response needed
Humanities
please respond to the following with 150 words :
Kaylnn
The two photographs we compared this week I think are very visually different from one another. “Julia Jackson” by Julia Margaret Cameron is a front facing portrait of a women with very bright piercing eyes with a serious face. “Sarah Bernhardt,” by Nadar is a portrait of another women, but she is looking off to the side and looks shy.
The history behind “Julia Jackson” is that she was a beautiful women who Julia Cameron’s niece who she frequently photographed. Julia Jackson’s face is half hidden in a shadow which represented the mourning of her late husband of the time, and the sorrow she was feeling. So a lot of raw emotion is captured here I feel. Her face also has a lot on contrast, which also helps describe the many emotions this women was probably going through. She is also framed right in the middle, giving a solid feel to her place in life. We also do not see any of her body composed into the picture, because her face and not body is showing the emotions. Our view is drawn to her eyes because they are so bright that we cant help but look into them and feel what she is thinking and saying to us.
Sarah Bernhardt posed for the photographer Nadar many times throughout her career. Just like the “Julia Jackson” photograph, the women’s faces are the subjects of the photos. Sarah’s face is off to the side and shows her profile, the opposite of Julia’s face. Sarah’s features are much softer looking and innocent feeling here. She is wrapped in a velvet fabric which has a lot of soft flowing lines giving off a calm feeling. There is not a lot of contrast here either like the other photo. It has very soft hues and light shadows and simple highlights. Every detail is sharp and flowing throughout Sarah’s portrait. We can also see her body, but it is covered up with the cloth. She is not centered either, showing a more happy and carefree feeling of placement.
