“Shrimp in a Sponge Funnel” (By: William Goodwin) – Camera Obscura

This photo is in Camera Obscura’s Volume II as one of the first pieces (I wanted to insert it here, but was unable to find it online). This little red and gold shrimp is crawling inside this sponge funnel (as the title says) and seems to be focused on something above that is outside of this enclosed space. He is quite the active shrimp, if I may say so myself, seemingly moving around this tube-like closure that does not have an end in sight. One thing that really struck me about this photo is the way in which Goodwin used light. Nowadays, it is incredibly difficult to discern whether or not someone has manipulated a photo – with color or texture etc. so that is one question in the back of my mind when it comes to this picture. However, regardless of whether or not it was changed, there is this blue lighting at the bottom front part of the photo, almost notating a different level of the sponge that has been untouched by light. Then, as the photo moves upwards, the shrimp is surrounded by this beacon of gold light, some of which rests in a more brown tint on the base, while the rest is exceptionally bright towards the top of the funnel – almost notating where the light is coming from as it seeps through the less dense part of the sponge. Instead of the shrimp being this little dingy thing enclosed in this space, the lighting – of different shades and colors – creates this conflict of sorts that I am imagining for this little shrimp: that he is stuck here and needs to get out, but can only do so by following the light. I love how the composition of this photo allows for me to imagine and create a story. It is not just a picture that is taken and speaks all to itself.

- Jennifer A.