Before starting my ‘forgotten object’ triptych project, I have to complete 2 tasks; observing light, shadows and reflection in my daily life, and taking pictures with emphasis on mood. I started with the former, as I felt it would help me to do the latter better.
Observation
Observation for me was harder than I thought it would be. The biggest challenge was taking influence from everyday scenery, and not looking for more intentional and set up photographs that purposely utilized things like light and shadows in an effective way. I feel that it was very helpful, however; I noticed things that I was able to take into consideration while taking mood photos. The first thing I found was that lighting can greatly change the overall atmosphere of a place; I walked around my house in the day once and then in the night with the lights off, to see how the light affected my mood. In my house, when it was bright, everything felt more inviting and casual; it’s been a sunny week, so the sun is making everything very vibrant which enhances my mood. However, when it’s night time, everything looks a little more threatening; somehow, it feels more lonely to be in a big dark space than it does to be in a light one. When everything is dark, it causes a sense of unease and tension; even though I was in a familiar setting, I couldn’t help but feel a bit more cautious when it was pitch black. You have to rely on your other senses more than sight in the dark, which is a little scary.
I also observed how the colour and intensity of light can affect mood. When I walked around in the dark, I brought a flashlight with me and shined it on individual parts of the house. The intense white light from the flashlight added a ghostly tint to everything it touched, somewhat washing out the colours and casting a bunch of contrasting black shadows. It also caused one object to stand out in otherwise pitch blackness, which was effective in bringing attention to that object alone. I also experimented with dimming the lights in a room; slightly dimmed light add kind of an intimate feeling to a room, while dimming them a lot makes the room feel kind of gloomy. Dim lighting makes me think of horror movies, and I think I could possibly use different light intensities to bring out different moods and emotions in my own work.
I played around with light colours, which was an interesting thing to do. Colours are known for being able to evoke different moods, and I saw that well through experimentation; Red light is very intense and reminds me of heat and anger, while blue light is calmer but a bit cold, reminding me of sadness and cold water. Pink and purple lights look a bit mystical, reminding me of magic and unnatural happenings, while green light is surprisingly unpleasant and more intense than I would’ve thought it to be.
Lastly, I focused on shadows; I feel that the amount of shadows and their intensity is quite influential on mood. In dark spaces with less light, shadows become more intense and dark; they’re more noticeable, and in turn you notice how big and intimidating they can be. When they’re both very dark and quite a bit distorted, they become angular and a little creepy, while in bright spaces they’re less noticeable, taking on more of a small and dim grey appearance.
Photography
Taking into consideration what I learned from observation, I took a walk around my block and took some photographs in the sun. I wanted to focus on happiness first, so I took vibrant and bright colours to evoke positive moods and thoughts. I’ll share the ones that I feel were successful;
This is a photograph of the outside of a restaurant. I took this picture because of the vibrant colours; they contrast with the white and everything else around them, which makes them eye catching. The colours are very warm and saturated, and the plants give the whole thing a kind of healthy and natural look. There are also a lot of round arches, and rounder shapes can make things look softer or more inviting. I took this picture of the sky, because it caught my attention. Since it was a sunny day, the sky was especially vibrant and blue. I feel that the sky has connotations of wonder, curiosity and aspiration; people want to know what’s beyond the sky, and it’s a big and limitless space that connects everyone, we all look up at the same sky. The appearance of the sky can also influence the overall mood of a day; bright blue skies make everything look colourful and it lifts your mood, while stormy skies make everything look a bit grey and gloomy.I took pictures of some graffiti I saw on the road, as it was bright and eye catching. Similarly to the outside of the restaurant, I feel that the main thing benefiting the graffiti was it’s colour; It was unnaturally bright and saturated, which caused it to stand out from everything else. I feel that the imagery adds a lot to the mood; it’s all quite unusual and whimsical, which causes it to stand out a lot in comparison to the ordinary brick walls and scenery that surrounds it.For me, this was the image that added the most to the atmosphere of the wall. Graffiti itself is looked at as something quite rebellious in nature, and this piece of art depicts a young child making a taunting gesture. It brings about feelings of youth and being young, reckless and carefree; everyone can relate to and enjoy being young and having fun, and so the wall successfully evokes feelings of youth and brightness for me.I took a lot of pictures of plants while I was on my walk. Flowers are naturally vibrant and beautiful; everyone can appreciate the beauty of a flower, and they have connotations of love, appreciation, congratulations, peace and beauty. I feel that flowers are a useful tool in giving a happy overall atmosphere and mood to a piece; they add a sense of freshness and naturality wherever you use them, and they’re naturally very eye catching. They also make for powerful imagery because of their multiple uses and meanings; a single flower might look a bit mysterious, a bunch of flowers could mean something happy like a wedding or something more tragic like a funeral, and flowers growing naturally in the wild add some contrast and beauty to a piece, but also a sense of wilderness.
Next, I wanted to focus on a darker and more desolate mood. For most of these pictures, I took them around my house, as I could better capture more desolate and lonely looking pictures here.
