Photography Composition & Expression Principles of Organization

HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY  first permanent photographic image  first color photo was taken  first under water photo was taken, color  first still digital camera was used

Ansel Adams  born in San Francisco 1902, died in Monterey, California in 1984  photographer and environmentalist  After the major San Francisco earthquake in 1906 he was knocked to the ground and broke his nose which scarred him for life  elderly parents, affluent family history, and the live-in presence of his mother's maiden sister and aged father all combined to create a conservative, Victorian environment  Natural shyness, intensity of genius, and his dramatically "earthquaked" nose-caused Adams to have problems fitting in at school  In later life he noted that he might have been diagnosed as hyperactive.  There is also the distinct possibility that he may have suffered from dyslexia.

Ansel Adams  The most important result of Adams's somewhat solitary and unmistakably different childhood was the joy that he found in nature, as evidenced by his taking long walks in the still-wild reaches of the Golden Gate  At 12 Ansel taught himself to play the piano and read music  For the next dozen years the piano was Adams's primary occupation and, by 1920, his intended profession  Although he ultimately gave up music for photography, the piano brought substance, discipline, and structure to his frustrating and erratic youth  the careful training and exacting craft required of a musician profoundly informed his visual artistry, as well as his influential writngs and teachings on photography.

Ansel Adams  He joined the Sierra Club at Yosemite  The Sierra Club was vital to Adams's early success. His first published photographs and writings appeared in the club's 1922 Bulletin, and he had his first one man exhibition in 1928 at the club's San Francisco headquarters.  He was criticized a lot for not including humans in his art  Reviewers characterize Adams as a photographer of an idealized wilderness that no longer exists.  On the contrary, the places that Adams photographed are, with few exceptions, precisely those wilderness and park areas that have been preserved for all time.  There is a vast amount of true and truly protected wilderness in America, much of it saved because of the efforts of Adams and his colleagues.

Ansel Adams  Adams began to pursue "straight photography," in which the clarity of the lens was emphasized, and the final print gave no appearance of being manipulated in the camera or the darkroom.  commercial photographer-Clients included the Yosemite concessionaire, the National Park Service, Kodak, Zeiss, IBM, AT&T, a small women's college, a dried fruit company, and Life, Fortune, and Arizona Highways magazines  Adams felt an intense commitment to promoting photography as a fine art and played a key role in the establishment of the first museum department of photography, at the Museum of Modern Art in New York.  His images became symbols and icons of wild America  unusually generous, charismatic personality, and his great faith in people and human nature  Adams believed in both the possibility and the probability of humankind living in harmony and balance with its environment  In 1968 Ansel was given the Conservation Service Award

Ansel Adams

Anne Geddes  Was born in Queensland Australia in 1956  self-taught, her career started until she was 25  Her work has been published in 83 countries- North America, Europe, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, South America, the Middle East, Africa, and Asia.  Anne’s books have sold more than 18 million copies worldwide

Anne Geddes  deeply held belief that each and every child must be protected, nurtured, and loved  In 1991 she made a company called Next Generations Enterprises Ltd. with money going to preventing child abuse  US $4.5 million have been donated to help prevent child abuse and neglect in Australia, New Zealand, France, the United Kingdom, and the United States.

Andy Goldsworthy  Born in Cheshire, England in 1956  Art created in England, Northern Territories of Canada, the North Pole, Japan, the Australian outback, St Louis, and Missouri.  The materials he uses are those to hand in the remote locations he visits: twigs, leaves, stones, snow and ice, reeds and thorns.  The works are recorded as photographs.  Book publication is an important aspect of Andy Goldsworthy's work: each publication is a work of art in its own right.

Principles of Organization  Balance  Emphasis/Dominance  Proportion  Movement  Rhythm  Pattern/Repetition  Variety  Unity/Harmony

Composition  the act of composing the image in the viewfinder, is a visual process of organizing the elements and individual details of a scene into a balanced and pleasing arrangement.  Because what one person finds pleasing, someone else will not, composition is largely a matter of personal taste  There is no right or wrong composition in photography  A composition that conveys a photographer's intended meaning is an effective one  A composition that doesn't or that confuses the viewer is not

Rule of Thirds  based on the fact that the human eye is naturally drawn to a point about two-thirds up a page.  Crop your photo so that the main subjects are located around one of the intersection points rather than in the center of the image:

Rule of Thirds  landscapes used Rule of Thirds when you place your horizon line  If the area of interest is land or water, the horizon line will usually be two-thirds up from the bottom  But, if the sky is the area of emphasis, the horizon line may be one-third up from the bottom, leaving the sky to take up the top two-thirds of the picture:

Diagonal Rule  Setting your subject matter on a diagonal will almost always make for a more dynamic picture.  Even if this is an invisible diagonal that draws your eye between two points.  Move around the subject and look for a diagonal.  Linear elements, such as roads, waterways, and fences placed diagonally, are generally perceived as more dynamic than horizontally placed ones:

Resources     photo.net/photos/GQ1NYC photo.net/photos/GQ1NYC  AnneGeddes.com  biography2.html biography2.html 

Your turn!  Capture images focusing on each Principle of Organization  Demonstrate the Rule of Thirds  Capture a picture showing the Diagonal Rule