Jackie L Zhang's photostream

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"Reality of Limitations"



“Reality of Limitations” is one of my favorite photos and also one of the most philosophical pictures that I have ever taken. I chose this picture on Flickr profile because it captures the expression of limitations, hopes, dreams, and feelings. To me, photography is not only a process of producing images of objects, but rather an opportunity to discover meanings behind the image.
The subject relate to its form through the use of three-dimensional space which is a space that utilizes height, width, and depth. These dimensions show the connection between the two windows. The first window closest to the viewer is in a two-dimensional space, while the window further away creates a deep depth of the three-dimensional space. The distance between these two windows produces a meaning of limitation when one is framed in an abode.
I didn’t make the object; it just simultaneously came into my mind in an unconscious moment. It was in the summer, 2008. My cousin took me on tour to visit some of the old Chinese houses called Diaolou. They generally are made of reinforced concrete and are located mainly in Kaiping County, Guangdong Province, China. In the interior of a Diaolou, as I was passing by a long hallway, all of a sudden an interesting scene stopped me in front of a window. When I looked closely at the distance between these two windows, my mind immediately had a connection that referred to “The Cave” as described by the Greek philosopher Plato. Consequently, I took a few photos with my digital camera.
After I got back home to my cousin’s house, I immediately connected my camera to his computer and wondered how the pictures appeared. Actually, the photos that I had taken were great and I was very satisfied with one of the window pictures. This picture really captured the exposure and light values. The only problem that I had was to giving a name to this photo. I still hadn’t given a name to this photo until I returned to the United States for a couple of months. Just recently, I finally decided on an interesting name for this picture called, “Reality of Limitation.”
“Reality of Limitations” was more than just a picture because it showed the expression of limitations, hopes, dreams, feelings, and its contents were utterly beyond its subject matter. Also, some things that I like about this photo were the distance between the two windows that expressed the philosophical way and feeling in myself. On the other hand, some things that I didn’t like were the closed window at the end which represented the limitation was blocked by a closing stage.
The best elements used were color and light; I truly captured the true color value and managed the time for exposure. On its lights, I caught the natural light values that created a lighter value in the background while keeping darker value on the outer frames. I also used computer effects to sharpen the detail in the backgrounds. The best principle of art that I had used was emphasis which gave central importance to the windows and kept the detail on an apparent place which drew attention towarded the perspective element. These created a three-dimensional space which was a space that possesses height, width, and depth. Therefore it showed the last window in deeper depth value and the first window in two-dimensional space.
According to A Work of Art, “We study art because is among the highest expressions of culture, embodying its ideals and aspirations, challenging its assumptions and beliefs, and creating new visions and possibilities for it to pursue….”

Bibliography
Sayre, Henry M. A World of Art: Why Study the World of Art? Pearson Prentice Hall, 2007.


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