A shape is an area enclosed by a line. It could be just an outline or it could be shaded in. Shapes can be either geometric, like a circle, square or triangle, or irregular. When drawing shapes, you must consider the size and position as well as the shape of the area around it. The shapes created in the spaces between shapes are referred to as negative space.
Bill Brandt
This piece was captured by a photographer Bill Brandt. The photo is a portrait of a nude woman in a dark atmosphere with light only revealing features on the right of her. Her facial expression seems discomforted like she is distressed, her posture is poor and appears rigid. Brandt has made this photo overexposed so it owns a distorted appearance; this causes a fine line that shapes her arm, breast and face. I believe Brandt wanted to represent the sexualisation of the female body by revealing her more as a shape rather than a human. The expression that a woman is 'curvy' defines with a reference of shape, so Brandt has distorted the photo to a point where the women have become curved shapes with little definition. Her expression presents an emotion of self-hatred and longing for something; this can link with the objectification of her, using her face as the symbolism that she is still human and cannot be objectified. Her facial features appear blurred, this could be due to the overexposure, but can also suggest a sense of movement, as if she were trying to cover herself from the camera; this links with the objectification once again.
Research
Paloma Rincon
Rincon is a well-renowned photographer for his 'quirky', 'bold' and 'juxtaposed' photos. Typically his work is still life-based and he uses vibrant colours and odd shapes to create his graphic compositions.
Image Bank
These photos represent the form of shape photography that I personally enjoy. I believe still life photography isn't appreciated as much in the photography community as more humane work is praised. Shape in still life photography is inevitable, the objects create a shape just from they're positioning or even simpler, they're own shape. I plan for my shape photos I plan to create still life work, with a comedic effect and professional appearance.
Selected Photos
Contact Sheet
These are my raw photos for shape, captured on my DSLR camera.
Best Photos
These are my best-captured photos, untouched.
Photos that require improvement
I believe these photos in my shape portfolio do not represent the potential and fun of shape, and my intentions. The first photo of a watch on a plain white background lacks an interesting shape, and due to it being alone, there is nothing else to be taken when viewing this photo. There is no negative space either, making this photo in general very lacklustre. This was obviously not my intentions for my portfolio, creating the reason for this photo requiring improvement.
This is the same for the second photo also, the pill capsule is around nothing else and is merely on its own; also meaning there is no negative space. The shape is also very bland and just lacks any more of interest of amusement. If I were to retake both of these photos, I would add in more objects; like the pill, I would add more around it to create a more interesting shape. This would add in negative space and can create a more amusing photo.
AO3: Record ideas, observations, and insights relevant to intentions reflecting critically on work and progress.
My Ideas
My ideas for recording shape was to use the style of still life photography in an amusing/uplighting format. This was inspired by the photographer Paloma Rincon who creates very bold and comedic juxtaposed still life work. I enjoyed his work very much and felt very inspired by his vibrant humour; this helped me to conclude the representation of shape I wanted.
I believe my photos have matched up with my intentions for the most part. Although I wish I was able to use more colourful objects and have the option to use colourful backdrops, my main issue was not being able to present Paloma's bold uses of colour contrasts with my relatively dull objects.
Reference to my best photos
The second photo of a wooden artist manakin posed to resemble the musician Micheal Jackson's signature pose, was an idea I had in my head that I wanted to create. The manakin itself seems to create an amusement when viewing it since they tend to be quite entertaining; the pose was to make the photo more interesting and enticing to the eye. The silhouette of the manakin is a shape that is fairly complex, the shadow behind the manakin creates a form of negative space in the space of the left arm, forming a repetition that makes the manakin appear more humane.
The third photo of the cacti lined up together was inspired by Paloma's heat wave portfolio, he used cacti in majority of the photos. They seem to have a comedic connotation that is also lovable somehow so I wanted to use that for a photo. Obviously one of the cacti in the photo is an artificial one, I used to create a contrast between natural and artificial forms (the photo is titled 'Imposter!'). The shape of cacti can be quite odd and abstract so this made the photo even more suitable for the portfolio. The real cacti's shape are rough and uneven, whereas the artificial light cactus is smooth and proportional, making the clear juxtaposition.
The fourth photo of a jewelled flask and a clear wine bottle was inspired by Paloma's well-contrasted photos, he puts very opposing items together and makes this appear intriguing and amusing. The flask that is jewelled with pink gems is already quite bold and amusing, flask tends to be used in media as comedy pieces of very wild characters, so the instinctive thought when viewing this flask is already entertaining. The sleek clear wine bottle is placed to contradict the flask, wine being typically associated with fancy occasions and sophisticated characters. They're difference in shape together help to convey this contrast, the flask quite blocky and straight to the point in appearance, whereas the wine bottle is more intricate and delicate in appearance.
AO2: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops.
Use of Camera
I used a Nikon D3400 DSLR camera for every photo taken. All photos were captured in manual focus and the exposure was set at ISO 400 due to the photos being taken in a warmly lit room. No other camera techniques were needed for these photos.
Final Pieces
Since my inspiration was based on Paloma Rincon's work which is very vibrant and bold in colours, I needed to slightly edit my photos so the saturation and depth of the photos were bolder.
I firstly pressed CTRL+U to open up 'Hue/saturation...' and then played with saturation till it appeared bolder (to the best of its ability). Then pressing CTRL+L to open up 'Levels...' and dragging the dark tones lower to add more depth into the photos and make them sharper; this revealed more of the detail, and the mid-tones slightly higher to grab more attention in colour and light.
AO1: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding.
My research photographer Paloma Rincon, exposed me to the variety and fun of still life photography and inspired me to recreate this work. Shape is a very broad form in artwork, it's very easy to create, but for it to be the main focus of a photo, it needs to be more complex and abstract. It can create many different forms of emotion and mood depending on how it is used, this makes it link with line very well since shape is formed but a creation of lines. My research and work created has taught me the broad options and fun that shape photography owns.
AO4: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements.
I believe my final pieces have matched my intentions for the most part. My main goal being the humour I believe I met in the majority of the photos, but the bold use of colour I was unable to meet due to lack of just vibrant objects and any form of a backdrop. The use of abstract shapes and juxtapositions presents shape in the way I intended nonetheless. Here are my final pieces.
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