I chose to critique one of T.J. Anzulewicz’s pieces from the Shutter exhibition. His “Untitled” piece was the most interesting to me out of the ones that he entered. This photo was 8x10” and neatly matted. The subject matter fills the entire picture plane and draws the viewer right into the image. It is a powerful black and white image with high contrast. The white dress that the girl is wearing stands out significantly next to the darkness of the tree.
I have always been drawn to photos with high contrast. The only thing that I might change about this image is the extreme reflection in the water. I highly doubt that something like this could be fixed in the darkroom however. Burning it may not have any effect since no information was recorded in the first place. I think that keeping the foreground in focus and background blurred works very well for the image. The viewers’ focus is on the girl and tree, and it minimizes little distractions that may have been visible in the background.
I assume that the image is creating an illusion. The woman seems to be either walking on or growing out of the water. Maybe T.J. was trying to create a relationship between humans (girl) and nature (tree). The swaying of her dress and the movement in the leaves connects the two even further.
Overall this image is very strong and sends a powerful message. With the two subjects together in the water, its hard not to make a connection between them. It was very well thought out and very interesting to look at.
