Contact Sheet (Yellow photos)

When looking through my photos, I realized that I did not have any strong photos of the elderly exercising. I was a bit torn because I faced a difficult decision: either to stick with my original vision and choose three weak photos or replace my vision with something else that allowed me to include stronger photos.

Ultimately, I chose the latter

“If you went on a farm to take pictures of horses, and you only got good cow pictures, then use the cow pictures.”

–Mr. Stewart, 2023.11.21

The selection process (Done in Canva):

Final three red photos:

Deciding which final three photos to choose was a struggle. I was not able to take enough photos of the elderly exercising due to visiting the exercise park too late, so I did not really have a vision in mind when choosing my final three photos.

These two triptychs were the final contenders for the red selection:

 

This set was chosen because, firstly, it resembled the style of my chosen photographer. I noticed that it was especially similar to this image from Bernand Shaefers:

Additionally, the two silhouettes of a tree branch on the sides there I loved. I purposefully adjusted and cropped the photos to make the two tree branches look like curtains in the theatre. For me, it gave a sense of finality as this image was taken close to the exit, so the tourists would inevitably have to leave this beautiful lake and return to their jobs and schools. Like the closing of a stage play. For my mother though, she thought that the curtains held a more positive meaning. She told me that the curtains didn’t remind her of a play, instead, it reminded her of opening the curtains when you wake up in the mornings. When I told her that the curtains were made of tree branches, she thought it was quite poetic and that these silhouettes woke up to nature.

I really like the meaning and resemblance to Shaefer’s photography in this set of images, but it was definitely not the strongest of my yellow selection in terms of visuals.

The second set of images is also quite interesting. I assembled the first set first, so I tried to recreate some of the meanings of the curtains I really liked in my second set through the tree branches. Didn’t really work, but it did focus the audience on the center image.

The first and third images were chosen just to compliment the center image, which was one of my favorites on this trip. It did not quite work out though. The other two images’s best parts were quite small (over the lake), and with the large white circle reflection in the center image, it is hard to focus on other photos.

I feel like the center image could have worked better with two other stronger images that were not connected with it, but I really wanted the interconnectedness in my images, so I had to leave this set as is.

My final set stood out from the rest because it was visually strong, and had missing elements of the previous sets. The first set was weak visually, this set uses negative space and reflection to create strong visual effects. The second set lacked interconnectedness, this set was closely connected via the white fence.

Additionally, this set relates to Bernand Shaefer’s works as they share the characteristic of using negative space, especially in these images:

The most prominent formal element in this set of photos must be color. The monotone white fence contrasting against the vibrant world beyond is the spirit of this piece. I tried to make these pictures black and white to resemble Shaefer’s works, but without the colors, the emotions they conveyed were much weaker. I settled on using the colored version.

Black and white version:

Another notable feature of this set of images is that though the center image is clearly the strongest, it does not overshadow the others. In fact, the center image guides the audience to look closer at the others. Like the second set of contenders for red, this set of photos was composed around the center image. What separates the center image of this set from the one of set 2 is that there are small details to this set in the center image that the audience needs to focus on to notice.

When I showed this set to my family members, they saw the small details in the center image and would look closer at the set. Which leads to them discovering the interesting shop sign, and the detailed architecture of the other two photos. This creates another sense of interconnectedness between these photos as they share attention from the audience to one another.

Of my four audiences, three found out that the buildings and scenery in the photo were actually reflections. They noticed when they looked closer that parts of the roof were distorted in the first image, shop signs out of shape in the second, and the leaves twisted in the last. Though my audience size was quite limited, they did give pretty similar feedback: The fence creating negative space concealed the fact that these buildings were reflections by showing only parts of it. The moment of realization as they notice the distortion in the photos I think truly elevates the viewing experience.

There is one daunting issue though, the original vision does don’t suit this set of photos at all.

I noted down my thoughts as I examined these photos. I remembered an old fable, of the monkey reaching for the moon. He worked tirelessly to grab the moon, but when he finally touched it, only a ripple was sent across the moon’s reflection.

The message of my triptych is: to see through the illusion to find truth. The message is centered around the moment of realization when the audience notices that it’s all a reflection. The center image is actually an apparent clue to the truth that everything is a reflection. It is pretty obvious that everything is upside down, but even still, many were not able to see through the cover of the white fences at first glance. Those who were not able to see through the illusion will be under a false impression until they do.

My message also relates to misguiding journalism on the internet. When doing research for my other subjects, I often find that articles on not-as-reliable sites have misleading titles and inaccurate data, concealing the truth. Just like the white fence covering up the reflections in this set of photographs.