Aaron Siskind

whats beautiful of a subjects texture.

For this set i decided to make some changes from the previous ones. Instead of the beauty, i will be focusing on the texture of subjects more. Most of the time, people will not pay much attention to the texture of the subject around them,  but paying more attention to the value and shape etc.  However, by looking at my photography, I want my audience to feel the importance of the texture and realize the beauty of it. By the process of taking these photo, i will develop my photoshopping skills and photography skills.  By achieving these goal, i will focus on taking pictures of a specific type of texture of a single subject.  Therefore, unlike the photos that includes fancy value or shape, i will make my photo conclude less value by showing only 2-3 colours. By doing this, it allows my audience to focus more on the texture of the subject instead of other characteristics. This was design for the audience to realize that texture also has a beauty inside even though there arent any decorating colours added. I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs that shows a specific texture of a single subject. It will be better if there arent any fancy colour but just some simple uses.

 

 

 

black and white – all of these photos are took in a black and white value.

texture – all the photos above shows a similar texture of subjects

all the texture are not shaped as a real thing but randomly and cant tell what it is

all the pictures included a lots of abstraction techniques.

all the photos included lines, value and shape.

In picture 1 and picture 4, they all showed some broken pieces of walls. These broken pieces are shaped randomly, there is not a specific subject that can represent these shape but let the audience interpret themself.

In picture 5, it shows a ground where there are some stairs. These stairs are all in straight line and are all positioned equally. However in picture7, which shows some broken part of a wall, I discovered that there are also some lines presented.  However these lines are curved, and they are not equally spread but randomly positioned.

 

7

•Why did you choose this image in particular?

The reason why i chose this image in particular is because this image has included plentiful of elements, and it is every unique. This picture show above shows some pattern on a wall, and this pattern is most likely due to the old skin of the wall falling off. This phenomenon has created a special effect on the picture because the pattern shown is really interesting and shows the use of shape in abstraction.

•What do you find surprising or unusual about this photograph?

The things i found surprising or unusual about this photograph is how did this picture originated. As i mentioned above, the shape in the picture is highly possible due to the falling of old skin on the wall. This has created a special effect since the contrast between the wall and the shape is really strong. On the back, there are some curve lines shown. These lines are repeated, but as it gets lower the lines started to get blurry. The wall is also in a dark colour/ value, which makes a big contrast to the light value in front, which is the shape. Also, the shape is randomly positioned and there is no pattern or repetition shown, therefore it created a contrast to the wall behind it since it contain repetition and was deliberately positioned.

•Look carefully and choose ONE of the Formal Elements that you think is important in the photograph (E.g. Focus, Light, Line, Repetition, Shape, Texture, Value/Tone).

shape

•Describe why you think it is important (2 or 3 sentences)

I think the use of shape is important in this photography is because this picture is mainly build up of shapes. For instance, you can see that in front, there is a shape where it is randomly position and no pattern or deliberate message is being sent. However, the shape behind ( on the wall) is mostly following a pattern separated by lines, which created a big contrast between the random positioned and the one that are repeated.

•In what ways are your chosen artist’s photographs abstract?

My chosen artist’s photographs are abstract because he used a lot of element inside his work. For instance, in picture 7, he used shape as its main subject. However, this shape has not deliberately sent a specific message but allows the audience to interpret it themself. Furthermore, in picture 5, there is also the use of repetition. The blocks were separated identically and the gaps between them are also equal, as they are being repeated, the use of repetition is shown. In picture 1, there is also a present of value. On the back, the colour/ value is mostly dark colour. However, in front, the use of colour is mainly light colour. The use of colour created a big contrast between the two shape and allows the audience to interpret more using their own thought.

•What do you like about the style? Be specific and explain your answer.

I really like how most of his photographs focuses on those falling pieces on a wall. This is because this has perfectly related to my vision. In my vision, i pointed out that my main purpose was to let my audience feel the beauty within a texture, and the shape on the wall has expressed my feeling. Walls are not always being noticed by people around them, however, by presenting these photos, Aaron Siskind allowed his audience to pay attentions to the texture of the walls.

•How will you adapt this style to your own photography? How does the image/artist inspire YOU?

I will adapt this style to my own photography by focusing on the same topic but using different subjects. In Aaron Siskind’s work, he mostly payed his attention to the wall and took pictures of the shapes on the wall. However, for my photography, i will keep the same concept but change the different subject. Instead of focusing on walls, i will mostly focus on things that are around us but always not being noticed. For instance, curtain, floor etc. The image inspired me by letting me realize to pay more attention to the texture around us instead of focusing on more fancy looking subjects.

These photos are all various to each other. By the process of taking these photos, I have developed my photo editing skills and my photo taking skills. I’ve went to various places to take these photos and i’ve spend a lot of time. However, due to the pandemic that is currently going on, most of my pictures were token in the campus. These pictures were inspired by Aaron Siskind, his work were mainly focuses on the texture around a single subject. By taking the photos above, ive tried my best to use the similar technique.

