Kat Eye Studio

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Symmetry and Conformity

“Georgian townhomes of Bath stone standing row upon row.” I wrote that in yesterday’s post on Door Personality, so today I thought I would show you what I meant with an image. There is wonderful symmetry in this place, the Circus in Bath. (Circus really just means “circle” for us American English speakers. No trapeze acts here.) A circle of houses, all built to the same design, using the local Bath stone. I originally tried converting this to black and white but you lose the warm color of the stone, so instead I just did some selective black and white to take out a tiny bit of distracting green from a few plants. I love the repeating patterns and lines along the curve of the street.

But in this place, there is no door personality. In this place, to maintain the original heritage of the site, the doors are all the same white, with very little room for personalization. This was a high end area (“posh” to use the British term) in it’s day, and still is now. Isn’t it interesting, that when you get to higher end neighborhoods, even in the USA, they are protected by covenants and rules and regulations to keep the look of them the same but also that reduces the opportunity for public expression. Granted, that is nice when you are a home owner and want the value of your property to remain high, but it’s also limiting.

So while I really love the lines and geometry of this place as art, it doesn’t give me the same heart-warming feel as yesterday’s door. I’ll add personality and non-conformity to the list of things that inspire me, like texture and peeling paint and imperfection. One more ray of light shed upon my soul through my photos.

PS – I forgot to mention on my Postcard Giveaway that I will be selecting the winner via random drawing. I am enjoying all of the convincing appeals that are coming through with the comments, however! You can still enter to win here until Sunday 5-Sep.

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Exploring with a Camera: Repeating Patterns

Time for another exploration! Can I tell you how much I look forward to these? I have been thinking about this post for the last two weeks, pondering today’s topic and seeing things in the world around me with an eye to Repeating Patterns.

We have repeating patterns everywhere in our lives. So much so that we don’t always notice them. We see, catalog, and sort the differences in things, that’s how our brains work. The sameness can blend in to the background. But, when we notice, we can use the “sameness” of patterns to good effect in our photography.

First, let’s explore repeating patterns as the focal point of our images. In the photo below, of a Barcelona apartment building, at first glance it might look like a photo of windows. It’s not. It’s a photo of a repeating pattern – the windows, balconies and shadows all repeat in a regular fashion. There’s no one place for the eye to look. I’ve heightened the “pattern” aspect of the photo by changing it to black and white. No pesky color to distract you from the pattern. The image becomes more about the pattern of light and dark, than what is creating the pattern of light and dark. I especially like the undulating light “stripes” that appear, where the sunlight hits the building, when you stop looking at the windows and shadows and just look at it as a pattern.


    Here’s another image that is of repeating pattern, of a rooftop in Murten, Switzerland. You see the shingles, all repeating at regular intervals vertically and horizontally. There is a difference in this photo, however, from the image above. In this photo, the repeating pattern serves to highlight another aspect – the fact that the shingles are different. The pattern repeats, but what makes up the pattern does not, so this image is about the differences. Differences in color, size, shape. You notice them all more because of the pattern.

    In thinking about repeating patterns and how I use them in my photography, I find that this second use, using a repeating pattern to highlight some third aspect, is my primary use. This image of shadows on the street in Bolzano, Italy is a good example. Imagine the image of the shadows without the contrast of the pattern, or the pattern without the shadows. Either way, in my mind’s eye, it falls flat. But when you combine the two, and use the repeating lines and shapes of the pattern as a backdrop for the irregular and solid shapes of the shadows, you get a great image. The repeating pattern really sets off the subject, the shadows. Again, in this image I converted to black and white to highlight the lines, shapes, patterns.

    The pattern of the edges of the floor tiles, of this Gaudi design in Barcelona, serves to contrast and enhance the flowing nature of the art that is impressed into them. The angle of the photo, with the pattern growing smaller and blurring toward the back, serves to enhance your awareness of the dimension, how the light and shadow is showing you the impressed elements. The pattern of straight lines provides a structured frame that the flowing curves reside in and move through. You also get hints that the natural, curvy figures impressed into the tiles are a repeating pattern of their own, when you look at it closer. All that in one picture of a floor!

