown. The lighting is very dark. The objects in the photo are the man, the grass and the inside of the house. The man seems to be in deep thought.

I believe the image is pleasing to look at overall. The composition functions fairly well. The rule of thirds is being used by placing the man in the center. The point of view is from someone watching the man. The depth of field being used is a somewhat shallow depth of field.

The focal point is the man. The grass area direct you to the house. The image is asymmetrical because of the pile of grass. The subject I believe fills the frame completely. The frame cuts off some of the grass.The negative space I believe is above the grass area.

There seems to be a story being told about the man putting the grass in but I don’t understand why he is putting the grass in. I still do not understand the reason for making this photo. The image reminds me of home depot. It also reminds me of just a gardner. I believe the image is noteworthy.

I personally like the photo. This is because I want to know why he is putting grass in a house. The photo is also really weird overall. I believe the photo is successful. That is because the photo is very intricate. Overall the photo is bueno and spectacular.

Jack Waters

12/13/2018 01:24:54 pm

The image is of a man who appears to be putting turf on the inside of a room. He looks like he’s replacing it. The image is very dark and green. There is also a hole in the floor that the man is looking at with a depressed look. It is hard to tell what kind of room it is because there’s a fireplace and a piano like a living room but there is also a mirror and closet like a bedroom, also it’s on the second floor.

It’s not pleasing but its not unpleasing ethier, it’s just weird. The depth of field is fairly deep as the whole image is in focus. The focal point is the hole as it is brighter than the rest of the image. The bricks in the back act as leading lines to the man whose eyes direct you to the hole.the image crops off the rest of the room so we don't know how much he has replaced and how much more he has to replace/ how large the room is.

The man reminds me of my dad. He is wearing a white shirt just like my dad does when he does work. He keeps working when he doesn't want to and clearly should take a break. It also seems like his wife is dead, the wall paper and piano seem like things that he hasn't gotten rid of because the remind him of his wife. He seems like a defeated man.

I like it. it’s weird but I feel like there’s some meaning that I’m not entirely grasping. It’s well put together so it’s nice to look at. I think it is successful. There is meaning that is right on the surface that makes it easy to understand. However there is also lots of deeper meanings that you start to understand the more you look at it.

To me this image looks like a man who is dealing with the death of his wife. He has finally gotten around to replacing the flooring but in doing so he has uncovered stuff in the same way he is uncovering stuff inside of himself. The hole and the stuff on the floor represent the stuff he has uncovered about himself. The wall paper and aged feeling of the room while still having newer stuff makes me think he doesn't want to change itb and not because of financial inability because he is replacing the flooring. Overall this image is 11/10

David Scott

12/13/2018 01:27:16 pm

This is an image of a man replacing turf in his house. It seems to be using very earthy tones such as green and brown. The lighting is very deep and detailed. This image has a lamp in the background that seems to be illuminating the man.

This image is pleasing to look at. I like the lighting. It makes me feel a bit uneasy but I still enjoy the colors of the turf and the lamp. The rule of thirds is not being used here. The man seems to be in the center of the image.

The man is framed by the turf on the left side of the image. The lines are the pieces of turf that draw your eye to the man. The image is asymmetrical because the turf takes up the left side of the image but not the right. This seems like a shallow but not too shallow depth of field like f16 or f22. There is a ceiling and turf that frames the man.

The theme of this image is uneasiness. It almost makes my stomach feel bad, but in a way I enjoy it. The artist created this image to make people feel a deep uneasiness in their gut. This image reminds me of The Architect's Brother, a series by Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison. This image is beautiful.

I do like this image. It makes me feel something in my gut and not a lot of images can do that. I feel like something is off in this image but I can’t put my finger on it. Is it the expression on his face? Is it the bare brick wall in the background? My point is that this image is a mystery and a joy to discover.

Joey

12/13/2018 01:32:54 pm

There is a man in picture. He is fixing the floor. The picture looks dark maybe because the author is not in a good mood. I can tell that this man is working hard because his t-shirt is dirty. There is a type writer in the background which means the setting that the author want to create was old-fashioned.

This picture is pleasing to look at because it is interesting. A lot of details are included in the image. The picture used deep depth of field. The main character of the image is centered. The picture is took parallel to the man in the picture.

