Photo! Faux-to! (LECCY 4)

P.I.C.T.U.R.E.S! They have always been one of my favourite things!

Listening to Dr Redman discuss the way stories have been told via pictures in the past completely captured my attention. I’ve been fortunate enough to have seen Indigenous cave paintings in real life and let me just say that they truly are a must see. You can sense the history that hangs in the air simply by being in their presence.

Another version of picture stories I’ve always been surrounded by my whole life and I feel have never appreciated fully are stained glass windows. Being brought up in a Catholic home, mass was a regular thing every Sunday and they just seemed to blend into the look of a church for me. But look at the beauty of the light as it shines through:

Hitting the 1860s, pictures began to make their way into newspapers and started “telling a thousand words”. Black and white photos then made appearances about 20 years later with colour photos making their debut in 1936. Since these times the ease in which photos can be taken and uploaded for use in news is crazy! I mean photos from iPhones are winning photography competitions (well-deserved I might add). I guess the quality of phone cameras now allow even day to day citizens to be a part of and capture moments that may never have been recorded without this rapid improvement in technology.

With good however comes unmistakable evil! Enter into the ring…photoshop and the hammering effect it has on society’s self confidence. Admittedly even my own at one stage. As I’ve matured though I realise these things aren’t real and even though I’m pretty sure I was aware of that at the time I didn’t recognise it as fully as I do now.

(http://thegloss.com/beauty/the-beauty-of-photoshop-faith-hill/)

Also discussed in today’s lecture were the points of what makes a great photo:

• Framing
• Focus
• Angle and POV
• Timing
• Capturing ‘the moment'

I don’t have a lot of experience with photography but while on ski trip with my school last year I’m pretty sure my friend had a full grasp of the concept of framing!

 Completely moving focus now though- as was told to us today, a picture has no meaning if it can’t tell a story and a good picture is one that makes you laugh, cry or rips your heart out. Hearing this took me back to when I was just about move down for uni and tragedy struck my hometown. Hayden Currie, a friend and fellow student, was struck and killed by a car on his way home from a party. Only 17 years old. Watching the photo montage at his funeral ripped every single person’s heart out. I think average photos have the ability to become great photos if placed in a particular context. Two weeks previous, people would have flicked through his Facebook albums without much thought. With the story surrounding Currie’s photos they were completely encapsulating, heart-breaking and beautiful.

 Moving Pictures

Much the same qualities are present in good motion picture as is present in good still pictures:

• Framing
• Focus
• Angle and POV
• Exposure
• Timing and Editing
• Capturing ‘the scene’
• Sound

I think I get much more swept up in the magic of still photography. It allows you to inspect the one shot, the one frame and delve into as much as you please with your imagination.