Period 7 - Critical Analysis No. 5

1/24/2022

Today you will be writing about this self-portrait image by artist Jaime Erin Johnson. Now that you have made your own self-portraits, think about the great difficulty the artist must have gone through to get this shot. What equipment might she have used? What do you think the lighting scenario was? Where was this photograph made? What kind of light did the artist use to get the shot?

This photograph was made using cyanotype, which is an antiquated photographic printing process that produces a cyan-blue print. The artist used tea to stain the print and make it look brownish blue.

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

Howard Hu

1/24/2022 01:08:07 pm

This is an image of a girl holding a dinosaur-like skeleton. The colors are mostly gray and yellow but it appears like black and white. The reason why the author uses these is because she wants to show the unique perspective of her expressing herself - could be lonely, desperate, mature. The lighting in this is more dark shadows. The main objects in this image are the girl herself and the skeleton that she is holding. In the image, she is holding up the skeleton with her body.
The picture is fairly pleasing to look at photography skill wise, but the content may not be comfortable but brings more of a goofy feeling. This is because the color used in the image is black and white and the focused object is a skeleton, which is not a soft object in any perspective. The photo does not follow the rule of third because the main objects are located at the center of the image. However, the picture is balanced and symmetrical as the girl standing at the center of the picture. There is a little extra space in the frame even though the main objects have already taken most of the space.
The theme expressed in the image is dark and personal. The author is trying to convey her personality through this self-portrait image. There is not a story being told in the image but you can somehow tell the author's main idea - her loneliness and maturation. Because the little girl is holding a quite scary object, which means she is pretty independent and courageous to live on her own. Thus the image is quite beautiful in the way that the author expressed herself
Overall I like this picture a lot. It is clearly a successful self-portrait image because it lets the viewers learn better about herself. Leaving us manifesting what she's been through, what her environment is like, what challenges she has in her life. The image attracts my attention pretty well and it definitely encourages me to produce more photographs with notable meanings.

Aidan Skelly

1/24/2022 01:09:07 pm

Critical analysis number 5
Aidan Skelly

This image is of someone holding a skull or some animal. It is in a yellowish color and looks like it was taken a long time ago. It has a lot of dark shadows and brings a very creepy vibe to the image. The photo is cut off. You can't see the person's head, you can only see the person's body and what she is holding.
This image isn't very pleasing to look at. It gives off a weird and creepy vibe and just doesn't look very intriguing. The focal point is the skull the girl is holding. It is framed but the girl's body isn't. The picture cuts off her head and legs. The image looks pretty symmetrical with the skull's mouth open and her hands holding it.
I think the artist's intention was to just take a picture and make it look creepy and weird. This image is interesting. I don't know the exact reason for this image but it looks creepy and I would like to know what the intention really was. I don’t think that there is a story behind this. Maybe it was something she found and is keeping it for decoration or it could be something that she hunted but her clothes don't look like she was hunting so i'm not totally sure.
I don't like this image. It looks old and creepy and I don't see any story or anything in this picture. I think that this photograph is successful because it gives off this creepy old setting and might have an interesting background. Or it may just be someone taking a picture just for fun and editing it to make it look old. Her clothes definitely make it look like she got ready for this photo and made it look like an old setting.

Cecile Tchandja

1/24/2022 01:12:36 pm

This image is of a woman holding the carcass of some sort of animal. The girl’s torso and arms are the only things in frame, we can not see her face. The animal’s head to be specific, with its mouth open kind of baring its teeth. This image has a brownish blue tint from the way it was created. The lighting seems to be in the sun with shadows all over the body as well as along the animal head.

The girl and animal head are centered in the photo and take up most of the space in the photo. This was taken very head on and focuses on the middle part of the women’s body. This image uses a shallow depth of field. Straight lines are used in this image to get the viewer to look up and down from the girl’s arms to the animal head and back. This image is asymmetrical in a symmetrical way because both sides are clearly different but work together and have similar aspects.

