I chose to study the work of early 20th century photographer Albert Renger-Patzsch as he someone who photographs everyday objects and buildings and heightens them so you focus on their form and shape which is what I am trying to achieve in my work. There are some interesting quotes from his book 'Photographer of Objectivity' which are interesting. The first reads ''maker of image who was capable of giving form and dignity to the banal and even the ugly''. This shows his photographs subject matter was the ordinary but his photographs made you view them in a different light a focus on their structural beauty. The second quote reads ''The monumentality of the structure is heightened by the strict symmetry of forms''. I don't think this means that his compositions are exactly symmetrical because hey aren't, I think it means that his way of composing the photograph helps express the form of the object and building successfully.
The photograph above is titled Insulators and was taken in 1927, the photograph is interesting as Renger-Patzsch has composed the photograph so you don't know which way up the poles are facing so he takes the object out of it's ordinary context and creates an interesting pattern out of it, by not knowing it's natural position your view on the object completely changes. That is similar to what I am trying to do, I'm trying to photograph line and structure within everyday objects and buildings in an attempt to heighten their appearance and create a new pattern. I have not yet decided if my final photographs will be shot in colour or black and white but I'm very happy with the black and white photos I have so far and Renger-Patzsch's work looks very appealing in black and white as the absence of colour makes your focus on tone and form.
From looking at Renger-Patzsch's work I have learned that changing the orientation of an object can change your view on it and create a new and interesting structure so as an experiment I think it will rotate the composition of the images just to see if that makes the images more interesting like Renger Patzsch has done in his Insulators photograph.
