Category: <span>Colour</span>

Published March 10, 2017 by

Blacksmith’s ledger, 1936

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Blacksmith’s Ledger, 1936                    © Avard Woolaver

This photo shows an entry in a blacksmith’s ledger from Clarksville, Nova Scotia, in 1936. The man who made the purchases was my grandfather, George Mason. I stumbled across this recently—it’s something my mother’s caregiver had found in her home. Leafing through the book, I was so happy and surprised to find my grandfather.

This photo tells us a number of things, the first being that times were hard, and of course money was scarce in the Depression years. George ran up a tab of $2.60 in the summer of 1936, and paid it off in January 1937. It cost just $0.85 to remove and replace a horseshoe. According to American Farriers Journal, by 2015, the average nationwide price for trimming four hooves and applying four keg shoes came to $120.

In the aftermath of the Halifax Explosion (in 1917, and, until World War II, the largest explosion in history), ordinary people from all over Nova Scotia traveled into Halifax to help with the cleanup. My grandfather did so, with his horse and wagon. The first time he owned a car was in the 1940s.

My mother, Beth Mason Woolaver with her father, George Mason, 1982                                            © Avard Woolaver

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Photo tip: If you don’t have a copy stand, you can use a piece of foam core with grid lines drawn on it. Use flat, even light and a tripod.  Put the photo or document on the foam core and line it up so the centre of the lens meets the centre of the artwork. A medium telephoto lens works best for this.

Colour Documentary Family Photography

1936 Avard Woolaver blacksmith family history ledger photography

Published March 9, 2017 by

Complementary colours create balance

complementary colours, cool warm colours, rear view, winter,
Winter Balance, 2012                            © Avard Woolaver

You may have noticed the use of complementary colours on sports jerseys—blue and orange; red and green; yellow and purple. The combining of colours that are opposites on the colour wheel creates a sense of balance and harmony. It is something to consider when taking colour photographs.

American photographer Joel Meyerowitz, who rose to prominence in the early 1960s, is one of the pioneers of colour photography. In a 2015 Huffington Post interview Meyerowitz observed, “So color was a basic force in my development and I learned, early on, that it had an emotive power that needed to be recognized and which made me become a kind of early missionary for color.” A look through his powerful photographs reveals his use of complementary colours.

Photographer Eric Kim relates on his informative blog (erikimphotography.com) how this can be put into practice, “For example, if you see a mostly cool background color (blue, purple, green)– try to wait until someone with a warm color (red, orange, yellow) shirt walks by. It can be the other way too. You can look for a mostly warm background– and wait for someone with a cool colored shirt to step into the scene.”

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Photo tip: The use of mirrors or reflections can be a way to combine warm colours and cool colours in the same scene.

Blogging Colour Light Observation Photography Social Landscape

Avard Woolaver balance colour colour theory harmony mirror Nova Scotia rearview winter

Published March 8, 2017 by

When your faucet resembles a face

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Window Reflection, 2013                                   © Avard Woolaver

Have you ever looked at the front of a house and seen a face smiling at you? Or looked at some tree bark to see a profile of Elvis Presley? Grab your camera, and take a photo. There may be thousands of others who want to see it, or even buy it.

Pareidolia is the phenomenon of the mind seeing a familiar pattern of something that doesn’t really exist. The most common examples are animal shapes in clouds, the man in the moon, and faces found on various surfaces, including toast.

It is not new—Leonardo Da Vinci wrote of pareidolia as an artistic device, “Look at walls splashed with a number of stains, or stones of various mixed colours. If you have to invent some scene, you can see resemblances to a number of landscapes… Also, you can see various battles, and lively postures of strange figures, expressions on faces, costumes and an infinite number of things, which you can reduce to good integrated form.”

So, the next time your toast pops up, or you find yourself in front of a stone wall, have a good, long look; who knows what your imagination may discover.

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Photo tip:  Look for reflections in windows. People and objects in the reflection can mingle with what is in the scene to create interesting, imagined narratives.

“Window Reflection, 2013” is from the series: Wish You Were Here

Blogging Colour Observation Photography Social Landscape

Avard Woolaver face Nova Scotia pareidolia perception photography reflection The Image Journey

Published March 7, 2017 by

Surrealism and humour in everyday life

surrealism, humour, toronto, marching band, 1983, Toronto,
Marching Band, Toronto; 1983                                 © Avard Woolaver

Martin Parr‘s photographs are known for their whimsical, sardonic wit. In a recent blog post I mentioned the painter René Magritte, who consistently challenged perceptions of reality by showing ordinary objects out of their usual contexts (by, for example, putting a silk mask on an apple, or having a train emerge from a fireplace).

Parr also finds humour in everyday objects and situations. In article in The Telegraph, he noted, “Part of what I’ve done is to make the everyday look more interesting.” The photos British photographer Martin Parr takes are known for gently satirizing people and their cultures. The viewers can be left with ambiguous reactions—not knowing whether to laugh or cry.

Creating humour in photos is a difficult task: if it’s too subtle, no one gets the joke; if it’s too overt, it isn’t very funny.

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Photo tip: the key to many good photographs is patience—observing the scene and waiting for something interesting to happen. Often it’s something behind the scenes that produces the witty photo.

Marching Band, Toronto; 1983 is from the series: Toronto Days

Blogging Colour Documentary Film Photography Observation Photography Social Landscape

analog Avard Woolaver film photography humour juxtaposition marching band surrealism Toronto Toronto Days

Published March 6, 2017 by

Press the shutter, evaluate later

marching band, Toronto, shutter, 1983,
Marching Band, Toronto; 1983                                   © Avard Woolaver

National Geographic photographer Sam Abell once said, “My best work is often almost unconscious and occurs ahead of my ability to understand it.” It’s common to feel this way when editing and evaluating photos. Sometimes I don’t edit a group of photos until months or years after I’ve taken them, and I may catch nuances or connections then that escaped me when I took them.

That is why it is important not to worry so much about getting the perfect picture—just concentrate on capturing moments and experiences. You’ll have plenty of time later to reflect on it.

And, paradoxically, so much of photography is what happens after the moment. A photo takes one one-hundredth of a second, but we have lots of time afterwards to study and make sense of the image. Some photographers used to keep unprocessed film for months or years so that they could view it later with fresh eyes and a new perspective.

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Photo tip:  Go over past work from time to time. There may be some worthwhile images that you passed over at the time. Time and experience can give new perspectives.

“Marching Band, Toronto; 1983” was discovered recently on a contact sheet some thirty four years after it was taken. It is from the series: Toronto Days

Colour Documentary Film Photography Photography Social Landscape

1983 analog Avard Woolaver film marching band social landscape Toronto Toronto Days