Refocusing

From the class module:

Refocusing refers to the fact that in certain photographs (and other artwork) the eyes actually seem to refocus, even though the surface being looked at is flat. This quality is different from the eye simply moving around the photograph from one area to another. With refocusing, it actually seems as though the experience of three-dimensional depth perception were involved. However, you are actually viewing this image on a flat surface (either printed on paper or on your monitor screen). But the division of the picture’s surface and the relationships within it cause a mental occurrence akin to focusing and refocusing. There is a dynamic or tension that holds this photograph together, much as gravity holds the universe together. We cannot see it, but we can sense it. There is an invisible plane existing in this photograph separate from the two dimensional surface in relation to which all the elements exist. Refocusing contributes to our sense of the position of forms, tones, and colors in relation to that plane."

And maybe I'm a nerd ...okay, I know I'm a nerd, but more a glimpse into my photography class "The Nature of Photography" here is the instructor's critique. This was at least the nicest one so far. Let's just say you have to have thick skin in this program! :D

"I do think that the chaos you described has a lot to do not only with the constant travel the eye embarks upon around the frame but also with how the arrangement seems to fit the subject you have chosen to depict. There are several elements of plasticity present in this image but particularly flattening and chaotic unity. The sense of compression is most pronounced in the area immediately to the right of the dragon and if you take note of how the clouds (real and fake) exist on the same plane as all of the small lights than you can see just how dramatically the lens has flattened those forms. The dragon is really the only object that seems to assert any distinction of depth and in a funny, narrative kind of way he has his arms raised as if to say "whatever" to the hysteria unfolding around him.

I think another very subtle but dynamic element is how the poles of the lights emanate and dissolve into the sign and again compress the planes. One of them even seems to be parallel to the animal's eye. In general I feel the lighting is handled well despite the lack of a strong sense of illumination (which the use of color and not black & white can more easily make up for) and that the picture benefits from the plastic and bubble gum color palette that underlies it.

In conceptual terms, the subject(s) and their treatment seem appropriate to each other and you have communicated some of the happier associations of amusement parks, because there are no shortage of photographs that exploit their potentially creepy undercurrents. If you investigate this subject matter further I would consider how here you have conveyed that lighthearted feeling and almost brought life to the static statue of the dragon. The expression and eyes are a large part of this, but I think that the energy of the movement around the frame begins to add something to the creature as well."