The Art of the Ordinary

The message that I want to show is about how small or unnoticeable objects or places can be beautiful, even though most people wouldn’t think about it in that way. I want my audience to notice that those objects in my photos can be beautiful and have them start noticing more objects and appreciating them more. I would want to find a photographer who takes photos of random objects or places and turns them into an abstract artwork. I feel like giving more purpose or notice to these objects can change your daily life and have you appreciate things more.

I tried using a pattern to make this photo feel abstract, but I think it didn’t really turn out that well.

I wanted to make Dylan the main subject, but made him blend in a bit more, so it can be more abstract.

I made this photo similar to the 7th template. It turned out pretty well, but it looks a bit awkward.

This isn’t too abstract, but its similar to the 1st template, so I decided to use it.

Albert Renger-Patzsch:

1. The photographer might’ve thought about how this is a simple and everyday item that people wouldn’t think has potential for a good photograph.
2. When having the coffee beans spilled, it could be a symbol to show an accident, or a mistake that people could make.
3. He could’ve thought about how the vibe is comforting and would be simple and interesting.

Name I would give this photo: “Start of the day.”

Line: There aren’t any straight lines in this photo, but there are curved lines around the coffee, and the bag has some jagged lines at its opening.

Shape: The coffee beans are one of the most dominant shapes in the photo. There’s also the coffee cup and plate, which are both circular.

Pattern: The pattern in the photo is all from the coffee beans. There are many of them scattered across the bottom half of the photo, which creates a pattern.

Texture: The texture of the coffee cup is very smooth, but the bag seems to have a rougher texture. The coffee beans seem smooth and reflective.

Tone: The photo is black and white, which creates a lot of contrast and tone.

1. Formal elements are the simple ideas and shapes that are used in photography. Most photos, if not all of them include these elements, since they are simple and important.
2. The 6 elements are line, shape, pattern, texture, tone, and focus. Line is just lines included in the photos, these could range of any number, or angle. Shape is similar to line, except it can be any different shape. Pattern is repeating shapes or objects. This can make photos very interesting because of this repetition. Texture, is the roughness or feeling of the surface of an object. It can be shown in photos because there is usually visibility to texture. Tone is the lightness or darkness of photos. Focus is how clear the photo or objects are. Sharpness can be another word to describe focus.
3. Line:         

   Wesson, Kate. “10 Great Ways to Use Leading Lines in Your iPhone Photos.” iPhone Photography School, 29 Mar. 2017, iphonephotographyschool.com/leading-lines-tips.

   Shape:     

   Team, Nfi. “Shape Photography – Everything You Need to Know.” NFI, 24 Jan. 2024, www.nfi.edu/shape-photography.

   Pattern: 

   Dunsford, Rob. “Patterns: 7 Tips for Using Patterns for Photos With Amazing Impact.” Photography Pro, 16 Nov. 2018, photographypro.com/patterns.

   Texture:   

   Hoddinott, Ross. “10 Tips for Photographing Patterns and Textures in Nature &Ndash; Nature TTL.” Nature TTL, 6 June 2021, www.naturettl.com/10-tips-for-photographing-patterns-and-textures-in-nature.

   Tone:       

   “What Is Tone? – Tone – AQA – GCSE Art and Design Revision – AQA – BBC Bitesize.” BBC Bitesize, 6 Feb. 2024, www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/guides/z2thmsg/revision/1.

   Focus:

   Bailey, Maria, and Maria Bailey. “How to Shoot Out of Focus Photography on Purpose.” The Shutterstock Blog, 8 Aug. 2024, www.shutterstock.com/blog/out-of-focus-photography?dd_referrer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com.hk%2F.

4. Yes, they can. Infact, most of the photos I used included more than one element. The photo I used for tone includes a shape as well. Not only that photo, but all of the photos I used included shapes.

• Pictorialism was a movement that emerged in the 1800s. The movement made photography into an art form, using beauty, tonality, and composition. It was made because of the growing popularity of straight photography, which was bland and simple.
• Straight photography is focused on taking photos that are detailed and sharp. Mainly just showing the subject and objects as they originally were.
• Straight photography is different from pictorialism because it’s not as much of an art form. Straight is a basic photography form, unlike pictorialism, which is supposed to look more like art.
• Straight photography was popular amongst photographers because they didn’t like how pictorialism was too artificial.
• Edward Weston is influenced by straight photography since he takes photos similar to how they were, without changing much.

• Aaron Siskind takes photos of things close up, but doesn’t manipulate anything.

“Pictorialist Photography.” Encyclopedia of Photography, edited by Jane Doe, vol. 3, XYZ Press, 2020, pp. 123-125.

“Straight Photography Movement.” Photography History Online, 15 Sept. 2023, www.photographyhistoryonline.com/straight-photography.

Abstraction is photography that doesn’t have much meaning behind it. The objects in the photo are very basic and sometimes hard to identify. There’s only around one to two different objects that are, most of the time not detailed. There are a lot of times where photos are blurry, or are very close up. They can real objects that all the meaning has been taken out of them.