The photograph I picked is shot by a nameless photographer. However, these pictures became a big news in China in 2015. It shows the monk expiated the sin of the dead. Due to his perfect angles and brilliant ways to shot, the monk is very impressive and his movement moved millions of people.

The first element I choose is the available seats in the first photograph. It’s easy to find out the station is full of people. As a background information, there are lots of people wait in line and seek for a seat in this train station. However, if you look at the center of this photo, there are several seats available which are close to the dead. The crowed kept watching the dead and they didn’t know what’s going to happen. From my perspective, the crowd show their fear to the death and they don’t want the same thing happened on their own. They are in panic and shocked. When something horrible happened, everyone will choose the best way to keep himself safety. That’s part of our humanity. No one helped the policeman to do their job. Everyone kept in distance and looking at the poor man. It explained that why no one choose to sit near the dead. You can see the desperate and numb in their eyes which also proved my thought. To be honest, this might be 90% people’s movement when they in this situation. The photographer uses the crowd’s action as a foreshadowing for the rest part of his work. 

The second one I choose is monk’s clothes. As it’s known to all, the quality of the clothes for monk represent the status of him. Typically, this type of clothes represents he is not abbot or mentor. He is just a normal one like thousands of monk in China. This element shows us he is not celebrity or the rich. His clothes are clean but plain. Therefore, the plain clothes contribute to impression of monk who is normal but full of love. The photograph uses this element to make monk’s movement greater.  

  The third element is the medium shot and close up which photographer used in this work. “A medium shot is an oft-recurring shot in a graphic story, and generally occurs when characters are shown from somewhere between the knees to the waist up. It is a very natural type of shot to depict a conversation between two characters” (1). In the last part of picture, we still can see the crowed. If you look at the second picture and the third, you won’t see so many people in the photo because the photographer use the medium shot and close up. “The close up brings the reader/viewer and subject being looked at in close proximity to one another and can therefore have an increased intensity. Such a shot gives the reader a clearer depiction of a character's emotions or even intentions while also preventing us from seeing contextual clues that would be visible in a medium or long shot” (2). The photographer uses this way to make audience keep focusing on the movement of monk. In my opinion, it is a smart way to contribute to the theme of his pictures. People will have more possible to be moved by monk’s behavior.

The last but not lease, the behavior of monk contributes to the topic of this work.

In the second photo, the monk shakes his hand with the dead and then salute to him. This movement shows his kindness and full of love. Compared to other people, he is the only one who touched this pool man. His behavior shows the meaning of great love, which goes beyond live and death, time and place. They never met before, but he chooses to salute to this stranger in that situation. Thousands of people keep looking at him, but he didn’t show any concern. It seems like no one is in the station except himself and the dead man. As it’s known to all, many people feel shame or stressful to do that in public. In the third image, the monk is bowing to the dead which shows his respect to the single live and this person. Bowing in 90 degrees is the highest standard of respect in China. In the last, monk closes his eyes and pray for the dead. He tries his best to expiates the sin of the dead. That should be the best ending of that poor man. You can see everyone’s face in the last image. All of them were moved by him and it makes the status of monk higher than ever.

In conclusion, the photographer used many different kinds of element to contribute to the topic such as empty seats and close up shot. The compared between crowd and monk makes monk greater. It shows the great love and the respect of lives which makes me moved by monk’s kindness.
