'Why it does not have to be in focus'
-Jackie Higgins
I've had this book for a while now. It caught my attention on amazon whilst searching for recommended reading from my tutor and popped up in the suggested reading section. It looked like it would be full of more contemporary photography, which interested me.
Up until now I have only really flicked through its pages. When undertaking the light meter exercise at the start of part four, the course material suggests to look at complicated exposures by other photographers and this book jumped into my mind. I thought there must be something in its pages about exposure and I was right.
The book itself is a homage to modern photography and the hidden and overlooked meanings behind the 100 key works featured.
Flicking through the pages of, 'Why it does not have to be in focus', looking for a unique exposure I came across the image on the right by photographer Paul Graham, titled; 'Man on Sidewalk'. At first glance the image looks like a faded monochrome shot but when you look again you can see that it is very much over exposed. Graham wanted to mirror how our eyes react when we walk from a dark building out into searing sunshine.
I myself can relate to this disorientation. I used to work in the local shopping centre that was shaped as a triangle with the centre as the distribution area for deliveries. In summer time, the sun would reflect off of the white walls in the middle of the triangle and walking out from the back of house area into the delivery space was blinding.
Paul Graham (2013) 'Man on Sidewalk, 2000' [Photograph] In Why it does not have to be in focus by Jackie Higgins, p157
The image on the left by Mariah Robertson, titled 'Collage 3', looks more like a drawing to me that a photo or as if something went wrong during the developing process. However, the image was made to look like this deliberately. Robertson wanted to use the technique of solarization which is where extreme over exposure results in tonal reversal in an image. She in interested in mixing old techniques with more modern scenes, resulting in images like the one to the left.
Mariah Robertson (2013) 'Collage 3, 2007' [Photograph] In Why it does not have to be in focus by Jackie Higgins, p106
So far 'why it does not have to be in focus', has been a handy little book to have. Each photo inside is unique and I think it will be handy when looking for inspiration further down the line for my degree and will help me to put my work into context.