Gabrielle Aquadro

Gabrielle Aquadro is a South African photographer, as well as an Architect and Artist. She is passionate about photography and usually travels to different places to capture her favorite structures. The six photographs above were from various series of her work. Aquadro’s photography motto is to always “look beyond the obvious.” This means that she always captures moments that abstract well known structures. In addition, she likes to remove the texture in the background to avoid the minor details obscuring the main focus. For instance, the sky in the six pictures above is clear blue or nearly white with no texture. Moreover, by capturing the colors in structures, Aquadro captured photos with a dream-like sense, catching the viewer’s eyes at first sight.

Analysis of the photograph

Visual

Initially, the photograph is focused on the birds on the wire and the building behind. The picture was captured in the day with a harsh light. The light came from the right and illuminated the right side of the building. The lines in the image are mostly straight, vertical lines created by the outlines of the building; however, the wire in the foreground generated a horizontal line, which interrupted the pattern but created an interesting appeal. The buildings in the photo appear in rectangular shapes, and the tall building appears in three-dimensional since two of its sides are captured. This produced a depth of field in the photo, making multiple layers in the picture. Furthermore, the depth in the image is also created by the composition. The foreground—birds on the wire, midground—the building, and background—the sky—generated a depth in the picture. The foreground adds a sense of energy to the photograph since it implies the movement of the birds—landing on the wire, jumping on the wire, or flying away. The implied movement leaves viewers space to imagine the story behind the picture. Additionally, the negative space in the photo is the sky. As a characteristic of Aquadro’s works, the texture of the sky is removed intentionally to avoid the sky’s details obscuring the picture’s main focus. Meanwhile, although the use of various colors isn’t shown in this photo, the light colors in the picture convey a sense of cleanliness and calm to the viewers.

Technical

The type of lighting in the picture is daylight since it is captured during the day. The photo has a deep depth of field, and most of the objects are in focus, which suggests that it was taken with a smaller aperture. The picture is captured at a wide angle and has a higher shutter speed since there is no motion blur of the birds, and a higher shutter speed can prevent the picture from being overexposed. The photo is also captured with a higher white balance since it appears in a colder tone of color.

Conceptual

By looking ‘beyond the obvious,’ Aquadro captured moments that abstract well known structures. The novel idea of including the birds on the wire as a foreground in the image conveys a dream-like sense, making a reality unreal within a reality. The picture was taken at the Bird House, also known as The Johannesburg Family Court. The mix of foreground and background showcases the characteristics of the place—the pigeons surrounding the court—while capturing the charm of the buildings. The image combines the inanimate object with a living being, combining the stillness and motion in the same photograph, bringing a new concept and feeling to the viewers.

Conclusion

Gabrielle Aquadro’s works inspired me to explore the use of composition in my own photos. Different compositions can highlight different parts of the object and convey various feelings to the viewers. My vision of this topic is to explore the charism of architecture, and my aim for this set is to use different compositions to demonstrate my vision in my photographs. Slightly different from the first set, instead of focusing on the details in architecture, I want to capture the whole or part of an architecture in this set. I will apply this in Gabrielle Aquadro’s style.