Chanil Kim/Reaction Essay/Tues 9AM

Babies cry. Until babies can talk, they try to reveal what is on their mind by crying. In the two photographs, "Village School" by Margaret Bourke-White and "Children's Puppet Theatre" by Alfred Eisenstadt, the children does not look too young to talk, but they cannot tell us what they are feeling. Instead, they are just allowed to show us their emotions with expressions on their faces. By comparing the two photos of children with different expressions on their faces, we can see how circumstances can influence the way the children express their emotions.

First, children in "Village School" are indoors. And almost all of them are wearing dark-colored clothes. As a result, the photograph looks dark in general despite a little bit of light in the top right corner. Second, the children are just sitting motionless. They do not seem to be moving their hands; actually, we cannot see even one single finger of them. Finally, almost all of the children is staring at the camera. It looks as if they all aware of being taken a picture of.

On the contrary, every aspect mentioned above is somewhat different in "Children's Puppet Theatre." The children are outdoors in this photograph. Besides, they are wearing relatively bright-colored clothes. Although it is unclear whether they are all standing or not, they at least do not look static. That is in part because each children is using their hands and arms freely; for example, a boy is covering his ears with his hands; a girl is putting her arm around another girl's shoulders; another boy is stretching his arm pointing at something with his hand. Unlike in the previous photo, the children do not seem to notice they are taken a picture of. They are paying their all attention to something else, possibly a puppet play.

These differences between the two photographs contribute to the difference in the mood of each photo. The darkness in "Village School" lets this photo look gloomy while the brightness make "Children's Puppet Theatre" look hilarious. In addition, the dynamic features of "Children's Puppet Theatre" makes it seem to be exciting while the motionlessness of "Village School" results in the boring scene. Children in "Village School" realized they are taken a picture of because they were distracted. They were distracted because they could not concentrate on what they should watch or do. In contrast, the children in "Children's Puppet Theatre" look so into what they are watching, so they seem to have no time to look around and find the camera. Children's expressions on their faces do reflect these differences between the two photos: expressionless in the first photo and a variety of expressions in the second photo.

The children's looks on their faces are differently presented through the two photographs according to their mood. The only thing the two photos have in common is both of them include children. But we can easily notice that all the other aspects surrounding the children are quite different from one another. A photograph is a different type of art from literature or music in that a photo do not use an language by any form in order to convey an idea. But by means of other methods such as the main center of interest, lighting and mood,  photographers are capable of impressing viewers with the messages and feelings hidden in their photos.  In this sense, when people see "Village School", they are likely to feel somewhat suppressed; on the other hand, when people see "Children's Puppet Theatre", they will feel as if they themselves are watching the puppet play that is amusing the children so much.