Below I have included a screenshot of the mood board I have created to demonstrate my first ideas when it comes to addressing the theme of ‘Simple and Complex’ which is our new exam project. Making this mindmap helped me to consider my first ideas and how they could start to happen, and the ideas in my head started to link to real life ideas, objects and structures. I really liked how broad this theme is, as it can be considered in a lot of different ways, and any images that I could take could even be linked to the concept of ‘simple’ or ‘complex’.

The Concept of ‘Simple’ Photography

I have looked through many images in order to come up with this mood board which addresses and helps me visualise what the idea of ‘simple’ looks like. Throughout this I have focus on the idea that either the style of photography is simple, or the objects or landscapes are simple in themselves. I really like the fact that searching through the internet to try and find images really does inspire me, and most importantly help me visual my ideas.

How will ‘Simple’ be present in my future project? I would like to take very simple images of complex and intricate structures and objects, as I would prefer to focus on this rather then the genre of portraiture. I think that me exploring simple kinds of photography, maybe like the work of Bernd and Hilla Becher as there concept is very interesting and could relate to taking photographs of any objects that I am interested in. I would like to take simple images of different aspects of nature, such as farm animals and flowers/ plants. I think that displaying my images in a typology will emphasise the fact that natural substances and complex in themselves, but within themselves they are considered to be simple formations. This will create the question of is nature simple of complex.

The Concept of ‘Complex’ Photography

When first considering the idea of complex images, its thought that these types of images take more application and technical skill. However, I think that taking photographers of controversial and not typical “complex” ideas is a more analytical way to approach this exam project. For example, some landscapes are not seen to be complex, however they may contain a lot of history, or be the home for a lot of natural life, and I think that consideration for things that do not appear complex but actually are is very relevant to my project.

How will ‘Complex’ be present in my future project? I would to focus on mostly the structural complexity of places/ objects that appear very simple, but are in fact very complex. For example, the concept of a flower has good connotations, along with them looking very simple. However, they some of them have very complex structures, with each part of these plants having very different but still vital functions throughout. I think that this concept is very interesting as images are very much viewed differently when it comes to the perceptive of the viewer. Furthermore, I would like to focus on the idea that perspective makes photographs either appear simple or complex, and this will be demonstrated by me taking images or very simple objects and educating people on how they can be complex and intricate too.

Mindmap

Simple

“Easily understood or done; presenting no difficulty, plain, basic, or uncomplicated in form, nature, or design; without much decoration or ornamentation.“

The concept of something simple can be seen throughout art and photography in different ways. For example, lighting, using a simple single source, or with context or intent of an image, for example taking photographs of traditionally simple or uninteresting things in a conventional way. The concept of simplicity can also be seen in arrangments of images, for example using a simple composition, simple colours, for example, black and white or only a selection of a few colours in an image. For example, posed, simply lit portraits can be seen as simple as only documenting the surface-level subject. If no context is given or hinted at in an image, it can be seen as simple at a first glance. Simple photography can be linked to minimalism, with minimalist photographs “stripping a subject down to its essence.” For example, classic photographs such as those of Ansel Adams are classic, well composed images of natural beauty, which have a traditionally simple concept and composition. Furthermore, images such as Alex Soth’s portraits in his project “Sleeping by the Mississipi” present as visually simple, with a clear use of the rule of thirds and with the subject often in the middle of the image. However, the context of his images and narrative behind them is often more complex. The two concepts of simple and complex are often intertwined in photography, and it is often difficult to call an image purely ‘simple’ or ‘complex’.

Complex

“Consisting of many different and connected parts; a group or system of different things that are linked in a close or complicated way; a network.”

Complexity in photography and art can be seen in many different contexts. It relates to its’ binary opposite of simplicity, as seemingly simple images can have complex ideas attached to them, such as contextual ideas, links to photographic movements, or complex processes and materials used to photograph. Complexity in photography can also relate to the presentation of images: for example using sculpture or manipulating images to create intricate presentations and different angles. For example, Cindy Sherman and Jim Goldberg’s work can be seen as complex due to the issues their photographs address – mysoginy, feminism, wealth and poverty. These photographs also present as visually complex, but this is not always true for complex photography. As seen in my moodboard of ‘simple’ images above, some images can be seen as visually simple but often have great ocntext linked to personal experiences, or social context. Therefore, the notion of a simple or compex photograph is mostly subjective, and the definition would be different for every viewer of an image.

Introduction

A binary opposition is a pair of related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning. Binary opposition is the system of language and/or thought by which two theoretical opposites are strictly defined and set off against one another. Binary opposition is a key concept in structuralism, a theory of sociology, anthropology, and linguistics that states that 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.

