Gordon Parks Analysis

The piece that I selected by Gordon Parks is, Red Jackson, Harlem, New York, it was taken in1948. Gordon Parks was born November 30, 1912 in Fort Scott, Kansas. He was the youngest of fifteen children born to Andrew and Sarah Parks. His Father was a tenant farmer, and his mother sometimes worked as a housekeeper. His mother taught the virtues of hard work, dignity, and love, which led to his success. He was a film maker a writer and a composer, but he used a camera as his weapon of choice. The thing that I found most interesting about Gordon Parks is that he was not only multi-talented, but I feel like his struggles in his early life gave him the empathy needed to capture the struggles of others, in a way that make us look past the labels that we as a society put on people.
Gordon was a black man, who lived during the great depression, worked odd jobs, and understood the struggles of poverty. …show more content…
There about both straight, lines of the window frame, and on the buildings outside the window, and the curvy, natural lines of the Leonard “Red” Jackson, and his clothing. The hard lines in the window frame, and of the shattered glass give a rough, sharp texture. While the natural curvy lines that make up him, the clothes he is wearing, and the texture of his hair, lend a soft texture to the photograph.
The Principle that is the easiest to see in this photograph is emphasis. He uses emphasis to make “Red” Jackson the focal point of the photograph. He is standing in darkness, with the light from outside only falling on his face, head, and shoulder. The contrast of the dark background, and the light falling across “Red” draws your eyes first to him, and then through the broken pane of glass on his right. The second principle I noticed was balance, the photograph isn’t perfectly symmetrical, but the light falling on him and coming through the window, led me to feel a sense of