I think that I was fairly successful with my first project. I really feel like I got a lot out of the critique, and now I know how to clean up my final project even more. I had fun taking the pictures of people’s feet and showing how they walk and playing with the idea of closure and narrative. During the critique, I realized how much asymmetrical balance was a part of my pictures because I had known that there was something slightly off about them, making them seem almost a little uncomfortable and awkward. Overall, I wanted to show my project as playful and funny, and I think that came across pretty well. The only problem I really had was with editing, because I chose too many pictures and it can be distracting and overwhelming. I edited down to seven out of the twelve photos to make them read more clearly as a set because, this way, I think they are more cohesive.
My point of view was to focus on the way people walk, stand, and interact with each other on South Congress. I wanted to take pictures of people, but not in the typical way. I chose to take truncated pictures that focus mainly on the subjects’ feet and legs, especially when that subject is in motion or interacting with another. The primary principle dominating my selection of photos is the Gestalt principle of closure. By taking these close cropped photos of people’s legs and feet, I feel like there is an aspect of the pictures that requires the viewer to infer more about the subject, making connections like if some feet are grouped together, maybe it is a group of friends or a family. I think that there is something interesting about the truncated feet without bodies because it leaves a lot up to the imagination.
In this picture, I wanted to capitalize on the truncated nature of the legs and feet and the movement behind them. I also wanted to show the Gestalt principle of repetition through the identical white and red shoes and the diagonal line that they create through the picture plain.
Here, I wanted to show the Gestalt principle of closure. Even though the woman;s hand is cropped out, the eye is still led up the dog’s leash to where we assume the hand holding the leash would be. The eye of the viewer follows the diagonal line to the presumed point of origin.
In this photo, I primarily showed repetition via the concrete squares of the sidewalk because they are the same shape repeated. I also wanted to show the motion of the girl’s legs because the rest of the figure is cut out, yet there is a clear motion, making the figure truncated.
In this photo, I wanted to show the Gestalt principles of grouping and closure. There is closure because all of the legs and shoes come together to create a triangle, or pyramid shape, that isn’t necessarily purposeful, but is assumed to be a triangle. There is also grouping because all of the feet can be associated together and they are all doing the same thing (walking.)
Here, I wanted to show closure. The image is of a mother and daughter, but because the image is cropped around the legs, the interaction between the two subjects must be inferred. It’s up to the imagination to create a scenario for the two subjects because the mind wants closure for the image.
Here, I wanted to show containment. Because the subject is walking along a thin strip of concrete resembling a balance beam, the viewer gets the sense that there is a feeling of balance and and almost trapped momentum which related to closure.
In this picture, I wanted to show the Gestalt principle of grouping. I did this by capturing similar objects and grouping them together in the picture plain. there is obvious similarity between all the feet, even if some are dogs’.
