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Essay / Photography: Analyzing Lesser, Mann and More - 1102
Wendy Lesser's "Mulberry Street Café" depicts a young girl who credibly judges mature men on all sides of her (Atwan 240). At Caffe Bella Napoli, an Italian-style restaurant, the girl is the only teenage girl and woman in the photo. She has settled towards the café and seems to be scrutinizing all the activities taking place in and around her. With her arm pressed to her mouth as if she were biting her nails, she seemed nonexistent to the crowd. For example, she seems depressed, wondering, "Am I stuck here forever?" given that she is the only female and young child around (Atwan 240). However, it is impossible to know what she actually feels, but we can agree that she analyzes those around her based on their posture. For her part, Sally Mann focused her camera on her daughter Jessie as she gracefully holds a candy cigarette in her hand. In this shot, Jessie is the center of attention, while the girl in the cafe is a solitary spectator. The selected works fall into two types: spontaneous and staged photography, spontaneous photography presenting a real appearance and staged photography representing simulated appearances, both capturing the original message intended by the photographer. The photos and characters have comparable similarities and differences and one can discuss what improvement a photographer can make in order to convey their message more thoroughly. Staged photos diminish the originality of a photo where candid photographs do the exact opposite. When no one controls the actions of the main subject, it is staged and the person photographed shows no real feeling about how they wish to be presented. Sally Mann's photograph appears more staged as her daughter sits in the middle of a paper......conceptions about a character in a photograph. That being said, both Mann and Lesser captured the characters of two young girls, similar and different in many ways. Ultimately, both are seen in their unique lifestyles, one exposed to a provocative world and the other exposed to its emptiness. The two photographers use different methods to develop a personality for their main subject, and it is difficult to fully recognize the true messages designed for each photograph. Works Cited Atwan, Robert. Convergences: themes, texts and images for the composition. 3rd. Bedford/St. Martin's, 2009. Makrakis, Tassos. Article base “Differences between candid photography and professional photographic portraits”. March 05. 2009.