WP1: Pre-Writing Assignment 2

First to note is that there are no unified vectors of attention because there are no people visible in the image. This carries its own argument however, removing the people of the factory from the list of subject matter and continuing to further the image away from the organic (with the similarly noted lack of any kind of noticeable foliage), adding emphasis the obvious industrial motif. If the image were focused on some gathering of men working, or on break, or in some line, then the story told would be specifically different in the following the in the lives in the smelting company. The picture as it is though maintains its focus on the factory and its grounds.

That said the framing gives a more specific focus on the scrap yard in the foreground than the factory as a whole or any other specific part. The (relatively for high angle shots) low angle of the shot (its also unlikely that they would be taking detailed aerial maps for anything other than mapping during this time period) causes objects in the foreground to obscure those behind them, although there is the tendency for the objects (buildings) further back to be taller, meaning they can be seen, although not fully, until the large factory and the large smoke stacks after which only the far horizon (possibly not so far hills but we associate the fading to distance) is visible. All of this means that the scrap yard is given more focus in the hierarchy of the photograph, being the first at hand, the closest (showing more detail), and the least obscured. This continues the motif of industrialism as dirty, giving primary attention to the part of the factory with the least well kept buildings (those likely for storage) and the piles of scrap that although are meant for recycling and re-smelting are associated still closely with trash (especially when thinking of some closed down factory still with a lot a scrap that is left to rust or of the "redneck" with all kinds of scrap just lying around).

The cropping plays less of a role though it still deserves note. Not as stark as when a series of different cropped shots are displayed, its affects could probably be associated with framing without much difficulty. However the cropping does maintain and strengthen the rhetoric of the photograph. The main use of cropping is to either side, cutting off the edges of the factory and its grounds. First this re-emphasizes the focus on the American Smelting and Refining Company by not including any extraneous buildings, businesses, or even empty lots. Second, by the way the photograph is cropped, without any sign of the buildings ending shortly after the edge of the picture, our mind extends the factory and its grounds (or at least and more so other factories in a large industrial park) out significantly beyond just what is shown.

Now being a black and white photograph, there isn't nearly as much to talk about dealing with the colors of the picture. This picture was taken just after (really during) the introduction of color photography. This means that it is likely that its still black and white just because of the camera available, this supported by the fact that the other photographs in the collection with this one are all black and white, this one being no special exception. However, although not likely intentional, the black and white (mostly gray) nature can now be said to also aid the argument of industrialism, these tints, especially the grays of cement, metals, and smoke, commonly evoking those associations or industry, the antithesis of the organic.