Physical Mind Map

Statement of Intent

I’m into pure, brisk frames, and I want to use colors and lights to create a sense of innocent happiness, giving the audience a relaxing and satisfying mood, just like Uta Barth’s photographs. The message I wanted to express is to always find the beauty in our daily life and contain a positive attitude towards life.

Set 1 – Artist research and analyze

Matthieu Venot

Matthieu Venot is a male French photographer who often uses a bright Macaron color scheme and shapes from architecture for his photographs. His photo expresses a sense of comfort and satisfaction through the precise shapes and relaxing combination of colors.   As he says, the pastel color of his photos is a way to express positivity and his optimism as a person.

Photograph Gallery

Characteristics: Tone, composition, shapes, patterns, lines.

Shapes, patterns, and lines are elements that we can find in architecture; Matthieu Venot used these elements wisely by balancing compositions with the architecture and the beauty of the sky. Tone, which is the dreamy pastel color in his photograph, is the most vital element he wanted to stand out, which expressed his pleasant emotions to the audience.

Why have you chosen this photographer?

I chose this photographer because the tone of his photographs really motivated my positive emotions; it reminds me of my pure happiness in childhood. In addition, I’m impressed by his usage of architecture, and this is something I want to learn from him.

Quotation

“The choice of pastel colors is a way of transmitting, through my photos, my own personal optimism.”

Analyzation

This is my favorite work of Matthieu Venot. I wasn’t impressed when I first saw this photograph, but then I realized how stupendous the usage of techniques is, especially the combination of colors. Blue and yellow are colors that are supposed to be sharp and contrasting warm and cold color combinations, but the high saturation and brightness have softened their combined ratio and made the whole frame relaxing and smooth. The high purity of turquoise is the most eye-catching part of the photograph; this made the audience’s attention dragged to the right bottom half of the frame and creates clear focus. The simple and obvious lines and shapes are the elements that make this photo abstract. The shapes are all parallel, which makes the photo more comfortable and softer. Matthieu Venot’s photographs often express a sense of pure happiness through high-saturation macaron colors. The emotion is always positive and brisk, dragging the audience into his world of utopia.

Statement of intent – version 2

My vision is to express a brisk sense of utopia.

I will take photos in the style of Matthieu Venot.

I am particularly inspired by Matthieu Venot’s “Prism” series and will try to take pictures that express brisk and pure happiness through colors and shapes.

Set 1

These photos were inspired by  Matthieu Venot’s Prism and DÉCO series; I tried to express the sense of innocence and charm with high saturation colors and a simple, clean frame. In order to get the bright, plain colors, I increase the sensitivity towards light of the camera, also I tried to find places with enough light resource.

In this triptych, I used pure sky blue as the tone for expressing positivity and optimism. Furthermore, I chose the playground equipment as the primary focus because it reminds me of my naive childhood, which echoes my vision and theme, to express a sense of pure happiness. The complementary blue and yellow colors in the second photograph are inspired by my favorite photo of  Matthieu Venot, Untitled II, DÉCO. The bright lemon color dragged the audience’s attention and gave the whole triptych an eye-catching spot. In addition, I tried to capture simple shapes to make the frames abstract and concise at the same time, such as circles and squares, which appear in Matthieu Venot’s photography frequently.

On the other hand, I found the limitation of the environment have been a challenge. According to my living environment, it’s hard to find an architecture that contains bright colors, or a perfect air quality in order to capture blue skies.  I would keep on searching subtle brightness and make better Matthieu Venot style triptych.

Set 2 – Artist research and analyze

Agnes Mezosi

Agnes Mezosi is a female photographer who creates a concise frame using colorless lines and shapes. She often captures objects in daily life and find the beauty of shapes in these objects. Her series of black and white photographs express a sense of depth by using geometry and shadows, impressing and fascinating.

Photograph Gallery

Characteristics: Shapes, lines, patterns, contrast

Shapes and lines are the elements that we often find in Agnes Mezosi’s photographs. She used the advantage of black and white to create a sharp contrast between objects, and she uses shadows frequently to create depth and patterns in the frame. The plain shapes made the frame concise and abundant at the same time.

Why have you chosen this photographer?

