Category: Abstraction

COLOR-CODED LABELS

BLUE PHOTOS (satisfied)

The photos marked blue are the photos that are outstanding, overall, they not only fit my desired vision but also showed my point of view to these everyday objects as a photographer. These photos are mostly telegraph poles, I chose to focus on them as one of the main objectives in a few photos; mainly because they included elements of abstract photography, such as alignments and lines, also because I am able to spot a few of them every day when I’m on my way to school.

Telegraph poles are clear in alignments but the stricter is complicated, this fits my vision of taking industrialized constructions, although I wasn’t able to capture anything like that however constructions like telegraph poles, pine trees, glass cups, street lights also inspired me.

When trying to take pictures of telegraph poles, it was important to be able to capture their actual structure, I struggled on how to make those telegraph poles look more three dimensional

For example, the glass cups, since my color tone is based on one black and white filter, I realized how I was able to capture the glossy texture of the cups, and whenever I convert the pictures into black and white, the glossy reflection will always create the brightest part of the photo, and that is exactly what I needed when it comes to black and white photos, because the dark, pail color tone, a beam of white light on objects is like the finishing touches to my photos.

GREEN PHOTOS (More satisfied)

The green photos are mostly marked because they are a set of photos I captured in the CBD area. I was able to capture these photos in different positions. Viewing the building in different visions, and moving my camera around the area to capture different angles. I was hoping to show the difference in one building between day and night. I achieved this goal by focusing on the changes in the street lights ( turned on/off )

In this photo, the street light of one corner of the CCTV tower is on (7:45pm)

In this photo, the street lights are about to turn on but it was before sunset.

Day light- Polluted day

Overall, my photos were able to fit my vision and there had been some great outcomes, I am very satisfied with these pictures and had learned many photography techniques.

MOST SATISFIED

PHOTO 1

This photo is divided into two parts. The first part is the white circle that can be clearly seen. That is a lamp. This is the decoration of the lobby of the J Hotel Beijing.

The white aperture is highlighted by the black and white filter. Although it is hard to tell that the aperture is a lamp, due to the contrast between black and white, the hanging decoration in the background contrasts with the lamp. The remarkable detail is that the decorations that hang from the ceiling are made of plastic sheets, and not only do they radian but I also noticed that each individual decoration is made up of two different colored plastic sheets. One plastic sheet is darker, one is whiter. So when I turned my photos into black and white, the color difference between the plastic sheets showed up

PHOTO 2

Because my photos are in black and white, I noticed that there are many different shades of “black”and “white” when it comes to taking pictures. Because objects have their original colors, and they might all have different colors, therefore when I convert them with a black and white filter, they still form different tones. This photo is also made up of two objects, one is the three cans/bottles placed in the center of the picture. The other is three heat lamps around the jar.

Looking at the original picture of the photo, I thought it was ordinary at first because both the bottles and the lamp formed the same color tone. There was no contrast in the picture, so the whole picture did not look very prominent. I didn’t even know what the focus of the picture was until I made it black and white.

I carefully observed the shapes and lines of the objects in the pictures, and found that some of their shapes were blunt and round, without edges and corners, and smooth（The cans）

And some are very square in shape, with clear edges and lines, cut color contrast is also obvious.

The light emanating from the heat lamp is the brightest white-ish color in the photo, compared to the heat lamp itself, which is a black square. My favorite part is the reflection on the table, I didn’t notice the looming shadow when I looked at the original image, but when I turned the photo into black and white, my attention was immediately dragged on to the reflection of the heat lamp‘s wire fence!  Now that in this photo, I observed so many abstract elements.

PHOTO 3

In this group of photos, I took a lot of structured photos near Guomao. This photo is the one I am most satisfied with, I did not repeat the previous shooting Angle, I changed the camera position. In the other photos, I focused on the skyscrapers. In this photo, I went to the residential area in the back and took the Guomao Building in the crack. And a lot of companies live in those buildings, so I was able to zoom in and get a picture of each window with a different pattern of curtains, which was really interesting.

When we look at the building in the back, we can see that I took the photo in the afternoon when the sun is setting, and the reflection of the sun on the glass immediately becomes the brightest color in my photo. The entire outer space of the building looks smooth, with a uniform pattern of glass

Guomao Tower became my background this time. Although it was blocked by other apartment buildings at the bottom of the layer, its strange structure and material were not blurred, but still clear and sharp. This makes the comparison of the three buildings in my photo. The building on the right has a deep stroke, while the building on the left looks soft. Because of the halo, the Guomao building still looks very clear at the back.

 

 

NUMBER 1-

EXAMPLE 1: this is a wall in my house, the different textures on the door’s border creates the structure of picture number 1.

EXAMPLE 2: this is the floor of my bathroom.

EXAMPLE 3: this picture is the bottom of the design lab door, the texture of metal/iron and wood contrasts, one seems smooth and hard, one looks patterned and uneven.

