Essay on Photography

Submitted By rachael102
Words: 643
Pages: 3

During the 2011 Vancouver Stanley Cup riot, around June the 15th 2011, Richard Lam shot a photo of a couple kissing on his ISO 6400 camera. This heavily dramatic and hectic image is a colour photograph. It’s taken in a darkened setting that seems to be well-lit because of the street and traffic lights present on the upper half of the photograph. The lights provide a perfect light in the centre of the photo where a couple can be seen kissing. This conveniently helps bring the attention to them slightly more than the rest of the photo. In the background, police can be spotted ushering people in the opposite direction leading into an undetermined, misty environment. The foreground shows a glimpse of what appears to be another policeman on the bottom left corner of the photograph, with a definite policeman blurred to the right side of the photograph walking towards the camera. The policeman in full vision of the photo appears to be glimpsing off into the distance beyond the photographed area. Along the street, rubbish is sprawled across adding to the already chaotic and intense ambiance which can be determined by this picture alone. Buildings are framing the outer left and right sides of the photograph leading off into the unknown and blending into it. Two dark trees are aligned with the buildings, one on the top left and top right half of the photo, positioned more towards the back. The trees are darkened and aren’t fully visible in the photograph. This image gives off a dangerous but yet enigmatic vibe. We can sense danger through the policemen’s immediate urge to potentially evacuate everyone there, suggesting that they are in a rush to remove further hazards. The enigmatic vibe is from the uncertainty of where they are going as there is a large fog faded in the background and nothing is accounted for (couple kissing whilst everyone else is rushing, mist their headed towards etc..). This photograph was taken using a shutter speed of 1/40, f-stop number of 2.8 and with his lens set on 70-200mm. It is photographed outdoors. This photo has defiantly been taken through digital means and has not been created through traditional photographic processes as it’s a more recently taken photograph taken on the previously stated camera. I don’t believe that this photograph has been heavily manipulated as such, but maybe in smaller aspects like the contrast and blurring because it does seem a bit too perfect to capture in such limited timing.