Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Betty Gowans - Weekly Artist Post 4

Anne Morgenstern



Anne Morgenstern uses color in her images. The subjects are placed in the center of the composition and are less lighted than the rest of the composition. Based on her ability to capture her subjects in lower light situations, I'd say she's using a digital camera. In some cases, she employs a shallower depth of field, but in images one and three, the subject and the background are all in focus.

Her choice to place the subjects in the center places emphasis on the people, but her choice in lighting them shadows much of their faces and/or bodies - both emphasizing and deemphasizing the people she photographed. These images are somber and imply that the subject is in emotional turmoil of sorts. They are presented as if they are outcasts or as if they are hiding something. There is a somberness and a seriousness in these images. None of her subjects are smiling as in a stereotypical portrait. Her choices in composition and lighting helped to portray the grief and struggle that the refugees seeking solace in Hoyerswerda, Germany are experiencing.

Though I've seen similar portraits to these, I find them very compelling because of the situation of the people she's chosen to photograph. They are refugees in their own country and I feel her portrayal of the people she came across to be very successful. Each portrait she composes reveals a different human trying to find some sort of peace and how they deal with it. She could have chosen to take these portraits in a completely different way, but managed to portray struggle and beauty in the way that she decided to utilize. 

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