Reflection on Waterbeads photo
A. The mood of the photograph is one of impending anger and mayhem. This is because the yellow expresses sunlight and hope, but the red beads, almost expressing horror, is converging on the yellow beads.
B. The beauty of this photo is that you can think of it in a lot of ways. I believe some will see the lighting, as well as how the photo is cropped, and think its a disco ball representing fun times at a dance or a party. I see it as a pathogen, as it has the same circular shape. The only difference is that the waterbeads is expressing what happens when a pathogen enters an environment, with the disease (red beads), converging on people (yellow beads).
C. One thing that jumps out at me are the beads that are almost a combination of the red and yellow. It really jumped out at me as a representation of how people persevere. I think it can be interpreted as a person being infected by the pathogen, but still persevering and overcoming.
D. It makes me feel fearful. The red beads create a dark lighting which leads to a sinister atmosphere. Not knowing what the art’s genuine meaning in addition makes the photo create a feeling of terror and flight within me.
E. For next year’s students shooting their own abstract photography, I’d just say don’t focus on the meaning of the work before you shoot the photo. Take the photo that feels right for you at the moment, while you’re shooting, and try not to focus on creating a meaning for the photo, but find one that speaks to you.
I really like the use of one color, blue, and how it allows the viewer to focus on the movement of the oil and the color. I also like that the amount of blue dye makes some of it mixed but leaves blue dots of dye floating around contrasting the rigid container and the smooth mixed lines of dye.
One thing that could be better is the darkness of the blue especially because it only has one color. The different darknesses of blues would create a similar effect to having multiple colors. I would also say to crop the photo a little more so that the focus of the image is the movement of oil in the water.
The biggest piece of advice I would give you Sam is to try to be more creative with changes you make in photoshop. Many of the photos in the Abstract art could use a little touch up to make them more impactful and unique. One way you could do this by changing contrast or making one black and white, as most of your abstract photos look very similar.