~ Photo Cafe' ~ Photographers - Episode #46!
~ Chat Transcript ~
28th of October, 2023
"Photo Moods 2/2: Dark Moods!"
H.12:00 PM SLT
[The following Episode #47 will be on:
11th of November 2023]
[12:04] Kika Yongho: Hello Photographers!
Good to see you here again for a new episode! I hope you are all ready to talk about “dark photo moods”, it perfectly suits the weekend before Halloween! But before going straight into the abyss.. I will give you a brief update about the ongoing “The Nature Collective Fall/Winter Hunt”!
[12:04] Kika Yongho: Do you already know about it? We talked about it in our last episode, as it was just started. You can read the news on our website:
[12:05] Kika Yongho: As the Hunt is gonna close on the next 31st of October.. You have only 3 days left to find and grab our wonderful gift hidden here for you! If you all cam over towards the landing point on the beach, you will notice a board with a floating orange leaf to its side. Just click the leaf and read our mysterious hint..
[12:06] Kika Yongho: You can now start and look for (and click) a mysterious pumpkin on a stump.. No, not that clown one! Another one: the one with a prize! LOL! COUGHS.. Enough help given! I am sure you all will find our beautiful and fashionable gift: a must have for your Fall/Winter 2023!
[12:06] Kika Yongho: As I have the microphone, I will also take the chance to give an unexpected reminder about our “Recycled Expo”, which is currently “Genesis” by Moki Yuitza! You can admire it all around us here on the land, take the info on the easel with the poster at the start of it, sign guest book, tip the artist.. and you better do it fast because we will soon have November’s new (recycled!) expo on for the following 3 months!
[12:07] Kika Yongho: If any of you (or someone you might know!) is interested in displaying here on our land a previous expo, please feel free to IM me and take contacts! Otherwise someone will be “spontaneously volunteered” as our usual! ^^
[12:08] Kika Yongho: And this is all for our news today! We can go and dive into the depths of our “dark moods”.. but only photographically speaking of course! Please Josephine, will you launch our episode #46? The title is “Photo Moods 2/2: dark moods!” and I am roger and out for today’s intro! Done.
[12:08] Josephine Delvalle: Dear photographers and artists, welcome to a new round of our ‘mood-discussion’.
[12:08] Josephine Delvalle: Last time, we used a cheerful image to identify levers or design elements that are used to represent the mood that the image conveys.
[12:09] Josephine Delvalle: As there are:
[12:09] Josephine Delvalle: 1) Light: bright, light – for positive moods
[12:09] Josephine Delvalle: 2) Subject and framing of the main ‘actors’: some subjects or scenes are more likely to represent a positive situation, e.g. children, meadows, fields, flowering gardens, beach, pond, open space, families, friends
[12:09] Josephine Delvalle: 3) Movement: there are also some movements, that are basically more positive e.g. dancing, walking, playing or reading.
[12:10] Josephine Delvalle: It’s easy to mix subject and ‘movement’/action, but it makes sense to look at both separately.
In the picture from last time we had as a subject: beach and children and as a movement/action race, laughter.
[12:10] Josephine Delvalle: We saw that the mood arises from the interaction of the 3 elements. And not, for example, a black and white picture ‘automatically’ creates a dark mood.
[12:11] Josephine Delvalle: And that’s the point we go on today.
[12:11] Josephine Delvalle: As an example, I have two paintings here that have a very similar subject: people around a table with food on it. But how different is the mood conveyed.
https://www.wikiart.org/en/pierre-auguste-renoir/the-luncheon-of-the-boating-party-1881-1
https://www.wikigallery.org/wiki/painting_197289/Jozef-Israels/The-Potato-Eaters
[12:15] Josephine Delvalle: Up we go, similar scene, but very very different mood …. done by what?
[12:15] Moonsoul Kiyori: c
[12:15] Josephine Delvalle: please Moon
[12:16] Moonsoul Kiyori: I was not here last time but from the summary you gave us and from the 2 paintings I see, the elements that give the mood are the same with opposite use this time
[12:17] Moonsoul Kiyori: the light and the colors. the light that lights the faces of the potato eaters that is focused on the their faces and the overall color of the painting. Done
[12:17] Kika Yongho: c
[12:17] Josephine Delvalle: yes, true. Kika, your turn
[12:18] Kika Yongho: there is also another element of difference between the two tables and is surely the wealth of the “light” table compared to the “poverty” of the dark table, so I guess poverty is not a light subject. Done
[12:19] Josephine Delvalle: yes, full and a waist of light vs. small poor light
[12:20] Josephine Delvalle: Are there other differences? Is it just the ‘light’?
[12:21] Sio Skytower: c
[12:21] Josephine Delvalle: Sio, pls
[12:22] Sio Skytower: The angle/perspective strikes me – in the light, it’s from above, as if you’re observing, the dark, it is more eye level, as if you’re ‘in’ the situation. It adds to the gloom of the dark picture and makes me feel part of it where on the left, I feel like I’m enjoying a positive moment rather than living in the gloominess – Done
[12:23] Moonsoul Kiyori: c
[12:23] Josephine Delvalle: Thank you and Moon, go on, please
[12:24] Moonsoul Kiyori: the bodies, the posture, on the dark photo the people are leaning in the front. Not a happy posture. Done
[12:24] Kika Yongho: c
[12:25] Josephine Delvalle: yes, Moon, you start pointing at the element ‘movement’ and now Kika please
[12:25] Kika Yongho: I only wanted to specify better my previous comment cause it wasn’t about the light but the richness of the food itself 😀 A banquet compared to the miser potatoes! Done
[12:25] Josephine Delvalle: yes, that’s about the subject: full, rich table vs. poor table
[12:27] Josephine Delvalle: let us look closer at the subject: we have a rich table and a poor table, what else, how can we describe both ‘locations’?
