A key attribute to the idea of simple & complex is the theory of binary opposition. French anthropologist Levi Straus theorized that a key part of media is opposing narratives i.e. good & bad, right & wrong, etc. This is a result of his understanding that the human mind classifies things through binary opposition- the contrasts between two things; so in turn all elements of human culture can only be understood in relation to one another and how they function within a larger system or the overall environment.
This is not only relevant to media products but also to products of the artistic spectrum. For example, people can recognize the major contrast between things such as black and white as well as dark and light. These contrasts are often taken advantage of by artists in order to convey extra effect.
An excellent example of this would be Kristen Regan’s series of images literally called ‘Binary oppositions‘ – in which she takes advantage of the binary opposites of black & white/ light & dark to create some interesting abstract pieces using fluid.
Images from Regan’s ‘Binary Opposites’
This is a technique I wanted to include in my project, as of course the theme ‘simple & complex is a blatant example of contrasting factors; so I used this contrast to my advantage when framing my final prints in order to give extra effect.
To do this I used 4 images of architecture, 2 of which could be described as ‘simple’ and 2 which are more ‘complex’. After printing to A3 & playing with the order I mounted them onto a large piece of foamboard alongside each other.
My story involves a walk through a woodland area, with the literal and imaginary depictions of the setting both being included.
A Paragraph:
My book won’t be fully story-focussed, as some of the images have little correlation between each other, so it will be difficult to make it the primary focus. It will depict a woodland area, both in a wide view showing of an entire scene as well as the minute details which make up the area.
Designing the Book:
Paper and ink
I would like to use a matte paper for this book as it will give the paper a slightly more rough feel to it. I also think that the lack of a glare will make it easier to see the darker images I will include. As of right now (before creating the sequence/layout for the book) I would not mind using either white or black coloured paper.
Format, size and orientation
I think a similar size, format and orientation to my previous photobook would work nicely, that being around A4 in size and portrait orientation. The portrait orientation will allow for double and single page spreads using my landscape images. A4 size would be good for my AI generated images due to their very low resolution, a smaller
Binding and cover
My book will have an image wrap on the cover (shown above), the image includes themes of the dangerous woodland, however I have edited it to have an artificial look, linking with the AI part of my project. I would like my book to be a hardcover, as it would put greater focus on the image and title.
Structure and architecture
As all of my previous zines/books, I will make my structure of the book as symmetrical as possible, as it allows for an effective sequence and ensures that each type of image (woodland landscape, object and AI image) does not feel out of place in the book.
Design and layout
The book will include double/single page spreads, pages with 2 images on them at once (this is due to the AI image being a much lower resolution compared to the other images). I will juxtapose the AI generated images with the real images that influenced them.
Images and text
I will not be including any text on the book aside from the title on the cover, the title on the first page spread, and on the spine.
My first idea relates to the theme of complex, and I am planning to create a series of images where I have framed, cropped and warped images of more conplex/ sophisticated buildings to create an abstract piece where you almost cannot tell it is a buidling, and so it comes across more like a piece of abstract art. The uniform nature of modern buildings alongside the straight edges + sharp corners are very good to work with.
A further layer of complexity is added to these images as I captured photos of Jersey’s rising financial district and new housing developments which see large modern buildings being erected almost annually, a focal point in the gentrification of Jersey.
Results
Process
The main part of capturing these images was both finding the right angles as well as the right framing. Due to a lot of the buildings I photographed having a lot of windows needed to find an angle where there wasn’t too much glare- while still keeping the framing just right.
This is an example of one of my images where I didn’t quite get the framing & angle right, as you can see i wouldn’t be able to achieve my desired effect without excessive cropping + the lighting and glare on the balconys doesn’t fit in with what I’m trying to do.
Another example of a failed image
Editing Process
Adjust the colour balance
Cropping
Experimenting with image rotation, liked this as it looks even less like a building and more like a pattern
Printed Pieces
Final Edit
This print is a combination of the below images which I have rotated and put next to each other to create a complex piece where you can’t quite tell what you’re looking at without looking for longer. The Intricate array of rooftops from an aerial shot of Jersey’s town is the subject.
I am pleased with this piece as it portrays exactly as I intended, presenting as more of a complex pattern / abstract art piece rather than a simple landscape photo.
Final Print 1
For my second piece I simply mounted a photo of one of the finance buildings, I found that this photo didn;s need much editing as it already had enough complexity due to me framing two buildings into one photo in a way that sort of merges them together.
In the end the only thing I changed was the rotation of the image, to make it fit in more with my attempt at making images of architecture that come across more as patterns than buildings which I think was successful.
For my first photograph, I ended up photographing a picture of the Berlin wall way after it was built up and knocked down. I enjoyed the overall look of this photograph as it gave off quite a freeing image as it is extremely damaged and has also been vandalised, indicating that people have the freedom to do whatever they want to it and to show that it is no longer a worry to them. I wanted to take the photograph at a different angle so that I could show off the extent of the size that it is, photographing it at a sideways angle made me think that I was managing to get a feel of how large the wall is.
