Barrett Chapter 2

Andre Guillen-Rodriguez

February 11, 2018

Digital Photography

Sally Buzzuto

Describing Photographs

1)   a. Description-I think that the main purpose for description is to be able to analyze a photograph based on facts, research, and discovery in order to create a judgment on the piece and be able to back up your statement/interpretation. It’s the way in which a person is able to analyze a photograph and give an opinion on the work.

b. Subject and Subject Matter- I think that the subject matter is the main subject that is being photographed. This however, can vary depending on what the viewer connects with in the piece. Examples of this could be very general such as landscape, portrait, abstract, ect. I think that an important idea to note is that the subject matter can change depending on the critics views of the piece.

c. Form- This is short for “formal elements” and just like in painting/drawing, photography takes on the same compositions to better analyze a work. (ei. dot, line, shape, light and value, color, texture, mass, space, and volume. Other elements include black and white tonal range, subject contrast, film contrast, negative contrast, paper contrast, film format, point of view, angle and lens, frame and edge, depth of field, sharpness of grain, and degree of focus.)

d. Medium- Is the way in which the photograph is developed everything from the type of paper, to the camera movement, positioning, scale, focus, ect. This helps to tell the story to the viewer as to how photographer came to the end conclusion.

e. Style- Is the way in which a photographer goes about photographing. It’s the unique way in which a photographer captures the subject, and how they go about photographing it, and how the picture looks.

2)   a. Comparing and Contrasting- This is a way to be a able to critically analyze a photographers work. Basically you see what the work has in common or how it differs from another work. This could also be a comparison between artists of every subject, not just strictly photographers.

b. Internal and External Sources of Information- Is a very important means of explaining to the masses, how the artists came to be through his experiences. Information is key in being able to further delve into the mind of photographers and knowing about their experiences could shed some light on what they are trying to convey though their work

3)   a. Description and Interpretation- The biggest thing that I got from this section is that we always look to try to make sense of things. Interpretation helps create relevance as to what the critic may think the artists is trying to say.

b. Description and Evaluation- Descriptions are made from evaluations and contain values from the critique It is a means of persuading the reader to a certain view of the piece.

4)   a. Summary of at least three other points you think the author was trying to make

-Information is power, I think that this is a very curtail part of any industry and you should be familiar with how artists came to be, so that you know where they draw their inspiration from, and you can get a better understanding of the piece.

-Research not only artists in the same field, but others in different fields to be able to become greater artists. In the book he mentions a comparison between a fashion photographer and someone in the fashion industry. I though this was very cool because it bridges the gap between art forms and allows for different senses of the subject.

-Always ask questions. I think that one thing I gained from this article is that in order to be able to identify a greater understanding of the piece you have to be able to ask yourself questions about it. Which leads to a description and eventually a judgment.

b. Things your Learned- I think I have gained a greater understanding of how I should go about talking about others artwork. Just like in any other form of art (which is very opinionated) there are certain things that one should be familiar about when talking to people who are already emerged in that particular world. So it was great to gain a better understanding of what I should be looking at as far as analyzing.
c. Your Reaction to the Material- I felt very indifferent about it, had to talk to photographer friends to get a better understanding of definitions. The article was not very straightforward in talking about pictures and I almost wished that I could have seen more of the pictures that the author was talking about because it was hard to grasp your mind around something you are not familiar with.