Jessica Hartzell
ART 1050-X02
June 2, 2015
Examining the Masters
Many photographers have passions, opinions, or beliefs that they try to capture through the
use of photography and evoke a certain emotion in its viewers. Varying the depth of field is
a way photographers can focus in on a subject or view something as a whole.
Keith Carter is a photographer from Texas. In most his photography he uses a shallow
depth of field and sometimes extra blurred background to really emphasis his point of
focus. If you examine his photography collectively, you can see that he is passionate about
capturing life. He captures many animals and people. In his collection “Bones” he
photographs many different dogs in different places. In this book his photo “Lost Dog” has
a shallow depth of field with an extreme blurred background. The focus is souly on the
eyes—although the photograph includes the full face of the dog his eye area is all that
remains in focus. Because Carter has such a passion for the living I think he titled this
“Lost Dog” and focus on the eyes to create a feeling of sympathy, familiarity, and
compassion.
One of my favorite photographs by Keith Carter is “Watermelon” from “Heaven of
Animals.” In this picture he shows a less shallow depth of field but what is in focus is two
boys drinking form a watermelon with the juice running down their bare chests and bellies.
If the photograph were to show a larger depth of field, there wouldn’t be the striking
