-Increased ISO
-Decreased ISO
-Negative space
-Rule of thirds
-Balance
-Rule of thirds
–
-Decreased shuttle speed
-Increased ISO
-Contrast between light and dark
–
-Decreased shuttle speed
-Increased ISO
-Lowered ISO
-Increased ISO
-Contrast between light and dark
-Depth of field
-Increased ISO
-Framing
-Lowered ISO
-Negative space
-Contrast between light and dark
Intent statement:
In this project I personally really want to focus on water and the reflections that it could create. Water’s fluid and ever-changing nature makes it a mirror physically but also symbolically, reflecting not only portions of the real world but also the complexity of human-nature and self-perception. It’s surface is smooth and undisturbed, offering a breathtaking illusion of the truth and clarity of the environment around. However it is fragile, the slightest interference could distort this reflection, just like how external influences could shape and alter the identity of human. Beneath the calm surface, water holds depth, movement, and mystery, this fluid and constantly changing nature mirrors just how the human mind hides thoughts and emotions-a true self that remain unseen beneath a composed exterior. Through it’s constant flow, water reminds us that identity, like it’s own form, is never static but constantly evolving.
-Used rule of thirds, light and shadow, focus is on ripple on the left, lowered ISO
-Used light and shadow/color contrast, lowered ISO
-Used light and shadow/color contrast, adjusted shutter speed, lowered ISO
-Used depth of field, lowered ISO
-Used balance, adjusted shutter speed and increased ISO
-Used depth of field, negative space, perspective, increased ISO
-Adjusted color-increased the shade of blue, used balance
-Used balance, perspective, negative space, contrast between light and shadow, lowered ISO
-Perspective, color contrast of black and white, adjusted shutter speed, lowered ISO
-Perspective, negative space, light and shadow, color contrast of black and white, increased ISO
-Barbara Cole
-Canada
-Appearances and Beat
-Appearances, 2020
-In Appearances, Barabara Cole anthropomorphizes flowers, giving them each a name and a unique personality that we all can connect with. This exploration into transformation, nature, and beauty, is marked by Cole’s delicate use of water as a medium. In this series, Cole explores what it means to posses a form and what is considered worthy to be the subject of an artist’s attention. This series is related to the theme of reflections both visually and conceptually, visually, the water that Cole uses in her series creates reflective surfaces, creating a dream-like effect; conceptually, the series explores the theme of self-perception and identity, encouraging introspection
-It does not directly reference specific cultural and historical events
-Anthropomorphized flowers submerged/interacting with water
-The anthropomorphized flower captured in the middle
-The dreamy effect-soft and hazy lines of the flowers
-Mostly balance-the main element is positioned in the center, and framing-the subject seems enclosed by water
-The light appears brighter and highlights the main element in the center while becoming dimmer and creating shadows when around the background
-In fact Barbara does often explore the human body as her main subject in other series, she focuses mainly on the movement of the body, highlighting it’s fluid and free nature
-The soft colors, muted tone, and the hazy lines creates by the organic flow of the water establishes the dreamy effect of the photograph; the shapes/figures often appeared blurred, enhancing the sense of movement; The rippling water and blurry figure creates a painterly texture, as if looking at a piece of oil painting instead of a photo
-Cole mostly uses depth of field and negative space
-On the flower
-Possibly a shallow depth a field, as to create the soft, hazy, and blurred effect of the photographs
-A low shutter speed would be able to create this dream-like effect, capturing the movement in water
Use of art elements: In “The Flowers” I edited it into black and white, using the art element contrast, light and shadow; In “The Curtain” I used the art element color-I adjusted the brightness, shade, and vividness of the colors/photograph when editing to make it more appealing/eye catching
Composition ideas: In the first and second photo I attempted to use framing-in “The Door”-the reflection of the city is captured within the bronze, metal logo on a door, framed inside it; in “The Flowers”, the reflection is on a glass-showcase, inside the glass is nature, with flowers blooming and vines and leaves tangled around and below, and outside-on the glass, is the reflection of a small, brick, cottage, the way the nature is arranged inside perfectly frames the cottage, with the flowers above, as if growing from the cottage, and the vines and leaves below, as if the cottage is placed on top of a snowy mountain. “The Flowers” also used the composition technique leading lines as the surrounding elements-the nature-guides the view of the audience towards the dominating element in the center-the cottage. In the third photo “The Curtain”, I attempted the composition technique perspective, the shape of the window itself was quite interesting, curved and folded, with the reflection of the blue sky and architecture on it, I took advantage of this shape and took the photo from a tilted (?) perspetive, standing/focusing on the right half of the window.
