Reflection, New York (Delancey Street) 1940-1950
The photograph I chose is titled “Reflection” and the photographer is Lisette Model. The use of reflection in this photograph is what first caught my attention. I was interested in how you could see inside of what seems to be a restaurant or bar and see the surroundings outside all at the same time. At first my eye was drawn to the man on the right who is standing. He in my opinion is the main subject of the photo even though the buildings and the trees in the reflection of the window also caught my eye. Whenever I see photographs of people in earlier decades I always wonder about who they are. I start to ask myself, do they have a family? What kind of work do they do? What are their interests? And then I go on to focus on and wonder about the specific situation they were in when the picture was taken. To me the man seems to be waiting, maybe for a friend. Or judging by his facial expression he may have just heard some confusing or worrisome news. I can’t see his eyes but he seems not to notice the photographer. When I looked harder at the photograph and tried to further distinguish the reflection of the outside from the inside I realized there was a second man inside who seems to be looking straight at the camera. Furthermore, I then could see the the people outside as they walk on the street. The thing that I found most intriguing however, was that as hard as I looked I could not see the photographer or the camera in the reflection of the window which I feel should’ve been noticeable.
Moreover, I feel that this photograph is compositionally strong because it uses the rule of thirds and counterpoint correctly. The photographer uses the rule of thirds when she places the main subject in the right third of the picture rather than in the center of the picture. Even though the second man in the picture may appear to be in the center, if you break the picture up into thirds you can see that he is placed in the middle but towards the left third of the photo. With these two men the photographer also slightly incorporates counterpoint in the photo. Since she placed the primary focal point at the thirds position, she could place the secondary focal point at the diagonally opposite thirds position. Although he isn’t exactly diagonally opposite it is clear to see that the head of the second man is at a slight diagonal from the first man’s head. This means that she used counterpoint.
Overall, I found the elements of this picture very interesting. For snapshot day I feel that I will now try to use the rule of thirds and try to incorporate counterpoint in my photograph since it makes the photo more appealing to the eye.
Ariella Caminero
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