Week 6

Although I am not a big fan of Cindy Sherman’s photographs, I found it interesting that she took so many pictures of her in so many different roles. It had to be hard to be both the subject and the photographer because she would not be able to see exactly what the image will look like until after it is taken. Especially being before the time of digital and not being able to take millions of pictures and review them instantaneously. I am a very visual person and need to be able to see exactly what something will look like before I can decide my opinion on it, so Cindy Sherman’s style of photography would not work well for me. When I know that I could not do something, it gives me a greater appreciation of another person who can do that task. I’m not particularly impressed by the images she produced, but I can appreciate the difficult process she must have gone through to photography herself, not to mention, the time she must have spent on her multiple costumes.

On the other hand, I really enjoyed the images of Henry Cartier-Bresson. I like images that catch unique moments in time, but are still aesthetically pleasing. Behind St. Lazare, Brussels, and Cape Cod, Massachusetts are a few of Cartier-Bresson’s images that I really liked. None of these images catch anything extraordinary, but they have a way of making something ordinary appear in the photograph as something more. The composition plays a large role in accomplishing this as does the subjects and their actions (to some extent). We talked a lot in class about the visual elements of St. Lazare, but I am also amazed by the subject and the position in which the man was captured. It’s almost hard to tell whether he is in the air or on the ground. From a compositional stand point this is significant as well because it creates a tension in the area around his foot The other two images are less extraordinary in their composition, but the emotions of the subjects are well captured. The other compositional elements are less prominent than in the St. Lazare image however they are still important and handled very well by Cartier-Bresson.