The Art of photography

Whatthe

CameraSees:ElementsonDisplay

VividForms

Framinghissubjectagainsttheskytoemphasize

itsform,AaronSiskindconverts

a

pair offeet

intoanintricately

balancedsculpturethatmight

havebeencarvedbywindorwater.Inmakinga

picture,Siskindsays,"Iwantittobeanaltogether

new

object

—

completeandself-contained

'."

AARONSISKINDFeet, 1957

Form,liketexture,is
athree-dimensional

quality;torevealitinatwo-dimensional

picture,the
photographermustbealert

tothefeaturesofapicturethatconvey

thedepthinasubject—

above

all,

the

waythat
lightandshadowfallacrossa

scenetobringoutallofthecontours.

Form

maybeaccentuatedtoexpressa

subject'sidentityandfunction,asinthe

statuesqueimageatright.Ontheother

hand,formmaybeemphasizedforits

ownsake,simply

tocelebratetheintrin-

sicvisualinterestofanobject'scontours.

Thehumanfeetaboveweredeliber-

atelyremovedfromtheiranatomicalcon-

texttoarriveatanimagethatattempts

noliteralcommunicationbutissimplya

strikingarrangementofsolidobjects.