MANPREET SINGH SEM-1 BSC FILMMAKING

PHOTOGRAPHER
CASE STUDY

FRAMES COVERED

The Stilt Fishermen  OBJECTIVE

of the Sri Lankan coast To explore observe and learn from the works of two
exceptional and very much adored photographers of
Decrypting the Rajasthani this era , the upliffter Steve McCurry and Sir Raghu Rai .
Desert Storms
I have decided to select 3 photograps from their arsenal
Horrors Of the Bhopal Gas and try to decipher what i can using my feeble amateur
Tragedy skillset .
Stilt fishermen, Weligama, South Coast, Steve McCurry
Sri Lanka, 1995

With his shrewd journalistic approach to photography, Steve McCurry has captured some of the
most iconic images of our time, and this image definitely does that honour justice. McCurry
creates straightforward representational photographs that seek to illuminate areas of the world
and create narratives from honest depictions of people and places.

I think this is one of the most unique ways of fishing there is and the photograph definitely
makes me believe so at the very first glance, the immediate impact is surreal with this one its
almost unreal as if the fisherman is in a faraway land with just blue sea all around.

I can not even imagine how many attempts would it have taken for him to capture this as there
is movement and motion all over the frame, with the winds blowing the palm trees to the
fishermen on poles to the great ocean with the waves. Light has played a very important role in
giving this image the feel that it has, the colour harmony almost monatomic with the canvas
being covered in a range of Blue Green spectrum with the bodies of the fishermen contrasting it
and popping them out white the middle tone of grey rocks with black highlights balancing the
value overall.
The composition is phenomenal bringing all the visual elements together . It follows the rule of
thirds quite prominently with my eyes directly focusing on the fishermen then gradually moving
up to the rocks to the palm trees . This picture tells us a story with its arcs unfolding with every
block.

Now this next image I selected totally

took me by awe on the very first glance
, It felt like a holy summoning circle
during a monstrous storm.

Then the next thing that hit me was the

technical excellence of the image ,
even though it appears as if the
photographer would not have gotten
more than a few chances of capturing
this moment the depth in the image
with the colours make it look like a
planned conditional shot .

Talking about the composition of the

image its nothing like the4 previous ,
instead is quite the opposite . Instead of
following the rule of thirds this picture
has the subject in the very centre of the
frame making a very strike firm and
impactful first glance,with the distant
horizon back ground with sand all over ,
we see the only thing facing us or open
to the viewer are the two pots placed
on the lower thirds inviting us.

Dust Storm, Rajasthan, India, 1983 Steve McCurry

There is a dust storm emerging , these women huddled together kind of protecting themselves of the
winds of the dusty storm all facing each other and no ones face is to be seen so we are more curious
thus we hunt for more clues around .
The thing I like about this image is that there is this sense of movement all over , you can see the fabrics
or the clothes of the women being blown and the trees which gives us the sense of a stark drought and
no water as the dead ever elongating branches survive dominating the strong winds and also popping
out amongst the light tones around them .
Another striking observation was although engulfed by the storm , with the sense of saftey being the
farthest they have no footwear , no water , no help in sight but still these women for some reason appear
to be calm , almost in a tranquil state chanting the songs of their people .
INDIA. Bhopal. 1984 RAGHU RAI

Thirty years ago, on the night of December 2, 1984, a Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, central
India, began leaking 27 tons of the poisonous gas methyl isocyanate. Six security mechanisms that
should have stopped the escape proved inoperable because of lack of maintenance or lack of care.
One of the world's worst industrial disasters ensued. Photographer Raghu Rai arrived in Bhopal the
morning after the disaster, and spent three days documenting its horrors.
After a while of scouting through these images, this was the one that haunted me the most I don’t know
why, although every picture had death and horror all over this one was very subtle .

On the first glance it appeared to me that the subject in the image is carrying his necessities and rushing
out running away from the centre of the incident. But on closer inspection I realised there were these
lifeless legs protruding out of what I had earlier thought of a rough ragpickers backpack. It hit me
immediately that that was his wife in her sarree , presumably dead and this was a man who had returned
to get her back , or what might have remained of her .

Even though the subject matter is heavy and the image takes a moment to grasp , the photographer
must be credited for keeping the heads up for composition and balancing the elements . We see the
man carrying his dead wife on the right third while facing away from the factory whereas on the left
bottom third we see a carriage with wheels and support facing the other way . this shows us that the
subject is going away from the disaster looking to find progression. the lines above also somehow
manage to guide us similarly. Also, vertically on the thirds the dark toned back bottom contrasts the clear
clean sky above contemplating the factory in the middle by which the subject is separated by a wall .