Hyejeong Yu / Reaction Essay / Tue 3&4

           Photographs capture the moment. The captured moment tells us detail things we might have missed. It shows that people in the photograph had what the atmosphere was like at the moment, or the situations. The two photographs, the "Village School" and the "Children's Puppet Theatre" are good examples. Looking at these photographs, we can get a lot of information.

 

           In the "Village School", the boys are sitting in a room. They are all sitting still may be waiting for their teacher. Every boy is sharing a desk with another boy except few of them. There nothing on the desk, even a single pencil. There are some spaces between boys which makes strict atmosphere. The boys are not looking at each other. Instead, they are looking the front of the room. Some of boys are looking at the photographer and some are looking the left side of the photographer. Among the boys looking at the photographer, one in the front line captures our eyesight most. The room is quite dark and all the boys are wearing dark cloths as well. But one of the boys in the second line is wearing bright colored clothes which make him noticeable.

          

In the "Children's Puppet Theatre", bunch of boys and girls are looking at the puppet show. The photograph is very bright in sunlight and because of this the photograph shows us every detail of the children. Some are shouting in the joy, some looks surprised, and some are blocking their ears because of loud noise. They are wearing different kinds of clothes. They vary in colour and style. The boy on the left is wearing a jacket and a hat. And the kids on the right are wearing similar clothes as if they are twins. Among these children, the boy who is shouting with the hand pointing the sky stands out the most. May be he is standing on something and that makes him taller and outstanding than other children. The children who are back of the lines are not clearly seen. Their faces are blurry and children who are standing far back are only seen in shapes.

 

           Although these two pictures are capturing the moments of the children, they are not at all similar. For the "Village school", there are only boys in the room and it is very dark in there. They seem to be worried at something and they look uncomfortable and anxious. They are strictly seated in line, very regularly. However, for the "Children's Puppet Theatre", there are both boys and girls in the outdoor theatre and it is very bright in sunlight. They seem to be amused and some are shouting in joy, some looks curious about what is happening. They are irregularly standing in the front of the theatre. They are all gathered and one boy is jumping or standing on something to have closer look at the puppets.

 

           Comparing these descriptions about two photographs above, we can notice that these photographs are very different in many ways; they have different colours, emotions, or situation. Every photograph is different even if they are dealing with same thing and for these it is children. They both captured the moment of the children but the result is completely different.

 

	. Look Closer

Jung, Yong Tae/ recation essay/ tue 3,4,

The reaction from two photos

201004271

Jung, Yong Tae

These pictures' main subjects are children. Both photos depict children's expression or reaction of that time. The first photo is called "Village School" by Margaret Bourke-White who was the only female photographer at that time. The other photo is called "Children's Puppet Theatre, Paris 1963" by Alfred Eisenstadt who was famous for his story-telling photo skill. I'd like to explain the features of these photos and the difference between two pictures such as mood, facial expression, and brightness.

 In the first picture, you notice that this picture was taken at the class room. The mood is dark and strict. They look serious as they were taking a lecture or a teacher was scolding to them. When seeing this photo with other point of view, they weren't close enough to be friend. Maybe, this photo was taken in the very beginning of the semester. Most of them keep their eyes on the photographer and some of them barely show their facial expression. Also, most of them wear dark colored clothes, so their face is really stick out. All of them are boys, sitting in a row with an order.

 The children in the second picture are lively. Conjecturing from the title of the photo, they were watching a puppet show. There are boys and girls. Their facial expressions vary greatly, if you see one by one. Some of them were frightened, amazed, or shocked. They are gathering in front of the stage without an order. The focus of this photo is the very front of the children and other children who are in the background aren't clear enough to feel their emotion. Also, the background of the picture is bright.

 As I explained in the two body paragraph, there are some differences in these photos. First, the moods are totally different. One is sullen and the other is energetic. We can notice that in their face or the background of the photo. Second, the facial expressions in the subjects also are distinguishable. One is strict and the other is active, which mean we can feel what they feel in the second photo, but we hardly get the feeling of what's going on the first photo. Finally, the brightness of the background is dissimilar. One is dark and the other is bright.

 To sum up, the subject of two photos is children; however, there are distinctions between the two. The atmosphere of the photos differs greatly, the children's facial expressions are distinct, and the brightness of the photo is different. When I first saw the pictures, I found out those differences at first. Eventually, I noticed that no matter the subject in the photo the impression from the photos can vary because of the setting or technics.

An youmi/Reaction essay/Tue34

A single pose and a single expression on one's face tell more than a long paragraph of details about one's feeling. This is why even a single photograph can be loved and appreciated passing the generations. Both photographs, "Village School" by Margaret Bourke-White, "Children's Puppet Theatre, Paris 1963" by Alfred Eisenstadt have their own unique stories, created from different effects.