[12:28] Josephine Delvalle: is there something what makes one picture cheerful and the other sad?
[12:30] Kika Yongho: c
[12:30] Josephine Delvalle: Kika, please
[12:31] Kika Yongho: I wanted to comment about the space.. the first one is in the open air while the other one looks like a closed dark room. Also the figures have room above their heads so they look lower and don’t fill the space in completely, while the composition is more harmonic in the light view
[12:32] Kika Yongho: Light one the figures dominate the space, reversed in the dark pic. Done
[12:32] DaneAlbion: c
[12:32] Sio Skytower: c
[12:32] Moki Yuitza: c
[12:33] Josephine Delvalle: yes, that’s a very different ‘setting’: open space, outside, nature behind the restaurant terrace, room for living and exploring vs. a narrow room. Dane, your turn
[12:34] DaneAlbion: similar point, the poses in Israels picture make the characters look hunched over and beaten down, accentuated by the use of the dark space over their heads. Done
[12:34] Josephine Delvalle: 3rd element movement, indeed Dane and Sio, please
[12:35] Sio Skytower: Movement is distinctly different, left photo is very open/casual/free which lifts the mood with warmth and cheer, the right is closed, reserved and downright chilly with emotion and feeling. One is like a summers warm embrace and the other like a cold night… done
[12:35] Clementine Rosca: c
[12:36] Josephine Delvalle: Yes, exactly, Sio, Clementine, your turn
[12:37] Clementine Rosca: the Light 1st picture draws me to their hands, drinking and eating grapes, food not needed to sustain. whereas the right, the light draws me to their hands of sharing (what it looks like to me) Potatoes
[12:37] Clementine Rosca: and the mood is defined by me. done.
[12:38] Josephine Delvalle: exactly, 1st is enjoying food vs. eating for staying alive, Moki, your turn
[12:39] Moki Yuitza: I would like to underline the composition and the perspective
[12:39] Moki Yuitza: in the first case, the diagonal table and the people underline a visual vanishing line that creates movement, while in the other case, the table is hidden, it could be round or square but it is not possible to know, however, a fixed point remains, accentuated by the vertical and horizontal lines of the backs of the chairs which create a sort of “cage”… the characters seem imprisoned. Done
[12:40] Josephine Delvalle: wow, very good eye
[12:43] Josephine Delvalle: I would like to point at the ‘movement’/’action’ again
[12:43] Josephine Delvalle: how would you describe it in both pictures
[12:44] Moki Yuitza: c
[12:44] Josephine Delvalle: Moki, please
[12:44] Moki Yuitza: as i said before, the movement lines are totally different for me
[12:44] Josephine Delvalle: nods
[12:45] Moki Yuitza: in the first, all diagonals, people are all moving or in the start of a movement
[12:45] Moki Yuitza: even the standing people are not just standing, they have tension in their posture
[12:46] Moki Yuitza: in the other paint, all is static, lines are verticals or horizontals and this is a way to force the eye to stay firm. Done
[12:46] DaneAlbion: c
[12:47] Josephine Delvalle: TY, Moki, Dane, hurry on
[12:47] DaneAlbion: In the Renoir, eating is secondary to all the other activities going on but in the other eating is the primary and only task. Done
[12:47] Josephine Delvalle: exactly
[12:48] Josephine Delvalle: in summary, I tried to write a bit down at side.
[12:48] Josephine Delvalle: Renoir, Le déjeuner des canotiers
[12:48] Josephine Delvalle: 1) Light: natural, summery, rich color palette
[12:48] Josephine Delvalle: Jozef Israëls, Potato eaters
[12:49] Josephine Delvalle: 1) Light: dark, little contrast, small color range
[12:49] Josephine Delvalle: Renoir, Le déjeuner des canotiers
[12:49] Josephine Delvalle: 2) Subject: Group of friends on the terrace of a restaurant around a rich table with drinks and food, location is open and wide
[12:49] Josephine Delvalle: Jozef Israëls, Potato eaters
[12:50] Josephine Delvalle: 2) Subject: group of people around a table in a narrow room with a poor potatoe bowl, location is closed, people kind of imprisoned
[12:50] Josephine Delvalle: Renoir, Le déjeuner des canotiers
[12:50] Josephine Delvalle: 3) Movement: talking to each other, listening to each other, turning to each other, eating, drinking, playing with a kitten, people are all in ‘motion’
[12:50] Josephine Delvalle: Jozef Israëls, Potato eaters
[12:50] Josephine Delvalle: 3) Movement: eating, focused on the space directly in front of them, not clearly communicating with each other, people seemed bend down, looking down, be more static
[12:52] Josephine Delvalle: It is a playing with the 3 elements to create a mood
[12:53] Josephine Delvalle: It is never only one element, that makes a picture cheerful or dark and sad
[12:54] Josephine Delvalle: I have 2 other examples both rich in color but very different in expression, but time is too short to discuss them also now.
[12:54] Josephine Delvalle: So: Thank you for taking this ride with me, it was a pleasure.
[12:54] Josephine Delvalle: I hope to see you again in two weeks on November 11th. Until then, I wish you spooky creative days ahead.
