Encounters of the City’s light and shadows

The technique that I had utilised was a contemporary building with an expressive massing thanks to the use of shadows and light. This makes a relation towards the way Lucien Herve’ encounters the way he expresses architectural visualisation within his photography.

The way that shadows and light plays against form can reveal certain details and exaggerate points of abstraction towards architecture within the city. This technique is encountered in Lucien Herve’s’ work as he distinguishes pared-down compositions, cropped frames, oblique views, patterns in pictures, black and white and most importantly the power of natural lighting. With the use of a camera, it changes what we see and the way we see things which is evident within the works or Lucien Herve’s’ and my own.

As we glance at these images on a daily basis, we lose notice in the intricate form of abstraction and structure that forms the city. However, with the use of a more contrasted black and white setting, we are now able to properly concentrate and realise the mass of our city and the hidden definition that peaks out as natural lighting falls on these surfaces. Also, as seen in all of Lucien Herves’ photography, he captures a collection of images of one specific location from different views, angles and perspectives. I have applied this to my own work as well.

Within my images, I have created a similar affect as you just visually see that in every frame, a source of light either reflects on form or bursts out to show depth, pattern, shape and intricacy of the city’s architecture, paying particular focus on the UTS business building designed by Frank Gehry. The composition of these photos have been organised in a grid form to evenly distribute the photos in a uniformed matter even though each photo composes different masses and effects. The collage also sequences the higher perspectives towards the top and travels the observers’ view lower towards the ground level to show that light can define architecture through interior and exterior perspectives as well as different angles and levels.

With the use of this photography technique, it allows us to look at the finer and unnecessary details that appear in architecture within the city. The effect of black and white may seem lifeless but that could also symbolise how we see life in the city, just a plain and bland routine of many lives. However, the close ups of pattern and sources of light either reflecting on a surface or spreading through the interiors acknowledges the beauty and amusement that can be encountered in the city if we just take a second look.

References

Herve’, Lucien. 2004. Lucien Herve’: building images. Los Angeles. Getty Research Institution.

Herve’, Lucien. 1955. High Court in Chandigarh

Herve’, Lucien. 1955. Secretary office in Chandigarh

Herve’, Lucien. 1950–1955. Chapelle Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp

Herve’, Lucien. 1949–1952. Housing unit in Marseille