Kill Your Darlings, Fibonacci

Fibonacci Project Reflection

By focusing on a common ratio (1:1.618) that appears in nature and creates images which are appealing to the eye, I discovered this project helped me to develop my craft by causing me to think carefully about how I framed my pictures and by illuminating particular types of visual perspectives I had not previously considered. The concept of the Golden Ratio originated in ancient Greece and has been applied in many different fields, such as music, art, architecture, and film, down through the centuries since that time. Some artists and philosophers believe that the repetition of these patterns in nature implies a harmonic order of the universe.

 

Actually, in terms of applying the Golden Ratio, the word “focus” is somewhat of a misnomer, because the act of seeing these patterns required me to view a scene in a more holistic way. By framing my pictures using the Fibonacci spiral and the Fibonacci grid, I sought to achieve an attractive balance in the composition of my pictures.

At first, I found it challenging to intentionally seek out the spiral Fibonacci patterns, but once I found a few such relationships, I began to see others more easily. As my project gained momentum, my curiosity grew about these patterns, and I realized they are pervasive not only in nature (e.g. my pictures of a succulent plant and of severed stems from a palm tree), but also in man-made structures (e.g. my pictures of stairs, stacked boxes, and a metal sculpture) and in the integration of people into spaces (e.g. my picture of a seated man inside a coffee shop).

I encountered some film problems while working on this assignment and ended up shooting four rolls instead of two because two rolls were ruined when they failed to advance due to the holes in the film not properly engaging with the sprockets of the camera. This was a frustrating but useful lesson for me to learn!

The photograph I chose to display in the library was a picture of some concrete stairs, which fit the Fibonacci grid pattern. The reason I chose this particular picture is that I felt its subject matter fit in best with the other photographs in the group display. My classmates’ feedback and preferences mirrored my own views, and there was general consensus that my strongest pictures were those I uploaded here.