All Photos:

Yellow Selection:

Green Selection:

Red Selection:

I picked these photos as my final set because they visually look balanced and connected. Looking at the photos in order, it created a “V” shape. The close-up- and- black-and-white techniques made these photos abstract, which can trigger the audience’s curiosity and interpretations. It elicits curiosity because these images show uncommon and unclear elements; the viewers have to guess what all the shades are made from, which triggers their interest in finding the objects behind the scenes. Connecting to the photographer I picked, Aaron Siskind, I used similar techniques and elements in the compositions, for example, close-ups, shapes, and black and white. The photos don’t have a clear focal point or a main element to let the viewers focus on, and it’s all blurry, which adds on to the goal of triggering curiosity and interpretations. Furthermore, my vision was to remind people of simplicity and to elicit their curiosity. These photos show simple shapes of shadows with a balanced composition, which reached my goal. of being simple and making a contrast. Moreover, these photos are similar to the photo I picked from Aaron Siskind. Although it’s not 100% the same as his style, I think it’s a mix of my and his styles. To conclude, These are my three most successful photos for this set that can represent my vision and connect with the photographer I picked.

I eliminated photos from the green selection because they don’t have a good composition and it doesn’t match Aaron Siskind’s style. For example, in the last row of photos in the green selection, I eliminated them because they had too much blank space, and the composition was a bit too simple. The shapes in the photos were also too “normal,” like rectangles and triangles, which doesn’t fit Aaron Siskind’s style because he focused on capturing different shapes and unique objects. I also eliminated photos that were too blurry because Aaron Siskind captured clear shapes and made contrast; if the photo is too blurry, it cannot show a clear contrast between the shapes. Furthermore, I removed photos that created different emotions. For example, I deleted the photos that contained too many elements, which might distract the audience.

Similar with my set 1 vision, my vision is to remind people the simplicity that exists in the world, contrasting with the bustling and complex society. I will use inspirations from the style of Aarond Siskind, which focuses on capturing different shapes in daily life to make contrast, and using black and white filter. I am particularly inspired by the photo of using close- up shot and contrasting black and white using different shapes(no name), shown below. I will try to take pictures that make the audience feel a sense of simplicity; which allows them to step- out the complicated society. I also want to use the close- up technique to trigger their curiosity and let them make personal interpretations. I will also use black and white to evoke a timeless atmosphere effect.

Aaron Siskind was born in New York City on December 4, 1903, and died on February 8, 1991. He was an American photographer. He focused on the details of things, presented as flat surfaces to create a new image independent of the original subject. He was also involved with the abstract expressionist movement. Siskind used subject material from the real world, for example, close-up details of painted walls and graffiti, asphalt pavements, rocks, lava flows, dappled shadows, etc. He worked worldwide: Mexico, Rome, Westport, Vermont, and more. He also took photos of high contrast of shadows and light.

Elements in Photos:

• Shapes
• Lines
• Contrast
• Shadow and Light
• Close- up Shots

I picked Aaron Siskind as my inspiration photographer because he took photos that contained elements I wanted to capture. I like how he presents close-up shots of different shapes in his photos; his unique composition shows a sense of abstraction. The black and white in his photos helps the audience to focus on his shape compositions instead of being distracted by colors. I also like how his compositions are unique and have a different vision than the normal. Furthermore, his photos give me a feeling of simplicity and ease and will make me have my thoughts and curiosity. It relates to my message and intention by having similar elements and compositions.

Unlike Ray Metzker, my inspiration photographer for set one, Aaron Siskind took more photos of shapes. Ray Metzker captured the contrast between lines, and the composition was relatively balanced. However, Aaron Siskind preferred to capture close-up shots of different shapes to show the contrast between dark and light colors.

Aaron Siskind’s photographs are abstract because they make people interpret and trigger the viewers’ curiosity. I liked his composition style because I could not initially understand his photos; I had to look again to see what he was capturing. I also like how he experiments with different shapes and compositions in daily life to create abstraction. It is interesting how he uses monochrome, and it emphasizes the shapes in the image. His photos don’t have the common sense of “clean” or “balanced,” but it’s unique that he plays around with close-up shots. His photos elicit the viewers’ curiosity and let them make personal interpretations.

A famous quote from Aaron Siskind: “Photography is a way of feeling, of touching, of loving. What you have caught on film is captured forever… it remembers little things long after you have forgotten everything.” I like this quote because it really links to the photo I want to take and my favorite photo from Aaron Siskind (photo below). Sometimes, when we take abstract images, we won’t remember every detail of where we took the photo, the angle, or the light… However, we can remember the feelings and emotions when we look at it. People live their whole lives looking at many scenes and objects; Photography helps them capture the most interesting part and store it forever.

This is my favorite photo from Aaron Siskind because I think it has a unique perspective and composition. He uses different abstract shapes to make people curious and make interpretations. When I first look at this photo, I was rotating the photo to try to see what the photographer actually captured. Curiosity of viewers are created when they cannot identify the element in a photo, in this case, they will try to guess what all the shapes are made of. Also, the black and white color scheme made the photo more mysterious and made the audience focus. The black and white made the shapes contrast, and highlights the white shape in the middle.

