Both of the photos that I chose to write about had very obvious similarities. Upon first looking at the photos the reader notices the billboard first. Large bold letters exclaim a message of enthusiasm and promise. But after looking further past the intial evident message, the viewer will start to notice the irony of the billboards’ roll in the photograph as a whole. The messages soon starts to take on a different form, one that is in stark contrast with the intended significance.
The theme that I am aknowledging in my essay is that of the billboards that appear in both photographs. So firstly I am going to address the message being delivered by the advertisment. In both billboards people who are clearly “Americans”, that is to say Caucasian, are expressing their nationalism.
At the Time of the Louisville Flood (Margaret-Bourke White, 1937) features the billboard saying “World’s Highest Standard of Living” and then a line of African Americans that appear to be waiting outside some type of homeless shelter. White took this photograph in 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky for Time magazine right after a flood that left many people homeless. Without really having to edit anything at all, she displays and even humiliates, the idea of the “American Way”.
Lighting is a very important part of this image. Our eyes are immediately drawn to the billboard because of its brightness and it’s darker contrasted bold letters displaying a proud message. This lighting which is done on purpose to contrast with the rest of the picture is used to create a happy feeling and puts a carefree aura about life in the United States. In contrast below the billboard there is a line of African Americans, who are dark and sort of in the shawdows of the billboard. This darkness creates of feeling of remourse and depression. Billboard (John Vachon, 1948) uses a billboard as a center piece similarly to At the Time of the Louisville Flood. This photograph is manipulated by lighting as well. The billboard is a light color captioned by dark letters that deliver a message of hatred for racist and religious prejudice.
Another key element to the photos is the people who appear candidly in the midst of these billboards. In the photo At the Time of the Louisville Flood most of the people are not looking at the camera but simply facing forward to see what awaits them at the end of the line. However, there are a couple faces that are directly looking at the camera. The look of oppression on the face of a woman who is looking at the camera embodied the gerneral feeling of the group she is with. My feeling is that most of the people in the photograph are so used to seeing propaganda like this billboard so they hardly notice that it is there. My absolute favorite part of this photo is the man that is looking at the billboard, not at the camera at all. To me its like this guy is looking at this advertisment for the first time and is completely confused as to why it is there. No one in the photo could relate to the message being delivered and this fact serves as retort to whoever placed the billboard there. The same is true in the Billboard image. The few people in the Billboard are obviously in a poor African American community where there could not be much relation to the small white boy featured in the ad.
Framing is also a very important part of these images. The whole span of the photograph is sure to include the entire billboard. This is done so that the viewer looks at that first, and then later sees the other hidden message. I feel as though the photographer is trying to say, “look at this great billboard. It would probably look even better if these people weren’t blocking it”. After I learned about the purpose of the photo I started to understand the message at a different angle.
The irony of both billboards featured in these images is that the people who are viewing these advertisments could never relate to these images and could not support the message being delivered at all. These advertisments did not promote cultural diversity, but by use of framing and lighting, photographers were able to use these billboards to promote the real message.
The theme that I am aknowledging in my essay is that of the billboards that appear in both photographs. So firstly I am going to address the message being delivered by the advertisment. In both billboards people who are clearly “Americans”, that is to say Caucasian, are expressing their nationalism.
At the Time of the Louisville Flood (Margaret-Bourke White, 1937) features the billboard saying “World’s Highest Standard of Living” and then a line of African Americans that appear to be waiting outside some type of homeless shelter. White took this photograph in 1937 in Louisville, Kentucky for Time magazine right after a flood that left many people homeless. Without really having to edit anything at all, she displays and even humiliates, the idea of the “American Way”.
Lighting is a very important part of this image. Our eyes are immediately drawn to the billboard because of its brightness and it’s darker contrasted bold letters displaying a proud message. This lighting which is done on purpose to contrast with the rest of the picture is used to create a happy feeling and puts a carefree aura about life in the United States. In contrast below the billboard there is a line of African Americans, who are dark and sort of in the shawdows of the billboard. This darkness creates of feeling of remourse and depression. Billboard (John Vachon, 1948) uses a billboard as a center piece similarly to At the Time of the Louisville Flood. This photograph is manipulated by lighting as well. The billboard is a light color captioned by dark letters that deliver a message of hatred for racist and religious prejudice.
Another key element to the photos is the people who appear candidly in the midst of these billboards. In the photo At the Time of the Louisville Flood most of the people are not looking at the camera but simply facing forward to see what awaits them at the end of the line. However, there are a couple faces that are directly looking at the camera. The look of oppression on the face of a woman who is looking at the camera embodied the gerneral feeling of the group she is with. My feeling is that most of the people in the photograph are so used to seeing propaganda like this billboard so they hardly notice that it is there. My absolute favorite part of this photo is the man that is looking at the billboard, not at the camera at all. To me its like this guy is looking at this advertisment for the first time and is completely confused as to why it is there. No one in the photo could relate to the message being delivered and this fact serves as retort to whoever placed the billboard there. The same is true in the Billboard image. The few people in the Billboard are obviously in a poor African American community where there could not be much relation to the small white boy featured in the ad.
Framing is also a very important part of these images. The whole span of the photograph is sure to include the entire billboard. This is done so that the viewer looks at that first, and then later sees the other hidden message. I feel as though the photographer is trying to say, “look at this great billboard. It would probably look even better if these people weren’t blocking it”. After I learned about the purpose of the photo I started to understand the message at a different angle.
The irony of both billboards featured in these images is that the people who are viewing these advertisments could never relate to these images and could not support the message being delivered at all. These advertisments did not promote cultural diversity, but by use of framing and lighting, photographers were able to use these billboards to promote the real message.
