2019 Week 29: Juxtaposition

Springtime in the Rockies- by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero

This week we are going to explore the concept of Juxtaposition, which is defined as “an instance of placing two or more things side by side often to compare or contrast or to create an interesting effect.” More than likely this is a technique that many of us have used before without even realizing it, including in our past challenges. The idea of Juxtaposition in photography is to create an image with at least two elements that best demonstrates the complementary or contrasting effects in order to evoke meaning, concept, or moods.

Some classic uses of Juxtaposition are scale and age. Scale basically uses the size difference of two elements to show contrast, as pictured above in “Celebrate Color”. We almost do not notice the small child wearing monotone colors against the vast colorful mural. Age is used to contrast old vs. new and young vs. old. Two examples below: “Times Square Taxi” which has the old time taxi amongst the modern street scape and vehicles, and “Bridge within a Bridge Historic” which utilizes an interesting composition to compare the historic bridge to the more modern one. Some other uses of Juxtaposition include irony, which is often captured in street photography (ex. trash present near a “No Littering” sign), and mood which is best utilized when photographing people’s emotions or landscapes. The above image, “Springtime in the Rockies” is a great example of utilizing Juxtaposition to capture mood from the contrasting seasons and the monotone vs. colorful spring; it also evokes a longing feeling for the warmer more colorful upcoming season.

A Bridge Within a Bridge- by Tonya Bender

Juxtapositions tend to be common things in everyday life that we often do not notice. You may choose to complete this challenge by going out and searching for them or by creating your own; just keep in mind that the goal is to not just capture two contrasting objects, but to use Juxtaposition to create an image that is visually interesting or evokes meaning or concepts. The two images below, “Broken Bottle” and “Interior Architecture” are great examples of using Juxtaposition to create interest and provoke emotion. One can almost cringe as the hard hammer hits the delicate bottle, and scratch their head as they contemplate trees growing indoors.

Interior Architecture- by Jeanie Sumrall-Ajero

There are many examples and articles that explain Juxtaposition as well as inspire the concept. These are a couple I used to help write up the challenge: 10 Tips How to Create Juxtaposition in Your Photography and Juxtaposition Examples In Photography Explained. I encourage you to do some additional research to explore the concept and help you develop ideas for this challenge. Most importantly learn and have fun!

To recap this week’s challenge:

Take a new photo that utilizes Juxtaposition by choosing creative elements that compliment or contrast one another and that make the image interesting or evokes meaning or concepts.
Post your photo during the week of Sunday, July 14 and Saturday, July 20.
Please remember to comment on at least FIVE photo submissions this week by answering the question “why?” in your comments. In other words, “why do I like (or not like) this photo? or “why did this photo catch my eye?”

The friendly community guidelines are pretty simple:

Take a new photo for the current weekly theme, not something from your back catalog or someone else’s image.
Post your photo each week to our active communities on Facebookor Flickr (or both). Tag the photo: #2019photochallenge #photochallenge #tempusaura
Don’t leave home without your camera. Participating in the 2019 Trevor Carpenter Photo Challenge is fun and easy.