Wallace Koopmans Artlog

OK these are extreme examples of symmetry.  You can have balance in an image without such an obvious left right mirroring, which is commonly called formal balance.

It’s easy to recognize when there is imbalance

But sometimes can be more difficult to recognize when things are in balance even though we may intuitively recognize it. 

 In this image notice how the kite and the person are in different quadrants of the image and provide an up/down, left/right balance that makes the image more harmonious. 

Here is another image where there is a left right balance without being completely symmetrical

Using symmetry and balance can create images that are harmonious and visually quiet.  Understanding it’s effect helps also when you want to break from it and create some discord.

When I took this image this previous summer I had no idea that my Uncle had taken such a similar picture from so close a vantage point some 48 years earlier.  I have been scanning his slides for him and for the rest of my family and was taken aback by how little this scene had changed.  This is particularly true when I compare it to my own images where the world around me changes at such an incredible rate. These pictures also reminded me how photography can be a form of collecting where we try to recreate what we have seen before and want for our own,  sometimes I think it’s better not to dwell too much on other peoples images to avoid the pitfall of mimicry.

I don’t have much to say about these images other than that they are all about breaking up the uniformity of the gravel with a contrasing element.  In the first it’s the pattern impressed into the gravel itself and with the second it’s the sign.

I have a lot of respect for the workers that prune and tie all these raspberry canes, it must seem never ending at times.  Yet every year it’s done so that we can enjoy the tart little treats that  are so ephemeral that they are only available fresh for what seems like a week.

What I have tried to do here is create a bit of tension visually.  By blocking half of the image, and obscuring the path beyond, we don’t know if there truly is a an oncoming cyclist as the sign states.  If we were to step out would we be struck?  Maybe I’m reaching a bit far here but that’s what I was trying for.

These photo’s are an example of repetition of form.  Graphically they use the same form, yes the pun is intended, in order to create a larger field.  The harmony is further enhanced by the monotone nature of the overall image.   Personally I prefer the last two images with their small touches of wood to contrast the concrete.

I had planned to take pictures in a particular location but was thwarted by the weather so I went for a walk on the Golden Ears bridge instead.  It turned into a great image making opportunity.  These four images are just a few of what resulted but I have grouped them together thematically.  As you can see these ones share several elements:  the bridge, the colour processing, occurring against the light.  While I didn’t get the source material for a painting as I had planned I’m pleased with the way it worked out.

While photographs should be able to speak for themselves it doesn’t hurt to have an understanding of what the artist intended. Yes this is an image of a beaver lodge in an uncommon place, at the same time it is an image of the construction work going on on the other side of the river. All that shields the natural world here from subjugation is a thin band of water.  There is little point in re iterating how we are encroaching on the habitat of animals we are long past that in most cases but the question should be now what do we do.  Do we accept there disappearance from where we live or do we provide some territory for them so that we might retain a connection to them and the land, to our benefit as much as theirs.  This year near my home two areas of  wild grasses and flowers I photographed have been cleared for a new shopping mall and a townhouse development surely displacing whatever small mammals and birds lived there and the owls that preyed on them.

I wasn’t thinking at the time about highway 416 (Veterans Memorial Highway) but the colour does remind me of a poppy somewhat.

When you’re out photographing and you notice something interesting the first reaction may be to snap a picture, you wouldn’t be wrong.  The next reaction should be how can I make that better.  Questions such as camera settings and  where should I stand and how will that look need to be thought through.  It may come naturally to envision a scene from a different vantage point or it may come from practice.  Practice should take the form of thinking about how something will look from somewhere else and then going there and seeing for yourself.  Technically you don’t even need a camera it just requires actually thinking about what you are seeing around you.  Using a zoom lens gives more options but may actually hinder this type of creativity as it tends to make you stand where you are and try to frame a scene, rather than actively searching.

Here is an example.  I saw this scene and took an initial image.  I then noticed the curve of the shore and how the fence could make an interesting foreground element.  So I left the trail and headed for the beach.

And here is the image that resulted.  I did have to wait for the man trying to fly the parachute to get it airborne again and luckily this seagull was the bravest of them all and didn’t fly off.