The Art of photography

Whatthe

CameraSees

TheVisualElements:Shape

Theartofphotography,beingavisual

art,depends

onthe

act

ofseeingraised

toahighlevelofacutenessanddis-

crimination.Ordinarily,peopleskim-

readtheeverydayworldwiththeireyes

andminds,usingonlyaminimumof

cluestoidentifyandassess

whatthey

see.Acertainshapeinstantlydenotes

a

pairof pliers;

a

certainglitterysur-

faceindicatesice;aredlightmeans

"stop."

Indailylife,thereusuallyisno

timetolingeroversuchseeminglynon-

essentialmattersasthecolorofthepli-

ers,thereflectionsintheiceorthe

dimensionsofthetrafficlight.Aslong

astheviewerdoesnotmistakethepli-

ersforahammer,slipontheiceor

have
anautomobileaccident,

his

per-

ceptualfacultieshavedonetheirjob.

Agoodphotographermusttrainhim-

selftodoamorepenetratingkindof

seeing,tocatchthemeaningofasub-

ject(thatis,itsmeaningtohim).Since

thismeaningmaybeextremelysubtle

and
complex,heoftenmust postpone

anyconclusionsaboutituntilallofthe

visualevidenceisin.Whilethere
arein-

numerablewaysoforganizingthatev-

idence,inthe
case

of

mostseeingthere

arefourtraditionallyusefulapproaches

tovisualinformation.Intheterminology

of
theartist,theyaredefinedas;shape,

thatis,thetwo-dimensionaloutlineof

anobject;texture,
itssurfacecharac-

teristics;form,itsthree-dimensional

aspect;andcolor.The
photographer

considersallfour.

PhotographerSebastianMilito

has

demonstratedthisintheexerciseon

theoppositeandfollowing
pages,sys-

tematicallyexploring
thevariousvisu-

alcharacteristicsofasingleobject.

Ofthefourelements,shapeisthe

logicalstartingpointbecauseitis,for

thephotographer'spurpose,thesim-

plestcomponent,suggestingonlyver-

ticalandhorizontaldimensions.

Notonlyareshapesdifferent,but

variouslensescanmakestillotherdif-

ferences.Awide-anglelens,ifaimed

fromalowangle,willturnatallbuilding

intoapyramid;alonglens,bydimin-

ishingtheeffectsofconverginglines,

mayproduceanimagewhoseshape

conformsmorecloselytomentalex-

pectationsofthesamebuilding.Byfor-

getting

about

its"normal"appearance

altogether,thephotographermaybe

ableto

findmanynonrepresentational

shapesinascene.Thisisbecauseany-

thingthatappearsinaphotograph

—

whetheritisafishingrod,anapple

orahumanbeing—notonlyproducesa

shapeonthetwo-dimensionalsurface

ofthepicture,butalsoactsasabound-

ary,creatingshapesoneithersideofit.

Howshouldthephotographeruse

shape

9

Hecanshootatanunexpected

angletomaketheviewerlooktwiceat

thesubject(apairofpliers,seennose-

on,maybeatantalizingmystery).He

cancreateseveralshapesthatecho

oneanother,linkingpartsofacomplex

sceneintoawhole.Hecandisplayhis

subjectasaconstructionofdiverse

geometricfigures.Ifheknowshowto

seeshapeasanindependentcompo-

nent,everyscenewillofferinnumer-

ablecreativeoptions.Yethewillhave

justbeguntotapthevisualrichesofthe

world,foratleastthreeothervisualin-

gredientsremaintobeexplored.

Thesephotographsshowfourstrikinglydifferent

viewsofthesameobjectThephotographer

chosetopresenttheobjectas ariddle,

hidingits

identityforatimesoastopresentthevarious

versionsofitsshapewithoutbeingboundby

preconceptionsastohowit"should"look.Each

ofthepicturesactuallyshowstwoshapes,of

course—onedark,onelight—afurtherdividend

derivedfromananalyticalapproachtovision.