Evaluation

Annotation 3

Eugene Atget - Un Coin du quai de la Tournelle - 1910-11

1) Analysis of content, The majority of this image is of a bridge. This is so as the bridge covers most of the image. Underneath the bridge there is a river or even a canal. In the distance of this canal there is a pair of barges. To the left of the image there is what to me, seems to be an abandoned horse cart.

2) Structural analysis,

o Foreground Ð'- the foreground of this picture consists of the horse cart. This is leaning up against the wall of the bridge. This is also to the left of the image. Continuing on the left, just above the cart there is a plaque of some sort. This sign is unreadable to us, but we can make out the very first word Ð''AVIS.' This when translated from French means opinions. To the right of the image in the foreground, there is a little step or pavement that is next to the canal. The canal cannot be classed as the foreground as it begins further up the image. In the very right corner of the foreground there is a place to tie a boat to. Personally I would also class the front of the bridge and the wall that the cart is resting against as the foreground. This covers the top and left side of the picture.

o Middle ground Ð'- to me the middle ground of this particular picture is of the canal on the right. Also the pavement that runs along side the canal continues from the foreground into the middle ground. On the canal there is a pair of barges. These are also in the middle ground. Situated in the centre of the image there is the overpass part of the bridge. I believe that the underside of this bridge is in the middle ground. Also there is the pathway that sets off under the bridge. This is in the middle ground not the foreground, as there is less focus and definition on the cobbles of the pace.

o Background Ð'- the back ground in this image is from behind the two barges that are seen in the middle ground. Behind these, in the distance there seems to be another bridge. The second to the left of the background on the pathway, there seems to be a set of steps. To the right you see either see the rest of the city on the horizon, or it may be a collection of trees, as this part of the image is not in great focus it is very hard to tell. Finally throughout the background of the picture you have the endless sky.

3) Subjective analysis Ð'- my personal response of this image is of a positive outlook. I really appreciate the angles and perspective that Atgent has achieved with this picture. As in my other annotations I believe this image to be unique. Not many photographers would have seen this opportunity to capture such a great image. Also what I like about this picture is you can't really tell what Atgent is really focusing on, it could be the cart, the bridge it self or even the barges on the canal. This leaves the interpretation of this picture independently to the viewer.

4) Appreciation of technique Ð'- the lighting for this image is natural light. This gives the image that sense of realism. It seems by the sky in the background that the lighting Atgent had to work with was minimal, as the sky seems dull and overcast. However you can see that he had some lighting as the bridge cast a shadow on the path.

This particular image has a high tonal range; this is due to that fact that there are many shades between the blacks and white present in the image. We have the black of the underside of the bridge and the front of one of the barges. Then we have the opposite of the water, which is bright white. The sky and the furthest part of the part are also white. But we have a range between, the cart is a shade of grey, the wall just above the cart is a darker grey again and the other barge is also a dark grey.

The depth of field of this image is difficult to tell in my opinion. Firstly you cannot tell what item in the picture Atgent is truly focusing on. I personally believe that it is the bridge. This is so as the bridge takes up most of the image and also that it shapes the part of the picture that it is not present in. also the image looses focus after the bridge, apart from the barrages, everything else is very hard to make out.

Historical response Ð'- Few facts are known of the early life of Eugene Atget, the photographer whose extraordinary documentation of Paris in the first quarter of the 20th century was for many years uncelebrated. Born in Lilbourn, near Bordeaux, in 1857 and orphaned at an early age, he was employed as cabin boy and seaman after completing his schooling. During the 1880s, Atget took up acting, playing in provincial theaters, but settling permanently in Paris in 1890 he realized the impossibility of a stage career in the capital. Instead, he turned to the visual arts, deciding on photography in view of his limited art training and also because he expected that it was a profession that might yield income from the sale of camera images to artist neighbors in Montparnasse.

Between 1898 and 1914, Atget received commissions from and sold photographs to various city bureaus, including the archive of the national registry, Les Monuments historiques, and the recently established Carnavalet Museum that had been set up to preserve a record of the history of Paris. He also supplied documents to a clientele of architects, decorators, and publishers, as well as artists, keeping records of both subjects and patrons. One project, for a book on brothels,