Mucking around in my garage

This large sheet of corrugated roofing plastic was leaning up against the garage wall. We’d previously had work done on our garage roof, replacing and updating the old sheets which had become rather brittle and weather-worn. This sheet was left over. I noticed how the light was reflecting off the ridges in the plastic and thought there was potential for exploring this with my camera.

Blessing in disguise

I rummaged around and was pleasantly surprised to find several smaller off-cuts which would be much easier to manoeuvre. I took them out of the garage and laid them down on the driveway rather haphazardly. My casual approach and disorganisation proved to be a blessing in disguise as I quickly discovered the overlapping corrugations produced very intriguing patterns.

Play Time

I then spent quite a bit of time playing – moving the sheeting around so the corrugations and accompanying reflections would create the most dynamic effect. I was fascinated by just how much ‘depth’ I was achieving in my shots and how complicated and intricate the patterning was becoming. I’d also managed to reflect a little of the blue sky in the top piece of plastic, adding yet another dimension. This shot is the original image which I used for ‘Corrugation’ and ‘Over the Shoulder’.

‘Corrugation’

‘Corrugation’ is my first presentation and interpretation of the plastic sheeting. Choosing a square crop, I selected what I considered to be the most visually compelling part of the image and focused on the opposing, yet complementary diagonal lines. I saturated the colours to give more energy, rotated the image 180 degrees and made a horizontal flip. I do recall when I was making this photo, viewing it in many different orientations and becoming hopelessly confused and puzzled as to what looked the best. After a lot of deliberation, I chose this presentation and followed my gut instinct.

‘Over the Shoulder’

I’m not entirely sure why I reworked ‘Corrugation’. With my new-found love for triptychs, I was revisiting several of my older images to see if they would work in the triptych format. I suspect ‘Corrugation’ fell into this category. At first, I was very dubious and tried various cuts and crops, achieving mixed success. However, when I experimented with a vertical cut, things really began to get exciting – particularly when I could see the formation of a person – a head, curving shoulder and arching back. It was so exhilarating to discover a whole new way of looking at a photograph and to be able to present it in a completely different light.

The Wire Fruit Bowl

This upturned wire fruit bowl is the object I used to make ‘Golden Spirals’. It took me a while to get a feel for exactly what I was working with and what sort of image I wanted to create.  Having tried several shots of the bowl in a rather static presentation, I soon discovered I wanted to create more of a dynamic feel so decided to experiment with moving the camera.

Early Attempt

This is one of my early attempts.  Essentially I’m incorporating two design elements – the crossing lines and the curves.  I found the image interesting, to a degree, but not enough to hold my interest for long and I wanted more colour and energy.  But, I did like the interplay of the lines and curves and felt I could pursue this further.

Playing with Circles

So I tried focusing more on the ‘curves’ aspect in this image.  The overlapping golden circles certainly contain more colour than the previous image, as well as some textural interest.  However, I had reservations about the compositional strength as there’s really nothing for the circles and curves to play off against.

Feeling the Rhythm

Not to be deterred, I tried again and revisited my first thought of incorporating both visual elements of crossing lines and surrounding curves within the one shot.  Now, the component elements are more defined and distinct and there’s more of a recurring ‘rhythm’ to the image with the repetition of line and shape.  I was beginning to hone in on what I really wanted to achieve.

Getting Closer

By this stage things were starting to come together.  While this image doesn’t contain the element of colour I was looking for, I did manage to hit upon an additional point of interest.  You’ll notice that the diagonal crossing lines are made up of small, repeating circles.  I achieved this by including an extra, quick, circular ‘flick’ of the camera within my overall panning movement.

Caught in Camera – Yay!

Several hours, and I’ve lost count of how many images later, I took ‘Golden Spirals’.
Bearing absolutely no resemblance to the fruit bowl any more, this is the original, ‘in camera’ image.  You can see it’s similar to the previous shot but has been reduced and simplified even more.  The golden circles are actually individualised points of light which were reflecting off the wire bowl.  It was getting late in the afternoon when I was taking these shots, and I decided to turn my desk lamp on to provide an extra light source.  Small, localised points of light then appeared on the individual wires of the bowl.  A quarter of a second exposure coupled with the circular camera action then transformed these tiny points of illumination into the golden swirls.