Beauty from Nothing

By: Dakota Alexander, senior

How can a simple sheet of white printer paper be beautiful? Given just a few materials, we were able to explore light and dimension, ultimately discovering unexpected creativity.

Mrs. Shoults opened our Photography II class by explaining that we would each be given two sheets of paper: one called “the practice sheet,” which we could crinkle, fold, or destroy without much consequence, and one “final sheet.” We would be taking photos of this sheet, and it would not be replaced upon being damaged. Each crease, tear, or crinkle (made by accident or not), or any other marking would remain on the sheet. She then gave us one miniature lamp, a bucket of colored balloons to stretch over the lamp’s bulb (Voilá! instant colored lights), and two pieces of foam board as a backdrop. She instructed us to take twenty-four decent photographs with these materials, producing three finals to be displayed for critique.

Naturally, a lot of the class was intimidated or at the very least puzzled by the assignment. How does one take interesting photos of such a bland subject as paper? That is not even to mention the stipulation that the final paper could not be replaced, meaning we had to carefully plan out our future photos so as not to produce unwanted creases that would interfere later. It was intimidating to me at least, since I started out with no idea of what to do, but also provided an exciting challenge.

We were given a week to photograph our sheets. During that time, we experimented with different colors and folds, adjusting the angle at which the light struck the paper. This produced a complex interplay between light and shadow, highlighting the forms that we made. Going further into the week, we noticed a certain obscure beauty in that blank sheet. It was something universal, a blank canvas, unto which we may convey a message (albeit not written). Each of our final sheets, despite being torn and ripped, had become true art captured through an 18-55 mm lens.