Mood Board

A mood board can be defined as an arrangement of images, materials, pieces of text, etc. intended to evoke or project a particular style or concept.

Below is a mood board to display the theme of ‘Looking and Seeing’.

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Ideas

Uta Barth

Uta Barth is a German-American photographer, born in 1958, who is known for her unique outlook on the style of her experimental photography. This is as she states, that her aim is to allow the audience to have freedom with their perception, and the thoughts it produces, instead of being passive to what the photographer wants you to see and feel. Barth does this by experimenting with focus and aperture, taking photos that are mainly blurry.

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Saul Leiter

Saul Leiter was an American photographer and painter, born in 1923, known for being a contributor to early colour photography, whilst he documented the streets, architecture and people of New York, usually in dreary weather. Leiter used long lenses to compress space, taking pictures from unique perspectives, using negative space and large out of focus areas.

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Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard was an American photographer, born in 1925, known for his experimental use of exposure in his photographs. Working as an optician, Meatyard was able to see how others perceptions of the world were varied, which is clearly translated in his work, especially in his series ‘Out of Focus’. This selection of abstract photos showcased black and white images of undistinguishable blobs, breaking down the conventional rules of photography. In addition, in his series ‘Zen Twigs’, Meatyard created images that displayed a blurred photograph containing one thin twig in focus which sliced through the image, foregrounding Meatyard’s precision when it comes to aperture.

Image Analysis

This black and white image by Ralph Eugene Meatyard, which is part of his ‘Zen Twigs’ series, showcases one single twig placed in the centre of the photograph. This placement leaves a lot of empty space for the eye to wonder, at the same time this space allows for a prodiminantly light piece. In addition, this twig acts as a leading line, to attract your attention to the extremely out of focus landscape behind it, which appears to be coastal.

Similar to Meatyard’s other photographs from this series, this image has been taken with a large aperture, resulting in a blurred background and focused foreground. Also, it is clear that this photo was taken with a fast shutter speed, due to the sharp and precisely focused foreground. Furthermore, the lighting of this photograph appears to be natural, as you can make out that it is a coastline landscape in the background and it is overcast allowing for the twig to cast no shadows, causing an image with little intensity.

Moreover, from his dramatic experimentation with focus, you can tell that Meatyard’s profession as an optician has strongly influenced the nature of his photography, as it appears that he is trying to see commonplace scenes from a different perspective. Also, this piece signifies his fascination with Zen as it displays such a peaceful and solitary image.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard Inspired Photoshoots

Contact Sheets

For my first photoshoot in Meatyard’s style, I set out on taking a series of close up photographs of twigs and plants, similar to his ‘Zen Twigs series’. For this I used the Aperture Priority setting on my camera to get the most blurry background possible.

For my second photoshoot, aimed to take pictures of people walking in hard natural lighting, creating silhouettes, to replicate Meatyard’s ‘Out of Focus’ series. For this I planned on switching my camera settings to manual focus, allowing me to control the level of blurriness and distortion.

Favourite Edited Images

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Final Image

I picked this photograph from my second photoshoot as my best image because, I believe that it best replicates Meatyard’s style of photography through focal experimentation. Also, I think the shapes created by the people walking are the most interesting, from this shoot especially, as they almost appear alien like. Furthermore, the lighting of this image works best as it has caused the figures to be silhouetted, allowing for a strong and dramatic contrast with the light background.

Evaluation

On reflection, I believe that I have successfully taken a series of images that clearly display that I have experimented with focus and aperture settings, and shown an understanding of Meatyard’s style and expression through this technique.

In addition, I think that my second photoshoot produced more interesting images than my first, however my first photoshoot included a wider variety of images and shapes.

In order to make my photos better, next time I would aim to take pictures of a larger number of people wearing dark clothing for better quality images and more variety. Also, for the twig photoshoot I would try and go to a more wooded area to allow for variety of shapes and patterns.