I presented the third session in my five week course on Reading Photographs today. We considered how the formal qualities of photographs and how they are made affect our reactions and reading. The aim was to draw out the ways in which photographers shape the image to attract attention and convey a message
Composition: Using compositional devices to create impact, including foreground interest, the Rule of Thirds, framing the subject, sense of scale and simplicity (less is more). All rules are made to be broken of course.
Technical choices: the equipment and material used, including the camera (35mm v large format), lens (wide angle – telephoto), filters (neutral density, red), colour v black and white and exposure and mood (high key and low key).
Dating photographs: A brief digression on the historical appearances of photographs, including the Daguerreotype, the collodion process, the Kodak snapshot and the ubiquitous mobile phone selfie.
We ended by discussing two photographs by Andre Kertesz and Harry Gruyaert.
References: Photography – The Whole Story, Juliet Hacking, Ed, 2017
‘Master Composition’, Lee Frost, Black+White Photography No. 266.