For assignment 2 I decided to do ‘Heads’ and conducted research into portraiture to get an understanding of the history and practice. I discovered that there is almost constant reworking of concepts behind (traditional) portraiture, challenging, and inspiring in equal measure. I found an interesting article in the New York Times There’s Less to Portraits Than Meets the Eye, and More (https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/23/magazine/theres-less-to-portraits-than-meets-the-eye-and-more.html) and it makes some very interesting points about the interpretation of portraits and the often held beliefs of people viewing them, their preconceptions and the and ambition of photographers “We tend to interpret portraits as though we were reading something inherent in the person portrayed. We talk about strength and uncertainty; we praise people for their strong jaws and pity them their weak chins. High foreheads are deemed intelligent. We easily link the people’s facial features to the content of their character. This is odd. After all, we no longer believe you can determine someone’s personality by measuring their skull with a pair of calipers. Phrenology has rightly been consigned to the dustbin of history. But physiognomy, the idea that faces carry meanings, still haunts the interpretation of portraiture…The reason for the temptation is obvious: Faces are malleable. […]
Gestalt theory in photography The human brain works in exciting ways to understand reality and perceive the world around it. Armed with a good understanding of Gestalt theories, you can improve your compositional ideas and create more powerful images that effectively intrigue your audiences and draw them into your world. Key concepts Gestalt: the idea that the whole is different than the sum of its parts. Figure-Ground: we will always tend to differentiate a form from it’s surroundings. The shape or form that serves as the focus of an image is the figure, and the surroundings or negative space is known as the ground Continuation: The law of continuity posits that the human eye will follow the smoothest path when viewing lines, regardless of how the lines were actually drawn. Proximity: Elements that are placed close to each other will often be perceived as one group. The close proximity unifies them together and will help to form a figure within an image. Similarity & Proximity Two important gestalt principles are similarity and proximity. Visual elements that are near each other will be seen as belonging and grouped; those that are similar will also be seen as belonging together. The […]
I’ve wanted to do a photography degree for a while now. I’ve been taking photos for years – my camera comes everywhere-, but I’ve come to a point where there are some fundamental questions I’d like to be able to answer with more confidence. For example, what makes a great photograph? Is it in the eye of the beholder? Is it because someone of note gave it a good review? or is there something more fundamental going on? What do you need to consider when putting a series of photos together? What style or genre of photography do I really want to pursue? How do I develop my style? How do I put aside my prejudices and nurture objectivity? Intent? Today, I was reading one of the course books, The Photograph-Graham Clarke-which I’m enjoying very much, but in one section he talks about a photo by Diane Erbus – Identical Twins 1967- he uses it to discuss (very well) the complexity of reading a photo. While he described the photo, it struck me that he talked a lot about Arbus’s intent-now for one photo there was a hell of a lot of intent! Now, I don’t know if Diane Erbus […]
