Liam Wylie

Visual qualities: 

​

Image: Collage 8, 2010. The picture is of snow-covered mountains. There are geometric shapes in the form of a large diamond that has integral triangles. The geometric shapes are created by cutting up the central section of the original image and rearranging and rotating the pieces to give an abstract feel to an otherwise ordinary shot of a mountain. I think the photograph was taken in the Rocky mountains, possibly in Canada, which is Liam Wylie’s home country. 

​

This picture is from real life because it is of an actual mountain, rather than an artistic interpretation. However, I think that the final image has been produced using editing software. I believe that Wylie often uses real secondary source photographs which he then manipulates to change them and make them his own. 

​

Composition

​

The photographer used the rule of thirds. as the image is divided horizontally into 2 unequal sections with the dividing line positioned in the top third of the image, therefore following the rule of thirds. 

​

Also, leading lines have been used because the geometric diamond formation draws the viewer’s eye towards the middle of the image. The mountain fills the frame of the image and there are new angles that have been created in the editing process such as the angles of the triangle within the rearranged square shape. The shot of the mountain has a wide depth of field with not a lot going on, just the mountain on its own and a horizon line where the sky and the mountain meet. 

​

Formal elements

​

The image is not packed full with lots of colour, it just has simple colours such as blue, white, grey and black. There is a pattern of triangles inside the rotated square shape which is in the form of a diamond, but the editing hasn’t changed the original shape of the mountain. The craggy rocks of the mountain create a textural form.

 

There is a dark tone in the left corner of the photo and the mountain rocks have elements of dark tones. There are gaps of negative space (sky) which surround the peak of the mountain, which fills the rest of the image.  

​

Camera settings

​

The photographer probably used a quick shutter speed because there isn’t any movement or motion blur, it is a very still image. Also, I think the photographer used a high depth of field because the aperture is small, so a high setting number was used, creating a clear image. 

​

Editing 

​

This image was edited on a computer probably using Photoshop. The geometric shapes in the final image are cut out very precisely which would be difficult to achieve by hand.

 

Personal reflection

​

I like the image because Wylie starts with a fairly ordinary shot, but by cutting it into geometric shapes and using a collaging technique he creates a far more striking and surreal landscape. The ideas I would like to take from this picture to use in my own work are combining geometric shapes with landscape photography to produce abstract collage-style images with interesting visual detail.