Period 7 - Critical Analysis No.1

10/22/2021

Today you will be writing about this photograph by artist Joel Sternfeld. 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 post, it will not be graded.

If you do not finish your analysis in class, you must finish and post your analysis by the end of class Monday, 10/25/21.

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

Aidan Skelly

10/22/2021 01:19:25 pm

Critical Analysis
Aidan Skelly

In this picture I saw that there was an elephant laying down in the middle of the road and I was wondering what happened. I saw that there was a lot of liquid on the ground so I had some questions about that. At first I thought that it was blood But as I looked closer I saw people hosing The animal off. Maybe the animal was really thirsty and has been traveling for hours. I am just confused how you let the animal escape and get out, shouldn't it be in a cage locked up in a zoo?

The focal point of this image is the elephant while everything else is surrounding it and hosing it off. The image is asymmetrical therefore having a lot of stuff going on at once. This image was taken from up top somewhere and very far away. The frame from this image cuts off a lot and there seems to be a house or farm that's cut off and maybe that's where the elephant came from. The point of view is not yet from a bird's eye view but it is definitely up in there.

There is a story in this image… I heard that the elephant actually trampled his owner and killed him, Then ended up passed out in the middle of the road due to thirst. This reminds me of The One and Only Ivan because all the animals want to escape the zoo because they want to live in their own world and explore. This image is interesting because there is a lot you can think about and a lot of different things that could be happening.

I like this image because there is a lot to see and a lot to think about. There are a lot of outcomes of this image. I think that this photographer did a good job because he/she got the main thing happening. The photographer cropped out a house or farm that could give us more things to look at. The photographer could have gotten a little bit closer to the elephant or zoom in more so we could see what they were doing. This is all i got out of it, so overall this is a great picture.

Ramiro Cavazos link

10/22/2021 01:23:39 pm

The image is of a rural road in organ and we see a large figure with some sort of liquid spilling out of it with police nearby. The picture is pretty warmas you can see the tall pine trees with a more washed out looking green. The water that is on the road also has a color that makes some, including me, think that the figure is bleeding. The figure itself is somewhat far away from the camera making it unclear. The majority of the space in the photo is rural land but the mass in the middle makes the viewer think and is perfectly in shot.
With this image if the elephant was removed it could be seen as a picturesque vision of some of the more rural parts of Oregon. But, the elephant is a huge eyesore that serves less as something that would make the picture better to look at. Though the picture at face value is not something that I would hang up in my house the elephant and the scene has mystery. The image somewhat uses the rule of thirds as the cop car falls on one of the intersections and the elephant is right near the focal point. The photo is taken from above and looks like a scene from a movie.
The scene has a great story, it's rare to see an elephant in the wild especially in Oregon. The story that is behind the photo, is perfectly complemented by the photo, the story being that this elephant escaped its owner after trampling himself. I think the intentions of this artist were to tell the story and highlight the ridiculousness of the situation. Unlike many other iconic photos this photo really doesn't have a political impact, it is at face value, there is a wackiness that you can recognize and there is power in how crazy this situation is. This whole photo feels like when you see something weird and you dont believe their eyes, it's unfathomable yet it's real and right in front of our eyes through a great picture.
I enjoy this picture, of course this is not a picture that would be hung up above a grand fireplace, it is a picture for the story. I feel that pictures like this really show how unique and quirky life can be. There is an expectation that pictures are supposed to be about this important moment in history and pictures are only to be taken seriously if they have power but this is more relatable to more people including me. Now I have never seen an elephant in the street but I have seen amazing things and this photo makes me relate to all of the weird and wacky things that I have seen. I feel that this photo is amazing because this is a fantastic event and someone decided to take a picture and immortalize this moment in history.

Connor Cruzen

10/22/2021 01:27:09 pm

The image that we see here is an elephant that looks super tired in the photo, almost exhausted. The image is using the colors of nature and allowing the color of the world to do the talking in the certain photo. The image uses solid lighting and , but to me the image is a little dark and I wish that the lighting was more normal because the photo is very warm in its current state. In the image you see the elephant , people and some vehicles. The photo does a good job at allowing the viewer to see the main point that the artist wanted you to see.

The rule of thirds is being heavily used in this image. You can tell by the placement of the elephant because the elephant is placed right on an intersection. To me this image is taken from a bird's eye view because the artist is above the ground. If the artist was not above the ground you would not be able to see the elephant and the people surrounding it the image would not be as powerful. The positive space in this image is the surrounding nature because when you look usually see an elephant you think of the sahara and not the regular forest which we see in this image and that's why I believe this image has more positive space then negative space.

