Intermediate Digital Imaging

Here is a definition of Wabi-Sabi that I pieced together from several found on the Internet…

Wabi-sabi is the ancient Japanese art of seeing beauty in the imperfect, impermanent, rustic and primitive. It is a beauty of things modest and humble. It is a beauty of things unconventional.”

“Wabi” is the kind of perfect beauty that is seemingly-paradoxically caused by just the right kind of imperfection, such as an asymmetry in a ceramic bowl which reflects the handmade craftsmanship, as opposed to another bowl which is perfect, but soul-less and machine-made.

Wabi also connotes rustic simplicity, freshness or quietness, and can be applied to both natural and human-made objects, or understated elegance. It can also refer to quirks and anomalies arising from the process of construction, which add uniqueness and elegance to the object.

Sabi is beauty or serenity that comes with age, when the life of the object and its impermanence are evidenced in its patina and wear, or in any visible repairs.

Your homework is to bring in a photograph that interprets how you envision Wabi Sabi. You photo can be 5″x7″ or 8″x10″. I understand Ritz is having an 8″x10″ sale right now. Please feel free to bring in more than one photo if you’d like.

It was nice to see all of you in class Thursday. I am looking forward to working with you all over the coming weeks

In class we talked about shooting and processing RAW files. Here is a great article on the Pros and Cons of Shooting in RAW.

We discussed visual weight in photographs and looked at some good examples on this site.

I’d like you to start keeping a photo/visual journal of ideas for photographs.

Here is an article on keeping a photographic journal.

Information about Dan Eldon and his journals.

Another photographer, Peter Beard, that has kept journals all his life.

Amazon links for a few of the books about photographers and journals …

Sante D’Orazio A Private View: Photographs and Diary

The Journey Is the Destination: The Journals of Dan Eldon

Big Up

Yann Arthus-Bertrand: Being a Photographer

A good book on visual journaling: Drawing From Life: The Journal as Art

A few more sites you might like…

Here is a link to the movie about Dan Eldon’s life.

Here’s some more information on recording your ideas.

Your homework assignment this week is to shoot photographs that have a limited color palette. Here is a page with some good examples. I downloaded them a while ago from a site that is no longer available. When shooting your photographs keep in mind composition and consider what you learned about visual weight and what draws the eye.

You were given a color for your palette. Take a lot of different shots and bring in an 8″x10″ collage using at least 10 of the shots that you took.

Limiting your color palette can often produce very striking results. A monochromatic color scheme would include shades and tones of only one color. A dichromatic color scheme, either analogous or complementary would include only 2 colors.

Please feel free to email if you have any questions.