 

In "Village School" the overall atmosphere is calm, organized and a little bit tensioned. The room where the boys sit straight is dark. The photograph lacks lights. Everything except the boys face is not much exposed. Therefore, the viewer's focus is easily attracted to the boy's face. The viewers can see every face of the boys quite clearly. The each face of boys does not vary and most of them wear similar clothes which is dark. Also, all of them sit upright with their chests heading forward. It gives the viewer a feeling of the sameness. Although some of them are watching the photographer, and the other of them is watching something or someone that the viewer's cannot know, it does not disturb the overall sameness.

 

In "Children's Puppet Theatre" the viewers can feel the dynamic mood. Each child in the photograph has all different expressions on their faces and takes different actions. Emotions that the viewers can catch from the face of each child are various. The viewers witness the feelings of the scared, the surprised, the exited and the curious. Children in the photograph all stands randomly, put on different clothes and have different hair styles. It gives the viewer a more dynamic and interesting impression. The five main faces in front of the photograph is the main interest of the photograph. The further from them is the more blurred, giving the obvious indication that those five faces are where the photographer expected the viewers to see first.

 

           Both photographs have children as their main objects. However, they cannot be more different. Two of them vary in many aspects. Among them, what contrasts most is that the "Village School" gives the feeling of sameness meanwhile the "Children's Puppet Theatre" gives the dynamic feeling. Both groups of children draw people's attention with different attracting properties.

Park Sae-whan / Reaction Esssay / Tue34

   Photographs make it easy for everyone to remember images of memories. The memories do not necessarily have to be happy ones, and sometimes they reveal bitter truth that keeps dark sides along with it. "Village School" and "Children's Puppet Theatre, Paris 1963" are two photographs taken by Margaret Bourke-White and Alfred Eisenstadt. They are both depicting children, but have different moods and feeling.

   In the first photograph, "Village School," several school boys are sitting in the dark class room, where lights can hardly be found. Those boys look quite nervous or scared by something and nobody in the class room laughs or even smiles.  The picture also gives a feeling that these boys are very disciplined by authority, and have no room for freedom. A boy who is sitting closest to a camera seems to reveal grief through his big, pale eyes, which makes the overall depressing atmosphere more visible.

   In contrast, the second photograph, "Children's Puppet Theatre, Paris 1963," easily makes anyone who looks at this photo smile. The reason is that the overall color of the picture is very bright, contradicting the dark images shown in the first photograph, and children in the picture all seem to be very exciting about something. The boy and a girl in the center seem very fascinated and amused, while some girls are covering their mouth with excitement and boy ears with his eyes wide open. Such images give extra color and animation to the entire picture.

   Although both photographs also have a similarity in that both are targeting children, the contrast is so obvious that it obscures the similarity. The first picture only has dark-faced male kids, while the second one has cheerful boys and girls looking happy. In the former, kids are looking at the same place, while the latter, kids look at all various angles which give it more lively images.

   In conclusion, in the same black and white pictures with the same targets, children are depicted differently, one with sadness and another with joy. These different emotions look more visible with less or more lights in the pictures. Therefore, the first one makes viewers feel depressed, while the second one cheerful and lively.     

Reaction Essay/ 200801262 Seungmi Park

Reaction Essay

 

     It's truly remarkable that photographs catch and express human emotions. Viewers get excited, sad, touched, and melancholy as they see photographs of various subjects. Here are two pieces of photo, which spark different emotions on the same subject. One is called "Village School," by Margaret Bourke-White. The other is called "Children's Puppet Theartre, Paris 1963" by Alfred Eisenstadt. Both pictures have the same subjects, which are children, but they are delivering very different emotions to the viewers.

     In "Village School," the feelings that it causes in the viewers are being controlled, suppressed, and disciplined. Children are juxtaposed in a reverse triangle, and this composition makes viewers focus on the boy in the very front row due to the law of perspective. As the main center of interest, he creates an overall sentiment of the photograph. The boy is looking at someone, who might be an authority figure, in front of him. His eyes show that he's willing to be submissive to whoever that is in front of him. There's obvious contrast between children's clothes and their faces, which makes their faces more stand out. It also helps to create the entire mood of the picture since children's serious looking faces successfully grab viewers attention.

     Contrarily, in "Children's Puppet Theatre," the children give out completely different energy. The children are scattered all over the entire photograph, and this composition makes viewers diversify their attention. They are engrossed themselves into something going on in front of them, and they look very amused and excited. The boy on the far left is covering he's ears as if he hears a loud explosion. And the girl right next to him is also covering her mouth. The boy and girl in the middle seem very excited with their mouths open. In terms of colors and tones, the contrast isn't very conspicuous because mostly it's very light except for the boy's outfit in the middle. Furthermore, The fact that so much light is used in this picture adds brisk energy on to the lively atmosphere that the children produce.