This image to me is very beautiful because it is showing the beauty of nature and how humans are ruining the beauty of nature. What I mean by this is because with more human development in the world we are ruining our environment and we are taking the world from animals and we are being shellfish for ourselves and abusing our planet and animals. That is why when you first look at the image the water on the street looks like blood symbolizing the world in killing our planet. This image reminds me of things I see on tv and social media calling for animal rights to be improved. So I believe that there is a big story behind this image and the artist was ahead of his time.

I love this image. I believe that this image is very powerful and significant towards the viewer and it shows a very deep story that we can apply in today's world. It shows a story that Animal rights activists can use for generations to come and express how animals share this planet with humans and they deserve a good life as well. I would love to see more of this artist's artwork in the future to see what he has done and what other stories that he has told.

Cecile Tchandja

10/22/2021 01:27:15 pm

This is an image about how an elephant escaped from where it was being held and went on a not so successful journey because it almost caught heat stroke and had to be helped by firefighters in the area. The photo has the elephant lying passed out in the middle of the road covered in water and people around it kind of checking on it. The people in this picture are not seen very clearly and you might not even know that an elephant is in the photo unless you knew the back story. The photo makes you feel kind of like you are standing in the hot sun also watching these events occur to this animal. The colors used in this photo are mostly beige, greens, and a little blue and yellow.

I think this photo is taken from sort of a bird’s eye view but not from truly over but a bird sitting on a lamp post surveying the scene. The focal points of this image is the elephant passed out on the road as well as the white car closer in the foreground, the car being more of a distraction from the accident with the elephant. The car also helps balance out the image so that there is some weight on the right side of the photo. The depth of field on this image is very deep giving us a full view of the scene, making the viewer feel like they are actually there experiencing this along with everyone else. There seems to be a lot of extra space apart from the main attraction of the elephant but I think that may be more important to the photo so you are more immersed in the scene that is created for you.

There is a story being told in this photo but I feel you have to dig deeper for it than just the initial impression you get from it in the beginning. I personally thought the water in this photo was blood in the beginning before I got a little bit of background so there are for sure parts of it that aren’t super easy to decipher from 1st glance. The photographer may have chosen to take this picture to tell the story of this event and the treatment of the elephant may have gone through even if it was just for a news story that used the picture as an example. This picture reminds of those days when you spend all day outside and everything begins to get a little bit blurry because the heat is so overwhelming. This photo may challenge the idea that an elephant is meant to be kept in an enclosure at all.

I don’t really enjoy this picture because it kind of stresses me out, for one thing the safety of the elephant is a big issue for me. This image makes me feel physically tired, like it is transporting me to this moment and I am in the body of the elephant and I can feel its exhaustion. This image just really is a great example of injustices against “domesticated” animals. I also feel for those who have to deal with the aftermath of this entire situation because imagine having to carry an elephant. This image is very successful if it was meant to make the viewer empathize with the elephant in this situation.

Wyatt Fincke

10/22/2021 01:27:27 pm

The image looks like it’s of an elephant that escaped from a zoo and collapsed in the middle of the road and had been shot by a person who thought it was threatened. I now know that the elephant escaped from its ranch after trampling its owner to death and was running for hours, it was then tranquilized but was about to die so the fire department sprayed it down to help save its life. It’s using very bright light set up, using the sun, to give a true effect of how it was out there and for you to feel what the elephant must have been feeling. The local sheriff department is here and looks like it’s a small-town sheriff department that must have not known what to do when elephants escape and are roaming their town.

The rule of thirds is being used as the elephant is in the top left which is what we really want to focus on in this image, but there is also a car on the bottom right that followed the rule of thirds and overall looks aesthetically pleasing to the eye. The subject does not fill the whole frame so there is extra space, but I think it’s used to show how an elephant is in a small American town on the side of a road about to die. It looks as if the photo is taken from a somewhat birds-eye view is taken from a decently high angle like he’s on a bus or car, which makes the elephant look smaller than you imagined. The image is not super balanced or symmetrical as a whole because there’s an elephant on one side, and a house on the other with signs and trees everywhere, all of which are different, but I do see the symmetry with the two police cars.

I think the intention why this artist taking this photo was to speak out on endangered species and to keep animals where they are instead of moving them from the homes they know and love. It questions and challenges some of my beliefs to eat meat or not because it got me thinking about all the animals I murder when I do eat meat or animal-produced products. This photo kind of reminded me of the movie Jumanji when the stampedes are coming in the game and you see all the animals which made me think that one or two must have been left behind to die in an area they don’t really know that well. There is a true and sad story being told through this photograph because of how we humans treat animals and how this elephant’s life was about to die because of our actions.

