Chapter 8
EXERCISES (CHAPTER 8)
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt
1. Your Personality Type A number of personality tests are available at counseling centers that can be taken to suggest your personality characteristics. The Myers–Briggs test is a popular one and is available in hard copy as well as online. Knowing your personality type will help you in understanding yourself and those you work for and with. On the Myers–Briggs test, I found that I am more intuitive than sensing, more feeling than thinking, more perceptive than judging, and midway between being an introvert and an extrovert. The Myers–Briggs test can be taken online and immediately scored. If you have never taken the test you will find it interesting and helpful. It consists of 72 yes/no questions, with a final score based on your answers. If you have taken the test, you may find some of the other personality tests available of interest, such as “Self-Esteem Test,” “All About You,” “Coping Skill Inventory,” “Your Charisma Quotient,” and “Jung–Myers–Briggs Marriage Test.” 2. Creative Personalities Creative people have particular personality and cognitive traits, such as openness to experience, curiosity, and a tolerance for ambiguity. We have learned that they often get their ideas as flashes of insight, through moments of inspiration, or by going into a state at the edge of chaos, where ideas float, soar, collide, and connect. (This quote is from the book The Creating Brain by Dr. Nancy C. Andreasen. New York: Dana Press, 2005, p. 159. The book is well worth a read.) 3. Projection Find a subject to photograph that interests you. Study it for a while and see it as being beautiful. Photograph it. Now see the same subject as ugly and photograph it. You may make whatever changes you feel necessary: lighting, focus, exposure, position, printing, and so on. You may want to take several photographs for each situation and choose the best. Compare the two photographs. Ask others to compare them and to describe any differences they see regarding the portrayed mood. 4. Chinese Photography Carry out the advice that the eleventh-century Chinese artist Sung Ti gave his artist friend. Find an old wall that is visually interesting, cover it with a piece of gauze or equivalent to diffuse the surface of the wall. Study the covered area and make some close-up photographs of areas that might suggest something else, such as surreal landscapes, patterns, abstractions, and so on.
Chapter 8
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Personality
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5. Chinese Dresses Two lovely twins adorned in colorful matched dresses that mimic Chinese-type paintings. How would you describe the persona they project?
6. Contemporary Animism Look over some of van Gogh’s paintings of trees to discover the “primal energy” art historian Michael Brenson mentions. Study the trees John Sexton has photographed and writes about in his book Listen to the Trees.1 Journey into a wooded area, “listen to the trees,” and try to capture their primal energy as Sexton has. Ponder some of these statements by the naturalist, Henry Thoreau: “A man has not seen a thing who has not felt it.” “The question is not what you look at but what you see.” “Go not to the object; let it come to you.”
Meaningful images … should in some way be a photographer’s self portrait. John Sexton
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Perception and Imaging
7. Thinking/Sensing Take a series of photographs that are very carefully and thoughtfully composed. Take another series in which they are not—without looking through the viewfinder, aim your camera at what looks interesting and take a picture. Compare the two series of photographs. 8. Right and Left Brain In her book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,2 Betty Edwards has a number of exercises that can be helpful to a photographer. Locate the book in a local or school library and look it over. Try some of the exercises. They will sharpen your visual awareness. Here is one to try: Find a picture you like, turn it upside down, and draw it. Put what you have drawn to one side and draw the picture again, but this time right-side up. Compare the two copies. Looking at things upside down has a tendency to engage the right side of the brain. Some photographers believe that looking at an upside down image on the ground glass of a view camera has this desired effect.
Creativity with portrait involves the invocation of a state of rapport when only a camera stands between two people, mutual vulnerability and mutual trust. Minor White
9. Personal Space (a) In a conversation with someone, see how close you can get to that person, face to face, before one of you begins to feel uncomfortable. Try it with friends and acquaintances, male and female. Now try the same procedure with your eyes closed. Is there a difference? (b) Take a portrait of a friend as you normally would and then make a series of prints of various sizes: from 4 × 5 to 16 × 20 inches or larger. Place them all on a wall and ask friends to look at them and to tell you which one they like or feel a closeness to and which they feel distant from. While they are studying the prints make a note of their distance from the print, whether they moved closer or further away. 10. Field Dependency (a) Make a series of photographs in which everything in the scene is vertical or horizontal. Now photograph the same situation with something tilted in the scene. Make prints and have friends look at the prints in pairs and comment as to which print they feel more comfortable with. (b) Look through magazines and collect pictures that exhibit tilted objects within the picture and see with which ones you feel the most visual tension, if any. You may want to try the same experiment by taping some events on television and studying them for tilted objects.
