Focus
One of the ways that cameras see the world differently to the way we view it with our eyes is that they can selectively focus on the subject. This phenomenon is related to the mechanics and optics of the camera lens. The photographer can change the settings on the camera in order to alter the amount of light entering the lens. This directly affects the depth of field of the subject being viewed.
Some photographers have experimented with a variety of effects that can be achieved by manipulating the cameras ability to bring subjects in and out of focus.
Some photographers have experimented with a variety of effects that can be achieved by manipulating the cameras ability to bring subjects in and out of focus.
Ralph Eugene MeatyardRalph Eugene Meatyard is an American optician turned photographer who is famous for his portraits which contain subjects wearing grotesque masks, erasing the differences between them.
His work is inspired and affected by his curiosity for such as art, philosophy, music, literature and buddhism, specifically the collections of Zen Koans. The way in which he works can be easily linked to his past career as an optician, as his vast knowledge and skill concerning aperture and focus demonstrates this. This causes his images to be incredibly refined, and often documentary-like and typological in style, however vastly experimental. I find the intuition Meatyard uses in his attitude to photography as a way of representing very interesting and inspiring. His experimental and varied nature draws me to his work, and opens up many possibilities for response. |
'nO FOCUS' - MEATYARD
These are some images I have chosen from Meatyard's photo series 'No Focus'. They show a way of incorporating focus, or lack of focus into photography creatively but with a very distinct difference between each image nonetheless.
response
This is a set of responses to Meatyard's 'No Focus' made with a canon DSLR with a lens with a maximum aperture of 4.5. I believe they were successful in responding to Meatyard as they all convey shape very well, although the small aperture on the camera I was using was too so. However, I do very much like my own exploration of visual experimentation, such as mixing blur with focus, using geometric shapes, and viewing things through other objects or outlines.
'ZEN TWIGS' - MEATYARD
This is a photo series by Meatyard in which he experiments with a very wide open aperture within nature, capturing small parts of plants with selective focus. He does this to produce therapeutic effects and a sense of calm, which a certainly shown through the images with very wide open aperture and flowing tones. They are quite evidently inspired by zen.
RESPONSE
This is a set of responses to Meatyard's 'Zen Twigs'. In this response, I used a lens with a widest possible aperture of 1.7. I also shot in an aspect ratio of 1:1, as Meatyard does. I believe this was a very successful response, in comparison with the previous one. I attempted to find subjects to photograph which were largely varied, and also to use to my advantage, the choice which selective focus gives, allowing me to focus in finite areas in the foreground, middle ground and background.