Observation:
The photograph features a child sitting at the bottom of a staircase, with his/her body facing towards the left of the image. The stairs draw the viewers eye to the right of the image despite a lack of anything there, due to the way the photo was cropped. The child is wearing a light and dark colored striped shirt and well as pants rolled up to his/her knees. He/She is also wearing sneakers. To the left of the image are at least two trashcans and an iron fence running vertically, that would seem to tower over the child. The brick wall directly to the right of the fence has much stronger horizontal than vertical line. The poles to the railings are very detailed, as if they are from an early decade. The area appears quite clean and a window of set of doors are hidden behind the staircase. There is a light beyond the iron fence and the child appears to be looking in that direction. The railing is angled from the top right corner to just above the child's head. The child has his/her hands placed in his/her knees, almost peacefully. The lighting in the photo is also emphasized on the top of the railing as well as the stairs. What lies at the top of the stairs as well what is to the left of the trashcans is left unknown to the viewer.
Inference:
The following image seems to depict what child does on a typical day in Harlem. It can be inferred that the location is Harlem because Roy DeCarava is known to photograph there. The child is the focal point of the image because DeCarava searched to often find himself in his photography, he states, “I forced everything out of that print so the observer could feel what I felt as a kid” (Duganne 135). The child remains alone in the image to signify the loneliness he felt throughout his childhood. DeCarava and his widowed mother (with whom he spent the majority of his life) moved around a lot. Often times the neighborhoods were filled with Hispanic, Irish and Italian families and only a few African American families (133). The way in which the railing guides the viewers eye to the child may almost represent the solemnity DeCarava felt and what the viewer to understand.
The light just beyond the fence seems to represent a type of hope or a place where DeCarava felt that he fit in, such as the one he finds in photography. As we have studied photography we have learned that the different types serve different purposes. Documentary photography seems to capture a point in time and studio photography seems to remain more contrived and for the need to capture perfection in a single frame. DeCarava proves that it does not need to represent a social issue or stance on matters of race or inequalities for the group as a whole. Sometimes photography is used for the purpose of self-identification and self-fulfillment. It is not always easy to express emotions in words and pictures are a good way yo express those feelings. This point is supported by the claim, “While DeCarava also sought to use notions of family to understand his sense of self or in Frazer’s terms, what makes him a “human being”, for him the African American family provided not a means of socialization, but a way to gain access, a he had done through his photograph Hallway, to the childhood memories, fears and desires that made up his inner, psychic life” (151). In a time of racial injustices it seems that photographers could capture what events were occurring at the time, but not always how people felt about them.
His use of the photographic concept of framing is very evident in this particular image. The way he does not allow the viewer to see beyond the fence, to the right of the stairs, to the top of the stairs, and to the left of the trashcans. The lack of information may also represent DeCarava's inability to call a single place home with the constant traveling from place to place. The lack of location also forces viewers to look at the image beyond the context. Far too often the audience of a photograph forces a perspective on an image when all of the information in question is provided for the viewer. In discussing DeCarava's pieces John Kouwenhoven, author of The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York asserts, “—that a picture of something is not the thing itself, but somebody’s way of looking at it. Even in the most representational pictures, what is shown may tell us less than we can learn from the manner in which it was presented or the point of view from which it is seen” (137). Photography can be a form of self-reflection, almost like a mirror and by cropping the image and manipulating it, the viewer is forced to identify with more than one image to completely gain a more well-rounded and conceptual understanding of the self. This concept of the self can again relate back to the idea of beauty and what it truly means. In regards to studio photography, the viewer may find a less authentic version of his or herself in comparison to a documentary style photograph.
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