I don’t think there is a particular story being told in this image. Nor does it truly challenge anything other than how it may be unsafe to hold an animal head like that without proper care. For whatever reason this reminds me of Peter Pan in the way that I feel that there may be a sense of wonder behind the photo. I don’t have an inclination as to why the photographer may have chosen to take this but it's cool. I think this is a very interesting photo because it has lots of texture and aspects.

I really enjoy this photo because I think there is a lot to look at. I start with the girl’s dress and move up to her neck and down to her hands. Once the analysis of the actual person is over I move to the animal carcass. That carcass is so interesting because it has a bit of disfiguration but also holds on to all of its teeth. I think this image was successful because it makes the viewer stay interested.

Max Lloyd

1/24/2022 01:13:09 pm

To start of the image is of a person holding a crocodile skull with a flowery dress. The colors in the photo are not vivid, they are mostly monochrome. The lighting in the photo is pretty dark judging from all the shadows that take up most of the photo. An object that is very strange in this photo is a crocodile skull, and then the flower dress. What is happening in this image is a person holding the skull of some animal.
I would say that the rule of thirds is sort of being used in this photo but not in an intended way. The point of view is bug's eye because we're not eye level with the person but more eye level with the skull. The focal point of this photo is the crocodile skull, it’s right in the middle and center of the photo. In my opinion, the image is pretty symmetrical with the croc skull right in the middle and both of the person's arms around the side. At the edge of the image, the background is blurred and hard to see.
A theme I can see in this image is the beauty of death, I think this is a theme because the person is dressed nicely with a dead animal skull in their arms. I think the photographer took this photo to show that death doesn’t have to be ugly or they thought it would be cool. The photo kind of reminds me of a dream that I had once where I was walking through a pit of skulls. This photo probably challenges society's view on death and dead things. I think the image is pretty noteworthy because there are a lot of things that you’d be able to talk about just within this image.
Personally, I really like this photo, because it has a nice tone to it and it’s very pleasing to look at. I also like it because of the simplicity of the photo. The photo to me is successful because of this simplicity. It achieves what the photographer was most likely trying to convey. This is my overall impression of this photo.

Alex Lambert

1/24/2022 01:14:26 pm

This image is a woman holding an animal skull in a dress. The image is in black and white so there are not many colors. The image is trying to be dark and being in black and white helps it a lot. If it wasn't black and white, it would probably have average lighting because it looks like it was shot outside in the middle of the day. You can't see the woman's face, because the main focus of the picture is the skull she is holding.

To me this picture is not nice to look at because of the graininess and the black and white. The skull is right in the middle third of the screen and the woman doesn't really go outside of the middle, because she is centered there. It is a shallow depth of field because she is right in front of the camera and would be blocking the background anyway. Because she is right in the middle, the picture is very balanced and the only asymmetrical parts are the dress folding out sometimes. It looks like she is standing outside of a forest so some trees are cropped out of the image.

The theme of the image is probably death because that is how the skull and the black and white color scheme portrays it. Maybe she is holding the skull of one of her animals and that's the story behind it, but I don't think that it is that deep. There aren't any views being challenged here, politically, ethically, or morally since there is not anything being shown except for the woman and the skull. The image reminds me of when I was kayaking down a river near my house and found a cow skull at the bottom or the river and brought it back up, because they look similar. It is an interesting image that makes me want to know more about it but I don't think that this picture is noteworthy because I've seen pictures like this before and didn't really do anything differently.

I do not have a strong opinion on the picture, because i don't love it or hate it, i just think that it is decent. It is a good image but i don't think that it is outstanding. The picture is successful in making me want to know the context of it, or what's behind it. This picture probably required a lot of effort because the self portrait while holding something is challenging. The main thing i took away from this was wanting to know what animal the skull came from.

