what is formalism?

Formalism focuses purely on the visual elements of how a photo is taken, rather than its narrative context.

It emphasises seven different visual elements.

line:

Line is the most fundamental of the seven.

The Merriam-Webster definition of “line” comprises 15 parts, 46 sections, and 41 subsections. With all of that, the part that we, as photographic artists, are concerned about is this:

Lines can be present in many different ways. such as curved, straight, disrupted, dashed, and so on. Straight lines can be from man made items, and organic lines from nature.

Lines can also help convey a feeling or an emotion in an image. Straight vertical or horizontal lines create a still, stable and static image, while lines with movement and shape create flow.

shape:

Definition:

The Merriam-Webster definition of “shape” that we are concerned with as photographic artists is:

1 a : the visible makeup characteristic of a particular item or kind of item.

1 b (1) : spatial form or contour.

1 b (2) : a standard or universally recognized spatial form.

Shapes are two dimensional, in all different proportions.

Shapes that may be recognizable to the viewer may differ under the camera, depending on the angles the photo was taken. On top of this, shapes can be positioned or viewed in such a way that the various shapes combine and overlap to create one larger shape.

Shapes can be defined as the closing or intersection of lines as well and the contrast of lighter and darker areas of a photo, like a shadow, or varying texture or value.

form:

Form varies from shape as it introduces the 3 dimensional into our images. it has height width and depth.

The Merriam-Webster definition of “form” comprises 12 parts, 27 sections, and 4 subsections. As photographic artists, the part we are concerned with is:

1 a: the shape and structure of something as distinguished from its material.

One type of form is geometric meaning harsh polarising forms that have a distinct shape such as a cube or cone. another kind of form is organic, these are items that we interact with in day to day.

Form uses negative and positive space. positive space being the area obstructed by the object/item, while negative is what remains.

For centuries, people have been creating form and depth using shading with dark shadows, mid tones and highlights.

texture:

The Merriam-Webster definition of “texture” that we, as photographic artists, are concerned with is:

The visual or tactile surface characteristics and appearance of something.

Texture, in everyday life, can be present in loads of different ways. texture can be smooth, rough, grainy etc as well as descriptors like shiny, wet, dry.

Texture is presented similarly in photographs, but is completely visual. we can observe the texture of an item in a photo by recognising highlights and shadows that indicate the texture of the surface. smoother objects tend to have a more uniform colour and tone while rough shapes may display variety. We can also assume a photo has texture from the shape present like how we can look at a photo of fish scales and conclude there is texture.

colour:

The Merriam-Webster definition of “colour” that we, as photographic artists, are concerned with is:

1 a : a phenomenon of light (such as red, brown, pink, or grey) or visual perception that enables one to differentiate otherwise identical objects.

b (1) : the aspect of the appearance of objects and light sources that may be described in terms of hue, lightness, and saturation for objects and hue, brightness, and saturation for light.

Also : a specific combination of hue, saturation, and lightness or brightness.

(2) : a colour other than and as contrasted with black, white, or grey.

Colour has three properties. Hue, value, and saturation.

Hue describes the colour itself (red, green, Blue…).

Value is how light or dark the colour is.

Saturation is how intense the colour is, the most intense have no white, black or grey added.

Each colour can be utilized to elicit an emotion or reaction, green can symbolize nature or money, red could symbolize lust or danger, yellow could be positivity and purple could be prosperity and status.

Colour can be altered and utilized in different ways to give a photo a different feel. A highly saturated colour gives a more positive feeling, while a desaturated image may feel limp and vacant.

size:

The Merriam-Webster definition of “size” that we, as photographic artists, are concerned about is:

1 a : physical magnitude, extent, or bulk : relative or proportionate dimensions.

When looking in an image and we find something familiar, we automatically can understand the proportion of the image. If a human is photographed next to a large fish, we know by scale, the fish must be big. However, if the fish is photographed alone it may be difficult to determine the dimensions.

Size in an image can be utilized to create an illusion. Perspective can alter the appearance of the objects size. Getting closer to an object will emphasize its size.

Things we photograph can be small, medium or large.

depth:

The Merriam-Webster definition of “depth” that we, as photographic artists, are concerned about is:

2 b: the direct linear measurement from front to back.

As previously stated, images themselves are 2D. The image appearing 3D is created using depth among other things.

All objects will give an image depth unless it is a blank flat surface taken from a paralleled angle.

