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Crosier Brother Jim Lewandowski

On Tuesday, I went to Sacred Heart Parish to meet with Crosier Brother Jim Lewandowski about immigration services his order is offering the community.

We spoke for a long time, and afterward I took this portrait photo of him. I wanted to capture the smallness of his working area, but I think that might be hard to see. He works in a trailer, basically, that can’t be more than 10 feet wide. He shares the trailer with the parish St. Vincent de Paul chapter and he meets with families looking to become legal residents, immigrate family members or become U.S. citizens. He meets them at all hours by appointment. He even meets with family members in prison.

As far as the portrait goes, I tried to utilize the “rule of thirds.” To understand this rule, you divide the photograph up by thirds, both horizontally and vertically. You want to shoot your photo so that your point of emphasis is on one of the crossings or intersections of the “thirds.” Each photo will have four such intersections.

Photo in thirds

As you can see, I missed. His nose lines up on a cross section instead of his eye. But you get the idea. The focal point is still his face.

Another thing to note in the photo is convergence. If you look at the “lines” created by the window and blinds, they point into the photo and toward Bro. Jim. That’s good. Also, his face, lit by the sun (I propped the door open) is a “point of entry.” Points of entry are usually lighter parts of the photo, points that the eye is naturally drawn to. Another point of entry could be the lap, but that’s not good. It could be a competing “point of entry.”

You’re not meant to let the reader or viewer of the photo decide where to look. You tell them using these kind of techniques. (Also, for some reason we (human beings) tend to like the subject off center, according to studies. We also like horizontal photos more than vertical. Our eyes are next to each other, not on top of each other, so horizontal photos “match” our eyes.)

Bro. Jim also takes up about a third of the photo, with two-thirds of the photo being the background. That’s meant to make for strong photographs (though I wasn’t conscious of this while taking the photo).

Golden rectangle

I don’t know how to draw a fibonacci spiral, but I’d be interested to see how that lines up with this photo. I tried mapping the golden rectangle on it in this photo here, which is related to the fibonacci spiral (basically the same thing), but I’m not sure how effective it is as far as photo technique. I’m not at a stage where I can actually use the spiral when composing photographs. I stick more with the rule of thirds and convergence and occasionally the point of entry.

Another problem with this photo is that the green of the lamp stands out and competes with Bro. Jim. I might flash the photo in front of you for a couple seconds and then ask you what you saw.

“A green lamp, that’s for sure.” It sticks out because the rest of the colors are muted. But I don’t want your attention there. I want it on my subject, Bro. Jim.

Anyway, portraits aren’t usually our favorite kinds of photos at The Catholic Sun. We take them when appropriate. The ideal photo for this story, which will be about the services Bro. Jim offers to the immigrant community, would be of him meeting with a family, or even a portrait of a family. That’s where the real story is. The story isn’t so much that Bro. Jim offers these services but why he offers them — the immigrant families.

Portrait of immigrant family

For obvious reasons, the families are usually reluctant to let a journalist take their photo. They’re often here illegally and don’t want 117,000 copies of their face circulating around the state. All the same, in those occasions when the immigrants do come forward and put their face to their story, it’s usually a big payoff. Better photos, better story, and it makes it easier to recognize their human dignity. But it can come at a cost to them.