Mistele+Place

Portrait of a Place



The first portrait of a place, "Iceberg, Greenland", was composed by photographer James Balog for the National Geographic company. This portrait of a place is a landscape photograph as it shows the landscape of the environment from far away, even though it doesn't look like it because the ice bergs are massive. The artist, Balog, uses many compositional techniques in this photograph; Balog uses asymmetrical balance as the main focus, the larger ice berg, is off centered to the left. As well the ice berg has many lines that run through it including the large crack that runs though the middle, this is leading lines because instead of just focusing on the ice berg the lines add interest and help us not only see the main subject but the whole landscape as well. The mood that is evoked from this landscape portrait would be barren, isolation, or loneliness. The artists chose not to incorporate any life form in this landscape to demonstrate this barren vast feeling; there is no presence of any life: animal or plant. The cool color scheme also relates to these emotions as the artist chose to photograph a space with primarily cool colors, but there warm colors are intruding as the sunset projects a warm orange color over the ice which evokes the warm emotion and shows that this landscape is not all barren, and isolated, but there is a sense of warm and kind feeling that many not be shown in this particular photograph but is there.

 //**This portrait of a place was found at :**// //**http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/iceberg-greenland-balog/**//

The next portrait of a place, "Abandoned Brewery", composed by Tim Suess who is a well known photographer. This portrait of a place's space falls into the category of interior space as the photograph was shot indoors in an abandoned brewery. This photograph utilizes many compositional techniques that the artist employed; Suess used the perspective of the space as the photograph has a lot of depth and your eyes follow the leading lines in the shape of the ceiling and the window lines to lead you all the way back into the space. As well the artist had an interesting point of view while shooting this picture as he chose to keep the reflection that was in the water of the windows; and the focal point of the photo is the back of the photo or the back of the space which helps the view see the whole picture not just the foreground. The mood or emotion that Suess attempted to evoke would be empitness but also the photo emits a mystical feel. The title of the portrait of a place states that this old brewery is "abandoned" and the lack of interior furniture or machines further expresses that this is a empty lonely place. Although the photograph is also kind of mystical as the architecture is interesting and it makes the viewer think what really happened here, what did this place look like when it was functioning. The reflection in the water is almost like a view of what the place used to be like but it cuts off early enough so the viewer is left questioning.

//**This portrait of a place was found at : http://weburbanist.com/2008/09/21/24-stunning-hdr-photographs-of-abandoned-places/2-hall-skylight-hdr/**//

The final portrait of a place, is an untitled photograph composed by Paul Raphaelson who is a famous photographer. The space that is shown in this portrait of a place is a city escape because the photograph shows the viewer aspects of a city: lights, signs, buildings, etc. This photograph utilizes many compositional techniques: the artist uses the overlying bridge and the big buildings to frame the background city skyline. As well the leading lines that are in the bridge and the street lead the viewers eye to the background of the photograph which is the city skyline. The mood that is evoked in Raphaelson's photograph would be chaos as there is a lot going on in a city and all of the cars in the street also help the viewer infer that this is a chaotic city. As well the emotion and feeling of destruction and run down is evoked as the picture is in black and white which makes the city seem old and the buildings that are photographed aren't the newest or most expensive buildings which also add to this emotion.


 * //This portrait of a place was found at: http://www.paulraphaelson.com/portfolios/wilderness/#26//**