sarah claxton studio: 01.11

I teach Photography as a Communication Tool at Harrington College of Design every Wednesday. We've only recently started the semester and so far it's been great. They have a great faculty and the chair of the Digital Photography department, Dirk Fletcher, couldn't be more amazing. Dirk has created a terrific program for students who are serious about photography.

The purpose of this intro class is to introduce my students to the basic aspects of visual literacy and structure. I do this through critiques, lectures, some technical demonstrations, gallery and studio visits. Being able to critique and speak articulately about visual imagery is a huge part of this class and demonstrates the students knowledge of the building blocks of a strong image. So far I have been very pleased with my students willingness to voice their opinions. As many of you who have worked with me know, I love critiques. This is by far my favorite part of teaching. Giving lectures is slowly catching up to critiques as my favorite part of class. While sometimes hard to keep students attention during a lecture, it helps to be excited about the subject matter; and giving lectures to an intro class provides the opportunity to revisit old subjects and really stay on top of your game.

For this past weeks class the lecture I gave was on Gestalt, a psychology term meaning "unified whole". Gestalt theory relates to visual communication as the form-generating capability of our senses, particularly with respect to the visual recognition of figures and whole forms instead of just a collection of simple lines and curves. Artists can use the principles of Gestalt to better present information, knowing how our brain organizes perceptually.

The four main visual ideas to add meaning to your photos are:

Closure: The principle of closure applies when we tend to see complete figures even when part of the information is missing.
Continuance: Continuation occurs when the eye is compelled to move through one object and continue to another object.

Similarity: Similarity occurs when objects look similar to one another. People often perceive them as a group or pattern.

Proximity: Proximity occurs when elements are placed close together. They tend to be perceived as a group. When the shapes are given close proximity, unity occurs. While they continue to be separate shapes, they are now perceived as one group.

The subject of Gestalt is rather large and I was only able to touch the surface during a one hour lecture, however I recommend that any visual artist research the principles. The principles of Gestalt can help artists develop powerful compositions. Things are always ‘more than the sum of their parts’. As art is primarily about perception (for example; to see continuity or closure or even perceive movement in static objects), our perception of any art object would depend on these Gestalt principles.