One of the images that stood out to me was image 3/15 in the “Remembering Hardware” photo essay. It is the only black and white photo out of all the essays and I think that is satisfies a lot of the photo compositional guidelines in the readings.

This photo definitely satisfies the Rule of Thirds – the main focuses of the photo fall on the lines that divide up the field into 9 equal parts.  Mr. Kramer’s father is the biggest focal point on the right, and his assistant on the left also acts as a balancing element. There is a lot of depth in this photo. Again, Mr. Kramer’s dad is accentuated by his presence in the foreground (along with a small pile of knick-knacks). His assistant on the left is in the middle ground, and the racks of paint cans and whatnot take up the background.

I think this photo would be considered a medium shot, although it has some features of an establishing photo. This shot shows the characters along with their surroundings. It appears early in the sequence and the characters are on the job.

In the overall scheme of the essay, it helped me to learn about Mr. Kramer and the hardware store by capturing family history.  Mr. Kramer is proud and I can see that he totally owns the store, and we can see from the background that the store as always been packed with lots of things. It impressed me how happy his assistant is because the 1930s were not kind to most businesses. It made me feel like Mr. Kramer is the last member of his family to carry on this legacy – one that is proud to have always been able to successfully manage a wild and complicated inventory, even in the hardest of times. This picture sets the audience up for an essay that picks up at the beginning of an end.

Photo 3 of 15