This is the screen shot of my final presentation or a triptych of my reflection unit:

In this unit, I made a triptych based on my photographs in set 2. I did not use photos in set 1 because my focus of that set was too broad and take meaningless photos if it reflected only a little bit of light; in other words, just pressed the button if the subject shined. Triptych is a unique way to demonstrate 3 photos that have very similar pattern or concept with other photos. That way, it can aesthetically appeal to the audience by creating a new, replicated shape and, in this case, effectively show the reflection on light, water, and glass. The use of different subjects per picture might give freshness to the audience so they do not get bored by the repetitive set of same-looking images. I think my overall work fits with the vision of Naoya Hatakeyama as he also uses reflection and creates replica.  Although I used triptych before, I thought it was the perfect process I could input to my images. Next time, I want to make the photos more abstract, or use three photographs that have the same subject and combine it.

My artist for set 2: Naoya Hatakeyama

Naoya Hatakeyama’s six photographs:

 

Naoya Hatakeyama is a Japanese photographer who mostly take photos on the intervention on the landscape of the Earth and natural materials. Additionally, he also takes account of reflection on water. As he was born in 1958, his heyday of taking photographs were 1990s to 2010. He presented his work in many exhibitions and awarded of the Photographer of the Year Award from the Photographic society of Japan in 2003. One style that I can notice from Naoya Hatakeyama’s work is that he portraits changes that is happening from the photograph even though it does not move like a video. For example, the waves created from water demonstrates a change, and it reminds me of abstract beauty and reflection.  I generally think that Naoya Hatakeyama both take photos that are reflections of water and light because in order to reflect natural object on water it obviously need light. As can be observed from the photo above, handful of photos have a dark background while it reflects upon water. The lights from the subject can thus create reflection to the water pool. When I look at these images, I feel an impression of majesty and clear reflection. What I mean by the “majesty” of the subject is when a small change is inflicted in this photograph. The first photograph that is posted above, which is incongruous with other images, is actually similar with others since small fragments created by the explosion(?) create beautiful effects like the light and the wave does while it is reflected on water. Since the photo is not targeted on any person, I think Naoya Hatakeyama is trying to create abstractness into his photographs by differentiating the texture. One theory that I can apply to Naoya Hatakeyama’s photos is unique aesthetic value that is not widespread. Hatakeyama intentionally blurs subject, or even take focus of various subjects in one photos. These techniques are hard to find from photography.

Photo analysis

Naoya Hatakeyama-“Ciel Tombé” (Fallen Sky), 2008

Visual: The repetition of water drops that are covering the Eiffel tower is reflected upon the light of the tower and creates a unique pattern of water drops. The water drops are a 2D-shaped  shape in this photograph, while the background, The Eiffel Tower, is 3D-shaped. It is taken from the nighttime of the day, since the background of the Eiffel tower is dark and it lit its light on. Lines are difficult to observe in the image since the water drops are dominant in this image, but the color, mostly orange, of the bright, shining Eiffel tower can be clearly perceived to the audience. The artist uses both bright and dark tone, but it is hard to tell the focus of this photograph since the importance of two substance(objects) apparently seems the same. I don’t think there are rule of thirds applied in this photography, but I am not 100% sure about it.

 

Technical: One clear thing that can be noticed from this photograph is that the artist utilized great or high intensity exposure to the background so it completely blurs the Eiffel tower. That way, the audience can only predict from its familiar and renown shape that implies the Eiffel tower. The shutter speed seems moderate(250ISO, 1/150) since there are no motions that are demonstrated in this photograph. No idea of the camera type, but it is sure that Hatakeyama used sufficient lightings and exposure to create a photograph like that.

Conceptual:

As stated above, Naoya Hatakeyama’s work is a unique work that gives a feeling of another vision. For this image particularly, it gives me a impression that I am looking the Eiffel tower throughout a window while it is raining. Although the water drops are intentional work made by the artist, the special concept that I feel is that I get a natural feeling and it feels usual.

 

 

 

When I completed set 1, I could not take or think of any ideas that can relate to my concept entirely. That way, I needed a new inspiration l although I wanted to keep taking photographs on reflections on light. I generally thought that reflections upon water cannot be treated as reflection on light since the main “subject translator” comes from the water. However, I changed my opinion and thought again that reflection on water originally comes from sunlight or other sources that emit light. That way I want to take photos like Naoya Hatakeyama, that both uses water and light to create abstract work. In conclusion, I can not wade away from my original starting point, and can take photos that are not theoretically exactly same from the last set, so feel less bored and more motivated.