The message conveyed through my triptych will be to remind people the simplicity that exists in the world. I will reveal this message by showing simple lines and shadows of architectures, using black and white color scheme. My aim is to elicit a sense of calm,  simplicity, and curiosity in the audience. The use of a black and white color scheme can evoke a timeless atmosphere and lessen the distraction of colors, letting the audience to focus on the main subject; It will also trigger curiosity and personal interpretations. I will get inspiration from works of photographers who explore black and white imagery, simple shapes, and using close- up shots.

All Photos:

Yellow Selection: 

Green Selection:

Red Selection: 

I picked these photos as my set because they visually look balanced and connected. Connecting to the photographer I picked, Ray Metzker, I used similar techniques and elements in the compositions, like focusing on capturing light and lines of architecture, daily life, and using black and white filters. Moreover, my vision is to remind people of the simplicity that exists in the world, contrasting with the bustling and complex society. These photos show simple lines, spaces, and shadows, which reached my goal of being simple and making a contrast. Furthermore, these photos are similar to the photo I picked from Ray Metzker as inspiration (the photo of shadow and light showing contrast). Viewers can elicit a sense of simplicity and trigger their curiosity with personal interpretations by looking at these photos. So, I believe these are my three most successful photos for this set that can represent my vision and connect with the photographer I picked.

My vision is to remind people the simplicity that exists in the world, contrasting with the bustling and complex society. I will use inspirations from the style of Ray Metzker, which focuses on capturing light and lines of architectures and daily life, and using black and white filter. I am particularly inspired by the photo of shadow and light showing contrast(no name), shown below. I will try to take pictures that make the audience feel calm and elicit a sense of simplicity; which allows them to step- out the complicated society. Also, try to use black and white to evoke a timeless atmosphere effect.

Elements in the photos:

• Black and white
• Lines
• Shadows creating contrast
• Examples of architectures
• People walking- by

I picked Ray Metzker as my inspiration photographer because he took photos that contained elements I want to capture. I like how he uses lines and shadows in his abstract photos, and how the filters are all black and white, which helps the audience to focus on the line compositions instead of distracted by the colors. I also like how his composition are clean and balanced which I can learn from. Moreover, his photos gives me a feeling of calm and simplicity, and the way he captured people made the mood of the photo peaceful. It relates to my message and intention by showing similar elements and compositions.

Famous quote from Ray Metzker: “I never wanted to make portraits – to photograph celebrities, beautiful people, beautiful landscapes, beautiful buildings, or people in distressing situations…. I have always been interested in everyman – average, ordinary people in everyday situations.” This quote helps me understand Ray Metzker’s work because it explains why he always take photos of daily life and find abstraction from ordinary objects. Moreover, this quote suits my vision because I want to find abstract from our daily life, and I agree that beauty isn’t just “beautiful” things.

This is one of my favorite photos from Ray Metzker because I think the composition is balanced, and it evokes a feeling of ease. Something special in this photo is how he used the leading line and the composition grid. The bright- patterned light made big contrast with the shadows, and it lead the viewer’s eyes from the bottom to the end(top) of the composition. The simple composition created a timeless atmosphere and the sense of space. I think one of the formal elements used in this photo is lines. The repetition of lines made the viewers feel interest and engage, it leads/ carry people’s eyes to look from one side to another.

Ray Metzker’s photographs are abstract because it makes people think and allows the viewers to have different interpretations. I like his style of experiencing different light and shadows and how he find abstract from daily life. I also like how he uses black and white in all his photos, but instead of thinking it’s boring monochrome, I find his work interesting using the color scheme; it made the image more clean and balanced. Ray Metzker’s photos inspired me by showing different ways to capture light, and how I can experiment different compositions. I also like how he plays around the exposure, using the same photo but changing it to different brightness can give the viewers different feelings.

Mind Map:

Statement of Intent:

The message conveyed through my triptych will be to remind people the simplicity that exists in the world, contrasting with the bustling and complex society. In our modern society, people often forget the simple and slow- paste way of living or thinking. I will reveal this message by showing simple lines and shadows of architectures, using black and white color scheme. My aim is to elicit a sense of calm, ease, and simplicity in the audience. The use of a black and white color scheme can evoke a timeless atmosphere and lessen the distraction of colors, letting the audience to focus on the main subject; It will also trigger curiosity and personal interpretations. I will get inspiration from works of photographers who explore black and white imagery, shadows, and street photography.

Drawings of elements:

My photos of elements:

I think most of the elements were easy to capture in real life. However, elements of #02 and #11 were hard to find because there was not a lot of place where a square fits in the center without other objects. I like #10 and #07 the most, because I think it’s closest to the drawing version of elements, and #10 was nearly the has the same angle as the original drawing.