Toward the end of TAoP Part Two: Elements of Design, there is an exercise that starts with the words, ‘Plan and take two photographs….’ which is different from all the other exercises up to that point and for the rest of that Part. This led me to believe that I was being asked to start and look at my photograph taking for the exercises in a much more methodical way than just saying ‘ah yes, this is what’s wanted, here’s a likely scenario, take the shot, job done’. With that I wrote down what I needed to do to make the picture and then sketched some likely scenarios before setting them up. I then chose the best images from the bunch and used them as the ‘two photographs’. Job done you might say; well yes it was but it left me thinking that perhaps I should now be planning more of the exercises, and is that what the tutors and assessors are beginning to look for at this point in the course, more thinking before doing?
You know it’s much harder than it sounds going through that process time after time for even just a few shots. I’m trying to do it now for the assignment at the end of Part Two and I’ve already had two aborted attempts. The problem is thinking outside the box. For instance, my first attempt was to look at each picture requirement and then coming up with an idea to fit it. Now I chose to do something in this exercise outside my comfort zone and make images of raw food ingredients, not your everyday, naturally chosen subject. Coupled with a new way of going about planning what to do, well really piling on the stressors here. So, as I was saying about my first attempt; each picture required a different foodstuff or multiples thereof and I wasn’t doing too badly with this until I thought, suppose you try to take the ingredients from an actual recipe and use them? Great idea, at least my wife and I could eat the results. WRONG! Bigger stressors.
The problem with the second idea is colour, there’s not a lot of different colours in a recipe, that’s why the results of cooking should look somewhat colourful, if it doesn’t it’s because there’s too many colours mixed together and it’s beginning to create white, read BLAND. Plus, what do you do when you want patterns? Choice is a bit limited and I found myself boxed in and creating sketches of awfully complicated patterns to show rhythm and pattern. So what to do? Well I chose to go back to my original idea and employ the acronym KISS, Keep it simple stupid!!
Did that solve the problem? Yes and no, I got the images I wanted ……… but only some of the results were entirely edible.
Lerpy's Photography Log 