2) Without doing any research, what do you think is the story behind this photo? Explain in one sentence.

A man is running towards his family in desperation because of the natural disasters that have taken over.

3) Research by doing a Google image search (drag+drop image into Google Images search bar) and find the real story behind this photo.  Add a brief description about this real story to your post and make sure you cite the source (easybib).

This image was taken from the documentary, Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye, which is a documentary focused on Cartier-Bresson’s life. Cartier-Bresson was a French photographer who was considered one of the most important of the 20th century. Henri Cartier-Bresson: The Impassioned Eye documents Cartier-Bresson’s stunning photography, from the photo of Gandhi before he was assassinated to the moment Mao ZeDong’s army marched on Peking. This particular photo was taken in Gare Saint Lazare, Paris, France in 1932. Cartier-Bresson named it Derriere la Gare Saint-Lazare, meaning ‘Behind the Gare Saint-Lazare’ in French. This picture depicts a puddle jumper, which was cliche back in the 1930s, but New York Times recalls that “Cartier-Bresson brings to his image layer on layer of fresh and uncanny detail: the figure of a leaping dancer on a pair of posters on a wall behind the man mirrors him and his reflection in the water; the rippling circles made by the ladder echo circular bands of discarded metal debris; another poster, advertising a performer named Railowsky, puns with the railway station and the ladder, which, flat, resembles a railroad track.”

4) Take 1 action photograph of your partner and upload to your site (for freezing motion use “Shutter” mode). Respond to the following:

• What compositional rules did you apply?

Rule of space, rule of thirds, horizontal and vertical lines

• What story/message/mood are you trying to convey through your photographs? How did you accomplish this?

The general theme or mood is happiness and hope. Here, the background blurs and only focuses on the person running, her face cracking with a smile. The distant brightness in the horizon represents how her world is bright and happy, and her black dress and black shoes represent the worries and fears she’s carrying. So this scene shows her forgetting all her worries, with the background blurred and running along side the light of happiness.

• What do you think are the 3 most important elements in creating the portrait photograph? (person’s expression, background, lighting, proportions of frame, etc.)

Lighting – it contributes to the mood and colour of the photo

Background – blurring the background but not the subject can cause a speed effect that shutter mode cannot create.

Space – Putting the subject in the centre of the photo or the side can create the same effect that rule of space gives.