In this set of photos, I had the focus on the scenes that are reflected from the mirror. The frame of the mirror helps guide the audiences’ attention to the scenes inside the mirror. By having the outside of the mirror blurring, a depth of field is created.

At first, the photos were to dark. I then used a higher ISO to make the photos brighter. The black and white tone creates a sense of compare and contrast with the colors, making the subject evident. The distortion of the subject’s faces are shown through the reflection of the vase. I also cropped the photos to make the subject take up bigger space.

Annie Wang is a 16 year-old student born in Sydney, Australia, currently studying in Beijing. She uses photography as her primary medium to captures the beauty of everyday life, bringing together themes of abstraction, portraiture, and landscape in her work.

Annie finds inspiration in the ordinary, seeking to highlight moments that often go unnoticed. Her photographs aim to invite viewers to pause and reflect on the intricacies of daily existence. By focusing on the interplay of light and shadow, she focuses on transforming simple scenes into compelling visual narratives that resonate on a deeper level.

Her interest in abstract photography allows Annie to experiment with shapes, colors, and textures, creating images that evoke emotion and provoke thought. This exploration of abstraction encourages viewers to engage with her work in a more profound way.

What:

-Sceneries with reflection such as mirrors and water.

How:

-Space & Balance

-Scenery

-Close-ups

-Portraits (People)

-Abstract

-Windows

– Metallic objects

-Depth of field

-Mirror

-Water surface

Perspective

The technique of perspective includes both shooting at a low angle or with a bird’s eye view. The two photos I took demonstrates both skills. The first photo is shooted with a bird eye view, as if the viewer is looking downwards on the subject. The second photo is taken with a stranger perspective that requires the camera to be at a low level. Shooting up with an low angle makes the subject look huger and taller, making the dinosaur look scarier.

Leading lines

Leading lines is when the viewer’s eyes are lead by a line that would guide them towards the main subject of the photo. In the first photo, the line on the ground, which brings the audiences’ attention to the mini-figure, goes through the mini-figure, or subject, of the photograph. In the second photo, there are two lines that starts from the two bottom corners of the photo and gradually leads to the dinosaur, grabbing the viewer’s attention.

Depth of field

Depth of field is when you create a sense of dimension. The photos below demonstrates a shallow depth of field, where the subject is on focus and the background is blurred. In the first photo, the background is blurred heavily with the focus on the kitty figure. This technique displays a significant contrast between the subject and the background, making the details of the subject sharp and evident to see.  In the second photo, the background on the right side of the photo is out of focus. The choice of having the focus on the head of the dinosaur and the orange light that is casted upon the wall drags the viewer’s attention on to the central scene of the photograph.

Framing

The framing technique is when you utilize different elements to surround your subject. In both photos displayed below, the subject is surrounded by a frame. This technique makes the overall appearance of the photograph look clean. Most importantly, it helps direct the audiences’ attention by isolating the subject with the scene.

Rule of thirds:

The rule of thirds is a composition when the photo is divided into a 3×3 grid, where the subject takes up only 1/3 of the photo. In the two photos below, rather than placing the subject in the center of the photo, the subjects are placed on the sides of the photos. This technique helps catch the viewers attention on the subject directly, emphasizing the main figure.

Symmetry & pattern

Symmetrical and repeating patterns create unique compositions that emphasize an aesthetic order. The symmetrical pattern on the rug in the first photo makes the composition visually balanced. On the other hand, the dense pattern of circles on the background of the second photo brings a harmonious effect.

Negative space

Negative space is when you leave some empty space in your composition. It expresses a harmonious balance between the subject and the background. This arrangement allows the subject of the photo to breathe and directs the viewer’s attention towards the subject efficiently, demonstrated in the two photos below.

Balance

Balance is when you take care of controlling the weight of elements in the photo. This means that each element should take up an equal amount of space in the photo. Additionally, you would need to make sure that there is not two much weight on one side of the photo, making the appearance unbalanced. The two photos displayed below has elements that takes up equal space and are distributed equally in the photograph, which contributes to the overall harmony of the photos.

Lee Friedlander:

Naoya Hatakeyama:

Lisette Model:

Robert Hilden

Lee Friedlander utilizes unique compositions of reflections to express a sense of depth and context. For instance, the first photograph demonstrates a juxtaposition between the lady in the reflection of the mirror and the man leaning by the side of the street, highlighting the daily life that is usually unnoticed. Lee Friedlander also focuses on a black and white theme to further portray tone and contrasts in his photographs. Lisette Model’s use of composition is similar to Lee Friedlander’s style. Both photographers uses a juxtapostion between the reflection on a glass window and the scenes behind the window. Photograph 4 that Lisette Model took displays a unique juxtapostion between the woman and the people outside the glass window. The direction that the woman is looking at guides the audiences’ attention from the woman to the crowd of people outside the window. Moreover, Lisette Model also shares the same theme of black and white with Lee Friedlander. They both aim to show evident contrast between the dark and light tones in their photographs to make the subjects look bold and stand out from the background. On the other hand, Naoya Hatakeyama focuses more on the sense of balance in his photographs. The composition of his photographs are often symmetric. This technique is shown in photograph 1. Additionally, Hatakeyama also captures the sparkles of light, contrasting with the dark backgrounds. Specifically, in photograph three, every detail of the reflection of light on the water surface is portrayed in the photograph. Furthermore, different emotions is also communicated in Hatakeyama’s photographs with his use of warm or cold hue. For example, photograph 1 indicates a feeling of loneliness by making the subject take up a smaller area and having a cold tone. In contrast, Robert Hilden shares the least amount of similarities with the other three photographers. His burning house series is revolved around self-reflection, which is demonstrated through photos of different items in his daily life. Hilden focuses on the composition of the objects in his photos, creating a sense of balance by having the objects take up equal space.

The historical context is also a key factor that influenced the photographers. Lee Friedlander lived in the 1950s, where street photography emerged as the most popular form of art. His photographs follow the elements of street photography, including a theme of black and white, and a quick capture of people passing by. Similarly, Lisette Model was also inspired by the idea of street photography. She lived in the 1920s, where the form of street photography first appeared. Model’s photographs focuses on street portraits of ordinary people, showing the daily life of people around. On the other hand, photographer Naoya Hatakeyama and Robert Hilden has a much more different style. Hatakeyama concentrates on landscape art, highlighting simplicity and subtle details of the nature. Holden’s photographs contains some elements of documentary photography. The objects in his photographs is documentary of the items he adores in daily life. His photographs evoke emotions by making the audiences self reflect and think about their own daily life through building connection with the objects in the photos. Overall, all four photographers share some qualities but are all influenced by different historical context.

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Street_photography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_photography

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoya_Hatakeyama