Colour Studies Assignment 1

This assignment seemed a little bit daunting at first, which when I think about it now, to be daunted by this task makes no sense...Everything we see around us can be categorised in some way or another so to take a picture of something in a given category shouldn't be that difficult (in theory!)
 I thought it would be too easy to go out, take photographs - then find a keyword to match them, so from my research and planning beforehand I decided on;

1. Industrial - My own selection.
2. Decay - My own selection
3. Light - From the given list
4. Natural - From the given list
5. Texture - From the given list
6. Vibrant - From the given list
7. Shape - From the given list
8. Reflection - This keyword I was given along with my colour swatch

Colour swatch 

Prior to going out and taking my photographs I hadn't decided which keywords would relate to my colour.

The final 8 photographs
 

"Industrial" f/8 1/1600 ISO 100

This image is of Rocksavage power plant, Cheshire, taken from Frodsham hill, Cheshire. I felt that this image epitomized the keyword "industrial" for me. It is an imposing feature on the landscape and cannot be missed. I felt that taking the image in landscape rather than close up and incorporating some of the surrounding scenery into it, would allow me to demonstrate the imposing nature of the power plant on the surrounding area. My group did not recognise this as industrial therefore I will re-shoot this to emphasise the keyword. My plan is to shoot a close up shot, possibly at night to create more of an impact.

 "Light" f/10.0 1/80 ISO 100

 

When deciding on an image to go with my keyword "light", this was not my initial choice of picture, this kind of just happened upon me when I noticed my partners long shadow on the floor. His shadow contrasted well with the floor and without the light the shadow would not have been possible. I kept the bottom half of the subjects legs in as I felt it gave the image some perspective - without them I thought it resembled a chalk outline of a body. My groups first instinct with this image was that the keyword was shadow, I will therefore re-shoot an image for this keyword possibly usin a more literal image to represent the keyword.

"Decay" f/5.3 1/30 ISO 100

When I chose the keyword "decay" I felt it had a lot of scope to it as it is an inescapable part of life. It surrounds us and is an inevitable part of life. I felt that in this drainpipe the colours contrasted well - the red paint beneath the green paint evidence of where someone has tried, to no avail to hide/mask the decay. This image represented my keyword to the group and was correctly named, I have decided though to reshoot this image to try and emphasise the word even more whilst creating a more aesthetically pleasing shot.

"Nature" f/5.6 1/125 ISO 320

I chose to take a picture of this lavender because it was a colour that was on my swatch and it suited my chosen keyword. The bee was a coincidence, I noticed it had landed on the bush and decided that as a part of the photograph the symbiotic relationship between plant and bee would drive home the keyword "nature". This shot effectively denoted the keyword to my group when presented to them.

"Reflection" f/2.0 1/13 ISO 250

I chose to contrive this image to portray the keyword "Reflection". I wanted to convey the keyword in it's simplest form and chose to use the flowers because of their bright colour. When presented with this image it took my group a moment to get the correct keyword, as the mirror in the image is not instantly recogniseable, the inital thoughts by the group where that this image represented natural. I will re-shoot this image, unfortunateley the flowers in it are now dead, so I will chose another subject, this time trying to make the keyword more obvious within the frame.

"Shape" f/5.6 1/30 ISO 100

This air vent  on the side of my house was a perfect example for my chosen keyword "shape" and also part of my colour swatch. I feel the squares and the triangular shadows formed within the vent sum up the keyword.My group correctly identified this keyword although I have decided to re-shoot the image anyway, this time aiming to get a closer shot.

"Texture" f/5.6 1/80 ISO 320

I felt the coarseness of these bricks stood out enough to give a visual of the keyword "texture".  Getting in close allowed me to capture the rough face of the brick. My group instantly identified this image as texture.

" Vibrant" f/5.6 1/160 ISO 320

For me this flower sums up the word "vibrant". While I know it can be ambiguous to the viewer (during presentation initial thought about keyword from my peers was "nature"), this hydrangea stood out to me because of it's vibrance - it contrasted beautifully amidst the darker autumnal colours surrounding it. The hue of this was also close to that of the colours on my given swatch. The initial guess by my group for the keyword for this image was "natural" although it was closely followed by the correct keyword. I will re-shoot this image to try and emphasise the keyword more.