I chose Agnes Mezosi because I am attracted to her usage of shadows and lines, and the style of colorless tone, which is completely different than the set 1 photographer I had analyzed. I wanted to do a different style of abstraction than the previous project I did, to explore and challenge myself.

Quotation

“In addition to the abstract, my style is even constructivism and minimalism. I love the simplicity and my pictures reflect that too. An artwork always presents its creator. The subjects of my photos are buildings and objects, sometimes with people on it as compositional elements. I don’t like to show too much in my pictures, just the point is on.”

Analyzation 

This is my favourite photograph of Agnes Mezosi, where the depth of the shadows and lines attracted me. It’s really impressive to find out that the objects in this photographs are papers, things we find in our daily life. The contrast between shadows and the bright areas dragged the audience’s into the photo. The raindrop shapes made the frame abundant, at the same time the simple lines made this photograph concise. Just as Agnes Mezosi said, the primary thing she wanted to show are constructivism and minimalism.

Set 2 Final

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Evaluation

In this triptych, I focused on only one element to express minimalism, lines. I tried to find multiple and lines with different combination, composition and depth.

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3

4

5

6

7

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9

10

11

12

Compare your images with the drawings. Which ones worked and why?

Numbers 4, 5, and 11 worked the best. Because lines are a common element in our causal life, it’s easy to factor out the effect we want.

Which ones didn’t work so well, and why?

Number 7 didn’t work well because filling the frame nicely with the crossed line element is tricky.

What is abstract photography?

Abstract photography is a way to express strong emotions and motivate the audience with ambiguous objects and exaggerated techniques. It usually contains images created using photography materials and equipment that don’t have an immediate association with the physical world.

Definition of abstraction

What is the Pictorialism Movement in photography?

Pictorialism was a movement that thrived between 1885 and 1915 and denied the claims that a photograph was nothing more than a simple copy and documentation of reality. This is where photographers started expressing their emotions and philosophy in photos.

What was the straight photography movement in photography? Why was it popular amongst photographers?

Straight photography movement is a term for photographs that are not manipulated whether digitally or physically. It was popular amongst photographers because it’s a pure documentation of the most truthful reality while are able to use abstract techniques.

How has Aaron Siskind been influenced by the Straight Photography Movement?

Aaron Siskind’s photo contain strong textures and clear matters, it directly express the most truthful and objective beauty of the reality.

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

Andreas Gursky’s photograph is abstract from its warm tone, strong shapes and obvious patterns. Uta Barth’s photograph is also abstract from its loss of focus, the ambiguity of matters. They are both straight photographers because they are not manipulated whether digitally or physically.

Formal Elements

Explain what the phrase Formal Elements means in photography.

Formal elements are line, shape, pattern, texture, tone, and focus. Each of the elements gives different effects and emotions; for example, a cold tone provides the photo with mystery and sadness.

Describe each of the 6 elements.

Lines are the visual guide of the photo, it leads the audience’s attention. Shapes are able to enrich the frame. Patterns can balance the frame. Textures could make the audience “feel” the photo and motivate senses other than visuals. Tones are the colors and emotions of the photo, the expression of the photographer. Focus creates depth and gradation; it is the unclear and blurs of the object.

Give an example that emphasizes each element.

Can an image show just one element at a time? Justify your answer.

This is an example of a pure line element.

Paul Strand, Abstraction, Twin Lakes, Connecticut’

3 things the photographer might have been interested in capturing in this picture.

Shapes, tones, and patterns.

If you were the photographer, what title would you give it? Explain why.

If I were the photographer, I would title it “The Noon” because of the warm tone and the contrast between the shadows and the light.

Name one thing you think is unusual about the photograph.

The unusual part of this photograph is the ambiguous main object. The photographer chose to take an extreme close-up shot of an object and leave only a particular part of the object.

Describe the use of line, shape, Pattern, texture, tone, and focus.

The photograph’s warm, soft tone gives the audience a relaxing and satisfying emotion. This photograph has multiple shapes, the central oval that fills the biggest space in the frame and the cuboid at the back. The patterns are the rectangular shadows on the oval, balanced by the shadows on the wall.

The best thing about this photograph is.

The best part of this photograph is the rectangular shadows and light; it balances the whole frame.