 

 

Contact Sheet Annotations

All photos:

 

The Yellow Selection:

 

The Green Selection:

 

The Red selection:

Annotations:

All photos to Yellow selection:

Although my vision of taking photos that was reflected on light was the same, it was not exactly the same since I also focused on reflection on water so it demonstrated a reflection of an object. The most ideal example I can found from my set of photos is photo 1 from the screen shot above. This photo contains a reflection of my sneakers on a Saturday morning. The bright sunlight and reflective glass window makes another silhouette of my sneakers. That way, it creates a lot of abstract beauty into my project, and it could be selected as a yellow selection. In contrast, photos that were faraway from my vision was removed from the yellow selection. For example, photo 16 did not fit with my vision well mainly because of two reasons: 1, I could not take any signs of reflections, and it could not create abstract beauty. That way, although it is not written on the contact sheet, I crossed out photo 16 and wrote “no reflections, no beauty and can give the audience a big confusion.

The Yellow selection to The Green selection

As stated above, the majority of the yellow selection portraits reflection on something. What decided between the range of yellow or green was the similarity between Naoya Hatakeyama’s photographs. When I observed his renown photographs, it created a replica of a object and the water part of the reflection shone with light. Photo 1,2, and 3 from the green selection fits with Naoya Hatakeyama’s work as it makes another silhouette of the subject, whether it is created by light, water, or both.  Although some reflections were created in photo 14 and 15 from the yellow selection, it did not matched with my artist that I got mostly inspired of. In conclusion, I crossed out photo 14 and 15 and wrote “reflection that is not unique; it does not fit well with my vision that have to match a little bit of Hatakeyama’s work.

The Green selection to The Red selection

This step was the most difficult step to take while I was organizing my photos. The last aspect that I wanted for the photos to be selected as the red selection was beauty. Not only the photos that were selected as red photos had perfect reflection on certain objects, but also it had abstract beauty and pointed out a unique technique while taking a photo. Additionally, another similarity I can found after I collected three photos in the red selection was that there was a specific subject to make audience more focused. In contrast, photo 3 from the green selection have an ambiguous subject that it could not express beauty well as other photos. That way, i crossed out images like photo 3 and wrote “no specific subject, reflection cannot be delivered clearly.

 

Critique of Red Images

My first red photo, as discussed earlier, portraits my own sneakers that gets reflected by a glass window and sunlight. This photo contains sufficient reflection take take account of two different elements, and creates anew silhouette. I got inspired by Naoya Hatakeyama who similarly created a replica when he used any reflections. Formulating a new 3D-shaped subject is perceived as an unique technique because it is not considered as abstract photography nor street photography. Next time though, I would try increase the shutter speed and intensify the exposure settings of the background to see what would happen if I did that.

My second red photo demonstrates the reflection of water, and the main subject is the building. Although the maximum, vertical point of the real building cannot be predicted, it can be approximately guessed because the reflection can show the audience a wider range. There are four different buildings that are reflected upon water, which creates a diversity of abstract beauty as it create unique shape by each compartment, and the texture of the water generates the audience of a soft impression. Next time, I would try to take photos of the whole building so I can compare the reflected silhouette and the real building itself.

Last but not least, the third photo of my red selection have a lot of subject. The main subject is a person walking down the school hallway. Other photos from above usually utilize water as a reflection tool, but the shiny floor from the school and lightings could create a silhouette of a person even though it was not water. I was very surprised that the floor could reflect the subject very easily, so this photograph made its way to the red selection although the vision was slightly off-wards from Naoya Hatakeyama’s work. If there is a chance to enhance my project, I would try to input more color on the silhouette, so it does not become dim as it is shwon in the photograph below.

 

