MEDIA 203 - Week 10: Minimalism
Minimalism Gallery
Analysis of Work
Feelings/mood
Although isolation and loneliness is often a theme of minimalism, my emphasis through most of this showcase was alternative. My intention was to demonstrate independence. Some images were gloomy such as the windmill and the dangling seaweed. Others projected a sense of meditation through stillness such as the hanging eye hook and the tree cut out in the pickets. Some have a hint of color go give an impression that the scene is “awake”. The idea throughout was to project a theme of subjects standing on their own rather than emphasizing what is missing.
Subject placement
The rule of thirds was consciously prescribed in order to show each object as a small part of its empty, or near empty, environment. In the image of the door hook, the camera was positioned to show a receding angle along the wall, giving motion to the surroundings but keeping the hook stationery. The flower was placed near the bottom of the frame to emphasize scale and to heighten the conflict between character (seen through color) and size – a sort of underdog theme.
Multilayered
Since the common thread of each image is independence, they all carry their own story. It is a hodge-podge collection of imagery, so there is not location dependent. The windmill speaks of an occupation above others, the door knob is inviting due to its antique decorative elements and the mystery of the closed door, the truck is an asset going into retirement, the swing is a seat of memories – children who have grown to leave their childhood activities behind for life in a big world beyond the horizon, and the images of foliage popping through planks shows how life is full of surprises.
Depth of field
The DOF was intentionally shallow when involving distant background elements in order to establish visual dominance in the subject of the image (flower and seaweed). Images with a background at nearly the same distance as the subject were taken wide angle in order to use the surrounding as a field of negative space (tree cut out, door knob, leaf piercing through horizontal planks). Separately, objects shot from a distance with background further behind were taken with an extended lens (truck and windmill). The exception was the swing, taken with a shallow DOF in order to drown out the background in order to concentrate on a place of memories.
Light
Images were taken under different lighting conditions, although all were taken outside. The windmill, door hook, door handle, and truck images were taken in cloudy conditions. The flower image was taken in the shade with white balance adjusted accordingly. All others were taken in sunlight. I attempted to use the flash on the truck image, but it turned out terrible: the inside of the shed was revealed and thus the effect of minimalism was lost. Needless to say, I rejected this alternative.
Improvement
Images were taken from different locations on different days. Part way through one of these events a black artifact in the shape of a small Cheeto Chip appeared on my images. At first I thought it was a speck of dust on the lens, but cleaning it did not change anything. I discovered that it was an internal system issue after turn the camera off and turning it back on – the artifact moved with this event. My camera would conduct an automatic sensor cleaning during shut off, so I tried doing this manually. Several attempts were made, and with each one the artifact progressively disappeared. It has not come back since, but I will keep an eye out for it in the future. Here is a sample of what the artifact looked like (immediately to the left of the yellow flower):
Although isolation and loneliness is often a theme of minimalism, my emphasis through most of this showcase was alternative. My intention was to demonstrate independence. Some images were gloomy such as the windmill and the dangling seaweed. Others projected a sense of meditation through stillness such as the hanging eye hook and the tree cut out in the pickets. Some have a hint of color go give an impression that the scene is “awake”. The idea throughout was to project a theme of subjects standing on their own rather than emphasizing what is missing.
Subject placement
The rule of thirds was consciously prescribed in order to show each object as a small part of its empty, or near empty, environment. In the image of the door hook, the camera was positioned to show a receding angle along the wall, giving motion to the surroundings but keeping the hook stationery. The flower was placed near the bottom of the frame to emphasize scale and to heighten the conflict between character (seen through color) and size – a sort of underdog theme.
Multilayered
Since the common thread of each image is independence, they all carry their own story. It is a hodge-podge collection of imagery, so there is not location dependent. The windmill speaks of an occupation above others, the door knob is inviting due to its antique decorative elements and the mystery of the closed door, the truck is an asset going into retirement, the swing is a seat of memories – children who have grown to leave their childhood activities behind for life in a big world beyond the horizon, and the images of foliage popping through planks shows how life is full of surprises.
Depth of field
The DOF was intentionally shallow when involving distant background elements in order to establish visual dominance in the subject of the image (flower and seaweed). Images with a background at nearly the same distance as the subject were taken wide angle in order to use the surrounding as a field of negative space (tree cut out, door knob, leaf piercing through horizontal planks). Separately, objects shot from a distance with background further behind were taken with an extended lens (truck and windmill). The exception was the swing, taken with a shallow DOF in order to drown out the background in order to concentrate on a place of memories.
Light
Images were taken under different lighting conditions, although all were taken outside. The windmill, door hook, door handle, and truck images were taken in cloudy conditions. The flower image was taken in the shade with white balance adjusted accordingly. All others were taken in sunlight. I attempted to use the flash on the truck image, but it turned out terrible: the inside of the shed was revealed and thus the effect of minimalism was lost. Needless to say, I rejected this alternative.
Improvement
Images were taken from different locations on different days. Part way through one of these events a black artifact in the shape of a small Cheeto Chip appeared on my images. At first I thought it was a speck of dust on the lens, but cleaning it did not change anything. I discovered that it was an internal system issue after turn the camera off and turning it back on – the artifact moved with this event. My camera would conduct an automatic sensor cleaning during shut off, so I tried doing this manually. Several attempts were made, and with each one the artifact progressively disappeared. It has not come back since, but I will keep an eye out for it in the future. Here is a sample of what the artifact looked like (immediately to the left of the yellow flower):