I like the photo to an extent because of the deep depth of field to see everything and how you don’t see the elephant at first but see it once you really start looking at it. I also like the use of lighting to make it bright using the sun to make you feel as if you are in the hot Oregon sun and put you in the place of the elephant. I don’t like the photo a ton because of how it makes me question my morals and makes me want to do something about how all these animals are being treated, and then making me realize I’m a hypocrite because I fuel the systems that treat these animals this way. I think the photograph is super successful because it captures a truly sad moment in time, while it being an incredibly taken picture that puts you in the moment and makes you feel like you can do something to help or fuels you to do something to help.

Alex Lambert

10/22/2021 01:28:10 pm

The atmosphere of the image feels really hazy. You can see the heat in the air and what solidifies this is the trail of water behind the unconscious elephant. It makes it look like the sun is baking and drying out everything so you feel how the elephant feels. In general the picture is very warm and does a good job of setting the scene to make you feel like you're in it. It makes you feel like you're in the sheriff's position on the hot summer day.
Personally I don't like the perspective of the image because there isn't a whole lot you can see. Obviously there is the elephant, the main focal point, and the sheriff's car. The perspective does a good job at showing but you can't go too in depth without the context of it. The angle of the image is good because you can see the cars, elephant, and the people which is the only thing you need to see. So there is a lot of empty space in the image that i don't like but what this does is make you take in every detail before seeing the main point
The image makes me feel like I am dreaming because of the randomness of it. I like the fact that the picture makes me stop and think about it instead of just taking it at face value. The car in the very front distracts you so you're left looking around until you see the trail of water, leading to the elephant which sticks out because you would never think to see one in this environment. You can tell what's going on in the image by looking at it, but at the same time you can't because of the nature of it. The main reason the elephant sticks out it because the surrounding area looks so dry.
All in all I think the picture does a good job of portraying the weirdness with the weird angle, the lighting, and the general atmosphere. The picture is successful because it captures the entire scene and draws your eyes along a path which gets weirder the longer you look. I like the image because it is just so unusual and the photographer did such a good job capturing this wild scene. I would recommend this image to people

Max Lloyd

10/22/2021 01:29:32 pm

This image contains an elephant and a lot of people. There are a bunch of cars there and what appears to be water surrounding and on the elephant. There are a bunch of warm colors in this image and a very light setting. The elephant seems to be dead with a lot of water on it, there are many bystanders too. Again the lighting is more warm than it is cool.
The Image to me is not very pleasing to look at, it just kind of looks like it’s not meant to be there. The point of view in this photo is from a mid range away, and is lifted up, meaning he could be on a car or on a hill. The focal point of this image is the elephant, it’s right in the middle and is very abstract in this image. The image is asymmetrically balanced meaning it isn’t straight across from each other but more spaced out. The frame crops out more forest to the right and a field and road to the left, as well as a road that comes from the bottom corner and continues right through the middle of the image.
I think the theme in this image could be unexpected, this is what I think the theme is because you’re not really expecting to see an elephant in the middle of the road in Oregon. The story being told behind this photo could be that this was not what a lot of people were expecting to see when they drove down the road. I believe that the photographer took this photo because they thought it might be weird or out of place. This photo reminds me of when I was driving down a road and saw a dead bobcat. I think this image is very pretty in it’s own way, it doesn’t follow what you’d typically see in a photo.
Personally I don’t like this photo. I don’t like it because it’s not really what I think is a good photo. This photo probably is successful. It is because I think many people found it weird and out of place and ended up liking it. This photo is also very different from what you usually see.

Kiara Dwivedi

10/22/2021 01:34:57 pm

This image shows an elephant on the road, covered in water. Sheriff cars line up along the road and people watch. I see many colors including greens and yellow in the picture; the yellow grass on the side of the road makes me think of heat. The shadows and light in the blue sky make me think of the midday sun. The angle of the photograph is not from a bird’s eye view but it does look elevated. This image is pleasing to look at because there are many things catching your eye. The focal point is the car in the front and I saw the brown truck second.

This image follows the rule of thirds which can be seen in the brown pole and car door. The main focus is supposed to be the elephant, but there is some space left for the background. However, I think that the space is used well by the trees which align the photo. This picture has a deep depth of field because we can see all the way into the distance. This photo overall reminds me of an old mystery or crime movie. If I cut a line down the middle of the picture, I would feel like the left side is a bit unbalanced since both the elephant and truck are on the left. The lines on the road lead my eyes right towards the elephant.

