Dawoud Bey

"A Boy on his Bike, 1989"
Dawoud Bey
Street Portraits

1.) In this photo, there is a young man posing on his bike while a young girl standing behind him with pieces of paper in her hands, both of them standing on a sidewalk. The photo is in black in white with the young black man in the foreground while the young girl is in the far right corner. The man is dressed in a white t-shirt with a large graphic design on its front with jean pants on. There are houses in the background lining the sidewalk were both of the subjects are standing. The houses seem to be brick.

2.) In the photo, the houses and the sidewalk create leading lines which helps focus the attention on the young man on the bicycle. He is the largest subject in the photo and is also the most clearly focused subject. He looks very internally hurt which is expressed through his facial positioning and his eyes. Beneath his eyes their is a deep pain that you can see gnawing away at him.  I think all of these aspects the photo had and they way Bey decided on shooting it contributed to the overall expression on the boys internal pain.

3.) I think Bey choose to shoot this portrait of the boy on his bicycle because the image conveys a strong sense of conflict and woe. The young man is exerting both of these qualities by his facial expression. This could be attributed to racial conflict since the young man is black, however i didn't come to that conclusion when i saw it. To me, this portrait was taken because it exerts such a quinine feeling of conflict of woe.

-Alex Cumming