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"What
do you see when you look at this photo?"
That
was exactly what local photographer Hugo Johnson asked me
as I flicked through his photo collection, at a local coffee
house in the summer heat. For more about the photo above and
how you can create your own, read on!
So,
what do you see?
When
quizzed, both a friend and myself looked at the picture not
quite knowing what we saw, it was like a trick question as
we tried to see some deeper meaning.
Of course we saw the trees and field, yet the way the photo
was taken from within a dark room, looking out through an
open doorway gave an eerie feeling to the photo.
Hugo
explains that the photo, like many others of his, is thought
provoking. As you can see, the view of the field has no definite
direction and it is not certain where this forest leads, or
what to look at聟
Hugo
Johnson developing
At
just 19 years old, Hugo is fast becoming an accomplished photographer.
He says that he聮s always been interested in photography
as he finds it fascinating to look at deep, interesting pictures,
which provoke him to think about their meanings.
He
is also interested in modern art, and as he聮s no good
at painting, he felt photography could be another way to express
creativity. Scooping a job at a local camera shop inspired
him even more so, often getting a peek of other聮s photographs,
he thought "I
can do better!".
With
a strong willed attitude he started snapping, taking hundreds
of photo聮s aiming to achieve thought provoking images
that would tempt the viewer to ask questions such as "what
is it of?" and "what does it mean?".
Hugo
has definitely achieved this goal, as he was bombarded with
questions like this from me. I never knew that photography
could be so interesting and never would have thought of taking
the pictures Hugo has聟
Hugo聮s
hot pics
Hugo
personally doesn聮t like posed pictures and says everyone
has their own taste about what they do and don聮t like so
it聮s essential to experiment.
Instead, he loves taking pictures of things that you wouldn聮t
expect to see a picture of, somewhere you wouldn聮t usually
look or that you wouldn聮t appreciate.
Barbed
wire is an example of something we wouldn聮t usually appreciate;
yet Hugo thinks it聮s symbolic, showing restriction.
His
picture of a corridor is extremely interesting, as you normally
wouldn聮t take a second glance at a corridor, yet from
the angle it聮s taken, a great edgy effect is achieved.
He
also uses the angle rule with his picture of a CD rack - yes,
it is a CD rack, I was really surprised too!
Top
Tips
After
seeing Hugo聮s work, I felt spurred on to do some myself.
You too could be on your way to creating such enigmatic pictures
with some top tips from the photographer himself:
Tip
One
It聮s good to experiment and look at things from different
angles as you can usually give a photo a completely different
effect by doing so.
Tip
Two
Maybe, sometimes, you should go against the typical rules
of using a camera and instead of holding a camera steady,
you should shake/twist it whilst taking a picture.
Tip
Three
"Lighting
is everything", always make sure the light is behind
you when you take a photograph.
Tip
Four
Digital cameras are excellent when you聮re starting out
as they allow you to experiment.
Tip
Five
With a digital camera, long exposure can give better effects.
Tip
Six
When using a film camera, by using a slidefilm and putting
it through a colour processor, you can get better processing
and good effects.
If you have suggestions about any Gloucestershire arty things I can write about, send them to me via e-mail below:
gloucestershire@bbc.co.uk
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