With his belief in structuralism, Levi-Strauss asserted that the human mind classifies things through binary opposition, the contrasts between two opposite things. It is this binary opposition that leads cultures to think in terms of good and bad. Additionally, Levi-Strauss studied many myths and legends from all around the world and came to the conclusion that we make sense of the worlds using binary opposition. He found that narratives are arranged around the concept of binary opposites.

Some Examples:

• Hot and Cold
• Wealth and Poverty
• Win and Loss
• Female and Male
• Devotion and Abandonment
• Positive and Negative
• Colour and Monochrome
• Natural and Manmade
• Kind and Inconsiderate
• Old and New

In many binary opposition examples, people are broadly divided into two groups. This can create an ”us versus them” situation where people see themselves as fundamentally different from another group of people. Often, this kind of thinking gives rise to the concept of ”the other” where some people see other people as abnormal, unnatural, dangerous, or fundamentally different. The concept of the other is often used in literature as a way to explore characters, their motivations, and the broader societal implications of those motivations. 

A problem with binary opposites is that they may oftentime perpetuate negative stereotypes. For example, if the binary opposite was man vs. woman, according to gender stereotypes, the man may be portrayed to be ‘strong’ whereas the woman is the ‘damsel in distress’. It is important to see how these stereotyes have changed in media forms over time. Also, in more recent years, binary opposites are not so clear cut – they can be complex and there may be multiple binary opposites between two characters.

My Future Project

For my future project we are going to be focusing on the idea of ‘Simple or Complex’, I would like to approach this concept by going for a walk from my mums house in St Saviour, to my dads house in St Clement. This normally takes about 40 minutes and will allow me to take photographs that will link to memories I have during my childhood, as we used to walk this route together sometimes. In addition to this, I will be taking portraits of my mum, brother and dad to put into my future photobook, as I think creating a book for this project will increase the successfulness of my initial concept and I hope this turns out well.

I would like to also include old family album pictures, ones that include images of my dad in my mums current house, as this will incorporate a nostalgic and very personal aspect to my project, this is important as the concept of going on a walk will be made more interesting by including images of my family in special locations we visited frequently when I was a child. Along will all of the personal elements, I would like to still really focus on creating outcomes that are landscapes images, as they are one of my strengths and I do find them interesting to take. The walk will also include aspects and close up shots of natural life and

I think the the concept of ‘Simple or Complex’ is one which can be approached very deeply and can have a lot of meaning connected to it. It just depends of your mindset and perceptive which means that you can either comprehend photographs as simple or complex, and this study challenges that idea in itself.

For my exam project i am going to continue with the trend of vehicles in my photos. However i am going to include portraits into the images. I am going to photograph my driving friends in the style of Robert Avedon as well as my motorbike friends to take photos photos in the style of Danny Lyons. I admired Danny Lyons’s photos during his time with hells angles. These are the types on photos i want to recreate but in a modernised form using modern bikes as well as different styles of bike such as sport. I will reference Avedon by taking photos of my driving friends in a portable studio. Additionally i intend to mix the styles of the two photographers by maybe photographing people in front of their cars but only part of the car so i can keep the upper body style of Avedon.

For my exam project, I will focus on looking at the theme of SIMPLE OR COMPLEX by taking images that relate to the sublime – an emotion defined by terror, ecstasy and sheer beauty. In order to capture the sublime within my images, I will turn my camera on the woodlands around my home, with my images aiming to display an innate feeling of danger, while simultaneously showing the beauty of the natural landscape.

I will take a range of images including close up shots, as well as more grandiose landscape images that relate closer to the feeling of the sublime (this linking with the COMPLEX side of the initial project theme). For these images, I will take inspiration from Chrystel Lebas’ work, as her work (specifically her woodland images) give off a sense of danger and beauty in the way I would also like to capture in my images. I think this sense of danger would add to the idea of the sublime and, with nature being forefront in the sublime anyway, settings such as a woodland would be a good way to capture the idea of the sublime.

As for the close up images, I would like to explore the idea of the Golden Ratio that can be seen all throughout nature, linking human concepts of mathematics (Fibonacci) with nature. I would also like to explore still-life/object photography by collecting objects from the natural woodland and photographing them in a home-made studio in the style of Talbot’s fern images or a cyanotype image created by Anna Atkins (linking with the SIMPLE side). I like the look of these images as they appear fairly simple and have a level of detail (as well as a somewhat abstract look) that gives them complexity. I will also take images during the blue hour, in order to further my knowledge and skills of taking night photographs.

An artist with a similar approach but different outcome would be Karl Blossfeldt, whose work captures natural form and shape in objects such as flowers and other plants in a formal, yet alluring manner.