Ramiro Cavazos

1/24/2022 01:16:34 pm

This image shows the body of someone holding a skeleton head of a dinosaur. The photo is monochrome and only shows shades of blue and in some spots a beige look. The photo is focused on the person and is shot using outdoor lighting. The outdoor lighting can be inferred by the background. This shot only includes the torso of the person holding this irregular object. It shows nothing more and their body shows the entirety of the skeleton head.
This image is very much not pleasing to look at, the lack of color and the boringness of the form of the photo makes it disinteresting. This photo follows the rule of thirds dead on as the skeleton head is aligned perfectly according to the rule of thirds. Because of the photos composition your focus is squarely on the skeleton head as there is nothing else that plays a role in this photo. The torso itself is there to serve as background and to make the picture more irregular. Everything besides the torso and the skeleton head is the negative space and it seems to be some sort of greenery or forestry in the negative space.
The theme of this photo is sort of spooky and surreal. The photo is so weird and unusual that it makes everyone wonder about what the story is behind this photo. There is almost this unsureness and almost looks like a shot from some sort of modern horror movie. It is very dream-like and makes my mind imagine what is going on in this photo. It definitely seems that the artist's intention was to make the viewer think and ponder about the origin of this photo and the story of this photo.
I really think that this is a very interesting image. It sort of breaks the conventional way of thinking about photos. It is not beautiful, it is not colorful yet leaves a bigger impression than many of the photos that are commonly shared on instagram. This photo is for the deeper viewer, you can’t blankly look at this photo and say “Thumbs Up” without having to take a minute to think about the content of the image. This also extends to how the artist designed the image around a particular type of print that makes this photo blue. It's the full effort that makes me like this photo.

connor cruzen

1/24/2022 01:17:45 pm

The Image is a woman holding a gator skull. The image is mostly black and white but it kinda has a shade of yellow vibrance that lightens up the image. This image uses dark shadows and expresses darkness and sadness. There is one person in this image with a gator skull and in a forest. In the image it seems like the lady is holding the gator skull and she is not really doing anything with the skull.

This image is not pleasing to look at. I do not like the image because the colors are just gross and hurt my eyes. The point of view of this photo is just a regular person talking to someone. The subject mostly fills the space , but leaves evidence of the forest in the background. There is a shallow depth of field being used in this image.

I believe that the themes used in this image are supposed to be a stereotypical bayou lifestyle. By using the gator skull which is normally associated with the bayou. I also believe there is a story being told , but people can think of the story in different ways depending on their expersies with the bayou. The image just reminds me of stereotypical bayou life if that makes sense. To me this image is not interesting because i've seen the same photo multiple times just the way it looks and what it is trying to represent.

I hate this image. I believe there is nothing special to it. This image has already been created so many times and this one does nothing special. This photo is unsuccessful because it does nothing cool it just does exactly what everyone else who tries this type of photo.

Kate Philbin

1/24/2022 01:19:06 pm

This image is very detailed. I’m not sure what the idea of this picture is supposed to be, but the picture itself is pretty in a way. The girls outfit is an elegant dress with small flowers sewn into the fabric. It almost looks like she is sad about the skeleton she is holding, or in a way is in pain. The picture being black and white is kinda hard to figure out the mood behind it so I suspect this is a sad picture. The teeth of the skeleton look like they might have rotten or leftover blood on them. But the head definitely represents an important figure in this picture.

The way the girl is holding the skeleton head where the teeth are pointing up at her makes me think that it was a very big animal and was capable of eating her. The way she holds the head is in a morning way, like the creature could have been important to her. But it is also possible that she could be happy about its death. In all, this picture is very tricky to figure out. The head of the creature is very scary looking and the girl looks very elegant and well dressed. Two things that I usually don’t see together.

The content of this picture seems depressing and in a way concerning. Why is this woman holding a huge skeleton head of a very big creature? The black and white helps depict what are light colors and dark colors. The women seem to be wearing a white/light dress and in the dark and blurry background you can see a small pond with trees in the background. She seems to be in a forest. It is possible she just found this creature in the pond or is putting it back in the water. The woman is positioned in a way where she looks like she is looking up at the sky or something. But I can't tell whether this is a happy or sad moment.

This is definitely not my favorite image I have looked at in this class. I don’t know what to think of the image. I don’t think this is a bad photo but I do not know how I feel about it. A woman is holding a huge skeleton head in an elegant dress in a forest. I can’t see if she is happy or sad. And I do not know where she is going or doing with the head.

