Atelier 41 Class 5: Freeze
This week's assignment was to take pictures related to a random word. Each of us received a different word, and mine was "Freeze."
My first thoughts of freeze were ice, skiing and sports on ice, until I realized it is not winter yet. Then I thought about frozen moments: people who freeze for an instant in surprise or fear, or kids playing freeze tag.
Then I thought about being frozen in time. Seeing Jason's Pokémon cards left on the table, I thought of photographing things left behind, frozen in time: things my father left, such as his nose hair trimmer, his pen, his ties and his glasses. From there my imagination went in two very different directions: the benches around Horn Pond with names that are remembered, and things that look like ice but are not, such as macro shots of coarse salt or broken glass.
I started by photographing salt and ordered a macro conversion lens filter.
On Saturday morning I went to Horn Pond to photograph branches for my conversation with Egon Schiele project, and to photograph benches with a tone of missing someone, frozen in time. It was beautiful, with the leaves changing color.
I noticed myself looking at scenes and things more carefully, deliberately searching for the small patterns I am looking for. I also think more about how different angles, and what I add to or leave out of the viewfinder, can make a photo more pleasing and beautiful. I think I have become more observant of visual things.
I brought first 9 photos to the class. The last two were left.
1. Bench with a name plaque, Horn Pond
2. Bench through the trees
3. Bench in fallen leaves
4. Bench facing the water
5. Hourglass and clock
6. My father's trimmer in a strip of light
7. A face at the bottom of the mug
8. My father's ties and belt
9. Ties on the closet floor
10. Jason's Pokémon cards, left on the table
11. Broken glass and ice
In the class:
Darrel and one other classmate talked about the hourglass photo.
Of the four empty bench pictures, the instructor said the one with trees where you can see the sky is more engaging, because it takes a little more time to understand the photo.
Some peers said they were intrigued by the ties lying on the floor. The guest speaker also found it interesting to put ties on the floor.
After everyone had a minute or two to guess the word and no one could, I shared that my word was "Freeze." I explained that I thought about ice, being frozen in time on a bench, being frozen in time through objects that belonged to my father, and guns ("Freeze!"). I noticed that people did not pick up on "frozen in time" from my choice of neckties.
The instructor said that the neckties, with their own strong texture, get in the way of expressing "Freeze" through the gun shape.
If there are two dimensions, "being intentional about sharing the subject" and "capturing beauty and curiosity," I feel that over the weeks I have focused much more on being intentional about conveying the assigned theme. That is my "following the rules" mindset. I also don't yet have good ways to think about, and actually capture, beauty and curiosity. This week I realized that even my intention was not well understood.
The guest speaker's work made me think about how I can create more attractive light in my photography.
While critiquing our work, the instructor shared that at times two or three photos stand out much more than the others. When I asked her why, she said they make us more curious about how the photo was taken, they are visually striking, and they show a very different mindset from the person's earlier work.
Over the weeks, I have been drawn to the photos of Bob, Moti, Roy and William more than others. All of them are very intentional and able to shoot beautiful, striking photos.
Bob's photos of different leaves creating "Connections" were creative, orderly and beautiful, even though they could be seen as highly manipulated.
Moti's images of head space, with heads moving in different ways, were experimental.