Fighting Fish/ Fighting Birds by Hiro (Yasuhiro Wakabayashi) published in 1990
Photo 1- p. 29 Photo 2- p. 40
In this photo, I really liked the interaction between the 2 fish. The fish were fighting while the photos were being taken, but this photo shows that there is a calmer and graceful movement to fighting. I also really like the idea of the 2 fish being intertwined. Like in astrology or in myth, the two fish intertwined represents balance. The contrast of colors is also very interesting in this photo. The fish both have vibrant hues of blue and red that are brought out by using a black backdrop.
This photo is very interesting to me, especially since at first glance, I didn’t realize the photo was of birds. This picture was the first page that opened when I picked the book and when I began looking through the book, I didn’t know the name of the book. This photo caught my attention because I believed that the photo was of a dancer in movement. This photo brings out the aggressiveness and chaotic movements of fighting. I really like that the blur of motion in this photo makes the subject seem more aggressive in comparison to the gentle movement of the fin of the fish. I also really like the black/ white contrast. I believe that the black and white can represent the aggressive and gracefulness of the subject.
I chose to use this book because I really enjoy underwater photography. Although Hiro isn’t an underwater photographer, I really enjoyed his fish photos. Many of the underwater photos I enjoy show movement in interesting ways. Hiro has shown me that movement can also be interesting above water as well.
I believe that Hiro is successful in exposing the beauty in something as negative as fighting. Even though these animals are fighting, they look graceful. I also really liked Hiro’s idea and composition for the photos. Although I am not a big fan of provoking these animals to fight, I find the idea for the photos to be very interesting. I also believe that Hiro was able to make the images “pop” very well. I really love how the fish color was so vibrant and made you really notice each fish. As for the birds, I like how the birds are black and that the background is a grey. Because of the dark colored birds, The viewer loses some of the bird/ feather characteristics and because of this, the viewer has to concentrate to figure out what the subject actually is.