‘Water Portraits’: Colour Photographs of Reflections on Water Surfaces and an Audio-Visual Programme Based on Them

Leonardo, Vol. 14, No. 3, pp. 216-217, 1981. Printed in Great Britain. 0024-094X/8 1/030216-02%02.O0/0 Pergamon Press Ltd. ‘WATER PORTRAITS’: COLOUR PHOTOGRAPHS OF REFLECTIONS ON WATER SURFACES AND THEM AN AUDIO-VISUAL PROGRAMME BASED ON Kazimierz Wejchert” 1. I began my collection of colour photographs entitled ‘Water Portraits’ in 1961, when I was writing a book on town planning in which I wanted to illustrate a small fishing harbour at Sorrento, Italy. The book was published under the title Elements of Town Planning Compositions (Elementy kompozycji urbanistycznej) (Warsaw : Arkady, 1974), and it contains a triptych of these photographs entitled “Three Colours of Time”. I became enchanted by the richness of the appearance of water surfaces in repose and in motion and in the surface reflections of objects nearby under different conditions of ambient light in numerous locations on the Earth. At present my collection embraces more than 500 photographs taken at sites in Poland and other European countries, in Asia, North Africa and North America-on rivers, at fishing and shipping ports, marinas, park fountains, etc. I soon realized that one could find relationships between the photographs and different kinds of nonfigurative or abstract pictorial art introduced by artists in the Occident in the 20th century, both as regards their content and their application of different kinds of paint. 2. My main object was to register the beauty of this aspect of nature that is often unnoticed. For this reason, I used no unusual techniques for taking the photographs or for developing the negatives and for making prints. With the camera directed towards the water, one has to wait patiently for the moment that one judges deserving to be recorded. The appearance of something exceptional is a matter of chance. The velocity of the wind, the direction of the Sun’s rays, the colours and shadows of objects reflected in the water, etc. provide a continuously changing scene. I find it worthwhile to pay attention to comments of passersby who become intrigued by my mission- for example, a little boy shouts ‘Mister, that is what you should photograph’, pointing to the reflection of some buildings near the water. I have found scenes I regard as particularly beautiful on the surface of water between boats in harbours. They are more stable than those seen on the surfaces of rivers and on the pools of fountains. Even when there is a stable scene, the choice of pointing a camera is tricky, since the *Architect. Instytut urbanistyki i PlanowaniaPrzestrzennego, Wydzial Architektury, ul. Koszykowa 55, Warsaw. Poland. (Received 9 June 1980) slightest change of angle produces an entirely different record of the scene. 3. I have divided the ‘Water Portraits’ collection into five categories that I consider to be thematically related pictorially as follows: a. By a linear characteristic in which light anddark lines in different colours overlap each other (Fig. I). b. By a shape characteristic in which one can recognize readily the reflected objects (Fig. 2). Fig. I. Water Portraits’ with linear characteristics. colour slides. Location: (clockwise from top left) Le Vaudreuil, France; Albany, NY.U.S.A.; Oslo, Norway; Han-Tchou,China. Fig. 2. ‘Water Portraits’ with recognizeable reflected objects, colour slides. Location: (clockwise from top left) Varna, Bulgaria; Sirmione, Italv; Amsterdam, Holland; Stockholm; Sweden. 216 ‘WaterPortraits’ 217 c. By a fantasy characteristic of reflected objects in which one is confronted with scenesof unusualappearance (Fig. 3). d. By a colour-patch characteristic in which distinct shapes and a clear-cut composition cannot be perceived (Fig. 4, cf. colour plate). e. By a colour-patch characteristic in which a clear-cut composition of distinct shapes can be perceived (Fig. 5). Evidently, reproductions of slides, even in colour, do not permit one to appreciate the beauty of the scenes recorded. I have found that the projection to an audience of slides of the photographs accompanied by music on three 2 x 3m screens according to a specialsequencescore of one and two or three slides provides the viewers with a much more effective aesthetic experience. I have Presented the ‘Water Portraits’ Programme in Warsaw to audiences of as many as 600Persons. After Fig. 5. ‘Water Portraits’ with...