EXAMPLE 4: this is the school wall, I love this picture because the colors are out school color.

EXAMPLE 5: This is actually a corner of the wall, it’s a turning point, but in this photo I took, it looks more like a 2-dimensional surface.

 

EXAMPLE 6: this was actually a random shot in our film classroom, but the tone of the light creates the structure.

NUMBER 2-

EXAMPLE 1: this is the floor in a hallway, the reflection of a square shaped LED light created the a unexpecting image.

EXAMPLE 2: this is an on/off control/switch in my bedroom doorway, at first I was worried if the half-shaded part was going to affect the picture’s quality, but however, it turned out okay.

NUMBER 3-

EXAMPLE 1: these is the printed patterns in one of the curtains of the room.

NUMBER 4-

EXAMPLE 1: This is the vanitation pipe on the ceiling of my room.

EXAMPLE 1: this picture I took in my dining room, I was laying on the table, trying to picture the perfect circle. I really liked how the lightbulbs created a fading circle of light.

 

This is a wardrobe in the storage room, the lines (texture of the surface) are very unique, the alignments are similar to the one in the example picture.

Mattress and holes on the football field creates little holes, these dots form the style of polka dots, this element of dots is a very element in pop art. We can find it printed on everyday objects

EXAMPLE 1: This is the football goals net, I identified squared shapes on it, this is one point of view (looking up to the sky)

EXAMPLE 2: This is also the football goal, but it is taken from the view of top of the net to the ground.

EXAMPLE 1: This bag, I believe it’s used for keep food fresh, the pattern on this bag surface creates lines.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Returned from the 798 photography trips,

the photos I took were sorted into 3 categories, blue, green, and red.

• The Blue Set (Satisfied)
• of photos demonstrated the quality of the images that I was aiming to reach. The photographer I chose, who inspired me with many ideas and inspirations. Albert Renger-Patzsch inspired me to focus on glassware, such as cocktail cups and wine cups. 
• I also focused on the color tone of the pictures; for 2/3 of the photos I took, I filtered them into black-and-white images, which strongly contrasts the object and its texture.

 

• The Green Set ( More Satisfied ) 
  • The photos being marked with green are the ones I personally think represent my style of taking pictures. I like to focus on objects that have textures of iron/metal, as we can see, a great number of my photos have the objective of either iron-made statues, locks, and even wire.

• • Many of the blue and green photos I took were focusing on tube-shaped objects, for example, pipes and iron pillars. Because I discovered much construction-liked artwork in the 798 districts. The sky was incredibly blue that day, I figured that if I take pictures under the sunlight, the spaces between the object and the sky create a very clean, blue background.

 

• The Red Set (Most Satisfied)

This picture is taken in a tunnel, the location of the pipes is near the exit (doorway), there is a very gentle fade of sunlight in the very left of this photo, it is actually the sunlight fading in the door.

The contrast of the colors red & blue strongly emphasized the structure of this lined pipe. Because I took this picture with my camera, the high quality of  this picture allows the rusty texture

This picture is taken at the main square in 798, when I walked my way over to UUCA, I spotted this statue. I couldn’t tell what the statue is, it seemed like shells and corals. However, it was noon, and the sun is shining right above my head, so I focused the lens on the statue and a beam of light. When the light hit the top of the statue, the iron formed red-ish

The branches are formed in a very abstract way, the same element of sunlight appeared in this photo, and the beam of light made this photo look hazy. The sky was light blue (light color) and the branches are dark brown (darker) makes a great contrast. These branches are not in geometrical shapes, therefore it makes the photo look abstract. This photo matches with the other two red photos because I took this photo at noon, and the color of the sky faded from dark blue in the morning to this light blue ( afternoon).

 

 

 

 

Phases of Everyday Objects

I chose to focus on taking pictures of everyday objects because I want my audience to see the different phases of objects that we see in our everyday life. I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs that show objects from different perspectives. Such as glassware and statues. I will develop my vision throughout my life, I will be taking photos as I discover more in my house, in school, and maybe even in other places. I will be working on finding soft tones in photos, and sunlight will be a very important element that I will be trying to capture.

Three things Paul Strand might have been interested in when he was capturing this picture:

1. The shadow reflected on the table (the object)
2. The texture of the table, it may be marble or groitte, it looks very smooth.
3. The tones, the colors of the shadow and the table are black and white, they match.

If I was the photographer, I would give this photo the title of

“ Shadow on a Table in the Corner of the Wall”

Because my title basically described everything that I observed in the photo, I guessed that the grey surface behind the table is a wall, and it looks like the table in angled at a position where it is at the corner of a room. The shadow is really outstanding, so I think my title is descriptive.

I think the objective of the photo (the table) is not as outstanding as the other elements in the photo, intact the reflection (shadow) is the first thing that grabbed my attention. I think is it a unusual point because usually we spot the objective of a photo first sight.

