The Bauhaus School and Photography

The main thrust of the Bauhaus Design School was "form follows function."  It was a design belief that leaned toward a minimal approach with emphasis on clean lines, bold color and less is more.

What does this have to do with photography?  Until Lazaro Moho-Nagy joined the school the curriculum was centered on arts and crafts -photography being excluded.  It was 1923 when he introduced photography into the mix.  He introduced experimentation in photograms, collages and multiple exposures.  He moved photography beyond theory and practice into the "new seeing."  He considered photography as an art form "that has yet to get to anything like its full stature.

For me, his book "Vision in Motion" became a sort of photo bible for me.  He taught me to focus on the elements before me, experiment with light and shapes.  Photography is a vocabulary and you need to use every tool in that vocabulary to create what you see and feel.  And, that is basically what the images attached to this post demonstrate, simplicity of line, light and the use of double exposure to tell a story.  Photography is a grand experiment and we should explore it to the fullest.

Inside a Photographer's Mind

Photography is stimulation for the mind. My mind triggers a thought, and my hand reaches for a camera -what follows is an image.  Even when I don't have a camera in my hands - I am mentally photographing what I feel and see, with the hopes of reproducing that thought or image at a later date. Sometimes it works and other times what I thought I saw just doesn't happen.  It is the creative process that the camera allows me to participate in what I love.  It becomes a life style of constant images and thoughtful observation of life around me.  

I don't think this is a process that has a series of steps that you follow- it is something inside you, an urge to create.  The most expensive photographic equipment will not make you a photographer.  However, how we see and use that equipment is the key.  We can all look at a subject and see it differently and this is probably due in part to our psychological makeup.  I think the photographer is more emotionally aware of everything around him or her than the average person.  And, isn't this somewhat how we define an artist.

Personally, being an only child - growing up you find yourself involved in more imaginary play.  In your early years you are the center of your small universe since there are no other siblings to challenge this assumption.  I think this allows you to focus more intently on everything around you -you possible see what others seem to pass over.  You are alone with yourself and tend to focus on interesting patterns and shapes that surround your environment.  However, as you are introduced to others outside this only child world you become more open to new ideas -but also question since you tend to be more focused on what you are being introduced to.  You might say your artistic thoughts have become merged with new ideas that you pick and choose and mold into a final creative thought pattern that becomes your core.  However, that core is still based on those early years -just a little finally tuned.

Photography can allow you to get close to who you are if you choose to open your mind to the possibilities.  And this really is the start of the creative process.  The creative process is a lot of what if's -that seem to fluctuate between imagination and fantasy.  A lot of grasping at the separate elements of the idea and building upon it until it becomes a reality.