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. 

Direction and Orientation can imply feelings

• Horizontal lines imply tranquillity, 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. 
• Leading lines draw the viewers attention to a specific part of the frame.

Image Bank 

The following images are examples which relate to the theory above

Research 

The first photographer that I researched was Walker Evans an American Photojournalist from 1903 - 1975, documenting everyday American life. His work focused on social realism and the effects of the Great Depression however he did this through street images and signs. At the time he was going against the style it was seen as 'forbidden fruit'. This is because he photographed reality even though it was cruel and brutal.

He used black and white film to be able to represent urban America and the social beliefs at the time. This was achieved through the deliberate high contrast making signs stand out. The arrow on the road implies the direction of movement in the street as well as the writing on the road. The photograph of the shoe shine street store symbolises the difference in social standing. As the shoe shiner would have rich clients but the venders themselves would be a low income worker. In the 1930's this would be common, where the rich and poor would be living almost next door to each other. 

As a result I gained inspiration from this, so I am going to take some photos based on street signs which I will change to give a higher contrast and change to black and white to see if I can get the same effect.

Another photographer that I researched was Peter Keetman. I mainly looked at his collection called, A Week at the factory. This is a series of 71 photos on the production line in a Volkswagen factory, Germany, in 1953. All the pictures show the industrial and building process of anything and no matter how small its needed. Most photos have use half tones, the grey tones intermediate between shadow and highlight.

In these photos he uses black and white film like Walker Evans. By using these tones it allows a high contrast which has allowed him to retain detail and make certain things stand out. The groves in the screw use curved lines to make your eyes follow the shape. He has managed to capture the interlocking features allowing it to show its complexness and beauty. In the second photo uses leading lines to draw your eyes to the curvature of the bumpers. The photo shows the preciseness of the machinery being used to be able to stack them this effectively. The last photo shows the mechanisms used to turn the wheels. This image relies on the shadowing effect making the it look almost 3D. The shadowing really highlights the mechanisms joints and framework and blackens the undercarriage and floor under it.  

I gained the inspiration to capture images of metallic objects and then convert them into black and white.

Image bank

The following images were added as part of my visual research to help with my inspiration. 

The collection of photos above show the types of photos I am going to try a capture in Harlow or at home. One of my first ideas was to take some photos of stairs but then after a day or two I had the idea about lining up dominos. As a result I aimed to take as many different photos using dominos because of all the different ways you could create line(s).  

Contact sheet(s)

My Best Photos 

Images that require improvement. 

I have selected these photos because they didn't turn out how I wanted them to. For the first photo I was trying to get the sun rays coming through the trees, where it creates a line on the floor and like a sheet in the air. The first problem was that the sun was in the wrong place as a result, not creating the line through the trees very clear. The second was I wasn't horizontal to the land so I wasn't able to get the right angle. As a result if I was to take this photo again I would make sure it was the right time of day and also take a tripod with me.
In the next photo I wanted to get the trees so they looked like they where in vertical lines, making them look powerful. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything in the area that gave this effect. As a result one of things I did was try this with one single tree and tried to make it look like it was towering over the viewer by the use of angles. This came out exactly how I wanted it, this photo is DSCF0753.JPG in my contact sheet.
In the last photo was inspired by Walker Evans and the idea of using road markings to create a line or imply movement. I used the double yellow line which in England means no parking. The reason for this was because I liked that the curve showed a great example of a leading line, that makes your eye follow it. The idea that humans are told what to do by a line on the ground I found amusing but made me think. Double yellow lines are a controversial language across 8 countries and that millions of people everyday are told by these line to not park there is astonishing. The problem is that you cant really make out where the line goes as it becomes too small to quick. I think that it was because I took the photo so it was portrait. To correct this I took the same photo but landscape, DSCF0761.JPG in my contact sheet, and it looked a lot better but I think if I was to reshoot it I would move the line so it entered the photo in the bottom right hand corner. As well as this I would take it so I was a little higher because then the double line may be easier to follow.

( AO:3 ) - Record ideas, observations and insights relevant to intentions, reflecting critically on work and progress

When coming up with my ideas for line i was really inspired by my research of Peter Keetman and Walker Evans. The idea of photographing cutlery came from seeing Peter Keetman's collection on 'A Week at the Factory'. His way of showing curved lines and the interlocking features which made machinery work gave me the idea of the spoons. This is because the curved dips in a set of spoons all fit inside one another. Walker Evans inspiration took me down the path of using the road markings and the idea of implied lines in Harlow.

