Joel Meyerowitz Photographs In Color example essay topic

Photography Review Joel Meyerowitz spent the summer of 1976 and 1977 taking magnificent photographs, which he later published in 1997 in a book called "Cape light". These photographs were taken in Cape Cod, Massachusetts around the Truro-Provincetown area in the summer. His book is full of marvelous photographs, which depict a typical summer up on the Cape. These pictures may seem beautiful to anyone. However, these pictures possess more meaning to anyone who has ever lived on Cape Cod or visited Cape Cod.

Cape Cod is one of the most beautiful and meaningful places to me. From the time I was a baby on, my family and I have spent many wonderful summer in the Cape. My parent, have been going to Cape Cod, Massachusetts since they were first married. When I think of Cape Cod, the first thing that comes to my mind are memories of the same old little beach cottage my family has rented year after year. I think of Cape Cod and thoughts fill my head with the beach, water, sand, beach cottages, and hot summer days. When I look at Joel Meyerowitz's book the photos almost come to life.

The color and images are so real. The same thoughts that I have for the water, sand, and beach are expressed in Meyerowitz's photos. Joel Meyerowitz took his photographs with an 8"x 10" view camera. The prints were in full size, made directly from the negatives without any kind of changes or manipulations. Joel Meyerowitz's is a pictorial ist. His picture are taken of scenery, such as beaches and the sky.

Joel Meyerowitz photographs in color using a certain refinement of color. His pictures are beautiful and clear. He focuses on the color of light and the atmosphere, rather than bright colored objects. All forty of Joel Meyerowitz's color photographs capture the unique Cape Cod sky, sea, and land. In fact, some of Meyerowitz's photos even reveal some Cape Coder-New England culture in the photograph itself. Picture number 29 was taken in Provincetown in 1976.

Joel Meyerowitz took a photograph of clothes pins on a clothes line. However, it is the way in which Joel Meyerowitz takes the picture by using a particular angle that makes the picture more than what it seems. Joel Meyerowitz uses the horizon in this picture as the horizontal by taking the picture in line with the horizon from a distance the clothes line looks like a wire with small birds on it. Meyerowitz uses middle of the clothes line, and the horizon as the focal point.

The sky is beautiful and has just the right amount of light to make it stand out. In this picture, he doesn't use diagonals or verticals. Picture number 7 was taken in Provincetown in 1977. This picture is of a porch overlooking the water. The picture was taken at night, during a storm, there for it's quite dark. In this photograph, Joel Meyerowitz uses the lightning in the background over the water as the diagonal.

The lightning shows motion, and unpredictability. He uses the right side of the open door as the vertical, and the light from the inside of the house, which reflects off the porch, as one of the focal points. The light has a certain orange warmth of a glow to it. The objects for the most part share space evenly. Picture number 24 was taken in Provincetown 1977. This is a scenic picture of the Cape Cod bay during low tide.

The one thing that makes Cape Cod so different and special from other places is the fact that Cape Cod is one of only few places in the world where the tide will go a mile out. In the Cape Cod bay during low tide, the tide will go out so far that flats (sandbars) will extend out in the bay nearly one mile. In this picture, Meyerowitz uses the horizon as the horizontal making it seem as if the flats extend forever. The sky shows the viewer what time of day it is. In the picture, the sun has just set, however there is still plenty of sunlight from where the sun has hidden slightly below the horizon. The focal point would have to be the horizon, since the horizon makes it look as if the flat never ends.

The forty color photographs produced by Joel Meyerowitz capture every distinct shade of color and light in the unique Cape Cod sky, sea, and land. These photos all have a lasting quality to them. The way the pictures are taken and balanced allows the viewer to get a sense of what it would actually look like in first person.