In conclusion I think the photographer could have given us a bit more picture so it would be easier to figure out the mood of the picture. I’m guessing he left it up to our imagination to say what this picture is about but I have so many opinions I don’t know what is right. As much as I don’t understand the photo I do find it satisfying to look at. It looks like it is very old but brand new at the same time. Overall I think the photographer did a good job, but this picture really leaves it up to your imagination.

Wyatt Fincke

1/24/2022 01:20:45 pm

The image is of a woman holding an alligator’s skeleton head in a white dress without showing the woman’s face. The image is using black and white coloring that makes it look to be very old or changes the critiques emotions on purpose. The lighting is pretty dark mixed with a yellow tint to make the picture feel even older than it is. The objects included in this image are a dress, an alligator’s head, and no face of the woman.
This picture is not pleasing to look at and I don’t like it because it gives me the creeps and makes me feel uncomfortable. The main subject fills the frame quite nicely and leaves little to no negative space for the person to look at. I also thought the image was symmetrical, of course not perfect but just almost, because I think it wants to show how a little imbalanced/ creepy this picture is. The rule of thirds is not being used in this image as the picture is taken with the woman in the center holding an alligator’s head. This image also has a shallow depth of field which explains the blurry background behind the woman.
A story that I like to think is being told through this image, is of a woman who gets deserted on an island after her very expensive boat goes down and she has to fight and stay alive. The theme that I think is being told with this image is that everyone will do whatever they must to survive, as we are also predators. I think the artist made this image to convey the message that people will do whatever it takes to survive, even if it means stabbing people in the back, or could this could have been made to show support to females and female empowerment. This image reminds me of the movie Tarzan, and when the one woman in the yellow dress has to survive in the wild. The image to me is not all that interesting as it’s just a dead sad creature being held by a woman that we can’t even see the face of.
I really do not care for this image whatsoever. As much as I want to like it, I can’t because I think it’s the worst image I’ve critical analysis yet, and the fact that this image does,t really have anything special to it at all. I love the dress and the black and white but I do hate the alligator’s head as well as they don’t show her face. I think this image is unsuccessful but would’ve been successful and a turning point for my opinion if we had if they had shown her face. I think this image is so unsuccessful because it’s so bland and only shows a no-faced woman and an item carried by her which just screams boring to me.

Breana Toohey

1/24/2022 07:12:55 pm

This image is of a woman in a dress holding a fossil skeleton head of what looks like a crocodile or alligator. The colors that are being used in this image are black, white, gray, and blue. I feel that these colors were used to give a certain vibe of calm and depression. It makes the viewer feel sad and lonely. The lighting of this picture puts light on the subject (the woman), and then it makes the background black. It is hard to see what is going on in the back, and the background is very blotchy. The only object in this piece is the skeletal head of the animal which the woman is holding.

The frame of this photo cuts off the woman’s head making the photo feel incomplete, but I am sure this was planned as the subject of the photo might not have wanted to be in it. Not being able to see the head makes us predict what we think it looks like but leaves it a mystery. The main focus of this photo is the woman and the skeleton head, as they are taking up the majority of the picture and are in the center. The skeleton animal head is also on some of the lines for the rule of thirds, and it particularly draws attention as it is out of the ordinary and unexpected. This is a portrait image and has a shallow depth of field as you cannot see things in the background (it is out of focus). This photo looks to be taken mostly head-on (maybe from a bit below).

This image is definitely interesting as we wonder why a woman in a dress is holding a skeletal animal head. It is an image that I feel leaves an impact on you as you are not likely to forget it (because it is strange). This image reminds me of a horror movie as it is dark and creepy, and it looks like the skeletal head is trying to bite the woman's neck. It also looks like the woman is trying to stretch her neck up to keep it away from the jaws. I feel like this image is telling a story of sadness. The story I believe this image is trying to convey is the story of a woman trying to escape from a situation (I don’t know what situation) and looking up to the sky for guidance.

