I couldn't just pick 6

I had so much fun exploring with my camera.  I have a new hobby now.  Values can make or break a picture and can really create emotions and give interesting perspectives. However, I chose six of my photographs that I was really pleased with and I numbered them in their caption.

The Power of Value

The vertical lines pull you down.
I love this composition of soft light and
extreme darkness.  You can almost feel the
breeze coming through the curtain.
This sets a mood of tranquility. 

1.
This shadow created a beautiful silhouette.  There
are strong horizontal lines and diaganol lines
that make this compostion work.  Even the contrasting
values make it balanced. 
. 

The outlining is so strong as well as the repetition of rows.
From this angle the diagonol lines change the shape of the the
actual square of the photo givng a feeling of continuance. 
There is a nice blend of grays, whites and blacks.



2.
This composition feels balanced in which  the two focal points
play off one another.  The low-key value in the
background  and the center of the flowers really compliment
the high-value of the petals.

3.
I love the gradation of value and the feel that the dark shadows are endless holes.  There are
also great repetitious lines, both vertical and horizontal. My eyes
start at the light values at the bottom and the move all the way up to the top and curve
to the left into  dark pits of the unknown.

4.
The highlighting brings such a delicacy to this petunia, yet the dark defined
veins that run through it signifies strength to survive in its elements.  the negative space
of dark value really makes the flower stand out as the focal point.

5.
This is a wonderful example of contrast between lights and darks
as well as textures of smooth and rough, yet ,this image gives
me a feeling of balance.  the dark values cover one side and the
light values cover the other side.  There is also a great mixture of
values throughout the photo too.

I felt like a detective when I was playing with the values. I didn't notice while I was taking the picture that there
was a hidden message on the house. I believe is says, "HOME GROWN".
Working with black and white photographs really made me focus on the  details
which I normally wouldn't have noticed necessarily in color

From this angle the horizontal lines go from dark values to light values
from left to right.  There several shifts of directions going on here and the varying
values help guide the eye in movement going from up and down and side to side.



There is a nice balance between low-key and high-key value. I love the
vertical lines that join with the diagonal lines and the dark value space in between
really emphasizes the directions and controls how the eye will look at the composition.



6.
There is a beautiful spiral of repetition between lights and darks.
It looks like a snail's shell. The center of the stairs is highlighted and breaks
away to gradation in values and then goes back into highlights again.



Some of Joseph Albers's Artwork

Joseph Albers

"Homage to the Square"

"Homage to the Square"

Joseph Albers

JOSEPH ALBERS


He was an artist originally from Germany who came to America during WWII. At the art school he attended in Bauhaus, Germany he was introduced to the beginnings of “Abstract” Art. He brought his great perspective with him and taught art in North Carolina and then at Yale University.

He has always loved using geometric shapes, lines and color in his art. He used them in such a way in his composition that he could create an illusion of how the picture looked to the eye versus how the art really was done. He was truly the master at understanding colors and knew how to place the correct colors together to give the shapes new direction and meaning. He realized that color influences the composition and can affect the space around the shape. He was able to give his geometric shapes a dimensional look by just figuring out what colors to use together.
Here are a few websites on Joseph Albers.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/gallery/2010/02/19/GA2010021902645.html
http://library.thinkquest.org/J0110336/albers.htm
http://design101.tumblr.com/

In my 2-D art class we attempted the “conceptual” style of art like Sol LeWitt. We were put into groups and were assigned to come up with a set of written instructions of what we wanted done using colored tape. We could designate a specific wall or let the group choose a wall as well as create instructions for a random outcome or specific outcome. After we wrote out our instructions we exchanged with another group. Each group then had to execute the written instructions that were given to them. It was incredibly fun to try to interpret some other group’s instructions and to also see the results of how another group interpreted out set of instructions. I loved the concept of it being a collaborative effort and it allowed the groups to get to know one another at the beginning of the semester.

This is the "conceptual" art my group
created when we read the instructions
written from another group.

This is another creation done by
a group following another group's set
of instrucitons. The one below is another
example too.

This is the outcome from our written

instructions that another group had to read

and interpret. This is how it was

executed.  It wasn't totally how we

envisioned it yet the outcome was

beautiful.