William Sebastian
Digital Photography
Mrs. Gamble
15 October 2009
Digital Photography Paper
I was walking around the French quarter a few weeks go, around mid to late September. I walked around some of the more popular parts of the quarter where both local New Orleans residents go and tourists visit such as Jackson Square and around café du monde. Although I go to the French Quarter and walk around that area every so often, I rarely stop to observe and appreciate all the art work that the many talented local artists put out on display. Most of the artists there who lay their work up on the fences and stands are mostly painters, but on certain days there is a fair share of photographers too.
Many of the artists paint more local images such as Lake Pontchartrain, the Mississippi River, different areas of the French Quarter, street cars, and other aspects of New Orleans that contribute to the overall environment and culture of the city. There was one painting which I particularly liked which represented New Orleans and which represented almost the exact image that comes to mind when I think about the city of New Orleans. It was just a painting, but it included so many of the elements that we talked about so far this year that go into making a picture standout and tell a story. The first thing that I noticed about the painting was the use of “line” in it. The posts which help hold up the wires for the street cars stood in the middle of the painting. They are lined up one after the other. The painting was from a slight angle so it was possible to see them one after another to form a line. That wasn’t the only representation of line in the painting. There were also very tall and bulky oak trees lined up on both sides of the painting which gave it a very complete look. They were lined up the same way as the posts, where since it was from a slight angle it was possible to see the entire rows of oak trees. Another thing that I really liked about the painting and what really brought it together for me was that it had a very symmetrical aspect to it. It wasn’t completely symmetrical obviously because the trees were all obviously a little different than one another. The painting also incorporated a lot of depth in it. You could see far beyond just the initial post and tree, you could see dozens of them and that depth definitely made the picture more interesting and not so flat. On each side of the post there was a track with a streetcar on it. One of the street cars was closer up, while the one on the other side was farther back to add more depth. The last thing I noticed about the painting was the color used in it. There was the dark green and red on the streetcar, and then the blue from the posts. There was also an interesting color contrast between some very bright pink flowers on the ground and light green leaves from the oak trees. Overall, this painting interested me a lot involving so many different aspects that we have learned in this class.
Along with the painting, I also saw a cool picture which was on display at the Quarter. It was actually taken in front of café du monde right next to the water. It was really neat because it captured a lot of the different aspects of café du monde such as the sign in front, many of the customers, and the waiters and waitresses serving beignets. In the background of the picture, it shows the statue in Jackson Square very blurry and just barely visible. You have to look very close to catch all of the details.
Observing these pieces of art, both the cool painting which captured the culture of New Orleans, and the neat picture of Café Du Monde and Jackson Square, was a really cool experience and gave me a greater understanding of how give a picture different aspects such as depth so it is not so boring.
