The Art of Seeing

Essex County Council libraries have come up trumps again.  I have managed to get my hands on two volumes of "The Art of Seeing".  This is a collection of some of the finest photographs coming from the photographers of the Reuters News Picture Service.

The vision expressed in these photographs is just amazing - there are simply too many fantastic photographs to list any particular one, though I do have some favourites.  Each is annotated by the photographer which puts the photograph in its context.  What sets these apart is that in most cases considerable thought was given into the design and structure of the photograph, despite the moment in some cases being quite fleeting.

All manner of subjects are covered, as could be expected.  From sport to dance, war and natural disasters.  Meetings of heads of state and fashion.  There is something there for all tastes, but they do have one thing in common - they are inspiring.

Assignment 2: Elements of Design

The whole process leading up to this assignment was challenging, but thoroughly enjoyable.  Certainly I feel that I am now viewing potential "subjects" with these design elements in mind.

The purpose of this visual design is to support the subject matter.  An interesting book on this subject is that by Freeman Patterson - "Photography and the art of seeing".  This was a little gem found by searching through the catalogue of books available in Essex libraries.  Quoting from the book, "If we look at something that might seem mundane, such as a gravel pit, we are first aware of what it expresses in only the most general sense: destruction, desolation, loneliness, timelessness.  The message or theme is expressed in the sum of the features of our subject matter.  It is only later that we observe the details - their shapes, textures and colours that form their inherent design."  The challenge, however is not to codify the subject matter into specific design elements, but to use these elements intuitively in order to express the qualities inherent in the subject.

The brief for this assignment called for me to incorporate the insights learned so far on this course into a set of photographs directed towards one type of subject.  I am to produce at least 10 photographs, all of a similar subject, which between them will show the following effects:

• single point dominating the composition;
• two points;
• several points in a deliberate shape; 
• a combination of vertical and horizontal lines; 
• diagonals;
• curves;
• distinct, even if irregular, shapes;
• at least two kinds of implied triangle;
• rhythm;
• pattern.

I chose for my subject, the buildings and gardens comprising the "Cressing Temple", This is a historic monument established by the Knight's Templar in the 13th Century.  A truly fascinating place which I visit regularly.  A link to a leaflet which gives a bit more detail is here.

A single point dominating the composition

Window:  ISO200  93mm  f11  1/160

The single point here is the window in the side of the granary house.  Its size and white colour causes it to dominate the image, even though the old brickwork is in itself interesting.  I used ISO 200 to give me flexibility as in my camera there is little loss of quality but it gives me greater flexibility.  An aperture of f11 was selected to provide good sharpness throughout without any loss of quality due to lens design.

Two points

Eyes:  ISO200  105mm  f11  1/50

Decorative heads around a water feature provided the two points for me.  The mouth contained a water spout, but the eyes are so "piercing", they just had to be done.  To enhance the image, I cropped tightly, giving a symmetrical image either side of the nose.  My concern here was to make sure that I had sufficient depth of field throughout, as I was shooting quite closely at the maximum focal length for the lens.  I also chose a "head" which was in shade so that I had even lighting throughout.  I felt that harsh shadows would detract from this image.

Several points in a deliberate shape

Lily pond:  ISO200  80mm  f16  1/40

I found that the lily leaves in the pond formed the number four, giving me this shape, which based around a triangle.  As I was shooting at an angle to the surface of the pond, I wanted to maximise my depth of field so I selected f16 as the most suitable aperture.  To me, the brickwork reflecting in the pond added texture and further interest, so I did not attempt to remove these reflections using a polarising filter.

A combination of vertical and horizontal lines

Wheat Barn detail:  ISO200  105mm  f14  1/125

For this, I was seduced by the plethora of actual horizontal and vertical lines formed by the brickwork and the wooden structure of the barn.  I felt that a "head on" shot of this wall was too static, so I moved slightly to the side giving gentle diagonals leading the eye through the photograph.  By using the modest telephoto of 105mm, I managed some compression as well which has made the wall less static.  I selected f14 as the aperture which would provide me with sufficient depth of field, from side to side and this also gave me a comfortable shutter speed for the focal length.

Diagonals

Walled garden:  ISO200  24mm  f16  1/80

The path alongside the wall in the Medieval garden has provided strong diagonals which lead the eye to the tree positioned at the end and then the small figure underneath the tree.  I enhanced the effect using a wide angle of 24mm and then used a small aperture of f16 to provide me with good sharpness throughout.

Curves

Temple grounds:  ISO200  32mm  f14  1/80

One of the paths in the grounds, leading to the walled garden in the distance, provided me with an elegant curve for this photograph.  I enhanced this by using a medium wide angle of 32mm and an aperture of f14 has provided me with good sharpness throughout.

Distinct, even if irregular, shapes

Stairway to heaven:  ISO200  32mm  f14  1/250

This fire escape caught my eye as soon as I walked in into the Cressing Temple grounds.  This led from the top floor at one end of the Granary building.  I shot this as a semi-silhouette as I wanted to retain some detail in the metal work.  To me this had a large number of shapes, ranging from curves, through vertical lines, diagonals and triangles.  What appealed to me was just the graphic nature of this structure.  I took quite a number of different shots from different angles, but this, I feel, came closest to what I wanted.  I wanted the structure to be sharp, so used an aperture of f14 and exaggerated some of the lines by using a mid-wide angle.

