Mary Ellen Mark’s legendary photography series, “‘Streetwise’: Revisited” is used to demonstrate how both conceptually and compositionally imagery in her “streetwise” subjects create the mood of somberness.
Conceptually, the use of composition space, distance from subject, and point of view are used to display the mood of the image. To begin, the use of the compositional space is the placement of the subject and supporting elements. In the photo series, “Steetwise,” the subjects are placed in the center of the images and the supporting elements are around the images. Other, supporting elements include children and babies, buildings and other architectural elements. The photographer, Mark, does this because it focuses on the situation of the people and not just their physical appearance. Next, the proximity of the photographer to the subjects is
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The mood of the image can be considered somber. The tone of somberness is understood as weighty, grave, and serious. This mood is created by the photographer by the placement of subjects in contrast to other roles included in the image. An example of this would be in image 300E-014-09A*. In this photograph, the main subject is screaming as a store owner looks on and the police officers grab the man. The mood of somber are present through the police officers grabbing the main subject. Another way the mood is created is by the emotions on the faces of the subject. In the same image as above, the main subject’s facial expression shows to readers the disapprovement of the situation and the concern. Next, the photographer uses the actions of the characters to create the mood. In the photograph, 300E-014-09A*, the situation of the man being arrested is used to create the mood because the main subject had to have been doing something in order to be arrested. Other examples of actions are fighting, and climbing