Frame & Composition Activity 2

Blog Entry
Read the following passage taken from the book The Photographer’s Eye by John Szarkowski and answer the questions below.

‘To quote out of context is the essence of the photographer’s craft. His central problem is a simple one: what shall he include, what shall he reject? The line of decision between in and out is the picture’s edge. While the draughtsman starts with the middle of the sheet, the photographer starts with the frame. The photograph’s edge defines content. It isolates unexpected juxtapositions. By surrounding two facts, it creates a relationship. The edge of the photograph dissects familiar forms, and shows their unfamiliar fragment. It creates the shapes that surround objects. The photographer edits the meanings and the patterns of the world through an imaginary frame. This frame is the beginning of his picture’s geometry. It is to the photograph as the cushion is to the billiard table.’

Q. What does John Szarkowski mean when he says that photographers are quoting ‘out of context’ when they make photographic pictures? 

A: What John Szarkowski means by 'out of context' is without unwanted surrounding details, getting full frame of the central idea.

Q. The frame often ‘dissects familiar forms’. At the end of the last century photography was having a major impact on Art. Impressionist artists such as Degas were influenced by what they saw. Look at these examples of Degas work, which clearly shows the influence of Photography, and explain why the public might have been shocked to see such paintings. 
A: The reason people saw such an amazing is because of the details of the painting, the types of composition is used such as rule of third.

Important: Find another example of a painting that you feel was influenced by photography and include it in you're posting!

Vincent Van Gogh

Gustave Caillbotte
Paris Street; Rainy Day 1886/87