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Large Picture: The best way to avoid cliches is to always try and see the familiar from an unusual angle. Some time ago I was in my dentist's chair looking at a set of large training teeth. It occurred to me that I might use them fora funny picture in a children's book on dentistry I was doing. I wanted a picture of the dentist working on teeth as seen from inside the throat, looking out over the tongue. I made a tongue out of Spam, covered the upper and lower plate with black cloth and got the dentist to drill one of the front teeth. Using a wide angle lens just behind the piece of fake tongue, I was able to photograph the dentist through the teeth. To my pleasant surprise, I got many letters from readers who had seen the picture in their books and wondered how I had done it. When the gas shortage hit, I did the same picture from inside, presumably, of a gas tank looking up the gas nozzle, past the rushing stream of gas.
Having established his own studio in Vallauris, Picasso began to paint tiles. The ceramic product only functioned as the background of the picture, of course, but Picasso was extremely fond of this technique because glaze, unlike oil, does not change its quality after a number of years. He often combined several tiles in a large picture, so as not to be dependent on the limited format of one tile. It was thanks to Picasso that pottery experienced a revival in this little town.
By and large, these same reasons can be used as a basis in judging any landscape. Is it a good record of an interesting place or occasion? Does it portray some bit of scenic beauty, or appeal to you because of some charm of line and tone? If your answer to these questions is "No," the picture has no reason for being.
Notice, also, that while a picture may combine all of the qualities mentioned, only one of them should dominate. There should never foreground. Naturally there can be exceptions to this rule, as illustrated by some of the pictures on the second page preceding. |
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