Focus
We looked at many different photographers who play with focus to create their images, one of these photographers were Ralph Eugene Meatyard who has very distinctive images that are fairly hard to see. They are in black and white and all out of focus meaning all you can see is shapes, however the shapes that you are looking at are very interesting in the idea that you have to really think and use your imagination to guess what you're looking at. Two of his series consist with focus and depth of field, both stretching the expressive potential of photography when looking at the ordinary world.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard
'No Focus'
'Zen Twigs'
Saul Leiter
Another photographer we looked at that uses focus and depth of field to take images is Saul Liter. His images are a lot differernt that the normal images that explore with focus as there is always something so close to you in the foreground. There is a documentary on his work and his life style which you can find out a little of why her took his images in the way he did. His images explore colour harmonies and often exploit unusual framing devices which is what he is surrounded by. Lester is fond of using long lenses, partly so that he can remain unobserved, but also so that he can compress space, juxtaposing object and people in unusual ways. Many of his images use negative space with large out of focus areas drawing our eye to a particular detail or splash of colour.
My images
I was inspired by Meatyard as in taking images of an object to the extent that you can't tell what you're looking at, however as I was working with a new lens I couldn't get the effect I wanted in all of my images. Despite the troubles I was having I still created a set of images that I am happy with, this is because they have a depth of field which is an effect I personally like.