 

 

 

 

  1. This photograph u sos textures and light to represent the subject. The yellowish light hits from the loft of the imago and therefore highlights the right features of the image. The whole picture creates a texture of fluffy and mossy feeling, this
    texture is created by the shadows as mentioned before, because these shadows can high light the shapes that stuck out.
  2. This photograph uses lines and shapes to represent the subject. The whole picture contains many thin straight lines in the middle of the grip, and on the edges, there are thick curved lines that seem looser compared to the straight lines that are sometimes crossed other by each other. The shapes used in this image are circled based, on both the right and left sides of the image. The background color is a brownish-yellow that emphasizes the color of the lines more, which is a brown that is darker.
  3. This photograph uses lines, colors, and textures to represent the beauty of the subject. This image contains short thin and small lines that are in the color gray and black, it then contrasts with the background color of white. This is because the white color takes the majority of attention in this image, so adding little short dark lines adds the spice to this image and also creates a texture of the surface being rough.
  4. The subject is a fabric the color black and white. I contains a variety of black shapes within the white fabric, these shapes are sometimes normal but sometimes curved, to create the texture of the fabric The texture is also portrayed through the light and values of this image, specifically the black shadows on the fabric, spreading from the middle to the edges, from this the audience can infer that this image was taken on a flat surface. The background of this image is half in black and the other half in gray, this can also be taken as a hint to the audience that this fabric is laying on a flat surface since there is a gray surface
    underneath it.
  5. Within this photograph, it utilizes shadows to establish a concave and convex texture. It also uses the color dark gray and light gray to better portray the texture of the subject which is the curtains The image is taken at a straight angle from a person’s point of view, and there is a ray of light shooting from the right of this image, which creates a contrast between the dark shadow on the left. This image also includes the same patterns of straight lines, and the highlights beside each straight line make it form a texture.
  6. This photograph reveals the diversity of shapes and space, by adding a variety of shapes within the image. In this photograph, the shapes are sometimes spread out but sometimes closed together, especially in the top left corner the shapes are closed together. This creates a sense of messy, yet not messy organization of the different shapes. The shapes are in different formats, but in general, the shapes are triangular shape.
  7. This photograph uses shapes and colors and also lines to form the image. The shapes used are not normal shapes, it splits in the middle and forms a straight thick line and there is also a shadow that creates a shape on the top right corner of the image. There are also lines that cross over the shapes which forms an interesting feeling for the audience. The colors used are gray and dark gray blending throughout the shape that creates another contrast with the background color white.

 

5

This image is inspired by the work of Aaron Siskind. He has been called an abstract photographer and, indeed, many of his photographs feature subjects that are not easily identifiable at the first sight. His photographies also include many patterns, which is where I took the most inspiration from. In his masterpiece, he uses black and white for his photographs to present and highlight the subject more and not let the viewers focus on the details. But I chose to leave the colors just the way they are, because my topic is “whats beautiful of a subject’s texture”, and I think if you want to highlight texture, then the subject itself is very important, and the natural colors it has also represents the beauty of the subject. In this picture, I specifically want to portray the natural patterns and texture of a subject because mostly if you include patterns, viewers will like to watch it because your brain likes to look at patterns. In this picture, the straight lines of the curtain makes the whole image more eye catching because all the lines form the pattern. I also chose the curtains as the subject because it appears in your daily life, but often it gets ignored and through this picture, I can portray the satisfaction of the pictures elements.

7

I was motivated by Aaron Siskind to take this picture.  This photo is linked to the his work since i’ve also included similar techniques but various subject. In this picture, i’ve emphasized shape, value and texture to achieve the goal of imitating his work. In his photograph, he used the shape that’s been caused by the falling pieces from wall as its main subject. Whereas in my work, i used the shade and original paint as my subject. The texture of this picture is also similar to his, in his work, the texture are all rough, in my work, it is mostly tiny not smooth area that are usually found in the walls. The use of value has also contributed to the picture, in front, the colour of the shape is coloured in dark colours, whereas in the back, the colour are mostly light colours. This is a reference to Aaron Siskind’s work, whereas in his work, he did it reversely. His dark colours were at the back and the light colours were in front.

4

 

This picture was motivated by the work of Aaron Siskind. In his masterpieces, he highlighted the colour use of black and white, whereas in my photography, i decided to not follow the same but add the colour red. His pictures are usually structured as a subject in front of a wall, therefore, i planned to imitate his idea and i took a picture of this fabric cloth positioned in front of this sofa. In his photo, the use of values are usually dark colour in front of light colours and allow them to create a contrast. However, in my picture, i decided to keep the idea but put black and white in front of a light colour red. This has also contributed to the image by creating the same contrast as the work of Aaron Siskind. Furthermore, I’ve also kept the repetition pattern from his image. But in his image, the repetition are usually shown on the back or on its own, whereas in my image, the repetition is in front and there is just a blank red on the bakc