Ansel Adams

Adams does an excellent job using lighting to illuminate each child’s face in this scene. The way the kids are climbing all over each other, each looking in a different direction with a different facial expression adds to the tense, somber feel of the image. While the children are obviously the focus of the image, the smallest child is what draws in the viewer. Babies tend to evoke a sense of empathy from a viewer and the context, these children all living in a trailer camp, makes the viewer pause even more to take in what the photo is trying to capture. I like how Adams also adds small details in the back, like the strewn newspaper and dirty couch that enhance the purpose of the image.