I like this picture because of the perspective and depth of field. This picture reminds me of a hot summer day and I think the photographer got the point of this image across to the audience. The elephant was dehydrated and collapsed on the hot road. The sheriff department is trying to help cool it off. The road leading around the corner to who knows where? The mystery and several characters make this a good image.

Kate Philbin

10/23/2021 12:19:18 pm

In the picture I see an elephant laying down in the road with a truck, a car, and people watching beside it. I am wondering what had happened? I see what looks like water on the ground so I am wondering if the people are cooling the elephant off. I was worried at first that it might have been blood but if you look closely you can see a person with a hose or maybe a bucket, I can't tell. I don't know where they would get all the water from. The first thought that crossed my mind was that the elephant had fallen off a truck that was transporting it somewhere. Maybe the truck in front of it possibly. They could be giving the elephant a cool off before loading it back into the truck. Or maybe the animal was just lying down in the middle of the road and people wanted to help. The only reason why I don't think it is just a wild elephant is that the background doesn't look like an elephant's habitat. I think the elephant either escaped somehow from somewhere or fell out of a vehicle.

The focal point of the image is the elephant and sort of the truck behind it. There are people, trees, a road, and other cars surrounding it. The image is has a lot of stuff going on at once with people watching, cars, a bright sunny day, green trees, and elephants sitting in the middle of a country road. The image was taken from a high angle and pretty far away. It looks asymmetrical. The point of view is not yet exactly bird's eye view but it is definitely not a bug's eyes view. The frame gets the main action for sure but it cuts off some objects also surrounding the elephant. Like there is a house or maybe a farm that gets cut off.

I have an idea about the image. My main thought is that the elephant had fallen out of a truck and is stuck on the ground. There is definitely a story in this image! The big story would be how the elephant ended up in the middle of the road being sprayed with water. That also makes me wonder how long the elephant has been there. Elephants should be able to stand in the heat for a while without water.ad due to thirst. I am not sure why the artist made this image. To me, it just looks like an accident that a photographer wanted to capture a picture of. You don't see an elephant in the middle of the road. This reminds me of a story I read where all the animals are in a horrible environment where all the animals want to live free. I find this image interesting because there are so many things you could think about in this picture. There are so many different things that could be happening in the picture.

I do like the picture because it's very random there are a lot of objects to look at. So many things to think about. But I also find this picture sort of frustrating. It is kind of a blurry/old-timey photograph. When I first looked at the photo I had to make sure that it was an elephant I was looking at. I had at least looked at all the objects twice and make sure they were what I thought they were. Overall I think the image is fascinating and I think that this photographer did a good job because I got the main action in this picture. I know what the main subject of the picture is about. Maybe the photographer could have gotten closer to the elephant, or found a better angle of the situation, or zoomed in more to see what the people were doing. Overall it is a good picture. I think the photographer did a good job.

Breana Toohey

10/23/2021 09:13:39 pm

This image shows an elephant in the middle of the road that is covered in water. There are cops/police surrounding the elephant. The color of this image is warm and with what is occurring in this photograph, I think that this matches the mood very well. The elephant is overheated and this image represents that from its warm tones. The image is showing bright sunlight and it is a very beautiful day outside. In this image there is a lot of green and yellow giving it a desert-like vibe. There are a lot of people and cars in this image along with many trees, a sign, and a couple houses. This also gives a very rural setting with the old houses and the middle of nowhere look.

The composition has a couple focal points including: the big sheriff's car, the sign, the people, and the big truck. When we first look at this image, our eyes are drawn to the car as it is on one of the lines for the rule of thirds. As well as the massive truck, which is also on a line. The cop car in the front very much distracts us from the issue happening in the back with the elephant lying on the floor. The composition is very pleasing and this image looks very nice. The point of view is looking down on what is happening, as he is standing on a truck. This is showing a deep depth of field. I believe this image fills the frame and it looks like the trees are kind of making a frame like the image of the women at the dinner table we looked at earlier this week

There is a story behind this image. This image is telling the story of an elephant that killed its trainer and ran off. It was moving for many hours and started to get heat exhaustion, so the elephant was hosed off and brought to a zoo. This image is interesting because if you look at it without the story, it is hard to know what is going on and you could probably think that the elephant got hit by the truck as it is sitting directly in front of the truck. I believe that the artist made this image to portray animals being mixed in with the industrial world we now live in, and to show that animals should be free. Dangerous animals should not be trained for human entertainment.

