Analysing "New York 1958" by Joel, Jose & Martín

Working as a photojournalist Vivian Maier - New York - 1958

By : Joel, Jose, MartĂ­n.

Table of contents.

1. Introduction .

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2. Author.

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3. Formal analysis of the picture.

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3.1. Observation Skills.

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3.1.1. Action.

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3.1.2. Setting.

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3.1.3. Theme.

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3.1.4. Characters.

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3.1.5. Clothing.

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3.1.6 Pose.

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3.1.7 Expression.

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3.2. Technical Knowledge.

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3.2.1. Point of view.

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3.2.2. Lighting.

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3.2.3. Framing.

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3.2.4. Cropping.

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3.3. Understanding the context and intended use on the photograph.

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3.4. Finding Meaning.

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3.5. Symbol/Metaphor.

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4. Conclusion.

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5. Bibliography.

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1. Introduction .

In this project we worked as a photojournalist and we are going to analyse objectively and subjectively the pic and we are going to try to convince you that this is one of the best pictures.

2. Author.

Vivian Maier

At first we thought that the photographer was a man because we thought that in that time period the woman were not photographers. Vivian Maier is the photographer of our picture, she was born in France in 1926. Her fathers were jewish refugees. She moved to New York in 1951 with 25 years old and 5 years later she moved to Chicago. In 1959 she went on a travel around the world. She was a babysitter. She took pictures of New York and Chicago between the 50’s and 90’s. She took about 100.000 pictures in her life. In 2008 she fell and she hit her head on ice, 4 months later she died in 2009 at the age of 83 years old in Chicago.

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3. Formal analysis of the picture.

3.1. Observation Skills.

3.1.1. Action.

The first thing that we see in this picture are two boys. The black boy is cleaning the white boy’s shoes. The subject are the two boys. In the background there ​are some people, a man and another boy cleaning the shoes of a man, and also there ​is a shop. In the foreground there are only the two boys and there is nothing in front of the subject. We don’t know what happened before the picture was taken. After the picture was taken we think that the black boy continued working.

3.1.2. Setting.

We think that the picture was taken in a city of the United States because it look like a big city it’s look like US.

3.1.3. Theme.

We think that the black boy is doing that to make money because his family is poor because a kid don’t should work. We think the photographer took that picture because she wanted to show the inequality between the different races.

3.1.4. Characters.

We think that the boys in the picture are about 12 years old, there are americans and we think that the picture was taken in the 30’s or 40’s in New York because of their clothes and the shop in the background.

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3.1.5. Clothing.

The black boy is wearing a T-shirt, old trousers and shoes and the white boy is wearing a shirt, trousers and new shoes. The clothes doesn’t tell us anything about his identity or social group only that the white boy looks richer than the black boy.

3.1.6 Pose.

The black boy is kneeling, he looks tired, probably because he ​ ​cleans shoes everyday.

We think the white boy looks upset.

3.1.7 Expression.

We don’t know what are they feeling but probably the black boy don’t like to do this job because of his facial expression.

3.2. Technical Knowledge.

3.2.1. Point of view.

In this picture the photographer is in front of the kids and she is kneeling or crouching. She is below the subject and looking up, she took the picture close to the subject.

The photographer chose to compose the picture this way because we can see the subject in the foreground but this way to compose the picture doesn’t give any special effect, the only effect that it has is that we draw our attention to the subject.

This way to compose the picture maybe gives an impression of superiority of the white people.

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3.2.2. Lighting.

The light in this picture is natural, is bright and also it come from the background, it is soft and diffused. The subject is clear and the background is blurry. The lighting draw your attention to the two boys. This lighting give to the picture a mood of sadness.

3.2.3. Framing.

We can see the two boys in the foreground and in the background we can see a kid cleaning a man’s shoes in front of a shop, and more people in the street. Outside the frame we think that there is another street or road. The photographer probably chose this way to frame the picture because there is nothing interesting outside the frame.

3.2.4. Cropping.

It hasn't any cropping effect. The cropping helps ​draw our attention to the subject because the subject is in the center of the picture.

3.3. Understanding the context and intended use on the photograph.

This picture was taken in New York on 1956. We think that the picture is for an exhibition about racism. We think that the photographer took this picture because it shows racism and child ​work. We thought that this was taken in the 30’s because they wear old clothes. The pic shows that there was a lot of racism in this time period. We searched another pics of that years and we found that the other photographers in this time period don’t show racism and the other social problems.

3.4. Finding Meaning.

The photograph is saying that the people in that time period don’t care about racism and the kid’s work because the white kid doesn’t care about who is cleaning his shoes.

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We feel sadness when we look at ​this photo because it shows us that racism was normal in this time period. We think that the racism doesn’t should exist because all people should be treated the same. It doesn’t inspire us to work creatively in any way.

3.5. Symbol/Metaphor.

We can’t see any symbol but we think that the white kid is in a higher position than the black boy could be a metaphor about racism and the inequality between races.

4. Conclusion.

Doing this project we learned that racism is still a problem nowadays, that pictures like this can show the world problems like wars, inequality between races, between men and women, the problems that poor people have.

We think that this picture is one of the best in history because it shows the problem of racism and this is very important because this picture could help to solve it which is a big problem as all the people should be treated equally.

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5. Bibliography.

Aula Virtual Ies de Fene [ ​https://www.edu.xunta.gal/centros/iesfene/aulavirtual2/course/view.php?id=147​ ] ( 3/6/2018).

Maier, Vivian - 1956 - NY. Wikipedia-Vivian Maier - [​https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian_Maier​] - (2/6/2018).

Wordreference - [​http://www.wordreference.com/es/​] - (2/6/2018).

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