Thursday, January 24, 2008

Assignment #1: Four Photos Story




RUNNING AWAY

I first saw Photo #3 on the Jupiter Images site. I could not find the photographer’s name, however. I liked the photo because, on its own, the expression on the boy’s face can mean many things such as sadness, anticipation, and hurt. Mostly I saw sadness and a feeling of being lost. I liked the photo for the very clear reflection of the boy in the window, so deep in his own world that even as he looked out all he saw was himself.

I then found Photo #2 from Gina Hanf which I also liked. I’m constantly taking amateur photos such as this; dirt roads and hiking trails mostly, so it caught my eye. I like how the tracks stream toward the clouds giving a sense of infinite space. The absence of people gives off a lonely, kind of solitary mood, a track going nowhere in particular. It was then I decided to tie the two together and what more natural topic than a young boy running away from home.

Searching the web I found Photo #1 from Donncha which was perfect for the first frame. This young boy, walking alone on a busy sidewalk and completely ignored by the adults in the photo gave his reason for running away; he felt his parents weren’t paying him any attention. The boy’s eyes are looking down, there is a sense of sadness and he is not looking where he is going, possibly because he doesn’t know.

The last frame, Photo #4 from Paolo Pellegrin is because I like happy endings. I wanted the boy to return home. This photo is perfect because the mother’s face is somewhat blurred. I imagine a tear-stained and worried face. But because it is blurred it doesn't detract from the boy, whom the story is about. He appears jubilant with his arms outstretched for, after thinking it over, he realizes life at home is not so bad. There is a definite diagonal division in the photo, between the mother and the son that could signify the cause of the boy running away. However he is running toward it in this last photo, and it will be erased, and hopefully forgotten, by the time he reaches his mother’s arms.

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