Two kinds of implied triangle

Corner of wheat barn:  ISO200  16mm  f16  1/30

 Shooting close to one corner of this barn, using a very wide angle has created a triangle by convergence.  This is very much a standard form of an implied triangle.

Planters:  ISO200  73mm  f18  1/30

The two planters standing on top of the wall pillars and the rounded form of the bay tree against the wall has created a natural triangle.  The viewer's eye is drawn to this triangle formed by the 3 shapes.  Standing back and using a small amount of telephoto has strengthened this effect by making the three object appear as though they were in the same plane.  I ensured good depth of field by using an aperture of f18.

Rhythm

Waves 1:  ISO200  f4  1/1250

The curved roof tiles on top of the 16th Century farmhouse in the grounds gave me plenty of opportunity to explore the use of rhythm.  I have, here selected three photographs which illustrate rhythm, using the same subject, but taken from different angles.  The tiles suggested waves to me, flowing in a strong motion from left to right.  In "waves 1", I angled the shot so as to look over the top of the waves and, additionally, I used an aperture of f4 to provide a shallower depth of field, focusing a third of the way into the frame.  This, to me adds to the sense of movement.

Waves 2:  ISO200  105mm  f13

In "waves 2", I shot this much more "square on" onto the roof, using a small aperture of f13 to provide good depth of field.  This now gives the look of repeating "U"s moving from left to right across the image.  The valley of the "U" is now much more pronounced and the tiles give the impression of crests of waves going vertically up the photograph.  Again, a definite sense of movement from left to right.  The imperfections and irregularities of the tiles seem to add to this sense of movement.

Waves 3:  ISO200  98mm  f18  1/80

In "waves 3" I wanted to give a starting point to the rhythm or movement and the small black "chimney" provided this.  Shooting lower down the roof, provided a shot of the edges of the lowest tiles and this now gives a much different impression.  Firstly, the rhythm is anchored at one end, and now the waves move from there, though they appear to have much greater peaks, giving a "choppier" movement.  I felt that for this to work, I needed to shoot at a small aperture to maximise DOF.

Pattern

Barn roof:  ISO200  105mm  f14  1/200

I found, again, I had many choices of subject, the first of which was this barn roof.  It could have been usd as a "single point" with the diamond shape in the top left.  I stared at this roof for some time and the different colours and shades of tile seemed to create patterns across the frame.  I then played around with different ways of expressing this and, by increasing blacks, brightness and contrast in Lightroom, as well as rendering the photograph in Black and White, I arrived at the image below.

Barn roof 2

In B&W this starts showing the various patterns I could see in the roof tiles - irregular, but significant.

Path:  ISO200  24mm  f16  1/80

The path, I feel is a much more natural / traditional representation of "pattern", her the bricks being laid out in what is a herringbone pattern.  The crop of the photograph enables the mind to expand the pattern, in this case, in all directions.

Hoppé Portraits - Society, Studio & Street

Well, this week I finally made it to the exhibition - on a Thursday evening during one of the National Portrait Gallery's "Late Shift". Before talking about the exhibition, I would just like to mention the concept of the "Late Shift".  This is the most innovative idea I have come across for a long time.  On Thursday and Friday evenings, the Gallery is open until 9pm, with a bar in the main foyer, a DJ playing some great music (on the day I went) and a variety of other activities.  There is a lovely relaxed atmosphere which really helps in viewing the exhibitions.

The first thing which struck me about the exhibition was how prolific Hoppé was - I imagine that the photographs which were on display were only a part of the main collection.  Some of the photographs were original vintage photographs and some were modern reprints - however this did not detract from the pleasure of viewing them.

So what were my impressions.  Hoppé captured the spirit of the subject, whether the androgynous look of Vaslav Nijinsky (1914) image here, the confidence of a young Margot Fonteyn (1935) see image, taken after her first major performance at the age of 16, or the thoughtfulness of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1912) see image here. With regard to much of his early work, there is a soft quality in the vintage prints which just could not be reproduced in digital.  This is not just due to the very wide apertures used by Hoppe, but also the materials of the period, such as the gelatin silver prints.

One of the most exciting series of prints in this exhibition, was "street" which was Hoppe's venture into street photography, sometimes using cameras which were hidden inside brown bags with a hole for the lens!  It is, however, a great insight into English and in particular, London, life.  Here were some of my favourite photographs:

British Museum Underground Station (1937) see image here, for me the curves of the tunnel, the positioning of the man looking at the advert and the light pouring in from the end of the tunnel come together just so well that I am constantly drawn to it.

Sandwich Board Man (1945)  see image here  There is a tremendous dignity of the Indian person who was carrying the advertising boards.  Clearly he is on a the street, but the use of the wide aperture and the low positioning of the camera, give the man such great importance.

