The modern environment of photographic art and creation poses ongoing challenges and innovative approaches to convey the surrounding world through the digital art piece. According to Lowe (2020), it is crucial for photographers to follow “freedom of space” in their creation, experiment, and, thus, explore the target subject without any constraints (p. 145). With this said, the dedicated photographers aim to pervade their art with a deep philosophical undertone and inspire other people to explore their philosophy within themselves.
Inspiration Piece
The inspiration piece selected for this reflection assignment is the glass ball photography created by a British commercial and landscape photographer, Paul Reiffer. It is an experimental approach to illustrate the surrounding world by using one simple, transparent object, such as a lens ball, which is rapidly growing in modern photographic art. His art piece is named on behalf of his worldwide project “Glass Ball Photography – The Whole World in your Hand,” created in 2018. The photographic piece demonstrates a night city landscape with the contrasting transfusion of bright colors on the dark background, which is conversely displayed in the glass ball in a full 180-degree view.
It serves as an upside-down challenge for viewers’ minds to deeply explore the shot. The photograph contains two landscapes, with a glass ball view as a pivotal subject, resulting from the “refraction and chromatic aberration” (Reiffer, 2018, para. 4). Reiffer’s idea was to renovate his typical approach to traveling and capturing the literal landscapes and cityscapes and enhance it with an experiment using a glass ball. The artist follows the ultra-wide-angle photography because it is able to capture a shot with a greater field of view compared to the human eye, providing an unrealistic perspective on the world.
My Art Piece
Reiffer’s vision of the ordinary landscapes and night city scenes have significantly inspired me to create a night time shot with a glass object. My photograph is named “The Art of Glass Vision and the Lighting Game,” 2021. This piece serves as a creative method to transform the commonly accepted vision of the world in the experimental context. The glasses with liquids are used as the focal point of the shot, which helped me to recreate the simple night time indoor environment as a fascinating game of the light. The most intriguing point of my photograph implies the captivating lighting game led by the light from the candle, which is transmitted onto the embossed glass surface in different directions. The image is not enriched with a multiple color palette. However, the two simple objects, such as the glasses and a candle, created the unrealistic illusion of night-time scenery and conveyed a magic atmosphere of the shot.
Conclusion: The Connection between the Pieces
The thematic connection between the two pieces is based on the illusionary vision of the simple scenes and experimental approach to the art of photography. The transparent medium of the glass is used as a transformative tool, showing the unrealistic image and creating an alluring change of the colors and lights. The core similarity between the two examined pieces implies using the glass object and the night time scenery to create a photograph and display the unrealistic perspective.
The main difference between these two shots is based on the diverse location, outdoor (night city) and indoor (cafĂ©) captures. By adopting the same medium, two images considerably impact the viewer’s experience by demonstrating the upside-down world and the colorful power and external reflections of the transparent object. From the design perspective, the first professional piece applied the central composition to emphasize the converted image of the urban scene. The second photo used the diagonal composition scheme to showcase the gradual distribution of the light coming from the candle and the sound synthesis of the contrasting colors, green and orange.
References
Lowe, P. (2020). Photography rules: Dos and don’ts from the great photographers. White Lion Publishing.
Reiffer, P. (2018). Glass ball photography – The whole world in your hand. PaulReiffer. Web.