Northern Comfort
Hopper:
Hopper is a New York born illustration and fine arts graduate who despite experiencing struggles of recognition became one of the most famous revolutionary artists to date. His artwork was very modern, often featuring contemporary buildings and styles that we wouldn't see a lot in classic art. Hopper used paint and oil pastels to create outstanding pieces that explored the use of light and texture. Just like my intentions, Hopper looked at the way light contrasted directly with the dark and used many methods to create very peaceful and delicate atmospheres that you would feel in a cafe or a public area. This draws you in and removes the line between photograph and viewer as if you are genuinely there. This is super effective in getting that absolute comfort and adds to the depth of the whole scene.
I think that hoppers work has some easily repeatable scenes that hold potential for me to use in my project. This is because I want to explore the way light emmits from houses, cities and towns and this cafe idea allows me to create a scene in which I can physically manipulate.
I would like to carry out his cafe scene into my experiments as it holds a lot of lit areas which I could connect to my idea of comfort in light.
This photograph has a lot of light and dark which contrasts and effectively creates an area of safety which we can zone in on and admire. The way the light leads people into the streets is shown here as it is a sign of life and captures the heartfelt atmosphere you share with family and friends in cafe's and your home. The light effectively illuminates the scene and allows us to see the faces of the subject, adding to the atmosphere by capturing the faces and possible actions of the people within the cafe.
Experiments informed by Hopper
This photograph turned out very well, the contrast is deep and the light gently surrounds the subjects in a calm shield of safety and comfort and makes the viewer feel at peace.
I then turned down the vibrance and saturation to make the light more cool toned to allow me to exaggerate the use of natural lighting.
This photograph turned out very well, the contrast is deep and the light gently surrounds the subjects in a calm shield of safety and comfort and makes the viewer feel at peace.
For this photograph I simply enhanced the contrast between the light and dark to create a more peaceful and comforting tone with softer lines. This helps me imply the comfort we get from light and how it can change the atmosphere of a photograph.
First I turned up the contrast.
And then I slightly changed the levels to ensure the areas I wanted to be light and the areas I wanted to be dark were. This created a smooth and soft tone throughout the photograph.
For this photograph I simply enhanced the contrast between the light and dark to create a more peaceful and comforting tone with softer lines. This helps me imply the comfort we get from light and how it can change the atmosphere of a photograph.
As with the above photograph, I simply made the contrast of these photographs much thicker to allow me to show the difference light can create on a photograph. It feels more peaceful, even if the photo is very dark and would usually be considered frightening, having a good contrast and a limited amount of light can also create a sense of comfort and safety.
As with the above photograph, I simply made the contrast of these photographs much thicker to allow me to show the difference light can create on a photograph. It feels more peaceful, even if the photo is very dark and would usually be considered frightening, having a good contrast and a limited amount of light can also create a sense of comfort and safety.
They are all strongly inspired by Hopper as he always used window light to create a thick contrast between light and dark.
Although my light is coming from the outside- in because I wanted to show that light pouring into our homes can really capture the comfort that it provides for us sitting in our homes. It effectively separated the dark and light and suggested that the dark and light mixes together to create a sense of safety and comfort.