I chose André Kertész’s photo “Wandering Violinist” (1921) to analyze because I was drawn to the way the child in the background was staring at the man and older child in the foreground. At first glance my eyes were drawn to the violinist’s concentrated pose and expression. His expression made me wonder what song he was playing and what he was thinking of as he played it. Then my eyes were drawn to the older child who stood next to him gazing into the distance. He seemed relatively well dressed so his lack of shoes surprised me. Even as I was looking at the violinist and the child next to him, the younger child was always in the corner of my eye. He is not as in focus as the other two, and is shockingly alone, without any parent or guardian. The way he stares at the other two made me wonder about his situation. Maybe he is related to the others, or maybe he is an orphan. As a whole, the photo also gave me a sense of being in an older time and place, conveyed through the scenery and clothes .This makes sense as the photo was taken in Abony, Hungary in 1921.
This photo is compositionally strong. The Rule of Thirds was used and the younger child appears where there would be a vertical line in the middle left of the frame. The man and older child take up the whole right side, also where a vertical line would appear, and have a feeling of being in motion because of the room in front of them. Likewise, the space in front of the younger child gives him space to move. There is a horizon line close to the upper imaginary horizontal line, which gives emphasis to the three people on the bottom part of the road. However, the horizon line seems to run through the younger child’s head and parts of the man and older child, slightly detracting from the focus.
I plan to frame my shots by using the Rule of Thirds, and maybe also try to use a counterpoint. Instead of having halves in my photo, thirds will make the composition more interesting. Placing my subjects on the imaginary lines will also help to draw the focus to them. Another detail to keep in mind is the spacing in front of the subjects and how much of them I want to show to focus on. I will need to give the subject enough room and place it correctly so that it does not appear too static. These details will help me take an interesting, well-composed photo.
Leave a Reply