Using reflection in photography can lead to some amazing effects and beautiful images. Using water, windows, mirrors or any sort of reflective surface can change an image into a work of art. The wonderful thing about using reflections when taking photos is that they can completely alter the image from something fairly straightforward to something richer or abstract or otherwise more artistic. Sometimes reflections can be annoying and certainly not artistic. But creativity and good-quality photos depend on the photographer being able to see things differently, rather than seeing only one part of a larger whole.
Lee Friedlander- MANNEQUIN
“I always wanted to be a photographer. I was fascinated with the materials. But I never dreamed I would be having this much fun. I imagined something much less elusive, much more mundane”.
Lee Friedlander is an American photographer and artist. In the 1960s and 70s Friedlander evolved an influential and often imitated visual language of urban "social landscape," with many of his photographs including fragments of store-front reflections, structures framed by fences, posters and street signs. Friendlander's images all have an incredibly detailed but are also casually composed, which heightens the almost surreal effect created by his photos.
I'm most fascinated with his window shop reflections because they look very well thought about and organised which was one of his most important factor when taking his images. The use of the formal elements by Friedlander, namely his use of lines and composition, clearly communicates his skill as a photographer - the photographs he has taken include a stunning composition which often appears to be unplanned yet are always appropriate to his style, which when you study begins to look very strict and almost organised despite how chaotic they are. |
Friedlanders use of formal elements was very effective because he has made sure that most of his photos have different elements. However they are three very common formal elements that he has emphasised in his work, which are line, composition and tone. in his images, he has made sure that the lines are positioned in a precise manner, in the sense that when you look at his images you don't see any stray lines but what you see are section of different reflection which are separated by the lines.
|
My Response In Colour.
After
My Response In Black And White.
"The camera is an instrument of detection. We photograph not only what we know, but also what we don't know". - Lisette Model Lisette Model created a series of photographs called reflections where she photographed shop windows in 5th avenue in New York. Many aspects of the city around her have been captured within the single image. It appears to be more like a collage capturing the city rather than a single image. It is almost like being an observer or an outsider but also reflecting to the viewer what her own expression of what is seen.
|
Lisette Model. |