Line

Line

Definition & Theory

A line represents a "path" between two points.
A line can be straight, curved, vertical, horizontal, diagonal, or zigzag.
Lines imply motion and suggest direction or orientation.
A line can also be implied and is then filled in by the mind when several points are positioned geometrically within a frame.

The direction and orientation of a line can also imply certain feelings

Horizontal lines imply tranquility, peace and harmony

Vertical lines imply power and strength
Diagonal lines imply movement, action and change
Curved lines or S shaped lines imply quiet, calm and sensual feelings
Lines that converge imply depth, scale and distance - a fence or roadway converges into the distance provides the illusion that a flat two-dimensional image has three-dimensional depth.

Research of photographer

The photographer I researched was Walker Evans. Walker Evans was an American Photojournalist (1903-1975). Most of his work documented the everyday life of Americans however he did photograph street images and signs. He said that his goal as a photographer was to make pictures that are "literate, authoritative, transcendent". He rarely spent time in the darkroom making prints from his own negatives. He only very loosely supervised the making of prints of most of his photographs, sometimes only attaching handwritten notes to negatives with instructions on some aspect of the printing procedure.

The above images were photographed using black and white film. The resulting images represent everyday life in urban America, using signs. The prints were created to achieve a deliberately high contrast which makes the signs stand out. One of these signs imply motion, "ONLY", this shows us that this road allows cars to drive in one direction, we know that the cars come towards the camera as in the background there are cars going in the opposite direction. The "SHINE" image, is placed outside a shoe shine store with shoes placed neatly underneath it, this grabs attention of passers by as they know what the shop gives its customers. I feel as if I am able to capture some similar images in Harlow has there are a lot of shops and signs everywhere and I will be able to edit them to make them appear black and white. In the last image, I thought the image was of two men hauling a large sign of a truck, the sign looks to be from a show as it has 'dots' which are lights. These lights are used to grab the pedestrians attention. When I researched this photo I found out they are actually hauling this neon sign onto the truck. This made me think how we decide what is happening in an image without actually knowing the back story - and how the filter of the image (in this case black and white) can change the perception of the image as a whole.

Image bank

The following images were added as part of my visual research...

The above images are a collection of photographs that represent what I feel I could capture. There is a variety of lines, going in different directions. Theses lines are all reoccurring as well so they appear more 'bold' and have some sort of meaning behind the image. Some are shot in black and white which I feel could make my photography of line appear more professional. These have given me more ideas of what line photography I could capture amongst Harlow and elsewhere. Even though line could be difficult to achieve I think I will be able to at least get a new insight of what this photography course expects from me. The first image shows diagonal lines, which represents movement - you know what way the lines go as people are walking 'up' or towards the top right corner. The second images shows vertical lines, which can be used to present depth - I think depth is achieved in this image as the trees look like they go far back. The last image is of a building and it was taken at an angle so it is had to tell what way the lines go, but from this image presume the lines are diagonal and creates diamond shapes where the windows are.

(A01: You must ensure that several of the visual ideas/inspirations within the image bank are pursued)

Selected images - CONTACT SHEET

A few of these images were inspired by Walker Evans and his photography of road signs. A few others are just photographs I have taken due to there being an aspect of line in them. I feel as if line is easy to see because anything as an aspect of line you just need to visually be able to see it and capture it in a photograph. The images I have taken include a variety of different lines (horizontal, vertical, etc) which all have different meanings behind them, so they can make the image mean something more than what it shows. These images was a chance for me to find my artistic side/imagination and try to achieve some photos that I wouldn't necessarily take, so I took photos of different objects and buildings that I thought represent line.

My best images

This is inspired by Walker Evans. In this image there is a vertical line and some diagonal lines, which together imply power and movement. This is a road sign so the yellow is bright and noticeable by drivers. You can tell that this was painted a while ago as the paint is slowly fading, this can show that things can fade away but still have an importance. Also, it overlaps the pattern of the flooring as the diagonal lines cross over and disrupting the pattern. I like how the yellow is bright because it can attract people to this image, even though this image is just of some yellow lines, it can show something more. The brightness of the lines and the way they are diagonal shows the driver where they should not park, so it is noticeable and obvious to everyone. I like that the colours contrast which makes the yellow more vibrant on the brown ground. 

