Lee Friedlander photo analysis



Like most of his photos, this photo by Lee Friedlander makes you feel slightly uneasy and frightened.  Because it is focused on the woman, your eye is automatically drawn to her instead of the slight blurriness of the busy street behind her.  Next, your gaze travels directly to the shadow of the man looming behind her.

This shadow immediately sets an uncomfortable tone to the photo and puts the viewer on edge because they instantly start worrying about the situation and feeling for this unsuspecting woman:  Who is he? Is he following her? Why? What is he going to do to her? Anything?  That placement of his shadow gives a very stalkerish effect to the composition and makes it feel like an old-fashioned horror movie or true crime documentary happening right in front of us. One where the photo was taken a second before the girl turns and screams in terror as the monster’s hands reach out to wrap around her throat.

Furthermore, this photo instills the viewer with the same anxiety. With this skillful shot Friedlander manages to awaken that primal fear in all of us about that looming monster just out of sight and after looking at it one can’t help the feeling that there’s someone behind them. The urge might be fought, but the viewer succumbs in the end to that need to glance over their shoulder to see that no, there’s no one there.  Thanks to the masterful way Lee Friedlander set this photo up, this normal city street is converted into something out of a thriller film that preys on our nightmares.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Man Ray Photo analysis

Image
While it may not seem like it at first glance, The longer you look at the picture the more it seems to be surrealistic. That’s all because of the play between the girl and the mask. It changes the photo from something that could easily be boring into something out of fantasy.   In fact, Man Ray’s artistry leaves one feeling like they’re looking at a fairytale unfolding. A dark one straight out of the original brothers Grimm collection, where not everyone has a happy ending. The woman lying with her head down on the table, is clearly the main character here. The focus of the shot is literally on her, and she’s where the eye is drawn first in the photo.   Looking at her, you’re not quite sure what to make of her. The woman could easily be simply resting. . .or in a much deeper, longer sleep.   One could easily imagine her as the princess under a curse, though what the curse is or why it was put on her one is only left to guess. It might have something to do with the mask, b
Read more

Vivian Maier photo analysis

Image
Vivian Maier, a street photographer in the 1950’s, was my primary inspiration for the personal project. She was born in 1926 and spent most of her life moving between Europe and America, eventually settling down in New York where she worked as a nanny.   Although she produced and left 100,000 negatives—her work wasn’t discovered or recognized until recently in   2007, only 2 years before she died.  By virtue of being the only people in the photo out eyes go right to the two girls, telling us that they’re the main subject of the photo. They also capture attention by being the only things with an semblance of movement. That sense of motion makes them stand out as well as the clear happy childlike joy in their faces. You can tell they’re having fun and looking at the photo the viewer feels a shadow of that same happiness and almost seems to hear them laughing as they play. Despite being an example of street photography and preserving a pure, sweet candid moment this phot also s
Read more

Antonin Kratochvil photo analysis

Image
Known for his photos of disasters, this photo by Antonin Kratochvil still stuns, although he breaks that mold in this photo. This one rare piece of his photography that does not depict destruction, however he still manages to give the viewer an unsettled, uncertain feeling when looking at it. With this photo we somehow manage to get the same effect as if we were looking at a photo of carnage or watching a horror film. In fact, this photo wouldn’t look very out of place in a thriller. The combination of the blur around them and the fact that the group of girls are the only things even slightly in focus brings the viewer’s eye right to them.   The simple white dresses they all wear, along with the palm leaf they’re each carrying probably aids this by making them stand out against the dark background. The fact that they are in the center and right at eye level helps as well. What really makes the photo however is the blurr, not the girls.   Although the blurr looks accidenta
Read more