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The Snapshot Created, the Snapshot Found

Toni Bover. La llum com metàfora del llenguatge. 1990-94 / Toni Bover. My little garden 087. 2020
Toni Bover. La llum com metàfora del llenguatge. 1990-94 / Toni Bover. My little garden 087. 2020

In 1952, Henri Cartier-Bresson (2) wrote about the importance of composition in capturing the decisive moment. That same year, Minor White (2) reflected on photographic creation, arguing that a constructed image was just as meaningful as a found one.

In Light as a Metaphor for Language, a learning project, I occasionally experimented with recreating a decisive or significant moment (3). For example, I photographed a sculpture by Enric Sala against a sand background, using a single light source. I carefully considered possible visual obstructions, both opaque and semi-transparent, cutting pieces of cellophane and placing them on the sand to create coloured shadows.

Years later, the sculpture was placed in a small courtyard, where the changing seasons altered the direction of light and the distribution of bright and shaded areas on the walls. Sunlight defined spaces illuminated directly or through reflections in glass. The shifting shadows of shrubbery and courtyard walls evolved throughout the day—fleeting moments to be captured in photographs or simply observed.

Keywords

Decisive moment Light as a metaphor for language

References

Texts

  • 1. Fontcuberta, J. (1984). Estètica Fotogràfica: Selección de textos. Barcelona: Editorial Blume S.A. P. 195 Capítol XVII: Henri Cartier-Bresson (1908). El instante decisivo. (Introducción en The Decesive Moment, Simon&schuster, Nueva York, 1952)
    “Composición. Si la fotografía debe comunicar su sujeto en toda su intensidad, la relación con la forma debe ser establecida de modo riguroso. La fotografía implica el reconocimiento de un ritmo en el mundo de los objetos reales. Lo que el ojo hace es encontrar y enfocar un sujeto determinado dentro de la masa de la realidad. Lo que la cámara hace es simplemente registrar sobre la película la decisión tomada por el ojo”.
  • 2. Fontcuberta, J. (1984). Estètica Fotogràfica: Selección de textos. Barcelona: Editorial Blume S.A. P. 202-203 Capítol XVIII: Minor White (1908-1976). A. El ojo y la mente. (Publicado originariamente en Magazine of Art, n. 1, 1952)
    “Ya es tiempo de que nosotros, en el campo de la estética, recordemos que el análisis en el campo científico es, frecuentemente, tan inspirado o tan creativo como una obra de arte. Debemos recordar también que la cámara es un eslabón entre la ciencia y el arte, o si no llegase a eslabón, por lo menos participa de ambos. Ya es hora de recalcar que “lo que el hombre ve” o “lo que el hombre encuentra” es tan creativo como “lo que el hombre hace”.
  • 3. 007 L’instant decisiu vs. l’instant significatiu / The decisive moment vs. the significant moment

Images

  • Sculpture by Enric Sala, which was placed on a sand background that had been used in a professional still life. Some small pieces of ash, which were in a wastepaper basket in the studio, were placed on top of the sand to dampen the excessive brightness of the sand. The image was composed slowly, placing the objects in the composition and the obstructions in front of the light source.
  • Photographic snapshot, not manipulated. Moment of light on the sculpture by Enric Sala, in a small courtyard of a house. The sun reflected off the stained glass windows, creating, in conjunction with the window frames, luminous geometric shapes on the walls of the fence. The branches and leaves of a bush cast shadows on the wall itself. The image was posted on his private Instagram.
    Bover, T. (@antoni.bover). 2020 My little garden 087 A: Instagram [en línia]. Data de publicació del post 11 Setembre 2020. [Consulta: 20 Abril 2024]. Disponible a: https://www.instagram.com/p/CE_WbOQgMJs1XuJo8tMxJNTf-rCVnIaUht_eq80/