Sex.

The photograph “Strangler Fig Embrace” by Jennifer Ray is a strong piece of artwork. It is an excellent mix of a posed scene, and found beauty. The image is endeering because of the beautiful way one tree has consumed the other, and the objects she paced under the tree add conceptual depth, and lead the viewer into a frenzy of questions. What exactly is under the tree, why is it there, who put it there? This image is part of a series of images in which the artist uses nature scenes to explore the nature of sex, and its position in our society. She uses the word “embrace” in the title of this photo, as it is evidence that both humans and objects in nature share this physical contact. She places man made objects from our society into this nature scene to allude to the duality of mankind pertaining to sex. Society places certain labels and ideas onto the idea of sex, giving it a negative connotation, however Jennifer Ray is trying to show that it is part of nature, something which is at our core....trees do it :).

This photo is also successful because it is a visually pleasing image. Jennifer’s use of light and color give the image a surreal and beautiful image. The composition of this image is successful because she uses the rule of thirds, and gives the objects their own place in the picture. It is a well designed image, using lines and shapes to move your eyes around. She uses the fore-ground, middle-ground, and background to give the image, both visually and conceptually, more depth.

The criteria I use to judge aesthetic is based on whether the image is visually pleasing, whether it makes me ask questions, whether I like the questions, and whether I like the answers I am able to come up with. If that whole process is enjoyable to me, then ya I like the picture. This picture has successfully achieved my criteria therefore I like this picture...a lot.