This is inspired by Walker Evans. I like this image as the arrow gets small nearer the point and the base of the arrow is wide. This looks like an illusion as I have angled the camera to make it seem like the arrow is smaller than what it actually is. This shows movement as the arrow is pointing in a direction for cars to go. This arrow goes from dark to bright and wide to small, this can represent how the bigger things can be the worse, so we should concentrate on the smaller things as they can lead to something greater (the bright light). This was taken in a car park so the arrow clearly shows that cars can only move in that direction and the road is one-way, the vertical arrow shows power as it has a role of showing people what to do. I am going to make this black and white as that will be the theme of these images, I have decided this as Walker Evans' photos are all black and white which makes the photo look more emotive.

This is inspired by my research of line photography, gates have a very significant and obvious use of line so this was very easy to take photographs of. I like this image because the blackness is wasted space, but if you look at the image in more detail you can see a spider web in that darkness. The main focus is the lines/diamond shape the gate forms, which is enhanced by the darkness behind it. This can present that there is something more than what you can see with first glance you just have to look closer. The lines on this gate are diagonal, diagonal lines can represent movement however they can be used to create a tremendous sense of depth, which is shown in this image I have taken. If I were too edit this image I would sharpen it so the bars are more clear and are clearly the main emphasis of this image - also I may brighten the areas where the spider web are so it also stands out, because I want it to be acknowledged.

This image was taken outside of Harlow College. This image is of a bent line, this makes you think about what may have happened for the fence to end up like that. Also, there is meant to be a pattern with all the lines being equally apart but it has been disturbed with a missing line and a bent line. This is like a metaphor about feeling out of place and not fitting in or how one bad incident can change a whole part of your purpose/life. This makes the viewer decide what has happened in this image, it leads their minds to creativity. This was inspired by my image bank pictures as well as Walker Evans because this shows line and is abstract and odd. I feel I could crop this image done so the fence is the only thing in this photo and not the road or pavement. 

This is my best image because the camera focused really well on the cracks on the widow, which are a mixture of different types of lines. The background behind the cracks is a peaceful background with the sky and buses but the crack has instantly ruined that peacefulness and has made the background unnoticeable. This was taken on a bridge above the bus station in Harlow, so I got a good view of the surrounding hoping I could capture the surroundings in this image which is what I think I have accomplished. This crack may have been caused by something being thrown at it by some teenagers late at night or by a drunk person who was walking on this bridge and decided to smash the window because they were angry, this can make the viewer think their own story behind this image. I will edit this photo into black and white and try to darken the cracks so they look deeper/wider than they actually are, which will make the photo more effective and interesting.

Images that require improvement

The first image is of a garden decoration, the background is too busy with plants and trees so it is unclear what the main focus of the image is. At first glance you would not know this image was based on line , it seems more like colour because of all the green. I attempted to make the focus concentrate on the black decoration but it didn't work and it all blended into each other so the viewer will not think anything of this photo. There is a mix of views on this image as you are not sure what I have tried to photograph and what I want it to show, but I want a collection of images that represent something so this did not fit in with my best images. If I were to reshoot this image I would try to take the photo at different angles to see if I can capture my original idea. I would also use a tripod so I am able to get a straight image and the focus will be better.

The second image is inspired by Walker Evans' road photography. I have achieved his style of photography but it is not angled properly which ruins the image as it is slightly of centre. The attempt was too make the road sign look important and edit it to black and white, too clearly show who my inspiration was. This image is still a good image however I feel I can improve it and make it look how I wanted it to look. If I were too reshoot this, before taking a photo I would double check the angle. I may use a tripod to achieve this because then the photo will be angled right. I would make sure all settings were right, take my time and take multiple pictures. 

(A03: Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress)

My idea of recording line was to photograph different objects, buildings and parts of nature to represent the different lines mentioned (horizontal, vertical, s-shaped, etc). I wanted to go around Harlow and capture the urban feel along with the feature of line. I was inspired by my research of Walker Evans and his street image, his use of lines and signs gave me an idea to photograph similar things within Harlow. I know how to capture line and I can see line easily, line is a very basic and easy thing to capture but I think I need to develop my creativity to make my work more interesting to viewers. I know my work is not the best at the moment, but I feel some of my pieces for this formal element are very good for my beginner knowledge. I know I can do much better but I need practice and start taking my camera with me when I go out, etc to have more photographs available for use.