    Here the repeating pattern of the balconies serves to enhance the feeling of height in the skyscraper in Barcelona. You see this in many “looking up” skyscraper shots, but this one is very dramatic because of the horizontal lines and angles jutting out on each floor.

    This image, from Milan, shows how the pattern of the light and shadow on the unusual bricks of this building serve to show the curve and size of the building. You see the bricks, but the repeating pattern of them immediately leads your eye along the curve toward the edge. What happens after the edge of this picture? The crop of the image, which doesn’t show you beyond the building, leaves you with the impression that the pattern continues indefinitely.While all of the examples so far have been of architecture, I also find store displays a wonderful source of repeating patterns. In this image,you have repeating patterns in three dimensions. An image of a single chocolate bar, while showing the design of the wrapper, color, etc., would not be as interesting as this one with the repeating pattern. The pattern of multiple bars repeated, as well as the repetition in the third dimension, gives depth and a feeling of abundance. You see the chocolate bar wrapper just as clearly as if that were the only thing in the photo, but you also see more.

    So, how can you use repeating patterns in your photography? Some ideas and tips…
    1. Look for repeating patterns, they are everywhere around us. Architecture is one of the best sources, because it takes lots of little, repeating pieces to build something big. Elements of architecture with repeating patterns can be found in the facades – windows, doors, trim, bricks, blocks of stone – or inside – steps, beams, flooring. Our modern world is built with repeating patterns! Stores are also a good source of repeating patterns, because they have a lot of the same thing to sell. Look for creative store displays that use that to good effect.
    2. Look for opportunities for the pattern to be the subject. Choose your composition and angle such that you see the pattern repeat several times at the same size and there is no “perspective” effect. This will often be looking straight at, or very close to straight at, the subject pattern. Try converting to black and white to enhance the pattern aspect, removing color as a difference that may distract from the pattern itself.
    3. Look for opportunites for a pattern to enhance or contrast with a subject. Use angles that show the dimension – distance, height, depth. Use compositions that capture differences in the pattern – whether it be color or shape. Use a pattern as a backdrop for the subject. Use post-processing, like selective color, to have one element of a repeating pattern pop out.

    What other ideas do you have for capturing images with repeating patterns? I’d love to see what your eye sees! Share here in the comments or join in the Flickr group.

    (Want to explore some more? You can find all past explorations linked in one place here.)

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    The Means or the End?

    A stairway is a means to an end, a way to get from one level to another. But sometimes, the “means” can be separated from the “end.” It becomes important in itself, like this stairway in the attic of Casa Battlo in Barcelona. Yes, it’s a stairway. That’s the obvious and practical “end.” But it is a beautiful work of art, nicely framed and ready to be enjoyed, in it’s own right. The “means” develops an identity on its own, a purpose of its own, without considering the intended “end.”

    I’ve been thinking a lot about the process of creating art, creating my photography. The process of creating – of noticing and seeing and capturing and playing – is as important as the end result. The photo that I present here each day is just the obvious and practical end of my art, like the purpose of a stairway to get you from one level to the next. But the fact is that the process, the means, is probably more important to me, the creator. That’s why I continue to create, why all artists continue to create. If it wasn’t, we’d all be done with the first work of art we are really happy with, especially if we aren’t doing this for a living. (Getting paid for art is another kind of wonderful “end” for the artistic process.)

    Ursula K. LeGuin said, “It is good to have an end to journey towards; but it is the journey that matters in the end.”

    The journey, for me, is the creation of the photograph. The beauty of this “means” being it’s own “end” is that process of creating is not finite, is an ongoing, never-ending, renewable resource. Infinite. Regardless of what I created or shared yesterday, I have more to create today and tomorrow.

