conveying emotions in photography - a challenge

This weeks' challenge from The Arcanum, my new on line learning forum, was to take an image that represents an emotion, and process it in different ways to convey different or opposite emotions.

This turned into a grammatical puzzle for me.

The emotion I chose from those offered, was strong.

The image I chose to interpret is shown above; I felt there was the potential to convey strength in the lines of the building that I had captured just beside the Tate Modern on London's Southbank.

I have struggled in my mind with the issue of whether strong is being conveyed as an emotion here; an adjective seems more appropriate. Evoking emotion in the viewer is the key to successful photography, whether it be to remind someone of a place they remember and love, or perhaps to shock or surprise.

Emotional response might be considered to be the X-factor that makes an image special.

I for one, cannot get too excited about the image above. I have interpreted it in three different ways to try and add emotion.

I started with a monochrome conversion and added contrast to 'add' strength.

"Strong" © Caroline Fraser

I then experimented with double exposure and tilt shift effects to soften the image right down and take the strength away.

'Weak' © Caroline Fraser

Finally I reverted to the colour version and abstracted it completely by adding image blur.

'Emotion in motion" © Caroline Fraser

At which point I realised that I had no idea what emotion I was conveying here.............

and one of my cohort kindly and somewhat wryly  suggested the title that I have added above "Emotion in Motion"

Is there emotion in motion?

That all depends on your personal view. We will all interpret every image that we see differently, and that is what makes the world go around.

As an exercise it was certainly fun and thought provoking, and that is what The Arcanum is all about.

Pillow talk and Equivalents; Stieglitz and clouds

I have just been introduced to Alfred Stieglitz's  'Equivalents'; a series created when his mother was dying, with the intention of showing that it was not , as had been suggested, the hypnotic power of Stieglitz over his sitters that created the power within his photography. By photographing clouds, over which he had no control and which are free to be experienced by anyone, he hoped to disprove this theory. I described one of my images of chaos in the woods as self expression. A friend repsonded with a mention of Steiglitz and his series of clouds.

Abstract cloud photographs were created with the described intention of allowing the viewer to experience the equivalent emotion to that which the photographer experienced.

What emotions does the image below convey? And how can I know what effect it will have on different viewers. The idea that the viewer will experience the same emotion as mine is not something that I would ever have considered to be likely.

bed © caroline fraser 2012

I know that I felt angry about this discarded mattress, and a desire to express my feelings about the littering of my favourite place; but what makes an image powerful enough to create equivalent emotions in the viewer? Surely it depends on who we are and what we believe.

And why didn't I feel the angry about the abandoned pillow that I described in an earlier post?

the abandoned pillow story

I followed the changes to a pillow left in the undergrowth. It remained there for several weeks just off the path where I walk dog. Through rain and snow it lay undisturbed, and then one day, just as quickly as it came, it was gone.

 I am fairly sure that the kind people who do litter picking will have removed it to a more appropriate place, but in a way I have missed it and the chance to consider why it lay where it did. Nestling in the ivy it had a certain beauty of its own. Despite my indignance that someone would abandon it in the woods, I came to enjoy the flights of fancy that it triggered as I trod through the mud. I was unable to feel anger, only thoughts about what words I might use to describe it's presence ....

a place to rest © caroline fraser 2012

Pillow talk




If I were to rest,


here,


in these woods,


my head on
cool cotton 
polka dot
remains of another's life


What dreams would ensue?
Would I dream differently?
What would I become?


Who would I be?


























It seems to me that it is unlikely that another passer by will experience an equivalent emotion on viewing this image of the pillow. Does that make the image less worthy? The untold story remains untold; we can only create our own stories from what we see.