I can improve my work by concentrating more on my camera settings as this is a section where I struggle because I am not completely familiar with camera settings and how to change them to the correct setting/number - I will ask my teacher for help and do some practice at home.

(A02: Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops)

These images were taken with a Fuji Fineopix S9600, I attempted to change some settings but still I was unsure about what to change the numbers too. As I have not had much experience with a camera I am still trying to take professional photos but they were not sharp and lighting was poor. I feel I do need improvement because these images are good but I know I can do better, I need to look more at changing settings and composition. I need to work on remembering what aperture and shutter speed settings to use as I forget and it takes me time to change the settings, so I need to practice and 'get to know my camera'. As I continue photography I will be able to further my knowledge of camera settings and composition, which will make my photographs more desirable. To improve my images I decided to import some of them into photoshop and used this to create black and white images. Below are screenshots of how I did this on one of my images...

The final image was created by adjusting the saturation and moving most of sliders to the darkest level. I also, used the curves tool to adjust the brightness of the image so the final image is darker. This was my desired hard contrast effect. The edit makes my image look more dark and 'mysterious'. To add to this edit I could of got rid of anything that ruins the effect of the image. My final edit is inspired by Walker Evans as his work is in black and white. The black and white filter makes this image look more powerful than the original, as the black is deepend and the white is brighter so the main focus is clearly on the arrow. 
I use this tonal contrast as they make the light colours highlighted (the arrow) and the dark colours become darker (the surroundings), the black and white colour also adds texture to the image which makes it detailed. This is interesting to me because the image is now simple and is not distracting because of all the individual colours of small objects, everything is the similar - but is different by the tonal contrasts. 

(A01: Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding)

The artist research was helpful as I realised that the theory on line meant that I could tackle the subject from a range of perspectives. My research of Walker Evans helped me focus more on signs whether those signs were road or shop. Harlow has many buildings and shops which gave me opportunities to photograph geometric shapes. The research on the different types of lines helped me explain what the image was about and what the photo meant. Before doing this I did not see line as its own thing, line was not important to me. I now see line as something different, to me line is now interesting and I see it everywhere. I visually look at things and analyse where I can see line. Walker Evans has also made me look at line differently as his work is very interesting and I am able to see what he is trying to achieve and what he wants his viewers to think. I think my work is quite good for a beginner who has not had much experience with a camera, so I am pleased with some of these images and I know where I need improvement. I need confidence when taking photos in public because I feel anxious as if people are looking at me while I take the photo and I feel quite put off from taking photos in public, unless I am with someone. I know that when doing photography you need that confidence and willingness to just take photographs wherever you are without any care, so I need to practice this by starting in my local area and gradually move further towards the town centre and elsewhere.

During the period of me taking photos, I was just taking photos of anything I can see with the aspect of line - which is a good thing as that is a good start to me opening up my mind to creativity. Even though I did this, I feel as if I shouldn't have rushed some and just took my time at some points so I could capture some really amazing photos. These images were taken in September, which is the start of Autumn, in Autumn many trees lose leaves and I feel I could have taken more images of these leaves which have veins. I could have captured these veins as they are lines. I also feel I could have taken more photographs of the road and road signs as this is what Walker Evans is known for. This would give me more images to edit and add to my final collection of edited/perfected images, and I would tell more of a story.

(A04: Present a personal and meaningful response that realises intentions and, where appropriate, makes connections between visual and other elements)

I believe that I have produced a strong series of images inspired by my research of line, composition and the images by Walker Evans. I have chosen my final images and I refined them by developing the contrast and converting them into black and white images. I edited a lot of my images so I am able to further my experience with photo shop. Line can be expressed in many different ways, and I (as a photographer) have that opportunity to express my thoughts and ideas about line. Line and pattern are similar as lines form patterns, in some of my images that I photographed pattern is shown as well but by my description of some of them the pattern is not the focus. I have made my edited/final images into a journey from a cracked window of a building continuing the journey to a pond...