ccp response

I chose the photograph “La Ascension” by Graciela Iturbide. This is a black and white photo of (I assume) two girls standing on part of a tree. I would assume it is taken in the day with natural lighting outside. What drew me right away to this photograph are the textures—the rich, rough texture of the bark contrasted by the smoothness of the legs and velvet of the skirt. There is even texture to be seen in the folds of the lighter skirt—the way it is folded and scrunched. There are also different types of textures just in the tree—gnarly, twisting, bulging parts in the branches, and a smoother looking area on the trunk with straight even lines. The texture gives so much visual interest in an otherwise simple photo—there are no faces or expressions or actions to look at, just this mighty tree and its two inhabitants. Next I noticed the contrast. The bark has all matter of shades of grey starting at white and running to black, as do the girls and their skirts. The folds in the dark skirt don’t get lost in darkness; one can still see and feel the texture there. The girls are positioned in the upper left corner of the frame. My eye is drawn to this spot because the people are there, but also because of the diagonal line that has been created by the branch they are standing on. Everything is pointing upward. The girl who is higher up has her foot lifted as if ready to continue her steps upward, while the girl behind her waits. I think this all goes along with the title of the piece—the ascension. I could think of it as just an ascension—to ascend, as in these girls are going up the tree, but I could also think of this in a mystical or religious way “ the belief in some religions that there are certain rare individuals that have ascended into Heaven directly without dying first” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascension). To me, the title of Iturbide’s piece denotes that there is a spiritual quality of the work, without that word, the viewer might not think of it in exactly that way—it is more open to interpretation. Just looking at the photo without the title I thought it was kind of mysterious—what are these girls doing? Have they just climbed a tree to play? To escape something? They look like they are taking a rest in a tree. It’s also hard to know what is going on without seeing their faces. But knowing Iturbide’s general practice of taking shots that capture the religion, culture and everyday life of her subjects, I might make the jump and think of it as being religious. I think that Iturbide intends the photo to be seen that way. I’m not sure if she took it and after printing decided to give it that connotative name, or if she saw it as that when she captured the image. Every element supports the idea of the title, whether it is merely to go up the tree on earth, or ascend to heaven. I like how the viewer cannot see the faces of the girls—that could change the entire meaning of the piece. If they are smiling, laughing, staring, crying, etc., any of these emotions could change any connotations that are implied by the artist. I think this is a good example of how text can really influence the way a message is seen in a photograph. When looking at this piece, as well as the others at the CCP viewing, I learned that I need to make better quality prints (I also can’t wait to try a large format camera someday…). They are all so crisp and beautiful, whatever the subject matter may be. Between these photos and the framing assignment, I feel I need to remember to be more aware of framing of the subjects.