Most images have a foreground, middle ground and background. The more obvious the split between each, the greater the sense of depth will be portrayed in your image.

Depth can be recognised in many ways. this could be lines (such as train tracks) gradually reaching the horizon eventually narrowing into convergence. This is called linear perspective.

Walker Evans.

Walker Evan (1903-1975), was a working class American photographer who explored the diversity of people and how people were effected by the American civil war. He was able to capture poverty with exacting frankness, and didn’t like how people romanticised the

living conditions people suffered with.

Born on November 3, 1903 in St. Louis, MO, he went on to attend Williams College in Massachusetts, he later relocated to New York where he perused a career in writing. After a few years, eventually he had moved his medium into photography.

Walker worked for the  Farm Security Administration, which was an accusation aiming to document the lives of rural Americans.

His subjects may give the rough dramatized appearance, but they are real people. He was able to capture a lot of elements such as texture in his work. This is seen in the organic wrinkles and impurities on his subjects faces, representing decades of struggle situated on a face.

He also photographed objects like common house hold tools. this work really shows us an object for the object itself and not its context, unlike his portraiture.

Image analysis.

Walker uses a striking black and white film that was available to him at the time and eliminates the story of colour from his images.

The backdrop this photo is taken on has a grainy texture.

The lighting is coming from the left, it casts a shadow towards the right of the object that is placed in the centre of the frame.

The handle has a form that catches shadows giving the image depth.

His focal length is most likely f/64.

Darren Harvey-Regan

Born in 1974, British photographer and artist Darren Harvey-Regan embraces the equilibrium of genres: abstract, landscape and still life. His images often hold few objects, tending to focus on one main object. Often utilizing natures organic lines and forms, in order to create abstract photographs with mixed dimensions and clean contours. Darren Harvey-Regan is a graduate of the Royal College of Art and is based in London.

Harvey-Regan’s work has appeared in exhibitions and publications internationally and is part of the photography collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

Darren often utilizes sculpture in unconventional ways in his work to covey a story, such as this photograph. It symbolises the movement of objects when a glacier melts and transports an object to a polarising location.

Darren Harvey-Regan was very inspired by Walker Evans in a lot of his works. In these photographs, Darren uses tools photographed in an unassuming way to portray formalism.

photo analysis.

In this photo it appears that artificial lighting has been used. this creates a very sterile appearing photo. There is very little shadow being cast as a result of the positioning of the object to the light.

This this photo is taken facing down. it is placed in the centre of the frame. rule of thirds is used to bring attention to the tops of the tools.

The aperture is probably a bit lower is the contrast is balanced, and everything is in focus.

The iso could be around 200-400 as the photo gathers a good amount of light, so it is more light sensitive.

The image has been taken in black and white.

Both these artists hold similarities. such as the fact they both shoot on black and white, they both photograph mundane objects. They also both use blank backdrops to bring the focus on the object they are photographing. Both artists utilize negative space to emphasize the object they want to bring attention to.

Walker Evans uses a higher aperture as his images have more contrast, while Darren utilizes a higher aperture as his images are much brighter.

The biggest difference between them is that Walker Evans uses film while Darren’s work is digital.

I am going to create photos inspired by both Darren Harvey Regan’s work and Walker Evans.

my photoshoot.

I used a filter on Lightroom to make the images black and white, a characteristic of walker Evans and Darren.

I used a continuous light and let a shadow cast on the left of the object.

I like the contrast between the white backdrop and the darker camera.

I made sure the subject was placed in the centre of the frame.

 What is still life?

Still life is a style of photography/art where you take photos of inanimate objects such as flowers, fruits, vegetables and more. Still life has captured the imagination of photographers from the early 19th century to the present day. It is a tradition full of lavish, exotic and sometimes dark arrangements, rich with symbolic depth and meaning. Throughout its long history, still life has taken many forms, from the decorative frescoes of antiquity to the high art of the Renaissance. Traditionally, a still life is a collection of inanimate objects arranged as the subject of a composition.​

The first still life:

Paulette Tavormina (still life photographer)

Paulette Tavormina is an American fine-art photographer who lives and works in New York City. Tavormina is best known for her series, Natura Morta, which features photographic imagery inspired by 17th century Dutch, Spanish and Italian Old Master still life painters.​ Tavormina’s photographs usually consist of flowers, fruit, and expensive objects such as pearls.