Links to artists: The two artists that inspired me were Naoya Hatakeyama – a Japanese photographer in which his river series-reflections – were mostly shown through water; and Lee Friedlander – who showed reflections through glass and mirror in the city; at first I was really attracted to Hatakeyama’s way of showing reflections – the reflection of the colorful and bright city in the rippling water gave the whole photograph a soft, gentle, and dream-like effect, making it seem fragile and mysterious, and I really liked this style and the emotions that it evoked and was really tempted to try it out myself. However, when actually attempting, I found out that this style and method was hard to imitate, there weren’t any natural large bodies of water around, and the water that I brought just wasn’t enough to create the same, artistic effect in Hatakeyama’s photographs. Just as I was wandering around 798, trying to find inspirations, I thought of Friedlander’s way of showing reflections, and therefore I chose to photo the reflections shown on glass or mirrors around the city instead. The way I chose to show reflections was inspired by Friedlander, and the feelings, emotions, and effects-dreamy, mysterious, artistic-that I was trying to evoke was inspired by Hatakeyama.
Themes and concepts: In “The Door” I captured the urban street through a small logo on the door, implying a quiet moment of observation. The sharp but soft edges of the logo, the contrast between the dark/dull color of the door, the bright logo, and the reflection captured within directs the audience’s gaze towards the reflection of city life and people walking captured in the center, giving the audience a feeling of gazing at a small portion, specific part of daily busy city life, the soft and muted light and the slight haze also gives this photograph a dream like quality. this conveys feelings of quiet solitude, stillness, and contemplation. In “The Flowers”, I captured the scene of urban/city architecture within the frames of nature, this sharp contrast between humanity and nature, black and white, the delicate and gentleness of the flowers and the roughness of the texture of the modern, city architecture in the background reflects the concepts of the intervention, interactions, and relationship between human and nature. In “The Curtain”, the outdoor scene of the blue sky and city is reflected upon the unique shape of the glass window, this creates a blurred, dream-like view, evoking a sense of fluidity.
Camera technique: In “The Door” I used the camera technique focus-focused on the reflection inside the logo of the door, blurring the background; In “The Flowers” I increased the ISO, making the whole photo brighter, creating a more diverse contrast between colors; In “The Curtain” I lowered the ISO, making the whole photo dimmer, this makes the colors look brighter and more appealing.
Statement:
When talking of reflections, what come to mind are the themes of true self/self awareness, and the contrast/complexity of reality and perception. Therefore, when working on my mind map and finding photos for my mood board, I mostly brainstormed idea of water, mirrors, and shadows as I wanted to present the theme of true self, the complexity of it, and accepting it. Water, while is clear and deep, is also fragile and mysterious; it’s clearness allows people to see through it, as if people could look beyond the surface appearances of other people; and it’s changing nature-it is constantly moving, resulting its reflections to appear rippled or stretched, conveys the mysterious and complexity of peoples’ true selves and identity. Mirrors are the most direct and clear way to create reflections, sharp and clear, as if also revealing who we truly are inside, this makes people associate them with self examination, identity, and introspection; the idea of cracked mirrors is because I thought that putting peaces of the reflected images together is just like putting pieces of ourselves together, forming/creating “ourselves”. Shadows are an indirect form of reflections, they are like the parts of ourselves that we can’t see/trying to hide away/another part of our self. Therefore, in this project and trip to 798, I would want to work with these three elements, as the photos that I finally present could convey themes of true self and feelings of mystic, shock, and awe.
P1:
-mirror placed on ground, reflecting ceiling/hallway, adjusted ISO to dim the background and focus on the image within the mirror
P2:
-mirror placed between grassland and dirt-land, reflection captured of the land within mirror and land outside creates a symmetrical scene, attempted to use balance and depth of field, focus is on grass-land
P3:
-mirror placed on floor, reflecting the stadium inside-blue sky, trees, track; negative space (sky), ISO, light and shadow
P4:
-scene is same as P1, focus is on the reflection of the people walking within the mirror, didn’t actually use any composition techniques but maybe there is a little depth of field,,,?
