Essay on pantry photograph

Introduction

This is an analysis of a photograph called pantry. It consists of dark images of an old and unrepaired house with many windows and doors. Behind it are trees that are planted in the compound. It has a colored image that shows a house that might not have been renovated for quite long time. It is found in page 23 of Troy Paiva’s Night Vision: The Art of Urban Exploration. In deed, this a 144 page book published by the Chronicle Books on 4th, June, 2008. In this book, he extensively explores his adventurous night time photo taking technique, a work he has been doing since 1989. He presents a lot of pictures along side their explanations hence revealing a lot of discoveries that can be used to help the current generation in understanding more about the past. This is because it contains carefully black and white and colored photos in the most admirably appealing format.

Troy, popularly known as the Lost America, is a professional light graphic painter. He has been accredited with taking night photographs especially in the abandoned houses, industries and other infrastructure that were spawned in America in the 20th century as a result of urbanization.

The picture of this pastry consists of many things. It is one bib building with several physical characteristics including doors, windows, walls and a compound at the back. Parts of the walls are cemented while the rest are only made of bricks. From this, I can report that this house was made of bricks and then furnished by a thin layer of cement. However, this has worn out as can be observed from the cracked sections (Shatford, L. S., 2002).

The picture also has painted walls because I can see a layer of beautiful paintings peeling off from it. However, only part of it was painted because it appears to be of different colors. The other visible feature in the picture is windows. Here are two adjacent windows each of which is sub divided into two equal parts. They have wooden frames that tightly affix them onto the wall. All of them are rectangular in shape.
There are also doors that seem to be in both the two walls. The first one is shorter and closed. The other one is taller and is wide open meaning it might be lacking a shutter which I can not spot anywhere next to it. Hence, I can see all the things at the back ground. There are three different types of trees that must have been planted by the owners.

At the same time there are also some properties on the floor of this house. These are looking like garbage because they are not properly arranged as they were if the store was fully operational. They are placed on top of a rack that must have been constructed to help in storage (Shatford, L. S., 2002). Lastly, there are some cracked walls. All these are arranged in a clear manner because at the foreground are cracked walls both in the left and right hand sides. In the middle ground are the painted walls and the windows; while at the background are the opened door and the trees.

Formal analysis

In this image, Troy uses a combination of important elements such as color, lines, values, shape, form and space. In his coloring, he presents his image using both the hue, value and intensity characteristics. He uses the red shades together with the bright and dark colors. These are very useful in distinguishing the different sections of the picture hence making it easier for the viewers to make it out with ease. While the bright color is used at the foreground, the background is filled with darkness making it possible to see the broken walls and the trees at the foreground and background respectively (William, W. D. & Barbara J. H., 1983).

The shadows are used at the front top and right at the cracked walls. This is useful in helping to distinguish different parts of the wall that have undergone changes since the construction of the building. Together with this is the use of spacing and lines. The creation of a three dimensional picture was necessitated by the right use of space. This was done by using the minimum number of lines possible. Hence, the image is well organized with all the important features coming out so clearly.

Therefore, I do not strain to see the most important components of the photograph. Precisely, the first thing I can see is the red brick wall at the fore ground, the open door at the middle ground and finally the trees at the back ground. These are made very clear by the use of hue and bright coloring (Shatford, L. S., 2002). This means that the primary role of the photographer was to show very clearly the significant developments that have occurred to the building since it was abandoned. It is because of this that it has developed cracks and worn out like that.

Interpretation

Based on the above descriptions concerning this photograph, I would like to suggest that this is actually a true representation of not refurbished building. The walls are appearing as if they belong to two different structures: partly cemented, partly painted, partly painted and partly bricked. I have never seen a house like this where there are no repairs made on the walls even if they are aesthetically unappealing. This undoubtedly makes me believe that this house is no longer being used by anybody. It must have been abandoned several months ago. Otherwise, the floor would be properly arranged, not in tatters; the worn out walls repaired and the paintings uniformly done. Similarly, the doors would have been replaced to refrain those inside the building from seen whatever is happening outside.

On the other hand, I would like to agree with the broader cultural notion that this image represents one of the unutilized American structures. Based on its name, the pastry, it is undoubtedly true that it must have been one of the abandoned stores at the Byron Hot Spring Hotel. I also accept that it is one of pictures that were taken by this artist when he managed to sneak in to the industries and other military facilities that were deserted in the last centuries in places like Oakland and Stockton. As many believe, this is a kind of job that was done by Troy for a very long time. In fact, it shifted from a hobby to a lifetime career. I agree with this perception that the photograph must have bee used to represent the abandoned store of a prestigious restaurant that was mainly serving the middle class Americans. Moreover, the appearance of a coconut at the background attests its location to be in the desert as it is believed to have been. Surely, it must have been in California.

Evaluation

In my pinion, Troy is very successful in the use of this image. To begin with, the use of the aforementioned elements of coloring, space, value and shape has greatly contributed to this. As a result of the use of a variety of dull, bright and hued colorings, I was able to clearly make out the message that was being put across. It became so easy for me to notice the fundamental parts of the image that would definitely help me to interpret it. These included the trees at the back ground, the doors at the middle ground and the walls at the fore ground.

Despite the fact that the artist is known to be a night to be photographer, each of the sections of this work appeared so distinctly from the others. More importantly, the major sections of the foreground like the cracked walls and the partially painted sections were very easy to notice. Just from the first look, I was able to conclude that there was no door at the back, a situation that easily enabled me to see the coconut tree at the background (Panofsky, E., 2002). All these made it possible for me to grasp an idea that the image must have been short at night in a forsaken structure that is probably no longer used by anyone. Otherwise, I would have been uniformly constructed, well secured, has some people or properly organized.

Honestly, this clear presentation has made many people enjoy Troy’s work. In fact, it is because of his aesthetical considerations that he has become popular with many people thus explaining why his work is considered to be legendary heroic. However, I would suggest that his pictures would be so clear if taken at day time.

Works cited

Panofsky, E. (2002). Studies in iconology. Harper & Row: New York.
Shatford, L. S. (2002). Subject Access to Art Images In: Baca, M. (ed).

Art image access: issues, tools, Standard Strategies. Getty: Los

Angeles.
William, W. D. & Barbara J. H. (1983) A Guide To Photographic

Design. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.