Author(s)

P. P. Strona

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to show how beautiful, artistic images can be created by capturing the light around us. Light allows us to see the reality of the world and can make even very ordinary things wonderful. After some thought about photography from the artistic point of view, daylight, moonlight and artificial lights are considered. Then the interaction of light with water and glass is examined, particularly focussing on its ability to generate surreal and oneiric views. Finally some examples of ways of capturing the light are given. Keywords: photography, art, daylight, moonlight, surreal views, images in water, images in glass, frames. 1 Introduction Since pre-historic times man has felt the need to represent anything he saw in some way, both as a way of remembering and depicting its beauty and as a means of communication. First in drawings, then in painting and frescoes, in which the light constitutes the even more conscious basis and the structure of the work. Rubens in Holland, Caravaggio in Italy, Turner in England are just examples of the great painters who have made light the essence of their oeuvre. For little more than a century technology has enabled us to represent everything around us on paper with the help of a camera which can catch light and fix images on paper. Thus a new path of creativity was traced and photography became another way of recording and representing the world, alongside drawing and painting, using different techniques but with analogous content and purpose. Taking photographs means first and foremost looking around, observing, seeing what people often or almost always fail to see and fixing it on some surface, so as to be able to communicate it to the others. Hence photography becomes a language used between men and women capable of expressing

Keywords

photography, art, daylight, moonlight, surreal views, images in water, images in glass, frames