Step 1:
Birdhouse and landscape at an old plantation home near Eutaw, Alabama
Birdhouse and landscape at an old plantation home near Eutaw, AlabamaSubject: There is a small house (birdhouse) on top of a cut tree. The tree is cut at a very high spot. There are many trees in the background and two benches close to the right. The picture is framed by black, and seems to be in a field. The picture is black and white, which means this could be an old picture.
Occasion: Nothing is really happening in this photo. There is a birdhouse resting on a tree stump and the day seems to be calm, not too windy. From this picture, I can guess that the time period is the late 1800s because the photos are black and white, and the house does not look like a modern house from the 21st century.
Audience: I think the photo is targeting adults from any gender or race who are interested in history and/or landscapes.
Purpose: The purpose of this photo is to document and illustrate what this specific area looked like back in the time the photo was taken. Furthermore, this photo also demonstrated how the birdhouse was placed on top of the tree stump.
Speaker: I can assume from the picture that was taken that the photographer was someone who liked calm and relaxing landscapes where (s)he can unwind. The scenery, birdhouse and/or the stump it rested on might also have a special meaning to the person who took the picture.
Tone: The tone of this photo is relaxed and calming because of the landscape in the background; however, it is also a little sad because the picture is black and white. The trees and glass in the picture gives me a feeling of peace. This picture also gives me a feeling of loneliness because it is kind of empty and there are no people in it.
Old ex-slave on a farm near Greensboro, Alabama
Step 2:
Subject: There are many scratches and paint on the windows. Behind hte water fountain, there is a sign that says water. Next to the sign, the word "WHITE" is written on some sort of material, and above that, there is a painted word that says "soup." To the left of the water fountain, there is an opening cut in window, and lastly, there is a railing/bar to the right of the water fountain.
Subject: On the window of the store, it says "Bryant's Place," and underneath that, it says "hot fish." The window adjacent to that says "For colored." Through the window, you can see many beer bottles sitting on the windowsill. The buildings are made of brick, there is another sign hanging on the door; it says something about cooks.
Occasion: During the time this picture was taken, there was a lot of segregation and racism between African-Americans and Caucasians. Certain places allowed only certain races, and usually the areas for blacks were not as well kept and clean as the places for whites.
Audience: The audience are probably middle age people who are interested in food, history, or signs that specified which race was allowed inside the store. I don't think races, genders, or social classes would matter in this case, because almost anyone could be targeted.
Purpose: The purpose of this picture is to document what some restaurants looked like when this photo was taken. It also documents what stores looked like back when there were signs allowing only certain races to go in.
Speaker: The person is probably someone who is interested in food, stores, and/or signs because that is basically what this picture captures. (S)he might also be reckless because (s)he was standing in the middle of the road when (s)he was taking the picture. What I think is important to the photographer are the words written on the windows of the store because they are in the center of the picture, and they stand out the most.
Subject: The subject in this picture is an old man sitting in a chair. He is wearing a striped shirt and looks very gaunt, frail, and thin. In the background, there are a lot of newspaper articles with pictures attached to the wall. Lastly, there's a bed to his left.
Occasion: This occasion is probably at the end of slavery because the title of this picture is "Old ex-slave..." In this photo, the old man is sitting in a chair, and he seems like he might start crying because his eyebrows look furrowed. Slavery ended in the late 1800s, but even after abolishing slavery, the blacks were still treated unequally.
Audience: I think the audience would people who are teens and older that can understand what it feels like for the source of something painful to be removed. I think this picture is also trying to attract people who are interested in African-American history and/or emotionally moving photographs.
Purpose: I think the purpose of this picture is to teach how hard of a life ex-slaves had because the man in this picture looks fail, gaunt, and sad. Furthermore, I think this picture is also used to provoke emotions from the viewer so they can understand how it felt like to be this ex-slave. I think the purpose is also to show what an ex-slave looked like after many years of hard labor.
Speaker: I can assume from this picture that the photographer is probably someone who cares about these slaves and wants racism to end. I can also assume that this speaker is something who wants to photograph pictures what will move others and get a message across. Additionally, I think this person is someone who values freedom and history.
Tone: I think the tone is sad because the man in the picture looks melancholy, and all of the newspaper clippings, to me, seems to represent all of the years and hardships he had to go through as a slave.
Occasion: During the period when this photo was taken, there was a lot of segregation and racism towards blacks. Many places were labeled as "Whites only," or "for colored." In this specific photo, only whites were allowed to drink from this water fountain.
Audience: The audience is probably adults who are interested in what many places looked like back when there wasn't equality between the colored people and the whites. This picture might also target people who work as historians, or have family members who lived during this time period.
Purpose: The purpose of this photo is to record what certain signs looked like during this time period because now-a-days, we don't see signs that label which race can drink out of what water fountain, so we don't know how things looked back then. Furthermore, this picture document what life was like back then because these signs were part of everyday life.
Speaker: The photographer is probably someone who cares about history, and (s)he wants to record what these times looked like for people in the future to see. Since the signs "WHITE" and "WATER" and "SOUP" are in the center, I can infer that these signs are important to the photographer, and (s)he wants to capture this as a record.
Tone: I think the tone of this picture is upset because there are many scratches on the windows, the words are painted/written in a messy way, and there are splashes of random paint covering the walls. Furthermore, there is a lot of random paint stokes near the left of the picture under the opening and on the can, as well as under the water fountain. These areas with random markings on it makes it look like frustration and other signs of someone being upset.
Occasion: During the time this picture was taken, there was a lot of segregation and racism between African-Americans and Caucasians. Certain places allowed only certain races, and usually the areas for blacks were not as well kept and clean as the places for whites.
Audience: The audience are probably middle age people who are interested in food, history, or signs that specified which race was allowed inside the store. I don't think races, genders, or social classes would matter in this case, because almost anyone could be targeted.
Tone: I think the tone is indifferent because of the way the picture was taken. The objects are in the center, and the camera angle is basically eye level. There are no people in the picture and no signs of emotion either because everything is fairly neat and organized. Overall, the picture is a little boring, so it doesn't seem like the photographer really cares.
