Chapter 1

This chapter focuses on staged or posed photography.  I liked how in the whole chapter emphasized that the subject of a staged photograph is commonly a person.  However no matter the subject or set up there is always a single focal point, meaning that the extensive and elaborate work that goes into a staged photograph (from a complete set to a art performance) there is only one 'object' the viewer is supposed to focus on.  A lot of the images in the chapter show close ups or distorted images that highlight the figure at the center.  However I was intrigued by Shizuka Yokomizo's 'Stranger'.  I was particularly interested in the fact that the person is standing in the middle ground and even through the glass we are supposed to focus on them; yet there is a barrier that blocks the viewer from connecting with the person and from the person connecting with the viewer.  The glass that separates us did not separate Yokomizo, she was the one who asked the person to stand there and has thus broken the barrier.