Black & White Imagery

Ring Ring, Ring Ring.
The telephone rang, shattering my sleep.
"Hello?" I greeted and asked half heartedly, as I had yet to shake the sands of sleep from my eyes.
"Hey Ethan!" It was my father. "Is Boppy home?" Boppy is the nickname I gave my mother when I was still but a wee child, and found Mommy to hard to pronounce.
"Yeah, hold on, I'll go get her," I grumbled. I yelled out "Boppy" so that she could hear it upstairs, where she was paying bills.
"Oh!" She said loudly, obviously surprised that the phone was for her. Her exclamation was then followed by the sound of a moving chair, and quick footsteps towards the kitchen, which was where the upstairs phone resided.
I waited until I could hear her voice over the phone, and then hung up.
After the conversation was over, she came downstairs and said that my dad wanted to meet us at Barnes & Noble. This caused no negative reaction from me, nor was I pleased by it either. It was just something to do on my day-off from school.
We met my father at Barnes & Noble, and he talked to my mother for a bit about the bills, the possibility of me getting glasses, and our cats and their messes. While they were busy chatting, a magazine caught my eye. At first it's grasp on my eye wasn't very strong, and I almost brushed it off, but something about this magazine was strong enough to keep me looking at it until I couldn't help myself but walk over and open it up. It was a Black & White Photography magazine. Just like the cover, the inside wasn't terribly remarkable. Just interesting enough to keep me turning the pages. Unlike most magazines, which are usually a plethora of advertisements with one or two articles here and there, this one was almost completely dedicated to photos and what the photographers had to say about them. In fact, I don't think I noticed any advertisements until I reached the very end. The photos were decent, but there were a handful of them that really stood out to me.
These handful of photos stood out so much, that I decided that I had to purchase, and further more, share the handful with everyone who actually reads what I have to say! So without further ado, here are the photos and my written explanations as to why I chose them.














I love how much the water distorts the scenery in this one. It seems very surreal to me, and surreality is something that I have been and always will be especially fond of.





















Two boys in an empty looking town. I like how the focus is very much on them and them alone, and the background is interesting enough to look at, but not overbearingly so.
















I've always wanted to take a picture of the naked body. Unfortunately, due to many factors, I've been unable to. I've always thought the naked human body is very symbolic. It's funny that we as humans wear clothes even when we don't need to. I feel that the way this picture is composed is very reflective of the theme of shame. Notice how even when the person is obviously naked, steps are taken to prevent her from being even more so. Even when someone is completely naked, they still hide something.





















How surreal does this feel? 'Nuff said.


















At this point I became very frustrated with scissors and resolved to just tear out the pictures rather than cutting them. I hate scissors. For some reason, I never could use them well.
Half the time, photography doesn't even take any talent. If you see something cool, and take a picture of it, 9 out of 10 times the picture will turn out cool as well.
















Yet another picture which I decided to rip out rather than cut out.
Notice the sad look, huddled position, and the airplane in the back. Peice together, and what does it mean?






















The girl's face is haunting. It's so expressionless. There are so many reasons for her to express something in this photo, like the fact that she's on waht appears to be a beach of some sort, or the fact that she's holding a baby crocodile, yet she continues to stare ever so blankly. Creepy.





So there they are, hope you enjoyed the photos at the very least. I regret to say that tonight my writing is not what I like to think it normally is. So forgive me for anything awkward or sloppy sounding. Thank you, and good night!