Stephen LaGrange English 357 10/15/2012 Big Cities Better Than Ever The photo essay that I choose to analyze is a feature from National Geographic published December 2011 titled “City Solutions“. The Essay is a feature article written by senior environment editor Robert Kunzig. Kunzig is a scientific journalist and a regular contributor to National Geographic. Most of Kunzig’s writing focuses on the environment and more recently on the size and impact of the human population on the planet. This article is one of a series of articles that Kunzig wrote for National Geographic that primarily focuses on the population growth of large cities. The article explains how large cities developed and goes on to explain how the urbanization of large cities is a good thing for countries with growing populations. The author uses Seoul, the capital of South Korea as his main example of a city that has urbanized into an economic power house. One of the main points that the author makes is the short period of time, from 1960 to the 2000’s that it took Korea to grow from an impoverished war torn country into the economic powerhouse that it is now. The author points out that the speed of Seoul’s economic development is greatly do to the urbanization of Seoul. The author goes onto explain how the development of large cites is the best solution to the world problem of population and should be the focus for any developing country. Formal Analysis
Transcript
Stephen LaGrange
English 357
10/15/2012
Big Cities Better Than Ever
The photo essay that I choose to analyze is a feature from National Geographic
published December 2011 titled “City Solutions“. The Essay is a feature article written by senior
environment editor Robert Kunzig. Kunzig is a scientific journalist and a regular contributor to
National Geographic. Most of Kunzig’s writing focuses on the environment and more recently
on the size and impact of the human population on the planet. This article is one of a series of
articles that Kunzig wrote for National Geographic that primarily focuses on the population
growth of large cities.
The article explains how large cities developed and goes on to explain how the
urbanization of large cities is a good thing for countries with growing populations. The author
uses Seoul, the capital of South Korea as his main example of a city that has urbanized into an
economic power house. One of the main points that the author makes is the short period of
time, from 1960 to the 2000’s that it took Korea to grow from an impoverished war torn
country into the economic powerhouse that it is now. The author points out that the speed of
Seoul’s economic development is greatly do to the urbanization of Seoul. The author goes onto
explain how the development of large cites is the best solution to the world problem of
population and should be the focus for any developing country.
Formal Analysis
This paper is laid out a little different
from most of the photo essays that I have seen.
The article starts out with one very intriguing
photo of a rooftop swimming pool that overlooks
the entire city. This is the image that first caught
my eye and made me want to see more. After the
main image the article jumps into two lengthy pages of solid text. I was kind of surprised there
were no supplementary images with the text. The images are actually on a completely separate
page that you can scroll through but they are not link to the main body of text at all. This may
be something that they do for all of the Nat Geo articles, but it forced me to do a lot jumping
around. After reading the article and viewing the images they do go along together nicely, but it
took some time to get the whole picture. The images a have captions of text underneath that
describes them in further detail. Using Scott Mcloud’s definitions of word picture combinations
from Understanding Comics I would have to classify the photo essay as additive. In this
combination, words and images work in unison to produce deeper meanings. For example the
picture to the right shows how the picture is
enhanced by text. From what is shown there
is not really much I can take away from it
besides the fact it is a busy downtown and
there is some kind of construction going on
in the. The text that accompanies the
picture explains that the photo is downtown
Seoul, South Korea and goes on to describe how older housing basically anything built before
1980, is slated to be demolished to make way for the new Geumho neighborhood that feature
more apartment towers. Now it makes sense that there are smaller older buildings in the front
and the newer taller apartment buildings in the back that seem to be creeping in. Most of the
pictures are described in a similar manner with the words elaborating on what the pictures are
showing. Using Scott Mcloud’s definitions of closure, this photo essay is mostly an example of
scene to scene closure. The pictures are different views of different cites that transport us to
different parts of the world during different times. However, there are a couple series of photos
that behave more like a subject to subject closure. Staying within the same scene or place these
photos involve a lot more reader involvement. For example the photo above shows a series of
pictures of family’s in their apartment
units. The pictures stay within the same
scene and the pictures become more
meaningful because they show how
each family changes there unit to make
it their own.
There are a variety of principles from the Complete Photography by National Geographic
that are used in the photos to make them more interesting. Most of the photos are snapshots
of downtown areas from a high zoomed out view. Because most of the shots are from so far
away and outside the majority of the photos utilize the rule of thirds, horizon line, and natural
light. The photos below demonstrate many of the other elements of photo composition.
Leading lines are huge in these pictures they lead you from the natural area in the foreground
to the buildings that are in the background. The man standing in the picture on the left is the
focal point and he also gives the photo a sense of scale. The pictures also use the rule of thirds
to make them more even and balanced. Many of the photos used in the essay are layered with
lots of green space. This goes along with the authors point that cites are developing more green
space in urban settings. Color also plays a big part in many of the pictures. The colors really
bring the pictures alive and show the diversity of the city on display. Lots of colors can be seen
on the picture to the right even though it is not particularly bright. Without the colors the
photos would be far less interesting and not go along as well with the text. It seems like most of
these pictures have not been edited or have been edited very little. The only thing that may
have been changed is the contrast. There are a few photos that use some very cool camera
tricks such as the photo to the right with the cars. These photos are very effective and are
probably the most interesting photos in the essay.
Content Analysis
The big message that the photo essay is trying to get across is that the development of
cities is a good thing and it can benefit everyone. I believe that the author successfully backs up
his claim with good examples of cities that
have developed vary rapidly specifically
because of the urbanization of their cities.
The author also makes a good point that
these cities are more than likely going to
continue to develop on their own anyway so
it is important that we embrace that fact so
we can plan better for the future. It seems like there is a lot of truth in this essay and a lot can
be learned by looking at the successful examples. The real main focus in this photo essay is the
people and how the urbanization of a city can really benefit the individual. The essay explains
that many people move onto the city to discover a better life, and for most they find what they
are looking for. The inclusion of people in the photos really drives the main point home and
shows how these people are interacting in an urban environment. The people in the pictures
for the most part look happy and there is really nothing negative shown in the photos. The one
thing that is missing from the photos are all of the bad things that also go along with the
development of cites. The author does talk about slums in the text and how they can be a
negative result of urbanization, but there is nothing like that shown in the pictures. There are
still enough real world examples in the essay to make it believable and convince someone that
developed cities really are the solution.
Evaluation
I really like the way that everything is presented in this photo essay. Everything seems to
go together really nice and the photos really represent what the text is saying. The one thing
that I think would have made it better is if the main body of text was linked better to the
photos. In the end It all made perfect sense, but as I was reading the main body of text I kept
wanting to flip back to the pictures and in the process losing my place in the text. I really liked
the pictures that they choose to use. The pictures were the thing that really drew me to the
photo essay in the first place. I also really liked the pictures that show the movement in the city.
The example below showing all of the different things intersecting through the city really brings
the photo to life and shows how everything in an urban environment is connected in some way.
Sources
National Geographic. Complete Photography. Washington DC: National Geographic, 2011.
Kunzig, Robert. "The City Solution - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic
Magazine." The City Solution - Photo Gallery - Pictures, More From National Geographic
Magazine. National Geographic, Dec. 2011. Web. 14 Oct. 2012.
