COMPOSITION AND AESTHETICS

(Aesthetics is the research of good)

The aesthetics is a particular relation of our soul to the world; an idiomorphic attitude that takes our ego to the world; the movement of our spirit towards certain values of things.
(Kostas Balafas)

All persons wonder what is good, and particularly those dealing with art, and generally every thinking person that understands the role of Art in our life and in our history.

Most persons believe that they are thanked with the quietness of their ignorance; they are possessed by a tendency to see, to feel and not to wonder. While it would be supposed to happen, precisely the opposite, to see and to wonder, to feel and to seek the reason.

Those who wonder and seek the reason, only quieten when they accomplish and succeed to explain why and they feel satisfied only when they discover the sources of good, and when they can explain their psychological and social importance of them.

How every one of us perceives and understands aesthetics, depends on many and different factors, such as our individual and collective life experiences. Furthermore there is a strong connection to our biomatic experience and the way we have been socialized, in other words, it is strongly related to our own world outlook.

Therefore, the longer we study the rules of aesthetics, as they have been formulated by the great schoolmasters of photography and painting; we acquire a better understanding and self-confidence in our personal aesthetic regard. The aesthetic weights and the rules of composition are not a doctrine that cannot be overruled; on the contrary is a guide that offers unlimited possibilities for creative and artistic development.

Certainly, reading the rules of composition is not enough. Without practice, we cannot reach a desirable point in which we can express our creativity and our deeper artistic concerns in our photographs. With the process of practice, the students of photography do not only familiarize themselves with their photographic equipment, but also learn how to see through their lens; to imagine and to compose their pictures.

Essential condition is that the students get used to see their subject optically, in the way it is recorded by their camera. Only then, they can feel free to compose the subject of their photograph and organise those synthetic elements that they desire to include in their frame.

Composition in photography is like syntaxes in literature. If we do not know how, what and why we use each element in our composition, the chosen optical angle, how the background affects every single photograph, the global presentation and the theme of our picture, our final point of view, then our photographs definitely will not correspond in terms of quality to our final expectations.

In other words the artistic value of a photograph depends on the photographer’s point of view, on his ability to compose and take the picture at the decisive moment of his choice, and record the feeling of the moment; also, in his ability to present simple and clear pictures, with visible the central interest of the picture.

Finally, students of photography must always be careful not to confuse the spectators of their pictures; on the contrary they must avoid leading the spectators to wonder what is the main subject of their pictures? What the photographer wants to show in this picture? What is the central idea in this picture?

Each photograph should always present a subject; a simple and clear idea.

Photography is an important art and it offers many possibilities of expression and creativity to the dedicated students; it also influences very deeply and formulates the significances of time, space and reality.

It is very important that the students understand the impact of photography in art, and treat it as an autonomous artistic form of expression. Moreover, they shall always remember that photography is a child of science and of technology; and the techniques of photography will always be influenced by revolutionary changes.

However, we cannot overlook today’s reality, that a systematic disorientation is observed in philosophical issues such as: what is beautiful and good in art. We hardly can avoid the negative influences of the commercialized TV programs by confusing art with entertainment in purpose.

Evidently, some artists are responsible of this disorientation, specifically those who do not take a clear position, seeking to preserve their economic interest; also those who dogmatically claim that they are the only ones having the right to decide for directing art.

Spiros Skiadopoulos