Assignment 1: Contrasts

NOTE THAT THIS ASSIGNMENT IS NOT TO BE ASSESSED.

The assignment is designed to look for contrasts in previously taken images; not necessarily the most obvious visual aspects of the images, but also more subtle contrasts. It is an exercise in recognition of the characteristics of an image and the selection of that image as a part of a pair.

I had three aims in this assignment:

• to use images taken as part of the exercises to date. The notes suggest that more images could be taken  specifically to demonstrate the contrasts but that seemed to me to defeat the object - the idea is surely to find the contrasting characteristics in existing images using one's imagination. The first pair below demonstrates this point very well;
• to select a variety of images - people, objects, places - and pair images of different subjects but demonstrating the appropriate contrast. I used images taken while carrying out the exercises albeit some of the selected images were not actually used in the blog;
• to use some imagination, selecting images that were taken for another purpose but actually demonstrate well the characteristic examined in this assignment. In many of the images, I seek what Barthes terms  the connotative or second meaning of the image as opposed to the denotative, the more direct or literal interpretation of the subject.

I noted that some images could have been used more than once: a pile of plates taken as part of the sequencing exercise, for example, could have been used to demonstrate many, rounded and white. Other images did not offer themselves for consideration at all. I avoided the temptation to select the "best" or favoured images and somehow make them fit the assignment. Images were selected because they demonstrated the contrast, not because they are good - the image selected for still, for example was shot in unfavourable conditions yet selected for the reason set out below.

It needs to be repeated here that I had permission to take images of the children as I work part-time in a secondary school. The full explanation is set out in the blog of the sequencing exercise.

The first pair of images contrast pointed and blunt:

At a denotative level, the boy's finger points at something; at a connotative level we are not quite sure what. It is probably a cool dude gesture that goes with the vaguely self-deprecatory facial expression.

The second image is of bell tower construction at Bath Abbey. The blunt end of the frame was perhaps designed with some forward-looking nineteenth century health and safety thoughts in mind, protruding as it does over a walkway. So we have on the one hand a preconceived design and on the other a spontaneous gesture.


Secondly, I compare continuous and intermittent:

I mentioned earlier that I sought to use a variety of subjects and mix images from different exercises. This is the exception. Both images were taken as part of the focussing exercise within a few metres and a few minutes of one another. As the train curves away we get the impression of continuity even though we know the train has a finite end. The cycle hoops are very obviously intermittent.

This pair of images could be used also to demonstrate a contrast between curved and straight; as mentioned above a number of the images can be used to connote different characteristics.



Next, I chose diagonal and rounded:

The first image was taken from Bath Abbey as part of the vertical imaging exercise. The diagonal arises from the effect of the light - the shadows of the buildings and of the people are thrown in a broad line top left to bottom right.  Converting the image into black and white enhanced the light effect - stronger contrasts can generally be used with monochrome images

By contrast, roundedness is indicated by the close-up of sausages taken as part of the sequencing composition. They are straight; they are soft, but they are, for this purpose, rounded at the ends.



The fourth contrast is strong and weak. This contrast is non-visual, so I am looking for connotative elements in the images, respectively demonstrated by the following:

Taken as part of the focal length exercise, the SS Great Britain is not an easy subject to photograph as it is bounded tightly by buildings around its dry dock. But the ship connotes an aura of strength with the bowsprit pointing outwards and the tall masts into the sky; we somehow know that if it is Brunel, then it must be tough.

The daffodil by comparison is a delicate flower and this image of one taken at past its prime suggests an added feeling of weakness. This image was never mean to be taken - I originally was seeking a tree for the subject in a different position in the frame exercise but could not find one and happened on the flower instead. The square cropping seemed right for the image with a triangular balance of the sharp grass base and the flower towards the top of the image.



The fifth contrast is between still and moving.

Selecting a still image is one of the more easily accomplished tasks of this assignment - most of the images selected above contain still subjects. However I wanted to select an image that demonstrated stillness a little more subtly and the image of the trees taken as part of the horizon exercise worked here especially as a contrast to one of the better images taken as part of the panning exercise. The trees are not in leaf and the photograph is taken contra jour so the quality of the image is not high; however it does suggest a sense of stillness - there is no apparent wind and nothing moving in the frame.

Panning is a difficult skill to accomplish but the image of the car worked reasonably well; the fact that only part of the car is in focus makes the sense of movement stronger. As a contrast to the implied peace and stillness of the first image, there is an impression in the second of needing to get somewhere in a hurry.



The next comparison is straight and curved.

The first image is the straight line of chairs in a school dining area taken as part of the sequencing exercise. The composition works ideally to provide balance along this line and the implied geometric precision contrasts with the second image: a close up of a sculpture (complete with graffiti) on the Bristol-Bath cyle path used in the fitting the frame exercise. We have curves in both horizontal and vertical planes, the latter providing natural dividing lines approximately on the thirds.

Two images of people were selected to contrast many  and few:

 

The image on the left is the near melee at lunchtime at the school just about kept under control by the teacher on the left; the contrast is the relative calm of the few people sat on a bench in Bath  in the right hand image.

The last comparison is between sweet and sour; again a more connotative element is required in each image. These two images provided the contrast:

Possibly there can be no greater contrast than that between a quaint touristy destination advertising itself as the home of the Bath bun and selling cream teas etc at expensive prices (sweet) and £2 bangers and mash a la school canteen (sour). There is little more one can add....



Lastly, there is one image that demonstrates contrast in many respects:

This image was taken during a guided tour of the tower of Bath Abbey and shows the clock face from the inside of the building. Contrast exists at several levels:

• diagonal and rounded - the main left right strut holding the mechanism, and the clock face;
• straight and curved - the pitch of the ceiling, against the hole in which the clock sits;
• still and moving - the frame, and the mechanism;
• broad and narrow - the relative widths of the two struts holding the mechanism;
• transparent and opaque - the clock face, and the guide standing in front of it;
• continuous and intermittent, large and small - the minute markers, and the roman numerals;
• man-made and man - the clock, and the guide explaining it;
• light and dark - the clock face, and the mechanism;
• black and white - the silhouette of the guide and the clock face;
• pointed and blunt - the teeth of the clock spindles and the handles