The Art of photography

Whatthe

CameraSees:Elements

onDisplay

Strong

Patterns

Inboththe

naturaland

man-madeworld,

shapesoften

repeatthemselves

andpro-

duce

apattern—the

windowsofasky-

scraper,the

leavesshownhere

insilhou-

ette,

orthestark

hillsontheopposite

page

Patterndiffersfrom

texture,which

alsodisplays

repetition,because

pattern

does

notnecessarilyimplya

thirddimen-

sion,astexture

does

Itisperhapsbecause

patternisa

kind

oforder

andourmindsseek

orderinthe

worldaroundus

thattheeyesearches,

consciously

ornot,for

patternsinthesur-

roundingscene.

Ifasingleshape

has

beenmultipliedmanytimes,

thepattern's

regularity

isimmediatelyapparent.

Ifthe

shapesaresimilarbut

notidentical,like

the

shadedandsunlitslopeson

theop-

positepage,the

ordermaybelessobvi-

ous—but

thediscerning

photographer

whodetectsthe

underlyingunitycanem-

ploythatfacttocreate

picturesreplete

withsubtle

rhythms.

The

stronglyorderedpatternexhibitedinthis

photographolleaveswas

createdinpartbysome

darkroommanipulationThenegative

was

underexposedandoverdevelopedtosuppress

detailandwasthen

printedoncontrastypaperOne

slightdeviationfrom

symmetryenhancesthe

pattern'sorganizationThestemsarenotperfectly

opposed,

buttaketurns,asitwere,astheyemerge

fromthebranch.

GEORGETICETreeNo19,

California, 1965