Sunmin Lee/reaction essay/tue 9am

When we look at any of our pictures, we can feel the same emotion that we had at the time. The same is true of the photographs taken by professional photographers as well. Here are two photographs that can be good examples. One is "Village School" by Margaret Bourke-White, and the other one is called "Children's Puppet Theatre" by Alfred Eisenstadt. Although both are about young children, these two photographs have many differences.

 

In the picture "Village School," about a dozen of boys are seated in rows. They are sitting on long wooden benches that look uncomfortable. The classroom is very dark, seems there is no window, and the wall and floor are also wooden and dark with no decoration. Except for two of them, children are wearing same black clothes which seem their school uniforms. Because of these dark and dry backgrounds of the photo, the faces of children are highlighted. Including the boy in the first row, several boys are looking at the camera. They have short hair with pale faces, which are well contrasted with the dark color of clothes and classroom. Seeing the faces of children carefully, they barely show any emotional expressions. Most of them have expressionless faces, except for the boy in the very front with a curious look and the boy in the right side of the second row who looks worried and concerned.

 

In contrast to the Bourke-White photograph, children in "Children's Puppet Theatre" are in the outdoors. It seems like a daytime and has bright lights in all corners of the photograph. One of the most interesting aspects of the photo is that each and every child has different facial expressions. Two girls in the right side have widely opened eyes with big surprise, a girl with dark coat is screaming at something, and a boy in the left seems frightened closing his ears. All these different emotions show diverse characteristics of the children, which make the photograph much lively and dynamic. It is also noticeable that all the kids are not watching at the camera and this shows that they are all immersed in the puppet show.

 

"Village School" and "Children's Puppet Theatre" are both photographs of children who are in the same age group. However, the emotions and feelings evoked from them are completely different from one another. Boys in the first photograph are in the dark classroom sitting in rows. None of them are talking or showing any emotions, so they look serious, bored and even suppressed by their teacher or someone authoritative. On the contrary, children in the other photograph are all free to show their emotions. Some are surprised, some are scared and shocked, and all these emotions are expressed from the children's faces.

 

Despite the differences, both photos are dealing with young children. Yet, they are very different in the emotions and their atmospheres. In the first one, we can feel the formality, rigidity, and seriousness. But in the second photograph, we feel various and extreme emotions and vividness. From this, we can also learn that photographs have a strong power of transmitting emotions to the viewers.