homELearning Activity 2 (S1-04: 20 Matthew Wong)

Picture 2(a)

I think the main focus of this picture is the man who is ferrying two passengers on the trishaw. He has to ferry people on a busy road full of cars for a living. He is having a very tough time as he is heading in the opposite direction of the main traffic and has to dodge vehicles heading towards him while concentrating on pulling his passengers to their destination.
The message of the picture is that there is a growing poverty gap causing the rich to be very rich and the poor to be very poor. This picture clearly shows that. The man pulling the trishaw has to do backbreaking work to bring home the bread and cannot afford even shoes while others, like the person on the motorcycle, are rich enough to afford their own vehicles.
I feel that the photograph is very clear, the message is clear too. I do not think it needs any adjustments.

homELearning Activity 2 (S1-04: Arthur Lee Ying Kiu)

Sorry for the late post guys, been really busy this past couple of days with my extended family gathering.

Picture 2a

This picture shows how the rich extremes come together with the poor extremes, and some of the conflict of the two. They both fit in a small alley where they cannot properly do their own things, the poor coolie carrying the passengers to make a living seems to be obstructing the way of the man in the motorcycle. It would be interesting to find out what will happen when they are about to collide, who will give way to the other? If the man in the motorcycle gives way to coolie, perhaps there is not that much social differences after all. 

There is a clear divide between the person on the motorcycle who is on the rich side and the poor coolie who is on the poor side. On the rich side, we can see that this man is luckier as he was more well off than the coolie, being able to afford a motorcycle and is with the luxury cars on the left of the picture. On the poor side, the coolie is not as well off and has to resort to earning a living by carrying passengers around which is back breaking labor and is with the wet and poorer feel of the right side of the picture. This shows some of the social gaps and differences in the community of the place, the rich can be really rich while the poor can be really poor and the gap between them can be even bigger.  

if there are unexpected pauses, it is because I had a little breathing difficulty on that day

The full video is 1mins 10s long, so if the video hangs, won't load, is suddenly shortened, you may click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dbX3Mpwti2k

Anyways, here is the script

I feel that the focus of this image is that the old man which still has to ferry passengers for a living despite his age is blocking the route of the progress of the rich of the society who can afford motorised vehicles. The main character is the old man and the setting is that of a busy street. I think that the story is that since the different modes of transports of the rich and the poor move at different paces, the poor of the community might be a problem to it in the future by literally slowing or halting the process of which the community progresses as depicted in this picture. I think that the message the photographer is trying to convey is that there is still financial disparity in the community and that it is gradually becoming a problem. I like the photo as it informs us that such problems still exist. I do not wish to make any changes to the photograph as it already displays the financial disparity between the rich and the poor and any changes might blur the message.

HomELearning Activity 2 (S1-04: 13 Lai Wen Xuan Jeremy)

Picture 2c
The focus of this picture is the baby in the middle as the people in
the picture are smiling happily at him, so I believe that that is the
focus of this picture. There are six people in the picture, two are
sleeping. They all look happy together, although they are staying in a
very small and dirty area. I think that the story behind this picture
is that it is now a time of hardship and many people have become very
poor, causing them to have to stay in this type of place. I believe
that the message that the photographer is trying to convey with the
message is that a family can still live together happily even though
they are poor. What I like about this picture is that it shows the
type of place people have to live in if they are poor. If I was the
photographer, I would try to take the photo with another background
instead of the current one.

homELearning Activity 2 (S1-04: Chua Yue Hian, Roy)

I apologise for any and every outside noise for my sister and cousin were arguing at around the same time and are making a lot of noise.

Picture 2(b)
The focus of the image is the mother and her child sleeping on a big blanket on the dirt street. This is so as they are the only human characters being portrayed in the image.

Both mother and child are facing the background, so as to ignore noise, that would disturb their sleep. In front of the mother, is a metal wire frame, with many cloths and towels being hung up. These clothes and towels might be the mother’s laundry, being hung up to dry. Behind the metal frame is a hill of dirty clothes, piled up to around waist height. There is also a pile of relatively clean clothes on the right side of the image, that is being covered by a huge brown cloth, so as to prevent the clothes underneath to get hit by anymore dirt.

I think that the image is trying to show us part of the daily lives of single mothers taking care of a child in poverty. I believe this is so for the photographer did not include any evidence that there might be a father helping to look after the child. If the mother were to be a woman of much wealth, she would not be sleeping on the streets with only a blanket and a pillow to be her entire bed.

I think that the photographer is trying to tell us that poverty is not to be ignored and we have to treasure what we have now for there are people more worse off than us.

The only thing I dislike about the image is that there is a hand sticking out of the left side of the image. If I was the photographer, I would have waited for the person whose hand is in the image to walk past before taking the picture.

homELearning Activity 2 (S1-04: 05 Kimberly Ong Fang Ying)

Picture 2(a)

The focus in the image is the rickshaw and the modern surroundings which consists of cars and motorcycles. There is a contrast between the poor rickshaw puller and the motorists. The rickshaw puller appeared to be struggling to pull the rickshaw. His clothes were dirty and wet, compared to the motorist's which was ironed and clean. It seems like it just rained as there were puddles of water on the ground. The picture is most likely taken in a developing country where there is a huge gap between the rich and the poor. I think that the story that lies behind the image is that there could be a poor man trying to earn money while the rich are enjoying themselves based on the focus of the picture. The photographer is seeking to tell the viewers that in certain developing countries, financial disparity is a serious problem and something has to be done. I like the focus of the picture, the contrast between the rich and the poor, however, I dislike the fact that the motorcycle was closer to the camera when picture was taken which might mislead the viewer that that is the focus. If I were the photographer I will take the picture when the rickshaw puller is nearer to the camera.

homELearning Activity 2 (S1-04: 04 Norullayaley Mohd Ikbal)

Image 2(b)

The focus of the image is the setting in which the image was taken. A large portion of the image is the setting, and not on one particular character/object.

A woman and a baby is sleeping on a pink piece of cloth laid out on the ground outdoors. They are sleeping in front of a metal grill. Bright pieces of cloth is hung onto the metal grill. They are faced away from the camera. Their clothes are ragged and dirty. Their surrounding too is not that clean as well. It seems to be in a dump. 

I think the story that lies behind this image how the woman and her baby is forced to live on the streets because she is poor. She neither has proper shelter nor does she have proper hygiene, due to her living conditions.

I think the message that the photographer is seeking to convey through the image is how people are living in poverty and are forced to live on the streets. Their living conditions are terrible, as they have no choice but to make they do with what they have (which is not very much). 

What I like about this image is how the photographer managed to capture the whole scenario very well, and it depicts a very obvious story.