I like this photo. I like this photo because it has a lot of colors and textures. It also has a story to it, which I think makes it a more successful photo. A picture without a story can still be very successful, but a picture with a story has more depth and I think makes it more interesting. The sky is very blue and it is a gorgeous day, which makes me like this photo even more. I think that this photo is very successful because it is porveying a story and has good lighting and contrast.

Howard Hu

10/24/2021 06:41:08 pm

This is a picture taken in the countryside. People are gathering in the middle of the road for a small exhausted renegade elephant. The photo was taken in old times due to the appearance of the car. The photograph was made in color with a finely tuned sensibility for dystrophic and idyllic events. The gloomy choice of color in this photograph gives me a sad feeling. The color collaborates well with the story in the picture in which the elephant is sadly collapsed in the middle of the road. The lightning is also more of a dark shadow.

The image is well composed and pleasing to look at. The photographer was taking the picture far away from the scene, so he was able to follow the rule of thirds that the location can be at the top left interaction of the photo. The point of view is from an outsider's perspective who is not involved in the event. The depth of field used is pretty deep due to the distance between the shooting position and the scene. The subject fits in the frame reasonably well, even though the picture isn't symmetrical. There are also extra spaces at the bottom left and the top right of the image, which are just backgrounds and nothing specific happening.

The image's content is about the tragic happenings on the exhausted elephant hopelessly lying in the middle of the road, expressing the main idea that animals are always under the control of human beings. With an eye for the absurd as well as the quietly monumental, Sternfeld captures all of his subjects with dignity. In this picture, it is tempting to see a large creature collapsed and drained of energy, a metaphor for America's exhaustion. Sternfeld also accents the temporariness and fragility of our habitation of the land with his depiction of a destroyed family home set against a sense of deep geological time suddenly exposed by the indiscriminate wrath of nature.

I really like this image. I appreciate the demonstration of skillful photography techniques and the profound, meaningful idea expressed in the story's back. The lighting, frame, and point of view of this product perfectly capture a special moment. I believe that this photograph is definitely a success. It gives us a lot of insights into the nature between animals and humans and the internal hopelessness inside the artist's mind.

Zaara Rehman

10/25/2021 01:03:32 pm

When I first saw this image I thought the elephant fell off the truck and blood was running down. When I look even closer the colors are very warm which made me think the water which I originally thought was blood made it look like blood. The colors did throw me off of what I was originally thinking. It does turn out that the blood is actually water and that the elephant was dehydrated and they were spraying it with water.
The photograph seems like it was taken on the left side of the road on top of a lamppost. The picture ends on the beginning of someone's property. The whole photograph curves like the trees, road, and where the street and grass meet. The photograph is balanced; it is just asymmetrically balanced. The streaks in the road keep making me want to look back at the main point which is the elephant.
I think the creator of this image wanted us to make up what we thought happened because I thought at first the elephant was on the truck and fell, which didn’t actually happen. I don’t think this image is beautiful because of the story behind it and also because there is an elephant laying down in the middle of the road with a bunch of people around it. I do think it is interesting because it makes you think about what happened and makes you go into deeper thought. It doesn’t remind me of any movies or stories. It does remind me of the circus or zoo because that’s where elephants are usually kept or seen in the US.
I like it and don’t because it is kind of sad but also the people were trying to help the elephant. I do believe it was a successful photograph because I feel like the photographer wanted us to think deeper and wanted us to make our own stories. I also think it was successful because there are lines that are always leading back to the main point. The photograph has almost like two emotions at least for me because it looks really sad but the story makes you feel happy because they were trying to help. So overall the photo was successful in what they were trying to show.

Veronica Lobo

10/29/2021 01:28:08 pm

By looking at this image, I can kind of see it’s about an elephant that's on the ground which I believe is dead and there are people trying to move it off the ground for the people to be able to use the road. The image is using warm colors and I think it's like that due to the time it was taken, you would think that it's from the old times because as you can see, in the picture, there is a sheriff car, which is a major hint as to when this was taken, which by the way was taken in the year 1978. Not only is the sheriff's car old, but also if you see closely you can see the way they dressed. I would say that it's not the most pleasant image but it's not bad, I mean, it's somewhat interesting. I'm also pretty sure the rule of thirds is being used in this image, on the left side the poles are almost directly on the line and the sheriff's car in the bottom right corner is also very close to being on the intersection.

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