Watch the Magic!

It took me a little while to decide which object I could use for this assignment, and I finally decided to use my 6-inch statue of St. Francis. The sun hits the front of my house at a better angle, so I photographed him there on my walkway. My first shot (seen above) was taken in the morning, approximately 10 am, and the second was taken hours later at 4pm. What a difference...more than I realized when I took these photographs.The first picture just looks totally dull to me. There is sunshine, yes, but it is in the background and brings no light to the front and center. The light brings focus to the photograph, and in this picture the attention is drawn to the street behind it...St. Francis looses his presence in this photo. The chiaroscuro, the contrast here is dramatic with the sunshine hitting one area and shade overtaking another.

Now look at the photograph taken later on in the afternoon. Totally different lighting. Bright, angelic, illuminous would be a few words to refer to St. Francis in this photo. This lighting is much more fitting for the object of this photo as well; being a religious figure, we imagine a certain brightness.

As said in our textbook, we associate good, pure spirits with light and brightness and the evil spirits whith dark and dispair. When we see art with angels, saints, Christ and so on, they are usually bathed in light. Look at how the sun hits the side of his face, it lights him right up. If you look closely at his face, he is looking upward, as if up into the heavens.

The suns light has given two shots of essentially the same photo different identities. The first isn't much more of a boring picture of a statue with some plants around it. The second is an illuminous shot of a spiritual fugure. It is amazing how the placement and angle of light in a photograph can give it a whole new meaning...