Pixiq

Photography is such a wonderful visual medium of artistic creativity.  It allows an artist the ability to record the world as “seen”.

But how are we, as artists, able to create visual stimuli that pushes boundaries of perception?

The standard viewpoint for most photographers is to shoot an image from their eye level or from the belly button level.

Perhaps it’s laziness due to physical constraints or perhaps it’s laziness of the creative sort.  We bring camera to eye and snap.  The picture is taken. Often this can seem “good enough”.

But what is photography (if it’s seen as an artistic medium) if it’s not the opportunity to encompass the subject from a variety of vantage points, rather than a static object with which to view the world?

Consider this photograph of the replica Statue of Liberty at the New York, New York Casino in Las Vegas, NV below.

We’ve all seen the Statue of Liberty depicted in countless photographs and postcards.  Most of them are from a vantage point showing her from a belly button vantage point.  But this photograph, even if it’s of a replica statue, utilizes a visual perception from below and to her right that forces the viewer to consider her grandeur.  The photographer wisely uses negative space in front of Lady Liberty to allow the viewer room to “follow” her apparent gaze and thus gives narrative to a compelling photograph.

This puts the viewer right in the photographer’s shoes.

This image of a man walking to work also does a great job of playing with perspective.

I love how you’re thrust into the image from this bird’s eye view.  The brilliant use of composition in this image allows the viewer to feel at once removed from the scene because of this forced perspective while still getting the sense of movement and hurriedness that is so engaging because of the lack of space in front of the subject.  The man could walk out of the picture at any moment and with the apparent speed in which he seems to be moving the viewer is given a sense of anticipation.

Composition and vantage point are among the various tools that photographers can use to make creative and compelling imagery that draws the viewer in.  These tools, among others, help to tell the story.

Consider using various vantage points the next time you are out making photographs.  Consider the use of negative space and composition and how the subject interacts with the world around it.

Think of the camera as a tool that allows you to shoot the subject from various vantage points in different positions in different photographs, as if encompassing it–not just peering through your viewfinder while you’re standing erect.

Play with the idea of visual perception and reflect on the psychological play that story telling in photography can create.

Photographs:

Lady of the Desert by trazomfreak

Work’s a drag … by Tmmy