[In this version I interject several personal memories that these photographs bring to mind. This is done to indicate how memory can be embedded inside photographs even though you may not know the people who are looking at your work.]
We start off with a little bit of nature once again, with a somewhat skeletal shot of vines on a wall by Francesca.
The photo has been reduced to monochrome and the light falls off nicely at the edges. All of this gives this photo a lot of feel. The restricted view point and the close view flattens the space and throws the photo into a more painterly appearance.
This square-format color shot by Annie uses a similarly restricted viewpoint and a strong shadow to make an effective composition. Looking straight down flattens the space and makes the photographic frame act more like painters campus. The little dots in the bottom left-hand corner and the bricks the top left-hand corner balance and fill out the composition very well.
The slight desaturation in this photo by Courtney takes us out of real time. We have seen this visual device used before, filling two thirds of the frame with an obstructing shape forces in the viewers eye to move towards the background along the right side. The slight opening at the bottom of the venetian blinds, that no one uses anymore, presents the potential for someone to be inside, perhaps even peering back out at us.
Another square photo that is even more desaturated it shot again by Annie. This one also has a very restricted view point. There is an orange line that almost dissects the frame across the middle, and a little bit of what appears to be a window frame makes the possibility of the (past) life of someone behind all of this rubble.
While this shot of a broken basketball hoop by Jay may be identifiable, it is rendered in a really beautiful way. The tonality is reduced, the edge of the hoop goes out of the frame to the right while the edge of the broken backboard comes to the left edge of the photographic frame. The black pole supporting the hoop plays with the shapes of the trees behind. This good framing makes a compelling shot. Beyond the visual, we end up thinking about who might have played basketball here and how long ago that might have been.
Finally we get to pull back in this photograph of a suburban yard by Jake. The bent street bowl is just left of center and the frame is bisected by the horizon lines of the wires. It may be the emptiness of the shot that is the most interesting part.
This photo by Patty drops back even further. It is a sepia tone monochrome photograph that looks like a dream. The darkened corners emphasize this. The path takes us off into the distance which serves as a metaphor for memory.
This is another well framed photograph by Kevin. The tree gets cut at just the right places on the right top right corner in the path starts at the bottom left and moves back and then across the frame. The desaturation works very well and a black frame with a bit of chemical staining adds a really nice touch. Sometimes these edge effects become pretentious, but this one is subtle enough to work well. [The whole problem with emulating film effects in the digital domain can be problematic. If you like these kind of effect, you should consider shooting with a film camera rather than digital. The whole world of Lomography is calling you. (This the use of inexpensive low-end cameras shooting film with crazy processing to make really interesting photographs.) If you want more details about this please contact me and maybe we can create a new class! Some of this will be part of my Visual Studies Hybrid Darkroom class VS3863 in the Fall that is open to non-majors.)
The soft focus and desaturation of this photo by Jay really adds to its effect. It is a simple composition with a fence post placed perfectly in the frame. It has a nice separation between foreground and background and places the viewer into that space. I can almost feel the warmth of the sun on my face.
The fence gets harder in this shot by Judith as we move from country to city. Part of what makes this photo work is the white stone in the bottom right corner balancing the small tree in the top left corner. These items make it clear that you are seeing Judith's view not just a simple picture of a fence. That makes us consider what connection the artist has to this particular garden.
Courtney takes us to an empty swimming pool that is been painted, probably by skateboarders (if not just by graffiti artists). The frame is balanced between the black box on the right and the shadow on the left. The fence become the element that takes us from the previous frame to this frame, and watch, to the next. The three lights in the far background add extra layer of visual elements.
We zoom much closer in with this fence photo by Courtney. This is an interesting interplay of pattern because there is a fence in the foreground and another fence in the background and shadows of both. The cut-off viewpoint makes it all move towards the abstract yet there is still a space to enter and make us wonder what is inside.
Here we have another set of fences, this time straight, the first blocking our view down a long corridor. It may have been possible to get the bars of the fence to appear parallel by shooting from a slightly lower angle so that the line of sight is parallel to the floor. But looking into the deep space is a strong visual tool. The location is old and industrial, which seems to be popular to shoot in. Old spaces can retain the emotions of its inhabitants for a long time, and the inhabitants of this space were not happy.
The arch of the previous frame is echoed by the archway in the left corner of this photo by Patty. It is the turquoise garden set that is the main feature, however. It makes us wonder who might have sat here in the past. The question is echoed by the kids toy off in the background
This simple photo of two doors by Jake has almost the perfect quality of color. The writing above the door indicates that this might have been a childhood hang out. But the doors are now padlock closed…
Judith takes us from the world of doors to the world of windows with this shot where she's looking up at this beautiful rosette window of a church. It is the angle of view that makes it clear that this is Judith's point of view. This puts us into her frame of mind and makes us wonder what her connection is to this place.