Assignment 2: Planning and execution

Well, I have at last arrived at the point where all the exercises and projects which lead up to the assignment have been completed and its time to get going with the assignment.  I have been working up to this in the background and have set myself the task of completing this assignment within the grounds and in the barns, garden, grounds of Cressing Temple as well as some of the activities going on in there.  I feel that doing it this way and basing it around a pretty small area, will be quite challenging and will provide some photo-journalistic feel to the assignment.

Exercise: Rhythms and patterns

Following on from the preceding commentary, is an exercise where the brief asks for at least 2 photographs; to convey rhythm and to show pattern.  I have taken several photographs in my quest to demonstrate this and have chosen two of each as representative.

Rhythm

Barn wall:  ISO 200  105mm f14 1/125

 I have given this image a tight horizontal crop as I feel that this works well and accentuates the design so that the viewer's eye can move from point to point in a rythmical way.  To make this work, I have taken this at a slight angle and compressed the perspective using a telephoto lens setting.  By using f14 as the aperture, I provided sufficient sharpness across the image.  The eye movement is from black post to black post and some lingering with the brickwork framed by the posts.

Mongol bows:  ISO 400  84mm f4  1/60

A pretty "neutral" arrangement of the bows arranged in a tent at a medieval fair.  The angle / curvature of the bows is such that the eye is led across the frame from left to right.  I used the widest aperture available to me on that lens as I wanted to reduce and remove distractions from the background, however this was not entirely successful.  Again, I have used a tight crop to match the flow.

Patterns

Arrows:  ISO 200  65mm  f4  1/1000

 The photograph of the arrows standing vertically in a container has created a significant pattern.  I used a shallow deoth of field to try and add to the abstract quality of this pattern.  A tight crop gives the suggestion that there is more to this pattern than can be seen immediately.  This certainly works for me!

Leather bags:  ISO 200  35mm f5.6  1/125

 This time the pattern is made up of clearly visible and identifiable objects.  They are suspended on a grid and by cropping, the suggestion is that there are more bags to be seen and that the pattern extends beyond the present boundary which I have imposed.  In my view the pattern works with a limited number of objects and the viewer can try to organise them into shapes.

A bit of both?

Footpath:  ISO 200  24mm f16  1/80

Within the walled garden in Cressing Temple, the footpaths are made of this brick, herringbone design.  When I took this shot, the sky had clouded over, so I enhanced this slightly in Lightroom, giving an extra 1/2 stop exposure and moving the left hand side of the histogram until black clipping just occurs.  The effect has been to give greater clarity to the design.

The question is whether this shows rhythm or whether it is a pattern.  I shot this initialy with pattern in mind, however, looking at it on the screen there seems to be more than just a suggestion of flow across the frame, in both directions.  Therefore should this be classified as rhythm?

Project: Rhythm and pattern

Rhythm has been defined in our text as dynamic repetition and pattern as spatial repetition.  What does this mean?  When we want to have the viewer's eye move across the frame or photograph we need to establish a sequence across the photograph which conveys movement.  An example of this from some of my previous photographs could be:

Beach Huts: ISO 200  160mm  f16  1/250

 In the photograph above, I have reproduced it cropped to emphasize the rhythm or movement across the frame.  Even though these are static objects, the differences in colour create a flow across the frame.  This was shot at an optimum aperture to ensure sharpness and good depth of field, whilst still providing a good shutter speed to ensure lack of camera shake.

Pattern is very much static and not neccessarily ordered.  There is no flow so the eye takes in the whole.  Ideally patterns would fit the frame to ensure there is no distraction.  Patterns would also have large numbers of individual items, whether actual items, shapes or patches of colour.

Peacock:  IS0 200  80mm  f5.6  1/125

In the photograph above I have used an old image of a peacock which I have given a tighter crop to emphasize the pattern and to contrast it with the photograph which shows rhythm.  The tight frame also suggests that there is more of the pattern available.

Project: Circles

The text says that circles are less easy to find and they are dependent on real objects.  They are a powerful boundary and carry greater weight of importance compared to other design features.

Ring:  ISO 800 100mm f5.6 1/500

 In the photograph above, despite there being an implicit triangle in the design, whose boundaries are the tree branches, the Gunnera plant on the left and the lake edge, it is the lifebelt which leaps out of the photograph.  I saw this image in precisely that way - unfortunately in my haste I did not consider the camera setting which I had used - an ISO of 800 was unnecessary here.

Red Cabbage Tree:  ISO 200  105mm  f8  1/200

The cabbage on this vegetable stallattracted my attention - even though we have the strong, white core of the cabbage pointing inwards - diagonals - the main design feature to me are the concentric rings provided by the cabbage's own structure.  The shallow depth of field, created by the close up and use of a telephoto setting adds to ensuring that the focus of the viewer's attention is the heart of the cabbage.

Door decorations:  ISO 200  28mm  f9  1/80

I consider this to be an example of an implicit circle which has been created by the "ring" of metal "flowers" arranged on this door.  The eye is not distracted by the shape to the right, it is always led to the centre by virtue of strength of this circular arrangement.  I used a square framing to this image as I felt this was the most appropriate way to present it.  Somehow, circles work well in a square, perhaps because they have, in common, a regularity and tightness of shape.