Reading Responses Chapter 1

1. How would the composition change if one or more lines were removed?

Removing anything from an image focuses the viewer's attention on what has been removed and why. They're forced to reconstruct the missing pieces in their mind, which makes the omission even more apparent.

2. What happens when you combine flat, solid shapes with gradated shapes? Or fuse negative and positive?

A flat shape implies a flat, 2-D plane, while a gradated shape implies a 3-D plane. Combining the two creates a confusing visual to the eye. The same goes for fusing negative and positive space; viewers are used to seeing negative and positive space as separate entities, so seeing them combined could be visually confusing.

3. What happens when you invert the values-that is, the black areas become white and the black areas become black?

It causes the viewer to pay attention to the change, and analyze why the difference is so stark - why the areas were colored that way in the first place. As with the changes in questions 1 and 2, it creates a confusing visual for the viewer to navigate.

4. Choose an artist's piece from the chapter that you liked and talk about the methods used.

I enjoyed images 27 and 28, 12b and Andie 04 by Charles Cohen. He used negative space to draw attention to the subjects of the photos, making them seem even more explicit because the viewer then must use their own imagination to depict what's happening in each photo, rather than having it presented to them. It almost makes the viewer take accountability for the lewdness of the images.