Bridget+B+Portrait

(Bridget Bratel)

Imogen Cunningham is an excellent photographer of portraits because when I look at this photograph I almost feel their struggles. I can put myself in the photograph and wonder about their lives and wonder the things that they have struggled. Cunningham changed the point of view by putting the camera a little lower to match up with the man who is kneeling almost to represent hard ache and pain, sufferings, and the place they are now, the bottom. Although this picture seems to be sad and helpless I can see a smile in two of the faces and it almost brightens the picture and makes it happier itself. It shows the level horizon in the background which to me feels like it’s trying to represent a long travel, maybe of struggles, but of love too. Cunningham used the natural light from the outdoors to capture his image. It looks almost like it’s cloudy which emphasizes some parts of the sky making parts seem brighter almost reflecting off of the people. The light from behind makes the picture lighter instead of the darkness that the picture seems to represent. Imogen Cunningham places the people directly in the middle of the frame because he wants to show that the people are the most important, not their struggles, not where they are from, but who they are as people. By putting the camera at a lower angle than the people makes the eye follow the legs of the people upward to see their faces. Almost to show their hard work to get from the bottom to the top.
 * imogen cunningham**

Rigon isn’t a famous artist I found her by searching portrait photographers. I wanted to see other people’s interpretations of portraits. I wanted to see a person that got the struggles of women in power, women that are edited to look beautiful, but also see how they struggle, and who they are. I think that Rigon really captures the appeal that some women have on media. It shows how beautiful people change perceptions but that they are also real people themselves that hide behind a camera lens. Rigon used a dramatic lighting because she wanted to show a very large shadow behind the woman. Rigon must have used leading lines because the legs are bringing the eye to the shoes, and maybe that’s what the photographer wanted because they wanted to emphasize the shoes. The point of view is changed so that it’s not straight on.
 * gabriele rigon**

Callahan did a great job of capturing the emotion of the woman in the photograph. The way that she’s looking at the camera straight on shows that she’s courageous and not hiding away from the camera, she’s not a shy person. She wants to be seen but maybe has never been seen. It shows a story within the picture of the woman’s life and who she is as a person. Callahan looks to have used studio fill lighting because it is not as bright, but it doesn’t look like natural lighting. Callahan used framing by having the woman place her arms around her head to shape her face and make it more obvious and to make it stand out. He didn’t want the background in there obviously. He filled the frame with just the upper portion of the woman’s body because it is unable to see the rest of the body. The arms can also be like leading lines because the arms and the fingers make you look to where they’re going and it also makes the face stand out more.
 * harry callahan**