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.

Formal Elements:

Photographer: Aaron Siskind

I think Aaron Siskind might be interested in capturing texture, tone, and shapes in this picture. I will call this “Pilling Down” because I think this is like the dried acrylic paint pilling off, or the old building walls that’s breaking. Aaron Siskind focused on the texture on the surface, and he edited the photo to black and white to show the tone and emphasize on the texture.

The Pictorialism movement happened between 1885 and 1915. Before the movement, photography was nothing more than a simple record of reality and daily life. However, during the movement, people began claiming that photography should be understood as something that can show personal expression and should have the same role as other arts. The pictorialists defined themselves as real photography amateurs who truly pursued art out of photography. Furthermore, in order to prove photography can be a new form of art and let more people accept photography, photographers took pictures of romantic or idealized imagery over the documentation of modern life. The movement flourished for decades, influenced many photographers, and produced many unique art and techniques.

When photos looks like paintings– Waterloo Place by Leonard Misonne

Straight photography is the complete opposite of pictorialism. The straight photography movement started in 1904 and continued until the early 1930s. Straight photographers focused on techniques of creating highly detailed and technical images to highlight real-world images that exemplify form, life, and aesthetics. It was popular and also important because straight photography emphasizes and engages with the camera’s own technical capability to produce images that are sharp in focus and rich in detail.

Berlin Radio Tower by László Moholy-Nagy

Albert Renger-Patzsch was a German photographer, he was born in Wurzburg on June 22, 1897, and passed away on September 27, 1966. His best-known book was published in 1928, named The World is Beautiful. It is a collection of one hundred of his photographs in which natural forms, industrial subjects, and mass-produced objects are presented with the clarity of scientific illustrations.

Edward Weston was a 20th-century American photographer. He was born in Highland Park on March 24, 1886, and died on New Year’s Day on January 1, 1958. He has been called “one of the most innovative and influential American photographers” and “one of the masters of 20th-century photography.” Over his 40-year career, Weston photographed various subjects, including landscapes, still life, portraits, genre scenes, etc. He preferred the modernist style characterized by using large-format cameras to create sharply focused and richly detailed black-and-white photographs.

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.

Uta Barth was born in 1958 in Berlin. She is a contemporary German-American photographer. Her work addresses themes such as perception, optical illusion, and non-place. Barth uses both abstract and straight photography components. However, she never follows the photography “rules.”

Andreas Gursky was born on 15 January 1955, and he is a German photographer and a professor. The perspective in many of his photographs is drawn from an elevated vantage point. This position allows the viewer to encounter scenes encompassing the center and periphery. Gursky uses both abstract and straight photography elements, and his photography is straightforward. There is little to no explanation of the works.

The Straight Photography Movement influenced Edward Weston and Aaron Siskind. They changed their photography style after the movement. Their style was abstract but also detailed. Also, they both like to use black and white in their photos. Uta Barth’s photos are abstract because she never follows the photography “rules,” and she likes to play with lighting and focal points. I think she’s not a straight photographer because her photos are not sharp or have a clear focal point. Moreover, Andreas Gursky is an abstract photographer because he has a different viewpoint than usual and likes to capture patterns and colors. He is a straight photographer because his photos contain detailed elements and sharp focus.

Unedited:

• I like the first photo because it shows contrast of clear and sharp lines with the blurry water drops.
• I like the second photo because it shows the lines of the light. This photo didn’t follow the rules of composition (rule of thirds or golden ratio) or has any focal point, but I think it’s really interesting to look at.
• I used the same technique for the first and second photo, where I changed the shutter speed to capture the movement.
• I like the third photo because it shows a clear texture of the tree.
• I think these are the most abstract photos showing movement, light, and texture.

After edit:

• I edited all three photos to black and white version. The first photo with black and white can show contrast of the water and the stone fountain, forming sharp edges and curved lines. I changed the second photo to show and emphasize the light’s movement. Lastly, I changed the tree to black and white scheme to focus attention on the texture, and the darkness made the lines sharper.