by Gary Fong
Photographer: Seong Joon Cho
Click Photo to enlarge
Pictures that go on a wall must hold the attention of the viewer indefinitely. These photos must illicit wonderment, imagination, or lofty thoughts.
Not all of Seong Joon Cho’s photos are lofty. Most are down to earth where mortals hide them on a hard drive, buried in a desk drawer. But every once in a while, a nice image comes along. To put it in perspective, think of this one photo as .00001% of all the photos Seong would shoot in a year.
If he has one that’s worthy of the wall per year, he’s going good.
Now for the Nit Picking
It’s not a percentage that one calculates for wall worthiness, but rather it is what the photo conveys to the viewer. Some images are worth putting on the wall…others are not. Snow covered South Korea with two girls braving the icy bridge is evocative.
The eye flows through the composition gracefully. In color, the image would have a similar starkness to it, simply because snow in color looks very similar in B&W. The monochromatic mood is underscored by the subject placement and balance.
If Seong increased the contrast by holding the textured white and bringing out blacks in the photo, it would make the two women stand out a bit more. As it is, the women’s coat on the right seems to blend in with the frozen water in grayscale. It would be better if coat and water are distinguishable.
If there was a “wall photo” acceptability standard, Seong’s image would rate three weeks on the wall before it would come down. Good enough for the prominence but not quiet long enough for a month as a calendar page.