The texture of the table seemed smooth and sandy, I’m guessing it is a table made out of rocks or marble, I think I can feel the dull polished texture just by looking at it. The texture of the wall is also smooth, it may be constructed out of wood.

Lines also showed up in this picture, the reflected shadow seemed like a reflection of balustrade/railing. There are also shapes such as rectangular and triangular shapes carved in the shadow.

The tone of this photograph is blurry and dusty, the whole photo seems “grey-ish”.

The focus is pretty clear to see, the table contrasts with the background wall.

I like the whole tinge color style (grey, white), it makes me feel comfy.

How can photography change our relationship to things?

• Abstract photography changes our relationships to things because it allows us to view objects differently, we are able to capture things from different perspectives.
• Abstract photography also leads us to think outside of the box.

What is pictorialism?

• My understanding of pictorialism is when it allows photographers to take pictures that express their own style of photography. Some of them break the traditional “rules”.
• Pictorialism, an approach to photography that emphasizes beauty of subject matter, tonality, and composition rather than the documentation of reality. 

(Cite: Britiannica-Graphic Art-Pictorialism

• https://www.britannica.com/technology/Pictorialism)

What is abstract photography?

Abstract photography can be defined in many different ways. It may be non-objective, it may break some of the traditional “rules” used in common photographs. For example, it may be out of focus or blurry. There aren’t frames that we usually use when taking photos in Abstract photography. Different than the pictures taken with margins or alinements, abstract photography grant us to view objects with more emotions and it also empowers us to think bigger and deeper.

Write a (very) short biography of Albert Renger-Patzsch (just 1 or 2 sentences).

Albert Renger-Patzsch, a German Photographer, was born on the 22nd of June in 1897. He started to make photographs at the age of 12, and he was one of the representatives during the New Objectivity.  Renger-Patzsch believed that the

• value of photography was in its ability to reproduce the texture of reality,
• represent the essence of an object.

(Cite: Wikipedia-Albert Renger-Patzsch)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albert_Renger-Patzsch

From looking at his images above, What types of subjects do you think Albert Renger-Patzsch preferred to photograph?

I think he preferred to focus on alignments in shapes, and most of the objects has patterns on their surface, structure, and even reflections (shadow).

Why do you think he entitled his famous book, ‘The World is Beautiful’?

The photographs included in the books are objects we see in our everyday life, such as glass wears, plants and animals, buildings, and places such as roads and forests. I think the reason why he entitled his famous book ’The World is Beautiful’ was because he exhibited his own point of view on many different objects. Maybe we haven’t paid much or any attention to these ordinary objects, but they are pieces of our world, their existence makes up our beautiful world. In conclusion, he gave the book with this title.

Why do you think Edward Weston moved away from the soft-focus of pictorialism to the new Straight photography movement? – the idea that ordinary objects and scenes can be photographed to reveal their beauty

I think Edward Weston may want to emphasize his object more, comparing to the pictorialism style he used, straight photography allowed his photographs to be taken with more realistic details, and I guess that maybe as cameras update their capability of capturing

Give examples of one of his pictorialist images and one of his straight images.

STRAIGHT PHOTOGRAPHY example of Edward Weston

PICOTORIALISM example of Edward Weston

 

(both sources from MOMA-Edward Weston)

https://www.moma.org/collection/works/47745 

9. How has Aaron Siskind (above been influenced by the Straight Photography Movement

Based on the timeline of styles in photography, I assume the reason why Aaron Siskind was influenced by straight photography is that it became trendy. Straight photography captures pictures with higher quality, that might be one reason why photographers were influenced by this style.

10. Name some other photographers that have been influenced by straight photography

• Bernice Abbot, many of her most famous photographs are categorized as straight photography, for example, pictures of buildings in New York City (Architecture).

(Britannica-Bernice Abbott)

 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Berenice-Abbott

11. What makes the work of Andreas Gursky and Uta Barth abstract. Are they straight photographers? Why?

Andrea Gursky’s photos have packed objects, the objects are close together (exp: seats, windows, packages, etc.) Gursky focused on taking pictures with extreme long shots, instead of close-ups, that showed contract to many abstract photographers. However, I think he is a straight photographer, because his pictures are rich with details, and it shows us a wide landscape of the world in different scenes.

Uta Barth focused more on the lighting aspect, in many of her photographs, sunlight was included. She also took sets of photos, each including one out-of-focus photo, and a focused photo of the same object/scene. Each set has the same objective, but each photo has differences in its lighting, angle, and sometimes she adds filters to it.

“Abstract photography can be defined as capturing images in which the subject isn’t the most interesting element”?

I think it means that abstract photography doesn’t need to be fully objective, it can be non-objective. In which the subject isn’t the most interesting ones to take photos on, but if we take the photos in different perspectives, which creates abstract photographs. Other than the object itself, the lighting, the background, the filter are all able to create absract photos.