honorable mention
Howard Lewis
title
Origami Folds
Paper is certainly associated with origami but none of these photographs look like the origami paper animals or flowers that may be familiar to us. That’s because the origami name for this series originates from the secondary role in the progression of how the photographs were created. First, large paper was folded into a variety of objects by those skilled in the art of origami. I then unfolded them to reveal the perfect geometric patterns formed by the delicate creases. Next I built custom reflectors to skim daylight across the surface. The partially flattened paper; folds and light are ready to be transformed, no longer origami but the beautiful remnants.
If you look at most things that first appear simple, you can find great complexity. The complexity comes in the details as light plays along the paper’s folds into extreme dark and light areas, illuminating with spear like configurations and penetrating into dramatic shadows. It’s the edges of the folds, the corners of the light, and the shape of the shadows that form the sometimes subtle but complex illusions in the image. To me, it’s endlessly fascinating to create novel ways to manipulate the light so it appears as something else entirely. It’s purely an instinctual reaction when the right composition appears and I trigger the shutter. I’m reacting to that moment and I hope others might as well. As with all abstract art the viewer's imagination, background and consciousness become the critical part of the meaning, which can make a photograph continuously interesting over time.
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entry description
I'm interested in the visual exploration of the illusion of depth and space while creating the most with the least, keeping it simple; just a piece of paper and some light.Paper is certainly associated with origami but none of these photographs look like the origami paper animals or flowers that may be familiar to us. That’s because the origami name for this series originates from the secondary role in the progression of how the photographs were created. First, large paper was folded into a variety of objects by those skilled in the art of origami. I then unfolded them to reveal the perfect geometric patterns formed by the delicate creases. Next I built custom reflectors to skim daylight across the surface. The partially flattened paper; folds and light are ready to be transformed, no longer origami but the beautiful remnants.
If you look at most things that first appear simple, you can find great complexity. The complexity comes in the details as light plays along the paper’s folds into extreme dark and light areas, illuminating with spear like configurations and penetrating into dramatic shadows. It’s the edges of the folds, the corners of the light, and the shape of the shadows that form the sometimes subtle but complex illusions in the image. To me, it’s endlessly fascinating to create novel ways to manipulate the light so it appears as something else entirely. It’s purely an instinctual reaction when the right composition appears and I trigger the shutter. I’m reacting to that moment and I hope others might as well. As with all abstract art the viewer's imagination, background and consciousness become the critical part of the meaning, which can make a photograph continuously interesting over time.
back to gallery
