Context
Justine Reyes lives and works in New York. She received an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2004 and a BFA from Syracuse University in 2000. Reyes has exhibited her work nationally and internationally including Proyecto Circo at the 8th Havana Biennial, Cuba; Contemporary Istanbul, Turkey; Queens International 4 at The Queens Museum of Art, Humble Arts Foundation’s 31 Women in Art Photography and the Flash Forward Festival in Toronto. She was an artist in residence at the Centre for Photography at Woodstock in 2008 and exhibited the series Vanitas there in 2010. Reyes was awarded the Juror’s Choice Award from Centre’s project competition, a workspace residency from the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council (LMCC) and Visiting Scholar status at New York University. She was also a recent recipient of a QCAF grant from the Queens Council on the Arts for her series Home, Away from Home. In 2011 Reyes was included in PDN’s (Photo District News) Top 30 Emerging Photographers to Watch.
Analysis
What can I See?
The genre of this photograph is portraiture and still-life. In this photograph I can see someone wearing a blue cloth over their head. Down the middle of the blue cloth there is brown string sewn in. The sewn in brown string is an oval at the top. At the bottom of the oval is a straight line going down. You can also see the outlines and shadow of the persons nose, mouth and eyes. There is also drapes hanging from the side of the persons face.
Feelings & Mood
This photograph reminds me of the a demon. The reason for this is because the face is covered and you can only see the shadows of the persons facial features, which to me makes it look a bit scary, almost like a demon. This photograph makes me feel timid and freaked out. The reason for this is because, as I said earlier, it looks like a demon, like something that came from the underworld or another dimension from the effects of the shadows.
Composition
This image looks like it is symmetrical. I think this because when I look at the photograph, it looks the same on both left and right. There are no leading lines in this photo. The focal point of this photograph is the centre , where the models nose is behind the cloth. This is the focal point because it is the brightest part of the photograph, it looks like the light was focused on that point. My eye looks second at the top, at the forehead of the model. The reason for this is because that part is a different colour to the rest of the models face and it stands out. My eye looks third at the eyes of the model. The reason for this is because it is the darkest part of the image, and that also stands out.
Colour and Mood
The colours that have been used is blue, white and orange. The colours are subtle, muted and dark. The mood the colours give the photograph is gloomy and freaky. The reason for this is because the colours are quite dark and dull. The dominant colour is dark blue. The artists probably used this colour for the dominant colour because they wanted to show either peace, trust loyalty, integrity, conversation or frigidity, as this is what the colour blue symbolises or means.
Light & Tone
The direction of the light is coming from the top. I can tell because everywhere else is dark, whereas in the middle it looks like their is a beam of light going downwards. The highlight areas of the photograph is in the middle because that part is the brightest. The mid tones are at the top and the dark shadows are at the background and on the sides of the models face. The light and tone adds depth and weight to the photograph. The light and tone adds a creepy mood because the lighting makes the photograph looked old fashioned.
Texture & Pattern
The textures used are velvety and silky. I can tell because of the material used, it looks like a piece of cloth or some clothing. The pattern used is, in the middle, lines curving towards the centre from the outside. And at the top is orange balls doing straight down the cloth of piece of clothing. The pattern is random and complex.
What Have I Learnt
- How to add effect to a photograph by using shading and dark patches
- How to take photographs in the style of Justine Reyes
- That using cloths or clothing and add effect to my photographs