Juxtaposition: A new concept for me that I had been applying unconsciously.

Hello friends,

This post is my entry to the Qurator Photo Quest which this week is about juxtaposition.

What is Juxtaposition?

Well I had to look it up and thanks to @qurator I have learned a new term in photography that in one way or another I was applying without having any knowledge of it.

Basically, it's about placing two or more objects, subjects, elements or ideas, visually together in a photograph, even if they are not on the same plane in the actual scene, in a way that creates a relationship between them and conveys a message or adds (or changes the) meaning to the image.

The word juxtaposition comes from the Latin ‘juxtaponere’, meaning ‘to put together’.

It is not just ‘to put together’, though, as there needs to be some kind of contrast. That is, something that draws attention to the objects or subjects.

For example, in the city of Burgos, in the vicinity of the museum of human evolution we can see this statue in which a thin boy is holding hands with a prehistoric man of great size and musculature, being an example of contrast between both protagonists and that makes us reflect on the evolution of the species.

This contrast can be seen even more closely when we look more closely at their arms and how their hands are joined. Where the arm and hand of the boy are very thin and contrast with the musculature and the veined aspect of the hands of the prehistoric man, which transmits a great strength.

What is juxtaposition for?

Without knowing it, there are some photographs that at first glance I find attractive for whatever reason, because they have a good light, good composition, the elements are attractive, whatever... but after studying this new concept I have realised that these photos tell something else, that there is some kind of visual or conceptual game, that they go beyond the obvious and play with my perception.

These types of photos use ‘juxtaposition’ such as the contrast of juxtaposed colours, like red against green when I photographed my cousin last week wearing a red Spanish national football team jersey on the green grass with my cat Catalina.

And seeing how she enhanced that red shirt with the grass, I asked her to take a greenish pumpkin on her chest and stand up with the intervention, the green of the orchard and the grass enhanced more on her red shirt and at the same time the pumpkin on her red shirt, looking for a double juxtaposition.

Forced perspective another form of juxtaposition

Forced perspective consists of taking advantage of placing two subjects or objects on different planes to be photographed on the same plane, giving us a striking image at a glance.

Taking this type of photograph is usually a lot of fun, like the time I was at the Jurassic Museum in Asturias with my cousin.

For several minutes, we were playing with the positioning of her, so that she was giving a kiss in the mouth to a big dinosaur.

These forced perspective photographs are also a juxtaposition of opposites. Since we are playing with the size of what should be small, it is actually larger in the photograph than it is larger.

And another example of playing with perspective is the framing of the sun with my camera filter, where I captured it inside my fingers when the sun is infinitely larger.

Being this photo taken in a special place like the roman mines of the Medulas, where I find myself again with a juxtaposition between the green vegetation and the reddish orange rocks.

Frames are simple juxtapositions

Being able to isolate the subjects with which we want to tell a story through a frame is one of the simplest juxtapositions.

I made this frame in the city of A Coruña through some menhirs on a promenade near the Tower of Hercules, which have holes through which we can see different points of the environment in isolation, without anything to distract us.

In the case of the previous frame I photographed the monument in honour of the fallen in the Spanish Civil War with the sea in the background as a symbol of freedom and peace.

I hope you liked the post and that those of you who didn't know what juxtaposition was and who were applying it now know how to name it and know why some of your photographs made an impact on you.

Best regards.