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Michel Hardy-Vallée · 10-30-2007, 08:07 PM

I've been doing a lot of photos with geometrical forms, criss-crossing lines, interlocked areas, etc etc, and I've been wondering for a while where it came from. I'm very excited by a lot of Modernist art, so it shows in photos like this:
http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132

(Yeah, it's not terrible, but it's just to illustrate the point.)

But I think I've found a more general pattern the other day: recently, I did a language lessons exchange with a student (my French for her Mandarin), and I spent quite some time trying to draw characters properly.

Lo and behold, there's a photo I took some time ago that has a very similar shape to the character for "woman" :
http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...9163&nocache=1

It wasn't a conscious decision, I just took the photo because it felt intuitively interesting, but I think it nevertheless tapped into a memory of patterns.

I've had a few other accidental inspirations, like this one:
http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132

This one, on the other hand, was the first time I was applying consciously a visual pattern on a subject:
http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132

This is another one where the pattern was applied consciously, but I was barely aware of what exactly it reminded me of when I took it:
http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132

So that's the inspiration for the how: the way I take pictures these days comes in large part from the models I have memorized.

It's imitation in the traditional sense, like Samuel Johnson writing "The Vanity of Human Wishes" on the basis of a satire by Juvénal. It's the way most people have been doing art for centuries; the fascination for the original and unheard-of (or at least the illusion we entertain about originality) is a more recent development.

As to the inspiration for the content or mood, I guess there's something similar happening: some feeling from a previous experience resurfaces before a scene, and it makes you push the buttons.

So far, that's how it works for me.

10-30-2007, 08:07 PM	#8 (permalink)
Michel Hardy-Vallée Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Montréal (QC) Posts: 3,698	I've been doing a lot of photos with geometrical forms, criss-crossing lines, interlocked areas, etc etc, and I've been wondering for a while where it came from. I'm very excited by a lot of Modernist art, so it shows in photos like this: http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132 (Yeah, it's not terrible, but it's just to illustrate the point.) But I think I've found a more general pattern the other day: recently, I did a language lessons exchange with a student (my French for her Mandarin), and I spent quite some time trying to draw characters properly. Lo and behold, there's a photo I took some time ago that has a very similar shape to the character for "woman" : http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...9163&nocache=1 It wasn't a conscious decision, I just took the photo because it felt intuitively interesting, but I think it nevertheless tapped into a memory of patterns. I've had a few other accidental inspirations, like this one: http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132 This one, on the other hand, was the first time I was applying consciously a visual pattern on a subject: http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132 This is another one where the pattern was applied consciously, but I was barely aware of what exactly it reminded me of when I took it: http://www.apug.org/gallery/showphot...00&ppuser=6132 So that's the inspiration for the how: the way I take pictures these days comes in large part from the models I have memorized. It's imitation in the traditional sense, like Samuel Johnson writing "The Vanity of Human Wishes" on the basis of a satire by Juvénal. It's the way most people have been doing art for centuries; the fascination for the original and unheard-of (or at least the illusion we entertain about originality) is a more recent development. As to the inspiration for the content or mood, I guess there's something similar happening: some feeling from a previous experience resurfaces before a scene, and it makes you push the buttons. So far, that's how it works for me. __________________ Using film since before it was hip. Kiev 4a w/ Jupiter-12 for sale