P5:
-mirror is placed on grassy ground, reflecting pattern of boards outside school, used symmetry and patterns
P6:
-mirror was placed at the top of the stairs, wanted to create a scene of a new staircase stretching out from the mirror but kind of failed, added the foot inside to make it look like coming down from the stairs, attempted to use the rule of thirds
P7:
-focus is on face behind raindrops, used different perspective (s)-photo is taken from above-an overlook/looking down perspective, negative space
P8:
-focus is on face behind raindrops, used balance, negative space
P9:
-focus is on face behind raindrops, used rule of thirds, negative space
P10:
-focus is on raindrops, adjusted ISO, used color contrast, light and shadow, rule of thirds
Naoya Hatakeyama:
Hatakeyama is a Japanese photographer born in 1958, in Rikuzentakata, Iwate Prefecture; he studied at the School of Art and Design at the University of Tsukuba in 1981, and later completed his post-graduate studies there in 1984. Hatakeyama admired the countryside and the natural beauty of the mountains in his home region, and he explores the meaning of landscapes in the present day when all land is affected by human activity, maintaining that even landscapes that we admire for its untouched beauty, such as the craggy mountaintops of the Alps, has already been altered by human use by their portrayal as idealized nature. Therefore, Hatakeyama’s works mostly embodies humans’ intervention/interactions/relationships with the environment around-landscapes and cities-its past, present, future and the impact upon it. To Hatakeyama, photography is a medium to document and analyze these changes, it is a method of exploring humanity’s place in the natural world and the consequences of its interventions. His river series created in 1993-1994 pairs Tokyo’s built structures with the luminous and mysterious waters on which the buildings are constructed. The reflections are shown through rivers-in which mostly are in urban settings where human activity intersect with nature; this choice of location possibly reflects the tension between nature and urban development, criticizing humanity’s persistent effort to control nature while being depending on it at the same time. The symmetry and balance created by the water conveys a sense of calmness and harmony, enhancing the aesthetic appeal of the photographs; the contrast/diverse/layering of the various textures-the smooth, rippling, flowing water with the geometric rigidity of the industrial structures, and the thoughtful use of natural lighting-which creates a mysterious and shimmering scene, evokes emotions of awe, calmness, and tranquility.
Lee Friedlander:
Friedlander is an American photographer born in July 14, 1934, in Aberdeen, Washington; his style has focused on and is also known for his asymmetrical black and white pictures of the American social landscape-everyday people, places, and things, capturing daily modern life. Already having passion for photography in the age of 14, he studied briefly at the Art center school in Los Angelos and moved to New York city in 1956, starting his career by taking pictures of jazz musicians-including Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus, and John Coltrane for the Atlantic records; he also worked as a freelance photographer for magazines such as Collier’s, Esquire, McCall’s, and Sports Illustrated. And in 1960, Friedlander emerged as a street-photographer, capturing glimpses of urban life with unflinching realism-including the chaos of the city and also dense natural landscapes, focusing on countless objects from cars to trees to monuments. Friedlander took black and white pictures using a Leica 35mm camera, using reflections in storefront windows, plate-glass doors, and side-view mirrors to complicate the viewing experience; he also incorporated street signs, doors, and windows as framing devices. To Friedlander, his fascination with photography stems from deep engagement with the materials and the enjoyment that he derives from the process, he emphasizes of capturing images as they present themselves, maintaining that compelling photographs are available in everyday life, requiring only an observant eye to recognize it. Friedlander’s photographs stand out aesthetically due to their complexity and use of visual elements. The reflections add depth and ambiguity to the images, creating a sense of visual tension-this complexity creates a dynamic viewing experience, evoking interest and curiosity. The contrast between black and white enhances the texture, structure, and shapes, which adds depth to the image, enriching their visual impact. The thoughtful and unique use of windows and mirrors to establish the scene is innovative, eliciting emotions of amusement and delight, prompting a deeper engagement. And the isolation of the figures within the urban backdrop also evokes emotions of melancholy and loneliness.
Summary:
Overall. these two artists have various differences-their experience, the way they see photography, and their focus-in which Hatakeyama sees photography as a method of documenting the changes of nature and the human interference upon nature, and Friedlander is more eager and interested to use it to capture glimpses of modern day urban life-all result different effects presents in their artworks; the style that they show and the methods that they use are also nothing similar-while Hatakeyama chooses to use the shimmering river water to present hazy and distant reflections, Friedlander, on the other hand, uses windows, glass, and mirrors to present unique shadows and reflections-this also creates differences in the emotions and meaning conveyed-the symmetry and stillness of the water creates tranquility and peacefulness, while the glasses and mirror reflect amusement and isolation. Despite being different, both are interesting and worth referencing art pieces.
Sources used:
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Lee-Friedlander
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lee_Friedlander
https://photoquotes.com/search?search_text=Lee+Friedlander
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Naoya_Hatakeyama
https://www.takaishiigallery.com/en/archives/5925/
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