Rosas_Marion_Midterm Local Edits and Five Categories

'Detail'

'The Frame'

'The Thing Itself'

'Time'

'The Vantage Point'

The image of the Starbucks coffee cup represents John Szarkowski’s concept of ‘The Thing Itself’ that he describes in his article ‘The Photographer’s Eye’. The original image of the cup was slightly darker, underexposed, and unclear. Although its simplicity made it beautiful, it was a vague and empty photograph that lacked a deeper meaning. I brightened the body of the cup in order to display its surroundings that were not captured in the frame. A subtle reflection of the photographer and the kitchen where the photo was taken now appears in the cup, giving it a story and making it more relatable to the human eye.

The self-portrait of the photographer represents the concept of ‘Detail’. This was the image that I edited the least in order to preserve its integrity. The only edits that I made were to enhance the small aspects of it that were not as clear. For example, I darkened and refined the hair and neutralized the overall temperature very slightly in order to clarify the photographer’s curly hair and the camera lens. As described in the article, the end result remained a recording of how the image was in real life rather than an interpretation of something it could have been.

The image of the backlit triceratops piggy bank represents the concept of ‘The Frame’. The point at which the triceratops’ horn leaves the top of the image creates the upper point of a triangle and the shadow that its overall body casts across the desktop creates the triangle’s base. If the photograph had been shot from the other side of the triceratops so that the body was illuminated, then the image would not appear as brooding and oppressive. This photograph was framed at a particular perspective that makes the object appear overbearing in the image. It would appear a different way if taken at a different angle in a different frame.  

The image of the candle reflects the concept of ‘Time’ as conveyed in the article. A flickering flame changes shape and brightness very quickly, so that every photograph taken of it will be very different from the previous. This image is an example of photograph caught at a certain moment, and that moment in time becomes special because it can never be caught again.

The photograph of the heart-print coffee cup correlates to Szarkowski’s concept of the ‘Vantage Point’. The window in this image is the most obvious vantage point, and is achieved through its brightness and contrast with the other colors in the image. It has a blue hue, making the rest of the image appear somewhat orange. Its contrast and vagueness foreshortens the proximity of the coffee cup, making the cup appear even closer to the photographer than it actually is.