There are also hydrangeas included in the photo which are also expensive to this day. This is because of the difficult cultivation process of these flowers, this makes them one of the most expensive flowers in the world.

 

Paulette Tavormina’s bright flowers in her photographs really cause her work to stand out much more, they are the main focus of attention in her photographs. This then causes you to see the other objects such as the old photos and the pearls. these objects suggest that the photo is made to look like it has been taken years ago.

Jacob Vosmaer

Still life is not only a genre in photography but also in art, Jacob Vosmaer is an example of a still life artist. Vosmaer (1584-1641) was a Dutch golden age painter He started his career as a landscape specialist, but switched to flowers, which brought him more success. He visited Italy as a young man and returned to Delft in 1608 at the age of 24, where he remained and became a respected citizen.​

My first photoshoot

Best photos:

My most successful photos were mainly the ones of the pearl necklace. However to make them even better I will use adobe lightroom.

Editing:

I then cropped the photo but decided that it would look better in black and white.

Final photo:

Finally I cropped the photo slightly to remove the dark line on the top of the photo and the white line at the bottom. I really like this photo due to the way the pearls look with the highlights on them. To take the photo I used a fast shutter speed as I wanted the photo to be clear and sharp. I used artificial lighting which was created by a large light which enhanced the highlights of the pearls on the necklace. I used a deep depth of field as I didn’t want any areas of the photo to appear blurred.

Edit 2:

Final photo:

This photo has much more texture in comparison to my first edited photo which I like especially on the case in the back you can clearly see the texture of it. I also like how one side of the photo has more shading and darker areas in comparison to the other side which looks much brighter. I used a fast shutter speed for this photo as I wanted it to be clear. I also used a deep depth of field and I wanted all the objects to be in focus.

Using Auto-Focus

Auto-Focus consists of holding your camera, pointing at the object/ what you are aiming to photograph, and instead of just pushing the shutter down and taking the photo straight away you hold the shutter down half way which allows the camera too auto-focus. The lens may need to be in “AF” mode. This can be useful when you are taking a photo of something that is moving, and may be helpful when taking photos of dynamic situations.

Using Manual Focus

Manual focus is used by using the switch on the lens and turning the front ring to adjust, this is you taking control. Manual focus provides you with precision and ultimate control over your focus. Manual focus vs Auto focus will always come down too the situation of the photo you are wishing too take. Most professional photographers tend too use manual focus due to being able to have full control.

White Balance

White balance is used too improve photos, it is used by going too your cameras menu, selecting the option to set a custom white balance, and then set it by choosing your photo. White balance is a setting in your camera that helps you produce a natural-looking colouration in your image. The goal is too achieve the most natural looking colours as possible. You can also set a white balance in your camera, such as “Daylight WB” which can be used to naturally capture warm scenes.

ISO

ISO is simply a camera setting that will brighten or darken your photo. Low values such as ISO 100 are most useful for a sunny out door shot, whereas things like ISO 1600 or higher are best for shooting at night. Keep the ISO setting as low as possible too reduce graininess. You can change the ISO by opening the menu, or the quick menu of your camera, otherwise there is a button on the camera near the shutter release that says ISO. If you press this button, your dial previously used to control shutter speed will instead control ISO until a value is selected

Aperture

Aperture in photography is the opening of the camera lens, which is related to the amount of light that passes through the camera lens to the image sensor. Low apertures let more light into the camera and higher apertures let less light into the camera. A higher aperture is better when you want your shot to be in focus, and a lower aperture is better when you are taking a photo in low-light. Many cameras have a physical dial that can be turned to change aperture which is measured within f-stops. If yours doesn’t have a dial just check your cameras general settings.

Focal Length : wide, standard and telephoto lenses

Focal length controls the angle of view and magnification of a photograph. A wide-angle lens has a focal length of 35mm or shorter, which gives you a wide field of view. The wider your field of view, the more of the scene you’ll be able to see in the frame. Standard lens (focal length 35mm to 70mm): These versatile lenses are good for just about any type of photography, from portraits to landscapes. These all-in-one lenses render images roughly the way the human eye sees the world, and easily adjust to a shallow or deep depth of field, depending on aperture. Most telephoto lenses range from “medium” (with a focal length between 70 and 200mm) all the way up to “super telephoto” (with focal lengths longer than 300mm). This is when the physical length of the lens is shorter then the focal length. They are great for brining distant scenes and subjects closer.

