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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Analysis - Photograph of Al Saleh Mosque

Picture of al Saleh Mosque in a rainstorm

Above is a photograph of Al Saleh Mosque in Yemen by Stephanie Sinclair.

The dominant figures in this photograph are the mosque building, the towers with lights at the top,
the fence surrouding the mosque, road barricades and a man walking alone outside the mosque. The
mosque is quite far away from the photographer so it doesnt really catch the viewers' attention even though it is actually a huge building. The fence and the barricades implies that the access to the mosque or even areas surrouding the mosque is restricted. The man walking outside of the fenced area adds to the idea that there are not many people around the mosque.

The photography is from a perspective of passer-by. Although the mosque is the main subject of this photo, it was photographed from very far away and outside its fences and also at a slanted angle (not a frontal image) as you can tell by how the line created by the fences is slanted. One very significant apsect of this photography is that the photographer chose to capture the image while it was raining and when there were droplets of rain on the camera lens. This portrays a perspective that is very realisitc; the viewer feels as if he/she actually standing there on a raining day. At the same time, the rain droplets were deliberately intended to be part of the photo to blot out the mosque and create a feeling of uncertainty and that something is not right.

There are two light sources, both of them very dim. The sunlight is barely penetrating through the rain cloud and the light fixtures are not bright either. The blue-grayish color of the sky and the dim lights portray depressed mood.

It turns out that the Al Saleh Mosque was built for the promotion of moderate Islam with $60 million of expenses, but ironically the militant Islam group was the one that have gained more power. The photographer is most likely trying to shed light on the fact that the grand mosque that was built to accomodate many Islam followers is now a restricted area surrounded with fences and barricades. Although there are obviously no altercations in the image itself, the photographer deliberately used natural event (rain), and element of perspective (as an outsider/passer-by) to her advantage to convey this idea. I think this photograph do suggest a subjective opinion of the photographer since the mosque with its linkage to the militant group is deliberately portrayed in a depressing background (cloudy, rain), and foreground (fence, barricade). But it can be argued that she did that to stress the sensitive thruth related to the mosque. So concerning my question that I wrote on my introductory post, I will conclude that this photograph does capture the true nature of the object photographed.

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