A reader wrote to me saying she is never quite sure how to comment on an image. I realized that my many years of art training helps me comment on photography and art. So I’m hoping that with this post we can help those who would like help with imagery commenting ideas. If you have suggestions to offer, please leave some in the comments. I may add to the post with some of your ideas.
Using a list of formal elements I learned from an art teacher, here are some ideas:
Medium and materials: what did the artist/photographer use to create the image? One could ask a question or comment about the camera, the lighting, the photo editing software.
Composition: what is placed where in the composition? How is the rectangle (if it is one, and it usually is) broken up? Example: “An expected composition, with a diagonal going down one side where one would expect a vertical”
Color: is it one color? Many colors? Bright colors? Contrasting colors? Do they colors appeal to you? Example: “Love the combination of purples with reds and greens”
Light: What is the light source of the subject? How does it effect the overall presentation? Is it warm, cool, natural, artificial?
Style: Does it remind you of a certain style or school of artists? Is it realistic or fantasy-like? Pop art? Classical?
Depth: How far back does the photo/painting take you? Are you close to the subject or far away? How did the artist achieve those results? Example: “Wow, that field is vast” or “the dog looks like he’s going to jump right out of the picture and unto me!”
Motion: Did the artist/photographer create motion in the image? Does that feel good or make you dizzy?
Theme, Mood: Is there a basic theme to the image? Loneliness? Glee? Serenity? Chaos? Disconnect? Family bonding? If you think a photo has a certain theme, you can ask if that’s what the photographer intended. Or just say, “serene”, if you are staring at a calm lake surrounded by colorful fall trees.
If you would like to test out some of these descriptive ideas, you may comment on the painting in the upper right corner by Van Gogh. Click on it to see a larger version and more information.
I took these photos yesterday in various spots around our little borough of Highland Park, New Jersey. The above photo is looking down North Fifth Avenue.
The snow in October, unusual for Central New Jersey, inspired me to take these photos. It’s my neighbor’s tree; most probably a “burning bush” (thanks, EG Wow and Carletta). The yellow-leafed plants with green “sticks” are what’s left of my hostas.
My son just called and told me it is RAINING in northern New Jersey.
Mimi left me a note for my stuffed nose (I haven’t tried this yet, but I’ve got sage growing outside my kitchen):
For your stuffed nose, try making a steam tent out of a towel and a bowl of steaming sage tea. About 1 Tblsp. of sage to 2 cups of boiling water. Simmer the sage for 10 minutes and bring it to a table. Lean over the pot or bowl with the hot sage tea in it. Drape a towel over your head and the bowl. Try to stay in for 5 minutes. Your stuffed nose will start clearing up right away.
More about the restaurant: and we didn’t even order the steak, and the prices were still astronomical. $18 for a hamburger that included an Israeli salad that my kids had no interest in eating. How much tomatoes/cucumbers can one mother eat?
Enjoy a bearded lady and supermarket mouse at Benji’s What War Zone who presents Haveil Havalim #188, the blog carnival with the best of the Jewish and Israeli Blogosphere.
About the photo: I couldn’t find funny, so you will have to settle for weird. The blurry photo of my marigolds (orange and yellow) and zinnia (pink) was taken as part of last week’s Thematic Photographic theme of blur.
Once upon a time there was a little boy who didn’t like kreplach (a kreplach is a Jewish wonton). So his mother decided she would take him in the kitchen while she made the kreplach. First, she prepared the dough. “What are you making?” asked the boy. “You’ll see,” replied the mother. Next she rolled out the dough. Yum, said the little boy. Then she cut the dough into squares. Mmmm, said the child. She took some meat and placed a bit in one of the squares. Yum, yum, said the little boy. She folded over one corner. Mmm, continued the boy. She folded over the next. The boy looked on with expectation. She folded over another corner, then the final corner.
Next we will visit Mrs. S. at Our Shiputzim, who seems to love posting about her construction. I enjoy her sense of humor and friendliness.
Finally, the Babysitter (who has been blogging for a while about babysitting on her blog The Babysitter Writes) started a brand-new blog, The Jewish Side. Good luck with it!
If you feel like passing the award onward (I always recommend a bit of hakaras hatov, recognition of good, in one’s life and blog), here are the rules:
1) Add the logo of the award to your blog
2) Add a link to the person who awarded it to you
3) Nominate at least 4 other blogs (I changed this to four; two are fine, really!)
4) Add links to those blogs on your blog
5) Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs (or via email)!
Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures
יִשְׁרְצוּ הַמַּיִם, שֶׁרֶץ נֶפֶשׁ חַיָּה
In this week’s parsha, Breishit (Genesis), we get short lists of what was created on each day. On Day 5 God created something called sheretz. What is sheretz? According to Rashi (see a post of mine on Rashi) it is “creepy crawly things” (my words, not Rashi’s). So what are these swarming beings, these beings that Rashi explains as “not high off the ground”? Among the flying creatures, he has the zvuv, the fly. His examples of crawling or slithering creatures are ants, beetles, worms, weasels, mice and snails. And he adds “and the like”, so I looked in Vayikra, where sheretz is also mentioned in connection to kashrut (none of these creatures are kosher), and Rashi there has wasps, mosquitoes, grasshoppers, snakes, scorpions, centipedes, and the word escharbot in Old French, which sounds an awful lot like escargot to me. I find it curious that he has mice and centipedes grouped together. But I suppose if they had invented the microscope in 10th century France, paramecium might be on this list, too.
I also read a piece by Rabbi Abraham Twerski about the parsha. He related the following story:
There was a 96-year-old resident of a nursing home who had not spoken a single word for over a year. No amount of cajoling could get her to speak. It was assumed she was suffering from senile dementia.
One of the volunteers, a young girl of 14, was assigned to sit with this woman. The old woman looked out the window, totally ignoring the young woman’s efforts to engage her in conversation or in an activity. Nothing could distract her from looking out the window.
After an hour, the young woman had just about had it. She arose to leave, but couldn’t help asking, “What are you looking at?” The “demented” old lady looked at her and smiled, “Why, at the light, my child.”
Rabbi Twerski’s comment about this story is that wisdom is often thought of as a kind of light, and most people need to have a practical application in order to value wisdom. But this woman seemed to enjoy looking at the light because … because she enjoyed looking at the light.
So what does this have to do with the insects and mice and weasels? Many of the photo bloggers whose posts I read (or look at, to be more accurate) seem to enjoy photographing these little critters. And this old woman enjoyed looking at the light. And I enjoy looking at the sky and flowers because… because I do.
I took these two photos last Friday afternoon, right before sunset. They were both taken from the same corner of my porch that I took many of my previous SkyWatch photos.
The second one was taken about ten minutes after the first.
A reader wrote to me saying she is never quite sure how to comment on an image. I realized that my many years of art training helps me comment on photography and art. So I’m hoping that with this post we can help those who would like help with imagery commenting ideas. If you have suggestions to offer, please leave some in the comments. I may add to the post with some of your ideas.
Formal Visual Analysis
Before the Jewish holidays, Lorri of 
In this week’s parsha, Breishit (Genesis), we get short lists of what was created on each day. On Day 5 God created something called sheretz. What is sheretz? According to Rashi (see 