Depth of Field

Depth of Field is the distance between the nearest and furthest elements in a sense that appear to be “acceptably sharp” in a image. Depth of field is the portion of that distance or ‘depth’ that is ‘in-focus’. A higher depth of field would see the whole image from foreground to background sharp and in focus, a lower depth would result in blurry backgrounds and blurred elements in the foreground too. You can affect the depth of field by changing the following factors: aperture, the focal length and the distance from the subject. A wide angle lens will have greater depth of field than a normal or telephoto lens at any given aperture.

Slow/ Fast shutter speed

A slow shutter speed keeps the shutter open for longer. This not only allows more light to be recorded, it also means any moving objects will appear blurred. Slow shutter speeds are commonly used for photographing in low light conditions, or to capture motion blur.Fast shutter speeds in photography allow you to control the action and the mood of the image you’re creating. You can freeze moments that are too fast for the naked eye to see. To change your camera’s shutter speed manually: Select ‘Shutter Priority’ mode. On the camera’s dial, this is usually indicated by an ‘S’ or ‘Tv’. Scroll through and choose the shutter speed you want.

Exposure and exposure compensation

Exposure compensation basically helps you override automatic exposure adjustments your camera makes in situations with uneven light distribution, filters, non-standard processing, or underexposure or overexposure. It lets you take control of your image’s brightness by manually increasing or decreasing exposure. For manual exposures, start by changing the aperture and shutter speed until the meter indicates that you have the correct exposure , then adjust from there.

Exposure bracketing

Exposure bracketing is when a photographer creates pictures with different exposure settings. The purpose of this is to cover more of the dynamic range. You should make sure that your ISO is quite low when using exposure bracketing. Basically, when you bracket your shots you take exactly the same picture of your subject at several different exposures. This technique gives you a range of options to choose from when you’re editing.Because bracketing photography involves taking multiple shots with one press of the shutter, it should be used with caution when shooting fast moving subjects such as in sporting events or even wildlife.

Here are my photos that have changed and evolved , they have also been edited and flagged by the ones that I like the most and the ones that I don’t like as much.

Using art steps, I used the still life photo that I took and placed it on this virtual gallery exhibition. I really like this because its plain and simple and the photo pops out on the black back round.

Here is photo number two from different angles..

Here is another image, two photos side by side.

To wrap up and conclude

I would say that these photoshoots are very interesting and calming. There is many different photos an load’s of edits too, but I think I could’ve taken more and edited them a bit more too.

Still life photography is the composition technique of using light and presentation to create a compelling photo of inanimate objects. With still life photography, the photographer controls the scene, which allows for the space to experiment with camera angles, lighting, materials, textures, and object arrangement.

We used a still life picture and examed it based off this sheet. there were many key point within this photo as you can see.

Here is the sheet.

In conclusion- This shows you all the theory and I really liked working with Still life as it shows a lot about whatever the photo is being taken of, could even be about your life if taken near somewhere close or related to you.

We started off with a still life picture. We then had to analyse it looking at the technical, visual, contextual and conceptual features of this picture, really picking out each detail and referring to what it meant.

Walker Evans:

Walker Evans was an American photographer and photojournalist who was most well known for his work for the Security Administration, documenting the effects of The Great Depression; his most famous photo being a portrait of Allie Mae Burroughs. Evans was born November 3rd, 1903 and died April 10th, 1975.

Walker Evans took photographs of common tools that people are used to and familiar with seeing but turned them into something extraordinary as he isolates them by themselves against a dull, grey/white background.

By only having one tool in the photographs, it forces the person viewing them to take a greater appreciation for the tools, looking at the finer details of them.

Walker Evans captured the tools from a birds eye view, using natural lighting. He also managed to get no/ minimal shadows. Evans would slightly raise the tools which helps make them stand out compared to the equally dull background.

Darren Harvey-Regan:

Darren Harvey-Regan is a photographer who melds photography with sculpture. He is interested in the means of transition from one form of representation to another and in the overlaps that confuse and rephrase such movements. His works challenge the viewer to distinguish where representation ends and the object begins. Darren graduated from the Royal College of Art and has appeared in many exhibitions.

At first glance, this photograph looks quite dull and unenticing due to the lack of colour in the photograph. However, as you look more closely, you discover that the photograph is actually a combination of two tools collaged together to create one image. There are also no shadows seen in the image, causing the focus to be purely on the tools in front of you. By Darren Harvey-Regan using a white negative space in the background, it means that your attention immediately goes to the object and you can begin to appreciate the simple yet creative image he has made.