This row of the backs of houses by Annie uses desaturation to achieve a color feel similar to that in Jake’s Door photo. There is another nice edge efffect being used here. [I have a similar interest in the backs of houses because I take the train down to Temple University sometimes. I pass through the Olney section of Philadelphia and the ways in which all the houses have been modified by their individual owners seems to tell me the history of each one of those families. Maybe I am a sociologist, but more probably I am just a romantic.]
This photo of a payphone by Annie is somehow peculiar. It seems straightforward but there is a strange reflective thing going on at the top of the frame that makes it seem like this might be some sort of reflection. But that doesn’t make photographic sense and you finally realize it is some kind of distressed surface that has been applied to the photo. This all works the make the phone look even older and more funky.
This close up by Francesca exist even further into the world of obsolete objects. All of the buzzer buttons are gone and the whole thing is rusting away. It is the close up view that keeps us focused and makes this photograph interesting.
Francesca takes us through the peephole to the interior of this dilapidated space. The fascinating part is that we can see Francesca looking. The question now is do we go in or do we stay safely out here?
Our shooter Francesca stays with the circular format in this photo, but this one is into a very clean and beautiful space. The curve of the banister and how it sits in the frame is what makes this work. The quality of light is also exceptional. I'm very glad that she did not put the post in the center of the frame.
Again the circular format is used by Mary, but in a completely different way. This photo takes us back outside where there is some extraordinary sunlight coming through two points of the photo. The pillars on both sides, especially the left, are perfectly positioned in the frame, and the viewpoint is from very low down, accentuating and expanding the space.
This viewpoint through a narrow space between buildings is shot by Francesca. This kind of view always pulls our minds through the space, out into the backyard behind. She has been careful to get the bars of the fence parallel, as mentioned earlier, And the fence acts as a barrier blocking our access. This adds tension to the photograph and has been said before, "Tension is good in photos".
Here's another photo by Kat that uses the same 'looking through' method. The light inside is dim, contrasting the brightness of the exterior. (This wide range of light value can sometimes be difficult to capture, so congrats.) There are poles in the ground pointing to the right edge of the photograph and there is the edge of the wall that lines up with the edge of the frame but also draws our attention to that side. The door on the left and pulls back across and out the door. There is a whole other world out there for us to ponder. The restricted tonal range of this photo and the previous one also make the shots more mysterious.
This photograph of a derelict interior by Kat is beautifully lit. The depth of the space allows us to walk around but then when you get to the bottom of the frame you realize there is a discontinuity. Now you're looking down to a lower floor which does not make sense at first. This is another source of visual tension but in this case we are drawn into the bottom space. This is very interesting.
This is a third photograph by Kat investigating the space, but it works in a completely different way from the other two. It does use the visual tool of looking through a space and out the far end but the scale is very different. Would it be too corny for me to suggest that this looks like 'the hope at the end of the tunnel'? There is a strong emotional element to this that is part of the Collective Unconscious, as defined by Psychiatrist Carl Yung.
Miyako gets a very different feeling of looking from the inside to the outside in this photograph. The scenery outside is a very different experience from what we have been looking at. The scene is enhanced by that line drawn by the telephone wire. [These resemble some of the photographs shot by John Pfahl, who produced a book called "Windows".]
Kevin presents us with another defused interior space, shot from a low angle. The monochrome color of the space is probably an inherent quality of the space but it still seems desaturated, adding to the feel of the space.
In this shot Kevin takes us outside and uses diffusion to great effect. This time we know the shot is reduced to monochrome and then toned (beautifully). It is not so clear what is causing the diffusion, however. Maybe it is rain, or mist of some sort. Whatever it is, it creates an intriguing atmosphere. [It takes me back to when I had a sports car and drove around like a maniac. I hope you are more careful.]
This is a curious shot by Courtney. It has some of the ambience of the previous frame but is quite different. Now it is sunset, and we are blessed by the beauty of industrial pollution. There is also a window frame and a little bit of the back of someone's head and that changes the whole scenario. It raises questions like, "Where are we, where are we going..."
Now we are out on the street waiting for a bus with Kevin. The bottom the frame goes soft focus that adds to the dreamy quality of the photo. The monochrome tonality also adds to the feel.
Courtney has us looking through a window once again, but this time in a very different manner. This is a bold and beautiful use of color. The blue and the orange are close to being complements (opposites). And the scene outside the window is a dream, rendered by a beautiful soft focus (created by forcing the camera to focus on the window frame that is very close).
This is a curious little photograph by Jay with a distressed sky and a darkened side of a building, perhaps on a farm. The weathervane at the top is beautiful. The combination of light and dark looks like an impending storm [that again reminds me of a time in my past when I got caught in a really bad hurricane. I hope none of you have had to experience a tornado!]
A screen is used by Mary to obscure our point of view in this photograph. There is a person in a landscape that we cannot get to and we do not know why we are being restrained by this screen. A curious quandary.
