At the beginning of the year when the weather outside was dark, grey and cold I woke up one morning with a strong desire to see a very specific image: big, minimalistic, yellow beach, turqoise water, blue sky, white sailboats. Since I had absolutely zero chance to get my hands on an image like this I grabbed cardboard, scissors, glue and created this (mostly to not forget this idea):
The composition felt great, the style also but the cardboard thing was way too lifeless to make me enjoy it really. It was March and the weather was still terrible so I started painting to make the images become more alife. I was never good at that but for this simple image it kind of worked and multiple versions and styles were created.
I was happy, looked at the results with joy and forgot about it. Then came the summer holiday and we went to the coast. More as an accident rather on purpose I took this image and was immediately reminded of the original idea:
It is not 100% what I wanted to get but I was surprised how close one can get from an “in the head” image to a photograph. I still have to print it to really say if it pleases me when on the wall.
Hi @DanielLikesDT these are great! The color and the way the grass frames the bottom or the boat in the firstd photograph are awesome. I’d hang that photo on the wall.
Looking back, do you feel like the cardboard and paiting helped prime your brain when you actually went out to shoot? Would you utilize this technique or laying things out with paper or cardboard again? If you did do it again, would you do anything differently?
I always enjoy these types of posts, so thank you so much for sharing.
The paper/cardboard mock up is a good idea! I have been doing rough sketches of images I think I might want to make for a few months now. One thing that I neglect to do is get colors sorted in my head, and sometimes that has a big impact on the way a final image feels. Your mock up helps solve that part of the equation. Thanks for sharing!
Hi
Great walk-through!
“Never good at that…” - wouldn’t be so sure. Not a useful thought.
Your images remind me of a piece by Belfast artist Markey Robinson. Don’t ask me which, he was prolific.
Thank you all for the kind response. I feel two sided about the cardboard thing:
a) Without the cardboard I would have forgotten about the project sooner or later. Having a giant A2 reminder keeps you thinking about it.
b) Being able to lay out the objects exactly like you want them is great as you can fine tune your composition unlike any other method. BUT, it also ties your brain to exactly to this composition. I made a number of nice shots later on which were in landscape orientation or with a lot a blue sky or similar things. I basically all rejected them as potential candidates because they had this very different composition. From that point of view it restricts you (which is sometimes also very helpful).
Two more sentences about painting: I can highly recommend it. If you are happy with a painting if feels at least as good as printing a superb photo.
this approach – or method? – opens up endless possibilities.
Visualising the image and composing it in practical terms brings the photographer a little closer to the other visual arts.
I often advise beginners to ‘photograph’ constantly, to frame their shots without their camera.
The mental vision must therefore precede and guide the physical actions, which are sometimes constrained by the camera’s controls.