I think this image is a good depiction of how his work challenges the viewer to distinguish where representation ends and the objects begin as when I first looked at the picture, I saw mini statues of people. However, when I took a closer look at the image, I realised that these supposed statues were bread. Although I now knew they were bread, I could still see the statue like figures in the image, highlighting Darren’s ability to mix representation and objects smoothly.

Comparing Walker Evans and Darren Harvey-Regan’s art:

Although the two photographers photograph tools, they both do this very differently. For example, Walker Evans’ images have a vintage, old feel to them due to the majority of the tools he photographs looking quite used and the background being grainy. Whereas, with Darren Harvey-Regan’s images, the background is a bright, smooth, white colour, making the images look more modern. Walker Evans also tends to have more of a sepia tone in his photographs but Darren Harvey-Regan’s images have a more colder tone due to his subtle blue tones in his photographs.

Additionally, Walker Evans focusses on photographing only one tool whereas Darren Harvey-Regan merges multiple tools together to create one extraordinary image. Overall, I think both of the photographers manage to successfully capture the beauty of the simple yet useful tools. However, if I were to do a photoshoot in response to these artists, I would try and include more colour in my images as I feel it will help bring more attention to the photographs and make them more interesting and engaging to look at as in Walker Evan’s and Darren Harvey-Regan’s work, their images are quite dull due to it being black and white.

“The Beauty of the Common Tool”

Darren Harvey Regan was greatly influenced by walker Evans, they both took great care in there photos light levels, exposure , composition and what they photograph.

walker Evans believes these tools evoke emotion and create sentiment for the normalcy of everyday tools in himself and others.

walker created set of photos with at minimum 22 separate photos

Walker Evans was an American photographer and photojournalist known for his work for the Farm Security Administration documenting the effects of the Great Depression.

Born:  November 3, 1903,

Died: April 10, 1975,

Darren Harvey-Regan is a graduate of the Royal College of Art. His work has appeared in exhibitions and publications internationally and is part of the permanent photography collection at the V & A Museum, London.

Darren Harvey-Regan’s work circles around photography with an emphasis on the medium’s relationship to language and to sculpture. He is interested in the means of transition from one form of representation to another and in the overlaps that confuse and rephrase such movements.

Harvey-Regan finds photography that photographs objects, whilst in itself being an object, interesting as a concept. He states “It’s a means of transposing material into other material, adding new meaning or thoughts in the process. I think photographing materials is a way to consider the means of creating meaning, and it’s a tactile process with which I feel involved. Touching and moving and making are my engagement with the world and my art”.

Q1: What is the etymology (origin & history) of the word photography? 

Writing with light. 

Q2: What year was the first photograph made in camera? 
 

 1826 (Joseph Nicéphore Niépce)

 
Q3: When did the first photograph of a human appear? 
 

1838 (Louis-Jacques-Mandé Daguerre) 
 

Q4: Who made the first ‘selfie’ 

Robert Cornelius (1839)  

Q5: When did the first colour photograph appear? 

1861 (James Clerk Maxwell) 
 

Q6: What do we mean by the word genre? 

 A style or category of art 

 
 Q7: What do we mean by the genre of still-life? 

An image that shows inanimate objects from the natural or man-made world. 

 
Q8: What was the main purpose of the Pictorialist movement? 

To affirm photography as an art form 

Q9: How do we describe the term documentary photography? 
 

Capture images that truthfully portray people, places and events.  

 
Q10: What is exposure in photography? 
 

 To capture bright light. 

Q11: What controls exposure on your camera?  

Aperture, shutter speed, ISO. 

 

 
Q12: What control on our camera records moving objects? 
 

Shutter 

 
Q13: How do we explain depth of field? 

How much of your image is in focus. 

 
Q14: What factors affect Depth of Field? 

Lens aperture, distance from camera to subject, and lens focal length. 

 

Q15: What is composition in photography? 

The arrangement of visual elements within the frame. 

Q16: What is your understanding of aesthetics in art? 

Aesthetic qualities refer to the way and artwork looks and feels. 

Q17: What are contextual studies in photography? 

 To provide historial, cultural and theoterical understanding of images. 

 
Q18: How many images are captured on average every day worldwide? 
 

4.7 billion 

Q19: Which portrait is the most reproduced in the world? 
 The Queen (Elizabeth II)