A Photo can be "Whoa!" or "Oh!" or ... "Oh No!" The Fine Line Between Thrill and Chill

What's that all about?

A number of factors determine whether an image generates a "Whoa! I Love It," or, "Oh, that's not so good!" - or "Oh no, take it away!" Some of those factors are obvious, others are anything but; Let's consider some.

1) Presupposition - My Master's thesis was entitled, "The Role of Presupposition in the Perception of Art." I wrote and defended it well before the computer age and lost the damn thing years ago ... no back-up copy/files... then found it in an old file cabinet a few months ago . Essentially, its premise is ... A viewer brings his lifetime of experiences to every painting, photograph, book, piece of music ... every creative work he/she encounters. "Taste/preferences," "expectations," "education/lack thereof," ... " colloquially ... our "baggage."

2) The Artwork Itself -

Subject Matter/Content - A world of connotation unto itself ... this aspect of the arts more than any other pushes the Presupposition button; unless a subject is inherently offensive or repulsive, there's no predicting what a viewer might bring to a photo and what that photo will evoke

Color (that includes Black and White) - There are many studies on the psychological effects of color ... it can instantly set a tone and impact a viewer ...

Contrast - There are "high key" (bright images), "low key" (muted images) and "high contrast" (potentially dramatic images)

Composition - This is the most difficult aspect of photography to teach ... while there are rules of thumb such as "The Rule of Thirds," there are many great images that cannot be reduced to any rules per se ... (I love to analyze images and try to understand what makes some great, some just so-so, and some ... just plain bad.

3) The Whole "Picture" - I use "picture" here both literally and metaphorically; when all is said and done, an image, good, bad or indifferent is the manifestation of all that I've discussed ... and ultimately, an image "speaks" for itself.

And, here I take the risk that all artists/photographers/authors/composers/performers must take ... I display my work in the hope that it will be well-received and attain the impact I desire. My objective is to get viewers to react with ...

WHOA!

And not ... "Oh!" or "Oh No!"

A. Mac/ All Rights Reserved/Article & Images