“Receiving dolls donated by the American Friends Society” and “Hardbelly’s Hogan” are similar in a way, that the two images are about giving support from one race to another. In the image of “Receiving dolls donated by the American Friends society”, framing was used to focus on the girls holding the dolls. Where as on the right corner of the image frame, there is a little boy (also Asian) but with no doll in his hands. The image frame cuts the boy off the image, making it clear that he does’t belong in this photograph. In the image of “Hardbelly’s Hogan” the main subject is the white woman in the middle and the man laying on the floor. Framing was not used here to show them off, as the image frame included five other people and in approximately same position of the frame.
Lighting and costume was used to bring the attention to that woman and the ill man. She appears in light color clothing, and the man is also covered with a light colored blanket, while every one else are in dark colored clothes. The lighting on the woman is more that every one else in the image. She and the ill man are in the bright center of the image, and every one is around them in the shade.
The costume code in the first image emphasizes on feminism, as a way of saying dolls are something only girls would play with. It shows all the girls dressed nicely with either dresses or skirts. The only girl that is wearing pants is standing at the edge and her leg is covered by the small table in the image.
The performance in the image of “receiving dolls donated by the American Friends society” delivers a message that these girls are very happy and excited about the new dolls they just received. They can’t take their eyes off these dolls. The performance in this image of the girls holding their dolls very tight and looking at it, with a smile on their face, was not natural, it is was just to pose for the picture. They all are standing next to each others, and holding their dolls the same way, and looking at it from the same angle. Where as in the image of “Hardbelly’s Hogan” there is almost no face expression at all. It was meant to look like a real moment. Every one is very quite in that image; even the little child is sitting with no face expression. Yet still the performance code was used to show other things in that image. The woman in the middle is a not part of the family, she does’t live here, as she is not setting all the way on the floor. It is like saying she just came in to give him the medicine really quick and will be leaving right away. While the other women seem like they have been setting there next to the ill man for a long time.
Both of these images involve giving, and both are giving from one race to another different race. Or in other words, giving dolls to Asian girls, and giving medicine to a native American ill man. Since the givers in both situations are “white” people, most likely they won’t be mentioned as a race. Just like Richard Dyer says in “On the matter of whiteness”, “the sense of whites as non-raced is most evident in the absence of reference to whiteness in the habitual speech and writing of white people in the west.”
The setting in the two images reflect different environments. In the image of “Receiving dolls donated by the American Friends Society” the girls are standing in the middle of a clean nice looking room that is filled with other toys and dolls, most likely a place that these girls went to just to receive their toys, not the place were the live. Where as the setting of the second image is the place the ill man resides in. It is a very simple place, where everyone is setting on the floor, and thee ill man has no bed or pillows. There are also empty bottles next to him, it could be the medication his family brought him, and he finished it all and is still sick, so they decided to get help from this woman.
The angles in which these two images were taken are similar. Both are taken from a straight angle. Except the image ““Hardbelly’s Hogan” is a little bit higher angle than “Receiving dolls donated by the American Friends Society” image.
Throughout its history, photography has been associated with realism. But the creation of an image through a camera lens always involves some degree of subjective choice thorough selection, framing, and personalization.” Sturken and Cartwright from “Images, Power, and Politics”. This is clearly true in the two examples studied here.
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