This photo, also by Mary, plays with a similar kind of patterning but this time it becomes a visual treat. What a curious combination of items!?
Francesca brings us into a rather amazing room. It is not clear if this is an antique shop or the corner of her eccentric grandparent’s home. Either way, we can spend quite a bit of time pondering this collection of objects. A little bit of extra added warm tonality make this shot even nicer.
Here we have another great collection of things, brought to us by Patty. The circumstances are a little bit more clear because of the Sale sign on the shelf. The color shift brings it home.
Courtney brings us to the beginning of the more abstract photos in this group. This is a simple straight down view of a gas cover in the sidewalk that is been spray-painted the yellow. It is the cigarette butt in the crack, however, that is the punchline. Very subtle and very clever.
This is another shot looking down, this time at a drain, by Patty. The flattening of space by the downwards view and the splattering of Magnolia petals across the ground push this more towards the world of painting. [I grew up with a magnolia tree in my front lawn.]
Now things start to get strange in this photo by Courtney. I am not sure if the color banding is actually part of the light fixture or part of the camera's reaction to the pulse of the fluorescent lights (not that I've ever seen this kind of color from florescents). The whole thing creates a really eerie feeling and the space becomes very small because of the upwards view. It almost makes me feel claustrophobic. Again – tension is good in photographs.
And finally, Courtney takes it all away out with this photo. There is no definite reference in this photograph yet it presents a great deal of energy through the use of light and color. [There is an ongoing question of how abstract images can convey meaning without reference. It comes down to how these images can connect with our subconscious and this might go beyond what we can convey through language.] This photo is at once compelling yet ominous. [When I find our work the touches me like this I usually go and find out more about the artist to discover what motivates them to make their work. You are lucky that you have direct access to this artist.]
This small dark photo by Mary is equally enigmatic but works on a completely different way. There is text that is a combination of a recipe and a scientific formula, all wrapped up in poetry. It is the quality of light however that amplifies the mystery. This is a good example of Text in Image. The writing does not explain the photo, nor does the photo depend on the text for its meaning. Nor does the photo illustrate the meaning of the text. They are both image forms that work together in a complimentary manner to inspire a viewer. Here are more interesting examples of Text as Image from the Berkowitz Photo Archives.
Here again, Mary uses some very pointed lighting to take what could be a very ordinary circumstance and make it intriguing. The back of the man's head, that is already a mystery, is further obscured by the back of the seat that takes up more than half of the frame. It is the softness of the light that is the best part, however.
Jay carries on with the transportation theme showing the mighty Amtrak train that still travels about half of what a bullet train does in Japan. [I ride on these tracks every week to come to Temple University, so I have some compassion for the people on that car.]
The irony of this photograph of a lost toothbrush on the baggage carousel by Mayuko is perfect. This brings to mind all those terrible times we have had in airports and does so in a humorous manner.
In this photo Mayuko creates another one of her abstract compositions with a bicycle and what appears to be part of a car after a crash! She does this very well through the use of a downward viewpoint and close up framing.
This photo by Mayuko uses another downwards glance but this time the space is very real and we can enter it. This one is more about the use of color shifting to create a curious environment.
. . . . . . . . . . .
This shot begins our last section of people pictures.
And this final shot by Mayuko documents the arrest of a gentlemen in Center City Philadelphia. I hope this is not another one of those memories that we are trying to forget. The grayscale rendering intensifies the moment.
This is a rather dramatic self portrait by Kevin. He has a camera almost down on the ground, giving us the viewpoint of a hockey puck. His face is perfectly framed by the stick. The diffused light and the color all work really well together.
This photo is a hard one to read. It is not clear if the wood is paneling on the wall or floorboards. That makes unclear if we are looking down on to this person or looking across at her. Having her face pushed all way down to the very bottom corner makes it more powerful and more puzzling. Just getting us a try to figure this out engages us in the photo. The next set of questions are; who is she, where's she going, and does he have any idea that we are watching her? Curious…
Patty uses a small section of face to make an intriguing photograph. This time, however, we have direct contact with this person's eyes and she is staring right back at us. Yikes! The building and the cherry blossoms are distorted because of the extreme upwards view, and this intensifies the photo, making the gaze even that much more intense.
Annie uses a downward view and close up framing to take that red cloth and make it a painterly slash of color across the frame. That couples with the extraordinary sunglasses that shows us a figure hovering above the model. We are left to draw our own conclusions of what is going on here.
Mayuko introduces us to the wonderful world of Japanese snacks. Her stare back at the camera is not self-conscious whatsoever (not so easy to do). If you can get your photographs to carry this kind of humor you're doing well.
This photo by Mayuko is the epitome of comfort. Again, she is not self-conscious.
Here is another seemingly comfortable shot by Annie, but, wait, what about those eyes? This photo takes us in what cold be opposite directions, adding to the mystery.
And what could be more fun than bubblegum, as demoed here by Courtney?
Thank you for all the good shooting on this topic.
