A Photograph in Four Parts: Color, Light, Texture, Line

Thalia Taylor

“To photograph is to appropriate the thing photographed… . Photographed images do not seem to be statements about the world so much as pieces of it, miniatures of reality that anyone can make or acquire.” Susan Sontag, On Photography (174).

The making of a photograph can be instantaneous: the click of a button, the snap of a shutter. It takes very little but a beautiful reality to make a beautiful photograph. It takes a lot more to consistently make well-crafted photographs. I think that a photograph is more than a thing photographed. I think it is a craft, in two parts.

There is the taking of the photograph, and there is the printing (or the editing, if you work more with digital). For me, taking the photograph is about choosing what piece of reality you think is art, and translating it into frame. It is a split-second decision. It is often a selection of one of four things: color, light, texture, or line. The frame as captured may not be perfect. Editing and printing serve to articulate the photographer’s focus. I have chosen and edited these photos to bring out color, light, texture, or line. I think you can see one of these four elements particularly clearly in each of these photos. I’ve also added captions explaining what I was thinking when taking the photograph— not very poetic. Some were taken very intentionally, others were happy accidents.

Of course, none of these photos are about these elements or what I was thinking when I took them. They’re about the beauty in my friends, and in these wonderful places. They’re about happiness and mystery, culture and surprise.

COLOR

The mist over the mountains, the lines of tea bushes
Ali-shan Tea Fields
Ali-shan, Taiwan (December 2022)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

Stillness. Blueness.
Lauren
Taipei 101, Taipei, Taiwan (January 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

RED
Red Dancer
Bernal, Queretaro, Mexico (December 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

Desaturating pink. Ooh, a bee!
Bee
Bean Blossom, IN (July 2024)
Sony Alpha 6400 18-135mm 3.5-5.6

LIGHT

Hurry, hurry, get the sunset colors against the white.
Hollywood
Griffith Observatory, Los Angeles, CA (August 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

“Hey Emilio, look at me!”
Emilio, Sunset
Epworth, Ludington, MI (August 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

“Go over there and then come back. Farther. I want to take a picture of the sun.”
Salt Flats
Bonneville Salt Flats, Bonneville, UT (May 2024)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

A late morning walk, perfectly timed.
Picnic
Bloomington, IN (July 2024)
Sony Alpha 6400 18-135mm 3.5-5.6

TEXTURE

Lake Michigan doesn’t do this.
Ocean
Malibu, CA (February 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

Undisturbed dust
Blueberry
Ludington, MI (August 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

Shoot, I wanted to get his face. Oh, that turned out very cool.
Dancer
Bernal, Queretaro, Mexico (December 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

“Wait, stay there. I’m using you to get the focus right.”
Jack-o
Frida Kahlo Museum, Ciudad de Mexico, Mexico (January 2024)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

LINE

Woah, that’s a cool chair. What’s it doing in the attic?
Chair
Taipei, Taiwan (January 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

Ooh, a bianchi.
59th St. Bikes
Chicago, IL (July 2024)
Nikon D3500 50mm 1:1.8 D

Wow, what a chic bus stop.
Bus Stop
Hualien, Taiwan (January 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G

I love baseball. How wide can I make this shot?
Dodgers Stadium
Los Angeles, CA (August 2023)
Nikon D3500 18-55mm 1:3.5-5.6 G