Chapter 8
1EEE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 EEE3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5EEE 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40 1 2 3EEEE
Personality
11. Persona and Field Dependency In the photograph “Bourbon Boys” by Bruce Keyes, we see two young men with butterfly wings whose persona suggests Cupid. They are naked except for their bikini shorts, stockings, and shoes. Strands of beads are draped around their necks. One man holds Cupid’s bow and arrow and the other, an extra arrow. Their mouths are wide open and bursting with spontaneous joy. The Cupid on the left balances himself on one foot atop a newspaper stand. The Cupid on the right, with arched back, leans in the opposite direction while holding on to a pole of a street sign for support. The tilted Cupids present a feeling of imbalance (field dependency). Between them, a nearly upright Bourbon Street sign identifies the precise location. The USA Today newspaper stand might be seen as adding a bit of humor—“Only in America!” Festive occasions allow people to take on different personas and have fun. It presents great opportunities for a photographer to capture the moment.
“Bourbon Boys” by Bruce Keyes.
12. Contemplative Photography Barbara Morgan once told me that when she was a young teacher and painter at the University of California she was asked to meet with a young Edward Weston and to help him hang his photographs in the gallery. This was the first time she
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5
Perception and Imaging
had met him and seen his photographs. She was in awe at the photographs and enthusiastically asked Weston what he was trying to accomplish in his photographs. He replied, “Barbara, I am trying to capture the essence of things.” Using Contemplative Photography try your hand at capturing the essence of something that you feel close to.
Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual. Edward Weston
“Weed” by Irving Pobboravsky.
NOTES 1. Sexton, Listen to the Trees. 2. Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher (New York: St. Martin’s Press, distributor), 1979.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt
1. Your Personality Type A number of personality tests are available at counseling centers that can be taken to suggest your personality characteristics. The Myers–Briggs test is a popular one and is available in hard copy as well as online. Knowing your personality type will help you in understanding yourself and those you work for and with. On the Myers–Briggs test, I found that I am more intuitive than sensing, more feeling than thinking, more perceptive than judging, and midway between being an introvert and an extrovert. The Myers–Briggs test can be taken online and immediately scored. If you have never taken the test you will find it interesting and helpful. It consists of 72 yes/no questions, with a final score based on your answers. If you have taken the test, you may find some of the other personality tests available of interest, such as “Self-Esteem Test,” “All About You,” “Coping Skill Inventory,” “Your Charisma Quotient,” and “Jung–Myers–Briggs Marriage Test.” 2. Creative Personalities Creative people have particular personality and cognitive traits, such as openness to experience, curiosity, and a tolerance for ambiguity. We have learned that they often get their ideas as flashes of insight, through moments of inspiration, or by going into a state at the edge of chaos, where ideas float, soar, collide, and connect. (This quote is from the book The Creating Brain by Dr. Nancy C. Andreasen. New York: Dana Press, 2005, p. 159. The book is well worth a read.) 3. Projection Find a subject to photograph that interests you. Study it for a while and see it as being beautiful. Photograph it. Now see the same subject as ugly and photograph it. You may make whatever changes you feel necessary: lighting, focus, exposure, position, printing, and so on. You may want to take several photographs for each situation and choose the best. Compare the two photographs. Ask others to compare them and to describe any differences they see regarding the portrayed mood. 4. Chinese Photography Carry out the advice that the eleventh-century Chinese artist Sung Ti gave his artist friend. Find an old wall that is visually interesting, cover it with a piece of gauze or equivalent to diffuse the surface of the wall. Study the covered area and make some close-up photographs of areas that might suggest something else, such as surreal landscapes, patterns, abstractions, and so on.
Chapter 8
1EEE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 EEE3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5EEE 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40 1 2 3EEEE
Personality
2
5. Chinese Dresses Two lovely twins adorned in colorful matched dresses that mimic Chinese-type paintings. How would you describe the persona they project?
