This photograph was taken in Sunray, Texas a small town in the northern tip of Texas close to the border of Oklahoma. When I first found this picture I did not know the location of the photo but would have guessed somewere in the south. I figured it was the photo was taken on site at a local mine. The photo was taken in 1942 in the height of the carbon black refining. Most of my first insights were true, but I did not know everything. The town first originated in 1930 when a man invested in the land to start an carbon black plant. The town was going to first be called "Altman" but was changed because a town in the county already had the name. The name was than changed to "Sunray" after the oil company that was there. The first lots of land in the town were acctualy sold for 10 dollars a peice. The town lived and still does on the refining of this black carbon. This carbon is used in the production of cars, mainly tires. Knowing these things somewhat changes my feelings of the photo. Me knowing that the town runs on the mining and refining of carbon, lets me know more about the daily life of this man. His whole life relies on the production of this carbon. The town itself is 1.7 mi, which is extreamly small. This carbon black that is produced in this town is now know to be linked to global warming and is really bad for the environment. So I cannot even imagine what health problems it would cause for this man, breathing it in daily.

This photo today that I have picked is a little different in terms of the way it was taken and the message I think the photographer wanted to convey. Instead of bringing about a dark and depressed man, this photo shows a proud, hard working man. The photo has way more light and contrast, the man is still covered in dirt, but it gives a more rugged hard working American feeling. The photo itself has more vectors of attention then just the man, like the rail car and his tools. The lighting and cropping are also very different. There is much more color and hue in this photo creating a different mood, than the other photo. This man seems to look like he takes pride, and is more at peace with his job. This is possibly because this man works above ground welding and such.

Seeing these two different photos and knowing some background information of what I was looking at really changed the way I look at the photo. Both these men come from the same place at the same time, but they both look like they are in different places and different states of minds.

Synthstuff. Nov, 2005. 30, Sept 2009. www.synthstuff.com/mt/archives/2005_12.html

"Black Carbon." Wikipedia. Web. 30, Sept 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunray,_Texas

"Sunray, Texas." Wikipedia. Web. 30, Sept 2009. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunray,_Texas

My photo is a close up of a dirt covered miner, the vector of attention lies within the man. Then there are other vectors of attention in the man's face.  When I look at the photo I am drawn to the mans dark and dirty look.  His eye's alone give you a terrible depressed feeling.  You can see the pain in his eye's, you can see it in the way he is smoking his cigarette.  The way it just hangs off his lips with no care.  Then there is the shadowy building in the background it creates a gloomy feeling, and a sense of wonder what is the object, possibly the top of the mine shaft.  Then there is the mans ripped clothing this is another vector I am drawn to.  Then there is the mans whole face it is as if it is frammed with in the photo the way the light hits it, but not his eye's.These vectors create the logos, or argument in this photo.  It gives the argument that if you are a miner you will look like this, you will feel what this man is feeling.  Then in terms of the way this photo was taken and cropped.  I feel the photographer took this photo and focused in on the man to get this feeling of depression.  He cropped out almost all the background to get you to focus in on the man and his face.  He wants his viewers to focus on the man's face and try to understand what he is feeling.  The lighting in this photo also gives you a dark feeling almost every thing is shadowed, part of the mans face is in darkness to give you the feeling of sadness.  The man's eye's are shadowed in darkness, it looks as if he does not even have eye's just two deep holes running through his head.  The color or hue in this photo is dark, as if it is almost black and white.  There are no bright or vibrant colors just dark and depressed colors.  This darkness gives the photo a rhetorical appeal of hate and again depression.  The man looks almost unhuman with his dirt covered and shadowed face.  He looks like a living monster, all his humanly features covered with dirt.  All these things in the photo make you wonder what this mans life is really like what does he go through on a daily bases.  This is what the photographer I feel wants to instill in your head.  That is why the photo looks the way it does and this is what attracted me to the photo.