Mary McCarter- Weekly Artist Post 10

Joseph Szabo

 

(1) Szabo uses black and white photos to capture teens at Jones Beach in the 1970s. The black and white contrast is monochromatic with mostly just a gray gradient. In all three photos the main subject is in focus and the background is somewhat blurry or out of focus. He uses the main subject in the frame as draw the eye and uses perpendicular lines for the eye to follow down the subject followling the horizontal lines of the background. There is quite a bit of movement within these photos like the crowd in the background in the first and third photo as well as a breeze going through the subject's hair of the second photo; the blurriness of the background also suggests movement. 

(2) Szabo chose to go to a well known beach in the 70s where teenagers liked to hangout. In these three photos he encapsulates what that really means. These three snapshots highlight what it was like to be a teen at that time, The third picture in particular shows a very young girl who is obviously too young to be smoking in yet she is surrounded by adults and counter peers. This shows the real story of a life these teens. The theme can certainly be that as well as meaning. The meaning of these photo is to show the everyday hustle and bustle of teens in the 1970s. 

(3) In my opinion these pictures are interestingly ordinary. They show nothing special, besides a couple of teens passing through his frame as he snap his shot. However I think that these photos are dynamic, they say something about the youth at that time. These photos to me are snippets of these young everyday lives, and I find that really interesting. It makes me wonder what is happening in the lives of these subjects. In the second photo the girl has her hand over her face, maybe she didn't want to be pictured or maybe something painful or embarrassing just happened. I really enjoy the snapshot feel to these photos as if he wants to know more and get into the lives of these young people.