Daniel Kukla - The Edge Effect
Kukla created this project in March 2012, whilst living in a log cabin for a month in Southern California, where the project was based. He stated, "While hiking and driving, I caught glimpses of the border space created by the meeting of distinct ecosystems in juxtaposition, referred to as the Edge Effect in the ecological sciences." To document what he saw, he hiked out with a mirror and painters easel, which can be seen in all of the images, into the wilderness and captured opposing elements in the environment.
I like this project from Kukla, because it is an example of the type work in which I am aiming to shoot, I like the idea of the contrasts between the reflection in the mirror and the environment around it. I am inspired by this project and I plan to use the idea of juxtaposing objects with the mirrors reflection – I am going to use this idea but chance the concept the contrast between the natural environment and the man made objects around.
I like this image because it shows a clear contrast between the sky and the land, and the mirrors reflection acts as the tool to show the viewer the contrast in the image. I also like the idea that the mirror in the image looks surreal illustrating that the contrast looks surreal. The mirror also breaks up the colours in the image and this makes it stand out to the viewer. Furthermore, the success of the lighting in the image also inspires me as there are no shadows of the mirrors object and the reflection of the sky is not overexposed as expected. The location of the image is in the desert which is a natural place that has been untouched by humans and has been left a natural place, this idea of the location has inspired me to do my next shoot in a natural place with a mirror reflecting man made objects into the images. As the reflection in the mirror is of the sky, this gives the image a calm sense of mood as the sky looks quite calm and the blue colour is quite relaxing.
The idea that is portrayed to me in this image is that again of the contrast between the background and the reflection of the image, but this time I believe the contrast is the lighting of the background being quite dark and the lighting in the sky in the reflection being brighter, showing the colours of the sunset in the distance. The shadows in the image add to the effect as all of the shadows are in the background of the image, making the light in the mirror stand out more to the viewer, increasing the contrast between the light and dark. It is evident that artificial lighting has been used when shooting this image as the mirror and the plant next to it are lightened up by another light that is not the sunset on the horizon, I think that this gives the image less quality and if I was to improve the image, I would take the photo earlier on in the day when the sunset in the mirror is still visible, but so there is more natural lighting in the whole image so there is no need to use artificial lighting, this would also make the mirror look less fake.
This is my favourite image out of Kukla's Edge Effect project - even though it does not really have any contrast within the concept, I like the composition of the image, the way that the landscape can be seen in both the mirror and background. I also like the way that Kukla has skilfully lined the landscape in the mirror up with the landscape in the background. The point of focus is the reflection in the mirror, this will attract the viewer because Kukla has purposely included more details within the small reflection that anywhere else in the image, there is also more a higher exposure and brightness within the lighting of the reflection which will also attract the viewer. The low aperture that Kukla has used means that the entire image is in focus, giving the overall image a lot of detail and a low depth of field. Like in all of the images, the angle of view in very important for Kukla because it is essential to position the camera in a spot where the reflection in the mirror is correct to how the photographer wants it.
This image portrays the idea of the contrast of the land and the sky as the mirror reflects the stars in the night sky, which also contrasts with the natural lights of the stars and the artificial light used to light up the rest image around the mirror. Even though the stars are only photographed small and are not very clear, they still stand out significantly because there is nothing else within the mirrors reflection and they also stand out in the darkness of the sky. Furthermore, I like the fact that Kukla has used artificial lighting to light up the area around the mirror and it allows the image to have more in it, its allows the camera to capture the textures and focus in on the details of the plants and floor, making it evident that there is a low aperture in the image. The point of focus in then image I the mirror, like most of the other images in the project, as it is the object that stands out most - even though there is nothing in the reflection but the stars, the simplicity makes the image successful.