Artist Analysis: Lee Friedlander

Lee Friedlander is an American artist who took photographs upon reflections on some subjects. He usually takes black and white photos, and is one of few photographers who widely equipped mirrors. His works can be seen in the Fraenkel Gallery. His photos were mostly taken in 1950~1960s, so he took black and white images and sparked to influence future photographers to take photos on reflection. I thinks what is important while I interpret these photographs by Lee Friedlander is that this artist creates so many kinds of topic, so it is very important to not apply theories applied in the past works, and to view his photos as a complete new start.  I learned a lot of things when I was finding my own starting point. I did not want to take photos that other people can easily think of; using water and mirror to reflect something did not interest me. However, I had a solid plan to take black and white photographs. I found Lee Friedlander while I was gathering my initial thoughts. When I searched up Lee Friedlander’s photographs, I was amazed to see that he used light and shadows so well(his photos with mirrors were also impressing)while the majority of his photos were black and white. His techniques were so abstract and even combined some street photography. His photos easily created dark atmosphere and sad emotions; it could be clearly identified when I saw his photos. In the section “Some sub theme ideas to inspire”, I was not that amazed until I saw reflection on landscapes by using  mirrors.  Although I planned to take photos that did not need any mirror, I thought that light can be another way to reflect something. When I scrolled down the page I saw that Friedlander was obsessed with mirrors, and I decided to combine Lee Friedlander’s techniques and reflection on light. In a biographical context, Lee Friedlander is mostly famous for his photographs of various “social landscapes” of America, such as people, streets, and even reflection. One theory I can apply to Lee Friedlander’s images is that these are very aesthetic. In my opinion, Lee Friedlander emphasizes abstract beauty and also reflections.

 

 

 

Analysis of the Photograph:

[Source: Lee Friedlander, New York City, 1966]

Visual: In this photo, the clearest thing that is clear is the shadow. There are no light since it is a photograph of black and white. However, as stated before, a large shadow of a silhouette of a man can be seen. Although there are no lines that are meaningful, but the shadow creates an outline of one person. Repetition of any objects or subjects cannot be seen in this photograph, but 2D flat, black shadow of a man creates fearful emotion. The texture looks invisible and light; if I touch, it I would feel the soft texture of a jacket that a woman is wearing.  The tone of a shadow is very dark, which naturally creates contrast between the woman and the shadow. A dark color of black magnifies the shadow. No signs of photoshop or image edits can be found.

Technical: The technical use of Lee Friedlander’s photographs can be not accurate, but is expected that Lee Friedlander focused the woman and the shadow. There are no blurry background, which suggests that Lee Friedlander did not make any exposure, only natural focus. The camera used in this photo is Leica 35-mm camera, so it can reflect on mirrors easily. The shutter speed is very fast(120/125?) and it mixes with moderate film(350 ISO?). The image is not cropped nor edited through a program, since it portraits a street photograph of New York City.

Conceptual: The shadow created behind a woman creates an emotion of fear. Low light exposure and full focus on subjects and background suggest that this photograph was taken on a street, New York City. Audience might perceive this image as some one behind the woman is getting near her. I think Lee Friedlander tried to emphasize the evil aspect of the city, as he views the world like that. I think I can develop and can get inspired by Lee Friedlander’s photographs because he easily takes challenges and can make perfect work out of new topics. As I am working on reflections on light, his work can give me a lot of confidence to aggressively take photographs.

(Additionally, the first paragraph about Lee Friedlander contains abundant information about my inspiration on that image and how Lee Friedlander uses various techniques to inscribe a lot of messages to the audience.)

How does the Image Inspire Me?

From my first paragraph,

(“I learned a lot of things when I was finding my own starting point. I did not want to take photos that other people can easily think of; using water and mirror to reflect something did not interest me. However, I had a solid plan to take black and white photographs. I found Lee Friedlander while I was gathering my initial thoughts. When I searched up Lee Friedlander’s photographs, I was amazed to see that he used light and shadows so well(his photos with mirrors were also impressing)while the majority of his photos were black and white. His techniques were so abstract and even combined some street photography. His photos easily created dark atmosphere and sad emotions; it could be clearly identified when I saw his photos. In the section “Some sub theme ideas to inspire”, I was not that amazed until I saw reflection on landscapes by using  mirrors.  Although I planned to take photos that did not need any mirror, I thought that light can be another way to reflect something. When I scrolled down the page I saw that Friedlander was obsessed with mirrors, and I decided to combine Lee Friedlander’s techniques and reflection on light.”)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the link of my Yellow, Green, and Red Contact Sheet(It contains better quality than screen shots)

All photos

Annotating my Contact Sheet

When I was selecting photographs from all photos to a yellow selection, I mainly focused on the amount of reflections. Unlike other reflections, the amount of light can be easily perceived through eyes, so I think it was relatively easy to decide from 42 photographs. For example, I eliminated photo 12 and 18 because there was too less reflection on light when compared with other images. I originally thought that these subjects could produce more reflections, but it did not shine. That way, although cannot be seen in the link above, my caption was “too less light exposure on the subject” and crossed these types of photos out.