After I have taken my images I will explore the use of AI software such as Dall-E or Midjourney to recreate my own images. This will diversify my images (not only within this project, but also with my images from previous projects) and juxtapose the idea of taking images of an ancient setting such as the woodland with the use of modern software to recreate them. I will research the AI software so I can make better use of them later in the project. The use of AI would also link to the complexity of the software itself, linking back to the main theme of the project.

To start collecting ideas for my exam project, I put together a mindmap to put together simple themes, ideas and starting points regarding what I consider to be ‘simple’ or ‘complex’. The mindmap contains some ideas of what I could use as subject matter, how I can edit or manipulate my images, as well as different themes I could consider while starting this project.

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Next I created a moodboard of images that relate to the theme of ‘simple or complex’, which I can use to inspire ideas for this project. For this project, I would like to explore a different style of photography, such as object photography, or explore different areas with my camera.

To make my images in this project different to the images from past projects aesthetically I would like to change how I use colour in my images. Colour being the main focus of my previous images, changing the focus of the images in this project would then make them different to my previous work.

The theory behind ‘Binary opposites’ –

The theory of ‘Binary opposition’ within photography and in a larger context reveals how everything in life revolves around a system which we can use to classify everything around us into a variety of 2 different groups. These groups can be seen as two opposites which are strictly against one another, e.g. ‘simple or complex’, ‘hot or cold’, ‘win or lose’, ‘left or right’, ‘love or hate’, etc. The term ‘Binary opposition’ can also be applied within literature and language where there are ‘Synonyms’, a word which means the same as another, against the opposing term of ‘Antonyms’, which is a word that is of opposite meaning. Furthermore, this shows how we are always surrounded by the theme of ‘Binary opposition’ as it is applied within everyday life in objects, cultures, systems, politics, ethics, language, etc.

Therefore, this ‘theory of binaries’ comes from a larger bracket of ‘Structuralism’ which is apart of psycholinguistics of how we create meanings of language. This was furthered through the early work of a famous Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure and then this was further studied by the French anthropologist Levi Strauss and another linguist academic, Roland Barthes, during the 1900s. This theory explored into the insight of how we understand words and not their direct meaning, and how they have opposing terms as well. They concluded that words are a part of symbolism regarding societies ideas, and that their relationships were a fixed idea amongst one another and that one term is always valued more than the other. An example of this can be seen in the understanding of the word ‘coward’, someone who is weak and scared, and its opposing word ‘hero’, used to describe someone who is impressive in their nature and what they may do, which can link towards attitudes which we can refer to as ‘dominant ideologies’, which means the shared ideas/beliefs which justify the interests of different groups. A further exploration into this was in the study of literature as there are many layers from the meanings of words and how they are made and reinforced through the theory of ‘binary opposition’. For example, this can be seen in Simon Armitage’s poetry as he creates this reinforced idea of binary opposition through the ‘sincerity’ opposed to ‘insincerity’ of societies dislikes towards cultures.

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How I will use binary opposition within my own work –

Simple –

The theme of the binary opposite of ‘Simple’ in photography, can be interpreted in a variety of different ways. This can be linked to the ideas of still life and how you can easily compose objects together with the use of how they may appear or the colours, and how well they work together which can represent how simple life can be portrayed through the use of different objects. There are many artists and photographers who have explored the theme of still life photography extensively in a variety of different ways, such as through abstraction or contrasts, an initial selection of these artists and photographers are:

• Thomas Demand
• Jan Bruegel
• Willem Kalf
• Paulette Tavormina
• Richard C. Miller
• Henry Fox Talbot
• Josef Sudek
• Andy Warhol

Complex –

The theme of the binary opposite of ‘Complex’ in photography, can also be interpreted in a variety of different ways. This can be seen through the contrasting ideas of the complexity of still life and how they can hold a deeper message within them besides using different objects/colours to create a contrast against one another. In my own work I have chosen to explore how different kitchenware/utensils create unique reflections and shadows and how this can be linked towards the theme of feminism and the links that are still around, although they have mainly died out, of women holding traditional household roles such as being in the kitchen or cleaning. I will represent this theme within my own work through using harsher and bolder shadows through uniformed kitchenware/utensils to represent the past and how women are still linked towards this whereas to show the change of this mindset in my own work, I will use more colourful and bright kitchenware/utensils to represent how women have mostly been able to move past the stereotype. Artists/photographers who I have found that can link towards this theme of shadows/reflections in still life are:

• Irving Penn
• Paul Outerbridge
• Andre Kertesz
• Sophie Calle
• Imogen Cunningham
• Simon Brutnell

Mindmap