I am very happy with how the photos turned out but i really needed to pay attention to make sure that it is in focus.    

With reference to my Best photos...

The photo of the dominos was shot so that they had a shadow that ran diagonally, this added to the three lines of dominos helped make a more repetitive photo. The photo links with Peter Keetman because of how he has objects layered one on top of the other.

      The metal spoons where also inspired by Peter Keetman because of how close he can get and how he uses line to show the interlocking features. As a result i used metal spoons and used there design to interlock them and get the same affect. This came out almost exactly how i wanted it to, next time i need to try and sharpen the photo up a little more.

     

      The photo where the arrows on the road point in different directions was inspired by Walker Evans, however i also wanted to bring out the zig zag lines in the brick work. Evans image has higher contrast, so i will edit my photo later by increasing the contrast and bring out the brick work as well. The reason i am happy with the photo though is because of how confusing the arrows are because it implying that you need to go in different directions at the same time. 

      Where the photo shows an implied line of the road made from dot work, this was also inspired by Walker Evans' and his photos on road markings. The image was difficult to shoot due to the only place i could find was at a set of traffic lights. As a result of this i had to wait and make sure that a car wasn't going over it so i had to change the shutter speed to be able to take the photo fast enough.

I love the photo of the path in the forest as it shows leading leads really well also i got the right aperture on the camera. The reason this pleased me so much was because i have been struggling to adapt my camera settings but that should all come with practice. What i am going to do though is edit this photo in photoshop to darken the back ground and convert it into black and white. This is because i think the contrast will bring out the path more and also it will still work with my research. 

      The photo of the stairs took me a long time because i had to angle my camera so it looked like i was going up them. As well as this i had to make sure that nobody was going up or down them so not to spoil the line created. The one thing i wish i did differently was to take the picture again but using a tripod as it would have made the camera less shaky.  

( AO:2 ) - Explore and select appropriate resources, media, materials, techniques and processes, reviewing and refining ideas as work develops

I used my phone to take most of my pictures, but the spoons and dominos where taken on my camera which is a Nikon D3100 set to automatic. They where taken with an aperture setting between f-2 and f1.3. I should have tried a higher aperture setting because the lighting in my house is very poor. So if i was to retake the image of the spoons i would try a higher setting, trying it with a tripod and find somewhere with better lighting. I think this will allow me to get a sharper image.

To improve my photos I imported my best photos into photoshop and used it to change the colours into black and white using my inspiration from the research. I then if needed created more of a contrast to highlight or bring out a certain feature in my photo. The information on how I did this is shown in the two sample photo below.

These images are taken by using screen grab (Ctrl, Shift, 4). The screen grabs show how I used photoshop to create black and white, high contrast images. I started by using the black and white filter, this allowed me to adjust the colours to get a desired contrast. Then if necessary I used curved tool to make a harder contrast. 

( AO:1 ) - Develop ideas through sustained and focused investigations informed by contextual and other sources, demonstrating analytical and critical understanding

The research i did helped my immensely because at first i thought that line was just that a line. Now though i realise that you can photograph the subject of lines in a range of different ways. The artist research helped me focus on the different perspectives people have and how everything interlocks ( Peter Keetman ) and how black and white with contrast can help show a meaning behind the photo ( Walker Evans ).  This was helpful due to in Harlow there where a lot of different types of line that i would never have noticed without my research on Walker Evans allowing me to have a go at take photos in his style and adapting it into my own style. My research on Peter allowed me to understand that everything has a design so it can interlock with its surroundings, without this i would have not thought of the dominos.

The research that wasn't to helpful in my study was the emotion and mood behind the different types on line as i just didn't connect with the ideas. Although knowing the definitions of the different lines was helpful. As a result when looking for lines i didn't look blindly i understood the types of things i was looking for to give certain ways of expressing different lines.

( AO:4 ) - 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 and my research on Peter Keetman and Walker Evans. There different compositions and different ways of displaying lines helped me to focus on one idea.  The final images produced were refined by developing the contrast and converting them into black and white images in photoshop.