Photo 12:

  

Photo 18:

Yellow Photos

When I had to select 9 photos out of my yellow selection, not only I focused on the amount of reflection but also focused on the patterns, emotions, or beauty that was contained there. I think I wanted to select beautiful photographs because I was a fan of abstract photography, and conceptual photographs can attract the audience. It also had similar techniques as Lee Friedlander does. For example, photo 10 from the yellow section portraits an image with a locker lock. Although it can apparently seem to be reflecting sufficient light, it does not have a significant pattern that can make the image more interesting. However, photo 19 is a photo of metal door, which reflects a lot of light and simultaneously creates abstract beauty as there are consecutive horizontal lines. That way , I would annotate photo 10 as “no unique pattern” and cross it out for the green selection.

Photo 10:

 

 

Photo 19:

Green Photos

The hardest decision for me was when I had to choose 4 photos out of my green selection. All of the images looked equally beautiful, and there was beautiful patterns on them. So the main point while selecting red photos was how shiny was the photographs. For me, most photographs that contained a lot of reflection in many places looked the most beautiful. It can be repetitive with the first one, but one thing that is different is the strength of the reflection. For example, in the green selection, photo 8 had only small portion of reflection and the strength of it was also weak. The differences between reflection can be seen in photo 7, the fierce red light was so attractive. In conclusion, I would annotate photographs that contains less power of light as “Too weak reflection” and eliminate them.

 

Red Photos

 

Red Photos Analysis

My first red photo is a photo of the high school cafeteria. This image contains a lot of reflection on light and its consecutive shape of color creates abstract beauty. These aspects of this image fulfills my vision that it made through the red photos. It also looks similar with Lee Friedlander’s photographs because it takes focus on large subject. The straight lines that the circle light bulbs gives an impression of wideness. I tried to imply the grandness of the reflection by taking photos as many lines as I could. For this image, I did not wanted to create any emotions to the audience but wanted to appeal the grandness of the reflection. However, next time I can blur the background so it can solely focus on the lights, which can create more grand impression.

My second red photo was taken at a staircase made out of metal in the photography classroom. The subject is a handle of the stair. Since it is composed of metal, the handle shines with the reflection of light and it does not seem to be a stair handle. I picked this image because I blurred the background and focused mainly on the subject, so the photo could focus on the reflection of light. I also thought of the abstract beauty implied in this photograph, since the two lines created by the reflection shines.

The third photo was taken from a back stage of the high school theater. The light from the red button glows from this photograph. I personally liked this image the best because the glowing red light mixed well with the dark, black background. Even though I did not blurred my background, audience tend to get only focused on the subject. I was trying to make impression of evil and tried to make it abstractly beautiful. Next time, I want to try to cut or crop the photo of the key since it distracts to concentrate on the subject.

Finally, the last photo portraits an image of a metal door, which was in the theater. One aspect that made this photograph to the red selection was because the reflection was centered in the middle. As can be seen in the photograph, left and right sides of the door have almost no reflection of the light. However, when focused on the middle of this image, a change of color can be noticed. Next time, I want to make the light reflection( increase in light exposure)  distributed throughout the whole metal door.

 

MIND MAP:

This is the link for my mood board(mind map) for my inspiration(better quality): https://app.popplet.com/#/p/7311315  

 

Statement of Intent:

The working title of my project is “Shine”. The reason why I chose “Shine” as my working title is because I would try to reflect my photographs on light. When taking any photos, using the lights are very important. That way, I wanted to focus on light itself on this project.  To make light reflect on the subject easily, I would try to take black and white photographs. Although there are almost no photographers who tend to take photographs that reflect light, I got inspired mostly by Lee Friedlander, who used shadows and black and white photos. That way, I will get inspiration and develop my ideas by looking for photographs by Lee Friedlander that show reflection upon light and adapt his special techniques. For example, from the photo below, there is a shadow( which is made by the light of the sun) created in front of a woman, which makes the photograph abstract. It creates a dark mood and it is a good example of street photography.  I want to try to take photos that are similar with Lee Friedlander. Moving on,  I want my audience to feel impressed on focusing on light that can be different in colors and shape. One unique aspect of reflecting light is that there are a variety of lights to reflect. Therefore, my topic is not limited in terms of color and shape.  The techniques that I would use are black and white technique, as stated above, and additionally use the techniques of abstract photography. The important point in abstract photography is that the subject of a photo is unrecognisable but it is beautiful. When there is light added on to the subject, the audience might not know what the subject is, but might perceive what emotions I wanted to deliver.

 

MOOD BOARD: FOCUSING ON LIGHT USAGE:

Below is the link for my mood board, which focused on reflection on lights(please click the link for better quality)

Reflection Mood Board