6. Contemporary Animism Look over some of van Gogh’s paintings of trees to discover the “primal energy” art historian Michael Brenson mentions. Study the trees John Sexton has photographed and writes about in his book Listen to the Trees.1 Journey into a wooded area, “listen to the trees,” and try to capture their primal energy as Sexton has. Ponder some of these statements by the naturalist, Henry Thoreau: “A man has not seen a thing who has not felt it.” “The question is not what you look at but what you see.” “Go not to the object; let it come to you.”
Meaningful images … should in some way be a photographer’s self portrait. John Sexton
3
Perception and Imaging
7. Thinking/Sensing Take a series of photographs that are very carefully and thoughtfully composed. Take another series in which they are not—without looking through the viewfinder, aim your camera at what looks interesting and take a picture. Compare the two series of photographs. 8. Right and Left Brain In her book Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain,2 Betty Edwards has a number of exercises that can be helpful to a photographer. Locate the book in a local or school library and look it over. Try some of the exercises. They will sharpen your visual awareness. Here is one to try: Find a picture you like, turn it upside down, and draw it. Put what you have drawn to one side and draw the picture again, but this time right-side up. Compare the two copies. Looking at things upside down has a tendency to engage the right side of the brain. Some photographers believe that looking at an upside down image on the ground glass of a view camera has this desired effect.
Creativity with portrait involves the invocation of a state of rapport when only a camera stands between two people, mutual vulnerability and mutual trust. Minor White
9. Personal Space (a) In a conversation with someone, see how close you can get to that person, face to face, before one of you begins to feel uncomfortable. Try it with friends and acquaintances, male and female. Now try the same procedure with your eyes closed. Is there a difference? (b) Take a portrait of a friend as you normally would and then make a series of prints of various sizes: from 4 × 5 to 16 × 20 inches or larger. Place them all on a wall and ask friends to look at them and to tell you which one they like or feel a closeness to and which they feel distant from. While they are studying the prints make a note of their distance from the print, whether they moved closer or further away. 10. Field Dependency (a) Make a series of photographs in which everything in the scene is vertical or horizontal. Now photograph the same situation with something tilted in the scene. Make prints and have friends look at the prints in pairs and comment as to which print they feel more comfortable with. (b) Look through magazines and collect pictures that exhibit tilted objects within the picture and see with which ones you feel the most visual tension, if any. You may want to try the same experiment by taping some events on television and studying them for tilted objects.
Chapter 8
1EEE 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 1 2 EEE3 4 5 6 7 8 9 20 1 2 3 4 5EEE 6 7 8 9 30 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 40 1 2 3EEEE
Personality
11. Persona and Field Dependency In the photograph “Bourbon Boys” by Bruce Keyes, we see two young men with butterfly wings whose persona suggests Cupid. They are naked except for their bikini shorts, stockings, and shoes. Strands of beads are draped around their necks. One man holds Cupid’s bow and arrow and the other, an extra arrow. Their mouths are wide open and bursting with spontaneous joy. The Cupid on the left balances himself on one foot atop a newspaper stand. The Cupid on the right, with arched back, leans in the opposite direction while holding on to a pole of a street sign for support. The tilted Cupids present a feeling of imbalance (field dependency). Between them, a nearly upright Bourbon Street sign identifies the precise location. The USA Today newspaper stand might be seen as adding a bit of humor—“Only in America!” Festive occasions allow people to take on different personas and have fun. It presents great opportunities for a photographer to capture the moment.
“Bourbon Boys” by Bruce Keyes.
12. Contemplative Photography Barbara Morgan once told me that when she was a young teacher and painter at the University of California she was asked to meet with a young Edward Weston and to help him hang his photographs in the gallery. This was the first time she
4
5
Perception and Imaging
had met him and seen his photographs. She was in awe at the photographs and enthusiastically asked Weston what he was trying to accomplish in his photographs. He replied, “Barbara, I am trying to capture the essence of things.” Using Contemplative Photography try your hand at capturing the essence of something that you feel close to.
Anything that excites me for any reason, I will photograph; not searching for unusual subject matter, but making the commonplace unusual. Edward Weston
“Weed” by Irving Pobboravsky.
NOTES 1. Sexton, Listen to the Trees. 2. Betty Edwards, Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain, Los Angeles: J. P. Tarcher (New York: St. Martin’s Press, distributor), 1979.
