Thesis:
For portrait photography, Richard Avedon used a simple, often with achromatic background. Thus, all the viewer’s attention was focused on the model and was not distracted by foreign objects in the frame. The first photograph “Veruschka Dress” by Richard Avedon is a amazingly creative. Avedon liked to play with light and shadows. There’s a pattern in this frame. It has movement, flow and direction. It’s asymmetrical, but it looks balanced and at the same time it’s vibrant with a focal point. It has the perfect use of positive and negative spaces, even though it is a low-key contrast photograph. Second photograph is “Brigitte Bardot” a glamorous portrait by Richard Avedon. Now this photo is very different from the first one because it’s symmetrical with a static look, which surprisingly creates a sense of movement. Avedon uses the same technique of shadow and light in both photographs, but the amount of light and shadows at the same time make photographs look different.
Instructions:
Choose two examples of portraiture. You can look online. Both portraits must be photographs. Some artists you might be interested in researching are Diane Arbus, Annie Liebowitz, Jacob Riis, and Richard Avedon. Please use the provided link to the World Press Photo for additional choices. The photographic portraits you choose need to be by professional photographers. You may not use your own snapshots. You should not randomly copy images from the Internet, since the Internet is not edited for quality: anyone could post an image, but that does not mean the image is good or worth analyzing.
Your response must be 900 to 1000 words in length. Write in complete, grammatically correct sentences. Choose two portraits to describe, compare and contrast. The portraits that you choose to compare must be photographs. This does not mean photographs of paintings. The works must be photographic portraits: not landscapes, not interiors, not urban landscapes, but photographic portraits of people.
Paragraph 1: Your thesis statement is the road map to your essay. It gives your readers an understanding of what you are going to talk about and helps you organize your argument. Try to stay away from oversimplified general statements like This essay is going to compare A to B; or A and B are very similar, but they have a difference. Try to engage your audience with a more intriguing statement like A and B are two images which use drastic zoom in, cropping, open space and very dramatic contrast between light and dark to draw the viewers into the tense, personal space of the sitter. Within the context of your thesis statement, identify the two pieces you will be comparing by artist, title, medium (b/w, c-print, ink jet, daguerreotype), year, and measurements.
Paragraph 2: Describe in detail the first photograph. Write your description as though to a person who is not looking at the photograph that you are writing about. I should be able to build a perfect visual image in my head of the photograph you are describing without seeing the photograph first. Do not assume I know anything about this photo. The more precisely you are able to describe what you are looking at, the better.
Paragraph 3: Describe in detail the second photograph.
The detailed observation of images fosters critical thinking when reflecting on the images.
Paragraph 4-6: Compare and contrast three formal elements and/or principles of design in the chosen images. For example, you can compare:
Light, value, and value contrast: What is the source of light, natural or artificial? Is the light in the portrait very intense or very minimal? Is the portrait overall dark or light? What kind of mood does that choice of light produce, light and happy or heavy and ominous? What kind of contrast do we have in the work, high key or low key? Does the choice of contrast create a more lyrical or a more dynamic image? How does the choice of contrast support the subject matter?
The composition: How close are we to the model? Is the image a radical zoom in? Can we see very intimate details on the face or are we seeing the model from a distance? What kind of atmosphere does that create? Is the model aware of the camera, is the model gazing at us? What kind of gaze is it? How does it make you feel as a viewer? Are you drawn into the image or do you feel uncomfortable and want to look away? How does the distance affect the composition? Is there cropping? Is the image symmetrically or asymmetrically balanced and how does that create a sense of movement or sense of stability? What is the focal point and what emphasis has the artist put on it to make it so? Is the focal point placed on the golden section (is it following the rule of thirds)? What is the visual flow within the image or how does the gaze of the viewer move through the image? Paragraph 7: Conclusion. Final thoughts. Pull together your thoughts about the two works and all the points you have touched on.
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