Abstract
If you shoot all of your rolls of familiar people, objects and places, all from the same distance, the same height and perspective, your photos will appear boring, no matter how good they are. A good abstract turns our normal, boring way of looking at the world upside down, so that what should be familiar appears new and strange.
Take a roll of abstracts, images of familiar things that become unrecognizable because of the way you photograph them. This might mean getting extra close or waiting for a certain time of day, when the light changes everything. You are free to choose any subject you want: people’s body parts, plants, hallways. Think of bringing some objects into class and using our studio lights to set them up as an abstract image.
Because an abstract is detached from “reality,” it is free to communicate other things that have to do with feelings, moods, dreams and symbols. The subject doesn’t get in the way. As you look for suitable images, think of what moods you want to convey, and what shapes might work as symbols if you were to look at them in certain ways, under certain light. Some of the very best abstracts can appear to be two very different things at the same time, depending on how we view them.
Backgrounds and foregrounds often give clues about the relative sizes of objects in a photo. For this assignment, you may need to eliminate the background by throwing it out of focus or coming up close. Whatever you do, don’t ignore anything inside that rectangle. Everything counts!
Reminders
• Sometimes you want it all:
— Tight grain (which requires a low-ASA film, like 100)
— Maximum depth of field, with everything sharp
— no camera shake
• This means slow film, small aperture and probably a long shutter speed, like 1/4th second or even 4 seconds.
• Unfortunately, the only way to have it all is to use a tripod. A good tripod has to be somewhat heavy in order to stabilize a camera. Otherwise, even the wind can make your photos come out blurry. A cable release is also a good idea because it eliminates the possibility that you will jiggle the camera by pressing on the shutter release.
• Actually there is another way to have it all, but that involves using the weird, huge camera with the accordion bellows.