While I was walking, I saw this tattered and alone plushie on the street. Since our theme for the next task is ‘forgotten objects’, I felt this was a perfect photo opportunity. The object is a toy, meaning it was once loved and played with by a child; however as the child grew older, It became more distant from the toy, until they eventually felt they didn’t need him anymore and threw him away. It’s sad to think about the life cycle of a toy; it receives a lot of love while someone is young and is seen as very important and needed by the child, but as it’s owner grows up, it’s reduced to just a useless object and thrown out, no longer with much importance or an identity of it’s own. The toy makes me wonder what kind of a life it had before, which is what I would like to achieve in my triptych; I want to evoke a sense of wonder in the viewer and make them wonder what kind of a life my chosen object lived before being lost.I took these pictures of a bridge near my house that has been locked off for a while. I feel that these are interesting shots; firstly, they display the more threatening and negative side of plants, and how the scenarios they’re used in can influence the mood of a piece. They’ve taken over this bridge because nobody is there to stop them; they’ll grow wherever they want to, and nobody can stop them. They can cover something that was once useful and full of life, reducing it to an abandoned host for wild plants. It reminds me that the earth isn’t really ours, whether people are there or not, plants and nature will continue to grow over the world as they want to. The cold and rusty metal gate keeps humans from entering the bridge, but plants have no restrictions and can grow wherever they want to. I feel that they can be used to add a wild, desolate and abandoned vibe to a picture or a scene. I also feel that the angle in the second photo added to the atmosphere; It gives a sense of distance and hierarchy with things getting smaller as they get further, and we can’t see beyond the top. It adds a sense of curiosity; what is beyond the gates? what waits at the top?I took this picture of my baby sister’s painting late at night, with a flashlight. The contrast between the childlike imagery and the overall gloomy atmosphere, intense and limited lighting and the darkness make the picture look scary; it feels like you’re exploring some kind of an abandoned space and looking for clues. Children in general can be good imagery for horror as it’s very uncharacteristic of a child to act in an evil and threatening way, which unsettles viewers. The use of a single light source is also effective in creating a scary photograph; it adds a sense of vulnerability, painting the picture that one person is exploring alone and nobody can help them if things go wrong.I feel similarly about this image, but I feel that shadows are what makes this one effective. The harsh black shadows in contrast with the ghostly white light and the washed out colours of the objects create a somewhat eerie atmosphere, as mentioned in my observation paragraphs.
Lastly, I wanted to focus on creating a whimsical and magical mood through photography. I took these pictures to achieve that;
I took this picture at a low angle; I wanted to give of the illusion of the viewer being a tiny person, or the world being gigantic. I think angles and composition can greatly influence the mood of a picture; they can add suspense, illusion or a sense of movement. I wanted this picture to put the viewer into the scene mentally; you can imagine being tiny and walking through flowers, having to dodge through them, and the angle makes the gate look like it’s half the size of the building in the background when it’s actually a lot smaller. I took this picture because the small yellow flowers contrast a lot and stand out amongst the darker leaves surrounding it. I feel that this image has a sense of magic to it as the flowers look like the could be special somehow; I can imagine a story where the enchanted flowers only grow in one place and are hard to find, rumoured to have great magical abilities. Contrast can be an effective tool; If something is a lot brighter than it’s surroundings, it catches your eye and looks a little unnatural and out of place, which can be used as an advantage.I set up this scene using objects that look vaguely enchanted; a glowing glass frog, some books, a single flower, a pendant and an odd light. I took the picture multiple times to play around with the lighting and angles. For this lighting, I used a torch; I think the kind of spotlight look with everything else around the setup being dark works really well. I like how the piece is very shadowy, It adds a sense of mystery to everything. The tint from the red light also adds a bit of a magical, mystical look to the whole thing. I like how using light and angles, you can give life to a picture that doesn’t really have much of an identity without them.
I took the same picture, but with different colours for each light. I feel that the light colour slightly changed the vibe of the image a bit each time;
White looks pure and innocent, a bit more friendly.Pink looks magical and mysterious, adding a sense of wonder.Bright pink works similarly to white, adding a purity and softness to the image.A darker purple looks more intense, retaining a magical and mystical vibe but adding some aggression and harshness, tinting the things around it.
I took some pictures of the frog under a blanket, with a coloured light and the pendant, so that the light would show more intensely.
This yellow light looks warm and inviting, somewhat cozy. It puts the viewer a little bit at ease.Green looks mystical but a little bit cold and slightly intense; potentially dangerous.Bright pink looks passionate and slightly playful; warm, but with an air of magic.Lastly, the frog alone looks peaceful, but a little bit mysterious. It reminds me of a save point in a video game; somewhat comfortable, a place away from everything intense, and kind of warm.
I took these two pictures with the coloured light as the only light source, no flashlight.
This one is the most magical looking I feel; the light is intense and unnatural, and only touches the things it wants to bring your attention to. This could be effective in a drawing; lights that guide your eyes to the object of importance.To me, this one looks a little more sinister; The light reminds me of candle light or fire light, giving the image a mystical old vibe. It makes me think of old mansions and fancy buildings, that perhaps hide a dark secret.Lastly, I took this picture of a mirror, as mirrors are often associated with magic and parallels. I think the image looks slightly mysterious because of the angle and the lack of a reflection in the mirror, As well as the butterflies around it. The butterflies are obviously fake, But I think they’re effective; it looks like they’re naturally attracted to the mirror, but you don’t know why. It adds a sense of mystery and possible magic.
To conclude, this task was greatly beneficial to me. It helped me to think of what I can do with light, shadows, imagery and colours in an image; I can use them to paint a luxurious image of whatever I draw, a more sinister one, or one that looks enchanted and evokes wonder and mystery. I can definitely look back to these images when I create my triptych and think about what things work together to give off the overall mood and atmosphere that the picture invokes in me.
