WP1: Pre-Writing Assignment 2

A professional photographer has many technical aspects to think about when shooting a particular subject. By varying the arrangement, framing, lighting, focus, coloration, and many other elements, the photographer can drastically change the way the audience views the photo. In the picture entitled "Tales of Rape in DR Congo," Anna Kari employs many of these technical aspects while capturing the image of a girl in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The first technical aspect that Kari may have thought about is the arrangement of the subjects within the photo. One notices that the girl takes up about a fourth of the image towards the right side of the picture, and that she is leaning against a bare wall, which extends along the right two-thirds of the photo. The left third, then, is comprised of the receding room within the structure, bathed in darkness. This arrangement and orientation of these subjects gestures toward the appeal of logos, as they give the viewer a sense of the surroundings. Since there are relatively few elements within the composition, the hue of the girl's clothing contrasts with the sameness of the background, producing a hierarchy. Logically, this girl, then becomes the focal point of the piece, which feeds the emotional side of the piece, or pathos. Also contributing to this logos, however, is the way in which the title and the picture work together to inform the reader of the background of the situation. Specifically, the title depicts what has happened to the girl: that she has been part of a rape scenario, and the picture, then, informs the reader how the girl feels about what is depicted in the title.

In going back to the vectors of attention within the photo and seeing how they pertain to the pathos, the girl's eyes attract attention, even though they are not visible. By covering up her eyes, the girl makes no eye contact with the viewer, thus establishing their position as an observer. Nonetheless, the audience is still able to relate,

to some extent, to the emotions that the girl is

projecting. This aspect of the piece thus contributes to the emotions evoked by the viewer. Furthermore, the lighting and coloration of the photo compliment the emotions of the viewer, as the shadows produce many black hues. These hues, which also have very little brightness, typically have negative connotations: gloom, depression, and sadness. Thus, since the majority of the photo contains these hues, these feelings are conveyed to the viewer. In addition, the white top that the girl has on may elicit a feeling of innocence from the reader; especially when viewed with the title.

One last important element in the piece is framing. The photographer chose to get close to the girl; exposing her gestures as well as the bare wall and the dark, mysterious room. This contributes to the emotion of the viewer, but also to the ethos, as it sheds some light on the photographer's opinion of the subject.