In my opinion, the theme of the picture should be ‘decoration’. The man in the picture in replacing the floor. The room is decorated with pictures and wallpapers. This man looks sad, maybe he is forced to work. I can see some containers on the table. These containers might be his collections.

The picture makes me feel depressed because of the lighting and the job he is doing. I believe that this is a haunted room. It seems that a supernatural entity will come out from the entrance behind him at anytime. He is not happy with the job he is doing because this is such a dirty and unpleasant job to do. The picture reminds me of my old house that I lived when I was 5. That was not a enjoyable memory for me.

I don’t like this picture but this is a successful picture. I don’t like it because it is depressing. It is successful because the setting is really good. We can clearly see what the man is doing and his feelings. Many details are included in this picture.

Hannah Barrow

12/13/2018 02:49:07 pm

This image is surreal image of a man who is in a house and the floor is covered with fake grass. He has “dug” a hole in the floor and is kneeling on the ground. On the floor there are two empty cigaret packets and many cigaret buds on the floor. He has a look on his face like he is disappointed in what he found. There is a lot of turquoise-blue-purple and red-orange. The lighting looks artificial accept for the lighting on the mans face. His face is being illuminated by the natural light coming from the hole in the floor. There is a organ in the corner of the room, a fireplace to the left of the organ and a drawer with a lamp on it that is on. There is also a big pile of face grass.

I would say the rule of thirds is being used the man is of to the right a little. The point of view is of someone at eye level with the man (who is kneeling). The angle of the image is taken straight on and the image is level. The depth of field is deep. The focal point is of the man and you can tell because the light from the floor illuminates his face. The image is not being framed by anything. The lines from the bricks around the fireplace draw my eyes to them. The subject being the man does fill the frame. There is extra space around him.

The artists, Gregory Crewdson, stages his images and his images are surreal. His staging the images allows him to give you a specific feeling when you see them. So the theme or feeling that you get from this image was probably staged by the artist. This image reminds me of an old persons home. The house that the man is in looks a lot like an elderly couples home or the home of a grandparent.

This image is interesting but I don’t think I like it. It’s hard for me to look at it. The colors together kind of hurt to see together (not an actual hurt). I think the artist was successful in staging the image to give a certain feeling but I don’t like the feeling it gives me. It’s kind of a sad feeling that is so confusing that is makes me sad. I think that colors are what is confusing me head.

Hannah Barrow: i didn't make it 5 paragraphs the first time

12/13/2018 02:53:07 pm

This image is surreal image of a man who is in a house and the floor is covered with fake grass. He has “dug” a hole in the floor and is kneeling on the ground. On the floor there are two empty cigaret packets and many cigaret buds on the floor. He has a look on his face like he is disappointed in what he found. There is a lot of turquoise-blue-purple and red-orange.

The lighting looks artificial accept for the lighting on the mans face. His face is being illuminated by the natural light coming from the hole in the floor. There is an organ in the corner of the room and a fireplace to the left of the organ. There is also a drawer with a lamp on it that is on. There is also a big pile of face grass.

I would say the rule of thirds is being used the man is of to the right a little. The point of view is of someone at eye level with the man (who is kneeling). The angle of the image is taken straight on and the image is level. The depth of field is deep. The focal point is of the man and you can tell because the light from the floor illuminates his face. The image is not being framed by anything. The lines from the bricks around the fireplace draw my eyes to them. The subject being the man does fill the frame. There is extra space around him.

The artists, Gregory Crewdson, stages his images and his images are surreal. His staging the images allows him to give you a specific feeling when you see them. So the theme or feeling that you get from this image was probably staged by the artist. This image reminds me of an old persons home. The house that the man is in looks a lot like an elderly couples home or the home of a grandparent.

This image is interesting but I don’t think I like it. It’s hard for me to look at it. The colors together kind of hurt to see together (not an actual hurt). I think the artist was successful in staging the image to give a certain feeling but I don’t like the feeling it gives me. It’s kind of a sad feeling that is so confusing that is makes me sad. I think that colors are what is confusing me head.

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Period 7 -- Critical Analysis #11

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