For my second photograph, I decided to photograph an almost urban location from within Berlin as to show what the city looks like nowadays after the events of the war. I wanted to follow a similar editing theme to that of the first one by making it black and white. I was heavily inspired by Michael Schmidt with this photograph as I mainly focused on the urban aspects of the city rather than the rural areas which is something the Schmidt has showcased in his book “Berlin nach 45”.
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For my third photograph, I ended up following the same approach with the style of the image to the first and second image. For this image, I decided to photograph within Auschwitz and I really wanted to display the building in the background followed by the barbed wire in front of it. I once again took inspiration from Michael Schmidt when editing my image, maintaining the eerie sense of this German occupant concentration camp. Michael’s work tends to consist of buildings within the area of Berlin that are manufactured or improved after the events of World War II. His images tend to be quite simple but I went for a more complex approach by containing more into the image such as the barbed wire overlapping over the building in the background.
For my fourth photograph, I decided to photograph the alleyway between one of the buildings in Auschwitz and the barbed wire that was used to prevent anyone from escaping the facility. I wanted to capture just the sheer amount of fear that the victims of this concentration camp would have had to endure by enhancing its terrifying layout of the location. Once again I decided to add on a black and white filter, just to make the image look a lot more dispiriting and to show the negative impact this has on the society.
Physical prints – Mounting my photographs
Here I have a selection of my physical prints which I have mounted up and laid out. I wanted to take an image from each photoshoot and print them off as an A3 image as to really illustrate the large impact given off at a large-scale. I wanted to highlight their importance so I made separate window mounts for each image so that they are their own thing but can also come together in a series.
After mounting my large A3 images, I went onto laying out my A4 images by first laying them out on both a black and white background to see which one I much preferred. After selecting which one I wanted to use, I grabbed some foam board and spray mounted an image onto the board and cut around it as to create a lifted image. I repeated this for another image so that I had two in total, I wanted to have two lifted images and two completely flat images on the board.
Image I decided to add foam board underneath for more height
Other image I stuck onto foam board
Below I have another example of a print layout experiment that I ended up doing as to finalise what colour I wanted to use for the background of my images. I ended up choosing white in the end as I thought it complimented the images more than the solid black.
After my images had been printed out, I began mounting them up based on my plans.
I started with these three images, trimming them down and sticking them to foam board to create a simple display. Unfortunately the colours came out a little differently in the print, especially the middle image of the green bottles as all of the images appear more yellow-green than green-blue.
I then began working on my 6 image window mount. This was difficult to make because of the detailed measuring needed to create a successful display. It took me a while to figure out but I am very happy with the final display. Unfortunately when placing my images inside, two of them got switched by accident but it does not effect the final version too badly.
While I was originally going to create this display as a window mount, I changed my mind when it was time to assemble, instead placing on foam and then putting it against the black background. I feel that this is more effective as there is a higher contrast between the plain background and the detailed abstract images. This change is also partially because I was having difficulties placing three A4 images on one piece of paper in a pleasant layout.
I also made another triptych that was unplanned, I decided to pick two images with similar colours and juxtapose them against an image with contrasting colours.
Overall I am very happy with my final image displays, despite the slight colour change in the prints, I feel that they show off my photographic style used in this project quite well and make interesting displays.
This is the final layout which I have chosen for my photobook, this process involved organising and sequencing my photos by hand which I then inputted in to Adobe Lightroom where i experimented with a range of different layouts for each page and my front/back covers. I am happy with how my photobook turned out because I like how it shows the simplicity of still life through the photobook layout consisting of just photographs with no text as you are able to see the different abstractions of shapes/shadows/reflections/colours/etc which was the main focus of my photoshoots – due to the inspiration of my previous case studies of Andre Kertesz, Paul Outerbrige and Jaroslav Rossler – and this was created through the editing of my photographs afterwards as there is a continued flow of circular and square shapes throughout the book along with different colours such as browns/oranges/reds/pinks/purples and the use of the black and white filter which can be found in many photos taken by my artist references as well. I also think that my title for my book is very unusual as it is ‘The shadowed reflection’ this initiates a lot of mystery in to what the photobook may consist of as shadows don’t typically have reflections and the use of the word ‘shadowed’ indicates that it may be hiding something about the photos, as this is what a shadow typically does. I think that my photobook also represents my photobook references which I used for inspiration well which were the Vagus magazine and ‘Breakfast’ my Niall McDiarmid as they both showed the simplicity of images which had elements of reflections and shadows throughout as well as the incorporation of different colours and how vibrant they may be.
