Rene Burri - Men On A Rooftop

This is one of Rene's most famous photographs, shot on top of a rooftop in Sao Paulo looking down onto high-rise buildings and a busy street with trams and cars, the four men who Rene said suddenly appeared when he did pulled the whole image together, the silhouettes bring a suspect feel to the image as you can't see their faces and them being alone looking over a busy city levels up their position of power. The excessive amount of shapes from square windows to lines on buildings creates a "strong graphic communication" giving the photo a symmetric feel and the black and white film allows this to stand out much more as colour pulls the viewer away from shoes and form. This image was shot on a telephoto lens, making the subjects look closer than they are allowing multiple things to be included in one image making you feel as though you are behind the camera looking over this city. I would say this piece is ambiguous as there is no particular thing to focus on and no specific story is being told its down to the viewer to interpret that themselves, depending on how you feel in the moment you see this image it will be different to others. Personally I thought this image was a painting the first time I saw it, I believe this is because the huge contrast of light and shadows and how theres is so much detail yet so little as its from a far distance.

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