The photo that caught my attention is one of a girl who is maliciously staring into the lens of the photographers camera. At first glance, one is drawn to the girl’s face, as well as her body posture. One can assume that she is a girl because of her long, curly hair embellished with bangs. The girl’s eyebrows scrunch up and wrinkles form on the bridge of her nose between her eyes, as if she is staring in anger. Moreover, the curves of her bags mirror the arch of her eyebrows and her lips are pressed together in a straight line, showing her whole facial expression is focused on the one element of anger. However, what is uncertain is the girl’s exact emotion. While anger is an option, the fact that the girl’s eyes are focused on something as her chin makes contact with her upper body could also mean that she is so dissatisfied that she just stares to get attention. Another option is that she is just too tired to deal with the photographer.
Looking at her posture, the girl is slumped on the second step of the porch of probably a house on a farm, as her are arms perched, but pressed to her sides. Her legs are spread wide in a v-formation with her knees pointed straight out, forming essentially a diamond with her two knees as the left and right corners, and her hip and feet as the top and bottom corners. This modern day posture we consider “manly” may indicate that the girl is often surrounded by males, is treated as a male, or is forced to assimilate into male qualities. To support the patriarchal setting, the girl is also wearing a dark sweater along with long overalls. The dirt is not concentrated in one specific area, indicating that her work or chore involves a total body effort and is probably very tiring. The sweater and overalls also indicate that it is probably autumn or early winter.
Elements that are not outright noticeable, but interesting are the photo’s color medium and the animals in the background. The girl’s upper body and face are sepia-like, while the remainder of the photo is in black and white. One may assume that the since during this time period sepia tone stain was prevalent, it can be concluded that this photo was taken during the 1930’s dust bowl era. It seems the photographer wants to draw the viewer’s attention to the girl, while at the same time giving the viewer a red flag to focus on the images in both sepia and black-and-white. The dog and cat are images in black and white. The dog is turned away from the girl at a right angle facing the cat on the edge of the porch. While the cat’s body is facing the same way as the dog however, its face is facing the same way as the girl. This position separation between every living element in the photo seems to be immersed in his/her own bubble within the world. The fact that the door is closed and opaque black also indicates a separation from others. Another element that is not blatant is that the entire photo is focused. Even though the photographer tries to draw attention to the girl, he nearly fails to do so because the viewer cannot help but be drawn to observe the photo in its entirety.
I think your observations are very interesting and insightful. I agree that the focus of the photo is on the girl’s face and wispy hair. Her look is very intense although I am not sure what the emotion is either. Anger is certainly a possibility but I think she looks more annoyed than mad. Her attire is interesting because it shows that, although the girl is young, she has to work a tiring job. The overalls, the deck, and the animals seem to place her at some sort of ranch or farm. I wonder what state she lives in, however. Maybe something in the South or in the Midwest.
Her stance is also very fascinating because like you mentioned, that position is considered to be masculine. Usually, men are the ones who sit with their legs opened in a V shape while women are expected to sit with their legs crossed or close together. However, this girl does not seem to care much about others’ opinions and seems rather comfortable in that position.
I also like that the photograph is in black and white because color may have taken some attention away from the girl’s stare. I also like that the photographer set his camera to a F stop that would blur the background slightly: just enough to emphasize the young girl in the foreground without completely blurring the animals in the background.