Overall, I feel the images I produced whilst making this project are amongst my best due to the range in colour & lighting that provided unique perspectives for each image – for example in my first photoshoot, all my final images were taken with the same coloured artificial lighting, however all had different outcomes – some darker, some more shaky and some with elements of yellow, pink and orange seeping into the corners of the image, which I really liked as it represents each of my artist references well yet still combines my own idea of photography. I am also really satisfied with the outcome of the second photoshoot – I think the use of natural lighting provides a good contrast from my other photoshoot and shows I have range and flexibility in my work – I also really like how the lighting rests on the figures in my images, whether it is fully covering them like the figure in the image above, or if it only illuminates a section of their face – either way this vibrant burst of golden lighting catches the viewers eye and overall makes the image more interesting to observe. If I could go back and redo this project, my only note would to be to take more photos in different locations with different colours other than red / orange / yellow. Although I did do this in my first photoshoot, my purple & blue images unfortunately did not have the outcome I wanted and were either too blurry or did not have enough areas of different tones whereas the images I did end up using were much more visually pleasing. I would also make more use of the natural lighting element and capture photos on bleaker days where there is less colour, as even though it doesn’t relate to my project idea as well, I still find the idea of bleaker lighting e.g sky on a cloudy day interesting as there is still beauty in the element of natural lighting. I felt in my project i also took note of my artist references well and my inspirations clearly reflected onto my work, for example my ‘shaky’ images from photoshoot 1 show Vinca Petersen’s chaotic style and how it has effected my work, and the red / orange colour scheme shows the inspiration Nan Goldin’s work has had mine, as the use of red in her work represents intimacy and strong emotion and I feel I replicated that to the best of my extent. I conclusion i feel although i could have produced more images with the time I was given, I am still very satisfied with the outcome of my project.
My second idea for a possible final presentation was to make a small zine to showcase my work using InDesign. However, i only chose a select few final images to work with and did not feel like adding more to lengthen the zine, so will probably choose to frame up my images instead and display them on a board. Nonetheless, I still wanted to experiment with a zine to show range within my work and generate possible future presentation ideas for other projects.
I chose this image as my front cover as it is one of two portrait images i took and I feel this one is the better of the two due to its bolder, more vibrant colours and figure placed in the middle to provide a primary viewpoint. I also made the background of all my pages black as I wanted to mute the background colour and have the focus solely on my images.
I made the next two pages landscape to better fit their format and placed the two darkest images from this shoot next to each other as their colours complimented each other well.
I didn’t want to mix my images from each photoshoot whilst producing the zine as I wanted to show the distinct difference between images taken with artificial vs. natural lighting. I placed these two next to each other as I think the first transitions nicely into the second as the lighting gradually grows lighter and more yellow-toned as the image progresses.
I chose to display these images together as I think they both have a unique perspective and the contrast between the figures in image 1 facing towards the camera vs. the figures in image 2 both turned away show a good contrast between the insider vs. outsider perspective I attempted to convey in my work.
Like the first slide, I chose to present my final image in portrait mode, using a photo from my first shoot to match my front cover. Although I like the final presentation of my zine, I still think I would rather present my images up on a board instead as I feel it is a cleaner presentation and makes each photo more defined and more interesting to look at.
To begin the process of designing my photobook I started off by printing out my images into smaller versions and lying them all out on a sheet of white paper, this allowed me to clearly see what images I had and what may work well together. This can be seen through the photo underneath where I organised the photos in to pairs of what looked well together and what worked well by itself, this would help me later on when putting the photos in to Lightroom and deciding how they look next to one another. Finally to complete this process so that I was able to move on to bringing the layout in to Lightroom, I put the photos in a specific order of how I would like them to appear. Therefore, I am happy with the layout which I have chosen to experiment with in Lightroom as I think that the photos flow nicely in to one another due to the use of shapes and colours which are continued thorughout.
The layout in Lightroom –
I began the process of creating my book in Lightroom by creating an initial layout of the images which I had previously organised by hand and then started to experiment with different page layouts and what to use for my front/back cover and title.
Layouts for page spreads that I have used –
These are the 7 layouts which I have decided to use continually throughout my book, these can be seen below. I think that I have chosen a good amount of layouts to work with as there is not too many and they all work well with each other.
Left hand single page square spread.
Double page square spread.
Right hand single page square spread.
Right hand single page double picture spread.
Single portrait right hand side spread and full page rectangular spread.
Double page square spread.
Single page right hand side spread.
3/4 page spread on either left or right side.
Front cover experiments –
For this experiment, I brought the images in to photoshop and used the invert filter on an image which I had chosen to use as my front cover, personally I did not like this so I chose not to use it.
For this experiment for my cover page, I used an image on either side and lined them up in the middle.
For this experiment for my cover page, I used an image on either side but this one was slightly off centred with how it lined up which I liked as it added an element of abstraction to the image.
For this experiment for my cover page, I used an image in a square in the middle of the front cover and filled the background with a colour which was similar to the ones used in the image.
For this experiment for my cover page, I inserted an image to an image drop area on which placed it into the centre of my cover page, I then altered the opacity levels with a black colour over the top which made the image appear darker and I liked this affect more as I think that it controlled the lighting in the photograph more, therefore I chose this as the image which I will use for my front/back cover.
Title experiments –
Above, are the different experiments which I carried out when deciding on the placement of my title ‘The shadowed reflection’, I decided that it looked best in the middle of the page using the Baskerville old face font in size 28.5 in white as it stood out well amongst the cover page. I also decided to add my name on the back cover on the left hand side in the lower corner in a smaller font size of 22, this is because I didn’t want it to distract anybody from the main photo of the front cover.
