Jeanette Hägglund

Jeanette Hägglund is a Swedish photographer. She works as a commercial photographer and has also experience with architecture photography. In her photos, she mainly focused on capturing the details of the structures and exploring new angles to show the charm of architecture. By taking a close look at the details of structure, Hägglund highlighted details we don’t usually pay attention to. Additionally, the use of vibrant colors in her photos catches viewers’ eyes at first sight. Highly saturated colors convey a sense of energy and often evoke positive feelings in the audience. The 7 pictures above are from three different series: “118 Viviendas,” “Muralla Roja,” and “Seoul.” Each series captured the characteristics of an architecture, an architectural complex, or a city. This fits with my vision because they mainly focused on the details, and by magnifying these details, the charism of structures.

Analysis of the photograph

Visual

This picture is focused on the irregularity of the windows of the buildings. The highlights and shadows of this image are created by the window’s reflection of the sky and other buildings around. The repetition of the windows creates a pattern in the image. The photo consists of many square shapes, and their irregular arrangement generates a depth of field in the picture. However, because the windows were arranged irregularly, it also created a sense of order accompanied by chaos. In addition, the separation of the light and dark color produced by the reflection forms a boundary line in the middle of the photograph. It divided the photo into two pieces—light blue (sky) and dark blue (building). Although the dark and light parts were separated,  the highlights and shadows blended in the middle of the picture due to the different angles of the window. The mix of light and dark blue creates a soft transition between the colors, which gives the audience a softer feeling rather than a sharper feeling. Moreover, the texture of the photo is very smooth since the material of the window is glass, which has a glossy surface. Hence, the audience can feel a sense of brightness and calm in this picture due to its unique texture.

Technical

The photograph is captured during the day, and thus, the type of lighting this image uses is daylight. This image used a smaller aperture to create a deeper depth of field since the image is mostly in focus. Additionally, the photograph has a slightly high white balance since it is taken in daylight, and it appears to be a colder color. Lastly, the image is taken with a shutter speed of about 125~250 since the object it is capturing is inanimate; however, the shutter speed has to be a bit higher to prevent overexposure due to daylight.

Conceptual

By capturing photos of architecture, the series Seoul shows people the new side of Seoul and its unique charm. Jeanette Hägglund’s unique use of pattern in her image Seoul 36 exhibits her ingenuity in photographing architecture. Instead of simply taking a picture of the architecture, which is boring, her use of pattern adds vivid imagery to the picture. Each of her series captures the different charms of different cities or places through architecture. Each city has its own unique feel. Hägglund communicates her emotions through photographs, and by looking at her work, the audience will experience the charm of the city from her photos in their own way.

Conclusion

Jeanette Hägglund’s work inspired me to look at patterns in architecture. Pattern creates order in an image, while the appearance of an architecture often has a repetitive design. My aim for this set is to explore the charism of architecture. Meanwhile, these details in an architecture design are the focus of my first set—what I wanted to capture, and the audience will find the beauty of architecture in my photos. Thus, I will pay more attention to capturing the patterns in the appearance of the building. I will apply this in Jeanette Hägglund’s style.