Shape and Form

 

Artist research: Peter Fraser

Peter Frasers Photography series 'Materials' studies man-made shape and form. He considers, colour, texture, surface, 2D and 3D shape and forms. He uses a Macro lens to capture the close up details of the surface of the objects. After studying organic shape, forms and surfaces I am interested in researching and experimenting with capturing man made objects. I will experiment with photographing both 2D forms (materials, surfaces) and 3D forms (objects).

 

2D Shape and Forms of Manmade Objects- Peter Fraser Response

 

When experimenting with photographing various man made shape and forms, I looked for interesting and differentiating surfaces, textures and materials. I used a small aperture setting of 5.6 to capture the close up detail of the different objects. Minimal editing was used for these final images, slight adjusting of contrast and colour.

 

I started by photographing smooth, 2D, reflective surfaces, and I was surprised at the range of results from this experiment:

 

 

Knife after eating



 



 

Stainless Steel light switch. I like the contrast from the smooth metallic switch to the crumbling rubble of the wall behind.

 

Reflective mirror surface. This photo lacks substance, however I like that I managed to achieve a photograph of the surface of the mirror, without capturing the reflection.

 

Lime scale buds on the tap. Texturally interesting, the shape and form of the Lime scale is evident. Although a surface is a 2D form as the scale starts to form the surface becomes bumpy, resembling a landscape.

 

I then looked at a range of other contrasting surfaces.

 

Cotton towel, evidence of minute ring threads and fluff.

 



 

Peeling wallpaper, exposes stone wall and fibres from the torn edges of the paper.

 

Broken plaster filled crudely with another variety of plaster, leaves and interesting, crumbly, crack between the two materials.

 

Final surface of a window, captures the rain droplets, weathering, scratches and cobwebs.

 

This experiment really helped improve my technical photographing abilities, experimenting with aperture and exposure. I think these final images work well collectively because the contrasting forms, colours, materials and textures really complement each other. However each photo individually is much more mundane and less interesting, so by placing a contrasting image aside it really brings out the characteristics of each photo. Whilst with my natural forms experiment I focussed on 3D, layering and depth of photographs, with my manmade series I studied 2D forms much more.

I was particularly interested in my Limescale photograph, because although my intent was to capture a 2D surface, I found that each little crystal made the surface bumpy and 3D. Each marking on the window image, grooves from scratches, dust and cobwebs, make the surface 3D. This idea of changing forms over time, through weathering, movement, growth, erosion, really interests me. My next experiment shall focus on the change in forms, both 3D and 2D.

 

 

 

 

Shape and Form

 

Shape and Form is such a broad topic, I started by creating a spider diagram of all the possible areas I could pursue.

 

 

As an initial response to shape and form I started doing some primary research into organic shape and form. I took a series of experimental photographs capturing a variety of 3D natural forms:

 

 

Whilst taking photos I became particularly interested in photographing these *flower* because of their striking colours and unique forms. But I was fascinated with capturing the reflection of these flowers in the window behind them. I became interested in creating depth to the my photographs.

 

 

Using a small aperture of 5.6 I captured the reflection of the flowers in the window. By using a small aperture brought the focus on the shape and formation of the petals, because it blurred out the background distractions. The darkened and blurred background creates depth to the images, maintaining the flowers 3D formation. I think these images worked particularly well because whilst the shape of the petals have not been distorted, they appear to be floating. The double glazed window also created 2 reflections of each petal, and this detachment of the flower heads from their stems makes them appear abstract, and focuses the attention on their form.

 

 Unedited image:

 

 

 Experimentation with different flowers and plants. Unedited image of the reflection of a *flower*. The vibrant colours, duplicating of the flowers from the double glazing and darkness in the background created by the small Aperture setting (5.6), results in an abstract and unique way of capturing natural forms through photography.

 

Exposure

I then did some basic editing using photoshop to adjust exposure and contrast. I first experimented with reducing the contrast and brightening the images. The results  were very soft, abstract, and highly texturized. The soft background flattens the image and brings focus to the shape of the petals.

 

 

However these images are quite noisy and they are too flat. I then experimented with doing the opposite, I darkened the images and increased the contrast, this resulted in keeping the depth to the image and bringing out the colour of the petals. I think the contrast between the colour and the dark background work better in this image:

 

Texture

 

After my initial experiment I then went back and decided to experiment with different textures and different focuses. With in each image there are 3 layers of different textures; the scratched, dusty glass, the petal (reflection), and the stone floor the Kitchen inside. I decided to work in black and white as I wanted to focus on texture in the images. I also edited each image by slightly increasing the contrast to bring out textures.

Window surface (first texture)

Plant and slate tiles on kitchen floor (surfaces 2 and 3)

 

Final Images capturing all three surfaces, window, flower and tiles.

 

 

This experiment has taught me to search for unique ways of capturing shape and form. I have become interested in considering the layers and compositions of my photographs, to create dimension, or flatten 3D forms. The different textures in my final images are effective because they complement each other yet also contrast, making them very visually interesting. They appear to adopt both 3D and 2D forms, the kitchen and flowers, against the flatness of the surface of the window. This results in a diverse range of shapes, patterns and forms in the images.



Life Drawing

3 minute sketches using graphite (2B, 4B and 6B) and charcoal.

 



 

Biro sketch, drawn without taking pen off the page.

 

Multimedia sketch using red biro and charcoal, drawn with both hands at the same time. Left hand; charcoal. Right hand; biro.

 

Left hand graphite (2B) sketch.

 

Multiple sketches using coloured biros and pencil (2B), experimented with overlaying the images.

 

Pastel sketch, using yellows, reds and blues.

 

Tonal sketch of full figure. Used Pencil (2B, 4B and 6B)

 

These life drawing experiences really encouraged expression and freedom in our work. By creating restrictions such as left handed drawing, drawing with both hands, and not taking the pen off the page, pushed me out of my comfort zone and really freed up my drawing style. The results of these restrictions taught us about how we could improve our regular sketching styles, by encouraging focus and taking risks.