My overall impression of the image is that I do not like it. It feels gloomy and sad, and there is not a lot of color. I would much prefer a happy image with lots of colors. This image also gave me very old vibes with the black and white type of look and the old dress. I like images that encompass newer things, and this image feels very much like something from the past. With that being said, I do still believe that it is a successful image. Even though I am not the biggest fan of the picture, I know that there are many people out there who would just love this image and its intriguing properties. This image is successful as has nice contract and uses the space well.

Lastly, I will be giving my final thoughts and talking about the equipment that might have been used to create this photograph. This is a self-portrait. I would like to applaud the artist for all the hard work she put in to make this image possible as it is hard enough to take a photo of yourself without also being dressed up and having to hold something. The equipment that she probably used was a tripod and the self-timing part of the camera. From looking at the photo, I believe this photo was taken outside and that it was taken in front of some trees as it looks like the background is very forestry. This image is definitely very confusing as to what is happening, and there are many elements that make this image mysterious. It is up to our imagination to figure out what we think is going on.

Kiara Dwivedi

1/24/2022 08:15:32 pm

This is an image of a woman holding what looks like a skull of an animal, possibly an alligator. This picture looks old because of the woman’s dress. The dress looks older because of its material and flowers. The ruffles on the dress also make the picture look older. The skull is also hollow and its teeth are still intact.
The picture looks black and white, with a hint of blue. The background of the image looks kind of like a forest. I think the main focus of the picture is the skull. The woman’s head is cut out of the picture, so the audience focuses more on the skull. The photographer of this image used light to create dark shadows in the skull.
I think that the image is balanced because the skull is the focal point in the center of the image. In my opinion, the image fills up all the space well. I think that this image is kinda creepy, because of the colors and elements. First of all, the audience cannot see the lady's face so we have to imagine her expression. I also find it a bit creepy that the skull’s teeth are pointed upwards to her neck.
I think that the artist’s intention was to create a picture that left the audience interested. Maybe the skull displays death? The audience is the one who decides. The audience could wonder why the woman is holding an old, dirty alligator skull when she is dressed in a fancy dress? We can’t really tell since her face is not present in the image.
I feel like the image could tell a story since there is a lot of mystery. This image seems like a dream bordering on the line of “weird” dreams and nightmares. I think this image was not meant to be “cute” or “pretty” because the skull changes up the scene. The flowers on the woman’s dress could symbolize life but she holds a dead creature. I think this image combines beautiful and creepy which is the main reason I like it.

Veronica Lobo

1/25/2022 07:08:40 am

In this scene I can see that there the artist Jaime Erin Johnson is holding a skeleton of some type of animal which I believe is an alligator, it seems to be very heavy because of the way she's holding it, This image uses light and darker shades of the color white, but it also has a kind of cool tone. There are some very dark shadows and not much sunlight, there doesn't seem to be any kind of studio setup. The dark colors make this scene dramatic. Jaime’s face doesn't appear in the scene, which takes some of the details away, because there could be lots of details as to what is happening with the expressions on her face.

This image doesn't seem very appealing or pleasing to me, the image seems very dark and old, with a lot of details but not much information within the details shared. I can kind of see how they would use the rule of thirds in this image but it doesn't really stand out the hand I guess could kind of be at the bottom right corner which makes it on a point of the rule of thirds, however that is the only thing to me that seems to be using the rule. The angle in which this photograph was taken seems to be from the height of her stomach. The focal point of this scene is clearly the head of the skeleton, that is what takes most of the attention in this image. The subject doesn't really take up the entire space; there is some extra space around her. At the edge of the image, which are the parts that are cropped off, are the legs and the head, the legs being on the bottom and the head at the top of the image.

There was this story which is a sad story I heard a long time ago on the news about a little girl who went on vacation to the beach, and one day in the afternoon, she went outside to the edge of a lake, and an alligator came out of the water bit her on the legs and started to take her towards the water. I'm telling this story because I don't know why but it reminds me of this scene.

Overall I don't really like this image but I don't hate it, because of its dark colors and the scene being sad and dramatic, which for me doesn't make it that successful.

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Period 7 - Critical Analysis No. 5

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