February post

Color Theory

(I'm going to preface this post by saying I am a cinephile and also have an adoration for photography and visual media as a general concept so I apologize for the pretense.)

I feel as though one of the most prevalent and important things we discussed this past month was when we study we did on color theory and the importance of visual media in communication.  We are exposed to copious amounts of visual media on a daily basis and it takes something special to stand out when consumers are so flooded with this stimuli.  One of the pieces of media that stood out to me was an image presented to us in class, specifically two images contrasted to one another in the discussion of lenses.  One of the photos (http://ichef-1.bbci.co.uk/news/660/cpsprodpb/FE8A/production/_90726156_doaa_epa976.jpg) presents a woman in a baby blue jersey and black hijab against the bright orange backdrop of the banners in the sand volleyball arena. The subject of the photo stands brightly in contrast to the background in terms of colors and even more so in contrast with the scantily clad subjects in the foreground.  The photographer set the f-stop to allow for the fore and backgrounds to be out of focus while it landed solely onto the point of focus from most viewers from outside that culture as competing on an Olympic level while wearing hijab may be slightly taboo or viewed differently.  The color contrast itself is indicative of the conflict and contrast surrounding the culture that uses that to represent themselves.  

The difference in color is representative of the dichotomy of the cultures that surround the photo. There is a unification in sport that arises through pictures like this and also a clash of much more than just sports teams; national identities and professional careers can be raised and destroyed in goliath cultural events like the Olympics.  The process of comparing the two cultures and their values can lead to creative interpretations of how the struggle looks and feels to different people of different backgrounds.  In the given photo the hijab wearing Egyptian athlete is hunched over and much smaller than the other athlete, alluding to the perception of a losing battle against something one may never be able to beat.  That very well may be the way the athlete, photographer or even myself as the consumer may ascribe the meaning but regardless of that the color was the first thing that drew my attention.