Blog 1

The initial photo is an original snapshot probably of Mid 20th Century California and Baldessari used it and inserted the bold word WRONG below it. The rule of thirds is a good place to begin to see what is wrong with the photo. Suppose the image was divided into a 3×3 grid. “Good” photos have central subjects at the corners of those lines and not at their centers. In this case, the man is directly under one of the untall palm trees that are running down in the middle of the frame, dividing the picture in half. This makes the picture appear hard and dull like the tree is sprouting out of the head of the man.

Next, the framing is poor. The man is on the lower part of the photo standing on the curb, and there is no distance between him and the street. This gives him the appearance of being cramped as though he is being hit by some vehicle. A more favorable photo would give him the breathing space either by moving away or relocating him to the left. The picture is also not balanced: the big and dark, bushes are depicted on the right side of the picture and it catches the eye of the viewer not on the man, the main subject of the picture.

This imbalanced weight renders the entire scene unbalanced. It is also in black and white and the color distractions are eliminated, and the compositional deficiencies are accentuated. The artwork is written in a very straightforward manner, with a photo given to the top and the text below it to make sure that the point Baldessari makes is not overlooked.