    Isn’t that an incredibly positive and exciting way to think about it? I encourage you to think of your art, whether it’s photography or writing or cooking or yoga, in the same way. The end is not the purpose of the creative process, the means is!

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    Great Expectations

    What a find this morning! I love this photo from Dubrovnik, Croatia. I love the amazing texture and range of subtle colors. I love all of the layers and angles. I could look at this photo for hours and continue to discover new things.

    I began working with my Dubrovnik photos this morning with the idea that I wanted to let myself be surprised. To see what images would pop out that I did not expect, did not plan. There are times I create my art at the moment of taking the photos with intention and foresight, lining up a composition just so, taking multiple exposures and compositions to study and see which I like best. When one of these comes out the way I visualized it, I am satisfied, but not necessarily overjoyed. Why? Because, with the work and intention I set at the time of creation, I expected at least one of those images to come out well.

    But the images that often fill me with joy and excitement are the surprise ones. Like this one. Where my inner eye saw something in the moment, caught a frame or two but didn’t dwell on it. I don’t even remember capturing this image, and so to find it so wonderful now is a joyful surprise, a little gift in my day.

    I worked with a guy that said, “Expectations are premeditated disappointment.” And there is some truth to that statement. When we expect something to happen and attach to specific outcome, we can be satisfied when it does turn out but when it doesn’t happen we are disappointed. But, what if we create without any expectations for the end result – the specifics of how it looks or how it will be received? What if we let loose our inner eye and detach from the outcome? Every image can become a surprise, every outcome positive – wonderful no matter what the specific details – because we didn’t set up any expectations. By letting go of those expectations, which are all about what our minds can envision at that moment, we allow space for other new and wonderful things to happen which are beyond our current vision.

    This doesn’t just apply to creating art, but all aspects of our life, our work and our relationships as well. In her book Simple Abundance, Sarah Ban Breathnach says, “I approach my work with a passionate intensity, acting as if its success depends entirely on me. But once I’ve done my best, I try to let go as much as possible and have no expectations about how my work will be received by the world. I have consciously chose to be surprised by joy. It’s a choice you can make as well.”

    I’m making that same choice to be joyfully surprised by the outcome of my work, my art. From the creation of it in-camera to the reception of it by the world around me. That doesn’t mean I won’t be intentional about creation anymore, that I’ll stop visualizing an outcome and seeking to achieve it, but it does mean detaching from the end result. Because I’ve found it’s a lot more fun to be surprised than to be disappointed.

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    Hard and Soft Edges

    A wrought iron handrail in La Pedrera, aka Casa Mila, another building by Antonio Gaudi in Barcelona is a great example of soft edges. The handrail could be all straight lines, right angles, functional, forgettable. But it’s not, it’s art – part of the decoration, the feel of the place. It’s beautiful. I never thought much on wrought iron before living here in Europe, but now I’ve seen so much beautiful and functional wrought iron work I respect it as it’s own art form.

    In another forum, I had someone comment on the contrast I was seeing in my Barcelona photos. She put it as hard vs. soft edges. I hadn’t even noticed that before, the contrast that I had noticed in Barcelona was the old vs. new, modern vs. classic, but there is definitely the hard and soft contrast too. Straight lines and flowing curves. I love getting a comment like that, that helps me to see things I captured in a different way. Keep them coming!

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    Architecture as Art

    The attic of Casa Battlo, one of Antonio Gaudi’s houses, is a magic place. All arches and light. Gaudi was an amazing architect of the Modernista age in Barcelona, he was able to create such a wonderful feel in the spaces he designed, even in something as mundane as an attic where only the servants would go. He was an artist, and his canvas was the buildings and spaces he created.

    The feeling of light, design, art inside Gaudi’s Casa Battlo was reminiscent for me of visiting Frank Lloyd Wright’s Gordon House in Oregon. It’s like you enter the space of genius. These places make me look at architecture differently, not just from the outside but from the inside too. And then I wonder why most of our buildings are boxes with holes in them for light, when we could have spaces like these.

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