Frame and Composition: Activity 2

O‘To quote out of context is the essence of the photographer’s craft. His central problem is a simple one: what shall he include, what shall he reject? The line of decision between in and out is the picture’s edge. While the draughtsman starts with the middle of the sheet, the photographer starts with the frame. The photograph’s edge defines content. It isolates unexpected juxtapositions. By surrounding two facts, it creates a relationship. The edge of the photograph dissects familiar forms, and shows their unfamiliar fragment. It creates the shapes that surround objects. The photographer edits the meanings and the patterns of the world through an imaginary frame. This frame is the beginning of his picture’s geometry. It is to the photograph as the cushion is to the billiard table.’

Q. What does John Szarkowski mean when he says that photographers are quoting ‘out of context’ when they make photographic pictures? 

A. When Szarkowski says "out of context", I think he means that photographers have a unique thug about them that they're able to show through their photos and make them fantastic. 
Q. The frame often ‘dissects familiar forms’. At the end of the last century photography was having a major impact on Art. Impressionist artists such as Degas were influenced by what they saw. Look at these examples of Degas work, which clearly shows the influence of Photography, and explain why the public might have been shocked to see such paintings.

A. Looking at Degas's paintings, I think that people were so shocked to see those paintings because many of them were nude shots of some sort. Maybe having people bare and shown like that was different through paintings. 

I could tell that this painting could be from a photo because it is a simple shot of an actual day or actual people. From what I see in paintings I see very imaginative or a lot shapes in paintings. This photo/ painting just shows a realistic day out to town.

Gustave Caillebotte.