Do your own research into some of the photographers mentioned in this project.
Look back at your personal archive of photography and try to find a photograph that
could be used to illustrate one of the aesthetic codes discussed in Project 2.
“Because human vision doesn’t normally see the world in deep focus, the effect of total
depth of field in a photograph can be used to create psychological tension”
I have chosen a number of images with a deep depth of field and I feel that all show some aspect of psychological tension.
In this image we can see the whole of the ruined factory and it raises questions to us, “What was it?” “What is there now in the ruins?”
Similarly this also raise the question “What is there in the shadows ?” or “Who are they coming towards me?”
“What is this place?” “What happened here?” This is made all the more tense by the mists and the lack of visibility to the horizon – is there anything there?”
This landscape to me is also has psychological tension as it seems other worldly with a deep blue sky and strong colours on the land.
“Shallow depth of field shots can have a freshness and vitality to them; they present a
simple and attractive aesthetic statement… Another of the aesthetic codes of shallow depth of field is intimacy.”
The shallow depth of field does produce a sense of intimacy in these images.
This is obvious in this interaction between a woman and her horse.
But in these images the shallow depth of field gives us a sense of sharing the joke between these two at festival.
And similarly we have the sense of prying on these two, and on the incongruity of their modern objects against their traditional dress.
Andrew Procter 