I decided to show this picture before I show my last picturesque photo because of the houses in the background. After reading about Kodaks tips, and Ruskin’s theories on the picturesque, the houses in the background bothered me. The straight architecture of the buildings which is neat and uniform, along with the pleasing color of paint that was used on the buildings disqualifies this picture from the picturesque. The fields around the house on the other hand present a picturesque quality which I will talk about in my last post. Regarding the houses it is important to mention that man made architecture can be used in a picturesque photograph. These photos though will depict rough houses with a strong presence of ruin, such as a run down building, or fragmented structure of some sort. The clean edges of the houses in my background don’t appeal to ruin or bring the same amount of emotional upheaval that could classify them as picturesque. Since I had decided that this picture could not be used for one of my main pieces, it was up to me to find an angle that would work. I realized that if I zoomed in a little bit, and changed the angle from which I was viewing the landscape, that I could completely erase the presence of the houses. This allowed me to focus on the picturesque quality that I wanted to develop upon in this assignment. This also goes to show that by taking the Kodak tips to heart, you can really improve upon your photography.