     Although the two photographs are depicting children, the children in each picture carry very different feelings. The Children in "Village School" look very solemn and reverent. It might produce a feeling of oddity in viewers since children at their age are supposed to be disorganized and fidgety. On the other hand, the children in "Children's Puppet Theatre" create lively and exciting mood in viewers. The formers look oppressed and the latters look free to shout out how they feel. Two pictures have one thing in common, which is viewpoint. The subjects all are looking at something in front of them.

     The two photographs convey different emotions to viewers. In one the viewers feel oppressed by the stance of the boys. The other makes viewers feel cheerful and lively. The juxtapositions differ between the two pictures. However, regardless of the mood that the pictures create, it's the strong uniqueness of each photograph that makes both memorable and valuable.  

Jisu Song 201001709 / Reaction Essay (p.163) / Tue 11a.m.

           201001709 Jisu Song

 

Children are the best subjects when it comes to photographs. They are innocent unlike adults, so they demonstrate genuine feelings. Their honesty let them show their true emotions. Here are two photographs depicting children. One is "Village School" by Margaret Bourke-White and the other is "Children's Puppet Theatre, Paris 1963" by Alfred Eisenstadt. The children are common subjects in the two photographs but display very different emotions and moods.

           In the first photograph called the "Village School", children with solemn faces are the main center of interest. The only light is shining upon the boys' faces with closed mouths. It seems very silent as if they are being scolded by someone. They seem to be frightened by someone or something. All of them are looking at the front side, but the kid on the foreground is looking directly at the camera. Most of them are wearing dark shirts sitting on dark wooden benches, so it seems like the children's heads are floating on the air.

           The second photograph is called "Children's Puppet Theatre, Paris 1963" and because of the title I noticed that the subjects are watching a puppet show. There are bunch of kids, mainly only their heads are shown in the photograph. The girls on the right side seem to be astonished by the show. The kids on the left are more emotional because a boy is covering his ears with hands and two children are screaming with their mouths wide open. It seems like the spot is very noisy and chaotic like a marketplace. And they genuinely seem to be immersed in the show.

           Both photos captured children focusing on something in some place. The "Village School" is consisted of only boys while the other shows both boys and girls. Having only boys makes it seem like they are a sort of an army. Also, by only lighting their faces, the photo focuses more on the emotions of the children. On the contrary, the light of the "Children's Puppet Theatre" doesn't focus on one particular thing, so it seems to highlight various subjects. Therefore, the latter seems more lively and natural.

           The two photographs have children, the most honest subjects, as the main center of interest. Because they are very young, the emotions seem more honest, real and powerful to the viewers. These photos make the viewer wonder what the kids are looking at. We are swished through the photographs and encouraged to imagine what is going on in the photos.

Yang, Myong Hwa / Reaction / Tue 3,4

Same Subject , Different Mood A photograph is the finest tool which contains the moment. The moment captured by a camera shows everything about the subject. So people assume the story of the photograph through the background, mood, expression in it. Two pictures in our textbook are typical examples we can notice each own story. In addition, an obvious contrast between two photographs draws attention. Let's look at these pictures in more detail. In the photograph named 'Village School', the first thing that catches eyes is its gloomy mood. Even though some cute children are seen in it, it is overall dark in the classroom which they stay in. And children sit motionless with stony faces as if they listen to their teacher carefully. This stillness of children adds dismal atmosphere to this photograph. The composition of this photograph plays a role in making tension as well. By arranging the boys in triangle, tension in the photograph mounts. The photograph 'Children's Puppet Theatre' creates cheerful mood. Girls and boys in this photograph are looking at something curiously. This is so cute that it makes me want to know what children are staring at. Also, their various motions like pointing and shouting bring life to that photograph. Along with their motions, facial expression makes the picture more vivid. Every child has her or his own expression. This reveals their sense of freedom. Even though children are in the center of both photographs alike, some differences are found. First of all, the mood is the contrast between them. While 'Village School' seems to be depressing and melancholy, lively and joyful energy is given off from 'Children's Puppet Theatre'. Besides the atmosphere of these photographs, each photographer seems to focus differently. 'Village School' appears to focus on the light shining through the classroom dimly, not small boys. But people easily realize that a variety of children's actions and expressions are main theme in 'Children's Puppet Theatre'. As seen above, the same subject can provide diverse feelings and impression. Especially, differences shown in 'Village School' and 'Children's Puppet Theatre' are very interesting. Children in the photograph 'Village School' are still, looking so nervous. But 'Children's Puppet Theatre' shows other children who look so cheerful and cute. One seems very dark and restricted while the other looks bright and free. These diversities create unique mood in each photograph.